Woodzzz

I work for the Journal mate I am it's only reporter I have the number now.

No worries mate, I got a number through a local tackle shop. You know what, I saw this site earlier today and have spoken to that young man and his father at a lake at the bottom of the wrekin. I caught a 20lber that session when Tom and his father came around for a chat. Polite young man and keen angler, his Dad seems to be pointing him in the right direction as well. They have fished the Priorslee Flash though, rather than the pool. The pool i'm after is a syndicate with 30's in Many thanks.

I've had the exact opposite occur to me Budgie. Strange. I use mixers on a hair rig and use a split shot for a hair stop, which keeps the hook above the surface [or I use an imitaton mixer] I have taken approximately 20-30 carp this season off the surface using the same tactic, with 6-8foot of drennan double strength in 12lb fully greased right up to the ESP Big T size 10 or size 8 hook. I use a drennan controller float, rather than a bulky bubble float. I have found that by feeding the area with between 1 kilo and 10 kilo of mixers [depending on the water and the contesting birdlife] that this method is devestating. Mixers are a cheap and very successful bait, not too sure about their use in October, but you may know something I dont

Clumsy begger should tidy the rubbish up himself if he has such a problem with it

Bubble floats in October? What are you fishing for? I used to use these for carp and found that putting a float stop on the mainline and having the float between the stop & the hooklenght swivel was the best tactic. DONT lodge one between two shots, that woul be a tether rig. Make the hooklenght long and use a floating line [or smear it with vaseline] to keep it above the surface.

If I had that guy/girl come up to me I'd have just catapulted maggots at them. Let them wriggle in their hair and down their neck. As they whacked the maggots, stomped on them, and shook violently to remove them, just shout 'hypocrite'

Anyone got a number for this group? Or know of another contact for the Priorslee Lake in Telford, Shropshire? It's a balancing lake owned by Severn Trent I believe, and according to signs the TAS group run it. But the phone number on these signs no longer exists, so it's a dillema, as it's spot on for a winter campaign. For several reasons

Indeed they do Infact, most fish are eating them at the moment. Even roach etc are picking up the scraggy bits. I think that the crayfish has meant that smaller pike, that would have otherwise remained small, are reaching sexual maturity and having babies sooner, which has lead to a lot of small to average sized pike. The larger pike are still around, it's just battling through the jacks that's the problem I reckon.

Hey Col. I'm hopefully finishing work early that day, I'll put a chair in the swim next door to me for you to drop into when you arrive. I'll bring dinner, you owe me £15 though so can pay the tickets. Eat at the bankside with me, rather than showing up in the dark after your Mommys cooked for you I'll see you in that new bar later probably, two free drinks each. Pukka. We can discuss it then. BTW, i'm gonna pop-up to Dawley soon, i'll get you some bits and pieces if you have the dollar. I'll come to your work and get it later today. Expect a text shortly.

Soldier Solider is an awesome film

He's also been in quite a few less known Shakespeare remakes, and a few OScar Wilde things. Good actor, and thus, a good presenter. Possible the clumsiest angler I've ever seen, but that makes his programmes 'real'. I like that he travels around and listens intently to the guides, rather than sneering at them like other tv 'anglers' who think they know best. [Not naming any names, but we know the twonks i'm talking about] I met Paul at a county fair, he was a true gentleman and won a fly casting competition. Top bloke, and a GENUINE one.

Hey Koi, I have drilled 8mm pellets before, just use a very fine drill. Go halfway through from each side so the two meet. Rather than going all the way through at once- which tends to crack the pellets. I believe ANTBAITS are selling some predrilled 6mm and 8mm pellets in different flavours, I have used the black ones over hemp to good effect and I believe they have some trout pellet ones. Another thing to do is use small dumbell/pellet shaped boilies. Bream LOVE boilies. I've caught skimmers on 18mm and slabs on double 10mm. Tench are the same, as are chub and barbel, they can't get enough. Boilies are much easier to hair rig and last longer, not only that, you will get some awesome hookholds using them on a hair rig. A 10mm brown coloured boilie will suffice among the pellets. OR a brown 'midi' boilie from Richworth, which are 6mm. All the best

Tench bream carp barbel chub and on some waters roach all love pellets. Trout pellets, halibut pellets, salmon pellets, you name it, they love it. Buggers have me all the time when carp fishing. I'd recommend getting some pre drilled halibuts and using them on a hair, you'd be surprised how naff a banded pellet is compared to a hair rig. Very surprised.

Just don't fish the island Col. It will be tempting, but just don't Clever rigs too Tidy ones as well

I think the only fishing show really worth re-running is a Passion For Angling. Get Yates infront of a camera and you got magic. Get him behind one and you get the same, he is one of the best photographers going

No Peter, [lol at Korda, poor damian clarke's got a hammering on the RMC forum for the pounds of lead he left in that lake] I rarely ever fish snags, I rarely have to.

