kevtaylor

I should add: most of the time I keep the distance the same, if it's shallow the bait will fall a little behind the rods which is good IMO, only if it's deep I start subtracting a little for the spod.👍

If you want the distance the same for the rods and spod then the spod will need an extra foot adding when wrapping up coz the rods are different lengths. On deeper lakes you need to have the spod a little shorter to allow for the swing back on the rods. If the lake is 12 foot deep I subtract a third from the spod, so 4 feet less than the rods. Distance between the sticks can be anything - 6 feet, 10 feet whatever, but should be consistent each time you go. I lay the spod rod on the floor and put the sticks in the ground at each end of the rod, 12ft for me.

I had the Greys 12.6 Distance Marker, gotta say I hated it from day one, so tip heavy, completely unbalanced. Spod wise I recently replaced my old Greys 12ft Spod with 'The Tackle Box's' Spod rod after reading a price bracket rod testing review, it won the mid and top end groups. Cost about £160 - not used it loads yet but like it a lot. 👍

Thanks mate - I can't tell you how excited I was at seeing my mates 3.15lb Perch - I nearly went overboard lol

Had a fantastic day perch and Zander fishing, no perch for me but I did manage 3 nice Zander and upped my PB in the process, what a buzz! Everything aches after a long and active day and still felt like I was on the waves afterwards at home but can't wait to get out again 👍

3 nights down a packed Bluebell Lakes, 1 swim change and lots of head scratching I finally got it right with 4 fish on the last morning after moving a rod to an area of fizzing the night before.

Taking my son perch fishing on Pitsford Monday - obviously been buying more lures oh and rods, reels....., cant wait to give these Westin Crank Baits a try (plugs to us oldies)

Like it- I'm with you on most of that - as for the human part, well if I ate McDonalds now it would be out quicker than it went in - but that's not always been the case, hence my chicken and veg comments on another thread, so my body knows or just cant take the richness - problems due to age lol If baits are everywhere and fish eat them all then yes I can relate to what you're saying - how would they know which one was good for them and which gave them the squits so to speak. I hear all the my bait is best this and that, it's a minefield, I was with Premier using Aminos for maybe 30 years and no complaints whatsoever - caught everywhere and would continue to do so forever no doubt. Since leaving a syndicate I've been on Bluebell, targeting ideally Kingfisher if I can get on, arguably one of the most pressured waters in the country. Lots of evidence of uneaten bait and lots of comments backing that up, so for me I've had to think - is what I'm using as attractive as the best baits that have gone in there? - so I switched to xxx because I like the GLM content, because of that it's not a cheap bait to put together. I have also looked at smaller companies such as Asylum with the same thinking in mind, but opted for CCMoore as they seem to do great liquids too and I can get everything from one place with some confidence. If however I was fishing a highly stocked venue such as Drayton Res, a real runs water, I am certain those thoughts wouldn't enter my head, any bait would do and better bait would probably give zero advantage, where volume would. 👍

OK Rich, well I don't know anyone who uses or bigs up Nash or Mainline except someone who gets it free or is paid to say so. What I hear is cheap contents, effective liquid attractors. Like you say carp eat any old rubbish but that doesn't mean other baits aren't better for the fish and will be recognised as such long term. I read up about bait contents not listening to who shouts loudest, mass production is never as good as your smaller producers who worry about quality not saturating the market. I would pay double what I pay if I believed it gave me a real advantage. You asked why is there cheap deals on - IMO the answer is partly because it can be, whereas expensive to produce bait cannot be. 👍

Fair play mate stick to what you like - however baits you can get in a shop are never as good as smaller outfits in terms in expensive additives. Look at Asylum Baits for example - using only the best of the best ingredients. I'd rather pay for bait contents than packaging 👍

Exactly - good deal that, gotta say I've gone on XXX this year having been on Premier for many many years, just for a change really. Well the GLM content is very noticeable - that's not a cheap bait to put together for sure, seems proper quality to me.

Pretty sure you could get 10k of CCMoore or Premier Baits boilies for a little less than that normally and the quality difference I would of thought is huge.

Yes I believe it would be possible. Obviously better to do it all yourself blah blah blah but you have your reasons. Look at Korda and Fox they immediately come to mind. Also the new Korda basic range worth a look for anyone starting out wanting to tie their own.

I don't think any decent branded bait would be counter productive they are all good enough to catch fish and have some beneficial ingredients, expensive baits just have more.

Blimey 7 nights is more than enough for me - 4 nights too many if I'm honest 😁