Dante

Mike, Having been a long time lurker on here (under various names) i actually regret not saying hi and getting stuck in ages ago. welcome to the mad house.

Aye i am, well scottish by birth, but i dont follow soccer, cant stand the game tbh, now rugby ahh a proper mans sport <runs away and hides>

I am on Biopech and CC Moores live system boilies this year, in all fairness i dont think there is a best boily but i firmly believe any good quality food bait given time and correct application will work. That said i have had 90% of my action so far this year on fake corn, one popup and one sinker, snowman style with a pva bag of pellets.

Ok guys thanks for the replies. I have been using 3 oz and doing okish with em 110 yrds max (measured) but to achieve this i had to go to 0.28 mainline (mono) and shockleader which tbh i thought was a bit silly especially as i hear of others doing 150+ (are they all using low mainline bs/diameter to achieve these distances? or am i just a lousy caster ) this was why my original question about max weight, trying to confirm my own observations without risking the rods. Oh and before anyone asks, i am trying to get those distances to enable me to fish to an island on my club water that at its closest point is 114 yrds away and is approx 50 yrds long, thats where i have been seeing the fish, keeping out of most of the anglers casting range including mine at the moment . Maybe its time for some casting tuition anyone recomend someone local ish to eastbourne? or maybe the rods just arent man enough? any ideas?

And it sticks to anything it touches, hands, clothes etc so maybe worth taking some baby wipes with you when fishing with it as theres nothing worse than trying to roll a smoke or eat and drink something with hands covered in the stuff.

Hi I wonder if you can help me with a little problem. I use 12ft 3lb tc Harrison Ballistas and am not really sure of what the maximum weight i can safely go to (with a shock leader) are these rods capable of dealing with 5oz leads for instance without damaging them. Hope you can help lads as i am a bit reluctant to go above 3oz at the moment for fear of damaging these beautiful rods.

Welcome Jonathan. no need for a shock leader for what you describe there, if however you was trying to put a 3,4 or even 5oz lead 100 yrds plus then would say yes.

Ok put me out of my misery who's Bill shankly?

Equal merits for all imho, i tend to take select baits from all three catagories and use whatever seems a god idea at the time.

Cracking fish Dazler, well done

Sounds like a right ol' headbanger mate? are there trees round the margins? if so i think if it was me i would be going back to the likes of sweetcorn (try colouring it red) / black eyed peas (soaked and cooked in tomato soup) / red kidney beans / chick peas (all good carp catchers in thier own rights) in the margins maybe with pellets in a pva bag. When you say the lake is too far away what distances are we talking about? because its always possible if the other members do the same and not fish it, the carp may lower thier defenses and be far more catchable due to lack of angling pressure and lower natural food levels during the winter so it may be worth taking that extra step to get them. I am not sure i personally would bother with a baiting strategy at least until i was totally convinced i had found a feeding spot as you could just be wasting bait if the fish dont go near it or feel confident enough to eat it where you have placed it also it maybe worth while having a look around with a marker setup as well to see if the silt smells horrible or not, i have found in the past on estate lakes there are areas of silt that stink to high heaven and the fish dont feed on those areas. Bottom line though location, location, location you got to find them before putting food in front of them.

Hi Bally As i understand it hemps a good bait for most fish however they can get preoccupied with it and ignore hookaits (assuming you mean to use it as groundbait). This year i have found a mixture of layers, bloodworm and betaine pellets soaked with liquid molasses in a pva bag with fake corn (sinking and floating) on the hair to be a devastating way of getting bream (it is for me anyway the poor ol' carp are not getting a look in ) From what i have been told though liquid molasses are the key, bream love the stuff and as its natural no need to worry about amounts used, its cheap too about 6 quid for a gallon from an animal food stockist and will last for ages.

Hi Newt, oh they were fermenting bubbles, scum on the surface and yes that oh so lovely smell, most likely the fact i placed em in my snake room (very hot) to brew may have bought it on to fast and ruined it, not sure but will keep on trying [ 26. August 2005, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: Dante ]

tried sultana's myself today on one rod nothing, zip, blanked, no one else on the water caught anything so one trip isnt enough of a test gonna try some more and on different venues

yeah but its ok for the little darlings to go mug an old lady, hang around on street corners or take drugs just as long as they dont go fishing. bl**dy sickening. Sorry rabbit didnt see your post great minds thinking alike eh [ 24. August 2005, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: Dante ]

Any ideas on the frequency used Newt?

Nice to see you will, welcome and hope you have fun on here. Just out of interest what was the venue called where you guys fished?

Baitboats, Not my cup of T but each to thier own.

Lovely looking fish Dan

Good point about the weight Den and something i hadn't considered, surely though the weight differences between leadcore and fluro leaders are not so different.

Have some sultana's on the brew now hopefully they will be ready by thursdays trip will keep you posted

Or x-line (fluro mainline) perhaps, low stretch and very low visability.

What a beautiful fish, well done Julian

Used Sultana's in the early 80's after reading about them in hutchies book "the carp strikes back" a great bait catching all manner of fish thanks Newt for reawakening the thought i am going to give it a go again it may turn out to be just the edge i am looking for

Whats the difference Den towing 4ft of line or 4 ft of leadcore? Non, they all have the potential of snagging a fish up and killing it. You can only make any rig as safe as you possibly can, be it leadcore, mono, braid or fluro At the end of the day its down to the angler in question to do thier best to make the rigs they use as safe as possible. [ 23. August 2005, 02:02 AM: Message edited by: Dante ]