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As @yonny says, your eyes are the most important tackle item you have, although I do sometimes set up without seeing fish, on a 'hunch', in a swim I have been baiting or down to what I expect from the weather forecast. Although I do sometimes get it wrong that hunch often pays off. It may be that without realising it I have noticed some sort of indication that there are fish in the area. You may walk around and see obvious signs, coloured water, bubbles, fins breaking the surface, even rolling and jumping, they are obvious reasons to set up in an area. When I am in my swim, my binoculars are always close to hand, but I also put store on hearing fish. At night I spend plenty of time just listening to the lake while I read a book, you can hear fish crashing, which can give you the need to move or recast towards them. I don't own any of the technical equipment you mention. My bottom substrate composition finder is a marker float and lead. The lead on the marker rod, cast out and retrieved slowly tells me the lake bed, if it is weedy, silty, gravel, sand or clay. Each feels different. Cast the marker float and lead out. If the lead goes into silt it will plug, and need a fair pull to move, it then glides back but feeling 'sticky'. Hit a gravel patch it's like wheels going over a cobbled road, sand and clay is like a smooth road. Cast into clay, the lead may stick, but then pull and glide easily. Look at the lead when you have reeled in, clay and silt will often stick to the lead, weed will be caught up around it. Hit weed with a cast and it can stick, reel in, it feels like it is pulling back. Any of those spots you can normally find the depth by letting the float up to the surface, although weed is difficult. Do I think about bait? Yes and no! Sounds silly, but! If I am fishing over particles I don't normally want a big boilie, I want a bait the same sort of size as the particles, so maybe a 8-12mm boilie. If I'm fishing boilies I use the same boilie as my free baits. I know my boilies are acceptable, I know that the fish eat them. What works on one lake will normally work on another. To be honest, the main reason I change what boilies I use is down to baits becoming unavailable or occasionally just because it doesn't seem to be working. Originally when I joined Brackens Pool I was using Smokey Mackeral, and it worked. The company I was testing for gave me a new bait, I just could not get it to catch, so I I had to change. That new bait did work on other waters and was released, it just didn't work on Brackens. I was using KMG on Nazeing Meads and Alton Water and I loved it, it was catching me fish from both, and on Nazeing, possibly the garlic element was reducing crayfish interest (not sure, don't know, but I had less problems than with other fishmeal boilies), I took it to Botesdale, and started catching on it, then the bait company stopped making it. Again, I could not get confident in the new bait, hence a change to Shrimp, which I have caught on within 3 trips on a very temperamental water.

Just watch any video with terry Hearn in it Most of the time the fish are not on the bottom anyway so most of that can be discounted at times of the day watch for strange movements in weeds look for bubbles. look for bow waves. find one and you will usually find more once you know HOW to look. use the wind and follow it down or across the lake.

Yes, nothing at all on the Witney bank at that time, except for a wooded footpath. Remember an old "newsletter" we used to get that suggested the CS wanted to somehow put 'islands' in the middle of Winter Bay, obviously never came to anything 😂 Think they wanted to / did some sort of stock pond on the trout bank around that time too?

I have polarized sunglasses and binoculars. I’ve never tried observing from a tree, but thanks for bringing that up; it’s helped me see just how important this is.

A successful angler will always be on the fish and if that means spending more time looking/searching than fishing then so be it. If you're not on the fish then none of the other stuff (dissolved oxygen, rigs, tackle etc) matters.

Your eyes....... they're the most important piece of tackle you have. Pressure, depths, temps etc etc are all good starting points but I'll not fish until I see a carp to fish for. You cannot catch what is not in front of you.

Sorry about the typo, its actually about 3000 ltrs. Water quality is improved since using a stone/media bio filter for a few days. I dont need to clean sludge off any more, so feel im on the right track Planning on just under 11000 ltrs for the new pond. Im hoping to use the existing pond as a kind of bog pond with a small stream feeding into the new one, with catch pool to a skimmer run off. Might take a while, but it's captured my attention from the rat race grind

As an aside, if you were to head to an unfamiliar body of water, even in a foreign country, how would you start fishing? I'm from Asia, and our holy grail is landing giant common carp, grass carp, and black carp. But every time I arrive at the water's edge full of confidence, I end up feeling completely lost. I check the air temperature, barometric pressure, and water temperature. I even own a pH meter for water quality testing. I try to pinpoint the best fishing spots using satellite maps, measure water depth by every means possible, and even use a sonar fish finder. I observe the vegetation along the banks and gather every scrap of information I can about the water body, both online and from fellow anglers. Yet I still consistently struggle to catch fish well. I don't know if I'm missing something crucial or if I've lost sight of what truly matters. Whenever I feel this confusion, I always default to fixating on my tackle: should I buy a dissolved oxygen meter? A device to analyze the bottom substrate composition? A thermometer that reads water temperature at different depths? Or perhaps invest in better groundbait and hookbaits? But I suspect that's not how a truly skilled angler thinks. So how do I become a real master angler?

Funny that you should mention Arsenal in a cheating context . I know a lot of teams now at set plays are pushing and shoving , but it seems to me that Arsenal are the worst offenders . Here's hoping that West Ham get the change at the top that you yearn for and you can start the rebuild . 😃

Your issues will get worse as the koi grow mate. You might need to bite the bullet and upgrade the filtration.

