Errrm

There lots of different types of product you're mentioning :-). I have only really ever used basic crumb apart from pre-mixed packs. Can anyone give me a quick idea ( or a link to a good article ) what each of the different products mentioned are used for i.e flavouring, binding etc. I know molasses is a sweet flavouring, is it it a liquid? what are fish meal, groats, hemp, pellets, wheat, vitalin, betaine used for? The main reason I want to mix my own groundbait is to make it cheaper ( I've just bought my first house so money is hard to come by :-) ). There are huge amounts of small roach and rudd in the pond ( which can be fun sometimes :-) ) which tend to take a lot of things on the drop so getting enough feed on the bottom to hold tench and bream seems to be my main problem. Thanks for all the info. Errrm

I live in leicestershite so I don't think that company is a possibility, although thanks for the idea I'll try similar shops in the area I live in.

Hi, I've had a look on the internet at various sites for for places to buy groundbait in large amounts, I'm getting sick of paying £3.50 for 1kg for packaged stuff from my tackle shop so I'm looking at buying bulk amount of groundbait to have a mess around with some mixes ( any tips? :-) ) I'm looking at red/brown crumb to fish for bream or tench on a still water and basically I want to know if anyone can give me any ideas on where is a good place to order it from? The best I can find at the moment is £28 for 20kg from www.thebaitwarehouse.co.uk ( anyone bought anything from them? any good? ) has anyone else got any idea where to look? Errrm

Couldn't you also argue that it is more of a test because there are no 'hot pegs' so luck plays less of a part in it? I don't like fishing these types of venues but for a competition I don't see a problem you still need to catch a greater weight than anyone else. Saying that though I have only fished 1 junior competition about 12 years ago and I probably will never fish another competition again :-).

What size are the roach? You could possibly try changing to sweetcorn, you'll probably get less bites but the average size will be bigger and perch won't take sweetcorn.

Are you sure you're not fishing in an actual fish tank ;-)

Ah ok I understand what you're saying now and agree, if you can get to that write up at another time it would be interesting to read.

I don't fish for cap that often but how if the hook length breaks can nothing be left in the fish? I would assume the best that you can do it use a barbless hook which should pull out when the pressure it released or am I missing something, or is this what you mean? Errrm

Boilies do work but they don't seem to work brilliantly the only reason I could see for using them is top stop the army or small roach and rudd peck away at them during the night. I will probably just be float fishing during the day and evening so I'm thinking more natrual baits might work better on a pond which isn't fished that often and there are only 2 maybe 3 people on the pond using boilies.... surely the fish would be a lot more used to eating natrual baits. Errrm

Hi, I haven't fished on canals for a while but I think small baits like squats/pinkies and possibly ground bait for loose feed with single maggot fished over the top. You probably want to fish close to the edge because that is were the ledges are and boats wash water/feed into these areas so fishing close to the opposite bank while occasionally feeding and casting to the margins close to you would be best. Hope this helps or I hope someone with more experience gives a better answer :-) Errrm

Hi, I'm thinking about starting fishing for carp properly i.e. pods, alarms, night fishing etc after about 11 years of course fishing experience, but I'm still curious at the moment. What do you do while not actively fishing? Is it frowned upon to take alcohol with you for the evenings? There are what I would define as 2 seperate carp venues near where I live the first being the typical commercial fisheries that also have specimen pools and the second is a place like Willesley near ashby which sounds more interesting than something crammed full of fish, or would Willesley be the same sort of artifical venue? I guess what I'm asking is if going by myself for 2 day sessions what sort of things should I think about using to keep myself entertained during slow times, and which sorts of venues are more interesting? It's worth noting that I would much prefer to fish somewhere which is picturesque with good wildlife then somewhere built in a complex to stuff full of fish.... if that makes sense :-). Also I'm estimating that I would need to spend around £250 for a good carp starter set + additonal stuff like large net, tent, unhooking mat etc so are the carp sets any good, and is this an acurate estimate? Thanks for any advice. Errrm

I would have thought they would have seen them before, I'm guessing they see them natrually due to it being a mostly natrual pond with a fair amount of good sized fish so there must be a good amount of natrual food. Thanks for the ideas so far.

