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Well the koi are absolutely loving the elevated temps this past few days. Scoffing their heads off. The covers and parasol are doing a good job of prohibiting a sudden increase in water temps so it's warming up slowly which does the fish a favour. As a result the water has remained very clear with temps currently around ~11.5 C. Feeding has increased gradually over the last month or two which has given the bio filter the chance to get going properly. A few more degrees and it's time to start piling the grub in for growing season. It's been awesome feeding them this past few days. I could sit there all day watching them I swear it. The covers will be coming off in the next week or so as most of the blossom has now fallen from the trees. Shouldn't be long before I can get some good shots of the fish to whack on here.

Good morning all, many thanks to all who have reported the spam appearing recently on the forum special shout out to @elmoputney and @InteraX who game me a pleasurable 10min banning them all! please keep reporting them as soon as you see them and the mod team will get them rid. many thanks! ouchthathurt (Matt)

This weekend I tragically lost my vintage JRC Cocoon, must have been 25 years old or more. It had a bent frame, lots of tape,mouse holes and I had replaced the elastic for zip ties and it was light as anything. But sadly the loops started to rip away from the mattress and it could no longer be saved. It's out lasted many other bedchairs, it's now gone to bedchair heaven and will be sadly missed RIP So I have found a new JRC Cocoon 2 arriving tomorrow, it's probably 4 times as heavy but looks mega comfortable and it's a sleep system. I still have the sonik one but that does tend to give me back ache. But it is pretty light and will do for when I need the barrow.

Aren't a lot of us now showing our age , Jules , except Elmo of course who just gets more adonis like 😁 .

Went to local lake yesterday just for afternoon managed one carp just an 8lb 40z, lovely scaly mirror, jesus i really am looking like an "old codger" these days

I dont tend to lose gear, though many years ago i left a cheap little unhooking mat at the lake, TBH it was no great loss, only gear i tend to find is little weights and the like

Just check it before your next trip, shelf life particles usually stay OK for a while.

Now very. You will need to freeze it otherwise it will turn into a stinking mouldy mess.

Hi Everyone . If I bought a 2.5L jar of Hemp and opened it ,then took what I didn't use home and kept it in a disused fridge how long would it last please ? .

Hi Framey . I've recently used the small Plumb-Ezee ( with a dumpy pear ! ) and it certainly pops up to the surface locked to the depth it has found . However , it seems that it will still come to the surface even if it lands in the middle of a weedbed . What I did notice though was that sometimes when it surfaced bubbles erupted around it , so maybe that's where the weed is ? . I'll have a twiddle , then it should be just the job . 😃

rods out on the park lake for the first night of the new season, shed load of bream, but no carp

This first picture is where I had my bivvy to take the picture of the swans. I mentioned bird flu in the original post, it looks like it has hit again. The lake is down to 7 swans, 3 of which look like yearling cygnets from one of the dominant pairs. The lack of numbers has meant that the dominant males are not so aggressive and not such a pain in the rectum. And a couple of pictures from the last two sessions, taken in the same swim on the other side of the lake. Just to the left of the picture on the far side is the copse that Sky and I were using for shade.

I wonder what day it is? A mate of mine on Brackens did struggle with his footing at night around a few swims which had steps or slopes down to his rods, so got some solar powered rock lights, something like these pictured. Not mega expensive either and the glow was enough to allow him to get to his rods safely. As for torches at night, I found 3 headlights in my gear this trip, plus my wooly hat which has an led light on the front. That is the only bivvy light I use, and usually more for reading than anything else.

I've actually seen this too. Left on all night to light a pathway to his rods. Don't encourage the trolls 😂

Oh so you didn't get banned.

HOOK..... LINE...... AND SINKER. Fair play 🤣

The first image is a wind up, unfortunately the second isn't! I would just like to thank the pair of clowns on Big Hayes last year for the inspiration!

noddy!😜

deleted again ha.ha-ha!

What's the day???

Absolutely disgraceful in my opinion. Use just enough light and only when you need it. that being said, the use of this sort of lighting in an angling environment could be detrimental to bats and as such could be a prosecutable offence. something tells me the post is satire though.

Hate to say it but I'd be somewhat upset if someone set up floodlights in the swim next to me.

I’ve recently started taking a pair of flood lights with me. They are absolutely brilliant as they provide a nice even light that makes tying rigs or cooking a meal dead easy and no more faffing about with head torches. I’ve got a 3kW portable power station with LiFePO4 batteries that will provide enough juice to run them for at least two full winter nights. The picture below is me on the right and my mate is in the next swim. He’s a bit of a wimp and only went for some cheap lower powered lights. The photo was taken by another mate who was fishing the far bank but I think he’s a bit jealous as he said it was like fishing at an airport! It will make landing fish after dark pretty easy but I haven’t actually needed it yet, the fish on my lake seem to have shut up shop since I’ve been trying it out.

Not personally lost anything significant YET but I was fishing with my brother in law a lot of years ago and he had a brolly blow in does that count ? a mate of mine lost a John Wilson twin tip the old green one in the Severn at Bridgnorth, i managed to catch it again for him but it did take a couple of hours found an ron Thompson buzzer and bank stick And pulled a quiver tip and closed face reel out of the thames found loads of floats and stuff like that

I know we all lose and find tackle on the bank, but here is a mix of losses and finds. My obvious losses include baiting needles and banksticks, and occasional marker floats but also cover the rod holdall blown in last week, a shoe, and yes I did have to go home with only one, which was not an enjoyable walk as I had also fallen in. The admission is I own a pair of distance sticks, found at the syndicate and no-one came forward having lost them. In the past I've also found the best baiting needle I own, which surprisingly is a Nash Latch baiting needle, an original Nash Siren alarm complete with a line indicator and bankstick. We can add to that list of numerous Spombs, spods and Dot spots, marker floats and leads, the majority of which were attached straight through to braid and in the case of leads, normally still attached to the lead clip. Anymore items that you dare admit to?