christian kimber

Over the past two years i've brought,used and tied loads of diffrent rigs but still have not found a braid that i really feel good about. Could any one give there take on this,for say pva bag fishing,long hooklinks,braid for pop ups etc Plus if anyone has found they have overcome rig shy carp with a particulair brand

I'd love to agree with you both but i just think i can't get my head round long session fishing.Its a sad fact as i also like that feeling when nothing else matters,and you seem to have all the time in the world. Maybe it just takes time.

Andyboy if you fish a place that has a good head of 20's then your turn will come.If like me you fished a club that only had a couple of 20's in each water then you will struggle like i did before finally catching your dream. My advice fish a water with a good head of twenties,and your time will come.

Whats peoples take on rigs in winter? want to try some codding soon and wondered if any people got any tips on rigs,line technique etc Never fished for cod before and although i read some i still don't feel too confident. Where i will be fishing the beach shelves off dramatically so there is plenty of good deep water to fish to,does this help? I know this place usaully produces plenty of small codling with the odd good double figure cod coming out each winter. Like i say any help would be greaqt

Fisho you say you caught a Marlin? thats one story you must tell,it's a dream of mine to catch a marlin or sailfish. Where did you catch it and what was the fight like?

When i'm doing any long session i find that my intuition drops.What i mean by this is after a couple of days i'm less willing to try harder.Sometimes i will sit on an area that hasn't produced fish in two days and think "they got to come on the feed eventually",or because i have bagged one of the better swims will then not move incase i lose it. How many other people get affected with this malaise whilst session fishing? I tend to keep my sessions short now,just overnighters or weekends as i think i'm still sharp enough to spot whats going on around me.It.s a shame as i know that i'm missing out on some very good catches,but can't seem to get my mindset right,any idea's?

Well tomorrow is the day winter! thats if i don't get too pis*** watching the rugby! Cheers again for the advice

Fisho mine was that fishes egg!! man i thought that gave a good fight on rod and line from the beach but one of those on a hand line?!! i can believe you were running up the beach. They give the maddest fight don't they. Again wat a fish.

Who uses marmite as bait? that yeasty smell can drive em wild.Used it in bait mix,as dip or on toast and they either love it or hate it. But can anyone tell mw why it works? just like a lot a flavours i've come across i just don't get why a worm munching,snail crunching carp likes em!!

Cheers winter going this saturday so will give the slack line method a go,like others i worry that i wont see a bite even though i know that this isn't really true!! crazy huh!

Yeh i used pilchards meself on gang hooks but they were not what i would call a great bait.The prawns were more like king prawns but very cheap and once thawed out the presentation was spot on.Just flicked them across the bottom to get some movement in them and worked like a charm. Anyone bother with lures,had a little success but not much

I think on every lake i've been to i have seen sights that shocked me.People throwing there rubbish on the floor because they havent caught! people casting over lines or into peoples swims,Unhooking carp without unhooking mats and still using barbed hooks! fecking barbaric. But it is worse and always has been in the match scene,and i think we forget that specialist fishing has brought more care and conservation into the fishing world than any other branch of the sport (only my opinion). The bad sides are always there,and people should be aware of this so we can keep it to the minority. Eddie me mums bloke went to one lake in kent and everyone was fishing on the bottom,the temp was in the twenties!! He got them feeding on the top and they were well up for it.The bailiff cum round and said he didn't have a big enuff landing net so he had to leave.It was a 42 incher!! wat a load of nutters!! Mixers rule the world

Fudd you got me there,i think after checking that wat i caught was a shovel nosed ray off the shore not shark! did it have a triangular head like a ray and a sharks body? I can only agree with you about the fishing BUT handlining? i'm not a rod and line purist but i just couldn't part with my hard earned cash for habdlining on a boat.Although by the sounds of it i missed out. I didn't want to mention this but i tried my hand at marlin fishing,it cost far too much money and i didn't get one take!! but you know what,i'd do it again but this time in there season!!

See,thought you were staying there,fished out of cairns meself but only up the rivers,had some catfish and a couple of rock cod but not much else.So you hand lined then,i was a bit dissapointed when they told me thats all they do on the reef,but i did get round it. Went and stayed in port douglas for a while and managed to persaude a skipper to take me out and fish rod and line round the reefs.What he done was trolled with dead mullet and lures round the edges of the reef and as we moved away we would get a hit.Because we were moving away from the coral he could gun the boat and give me ample space to play the fish.Caught some nice spanish mackerel that were all around 10-15 lb.No monsters but they were great fun! also bagged a couple of nice barracudi now they have toothy grins!! Did you manage to do any barramundi fishing when you were there? wrong time of year when i was there last summer.

Winter i do use a lot of bare leads,and it sounds like thats what could be happening to me cus i tighten up the line after i've felt the lead down.Could be moving it or the tides doing it all for me!! Use grippers but have the same problems,will try the soft wire grippers and see if that helps,cheers.

Anyone know any good rigs for fishing over weed,gets to be quite a problem off the rocks and lose a lot of lead and rigs.Would just like to hear some views on this as my techniques don't work too well.

