[Okuma reel, good or not?]

I have 11 okumas and some of them i have had and used for ten years, i have never, ever had a problem with any of them. The Epix is as good as anything twice as expensive and the cheaper reels knock other bottom end reels for six. Don't get me wrong i have a couple of diawa reels and a shimano and there is nothing wrong with them either, its just i hate the barely concealed snobbery that bubbles up everytime the word okuma is mentioned.

[How To Use A Baitrunner Reel]

Absolutly correct , a practical demonstration as to how to set up your rods reels drop offs and alarms is so much easier than trying to explain.

 

I was out on the river on Mon night and got asked the very same question and tried to demonstrate how things worked with a spare drop off and a bit of imagination when I found it easier to get over an already set up rod and show how to set up. The drop back run and the forward run were shown and demonstrated how to tell the difference with the aid of an alarm and a decent drop off and the person concerned was able to pick it up very easily once shown.

 

Whilst demonstrating on one rod I pointed to another and said "that one will take off in less than a minute" to which a blank look was the reply , but the look on his face when it did was amazement both that I was right but also at how easy it is to show a run when it actually happens and all the fancy equipment works.

 

As a result the chap concerned is now going to invest in decent drop offs and alarms so thats got to be a result for the welfare of the fish

 

 

 

How do investing in decent drop offs and alarms improve the welfare of the fish??? I would say that the opposite is true.

[Whats helped the modern day carper the most]

MAGAZINES

 

From what I`ve seen over the last few years 90% of modern day carpers are sheep.

 

 

I can tell you whats helped the modern day carper the most, having little muddy puddles stuffed full of carp that are so hungry they jump into their keep nets.

[Carp Crew 2]

I quite liked Predators made a change from the usual stuff.

 

Prefered Jan in his match days dressed in Red than his new Realtree obsessed alter ego!

 

Trouble is that most carp programmes are much the same as indeed carp fishing can be! In fairness at least "Carp Crew" tried to show as many different angles as possible even had the programme with Steve Ringer showing match style carp fishing.

 

Easier to knock any fishing programmes than actually say what we would want though isnt it?

 

I agree that the way both Jan and Kevin came across was a bit naff! A bit like I dont like the way Matt Hayes speaks to any of his guests/co-presenters.In fact if I was to name one dislike of most fishing programmes I would say its the presenters! Not so much as individuals but more the way they are made to come over.Why is that?

 

 

Yes your right but it will always be the same since carp fishing is not an in depth science. A lot of it will always come down to the presenter. You take someone like Jack Hargreaves who could make any subject under the sun seem interesting seemingly at will and compare it with someone like Matt Hayes, Hargreaves was so down to earth and easy to listen to you felt he was talking just to you and you alone. Matt for all the fact he is a nice guy comes across as an egosentric who is telling us how great he is. One bloke i think deserves a program of his own is Mick Brown who is about the nearest we have to a modern hargreaves style presenter. Maybe given his pike and zander preferences he would have made a better front man for "Predators".

[Carp Crew 2]

Lets also hope that greenie is better then when he presented that other pile of drivel "predators" He is better known as a carp angler so fingers crossed.

[Carp Crew 2]

Lets hope its better then the crap we have had to endure over the last few years. Jan Porter fawning and gushing over his "guests" talking in that hushed monotone voice didn,t exactly set a hard act to follow.

[meatballs]

There a great bait, Ive only used them for chub but I know they would be good carp baits. Ive found the gravy ones to be better. I just fish a whole meatball on a size 4 or even 2 hook and hook it by passing the hook through the meatball and turning it back into the bait. But I would think hair rigging would be fine for carp, as IMO hair rigging should try to be avoided with chub. Josh

 

 

Hair rigged they are great for carp, use em like boilies one and a half is a good way. I always put a short piece of rig tube on my needle and pull the hair and the tube into the meatball which helps stop the hair cutting through the meat.

[Badger Bait Boat]

Each to there own of course but i can only heap praise on badger for coming up with an excellent piece of kit for a far cheaper price then you,d pay elsewhere. Had one for a couple of months and its always worked and performed really well. Are we really trying to say that Pro-cats are 100% reliable? is anything? My badger baitboat is....................so far!!

 

 

 

 

I nearly got one. I say nearly that was when I phone them to find out if they were in stock and to order one if they did. No he said in this week but then we have to TEST THEM ALL before we release them. That takes a few weeks he said. Me thinks not keen on that idea so got a pro-cat off Ebay. Glad I did as it’s a great boat. Since then read a report of on the badger and it was not that good.

I would rather buy a second hand well reported boat than one that has had problems. Not keen on swimming in dirty lakes!

