MickJ

Adding Maize meal to crumb creates a good cloud bait, simple and effective. Seems to work with most species on the local canals and stillwaters, especially Bream and Roach.

A husband said to his wife, "I will take a photo of your breasts and frame it." The wife said to her husband, "I will take a photo of your penis and enlarge it."

The local bar was so sure that its bartender was the strongest man around that they had a standing £1000 bet. The bartender would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money. Many people had tried over timebut nobody could do it. One day, a scrawny little man came in, wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit. "I'd like to try the bet," he said in a tiny, squeaky voice. After the laughter had died down, the bartender grabbed a lemon, and squeezed away. He handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little man. But the crowd's laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass. As the crowd cheered, the bartender paid the £1000 and asked the little man what he did for a living. Was he a builder, or a weightlifter, or what? "I work for the IRS."

Little Tommy runs into the bathroom one day to find his mother taking a bath. He points at her bush and asks, "What's that Mommy?" A little embarrassed, she tells him that is is her sponge. Tommy is satisfied with that answer and goes back to playing with his toys. Some time later, Tommy catches his mother in the shower shortly after she has shaved her bush for bikini season. Tommy asks her, "Where is your sponge mommy?" Again embarrassed she tells him that she lost it but will probably find it soon. Tommy is a little worried and promises his mommy that he will help her find it. His mother says okay, and goes back to showering. Soon, Tommy comes running back in and says that he has found his mother's sponge. "What do you mean you found my sponge? Where?" "The lady next door has it and she's washing Daddy's face with it!"

Wife arrives home to find husband stood in the middle of the room holding a fly swatter. "What are you doing" she asks "Killing flies" was the reply Wife "Any luck" Husband "Got 5 so far, 3 males and 2 females" Wife "How can you tell the sex" Husband "Easy, 3 were on a beer can and 2 were on the 'phone" [ 03. June 2004, 09:40 AM: Message edited by: MickJ ]

Seems everyone is wise to the growth rate of the leylandi Hence no offers. Suggest you turn them upside down and stick a handle on them

Try here. Be warned it has some serious sticking power. The sheets are a bit bigger than A4 though @ 12" x 12"

For deeper water, say over 2 metres, you could move the weights down the line to keep the bait nearer the fish. I don't think there is a maximun depth as some of our waters are well over 4 metres when carrying a heavy water. We use dyed shrimp in bright red and purple, very few UK anglers use the natural ones. Red is probably the most popular, at least I sell most of this colour.

The hooks we use are Partridge Outpoint X1 or X3 in Black finish. An alternative is the Kamasan B990 which is a heavier Bronze hook. Floats were mentioned in my earlier post. Weights are only used directly below the floats to 'cock' it and depending on the float can be anything from split shot to drilled bullets or combination of both.

Sodium Bicarbonate is almost always cheaper, Bicarbonate of Soda is sold in a fancy packet under a brand name at a highly inflated price. Best to look for BP after the name for the cheaper product. It's the same with Asprin, now there's a thought?

We usually mount the shrimp or prawn on a pin with a treble hook point embedded in the head. Any heavy float will be OK. Such as a Grayling Bob type or Pike Float, the Drennan Piker or Zeppler ranges are popular. A carp rod in the 11-13ft range with a test curve of 1½lb. - 1¾lb. is usually favoured on the North West Rivers, Ribble, Hodder, Lune etc. Baits are usually trotted just above the River bed. [ 17. March 2004, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: MickJ ]

Note your comment regarding using Bicarbonate of Soda and not Sodium Bicarbonate, why? They are both NaHCO3 and therefore chemically identical. No, I am not a clever scientific nerd, was just curious so looked it up in Google.