shooter

Hello, If anyone has seen the new Fox carp rig DVD, did anyone notice that in one of the rigs created, there seemed to me to be an obviously very weak point. The rig in question is the one where a short length of stiff mono is blobbed into a ball using a lighter (nothing new there), but then it seems that this blobbed down bit of mono forms an integral part of the rig itself. I know this isn't a great description of the rig, but i'm sure people who have seen the DVD will know what i'm getting at. I am just concerned that this 'blobbing' of the line would weaken it and have obvious fish welfare issues involved, i.e leaving hooks in the fishes mouth. i'm sure that i'm wrong in one way or another, but I do need re-assuring on this matter before I would ever consider using it. I've just found a sample viewing of the rig I mean while constructing this message, it is called the Tungsten rig I think, here is a link: http://www.foxint.com/video/video.html Any comments welcome (even if they point out that I'm being a thickie!) Cheers.

Yep, watched it the other night.. not bad at all..... obviously the fact that they manage to catch a few biggies makes it that bit more watchable. Worth a watch, although i would recommend finding somewhere you can rent it from, I don't know if I could watch it more than once...although i'm like that with everything on the telly!! All the best.

Absolutely agree with Tony, spend it on the wife instead! Then again........

Interesting to see how you do in a few weeks, I was hoping to go out at the start of May but due to how nice it does look I will probably go sooner.

http://www.valdore.com/Eng/Accueil%20gb.htm Has anyone ever been to these lakes? Any info would be much appreciated, or, if anyone knows of any similar day ticket lakes in the Northern area of France, no more than 2 hours from Calais / Boulogne-sur-mer. Many thanks.

29lber from the Sloterplas in Amsterdam. Hope fish causght abroad count, if not, 20lbs from Lakeside, Eastleigh.

I'm going to have a chance of one when I go to France later this year, the attraction.........it swims underwater and its BIG. Are you going to be targeting the catfish, if so, how? I need a few pointers on tactics, safety, baits etc.. Cheers..

Morning!! I'm still not convinced, what about when youve got a hook hold thats outside or near the fishes lips, the hook can certainly get caught in meshing, and then the carp will be pulling straight against the hook, and thats going to be some sort of huge pressure, Its also stopped me ever thinking about using braid for mainline, the stretch in the line and bend in the rod will account for any big lunges the carp puts in during the fight, with braid, no stretch, bigger forces, more damage???? I know this subject has been covered before but its the only big worry I have left in Carp fishing, I think most other safety issues surrounding the sport have been resolved but this one wont go away, it isnt nice seeing 'hoover' carp with a pee sized mouth. By the way, how do barbed hooks cause more damage than a barbless? It doesnt make sense that a tiny extra appendage could add significantly to damage in the hook hold area, is there any written evidence or any studies carried out into this phenomenon, if it was proved to be the case then surely there should be no more barbed hooks (for coarse fishing anyway) on sale, similar to lead shot. This probably bores people to death, but its imperative to continue to further the safety aspect of our sport non-stop to guard against future attempts to ban it.

Has anyone ever considered how much damage is caused to a carps mouth when it is ''safely'' in the net. If the weight or clip gets caught in the meshing then the fish is pulling with all its strength against a very short, taut hooklink. I think this is going to exert pressures on the hook hold area that is far in excess of what pressure is on during the fight and initial run. Thinking about it more and more I am coming to the opinion that ALL mouth damage is caused within the landing net. I'm probably wrong but even so I am now very careful landing fish but the problem of the weight and clip snagging on the net is pretty much impossible to overcome. Any thoughts???

Does anyone think, or know of, any way in which the smell / traces of human contact can remain on a bait and end tackle and cause the fish to spook off. I have no scientific evidence of this but it is starting to concern me and I am considering wearing a full chemical suit fishing....not really.. but I have considered trying not to touch any of my end tackle or bait with my bare skin, but to pick up bait only with a baiting needle and sterilising the end tackle with steam and then squirting it with a bait enhancement spray. Am I being an idiot????? I am going to conduct a few experiments when I eventually wake up from my winter hibernation, but I wondered if anyone had considered any of this before or know of anyone who has studied such theorums??? Many thanks..

