trevor2003

I agree with some of that, but the marketing bit is to get a well known celeb/fisherman to endorse your product and give him heap loads of gear and money to put his name to it, then add that to the price tag for us to pay. If a top notch angler of no fame put his name to it,then no one would be interested in buying it, even though he might have banked as many fish as a known name or even more or be an excllent angler, but because he isn't regualy featured in Total Carp it would be a no no, but then there is some that do get involved in the design/development. As for design, I agree a lot would go into a new reel or rod, as the new Fox reel, but at a £130, it's going to have to be good, to take on the likes of the Shimano 10K etc. Think the over pricing for the name is more aimed at lugage, holdalls etc.

I agree with this, we are being sold over priced tackle, I brought a JRC rig/tackle bag at around £12 as it was cheaper than the Nash or fox ones, also have noticed +30,chubb and loads more companies now do them, whats the difference? none they are all identical appart from the name stitched on them and the price and talking of stitching, who does the stitching, not Nash or JRC, probally some asain sweat shop, do you realy think there is a team of guys at Nash, JRC etc making these products, No I doudt it. But then I like JRC as they offer good value for money all round and are good quality, but have just had 4 Greys X Flites delivered this morning to replace my JRC Skyline rods, not that there is any thing wrong with the Skylines, have had some 20lb+ fish on them and the are excellent and at £39 you can't beat them, but I got some X Flites half price, so with the wifes permission upgraded. Would be interesting what factory and where, makes the carbon blanks that we use and what the real difference is apart from cosmetics.But then some people choose to spend money on golf or sailing etc, so it's good that we have a choose at the end of the day, so what ever turns you on, go for it, not sure if it will turn the carp on though.

just a thought Marmite, I have some pics of me and my son out on the banks and some of the roamer dome set up, if you want could mail one to you, so you can see what they are like being used,

Have seen one set up at local tackle shop, but you would not get 2 bed chairs in there, though they where a bit tall/high.The Diawa mission shelter in a great shelter for the money, you get the groundsheet and poles with and can buy a winter skin at an extra cost, but not for 2 chairs, If you want to get 2 bed chairs in a bivie and use as a day shelter also, have a look at the JRC roamer dome, a cracking bivie for £50 or less, we get 2 nash outlaw bedchairs in it, grant you it's tight, but workable, you can also get the winter skin for the roamer dome for about £25.the new roamer dome 5000 has side widows with mossi nets and can be rolled back and fastened into a shelter. the only disadvantage it's not a brolly style, so you have to thread 3 poles through, but can still be put up in minutes, but for less than £50 it's a good price.

Hi Polly Don't get up the woolpack much, I go with a guy and his son who are members as guests and pay the day ticket, he is on the green card, but they both have not had much luck up there this last year, so I havn't joined, only fished lake 1 as it's the nearest, but next time will try some of the others.Me and my son fish Saffron Walden club a lot and are looking to join Colchester club next month, they have 11 lakes and 4 rivers on their ticket, with some good 30 - 40lb carp in, cats at over 50, and large pike, tench etc and is only £66 a year for adults and £20 for under 17's, it's on the webb under CAPS, so a lot of water for your money.Will be checking them out this Thursday, going to have a drive round some of their lakes and have a look before finally joining up..

I agree with Steve, sometimes a bright fluro pop up can actualy spook the fish, I am not a great fan of pop up's myself, only on a zig, that is not to say people don't have results with them, but the pop up corn aproach could be better. I tried some scopex sticky toffee giant maize on Friday in a pva bag of mixed particles/hemp and amino black groundbait, with a good glug of corn and scopex flavouring on a hard water, nothing else worked boilie/flavour wise or luncheon meat, but this tactic landed me a 10 1/2 ghostie with in 15 minutes, not the biggest fish, but faught like a good un and was the most stunning looking/colour I have ever seen, also had a small crusion as well. Was going to the woolpack myself this week end for a few days, but the plan is now Mepal, have some unfinished buisness with a rather large carp I lost at 4am one sunday morning the last time I was there. Happy hunting Polly

Buy one of these and that is it! you are definately the ultimate men on the bank, the bling swinging tackle tart, all who buy or own one of these bivie's must have a black Hummer to transport their gear in though, this is a serious case of a bivvy been to East Coast Custom's and been pimped daddy!!!

I have used Nash Scopex a lot (shelf life) and found it to be my most consistant catching bait, at all different places I fish, despite being shelf life, it just seems to catch any where any time, but others as you say, wear off after a season or so.Last summer a friend of mine won heaps of frozen Fusion in a comp, when it had just come out, and we were the only people using it on our local water.Him and my son who was 14 at the time, took 53 large doubles between them in the first week of the school holidays, but as the season went on, it lost it's attraction. So the Scopex kept on going being a shelf life and the Fusion faded dispite being a frozen bait. I agree with what you are saying about frozen baits being better, but there is all ways that anoying exception to the rule. Well I suppose thats carp fishing for you.

My 14 year old son had a lovely 20lb common on Indian spice in September last year at a social week end organised by the guys at Cambridge carp cabin on Waterbeach barracks lake. Yes they smelled good enough to eat and also thats the way the carp felt luckily. Thing is when a new bait comes out, the carp love em, but after getting caught regualy on the same colour/flavour, they become weary of that bait, hence the need for new baits.though there are some good all rounders that they just keep coming back for more of, despite being caught on them. So why is this? some baits catch year in year out, some only last a season or so. Any ideas or theories on this?

Hi I picked up a bag of Dynamite's 15mm new spicy chicken boilies a week back,their Indulgance range. Gave them a whirl on a day session on Friday 24th and had 4 runs in the space of 30 minutes on them, the best banked was a 20lb mirror.Any one else had any luck on them? I think they should be another good one like their spicy shrimp and prawn.

