Leaderboard

Hi all Just thought we could have a place where we can celebrate those small victories and have somewhere to post when you feel pleased with yourself, and no one in real life will understand or care 😁 Tonight I am feeling proud having learnt to splice my own leaders 👏👏👏 I even got into a bit of a run at the end, I know they aren't as pretty as shop bought but hey ho they are a darned sight cheaper 😂

This is all of it... my day/overnighter kit left to right, ruckie mat and chair, bait and food bag, and right is my pair of Dwarf's with net and spod rod with Scope ops brolly...

Well you can t fault them for delivery times 👍 Smells like a proper bait as well can't wait to give em a try, I think I can smell scent from hell in there 😋

A mate I fish with counts his wraps back & forth is 1 wrap , we always have to check which one we are talking about when chatting about spots lol . Nige , years ago on a c.com social moved Andy's sticks a bit wider ..... very puzzled look as his sent his rig into the island 😂 Did you hit a caravan muft ? 👀

Just before Xmas I went up to my dads caravan at carlton meres. Got talking to his mate who fishes the lake regularly and he told me there was a nice spot a couple of rod lengths off the big willow on the far magin. 14.5 wraps he said. I had a proper blond moment and somehow told myself that back and forth was one wrap. You can imagine what happened when I cast out 😮

I read on this forum that mole hills are the bees knees when it comes to ground baiting. I have several hundred to spare if anyone would care to make an offer. (buyer collects )

Top advise 🔝🔝🔝🔝

You don't do anything with the tag ends in terms of blobbing or gluing IMO that's a no no and completely unnecessary. Just pull the tag ends out a few mil more then cut off close to the exit then pull the leader tight again - the smaller tag end should disappear into the leader - rock solid nothing more needing to be done.

Well they say a lot of flavours catch the angler and not the fish.

I don’t mind keeping my hook baits in the cold better than them getting to warm tho. I keep my particles and pop ups in a metal bins with a lid in the shed..... just keep a lookout for mice with a tin opener !

Dont get to preoccupied with bait ,choose a recognised quality bait and go with it , If your happy with your rigs and choice of swim, then as I have said on here before ,the only reason I dont catch is if the fish are not their or they are not feeding , I use Hybrid no better no worse than any I have used in the past , I just get it for a good price.

Backing up what Ian said: I used a custom recipe from Premier for years based on Aminos base mix and caught on it from the off, I also made the same bait but forgot the flavours and caught well from the off - better actually. Now I use their standard recipes, because guess what they know what they are doing and I don't - and again catching from the off - never any doubts - now using Matrix Plus as well as Aminos T&G, both banging! There are also lots of other companies that I would trust, just choose a decent company and then stick with it - no worries.

I totally agree with you tbh, st Ives in hindsight was far too big for me to get my head around this year, on the Club lake I caught well on any bait I tried, and when I got it right on Vermuyden it went OK too, this year isn't such a steep learning curve for me, it's more a natural progression from where I left off, all those years ago but with the added bonus of this year's learning, I hope I fried my brain enough last year to make this year work out better, there are positives to be taken, I just think I needed to work through the phooey to get to a place I am confident in what I do, my rigs work when I apply the thinking correctly, a couple of bites will give me the confidence in the bait, it's now down to me and my application of it tbh I can still remember a few spots I caught off so I am not going in blind as it were It's going to be fine this year can't wait to get cracking 👍 Cheers again

You're completely over-thinking it mate. Bait is rarely the difference between catching and not imo. Premier has been catching since the dawn of time. You don't need a unique bait - especially in your situation where you're struggling for confidence. Just buy a load of Matrix or Aminos w. Peach and BP and know that if you put it in the right place you'll catch carp.

