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Terry Edmonds used them when he broke his record I like them and had them years

I remember Rod Hutchinson giving a taped interview on I think his Woldview fishery. He said that the smaller carp go for it first, and the big girl would not be among them and actually avoided the warmer water until she was ready which was mid to late June. I've seen on our lake it is the younger stock fish that start the spawning motions long before the original fish, and don't necessarily use the same 'year in-year out' spots of the original fish. This year so far the dam wall was the spot, last year it was halfway along by the rushes, yet the original fish use the shallows by the island. Going back to Hutchy, he caught the big girl in the last chapter of The Carp Strikes Back (reprint) in August from memory and she was shedding spawn in the landing net, so what should have been his first 40 was 39 something. I used to think that it was temperature only, but the number of times I have seen carp start to spawn around a specific date (late May), even if it is cold, and then go again once it is warmer is pretty regular, so I am sure daylight hours has something to do with it. Even pike will go at a specific daylight hours if the water temperature is low and go again when it reaches optimum. I was on my syndicate this year watching them go first week of March, then mid April they were in a mates swim winding him up bumping lines and spawning. Totally, predators before the silvers, and no fish spawn or small silver fish are safe when the predators are eating them. Big pike bursting into a pack of roach or perch to grab a fish, or even grabbing a mouthful of fry. I do and don't on the closed season. I used to hate the Easter holidays as I couldn't fish, but it gave everything time to recover, birds to nest, banks to regrow and fish to spawn, yet proper spring fishing after the cold and wet of winter...

That's what happens now on dinton pastures i think, they close for 4 weeks or so once the spawning starts. The other lakes I had tickets for had a similar policy. In fact I have kept one ticket for a lake in colne valley. Took me years to get the ticket after being proposed and seconded by a couple of mates who were members, so I may return to it one day.

Back of the net! Just got awarded a smaller amount than what I was asking for but a win is a win and it is a tidy amount, plus it's more the principle, I don't like being mugged off when money is involved, the only reason they have offered a payment is because they know with a solicitor to do the upper court for me I would clean up, I can't do it myself as you only get one chance and if you get it wrong all costs will be on you, no ifs no buts.

Absolutely right the Pike go first then Perch so their offspring can predate on the later arrivals - very clever isn't it. 😎 Fished a few waters through the Nene valley and they all seem to spawn Late June maybe into early July, not sure if it's a depth/temp thing, the small stockies may well go for it early but the better fish seem to wait longer. On these particular fisheries closing for a few weeks once they actually start spawning works OK but not if they choose to start when the tiddlers go first. If it were my choice I'd ignore the tiddlers and close for 3-4 weeks once the proper fish start. Tough to get it spot on every time, I saw one of the big girls spawning early Aug, just that spawn bound fish and a few males - mad sight.

I think the March 15th til June 16th was because you have different species spawning at different times. Correct me if I'm wrong but the pike and probably perch spawn first early spring so that their young then predate on the fry of the fish that spawn later so the time scale was to hopefully cover all the spawning of all the species. Always certain lakes that buck this trend . My old lake dinton pastures white Swan lake nearly always spawned a week or 2 after the season opened on June 16th and the anticipation was something I looked forward to. Used to spend the close season pre-baiting, sorting gear out, rigs etc. Maybe the odd day ticket session but everything geared towards the opening night. You had to do a work party if you wanted to fish opening night and the draw for your peg was a buzz. I obviously don't fish Freshwater now but if I did i certainly wouldn't bother me if the close season was to return. When dinton scrapped the close season the fishing that first spring was insane to the point that a fair few members literally only fished it for the 3 months of what was the close season each season after that because it was so hard the rest of the season.

I do follow Julian Cunddif on twitter he is such a nice guy funny as well got loads of time for people he don't know and to top it off he comes from a very well to do background and not at all snobby.

I think media driven is the right description, where even in the early days of printed media, magazines you could see anglers making the decision to fish full time in return for sponsorship or employment. I do think that social media has to some extent stopped it a bit as while Facebook and TikTok, YouTube and whatever are around it does not seem to be getting to every angler anymore like the printed word, it is too dissipated, too broken up. I mean almost every angler bought one or more magazines, yet I am positive that not every angler can be bothered following every YouTube or TikTok of all of those anglers putting stuff up. For myself I am less interested in social media than I ever was in the printed word. I do do Facebook, but more for anti-establishment and comedic posts than anything else, although I do put fishing ones up occasionally, but who would want to follow me?

