yes mixers for me on bait bands these days, in the old day we used crust cut neatly with a pair of sissors, at the start of the season the carp wouild be having it, but as they got warey they wouild come upto the bait and give it a slap with their tail often knocking the bait from the hook then they would take it, so we devised a method using a second hook just below the first one and smaller in size, we would put stale crust on the main hook and a bit of fresh paste on the second, the carp would come up slap the stale crust with their tail and then take all the bits as they sank, often taking the second baited hook on the way down.
Surface fishing is really all about stalking and watching the water, move around the lake firing out freebies and just watching the water, you could be there hours before casting the rod, wait until the carp are really taking the freebie confidently, then when they put the`re guard down, cast a hooked bait amoungst them, you will probably take a few carp off guard, once you have, follow the proceedure again until they are back feeding confidently and only cast out again when they are doing this, net out any freebies which have drifted across the lake if you tire of this method, then set up a helicopter and sit it out, not as successful but gives you time to chill and study the water a bit more.