3 times, as he done it with both rods, then rewrapped one again before he twigged I think!! 😂

Opportunist Angling I was on a 48 hr in November last year for a trip to Linear fisheries and decided to fish Brasenose one a Gravel pit of 32 acres. It was cold with bright sun so out went the zigs but with no joy. The lake was fishing hard and there was no action for me. On the last day I noticed a Grebe having more luck with what appeared to be nice Roach 3 rod lengths out from my swim so I wound in one of my carp rods set a feeder rod up with a maggot feeder 14 hook with 3 maggots on the hook. Now prior to this trip my biggest roach was just under a pound. I cast out with 2 pouches of maggots over the top. I put the rod down and the tip went round with a Roach of 2lb 3oz ! Nx cast tip went round 2lb 7 oz !! This is easy I thought with my hands shaking. Nx cast I bumped a fish and the swim went dead so i reeled in had a coffee putting out a pouch of maggots every 5mins. 30 mins later I had the biggest at 2lb 9oz and it was my last. I was in shock how fast it happened and still am. With A couple hours before we packed up I had a low 20 Common Linear has been kind to me of late with 5 pb’s in 3 trips

I may have found a way to go fishing, I did a risky Strategy where I broached the subject early,she ummed and ahhed a bit, and then later that day when I started prepping rigs I told her I had booked it, waited till midweek and said can I go fishing then? And she said I thought you had booked it? I replied I wouldn't book it without making sure you didn't mind first 😁 Seems to have worked anyway 👍

Mine looks like fishing hoarders buried alive at present 😁 I dream of a tidy garage again it wasn't so bad last year but I guess I may have bought one or two extra bits and they no longer fit the design of the garage 🤔. Got two of these coming tomorrow and a load of tip runs to perform I think 🤣

Yeah something like that. I was thinking about fishing at the time so missed the full excuse😜

You need to base your decisions on the levels of activity. If you see nothing just use singles or zigs. If you see activity then its worth applying bait - but not loads. Even if they were boshing out like dolphins I'll seldom use more than a kg or 2 in winter. Get rid of anything high in oil e.g. pellets. Same as I'd use at any other time of year, but in moderation (particularly if they contain oils - which most fishmeals do). To be honest buddy bait should be the last of your worries. Location is the tricky bit in winter. If you can find them you can catch them and you'll not need much bait.

the only change to that lot is if I do a night I'll take my bedchair, the back's not up to much these days... then it's a barrow job, but that lot above is a normal day session... my young apprentice is loading up a barrow while I'm at me peg and setting up...🤣🤣

I had a painting job near a tackle shop that was sadly closing down i bought my first proper carp rods from there Des Taylor 21/2 lb maver must be well over 20years ago. Still use them for floater rods. Anyway the Mrs says you been buying gear again nar love I says painted a couple of ceilings and he gave me the rods lol Defo innocent till proven guilty 😉

Lead clips also allow you to switch to and from zigs very quickly.

Personally unless the lake bed you are fishing is flat I would use a coated braid, especially at this time of year as there may be leaves and detritus around to ruin your presentation, and be careful steaming fluoro it's quite easy to weaken it I think

I'm taking notice and going with a fishmeal,😁 but i do like the sound of Shropshire gold tbh,and there is the option of a winterised version it's a natural food bait, natural in colour and apparently it works quite quickly and will appear washed out due to its colour and with no added flavour, some of those factors may help me get the fish feeding quicker which suits my shorter sessions, it suits the bank balance a bit better too free postage and a little cheaper, it does seem to catch fish from the reports I read, apparently it smells like fish food, I haven't read anything negative about retro baits and I have trawled the web looking for it, and I know a couple of people on here have used it and given positive reviews about them so hopefully it's the one for me, I would like to put this chapter to bed tbh, I want to move on from worrying about these things and just knowing I can reach into the freezer and pull out a bag of bait that works is all I need, Thanks all for your input and thanks for getting me back on track 🙏🙏👍

Personally, I’d stick with a Fishmeal based bait as others have recommended. Premier, ABS, Rollinbaits, Trent baits, DNA etc will all catch you loads👍 I think we’re all guilty of overthinking it at times-paralysis by analysis. Trouble at this time of year is that results can be patchy at best and confidence comes from getting action. Don’t beat yourself up before you start.

trakker brolly 100t and groundsheet more day sessions this year im hoping plus two sonic dominatorx rod 3lb

This is what I love about this forum everyone except the odd troll is so very helpful. 😁👍

Sort the guttering out, repoint with 4 in 1. I wouldn't apply water repellent on until the end of summer, allow the bricks to dry out. If you stop evaporation externally, guess which side the damp comes out??? If its a solid wall highy, consider putting a mesh cavity membrane, dot n dab plasterboard to that. Good luck mate

A close shave... the branch crashed through the upper branches and just missed me rods... nigh on cacked meself...

