davedave

thanks, i will try and get some but probably wont be able to get any before i go because im going in the next couple of days i expect. I emailed the club and they said there were no pike, im just going with what they said. It is a deep estate pond with a couple of inlets, i dont know if they could get through if it flooded?? Wow, 20lb seems heavy for perch of a pound or two. You know more than me though so i'll take your word for it. I cant get braid immediately though so will 8lb mainline be ok? thanks

yehh i always thought hook lengths were for better presentation and not to strengthen the rig in any way but i might be wrong? And yeh this is the third hook ive left in a fish, i hate it but sometimes it really cant be avoided. all three were barbless though and were on a well fished lake so i like to think they either shedded them or were re-caught soonish and had the hook removed. You never know though do you

Thanks for your replies, it is the perch that go to 5lb 8oz, i know chub have come out at around the 2-3lb mark but i dont know if thats the biggest. And thanks dales i have 4lb line and 6lb line, thought it would be easier just to say i had 5lb line haha, if its better i will use the 6lb line or i have another spool of 8lb line, would that be better?

why? Im not being rude, im just curious, although it gives better presentation surely it weakens the whole rig? Im probably wrong i just thought it would be the opposite when carp are about, thought it would be better just to have the mainline to the hook??

A little estate pond near to me that ive mentioned before has some nice chub and perch up to 5lb 8 oz as recently mentioned in the 'where to fish section' of anglers mail. I dont know if that is true but as it was in the mag so im going with it is and want to try spinning. I have a couple of small spinning rods, swivels, reels with 5lb line, and of course, about half a dozen lures. Im going to crush the barb down so their safer but apart from casting to predator looking features, reeling in whilst twitching it is there anything else i should know? Is it as simple as that or do i need to know anything else. Thanks for any info (P.S there are no pike or zander whatsoever so no need for traces)

thanks, yeh maybe i'll forget about the hook length next time, i reckon i could have got him in on 4lb mainline, it was the 2lb hook length that really did it. thanks again

thanks, yeh if it lasts for a couple of years its still money well spent, when you put it in perspective the alarm is 7 quid but a ticket to fish is 6!!! thanks again for the info

I have been looking at cheap bite alarms (Under a tenner) when i came across this. I thought Dragon was a very respectable make of tackle and alarms so was surprised to see this alarm for 7 quid, brand new! Is it too good to be true or is this a reliable alarm at a good price?? Has anybody got this alarm and got any info on it?? thanks http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/dragon-carp-bite-ala...ac#ht_500wt_764

thanks, yes i see your point budgie, as soon as i lost it i thought i should have given more line for the initial fight, i was so shocked to have a carp on that rod i wasn't properly focused, all in 'hein sight' i suppose. In my defence im new to catching big fish, the amount of carp ive caught is only in the last few months and you could count them on one hand so i need more experience. I hope he sheds the hook soon but i have only caught one fish with a hook in its mouth, that was a barbed hook and it was tethering a large weight and he still managed to feed on my hook-bait and put up a hell of a fight. With that in mind im sure he will stay healthy enough to be caught again in the near future as the water is regularly fished by carp anglers. Touch wood. Thanks again

thanks very much for the replies, budgie i know you shouldnt get line breaks but i was using 2lb hooklength to 4lb mainline, and im pretty sure the fish was over 10lb so it couldnt really be helped. I wasnt after carp with that rod so didnt have heavy enough gear. cheers

for starting out fishing i would recommend a whip from the tackle shop, they are only about 10 quid and are brilliant for starting out fishing for roach, perch etc, not elasticated though so that may not interest you. If you are more advanced you can get some good poles on ebay for about 50 pounds.