Hi, I fish a couple of lakes which have tench/bream to about 6-7 lbs and the odd carp around the 15-20lb mark. The lake isn't fished that much and normally I'm the only person there on a weekend so I am expecting them be used to taking more natrual baits ( although boillies do work ). I was thinking about trying worms on the hook with some mixed in with the groundbait but I have never fished with worms before, can anyone give me some advice? Should I use a whole worm on the hook ( what size hook? ) or cut up worm? I'm guessing that it should be chopped up worm in the groundbait so that it hold together fairly well. Are there any other natrual baits which I should try ( I've tried the obvious i.e. maggots and casters )? Thanks Errrm

I haven't fished for eels really but people have been using wire to hair rig up chunks of fish for pike fishing so I guess you could to it with smaller chunks for eels. You might need to feed a couple of chunks of fish to get them used to eating cut up pieces as oppose to small whole fish. I'm sure someone eith more experience will come along with some better advice though :-) Errrm

It depends on how many snags you are fishing near, if you are in clear water then you can land big carp using light tackle, but if you are near snags ( lillies and tree roots ) then you'll need to be able to turn the fish early on in the fight. I've landed 5-6lb tench on 4lb mainline with a 2.4lb hook length which was hooked right next to a lilly pad, luckly I got it under control and pulled it towards the lillies which made it shoot in the opposite direction. It all depends on what sort of fight you will be expecting from the fish. Errrm

In the case of float/ledger fishing I think the line would act like a drag I might be wrong though I have never tested it out. Errrm

Using a lighter line should improve your casting distance, what sort of fish are you targeting if you are only catching small fish then 4lb mainline and a 2lb hook length should be more then enough. I have not used puddle chucker floats but I think as long as it is shotted down far enough in the water then it should be sensitive to catch small fish. The fish are pulling with the weight not against it they are pulling against the boyancy of the float minus the weight weighing it down so you should be able to get it sensitive enough so the small fish can pull it under. I think the main problem you would have when using a match rod for any sort of ledgering would be damaging the rod with the weight you are casting out especially if you're casting at a long distance rather than lobbing it out lightly Errrm.

How do you make your own expo-type groundbait? I'm guessing you use something like moulases, where can you get this from? Errrm

There is some more detailed explanation of the genetic difference between a mirror carp and other variantes here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_carp

I'm being an idiot and I can't remember the company that makes the boillie/pva packs that have come out recently in 4 flavours. I think that come with boillies, pellets, paste and a PVA system, does anyone know who makes them? I am planning on taking along a pack barble fishing ( along with some other bait ) this weekend but I have never used boillies for barble so can anyone suggest which flavour would be best? Errrm

I guess it really depends on how weedy the lake it, I fish a pond and caught tench to about 5-6lbs with a 2.4lb hook length without any problems. I was fishing nect to some lilly pads trees about 10-15 metres away and I didn't have any problems but I guess this is where I can see the snags.

It seems to be a collection of different types of weed ( I don't know the names for it sorry ), most of it is not very dense and can be fished in as normal but moving a lure for it will pick up weed. The floated deadbait... as in a pike float suspending the deadbait at maybe half depth doesn't pick up weed it is the movement though it that seems to cause problems Errrm I have tried lures that work just below the surface, but I think most of the pike are on the bottom based on having more runs on the ledgered deadbait compared to the floated one. Errrm

Hiya, I fish a pond with Pike up to about 15-20lbs and I like lure fishing for a few hours after work. The problem is from my own experience and advice from club members that lures don't work very well on the pond. I think it is just a problem with presenting them correctly and at the correct depth though ( might be wrong though? ) When fishing with deadbaits i've fished a floated deadbait along with a deadbait flat on the bottom and it is always the bottom deadbait which gets the takes. The pond has loads of weed across the bottom and fishing deep lures just end up raking in weed can anyone give me some advice on weedless lures that work well? If you know of a link online that would be great. A bit on information about the pond... Only a 1-2 acres, lots of roach, rudd, skimmer bream for prey fish ( both appear to feed/hide in the bottom weed, although also do come to surface ). The depth is between 4 and 8ft depending on the part of the lake. Errrm

It sounds similar to a lake I fish at near meahsam just down the road from Willesley apart from there are very few carp in this lake, and the ones that are there are all about 20lbs. What is the name of the lake/who owns it? As for best strategy during the summer I like surface fishing for carp, you can even select the fish to try and catch and pull the bait away from any small fish before they take it. Errrm

It is very tempting, but one of the best things about the fight was the light tackle it was on I can't really fish for it using an 18 inch wire trace with 2 size 8 trebles and 4 pound mainline :-).