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Did 4 nights on Bluebell's Kingy from Sunday 30th Nov, only 4 others on so got in the swim I wanted. First night 4am as the weather front came in I got a take on the middle rod and landed a nice linear. Same approach as last trip with pellet hookbaits and PVA funnel web bags. No more action for the remainder but cannot complain in Dec and nothing else came out. Hopefully back after x-mas for another go.

couple of low double Christmas commons

Winter sun found ❤️

I thought this thread might light up with black friday bargains, I've gone a little nuts 😂 20kg of AA Baits tropamino base mix Fish Liquids,salmon oil, scopex flavour Electric caulking gun 15mm rolling table, cork dust And whilst shopping in morrisons @dalej2014made me😂 purchase a stand mixer for £35 (bit of a bargain tbh) So it looks like I've become a home roller this weekend.

Kingy 1st Point - December

Managed to get a night in on Thursday last week. The weather was truly horrible and by the time I'd dragged all my gear to the swim and got the rods sorted everything was soaked through. A very uncomfortable night indeed. I was rewarded for that horrible night by an absolutely gorgeous Friday morning... cold, but a a lovely bright sunny day. By 8AM I'd actually spotted some fizzing so was happy to spend a few hours scaring the carp off trying to find a spot in the area. Alas, it wasn't to be, so with the forecast telling me I'd be getting wet again I headed for home having originally planned to do 2 nights. Mrs looked worried about me having never seen me come home early in nearly 20 years of being together 🤣 Tbf as I listened to that rain on Friday night I knew I'd made the right decision. Must be getting soft in my old age.

72hr blank 👍🤣

out for a few hours to bag a December carp. Fishing locked up to the reed line

Althoigh it's not really cold at the moment, and to continue doing my winter sessions in some sort of comfort I always use base layering .. Anyway I thought to upgrade and have bought Zerofit 'heatrub' made in Japan....all I can say is get some !!!!

Well the end of the year has gone well. The koi are doing great and still feeding most days due to the elevated temps. The nets/covers are now off since the leaves are gone. The water clarity is insane.... you can see every little detail on the deck in 2m. The temporary floating skimmer has worked a treat. I picked up a pond vacuum a month ago and gave the bottom a good clean at the weekend which means there's no detritus for any nasties to hide in ready for the spring. It's a real shame I can't post vids on here as I have some great footage of the koi milling about. So now I need to plan for spring which apparently is the most tricky and dangerous time of year. Parasites wake up before the koi so it's essential I do everything I can to keep their immune systems working as well as possible. If you lose your water parameters early on, you're chasing your tail all year, so I have to be bang on it to stay a step ahead of any issues with algae, weed, DO, and ammonia, nitrite, pH etc. Really enjoyed the last few months and looking forward to my first full year with the pond. Looking to feed heavily next year to get some good growth, while maintaining the water quality. I'll keep this thread updated from time to time for anyone that's interested.

Literally ,right in,amonst those dying reeds,i had placed my bait..you can see the line cutting down from the peg on the bankstick it was good knowing your freebie and rig were spot on

Across the field from our cottage are a couple of small pools ..its where I go in the colder months ,or should I say rain ,..I thought I'd try the washing line method as they seem to spook off the lines very easily...any way this fish was one of two I fluked out ..

If you want to look like a complete plonker, go ahead and buy one!

Plenty of similar hookbaits out there apparently, without the constant rants that guy gets away with on one of the many forums available out there 😂

Funny you should say that, on my local park lake it was 3 grains of corn held up by a single piece of fake corn over Vitalin that produced the vast majority of the carp caught. It is a very silty lake and most people tended to fish boilies which sunk into the gunk. The Vitalin and sweetcorn sat on top. I had some very successful sessions, and watched many others fail to catch. Boilies did work, but only in specific places where the bottom is slightly harder. I think there were or are some specials that really work, but I think many have changed as flavours have been regulated. The Solar Squid and Octopus, original Scopex (not later copies), Monster Crab, Green Zing, or Pineapple really did have something about them, there are still others now that work, but is is finding them. Add to that, fishing over bait whether groundbait, particles or beds of boilies may make our 'non smelly' baits effective, or even the single bait that the carp think 'here's one I missed earlier'.

My mrs always moans that she’s cold I bought some of the uniquelo ultrawarm base layers for her as they are rated to about -25 doesn’t moan about cold when she’s wearing them

I've got 2 , and as you say they're very warm , although they don't seem to breath much and you can get a bit of a sweat on if you're not careful 😁 .

The Fortis Tundra salopettes are the best clothing item I've bought recently, waterproof and very warm indeed. I bought the matching coat but in hindsight I'g go for their marine jacket instead as I cannot see me using the Tundra coat as I'm already warm enough in the salopettes. Already got lightweight waterproof trousers and jacket but would look at the Fortis Marine stuff if I didn't 👍 Whilst the Catchdry coat may be good, for me personally it's too long and bulky - cant see that being suitable for days roving the river or carp stalking, but were all different. Fortis looked at the serious competition (Geoff Anderson) and made stuff that probably almost matches but at a much lower pricepoint, serious clothing for serious anglers I'd say so you get what you pay for, but the pricepoint of Fortis is much lower than Grundens and Geoff Anderson. Serious carp clothing was long overdue so well done Fortis I say.

Whilst I should play it down - last 3 trips were successful to a degree and all fish taken on Halibut Pellet wafters that barely smell of anything and very dull. Proves the point really, who are the special specials attractive to? US!

