luckydenvermint

It may be a common occurence but when I was younger I caught a Perch on nothing, was packing away and had the end of the rod hanging over the canal with no bait on, lifted my rod out with a small Perch hooked - obviously took a liking to my shiny 18 hook! As for unusual catches I seem to have a penchant for pulling out fishing gear. Only a few weeks ago I pulled out a pole top section by it's elastic. I've also had bits of rod, a couple of swimfeeders and the end of landing net which at first tug felt like a right beast!

I go for thermal leggings and thermal t shirt as base layers, then a t-shirt on top with my trusty north face fleece and then a waterproof jacket. Combat trousers on the bottom, 2 pairs of socks, wooly hat and some crappy gloves that I put on and off each time re-bait, make changes etc. My core is always warm - just the hands and feet I'm having trouble with. Going to get some moonboots though as well as fingerless gloves and I may even join the 'tool' brigade and get one of the Leeda all in one suits from Argos!

Some good advice there, I am at the moment using a rounded ledger so I will definitely give the inline a go. Interestingly I was using good chunks of luncheon meat which seems to pretty much rule out the smaller fish. On Monday using curried luncheon meat I caught Carp, Bream, Roach, Chub and Perch - all of a decent size. The luncheon meat is so versatile!

Just thought I would update this thread incase anyone else looking into this finds it interesting. Went to the same place on Monday and again started to get some of these drop back bites. Instead of striking straight away this time I waited a moment or two for another pull, this time with the quivertip bending in the direction of a normal bite. Both times I did this I was successful and resulted in me landing nice Chub twice. I'm presuming Chub can carry a bait without taking it down and me striking was basically striking the bait away from the fish before it had decided to take it fully?

Sat in an icy wind today and whilst I did keep my core pretty warm with thermals etc my hands and feet were freezing after a few hours in the shade. So just wondering mainly how other AN forum members plan to keep themselves warm this winter? Feet I presume some kind of padded wellies? my standard ones with a couple of pairs of socks failed miserably today! And is there a practical option for keeping the hands warm whilst still maintaining dexterity? Finally does anyone else use the full one piece body suits or do people think when they see others wearing these they look a bit of a tool?

Thanks again for all the replies, On this occasion I ended up buying a Fox Micron Warrior plus a GFX Alarm along with an Okuma Interceptor Baitfeeder. The quality of the Shimano Baitrunners has been taken on board and I will be saving for one/watching ebay in the meantime for a good quality one, if I do get second hand then it has to in mint condition for my liking!

Had to laugh the other day when my Father and I were told by two resident Carpers that we won't catch anything decent on float; My dad pulled out two nice Carp on float with a bit of pinched bread around the hook whilst the two Carpers sat in front of some 'silent' alarms. I personally believe that if you put a piece of bait on a hook that the fish your aiming for is known to eat and stick it in an area containing the fish you're after then theres a good chance you'll hook one no matter what rig, rod, etc you are using. I also think this ties into a more important question such as reading the features on the water you are fishing and having a bit of base knowledge to know where certain fish like to reside or where they might move to in different conditions. But I also understand there are different types of fisherman and some people go there to enjoy the surroundings and hopefully catch whilst others are obsessed with the technical side of things and mull over every little detail. Each to there own.

Not sure about buying a used reel, would prefer to buy new - not used a good baitrunner before and I wouldn't be able to tell if it was working well or not. I've narrowed it down to; Daiwa Regal 4000 Bri http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Daiwa-Regal-Free-run...=item230aa2b097 TF Gear Freespool 5000 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TF-Gear-Power-Freesp...=item4cf21eaeaa Okuma Interceptor http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-New-Okuma-Inte...=item35ac9d5cf8 The Shimano's do look fantastic but seem to be just out of budget. Which would you guys go for out of the top 3? or feel free to throw something else into the ring, looking to order the reel within the next day or two.

Thanks Peter, just ordered a GF alarm as well as the fox one. looking into the reels now.

Thanks for the info guys, Bought the Fox Warrior Micron bite alarm for about £19. On the baitrunner I'm currently looking at Okuma Undertaker/Interceptor, the TF Gear Force 8 or the masterline John Wilson reel. Is the Matt Hayes TF Gear any good? also the John Wilson one seems a bit too much of a bargain at £12.

Usually fish one rod or pole but would like to fish two rods on a couple of ponds. I've already got a decent Carp rod but rarely use it so was thinking about buying a 'baitrunner' reel and a bite alarm and setting that up to target some of the bigger fish whilst still being able to float fish on another rod. Not got a massive budget, about £60-70 for both items, can I get anything reliable on this budget? Thanks in advance, Lucky

I think you could do that, big hook with a chunk of luncheon meat would go down a treat. I can't speak for all chub bites but the 3 fish I took on monday were all aggressive - the last one took the rod clean off the rod rest and he was only just over a pound! Let us know how you get on

Hi Dave, I had 3 decent chub out of a stillwater today. I was quiver tipping on a simple free running rig with a good size chunk of luncheon meat (placed in fridge marinated with curry powder the night before). I was actually targetting Carp at the time and using a hair rig but from what I've read if targetting Chub specifically then possibly don't use a hair rig due to how they feed. So I can certainly recommend legering chunks of luncheon meat on a decent size hook

thanks for all the replies. Going to try a variety of different weights next time on the snap link swivel to see if theres any improvement going lighter or heavier or maybe try a semi-fixed safety rig.

Thanks for the reply. I did hit them pretty quickly when the drop back occured - it seemed strange that out of the 5 times I didn't hook into a single fish. I was using a free running rig as well which I would have thought would still cause a normal bite indication when the fish first took the bait before lifting the lead as well which could maybe be the resistance you mentioned plus the 'drop back' effect. Guess I will have to keep striking them and my luck will change - have to say I'm not a big fan of drop back bites!