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Hi all, a couple of friends and I have got back into carp fishing and would like to go away for a few nights somewhere. Ideally we would like to have some accommodation next to the lake so we can night fish but haven't got any idea of where to go, so looking for some suggestions please. We are in Berkshire and don't mind travelling so Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex, Oxfordshire, Bucks, Wiltshire and Dorset areas are all good. Accommodation doesn't need to be anything amazing. A roof and electric would do! Thanks in advance

Nice session, three good pike in one go! Too bad about the chair, but good thing you had the boat seat. Wearing those leather receiver gloves was a smart idea. They give a good grip and keep your hands safe from pike rash.

Yeah you are right.

Wow! That's nice.

anyone looking for a large car might want to look at the kia sportage the older ones are cheap and pretty much hassle free just make sure it's a diesel as the petrol versions are very thirsty, loads of cheap honda CRVs about in petrol same again though thirsty on the fuel but in good condition the older CRVs in diesel are normally well used and hard to find one that isn't a MOT money pit.

i had also been a heavy smoker before that but consultant i seen one of the counties top respiratory professors is very anti vaping it was him who told me no more inhaling anything other than fresh air, felt like a crayon eater lol

Well done getting off the vapes 👍 I'm a nightmare for them, puff on it more than I did with roll ups, used to rinse 2 - 3 disposables a day lol. Its a good reminder for me reading this to get off them as well.

Could just get the catfish rods out instead 🤣 They were weed cutting yesterday and it's made it pretty much impossible to fish, big weedbergs the size of transits floating down wiping the rods out 🤣Weed cutting again today and over the weekend 💀 they aint removing it either so it's just getting pushed up and down by the wind 👎

not visited in a bit thought i'd pop in. been sorting my health out, gave up inhaling anything as advised no vaping has made a big difference basically i got that illness you can get from vaping means i'm using steroid inhalers for life going forward, very early COPD. i do feel a lot better than this time last year, just need to avoid chest infections to the point i got issued a rescue pack which consists as strong antibiotics and anti inflammatory pills to be used if i get a chest infection coming on. i could moan about no bad weather fishing trips but i have always been a summer only kind of guy 😀

You should try would be fun getting dragged up the towpath for miles 😂

End up hooking a catfish 🤣 there's a few chunks in the canal and its only a matter of time before one of us gets stripped by one🤣

Not from land snails unless you eat them, more likely to get parasites from water snails, and I do keep sanitiser handy after picking them out.

Use big pellets,you can get some nice 17mm Aller aqua bream chokers 😂

Sorry to bore everyone to death on this topic.... Just opened up alarms to fit new batteries as recomended, errr no rubber seal thing on the internal slot.. if that makes sense? Anyway, really looking forward to, hopefully, see them in action 👍

Just rooted out some old pics from the times I had on there when the CS took it over. I was one of the anglers who paid the money for them to actually purchase the lake, not sure what is going on there now tho. Wondering if there is anyone on here who actually fished it back in the day, so many good memories and people I met there. as ever time moves on and lost contact with everyone.... no Mobile phones and social media in those days

That's some dedication mate, I didn't mind picking the water snails but there's no way I'm touching garden snails or slugs, can't you get ring worm or some other parasite from them? 🤣

I know mate I said the same 🤣 it's alright for him he works in a tackle shop so gets them cheaper but still kind of expensive in my eyes 🤣 Just gotta keep chipping away at it, keep searching for them. I've had 4 on the bank this year, had 3 with in a couple hours on one session lol. All to snowmen with like 10 baits over each rod. It works so I gotta stick with it and not chop/change when it gets hard lol. Maybe less bait as the year goes on. I dunno, feels like this canal has made my head fall off 🤣 @elmoputney my other mate feeds a lot of pellet, catches carp but gets done by a lot of bream, like 3 - 4 a night some times 🤣 Back down there for a walk later, then fishing tomorrow for the day, then probably back Friday afternoon through to Monday 👍

The storm on Friday gone was a nightmare for the leaves.... I put a net over the pond but it was useless. I'm worried about the leaves blocking up the bottom drain and filter, and drawing oxygen out of the water as they decay. I have the local expert round tonight to quote for replacing the skimmer system and I've ordered the best temporary skimmer you can get. Should do the job for now, but we'll wait to see the cost of the the permanent solution 😬

That's what I thought too, you could buy a sack of pellets for that.

That's an expensive way to feed the nuisance species!

After working a 2pm-2am shift, I popped down to a local park lake to await the morning when I would be able to park on my road (that was my excuse anyway) I managed a carp that probably wouldn’t look out of place in Yonny’s koi pond, but it kicks off October

Okay so i ordered a used bivvy of ebay, an Avanta one night stand for sensible money, the good thing about this is it can be used as an open front shelter or bivvy so i will reluctantly sell my westlake bivvy shelter to help recoup some cost and less kit to store

I go through stages of trying things out, and some of my favourite stalking baits in rivers are slugs and snails, because they occasionally fall in from bankside vegetation. Chub and carp have taken slugs on the drop, although snails are harder to hook... I did try putting land and water snails in my spod mix a few times, and a mate and I have been known to walk round the lake collecting them. We get water snails as big as your thumb! The best way to use them we found to stop them floating was freeze them. It never seemed to produce any more than standard spod mix. I've used Dynamite hemp and snails and it seems no better than plain hemp, although I do know that when fish get onto snails they are very good for growth and health.

So I've tried snails, my mate is still keen to try a kilo of chopped worms with 2 rods over it. I will let you know how we get on 👍 tbh though I have done alright on boilie at the beginning of summer, I think im just having some bad luck at the moment so I'm gonna continue with boilie for the rest of the year. Unless he has it off with worms 👍🤣

Yeah sounds like it.... shame.