Need some advice re: line

[the_seraphim]

ive got some 8lb line... thats it, this is some fishing stuff i bought a while back (7 or 8 years at least) used it once for an hour, caught nothing, hooked a tree and came home after losing said hook +10ft line in tree.

now im older and i get why i didnt catch anything... carp arent attracted to little pieces of ham...

but ive been reading up in preperation for a little jaunt down to a small stocked pool (its only 10 minute walk from my house yeah im lucky) its got carp in there (i think) and ive come across mainline and hookline/leader line and the leader seems to be stronger than the mainline, and that seems daft, and anyway i thought you used the line on your reel

so basically, im not sure on the setup, ive got 2 rods, one is a small 1.5m rod with 6lb line and the other is a larger 3m pole with 8lb line.

i also dont understand the importance of the gear ratio in the reel, nor can i properly cast, though that may have been because i watched 1 fishing documentary and went fishing after buying a pole the same day...

how important is a long cast, can i just have the line say 5 or 6ft from the end of the rod? is that long enough? what kind of bait for carp or can i use an artificial lure, if so what kind is best?

a decent tutorial would be enough tbh but google just isnt being specific enough

 

[Stealph Viper]

Seraphim,

Welcome to Fishing Magic.

Looking at your question it seems that you have very little experience in Fishing and very little experience on the general use of fishing equipment and what equipment you require.

The best advice i can give you is to speak to your local tackle shop or to a friend who already goes fishing to get them to show you what you need and how to use it both safely and responsibly to ensure you have a great days fishing and both you and the fish are safe at the end of it all.

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

A good idea is to get yourself down to a cheapo book store, The Works, if you have one in your town, and look for books that are an introduction to angling.

Example: The Practical Guide To Coarse Fishing by Tony Miles, a well respected angler. This was on sale recently at The Works for £3.99, you could spend a fortune on magazines and videos and not learn half as much.

It deals with a lot of aspects of coarse fishing and not all of it will be of use to you in what you want to do now. However, read it all because you may see something in a shop that you think you might need, but with some knowledge from the book, you will realise it is for a different method of fishing to what you want to do and it would be of no use.

 

[BapAndFuro]

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I got this for 50p at a boot fair, it's a great book, very informative, and in the later stages of the book, covers much more than just the basics. It'd be great for learning.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Mr (or mrs I guess?) the_seraphim,

Where do you live?

 

[goldenboy55]

if you go to the "Features" button at the top of the page, in the drop down menu there are a couple of sections that can help you : "How To" & "Beginners" can both give you lots of help advice & tips, I realise you can't take this with you to the riverbank (Im not up with todays technology so maybe you can?) like a book, but there are videos as well as text to give you some ideas. There is another button "Rigs" which can help you set up your rods for various kinds of fishing to.
p.s. from what I can tell (and I'm no expert!) on any given day, all fish will eat all baits, so little bits of ham might work just as well for a carp as do dog biscuits or cat food!
good luck with your fishing, let us know how it goes.

 

[Day Breamer]

The best book you could wish for is this very site.

There are so many articles and threads that cover everything anyone could dream of irrespective of skill and/or experience.

Here are some great articles about float fishing and legering...

First Class Fishing - FishingMagic Online Fishing Magazine.

There are dozens more like this if you click at the top of the screen on 'features' and 'rigs' and then choose what you need from there.



Forget high street book shops... FM is the works !!

 

[the_seraphim]

It's mr the_seraphim or Dave if u pr3fer lol.

I live in Redditch (which also means one of my local tackle suppliers is the gwen of partridges of redditch)

I've done some more reading and its all good now. I got my sweetcorn for bait, have prebaited at the spot I like for a few days, I'm not gonna use a leader as I've got 5lb mono line and its a clear spot.

I've got the hang of casting, sort of... practice makes perfect and can't really cast a 13 ft rod indoors so...

I'm pretty sure i can remove the hooks now (after i remove the barbs... practoced on my fingers and those barbs are awkward.

If anyone fancies joining me at one of the places in Redditch send me an email s3raph1m@gmail.com or sms 07795638178 there's a free pool I'm going to today and a man made lake about 3 miles around with (need seperate licence but its a few quid for a year) and theres some rivers/streams around of varying speeds/depths.

 

[Day Breamer]

Arrow Valley lake in Redditch used to be a very good water, lots of Carp in there if you know where it is, i think its day ticket.