i am a great fan of pva bags and i also use a method feeder with the usual hemp and corn etc. i am interested to know how many anglers think spodding is a must. i ask this because i only catch carp up to 20lb, not that i am complaining but i never seem to break that 20 mark, is it because i should spod to get a larger bed of bait out there, i've tried bigger hookbaits i.e double boillie etc but to no avail, any advise or opinions greatly appreciated, tight lines, tony.

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still hoping to have a big one, one day.

I fished polly last year Tony and had over 70 fish just using single baits.... at most i'd put 1 pult out per rod so on that basis i dont think it is essential to fish big beds on some waters.
9 times out of 10 though ya always fishing over someones bait on there

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On The CHEMO !!!!!!!

Tony.

I know loads of people that fish Polly and spod out loads of bait and have some big hits, I also know loads of people that just fish a single hook bait and put a few freebies around it and still get among the fish

TBH, I used to be a big fan of spodding BUT this last year I have just used the boillie only approach and it dont seen to have affected my catch rate.

I know none of the above helps mate, I think you should just do what you feel is right at the time.

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English by birth. Southern by the Grace of God

yea, especially on a monday after the weekenders have filled it up

cheers for the reply Max.

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still hoping to have a big one, one day.

cheers Steve, it does help, i just think i am unlucky, by the way many congrats for your recent capture, thanks again mate.

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still hoping to have a big one, one day.

Keep doing what your doing mate, keep plugging away and it will all come right in the end



Cheers matey

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English by birth. Southern by the Grace of God

Spodding is not a must.... but, ive seen the polly fish go right into one when spodding out bait.... As it is deep, I think sometimes they are up in the water and follow the food down to the bottom... Try finding a big shoal, start spodding and then cast right on top
Give the Burrows a good go Tony there is some nice 20s in there!

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On the ChemoFish for the rest of my life...

Couldnt' comment on this particular water, however I think it's something that every angler experiences on many waters.

You select your swim, set-up, get your rods out, sit down with the kettle on and watch the water...

...And the other anglers spodding, baiting up (it's nearly always at 7pm in the summer) and you're thinking.... "Should I be doing that?"

Watch for activity, if someone's spent the morning spodding and there's no activity over the baited area then that could be a useful pointer. Likewise if it was dead before-hand and buzzing afterwards.

What I would say is don't look at those who are fishing... Look at those who are catching. But don't be afraid to be different. You only need one bait to catch a fish.

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Never argue with an idiot. They will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Very true

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http://carpfood.blogspot.com/

Watch for activity, if someone's spent the morning spodding and there's no activity over the baited area then that could be a useful pointer. Likewise if it was dead before-hand and buzzing afterwards.

True, it's all about being vigilant and watching the water.

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The kettle's always on!

cheers for the tips lads, tight lines, tony.

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still hoping to have a big one, one day.

Is anyone trying a reasonable bed of boilies?
If not, that could pay some proper dividends...

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Location Location Location. Spodding brings in the Bream and lots of them on this particular water.

Spend more time looking for the carp and less spodding and it will get you a result, did me

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Victory lies eternally and exclusively in attack

BUT Keith, the other side of the coin is that Lyn and his mate, must have spodded out 20K of hemp and corn (with loads of Garlic added ) and had 2 Bream and about 15 odd carp between them over 3 days

I also know of others that spod on there and do seem to get good results, there again, I know loads that just use the boillie on the hook and a few freebies approach and they catch

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English by birth. Southern by the Grace of God

Something I ahve noticed on a number of waters is that someone will do exceptionally well on a certain method, say for example mixed nuts and hemp with a nut hookbait, then everyone jumps on it and gets a bit of the pie for a while. then osmeone new comes along, different method and absolutly rapes it. There is no hard and fast rules in this game - other than the fact that bream love pellet. I love pellet, but not on waters crawling with bream - Horrible bloomin things

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Viewing the world through a mozzie mesh

One thing that everyone has failed to say is that if you intend to fish the Pollard with boilies only you will need to either put them out a pouch every half hour or so or spod them.

The seagulls can see you pick your pult up at 100 yards so spodding them out is the only way to get your bait out to your chosen spot

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SAVE OUR PLANET. Its the only one with beer on it

Hmmm. I wonder if the R.S.P.B. will start complaining soon about the gulls being fed "shelfies"?
Our feathered friends don't seem to have any preference to makeup, brand , hype, colour, flavour, ph, enzymes, fresh, shelflife or hnv values.
They simply snaffle it as quickly as possible.
Food for thought there chaps and this may tell us a little something................

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I were a teenage Waswolf.

Spodding in winter is never a necessity Mr brownie just another trick. Here is a little example from a few Januarys ago.

A mate and i walked around this little day ticket water and found a shoal just 'ringing' the surface in the January morning sun. We set up in adjacent swims with the fish showing about 40 yds out in front and between us. I opted for singles glugged in solars winter fruit and my mate chose spodded hemp and corn at the same range. We banked 40 carp over the two day sessions (no night inbetween). I had 21 and my mate 19 and we swapped swims on the second day. So that just about proved to me that at times (even in winter), it makes no difference whatsoever! This happened again on a totally different type of day ticket water too. Although my final conclusion is that winter spodding is a waste of effort on these type of waters!

That is probably no help to you though!

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Striking is silently setting steel somewhere scenic......

thanks for the replies fellas.

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still hoping to have a big one, one day.