I always think I am going to catch the biggun, so we are both possibly a little misguided 😂

Are you going to tell him he is practising on the wrong kingy😱? Was a great result though, even if it wasn't the right lake 😂

Fishing is meant to be an enjoyment, not an endurance! I had paid for a 48 hour session back in the summer but after 24 hours of relentless heat and nothing coming out on the whole (packed!) lake, I went home 24 hours early. I'm looking at going for an overnighter or two over the next few months but every time I look at the weather forecast, I decide against it. I know, I'm suffering with old age as well!

That's a fair point, I would like to add anytime I did any cooking, tea making etc I did open the fart flap more to let air in, this was mainly when it rained hard

Hello Elmo Sorry if this is hijacking your post , but is this a good time to remind anglers not as experienced as you to ventilate due to the dangers of Carbon Monoxide poisoning ? .

Is this View of your bivvy door group ? This is my view currently, little gap is the fart extruder, it's pretty windy today 😂

I'm blanking in the cold and now rain still got 24 hours to go though 🙏for a bite now

I just use a pair of jog bottoms and a hoodie over them and have been nice and warm ..I got the socks too,but not tried them yet.. A good purchase ..

Looks decent 👍

I knew I had it somewhere..

Very, very interesting..Not me but my father was one of the first members of BKKS .. We used to go around various members gardens/ponds and learn from each of them ..My Dad used to go straight up to Heathrow, a long drive to pick up his Koi from Japan,this was in 70s,things different back then.. One story ,he bought two Koi,introduced them to the pond ..we all went to school/work ..When I came home I found one newly stocked Koi had jumped out ..and was not looking at its best ..!! I think it survived ...

I know those supersonic baits you speak of ...I tried them ,had more on two plastic fake corn critically balanced and a few crumbled freebies in a mesh bag ...

Thanks very much for your detailed reply , Kev. 😃

You've just sold it to me , Golden Paws ! 😁

Super special mega expensive hookbaits, I wonder how gullible we are? I used to keep on buying tubs of pop-ups; strawberry ice cream, cranberry, dairy cream, squid and octopus, tutti-frutti, monster crab, pineapple, and goodness knows how many others. The honest answer is I found that the majority of the time that I got takes on 3 of them: squid and octopus, monster crab and my own spiced garlic. Those 3 produced fish as single hookbaits or as the topper on a snowman setup, with other baits like the pineapple and the green zing, tutti-frutti producing occasionally. I can't forget one session over winter, for two days 4 takes came on high attract pop-ups, after that the bait that produced was only the food bait tipped with the spiced garlic, and I constantly kept a high attract bait on one rod.

Brill thanks mate 👍

It's the mount. RF for mirrorless R mount, and EF for cameras with a mirror. If you got the 250D you need the EF one. For 200 yards I'd say 300mm is the bare minimum you need mate. 400+ would be better but you might want to consider 2nd hand to afford that. There is a 2nd hand EF 100-400mm L on the Wex website. Pricey, but a lot of lens for the money. Professional level. USED Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens | Wex Photo Video

No particular rules other than the more you spend the better you get! How long you talking? Most of the proper long wildlife lenses cost a fortune. If you have a budget in mind I might be able to make a recommendation.

Hi mate, Looking at getting a longer lens for nature shots - are there any rules on this? Cheers

I bought some special cured special special pop-ups cost 20 quid a pot, bought 2 types - both are in the garage along with many other pots of retired baits. I now just go for Northern Specials for anything coloured or the matching brown baits for my freebies. The special specials may have worked but I didn't like the look when they arrived - felt like a mug for paying it tbh

So mild this week, prob a good time to go now.

Lol - I thought Ashmire was gonna be Ashmead! 🤣

Great result at this time of the year Kev. Well done.

Copy and paste from BAF British Aqua Feeds (BAF) is subsidiary of DNA Baits Ltd and is a major bulk feed supplier to the UK, European & Worldwide Aquaculture markets with particular emphasis on nutrition and quality of feed materials. Our knowledge within the aqua and angling feed industry is second to none, providing high quality sustainable ingredients, liquids and oils. Established in 2015, BAF has grown rapidly and now operates from a 26,000 sq/ft manufacturing and distribution base in Goole, as well has having reserve storage at several sites across the UK.

They were at the winter show on Saturday so still trading 👍

Dna baits was at the same address as BAF a few years ago. So my guess is most of the stuff you could get from DNA is BAF rebadged.

Amazing what you can find using Google lol. https://www.google.com/maps/search/31b+Vale+Business+Park+Llandow+Cowbridge+CF71+7PF/@51.4413761,-3.4989309,482m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTEyMy4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Give them a call but as Elmo said Black Friday wipes a lot of companies out they are owned by NGT. Or share the same premises. i added an 18m pole into the basket

Yup. I have that trip in March (can't wait!) and then a week planned in April so I'm making up for all this lost bank time 😁

This is a book that smashed the Carp fishing book mould! It documents his life addicted to carp fishing and the jobs he has done to fund it and the failed relationships that have accompanied it. Spug seems to be like a bull in a china shop and a larger than life character who creates chaos around him. Spug's best mate died tragically at an early age and his attitude after that was to live every day as though it was his last. Every session involves copious amounts of wine and a BBQ and lots of fun. His time on Conningbrook was interesting as it seems that the place was frequented by Kent's branch of Alcoholics Anonymous who had a fishing problem! That said, night bites were incredibly rare. It is probably the most honest book you will read. Every failure in his life is documented from "trouser accidents" to 5 knuckle shuffles in the bivvy. The rigs section takes up a whole 2 sentences which is refreshing. I found it an interesting and enjoyable read, the emphasis being on having fun and enjoying your fishing.

Still can’t decide if that saying is the correct way around or not location bait and presentation ?? there’s a future topic lol