Winter approach

I have just had a very good spring/summer at my local club lakes and have banked a lot of upper doubles to 191/2lband three at over twenty up to 23 lb6oz.most of these fish have been caught on corn on the hair popped up with plastic corn and fed on the method (vitalin/corn/strawberry crazy pellet)however now the winds are noticably colder this is not working so well.I have decided to fish the winter using boilies over trout pelletand CSL cloud pellet presented in PVA stockings.My problem is PVA is not somthing i have used before so how big do i make the bags ,I thought about the size of an apple ? also when its gone out how long do i leave it before i bring it in and rebag ?or do i leave it out all day ?Any advice would be much appreciated.

Bill,
All the mesh types are good and you can vary the size to what you want. Also ESP do some bags for 1.95 for 25 bags, and there are three sizes to choose from.
Most PVA products dissolve within a minute so how long you leave them out is up to you.
Most of the mesh type and ESP bags have instructions with them so that should get you going.
Good luck.

Have a look HERE for pva

Use anywhere from a plum sized to grapefruit sized bag! just got to decide if theyre feeding or not......easy as that!
Go easy on the trouties if they're high oil types

Sounds like you've had an excellent season already Bill, superb mate!

A couple of things to remember with PVA bags is that they take far longer to disolve in colder water, although in the main this shouldn't be a major problem based on a lower activity of feeding in the cooler months, you might still want to pierce the bags with a needle all over in case you hit the money spot straight away the carp are feeding.

Sorry Bill, just seen second part of your Q.

I'd probably use bags about the size of a golf ball if that, but power up on the smellier contents. Hope this helps mate!

got to admit, the advert for the carp'r'us flouro groundbaits been on here about a year, its just starting to tickle my fancy, if you know what i mean.....

Dave, I know a bloke who field tested that,had some really good results using it in pva stick to a pop up of the same colour..

.....why change from the method? After all it, like the PVA bag, is only a delivery tool. If you think it is the attractors that need changing then concentrate on that.

I had this debate with someone on a lake earlier this year who sneered at me using the method. I asked him what the problem with it was, and I got the "a serious carp angler wouldn't use one".

When he let on that he used PVA bags I asked him to explain the difference in presenting whole pellets in a bag, or slightly scalded ones around a method.

And the answer is................

stu b, thats my view exactly. its difficult to make a golfball sized method ball though with a decent sized feeder.

Thanks for the advice lads its given me somthing to think about,on the subject of smelly baits Stuart i was told recently to try small slivers of mackrel on the hair and i suppose this could be incorperated into the pva stocking also.What do you think

would probably work better in the summer when the waters warm - it works dur to the oil leak off - but to be honest most baits would work in a pva bag as a lot of the time the fish just suck the whole mush in, hook and all.

A couple of points really, Stu, the Pratt who said about the method ?"a serious carp angler wouldn't use one" needs shooting, that?d be the same Pratt who said if you ain?t got boilies, you ain?t gonna catch would it? They do make me laugh! I?ve used both PVA and the method and at one stage or another each has wiped the ass with the other. Different methods for different scenarios!

Although I?ve got to say I do tend to use small contained PVA bags through the winter rather than the method but that?s based more on wishing to use longer rigs as when using the method I use a boom of about 2-4 inches where when delicate fishing and scaling down in the winter I want my bait as far and as safely away from the lead as I can, but hey that?s a personal choice. I love the method and find it seriously effective, but more in the warmer months when the feeding is more of a frenzy.

Second point, Bill, no it won?t work mate and that?s that I?m afraid. If it?s not round, it will fail. If it doesn?t look like every other bait that goes into the lake then it won?t be eaten! Or should I say, it seems you?re onto something there mate. A fish smelling bait, that look different to every other bait available, that gives off an oily odour??.I?ll say no more Bill.

The more that everyone else uses the same bait and shape, the more you should try something completely different. I don?t mean to patronise, honestly, but a sea or a match angler coming into carp fishing is always a real bonus for me. Fresh eyes, fresh head etc or should I go on?.

Don?t stop doing what your doing, keep the fresh ideas coming in and keep doing everything different to the norm, the rest will fall into place. I?ll put some more thought into your ?thinking anglers? concept.

Dave Rothery got a great thinking brain to, lets see if we can open this out a little, Dave?

I agree Stu (lots of stuarts on ere )that closed minds and people quick to ridicule others can't do the sport any good .Even if an idea turns out not to work its surly better to have ruled it out then for it to be in your mind all the time festering.I am out fishing tomorrow so i will try the PVA mesh on both rods one with makeral and one without.I'll let you know how i get on.

Nice one Bill

like you stu, i love it when people say "fishmeals/method/heavy baiting/sweetcorn/braid/etc" dont work on here, because you know the first thing your going to use!

we had a small debate on here a little while ago about method vs pva, most siding one way or the other, but as you say, theres a time and a place for both. all i would say is drop a bag of pellet in the edge, and a ball of method. leave it an hour, and look again. much difference?
i prefer to use a method mix in winter as it'll be leaking off attactors quicker (and you can put more liquid into it), but may use it in a PVA bag (a'la dynamite stick) rather than on a method feeder so i can get small amounts around a single bait.

I have to agree with the comments about method mixes leaking off attractors. However I like to use ball pellets in very small PVA bags. By small I mean a couple of broken up boilies, and a couple of ball pellets. This gives a bag about the size of a ten pence peice in diameter.

I don't like trout pellets in winter. I think that the trout pellets great advantage is the oil content. In winter low temperatures mean a very slow release. I prefer different pellets. I am using the Hinders pellet combination, and Mainline responce pellets all mixed together. I have enjoyed great success on this mix all summer. On Saturday I caught a 22.5lb Carp on a pop up with a PVA bag of pellets where the bag was smaller than a ten pence in diameter. Try this combination, but as it has been said before, why change what is still working.

Well done on Saturday Chris, nice one!

Just to put the cat amongst the pigeons, I have the following response Chris. You say the method releases attractors better than the PVA bag and that (if I understand correctly) the better situation for you is to release attractors faster in the winter due to temperature etc. I would agree whole-heartedly if I didn?t add attractors separately to the bag. For instance in winter I like to get my small bag of goodies onto viewed fish preferably, and I like to get the attractants working as fast as possible. Surely if you place in pieces of chopped boilies, pellets, maggots or whatever your choice of filler is into your PVA bag and then add a glug on top of those goodies then the release is far more deadly and speedy?

It works for me. That way I?m getting a strong smell released into the water instantly to attract nearby fish and as we all know when carping in winter the last thing you want is to keep your baits in one spot for a long period of time awaiting carp to find your baits. A good debate?

i like "raw" glug in the bag, but it can be a right pain in the arse to use when its raining, hands are wet, etcetc. mixing a small amount of groundbait gives a bit more room for error, and the bags hold their shape better - you can really pack the bag tight.

nice one chris. have you tried going the other way (ooo-eeeer!). using loads of bait? everyone down here seems to put a couple of handfulls as a trap, i think fish are wising up to them. may be worth going for a decent bed of bait, which some waters haven't seen for years. works for jim shelley......

Trout pellets in bags or scalded and moulded round my lead like a small method ball, have both score well for me in the coldest weather.
I know you say that your method has slowed, but how does that compare to the other anglers fishing the same water. In other words has your method slowed, or is it a general slowing down of fish activity. Dont be too quick to drop a producing method just based on just a couple of poor sessions.