As I write this, we are right at the end of November and today I have won a match on Lake 2 at Makins, using Sonu Super Scent corn in conjunction with the bomb.

A lot of people think there is no skill in bomb fishing, but that’s far from the truth. Yes, anybody can cast a bomb out and leave it there, hoping for a bite, but there is so much more to this deadly method and here I’d like to share some of the things that have helped me to success.
Firstly, it’s important to have good quality bait and I put my faith in the Sonu Super Scent scopex-flavoured corn, which sells in handy little ring-pull cans - one of these is more than enough to see you through a day’s fishing in winter.
I always look for a dark yellow grain that’s about the size of an 8mm pellet. Hookwise, I use a Preston PR36 in a size 18, with a Korum Quickstop tied on a 10mm hair, and I use just a single grain of corn on the hair.
The hook-length is made up using 0.15mm Preston Power Line, and is usually around three-and-a-half feet long.
Now this may surprise some people who fish commercials, but I think short hook-lengths are a bit of a waste of time because often the carp are higher up in the water and a long tails helps you achieve a slower drop through the water, and the fish, which see the corn coming down past them, may be triggered to follow the hook-bait down and take it in.
Take today as an example. I caught 11 fish for 55lb, and most of them took the bait within three minutes of me casting in. I am convinced the fish see the bait from the moment it hits the surface and they watch it. If you had a 15-inch hook length and an ounce bomb, the bait would whistle past them most unnaturally and they would be very wary.
With regard to the rig, I use a 4lb reel line and after threading it through the rod - in this case a Preston C series 12 foot feeder rod -  I make a simple foot-long knotted loop in the end of the reel line. Some people tie this off with a double overhand knot, while some prefer a figure of eight knot. Trim the tag end, then crimp the loop end of this and thread it through the eye of a small snap swivel, before securing the doubled piece of line by tying a three-turn blood knot. Pull this down good and tight and trim the ends.
Next I clip on a bomb and leave the clip open, as I am going to attach my hook length to the clip, too.
The end of the hook length that is going to go onto the clip swivel is finished off with a two-inch-long twizzled loop, knotted wioth a figure of eight knot, and I thread the hook and hair through the eye I have created in this loop, lassoo style, and then secure the hook length on the clip.
This might seem like I am faffing about but all these doubled lengths of line, both in the way I attach the bomb to the main line, and then in the twizzled loop, affords more strength in the end tackle - and you need it because some of the fish are big - going towards double figures.
I always try to get away with the lightest bomb I can use, because carp do not like having heavy bombs crashing in a round them. It spooks them and if you cast too often the fish will swim off to an empty peg or a quiet corner of the lake.
It also pays not to keep casting in the same spot, as again, this can spook the fish. In winter, when the water is cold and clear, you must not really feed any corn when fishing the bomb. Just cast in once every 15 to 20 minutes if you haven’t had a bite, and keep believing the tip will go round. Eventually it will!