pike hunter

Im a big fan of Jim, Go on my son, hope we speak again soon. (thanks for the advice on natural baits) Darren

"Benchmark" all depends on the water your fishing. Twenty is a good fish, Thirty is a great fish and so on. All depends on the water/river you fish, go by your own standards. Twenties appear all over the place in the weekly anging press, but dont be put out, a twenty is still a good fish. All fish caught through angling deserve a little respect. Darren

NICE PIC. GOOD ANGLING! YOU SHOWED EM!

GOOD EFFORT!!

Jim, in responce to your original post. Recently, I have been targetting an area of a lake near lilly pads. I have been dropping my bait over the rod tip near the pads, now I say "near". I didnt get a bite for 2 nights. So i changed tactics, I trudged round to the other side of the lack and cast into the lillies, and got a 2 bites withing 15 minutes. I believe that the "semi fixed leger" weight carried the bait further into the pads from the other side and that got me the bites, I used the same bait and same rigs. 10" braid hooklength, and a strong barbless hook. Now i cant give you any advice on super rigs but maybe casting from a different angle may give you the edge. Give it a go and let me know how you get one. Darren

JWM, Its Darren here, we met on Saturday, you must be talking about the lake in Gloucester!!. Thousands of Rudd, cant believe it. I had about 6 in the net everytime i landed a carp!! I was talking to Tom who caught the 2 20lbers off the top, he stalked them, but he fed loads and loads of mixers, kept piling them in. If you fish double mixer on the hook, the rudd have a peck but soon sod off when the carp show up. He could tell when he was about to get a carp, coz the rudd cleared then he had a take. It went very quiet in the day there, i managed a 7lber and that was it, all my fish came at night, i hope it wont be like that all season! Sounds like you had a good session anyway, that dam wall is a hot spot i think. See you down there soon anyway, im going on sunday. speak soon Darren

Insanity, I havent used Mega silk yet, as I dont feel confident on the abrasion resistance. Most lakes i fish have a lot of snags of rough gravel bottoms, would the mega silk withstand this abrasion? I have looked at mega silk but have thought it looks far too weak when it comes to the crunch. If that isnt the case id like to hear that it withstands a fair test against snags and gravel bars. ive had supa nova come back with a fish still hooked and been half the diameter with the inner showing, after been rubbed against snags and bars. Insanity, id like to hear if you put full confidence in mega silk if you were fishing near snags, if so, i'll give it a go. Cheers Darren

Hi I have used Fox Snare and have found its a very good braid, and ive had good success with it. Although I do find the Kryston Supa Nova the best. Its got a good abrasion level as well. Both good braids that wont let you down , but Supa Nova just pips it for me. Darren

I can recommend Strategic Carp Fishing by Rob Hughes and Simon Crowe, published by Crowood. Has just about everything, advanced rigs, planning the capture of certain fish from waters, the way carp feed. I believe www.Amazon.co.uk book store have it on offer. Happy reading Darren

Hello Tat, Im no expert but most things that would scare the birds would scare the fish, flashing lights, big inflatable scarecrows! Unless you bait up in very shallow water then waterfowl shouldtn be much of a problem. Tufted ducks are the main culprits but surely they cant hoover up that much bait. if you bait up in sufficient depth then ive never found a problem with water birds anywhere. And their only natural anyway, birds wont scare fish away, other anglers poaching your prebaited swim will though!!!! Good luck Darren

Yeah, we're not experts on car reg plates, (only fishing!!!!) how much, I'll give you £8.25 cash! Mean Pike hunter

Hi majority of lakes nowadays have Carp in them, and the anglers that fish them class themselves as "carp anglers". Specimen fishing is huge especially carp fishing, barbel next then pike. Anglers love the fight and all of the above give a great scrap. Sea fishing is popular coz its free and you can take your catch home, normally Whiting!! Game fishing is popular coz you can eat what you catch (most of the time). carp fishing is the most popular fishing of all, its trendy to fish for carp, its clean and theirs lots of science envolved. Go pike fishing for a weekend , see how much fish oil you get covered in then you'll see why its hard work!!! Tight lines Darren

Hello I agree with catcherofcarps, I have 8000's and I can cast upto 100 yds. I have a pair of Aerlex for Pike fishing and they dont add nothing to my casting but their great for cranking big baits. I wouldnt file your reel down thats out of the question. Big Pit reels are a fad, too much line your not gonna use, and no baitrunner (controversial) casting is al to do with balance. get the right rod and reel and you can chuck a lead 100+ easy. Big Pit reels are here to catch the angler not the fish.