[Bait Boats]

I agree with everything you say mate and if you actually read what i wrote instead of reacting to just one bit of it then you would see that. My point is that the inference that bait boats reduce the skill level but other inovations ,such as the hair rig and the bite alarm do not is crap. As for watercraft i would suggest that the average match angler knows more about watercraft then the average carper does. (sweeping statement??)

[Bait Boats]

Peter

I am not saying i am against hair rigs or any other type of self hooking rig but your philosophy regarding the erosian of skill levels does. The over-riding point of all "new" (rehashed) rigs is to a. fool the fish into picking up the bait and b. make sure the fish cannot eject the hook without hooking itself. there by reducing a huge amount of the skill factor. That is all modern session carping is about that and time to burn. Day session guys NEED to think things out far more then long stay anglers. There would be no long stay anglers without the hair rig, the bite alarms and the boilies and the other inovations that have moved things on. I have a bait boat but i rarely use it, in fact i only use it on one lake i fish which is fringed on one side with overhanging trees. I don,t want to leave tackle hanging in the trees to harm other wild life but i do want to fish over there. So i use a bait boat, silly thing is that most of the anti bait boat brigade would not bat an eyelid if i rowed across in a boat and placed my baits and freebies, that is hypocracy! plain and simple!!

[Bait Boats]

My post, while overstating just a smidge for effect, was a slam at the folks who try to tell others that using a particular legal gadget, bait, tactic, technique, makes them less of a 'real angler'.

 

Someone has in their signature words to the effect that 'it is not about how well you can cast but about how well you can fish the casts you can make'. That pretty well sums it up for me.

I agree that this is a multi faceted sport of ours, & one mans heavy Carp hauling is another mans delicate Roach fishing. But within all our different styles there has to be restrictions that require a certain level of skill to overcome them, or else logic dictates that the end result is a progression of tactics that lead to us catching fish with the least possible effort. This would lead to very short term enjoyment & a severely reduced lack of satisfaction. The end result is we all lose.

 

Now obviously you need to be careful that you don't strangle development of tackle that allows you to cast further or improve your presentation etc. But, when you develop tactics that take a basic skill away from the sport you have to ask yourself whether or not you've dropped yourself down a rung or two on the ladder of acheivement, (sorry Newt) but you also have to ask yourself have I taken the easier less skilfull route.

 

To me, it's a little like lowering the net at Tennis, or removing the bunkers at Golf, or perhaps increasing the goalsize in football, all just to make it easier. In the end I think there is a case to be made for a set of rules that allow for improvement of skills but not a removal of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Your third paragraph if taken seriously would surly mean that the hair rig and all other self hooking rigs are by your own definition a" drop down the ladder of achievment" and "taking the easier less skilfull route"

Surely you should be sat watching a float or touch ledgering since this requires that YOU and not the terminal tackle do the hooking,after all what more basic skill is there in fishing then hooking a fish.

[Message For Mark Cox]

cant believe people would do this to you chris your a top bloke, but it seems you just cant trust some people

 

Zenith there are people out there who would rip your balls off and fry em in front of you if they thought there was somthing in it for them. Internet scams are on the increase and speaking as somone who has been caught myself i sympothise with you Chris.

[My Pb! The Smile Has Now Gone!]

Similar thing happened to me beefy when i caught my first twenty. The wife took the photos with a 35mm slr set in auto mode which set the light to film speed but she did not focus it. so when i got the prints back (pre digital) they were blurred to buggery.Bottom line though is you know you caught it and thats all that really matters. No image is as sharp as the minds eye, when i think back to that day i can still remember every moment of the fight and exactly how i felt when i watched the needle go past the magic twenty mark.

[New Carp Rod]

only thing i would/do differently to that which andrew has so elequently described is to put the rubber ring on the bag and roll it down tight to the bait Before i put the weight in the bag. It is a lot easier rolling the ring onto the weight up over the bag then trying to feed the bag into the ring whilst rolling the ring down the weight.

[Where To Go]

Hi vigiles

 

Some good fishing in devon but a lot of muddy carp holes as well. Newton abbott angling club have a lot of excellent waters of various sizes and also Plymouth and district Course angling club. http://www.padcac.co.uk/ will give you lots of info about them as well as links to the clubs other two websites.

 

Devonian

 

[New Fox weights]

Whats so special about"the new ones" Anthony ?? They can only be a variation on the same thing surely.

[New Carp Rod]

you could do a lot worse then getting a Fox warrior rod. for your needs a 2.5 test would be sufficient, they come in at under £60 but if you check out the offers you could probably get a pair for your £100. An excellent value for money rod with a good action and plenty of grunt when needed. I,ve caught cats to 45lb and carp to 40lb and at the other end tench 7lb and bream to 10lb and the action remains responsive.

[Have PVA Bags Come Down In Price?]

Me to mate £1.95 for the same bags (yesterday)