Hi Just a piece of Kryston putty on the tubing and a flying back lead, the Gardener ones are good, though the new Korda ones look good, though have not tried them yet.Depending on the bottom from the rig to your rod, you can still add a normal backlead, only do this if the bottom is flat and weed free, no bars etc, fox ones are good. This keeps every thing pinned down well, and the flying back lead will go back a few metres on the cast.

Well lads It must be payback time for my little quip about peanut butter on bread for ducks. Just got in from a day session on my local club water and after a walk round the lake, found loads of carp holed up down the side of the island. Set up there for the day and tried every bait/method/stick/particle mix etc etc etc you could ever imagine, but they were swimming about in their dozens, but just would not switch on and feed, water's still a bit cold yet, but the first time they have been moving in any quantity this year so far. Well the moral of the story is totaly blanked of carp, but caught on bl--dy duck in the wing, so had a screaming run down the lake with a mallard on the end Well got it on the bank in the end after a nightmare of a fight with it, unhooked and released and no apparant harm done to it. But will keep my big mouth zipped about dealing with ducks on here from now on

Would it be any help to them if you put peanut butter on the bread first?

You had any luck with the pics yet mate?

Hi I would recomend you get hold of the Korda underwater dvd's and have a look at them, they will not only explain about rigs/material and hooks etc: but show how they work underwater. Can't recomend these enough and has altered my way of doing things for the better. Trevor

I agree Anderro Get your hooking mechanics right eg: size/type hook, hook link length/material or rig in general and the right weight, you shouldn't have a problem. Seam to remember having this discussion before on another thread, but I bet it gets us all going at it again. Trevor

Hey Polly If you get a 30 out of the Woolpack, let me know how, can't get a thing out of there so far Do you know any other good waters around that area? Trevor

Hi Fishboy I have a JRC quiver and the JRC rod wraps, been using them a year now, loads of room and good quality as well as a good price, would recomend them to you, as with all the other JRC range of goodies, it's good gear. Trevor

Hi You won't go far wrong with 2 3/4 test curve Greys Prodigy's for around £90-£100 depending where and how many you buy.Tony's tackle at Eastbourne is all ways up for a deal on them and does mail order, and also they have a life time guarantee. Trevor

Hi The length of your rig can make the difference to where you actually hook the fish, if your rig/hooking macanics are right, you shopuld be hooking them in the hard part in the bottom of the mouth, not in the lip and certaintly not in the corner of the lip/ hinged part of the mouth. Danny Fairbrass demonstates this very well in the Korda under water DVD's, they are well worth watching and will change some of your ideas and thinking on what goes on, on the bottom/underwater and your presentation, certainly made me change some things this year after watching them over the christmas break. Trevor

One of the issues of Total Carp towards the end of last year, had a feature about floating on the top and he had half of Tesco's with him, sugar puffs, rice crackers etc, in fact any thing that floated that was flavoured or bright coloured, you never no what they will take, if you are prepared to try some thing different, it could be the difference between catching or not. Only thing I would be carfull of, is if fish are taking freebies off the top, that you are putting in, that it does not swell up inside them to much once wet, could be harmfull to them. But in small amounts, dare to be differnet. I once tried Tesco's value marine fish sticks, the pink and white things that used to be called crab sticks, but can't call them that, as no crab in them, put them on a hair chopped into small cubes, and they went crazy for them. Trevor

Hi Danny Fairbrass shows some good and varried stick mixes in the Korda Underwater DVD's, they are well worth a look at, if you havn't got them, I have some wrote down, which I can post hear if you like. Also a good mix of varied pellet size is good, with some crushed/chopped boilies, the same as your hook bait. I buy 25 kilo sacks of varios size pellets 4m 6m 8m, works out £28 a sack, which is far cheaper than your 1 k bag of Dynamite/mainline from your local tackle shop, use mixed with some hemp and sweet corn and glug/oil etc of your choice, and mix some dynamite meaty marine or halibut tinned ground bait and some dynamite Amino black ground bait, then your glug/oil and make the stick half and half, half ground bait mix then half pellet mix, remembering any liquid must be oil based so as not to melt your PVA, drian your hemp well of water and mix with the pellets ect a good half hour plus before putting into the stick and the oil bassed glug etc will help stop melting straight away. Hope this helps Trevor

Hi Was working at Eastbourne over the week end and on the way home drove pasted a fishery called Beaver Farm Fishery at Newchapel, Surrey, not far from East Grimstead. Stopped off ahd had a look around and picked up a leaflet from the office. Has any one fished there? and any comments etc about the place, as thinking of trying it for a few days, looked some nice lakes, 9 in total. They have a web site www.beaverfarmfishery.co.uk cheers

Hey Rob I know winter carp waters can be hard, but shooting them is a bit drastic, try a differnet presentation, like a pop up rather than a .22 pistol. Think this year is to beat my 15 year olds 20 lb common when we go out together, I only managed a 19lb common when out with him one time last year, you see guys, when the babies grow a bit, get them out on the banks with a rod, so they get the taste young.I made the mistake of giving up and selling my gear 15 years ago, now having major expense buying again, not just for one but 3, me, my son and now the wife, see started the end of the summer, and is disabled, had polio as a child and now a crumbling spine, but by relaxing on the bank she takes half the amount of medication as normal and since my 15 year old started last year, his school work has improved 50% and he is all ways out fishing and not hanging about the town and streets getting into trouble, so Carping is good medicine and keeps him focused. By the way the wife has a 13 1/2lb PB after her second session out. Good luck in the coming year, were ever you fish Trevor

Hey Newt Have you heard that macdonalds, Burgerking and all take aways are now doing there polystyrene burger box's and carboard cups in Realtree so they blend in with the countryside and don't look like litter anymore.