In the real cold weather, give punched bread a good go for Roach, they love it. Liquidised bread and punched bread on the hook, is the best. As for Perch, a worm every time, get on a big lobworm aqnd you cant go wrong. lobworm everytime for Perch. Any way good luck my friend. Tight lines Darren.

My local tackle dealer will match any advertised price in the fishing magazines, just take him the advert, he hasnt let me down yet. I prefer to do this for most of my gear, if any goes wrong with it then hes only 5 minutes away in the car. Im very much a regular now, all the employees have got to know me over the years. My last purchase were two Greys X-Flite carp rods, he knocked off £25 each!! Cant fault him. Great place to get local advice an all. Darren

Hi Raz, Its a great way of catching carp, and it normally means the weathers nice as well which makes it more pleasant for us! Try the web address below for floater fishing rigs, both simple and advanced. www.carp-uk.net/floaterfishing.htm Good luck Darren

Nathan, Spods are generally used to put a large amount of bait out into an area you are going fish. When you need to get a large carpet of bait down then a spod is a good way of doing that. When full these spods can weigh upto 7oz, so a powerfull rod is required to cast accurately and at distance sometimes. PVA bags are mainly used when you want to place a small amount of feed around your hookbait. Obviously repeated casting to the same area with PVA bags will gradually build up your swim over the duration of your session. When using PVA bags I tend to pull the hooklength through the bottom of the bag then fill with pellets, groundbait or whatever the chosen feed is, placing the weight near the top, and just wet to seal it. I also hook the point of the hook onto the outside of the bag to avoid tangles or getting caught up. Hope this helps, id try em if i were you there a very effective way of fishing. Piker

Sliding float method would do the same job after youve plumbed the depth and added a stop knot to the main line to fish at your chosen depth. But as Singy says Polaris floats are excellent and i regulary use them in deep water, they are fantastic for fishing hard on the bottom. If later in the session you have to fish higher in the water, you can simply tie a stop knot above the float at the appropriate depth. Darren

Cant go wrong with those rigs, I also recommend putting PVA rig foam on the hookbait to be confident that it slowly comes to rest on top of the weed, even with pop ups, just to make sure. Good luck Darren

I have to agree with Howard, The fish in the photo look exactly like a couple of plump Chub to me!

First thing is to locate the fish, ask anglers on the bank or local tackle shop for advice. Keep rigs simple, semi fixed lead with a hooklength of 6-8 inches, either mono or braid. Small PVA bags are worth a try half filled with pellets fish pellet or single boilie on the hook hair rigged with a knotless knot. Pop-ups are also worth a try, 3 inches off the bottom. Sweetcorn and Maize is also a good winter bait, single grains. Also a small method feeder with a big bunch of maggots on the hook, can be a killer. Most important is to locate the fish especially in winter when they dont show emselves as often. Good luck and let us know how you get on. Darren

ESP Raptor Big T's, I had the same problem this season, on managing to land a carp after a a fair scrap, the hook came out in the net, nice i thought, one less thing for me to do, on inspection of the hook, it had started to straighten out, Im sure if the fight went on much longer or the carp weighed more than it did, of only 12lb, im sure the hook would of fully straighten and a fish lost. I have not gone back to them, little frustrating after tieing 20 rigs! I now only use Drennan boilie hooks or fox in the heavy gauge. Anyone else recommend some good strong carp hooks or good string trebles as I am preparing to tie my own wire traces for pike fishing in the new year?