I’m guessing the fish were registering a bite on the float before the hook was far enough in the mouth for a decent hook hold and that your 13h was just too much stick.

I would look to the basics first:

Pole rollers in the correct place. That is critical when fishing at longer ranges and well worth spending 5-10 minutes making sure they are perfect if the match is likely to be tight on weight (where one lost fish may cost you dearly).

Elastic: 13h with a 0.11? Would fishing a lighter elastic or the same set looser get you more fish? Do you need to get each fish in quicker or ensure that EVERYONE you hook ends up in your net?

Feeding: Do you need to dump or pick off one fish at a time? In my experience you rarely pull out of a lip hooked carp if taking your time: The 808 is prone to damage from foul hooking (and lost carp!) so are you changing your hook as a result of damage? It may be down to how you are feeding.

Ask for assistance for where you are fishing: If you post the name of the fishery you are attemping to crack you should get help (Having managed to dominate at some fisheries and failing to coach friends and team mates to emulate these successes, you will find that most successful anglers will be only too willing to assist you in their footsteps! lol).

Bait choice: 16m is a long way to go with a bait that isn’t very robust. Is there another bait that could be used?

If you ask yourself these type of questions then you should be able to crack the problem yourself even if help is not forthcoming.

Good luck!

Mark

You where foul hooking fish. 99% of all the carp that you hook in the mouth will be landed as long as you dont put loads of pressure on them. You where using 0.11 hook lengths. So, its not like your dragging them in. Simple way of solving your problem especially when using bread is to shallow up a few inches at a time until you only hook fish in the mouth. Shallowig up by as little as 2 inches can make all the difference between losing loads of carp or landing almost everything you hook.

One out of the frame, i agree. You should look to the basics first. For a start. Bread is a very rebust hook bait and one of the most devestating hook baits as the water temps cool down and the water becomes clear. Normally, its best fished off the deck and very close to the fare bank or tight to islands typically of around 16 meters wide!

There hooked in the face thats whats happening, my mate struck at a bite on the pole and come back with an eyeball !!!!

I think your elastic is too strong. 13 H is equivalent to between 12-14 solid, try dropping down a grade or two, setting it softer and use a pull bung.

In my opinion if you are using bread as a hookbait for carp next to a snaggy island, you can use a bigger hook and stronger line, you will then get more fish in. I dont think your tackle is balanced with 13H, and 0.11 line to a 16’s If the carp try to run round the island and you are using 0.11 you can hardly pull them back. Richie apart from being a very good angler is also helpful, when you next see him ask his advise.

maybe the hookbait was” popping up” slightly meaning the bites were sometimes false.

Had a similar thing last week mate. Doing the same as you on the bread. I lost 14 fish, all I suspect foul hooked.

this is a tactic used on my local all the time at this time of the year
you are very likley foul hooking fish, so the problem will be depth, come up (even to 6 inch)
also with bread you very rarley need to strike! just keep a tight line to your float and it will drag it under, elastic if fine if your fishig near a snag for me! but i wouldnt use a 808 with it, maybe using a slightly thicker gauge hook, they cant see it cos the bread will cover the hook very easy, go and experiment with different hooks, but some days they are there in numbers but wont suck anything in!

This should help – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntijmkHoBNQ

I,ve been using this method for a few years now. As i,ve already said. You fish the punched bread off bottom. You can do as Mark Pollard suggests in freezing cold conditions and fish the bread punch anything from 2 inches to 1 foot off the deck and lift and drop the rig. However, if its a little warmer and the carp are more active. You might have to shallow up much more than a foot off the deck to stop the line bites and lost fish. This means shallowing your rig up until almost every indication on your float results in a hooked carp and they are hooked in the mouth. You know that the carp are hooked in the mouth because you land them if your using reasonably bllanced tackle. Lots of missed bites and lost fish generally means that your fishing to deep and your getting liners. You need to shallow up to reduce the number of line bites. Shallowing up by even 2 inches can mean the difference between hooking a carp on almost every drop in or missing bites, foul hooking carp and losing lots of fish. However, there are days when i,ve caught carp on big bread punch less than a foot under the surface in 6 ft of water.

I caught on bread last weekend on a snake lake, I was fishing 8 inches deep, you’ll be surprised how shallow you can catch even when it’s cold, and i didn’t foul hook any. Give it a try.

fish it over depth then when the float goes count to 3 the lift into the fish i used to have the same problem many years ago fishing at monkhall

and if the carp are off the deck. What then, wiggley worm? Your still going to get line btes and foul hooked carp and so lost fish. The only way to stop the line bites and foul hooked fish is to find the right depth that the carp are sat at or just above them. You will then get very few missed bites and no line bites. Everything gets hooked in the gob. So, almost no lost fish. The added advantage of no line bites and so no foul hooked fish is more real bites. You get more real bites because your not spooking carp out of your swim every time you foul hook one. Very important when it gets very cold and the fish dont move around very much or feed freely!

The fish over depth and count to 3 method works on some bream venues but i would not suggest it when fishing for carp.