For years, around 1995 to 2008 ish I used Daiwa Sensor in brown, on various lakes and reservoirs. From 2008 or 2009 I started using Gardner Pro, normally light as the waters I fish are normally clear. I mentioned above about leaders if I was casting long distances, Drennan Greased Weasel in grey, Amnesia in clear or black has never been an issue. I've watched carp spooking around lines, and it's usually tight lines. I've also seen them spook off fluorocarbon mainlines, whether it was the shadow on the lakebed or possibly the vibration (?) I don't know. Unless your rod tips are mega high, and fishing super tight line, at anything above 40metres the line near the end tackle is likely to be on the lakebed, unless you have 'raised' features like gravel bars to hold it up. I've not been one for 'fish protection' * as with monofilament or copolymer lines, I think the line rarely damages the fish. Braided mainline/leaders and leadcore however I do think can cause cuts, grazes and scarring if they rub. I occasionally fish with tubing, but it is a rarity, and it is for the real name, anti-tangle tubing, to prevent braided hooklinks tangling around the mainline. I normally fish with my rod tips as low as possible, often underwater, to keep the line down, and if I can with running leads and slack lines. *Fish protection, that doesn't mean I don't think they deserve protection, but just that the line is not at fault. We normally fish rig rigs or floater fishing with naked mainline, and hook carp on tench gear, or accidentally while float fishing or ledgering for other species. Camouflaging weights, (sinkers), is it necessary? On my current water the lead in many swims is in the silt. Just dropping a lead in the margins, it is a job to find it. I have lost a few that I have seen fall off the link clip, the run ring fell after a pike bite-off, or where I dropped the blooming thing. I do paint and coat my leads, with a hard varnish, but I think its more a confidence thing camouflaging than a requirement. The fish I had this week and subsequent casts, I had to pull the lead free from the silt!

I don’t like to talk about it much 😁 I’m not too bothered about division 2 to be honest mate , I’ve seen 6 now in my time , not sure we’ll be back anytime soon though with the Porno perv I’m charge . heres hoping Panorama broadcast their investigation soon and it gets him out . Devastated about those cheating G-its Varsenal winning the title though . I did laugh the other day when the chief cheat Gabriel put that penalty over the top though .

Looking at a bigger pond etc. I read that you ideally want 1000ltrs per fish. Mine are only 6-8" atm so im already short with 5 in just under 300ltrs

The more I research probably not. Its a 5 in 1 Blagdon 2000. Ive now set up this bog filter which seems be reducing the sludge in the media.

That's a more serious problem. Are you sure the filtration is up to dealing with the koi? I've not tried Envii stuff I'm afraid.

Its a tricky one. The Mrs suggested having a word, but its about 20ft from a stream, so it wouldn't take long to attract his mates. We only started composting since our council changed the food bins a few months ago. I guess its always going to attract vermin and pests🤔 Im now trying to sort the high nitrates in the pond. Trying to keep koi on a budget is proving to be a minefield. What's your thoughts on Envii products?

Stop reading articles and watching videos lol makes it worse as most of the time they are made by tackle companies who are trying to sell you a product.

Hi Looking at Kaisen 12 ft 3.5 would value opinions from anyone who as experience of them . Cheers Kevin

What matters most is that the line is strong enough to deal with any weed/snags etc. No point in dropping the diameter if you're going to lose the fish and/or tackle. Use a decent leader or tubing to get the end tackle pinned down. Fish the lines as slack as you dare (i.e. very slack with no weed/snags, and less so with weed/snags to deal with). Assuming you can get the tackle pinned down, line colour is less important imo. I wouldn't worry about lead and hook concealment. Get them feeding and they'll take a hook bait at some point.

I use 15lb main line but always use a Korda Safezone fluorocarbon leader (30lb) and back lead after casting to ensure that there is no tight line cutting through the feeding area. The leader also helps prevent scales lifting during the fight.

Yeah, that’s exactly where my anxiety stems from. I’m not from Europe, so I’ve been learning carp fishing online. Countless articles keep stressing how wary carp are, covering line diameter, line colour, sinker concealment and whether hook coatings reflect light. It’s left me pretty anxious and unable to tell what matters most, haha.

Yes. The thicker it is the easier it is to see. I've watched carp spooking off lines numerous times. That said, as others have pointed out there's no point fishing with line that's not up to the job. I will always go too strong/thick rather than than too fine for the given angling situation. Just make sure the last few feet are pinned onto the deck.

The only concerns would be A) the rat smashes your koi food, and B) the rat poos in your pond introducing parasites (unlikely). I've never heard of rats having a pop at the fish themselves. Just get rid of it and you should be fine mate.

Just discovered i have new pests, that may have a go at the fish Ive found a massive rat nesting in my compost bin🤔🫣 Should I be concerned??

What are you fishing for? How big do the fish go? Is the lake snagged, weedy or clear? I fish waters where the carp go to over 40lb, my normal line is 15lb, 0.35mm. I need that line to cope with weed and algae, occasionally long casting as well as playing the fish. If I go to an 'easier' water with carp to just maybe 20lb and few or no snags then I will use 10lb 0.30mm line. Does diameter make a difference? On a water I used to fish my shockleader was Drennan Greased Weasel in 40lb with a diameter of 0.58mm, or 30lb Amnesia which I have no idea of the diameter. I caught with that diameter line as I do now.