Password protected 🤣🤣🤣🤣😁

That is some haul. I'm not a fan of B1/2 but no one could moan at an incredible result like that. Well done. If you're using a phone, try screenshotting it and uploading the screenshot. If you're using a PC, just compress the pic.

I have an old drennan one and an Angling Intelligence weigh / recovery sling in the brolly bag

Standard day ticket angling then hahaha 😂

Little bags or sticks if you feel you need to and just fish for a bite

Wow that is compact, looks like 10%of my load 😂 I will try and have a restructure I think I must be taking loads of bits I. Not really using 🤔

yup... that's why I trimmed the tag ends and blobbed them... I found if you leave the tag ends long, beads and rings tend to jam up against them.... that said I rarely use leaders now... most waters round here ban them for whatever reason (probably misuse) I use tubing/naked now...

.... but make sure anything that has to pass over the leader knot/blobs can do so with ease 👍

Crackin stuff Elmo.... (tip) trim the tag ends down a tad and blob them with a lighter... looks waaaay neater... did that with the Solar Unleaded leader... looks okay when its all neat

I think this is something I'm going to have to learn myself. Well done mate. 🙂👍

The NXG stuff was pants for me, fell apart. I keep my terminal stuff in one of these: https://heritageltdedition.bigcartel.com/product/coming-soon-heritage-ltd-edition-bits-bag-dpm My Rigsafe fits in the large one perfectly. They live in a British Army Patrol Pack (also known as NI (Northern Ireland) Patrol Pack). This is one of my fave bits of gear - cheap as chips, hard as nails, and carpy as Terry Hearns jumper. They come up on the bay all the time for 20 quid odd.

Can always remove them when I need too, you never know I may even drink one if I ever catch another fish 😂😁

I'm taking the littlun to the tackle shop now, will update later 😁

It's been a year since I started again now, new rod licence purchased, 😊 And 10 2.5oz Inline pears off ebay as I was really pleased with the quality of the 3.5oz ones I ordered,

I think @elmoputney is just trying to throw us off the scent by talking about different companies and different flavours , maybe he's been scent from hell .

It was a beautiful warm spring day today and me and my dog were doing a recce of a lake I have not fished before. It was 2 Km long and completely surrounded by dense forest. On one side was a narrow twisty but pretty walk that had been made through the undergrowth. After about half an hour I heard an irritatingly loud radio blasting out pop music. I came across two lads carp fishing. They had a mountain of gear and looked the part so I stopped for a chat. They had not had a single bite. They blamed the bright sun, the lack of wind, the time of year, their bait etc. etc. I said I did a bit of carp fishing and could offer some advice that might help. “OK” they said. “Carp really don’t like pop music” I suggested They looked at each other as if I were insane so I wished them luck and started to leave. “They prefer classical music” I said sarcastically as I continued on our walk. When I returned a little later, surely enough the radio was no longer belting out pop music. They had retuned to a classical station and was belting that out at an even higher volume.

Good on you, stick with it and I'm sure the results will come for you. As harsh as it may sound but if you're not catching, then look at what you're doing before thinking it's the bait. Tight lines

Yes. A proven one. The Prem has been catching carp for literally 30 years mate. Just grab some Matrix or Aminos and be done with it!

I get the bit about pike fishing. I guess my fishing style does not warrant an expensive alarm so I will stick to my cheapo Chinese alarms at around a fiver each. My best bite alarm ever is my dog. He lays and watches my rods all day long. Long before I am aware of a bite he jumps up and stares at the rod tip. If I am distracted and do not react, he starts barking.

This! If I'm fishing a water that hold bream the pellets are first to go. Followed by particles lol. Nuts and boilies all the way for me.