I was fishing a shallow lake nearby today with two rods. My first rod was an avon quivertip with 4lb line and a 2lb hooklength, i then had a maggot feeder in a free running rig. This was my 'small' fish rig which i have used many times before so i can get lots of bites and hopefully catch some nice roach, rudd, perch etc whilst sitting it out for the bigger carp/bream/tench. This rig i cast out close to some lilies. Rod number 2 was a leeda carp rod with 8lb mainline to a 5lb hooklength, again a free running ledger rig but with a small arlesely bomb instead of a feeder. I had a hair rig on with a bait band and was switching between 8mm halibut pellet and chunks of peperami. This, as you've probably guessed was my bigger fish rig. This was set-up to a bite alarm and a homemade bobbin. This rig was cast tight against an island. Anyway thought id get that out the way so it was clear how i was fishing. After a little while i had some nice roach up to about half a pound and a rudd which i was pleased with. A few hours in my bite alarm then went off, after a couple of minutes of playing the fish i had in the net a common carp of about 7lb which i was very happy with as my pb is only 11lb. I put my big fish rig back in and left it whilst i then concentrated on my quivertip. Because i was running out of maggots, i took the feeder off, put on a small weight and left the maggots for the hook. Then the bites stopped, i tried many different places around the lilies but the fish just didnt want to feed, there are next to no pike in the lake so that probably wasnt why, i was thinking the bites had stopped either because they werent attracted to the feeder anymore or bigger fish had pushed them away. I hoped they would feed again soon so left it out there with a couple of maggots on the hook still. After another hour of no bites my quivertip suddenly slammed round and i realised a carp had taken my bait. After about a minute the inevitable happened on such light line and it snapped, heartbroken and annoyed i had lost a lovely fish which would have made my day if i had got it in, it was also even more annoying because it would have been the first carp i'd had on that rod and my first carp i'd ever caught on maggot!! I couldn't help but feel guilty because the poor bugger was now going round with a hook in its mouth (A drennan size 20 barbless) After my efforts of baiting the same spot up with pellets and maggots i couldn't re-catch him to take the hook out, he was gone. Then it started getting dark so i packed up and went home. I thought i'd fill you in on the situation so you knew how i was fishing, but what my question is - Do fish really shed barbless hooks or is it our way of feeling less guilty every time one swims off with it in their mouth? As always advice is greatly appreciated. davedave

thanks for the advice

You could keep holding it and just rest it on a standard rod rest. Otherwise i think you may need a lighter pole but normally poles aren't that heavy, maybe your just holding it awkwardly?

not a bad idea, thankyou. For all the people that recommended hair rigs i have recently made my first ever hair rig. A size 10 barbless drennan hook with a snippet of 4lb line off my reel. I made it all up and then decided to tie on a bait band instead of using the baiting needle way of doing it. Looking forward to using it for peperami chunks or pellets. cheers

Im new to hair rigs and was wondering how long the hair should be from the eye of the hook to the loop? I made one that was 2 inches exactly from the eye to the loop, is this too long? Thanks

thanks everyone, budgie the video was very helpful

thanks, if ledgering for carp would a 4lb hair rig be strong enough? cheers

In a recent peperami related post it came to light that it is about time i learnt to hair rig. I have been putting it off but now is as good as ever. I have watched a couple of videos on youtube and am clear of how to tie the knotless etc but just have to ask a couple of questions. 1-Do i need to buy braid like on the videos or will my 3-4lb power line hook length material work?? 2-Once the knot is done how do you then tie the hair rigged hook to the mainline as the eye of the hook now already has material in it which was used in the knotless knot? Any other tips on hair rigging would be appreciated and which species are they most effective for apart from carp??? Thanks

thankyou

weldone

thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I haven't started hair rigging yet, and until i learn do you think banding it and slipping the hook underneath the band like a pellet would work?? Thanks again

When fishing with peperami for carp today i had a couple of screaming runs on the bite alarm but no fish on the end. I was using a piece of peperami about the size of a 10mm pellet, not that big. I was hooking it with a B911 (size 16), and leaving the hookpoint exposed. Would it be because of the bait i was using which i know can be a pain to strike through, but i was leaving the hookpoint fully exposed, or just bad luck? thanks P.S Also has anyone had much luck banding peperami with a bait band which i thought about doing today?

good ideas, thanks

thanks