One thing I noticed, and he did try to defend himself on the video, is the fact that he was too far from his rods. It was taking a good while for him to run to his rods and it was far longer than I would accept, even if I was fast asleep during the night. I know that on my club waters that would not be acceptable and you would definately be pulled up by the Bailiff for leaving your rods unattended.....and rightly so. Why didnt they set up the TV feed in his swim rather than the adjacent swim??? Any views on this???

Just interested if anyone who has watched this new Korda video will be making any drastic changes to the way they fish??? I've been talking to a very good angler from Oxford who advises to not read too much into it as the fish react totally differently on every water. I think I'll just be using shorter hooklengths, heavier weights and most definately putting more effort in at half light, (dusk and dawn) which seemed to be the most voracious feeding time for the fish, on that particular lake anyway!.

There is a lake there called the Sloterplas, this is also good because its really close to a very helpful and friendly fishing shop and other food shops / kebab shops etc. The fishing shop is called 'Henglesport Osdorp' and the e-mail address for the shop is pb@hengelsport-osdorp.nl They will be glad to help and will tell you which of the waters in and around Amsterdam will be best at this time of the year. Good luck with your trip, I'm going out to Amsterdam for a stag w/end in December and will be popping over to the Sloterplas for a walk about and wish I'd had some fishing gear.

The Pig is in Gold Valley lakes isnt it?? Or maybe its the fishery thats right next to it just outside Guildford/Aldershot. I've seen a picture of David Seaman cradling it.

Can anyone tell me what the dates of the beggining and end of the Pike fishing in Holland are?? I am going out later this month to do mainly carp fishing but wouldn't mind a bash at those big toothies either. Many thanks.

Does anyone else think that this all gets blown out of proportion? Theres absolutely nothing to worry about. There is no chance on earth that angling could be banned, what government in power would risk losing 3.5million votes and the billions of pounds spent by the public every year on fishing related goods? Its just the press, they dont give a toss about the fish (unlike us carpers) they just want to whip up a storm, tomorrow this will be off the news and out of everyones mind. I cant believe that people in this country consider us to be cruel, they should take a trip down to Spain or Turkey and see what they think about 'animal welfare'. I have done some work with rescue greyhounds and galgos and if thats how they treat dogs abroad then you can only imagine how they treat so called 'lessor animals'. We must be one of the best countries as far as tackling the problem of animal cruelty goes, and I think that may be half the problem, we expect too much, we want it perfect, which obviously is not going to happen. I think we are going the right way in fishing with everything now (especially in carp fishing) being targeted at protecting the fishes and the environments wellbeing as much as is 'humanly' possible. If we keep going along these lines then I dont think we can go wrong. Stick together.

If anyones on the forum at present, then you may be interested to know that at 8:20 am this morning there is a section on the morning program on BBC1 about fish feeling pain. If your not interested in that, Natasha Kaplinski's a right fitty!

What hooklink materials are people using when fishing the method? I have always used a short 3-4inch length of braid, but I wondered the other day whether or not the method could be used in conjunction with a stiff type of material, perhaps somehting like the Terry Hearn stiff rig presentation? Also, what do you all think is best; a long or short hooklink for method fishing? And, in or out of the ball? Tight lines.

I saw an article about the method that Terry Hearn uses involving a sausage bag of groundbait with the rig pulled throgh and then with the aid of a loop, hooked onto some sort of clip. My question is : What is the clip he uses? Is it the sort of clip that you use to attach a lead to a safety sleave, I've got some of those but they dont look strong enough. Many thanks.

70lbs 12ozs

Sorry mate, no tips for you, but i'm going in August so I need some aswell!! Lets hope now this is back at the top of the post list someone will help!

Thanks very much lads!

Am going on a boating holiday in June, is there any carp fishing to be had on the broads? If so, how do you go about targeting them???

I agree with you Peter, there is no such thing as a great angler, there is, however, such thing as 'lucky sod' anglers who can dedicate all of time to fishing and not have to go to a job every day. I am of the opinion that if I had that much time to dedicate to it, and I was fishing lakes with huge fish in them, then I would indeed become a very profficient angler who caught large carp, compared to your run of the mill angler who can only do w/end sessions once in a blue moon. I do have a mild sort of respect for these so called 'great' anglers but it is tempered with a touch of jealousy and realism.

A dunnie is a bog, toilet, john, lav. Nothing sexual unfortunately, but then again I dont think she'd come near me after I'd had my hands on the meaty fish bites.