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I got hold of Hutchy's Golden Years after pre-ordering it almost as soon as it was given a release date. Rod Hutchinson was, or is, an angling hero of mine, and I have read many of his own books; from bait to tackle he was a pioneer and understood more than us mere mortals will ever get, so I was really interested in his early life and journey into carp fishing and this book most definitely does not disappoint. From his time at Redmire with Chris Yates, to Savay, with chapters on his captures by long time companion Brian Hankins and his joy for fishing and life by Simon Crow.

Tufty torch doesn't work on here when the mallards and tufties are in the mood. The only thing that keeps them away is a laser pointer pen. In daylight you have to line up on them with the laser pen underneath your binoculars and 'ping' them, that gets rid of them. I had mallards diving over boilies and particles a few weeks ago. I hooked, landed and returned one. The swan last week was not fun either. There were swan wars at the time, and one of the more dominant in the group decided to chase a younger one which tangled up in the line about 2metres from the rod tip, despite the tips being almost touching the water. It took 10minutes to untangle the poxy thing, holding a swan between my legs, while untangling the line from it's wing, head and legs, all the time keeping away from Sky who was on her long lead attached to the bedchair. This week the swans are keeping across the other side of the lake.

Yes mate was using it, sometimes works amazingly - sometimes not at all it's a weird one with those. Firing out an empty spomb works but last resort which is why I went to feeding them floaters instead. Seems like the gits are just in this swim tbh 🤣

Have you tried a Tufty Torch Kev? I've just got one and it works well.

On a great run there mate 👍

Na mate, I'm on a lake with my dad for 24 hours 👍 hopefully back on the canal tomorrow night 👍

Wow ! , I'm guessing not from the canal ? .

31lb 8oz 👍

Those denture tablets make it very active lol

That's right , Jules , don't want to peak too early 😁 .

Duck free lol aaaagh!!! On the plus side I learnt to fill them up with mixers late evening Saturday, that worked - no more diving and 3 passing single fish stopped and had a few too, Sunday morning they weren't too much trouble. Before that basically all day Saturday they destroyed my 2 spots - I reckon they've eaten about 15kilo over the last 2 weekends most of which was boilie! So much for getting spots going 👎 I did catch one (a duck) Saturday early evening and that did scare them off for a while, tapped him on the beak and called him 'Stupid', that showed him lol Next 6 weeks I'm in work on Fridays so will be getting there late or going early Saturday. I need to find where these fish do their early morning feeds because I'm not getting enough traffic in this part of the lake and the ducks well they're just being ducks - and lots of them. Might need a complete change of approach going forward tbh

Thanks mate it was a red letter session for me 👍 everything just aligned and I managed to get 3 off the same spot in about 2 hours lol. They were really cool looking fish, dark and some scars, I think the 24 is one of the older ones 👍 100% best looking fish I've ever caught 👍

I used to forever play with ingredients in groundbait to make it 'active' and attractive for particular species. Roach love active groundbait and turmeric and ginger, so I would grind Ginger Nut biscuits and dry dog food and add them and a few teaspoons of turmeric to my groundbait mix of brown and white crumb. Bream and carp are not so worried about active groundbait, so it was looking for attractors rather than anything else.

Fished local small lake today for 4 hours just a short sess, blanked as usual but saving myself for a club match on same pond, no keepnets just biggest fish wins really looking forward to this event in 2 weeks, also today i used the new cheap shakespeare aspect 1.5lb 11ft rod and despite it arriving a little bashed it may well prove to be a nice rod for small waters/small fish

Well done , jh92 , especially in this heat . My favourite is the last 'photo , the smaller dark mirror . 😀

Still got it, still no issues with it tbh, I like all the bags and stuff that come with it. Very pleased with the barrow

Every few minutes........... Ian.

Had these from the canal today 👍 24lb 12lb 14oz 19lb 4oz

Hi, how did you get on with the trakker barrow? I’m looking at getting one, torn between that and the carporter mk2

I identify with that as well. And yes, I look at mates playing American football and think I used to do that. I'm also looking at kids coming through that weren't even born when I was playing. One of my mates I used to play with's son is now in the senior team. I retired from playing at 39, and now the kids who were starting then are now retiring.

Oh yes , I can identify with that , Ian . Do you ever say to yourself " I used to be able to do this " ? . 😀

good spot but that is a feeder rod im looking out for 10 or 11ft sundridge light carp rod, and a mate has 4 of them and does not use them, i may end up having to go for a modern rod also considering getting another cane rod made by the chap that did my 8ft

Today's Thought? I'd really hoped that growing old would take much longer than this. 😗 Ian.