Category: fishing

Competition time – Win a Spomb !

It is that time of the year again ! I have 2 Spomb‘s that I will give away courtesy of Mr Spomb at www.spomb.com my review of them can be found here and suffice to say I loved it as a product. Like Ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin and if you need to get out humongous amounts of bait out into the lake the easiest way possible – look no further.

Anyway to be in with a chance of winning one of the above spomb’s all you need to do is tell me How much in grams does a spomb fully loaded with salmon fry crumb pellet weigh ?

To enter click here ( Note competition has closed)  and type your answer, the closest 2 answers by the 13:00 (GMT) on the 29th November 2010 will win a spomb each, in case of duplicate answers the 1st received in my mailbox will count. Please ensure that you put the correct email address in the form, if I have to mail a winner and it bounces then you have lost and I will award the prize to the next closest entry. Please dont send me your postal address unless you have received a mail from me indicating you have won. There is no cash alternative this is all in good faith and a bit of fun and only one entry per person please.

Good luck


Korda Kaptor hooks, hype or not ?

It has been a while since a company introduced a new design into the hook market. Virtually all ideas have been tried before whether it be in carp fishing or in another branch of angling. Where do you think the curved hooks came from ? yep that was from the fly tying fraternity, beaked points you get the picture.

It was then with some interest that I saw the release of the new korda kaptor hooks, I was particularly interested to see how the measured up to the other hooks on the market and whilst this is not a full test it is a 1st look and some opinion

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Attaching your line to your reel, the Arbor knot

Well this is the 1st post after quite a while and as it has been a while I thought I would start with another “How to” and this time on a knot that you use so infrequently many anglers forget how to tie it. The knot I am referring to is of course the Arbor knot. As it stands the only use for it is to attach the main line to the spool ( it is not load bearing)  but don’t let that put you off.  It is quick and easy to tie and packs down nice and small. Some anglers use a load of granny knots or even tape but this knot is far far better as it is small, quick and will not affect your line at all ( unlike tape).

So lets see how to tie it ( click any picture to make it larger) .

Continue reading “Attaching your line to your reel, the Arbor knot”

The Pike season is upon us

What can be said about this year… well I moved country, and I moved lakes and err I didn’t move the world fish wise. My grand total so far for carp this year in the UK stands at….1 I really cant be accused of not putting in the hours either. I worked out that I spent 20+ nights at Thorney Weir this year for a big fat zero. I lost 1 carp in the weed when an ESP raptor opened up on me and that has been my lot. I have had some big ( and I mean doubles or close to double) figure bream and tench this year but on 3lb TC rods they are not the same. By the way if you are a specimen bream or tench fisherman you really need to get yourself over there, they are virtually untargeted.  I think I might put in some effort somewhere else next year, Thorney is nice and I would recommend it however I just couldn’t get into my stride there. In the 20+ days I have just realised that not only did I not catch anything I haven’t even seen a fish on the bank. Sure I have seen wet slings and mats but so far I have not seen a Thorney Weir fish on the bank at all. So next year I may start to use some of the other tickets I have and really put in some time on Harefield pit 1 or the Watford Piscators complex and then come back to thorney for a campaign in late October 2011.

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The most over used photoeffect – ever

Ok I am about to vent, prepare for it….. please oh please will angling magazine editors please, oh please stop using the article authors face as an out of focus background …gggaaaahhhhhhhh !

It has to be the most over used and most annoying photo effect that has ever been used it is almost more annoying when, during the mid 90’s, every fashion magazine “discovered” the ring flash.  To give some examples without naming names, have a look in some of the carp angling monthly magazines ( not carpworld thankfully) and you will notice page after page, shot after shot of the sponsored anglers ugly mug as the out of focus background.

Let show you what I mean, and please note that this one was taken for comedy effect to show you.

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The blow back rig

I have written a lot about rigs and how to construct various types for various fishing situations, I even “invented” my own rig the Big Pig line aligner. However recently I find myself slipping back to simpler times and discarding complicated rigs and moving back to a simpler time, a time where we used standard simple rigs that caught fish rather than the angler.

With this in mind I present to you the blow back rig, one of the simplest and easiest rigs to tie and it catches fish too,

1st you need to assemble the components

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tying popups on to rigs

I know that I said that I hated tying pop-ups onto rigs for chod rigs etc but I have had a change of heart. No I am not about to knock spikers but i have seen another way that actually seems to work. In the past I was always shown that the way to attach popups ( when using floss) was to use a complicated knot based on a grinner which worked about 50% of the time and was a nightmare to tie when you were tired or it was dark or it was cold, or in fact any time that was not at home, in the warm with good lighting.

That has now changed. There is finally an easy want to tie on a a popup using floss ! By the way I must confess that I didn’t think up this idea, it was in the latest issue of Carpology magazine the best “howto” magazine for carp fishing on sale at the moment. So how do you do it ?

Take off about 6-8 inches of floss, I am using Fox yellow bait floss as it is easy to see and in my personal opinion I wouldn’t bother matching floss colour to bait anyway ( especially if you are using bring fluro popups ). Make sure that you use either genuine bait floss or unscented dental floss unless you think carp like the taste of mint 🙂 As bait floss is not that expensive anyway I would just go with the standard floss from a reputable tackle manufacturer. Continue reading “tying popups on to rigs”

Do anglers have small rods ?

A friend of mine pointed me to http://doanglershavesmallrods.com/ the latest Peta rubbish to grace the Internet. They started off with Sea Kittens and migrated to attacking the sexual prowess of  freshwater anglers directly in the UK. Considering that Angling is the largest participation sport in the UK I am amazed that the loons have taken this long to refocus their attentions. Anyway i thought I would post it here just for your amusement and if nothing else  I will get plenty of use for stickers / images like this

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The Black Mirror – Dead

Reports are coming in that “the Black Mirror” from Colnemere near Heathrow is dead, not only is one of the prettiest carp ever to grace the bank dead but also the hardest to catch given that she now lives in an SSSI with no fishing rights. The carp has not been a frequent visitor to the bank and after Jason Hayward caught it in 1992 the lake has been more heavily protected as it has now been further protected and made an SPA, ie fishing the mere for the last few years has been illegal ( adding to the cachet to some to capturing the fish) In the words of Jason Heyward the 1st person to catch the fish ( and legally please note)

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RIP Two Tone – A tribute

Two tone the current british record carp is deadWell it is rest in peace Two Tone, the current British record carp. The carp that I had the ticket to catch in my youth but never really bothered with the lake. The carp that I was told about the week it popped up as a potential British record. The carp that lived in a small lake that was just at the bottom of my schools playing fields.  Not got the link to official news but I have it from too many sources that it turned up dead this weekend at Conningbrook lake.
Continue reading “RIP Two Tone – A tribute”