Peter my brother still fishes the river trent i think,i'd have to check with him on that but i'm pretty sure he caught a couple of very nice carp from there to. Have you fished medway? a number of clubs have diffrent stretches of the medway but there are only a few places that seem to produce some very big carp.I know of of some sreious carp anglers who fish the medway and do some serious baiting campaigns to hold them in one area so they have a chance of catching them.It's all very secretive but goes on a lot and there results are very good. But it does take time and patience. Does anyone fish the canals at all,i'm very interested in fishing either a river or canal next summer,my family live in kent and my brother could be persauded to bait up for me before i come up from devon. Peter any idea's,or could you let me know how you went about catching these carp out of the rivers,cheers.

Doesw anyone fish any rivers? brother fished a private stretch in kent last summer and caught a twenty on halbut boilies.

I'm thinking of going down to a place called slapton sands on saturday to fish the day,gunna take everyones advice and just take some good quality bait.Anyone fish there? could do with some pointers but read it's good for flatties and cod in winter.Also can anyone tell me how fresh water affects fishing,there is a stream that flows into the sea there and i thought i might fish near there.

Grant when did you fish in magnetic island? good to hear from someone else thats fished there,i found it to be the best place in Australia that i fished,but that could be down to the fact i had time to check out the beach at low tide and pick some good fishing spots. Used large whole prawns most of the time and smashed the place.Most times i just wedged the butt in the sand and got the rod ripped out of my hands!! But the best fish i had to feel for line bites as they were very finicky. Caught a 6-8 pound jewfish that stripped off more line than any fish i've played before and a shovel nosed shark that gave me a fight of my life and i'll never forget it. Caught trevally,puffer fish,eels and two barracuda as me and me girl travelled up and down the east coast + catfish,batfish,rock cod spanish mackerel and one giant trevally just an awesome experience. And i agree the people were fantastic,i spent many an evening fishing with aussie's sharing a few beers and trading tall tales! good fishing buddies.If you got any tales to tell of Oz would love to hear them. Me and the girl were in horseshoe bay and i don't remeber a pier? spent every night there fishing and drinking!

Anyone been to Australia and fished? this place really is the mutts nuts. Caught big jewfish,eels,grunter bream and a shovel nose shark from the shore!! Went out on a few trips on the boats and the fishing was.... not as good as expected but still good. But this is what i found made all the difference, weather and a people that are fishing mad! Maybe i had rose tinted glasses on,although i did come across a few pommie bashers,most were happy to see me fishing there waters and helped me to catch better fish.It was truly a great experience,anyone else fished abroad? The beer though was not as good!! Victoria beer and others did not come close to qeunching the thirst as you'd expect in such a beer oriented country! Anyone fished Magnetic island,australia? wat a fishing paradise

Pilchards is a poor mans water ziggy! only salmon oil will do!!

I agree with peter when he says that the use of 3 1/2 tc rods are all that the carp fisherman seem to use these days.I was sneered at when i took out my trusty fox barbel rods that i use for most of my carp fishing as they were only 1 1/2 tc?!!!! **** wat are we catching here carp or conger? I do sea and freshwater fishing and enjoy both,but freshwater remains my fondest sport.But here is the thing that bugs me most is that carp fishermen now forget the simple skills of watercraft and rely solely on a bait and it's application.There is skill to this but not much!! Where is the watercraft in piling in bait and waiting for the runs. I prefer stalking to baiting,BUT will use both as in boiled baits and naturals as i would be a fool not to.Much of my fishing is surface fishing but on some waters i am laughed at and ridiculed for using my skills and techniques to outwit carp,because i fish on the surface?! i've actually been told this is cheating!! that lost me. I think in all sports theres is always a minority who can ruin it for others,and this i think is what peter writes about so strongly.I agree in part but think that if more of us went back to the rivers and fished away from the lakes we would get away from the few that ruin a days sport. Too many lakes are made for these minority who come to fish to catch without thought or skill.

I think that heavily scented baits are a good thing as they can pull more fish into your area that you fish.But what fish? so far only scavenging fecking dogfish!! The thing i like about about using diffrent bait is that you can tailor it to your needs. Salar why don't you try this when you go out on a boat next, Buy some very cheap fishmeal and add to this anchovy essence(from tackle shop),shrimp paste which you can buy from chinese supermarket and a bait dip or additive called monster crab(carp shop) mix all these to together in a bucket. You can mix this up with eggs to make a very tough paste that will stay on hook for ages,or make into boilies and hair rig. Someone i met in Australia done this and had some truly astounding results on a boat but hey theres lots of fish in them australian seas!! Am going to use this off the shore in a couple of days on float and bottom just to see. Can't help it,I'm infected wif carp fishing ideas!!!

Even though my groundbaiting was a failure,i still think that scent plays a pretty important role in fishing.Now i'm not saying that you can beat fresh bait,but i can't help but experiment!! (carping made me this way!) What does anyone think with using pastes made from fishmeal? or even soft boilies? I know this sounds very sad and carpy but its at least worth a thought. I know my groundbaiting was a bit of a failure but has anyone else tried something like boiled baits for sea fishing,you can flavour anything to smell like say crab,and make the texture just right? Sorry hopeless carper(and sea fishermen!) P.S. i know this may be taking it too far but people have used swim feeders in sea fishing to good results.