Great result mate, that lin is a corker, well in

12 weeks garden leave and then I got made redundant 2 weeks before covid hit and lockdown happened. You would have thought after 23 years they could have furloughed me and then Made me redundant. 25k redundancy later and a new job in July on more money I think I won. 👍👍 the MD who made me and the others redundant was made to resign or get sacked 18 months later. just checked he has done 4 more jobs since “leaving”

I would recommend Lemons Hill North car park, cross the bridge and walk towards The Wonder. What was 'grassy bank' has 5 or 6 swims, and then the next swim is around half a mile along the reservoir. Walk back and go along the bank towards White Horse Lane, the top footpath is away from the swims, so take the lower footpath at the bramble bush. It comes back up to the top footpath and then splits again before the swims are right next to the path. There are a few swims on the other side around 200metres from the smaller Lemons Hill car park. Oh, don't forget that AW in their wisdom have put blooming meters in the car park, which is why I frequently park at the bottom of White Horse Lane adjacent to the houses and do that route in reverse, making sure to look around the area at Lemons Hill car park. Anglers do get free parking included in their ticket, but I would be darned if I would pay to walk around the reservoir. Don't park on the bridge, cars do get tickets for that.

I caught my first/ last fish just before lockdown around the 20th March first session back and caught my first after lockdown 18th May I had a 10 fish hit and the next morning whilst sitting in my bivvy, I got a call from my boss telling me I might be on a short list to be made redundant. That was a week after my dad's funeral. So it sticks in my mind a bit. I'm all for a shut down post spawning but 3 months feels excessive to me.

There was always an air of anticipation on June 16th (usually followed by disappointment ) I think it should be re introduced but as a floating shut down once any of the species starts spawning then close for the 3 months not just carp. Nature would also appreciate it. think back to covid everyone was gagging to get back to it thats how it felt way back when. and from memory it was March to June

Well done mate - great stuff 😎👍

I was taken aback by how good it was tbh. Never really liked the look of it but needs must. It cast well (although I was only baiting ~30 yards out) and opened every time. Seemed quieter than a spomb. Really impressed.

Maybe media was the wrong word meant more industry driven via social media I guess if you invest in a modern fisheries you are going to want all year round anglers, one lad was complaining on FB he paid 40 for 24 hours and got rig checked twice two different lake staff members. The estate lake near me a once syndicate is now a lake exclusive only which is fair enough then you read the rules choice of four pegs which must be fished from and they also insist on certain lead set ups and tubing only no straight through even, notoriously difficult water that has had stock fish added, I wouldn't expect strict peg rules on a lake exclusive, they are only in place to stop swim poaching on day ticket waters.

Well done Yonny some cracking bangers there 😎. X spods are better than spombs, Also me TFG Airbombs are better than spombs 😂

Got out for a night over the bank holiday. The syndi is closed for spawning so I visited a day ticket down in the Nene Valley. It was absolutely rammed as one might expect given the timing, but I managed to find a few carp in a quiet corner. It was dead hot, so I flicked a couple of zigs out just under the surface. It was clear the carp were just sunbathing, so I was expecting to have to wait for the sun to drop behind the trees for any action. So it proved with a take around 19:30 which resulted in a lovely grey linear. Onto the deck for the night and I realised I had a problem – I’d forgotten the spod rod! I found one of those Wolf X-Spod jobbies in my bag (bought it ages ago and never used it) and bodged it onto one of my carp rods. It worked a treat…. those X-Spod thingys are great! I put 2 on the deck and left one up in the water. At 02:30 I was away off the baited spot and a nice little cricket bat common was landed. Re-did the rod and 04:30 saw an awesome chestnut linear landed - worth a pic this one. Photo’s done, I was half expecting that to be it but at 09:00 the zig rod went. It kited to my right past several other anglers and the hook pulled when I over-gunned it trying to stop it. Still, a good sign. In come the rods on the bottom, zigs on all of them, and back out they go. About 10:30 I get another take and another cricket bat common is in the net. I planned to stay a bit longer after that but as the heat increased, I decided I was happy with what I’d had so called it a day. A great little session in the end.