Isn't Julian from up that way? I've not fished it, but have had a look around. I remember some of the Cheshire boys doing very well on the place using casters. The rig they used was fairly clever too. They glued casters to a cork plug [not a cork ball] and used long [straight] shank hooks with a blowback ring and a line aligner. The rig was braided, and was VERY short. Like 3 inches short. It became critically balanced under the weight of the casters and when used with a PVA bag of casters i believe they did extremely well. Worth a try?

I agree. I see Fred as the next Hayes I suppose because he looks a very competent all rounder. I have my own column at http://www.carpfishinguk.net/weekly/htm I am just 19 years old myself, although there is a joke on a carp angling forum that I am 175 years old! I personally enjoy helping the kids, I know what it's like to be a kid on the bank without anybody to teach you things, but I like to think I've done pretty well interpreting things for myself. Kids DO need our help, sure, some of them tell you to shove off, but the majority are grateful for anything you give them, whether it be a handful of maggots, a rig, float, or some advice.

Like so Koi [ 08. October 2003, 06:13 PM: Message edited by: Woodzzz ]

I use barbed hooks BECAUSE OF fish welfare. These are carp I'm talking about. There you go...that outlines a problem. Angling mythology. Carp get caught in deep water...barbed hooks cause the most harm...you can only catch pike in winter...carp cant get caught in the winter...you need light tackle for roach...blah blah blah. Kids are naive, and will believe what the old boys tell them. I'm sad to say, angling has moved on, we are now more consious of the fish and so on and rigs like old split shot-arseley bomb-split shot rigs are simply dangerous by todays terms and you can actually face a ban through using one. There are lots of young kids on the bank, do any of you go and help them? Or do you wait to sit in your office chair and start moaning on a forum? Parents cant be bothered these days to teach their kids how to fish. It's up to us, the anglers, to do it for them.

If they're float stops, no worries...good rig but you dont need all those components, like I said, just semi fix ithe lead over some tubing and put any backlead you use behind that. Carp tackle company KORDA sell something called a Shockleader sleeve. I semi fix my leads using these. They have a seciton to go over the hooklength swivel, and then an inch long tail. i semi fix my swivel leads onto the tail section. You could semi fix a snaplink onto the tail section and then this gives you the option of changing leads quickly. Behind this, I put some tubing. You only need a foot or so. If you get tubing that slots nicely over the shockleader sleeve you're in business. A nice tidy and SAFE rig! I use it for barbel fishing infact in clear swims, but if it's weedy I use Leadclips or tie the lead on. Give it a try.

The problem with inline leads is that they wont come off the line during the battle. They will discharge from the swivel, but will be holding the line down into the snags. As those who have used leadclips or tied their leads on will know, when the lead ejects, 99% of the time the fish come straight to the surface. With a leadclip or tied on lead, the lead comes off on the take when I use them, which means i am in direct contact with the fish. Inline leads dont, they stay on the line until it snaps. Line twisting around clips? Never heard of that happening with tubing...infact I believe they are described as anti tangle devices. I don't fish in snags, and when I do fish 'near' snags I make sure I take into account many factors before placing my rig. Will I land it? How much stretch is likely to occur between rod tip and the lead? There's a lot written about mono stretching at range on a tight line, and it does. Probably about 6-8 foot at 80 yards range...so fishing 4 foot away at that range...is probably too close. When i fish to really bad snags I do many things. 1. Turn off the baitrunner. 2. Grind the clutch as tight as possible. Don't give an inch. 3. Use single banksticks that are very deep into the ground, also have a nice tight butt rest to hold the rod steady. Using a pod to fish to snags is irresponsible unless the pod is fixed somehow. 4. Use heavy bobbins with quite a long drop. 5. Sometimes I put the rod up high, so on the take the fish gets pulled to the surface and has its head turned before it knows what's happening. I tend not to use a leader material of any kind, using something like Nash Mussel Cracker tubing or a similar strong tubing behind the lead. If it sounds like too much hassle...dont fish the snags.

Yep indeed it is. It's a John Wilson bolt rig...a deadly one! Unless you're using float stops matey, i'd delete the pic, ditch the rig, and start again. Why not use sink tubing instead of a backlead? or use a backlead freerunning behind said tubing? If you want to semi fix the lead/feeder...just use tubing. shrink tubing, silicone tubing, whatever floats your boat. Semi fix the swivel from the lead onto the tubing, semi fix the tubing to the hooklength swivel, and away you go. Better still...use a carp fishing Lead Clip

If you want to fish in peaceful, quiet, surroundings- then do. You chose the water, not us Sounds like you're on a match water, or another overstocked commercial fishery that gets crammed with campers, i mean carpers. Who cares if people are watching anyway, let them watch. You're catching - they're not - what's there to cry about?

Use the Richworth's. Use what you're confident using. I've had equal numbers of fish on both Trigga baits, it's where you put the bait that matters...both are superb food sources and fish well at any venue.