Blanked for carp now.

[barbelblanker]

Nordley 1 and 2 on the surface for carp.

At first they did not want to feed at all. Then they did and by the end of the evening it sounded like a tea tasting convention with all the slurping going on.

So why did I blank ?

I've just started using the enterprise artificial dog biscuits. The carp seem to like them BUT I pulled the hook out of at least 6 fish without any contact at all. I thought it was just me getting the ninja strike reflexes in operation but looking back on it , I think I hooked the dog biscuit badly.

When I used real dog biscuits the hook stands proud because I use a band (not Led Zep' , no I mean a bait band).

I think by not just nicking the bisuit the carp cold close its lips on the bait and the hook was nowhere near penetrating.

As part of the idea is that a split shot flips the bisuit and lifts the hook out of the water , has anyone got any ideas or have used these.

The did solve the problem of the flying off biscuit really well. I like them , just need to get the hook ups .

Cheers,

Pete.

[Baz T]

I use pedigree chum mixer, and hair rig it, as I would a boilie, but the hair is not tight tight up to the hook, but then again niether is it dangling off the end...Its a bit more fiddly to use the hair rig, but I found it tends to hook em quite well. I dont strike, just keep the line fairly tight, and they either hook themselves as they turn away, or I just lift the rod a bit. I free line - dont use a controller float, as the lake I fish has a couple of islands and I can usually get them feeding between me and an island, or in the margins, and I find I can cast out a fair distance with my 13 ft match rod and 5lb line with just the chum mixer on (wind permitting!). Just an option to try, as I find the hair rig works fine. I aint an expert, only started carping last summer but did spend lots of hours getting them off the surface. If you are going for heavyweight carp I suppose my gear will be too light obviously, but the lake I usually surface fish for them holds them up to about 15lb, which I can just about handle on my gear (biggest 12lb off surface).

[Maddison_Twatter]

I Agree with Baz T , I think hair rigging the bait is more effective as the fish cannot feel the hook until its too late, although you do sacrifice buoyancy time but I suppose you could use the artificial ones .