If I wanted to drive over and have a look at swims where would you suggest I park and look at first ?

I personally think the closed season is an outdated concept and shouldn't be reinstated. What I would like to see is fishery owners being more responsible and closing once they spawn and remain closed for a month or so to give the fish some recovery time. I think media is better in many ways, you can learn what you want, find out about products you might want and ignore the rest.

Very interesting topic. Is it just media driven, or is it 'carp only'? I grew up fishing, with a close season on rivers and lakes. Summer was tench and bream, and winter was roach on the river and pike. I was a mix between a match and big fish angler. Carp were a bonus on the second rod, although in the late 1980's I did start fishing pretty much for them almost exclusively. I was lucky in that I did actually get my name in the Anglers Mail with 5lb tench and 5lb chub when I was 14, and by the time I was 17 had landed 2 9lb tench, bream to 8lb, a couple of 2lb roach and a 20lb pike. I kind of stayed on the edge of the fishing industry and media, rolling bait for a company, and in my early 20's actually running a water for a couple of years. I was also appearing in CarpTalk a bit, on my own catches and submissions and also with Ian Jones who was writing Cambs Uncovered, publicising catches and waters in the area. I guess carp.com is or was the edge of media, as certain subjects have made it into magazines or online media, either directly or as Carpology has done with a 'sneaky' pinch. I've actually moved away from carp only, probably since about 2014, chasing big roach on a reservoir, more 20lb pike, and the tench again to 12lb. The media driven did get to wind me up...

See Preston do a rod and reel range with 420 logos and branding Wonder where they nicked that from, I'm tempted to try the waggler rod for the branding alone, plus the fact it's a really nice slim blank, just a touch above what I want to spend, plus the Drennan red rod comes with over sized eyes, not sure on the pellet waggler rods they look a bit clumsy for canal angling and I really do need something that will fish lines up to 8lb bs, trust me most waggler rods will have a problem with line above 5lb, the friction really does add up fast.

Are anglers expecting too much from the UKs climate and water temps, fair play if you wish to fish all year round, but you can't expect anything really, some lads that pop up on my twitter feed are only just having their first carp since last autumn, yet not really paying much consideration to the fact you really do have to be on the carp in winter. A tench angler out at first light in march looking for large tench, which is not impossible but damn near, you could win most afternoon matches in march with a 2oz perch caught on half a pinkie. I think a return to the promotion of seasonal angling is needed it's a shame specimen angling has gone the way it has, driven by private industry and retail, I'm starting to find the ignorant marketing something similar to a dodgy double glazing sales team yet they are never called out due to angling being recreational. I don't fish winters myself but if I did I wouldn't be doing summer type angling just for the sake of getting out.

Since the locking of the car parks that sort of trouble has stopped. The local kids could be a pain down at Lemons Hill big car park, sitting on the nitrous canisters. I was getting out of the car, putting gear into the swim (which about 2 weeks ago was under water), although there is another quite sloped swim in the car park cut since. I also used to park down the lane by the White Horse and go 2 swims to the left, about 200 metres. The first swim was a snag pit, the remains of the old road from Tattingstone to Stutton, I've put up a pic so you can see. You now have another car park, entrance by the layby and houses on Lemons Hill, so that keeps walks short. The longest walk I had was The Wonder Car park and going left to the end of the bay on the far side. Birchwood can be a pain, but although I fished it a few times, never caught carp in the area. I never found it busy on any day of the week, although there might be a few people fishing, you never felt like they were close. The only thing I would say is try to reduce background on any pics you put up, or don't let everyone know you are catching. There were a few problems with lure anglers casting over lines (Eastern European) which put me off, and got me in trouble when I spoke out about it.

Just been reading about Alton and season ticket. I googled mapped it and saw the car parks etc How safe is it where car parks are ( any trouble ) and approx walk to a swim ? How busy does it get on Fridays ? Is it an impossible venue to catch as a day angler ?