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Just got permission from the farmer while i was looking round the lake, 80 euros for a year! he said no body has ever asked him before I am buzzing

I split my fishing between day only fishing and then the more hard core 48 hour sessions on bigger waters. The bigger waters haven't really happened this year but it seems that most people were struggling so not too despondent, especially with the 2 heatwaves we have had this year. Yesterday I went to my local days only park lake. It's a 2 rod limit and I started at 10:30 and you have be off by 21:30. I caught 22 fish including a 17, 18, 19 and 21-5. It was so stupid, I struggled to find time to eat my sandwiches! At 21:00 I sent the boat out for the last time. I had just dropped the second one and the first was away which was the 21 so I opened the bail arm on the second and left it on the pod. When I picked it up about 10 minutes later, I knew that a fish would be on! One time I was clipping on the bobbin and the line was ripped from my fingers. The previous trip I had 14 but the biggest was only a 16 and the 2 trips before that I had 8 and 9 including a 20. You could be forgiven for thinking it's massively overstocked but I don't think that's the case. I've been fishing it for about 15 years and 2 or 3 fish is a good result and my previous highest tally was 9. I've blanked more times than I care to remember and it can be a bit moody at times. The water is pretty murky and so it's difficult to gauge what is happening but it can't last forever and so it's a case of making hay while the sun shines.

i know i will get shot down for this but i am not a fan of dropping the lead every time. yes there is a cost implication here as they are not cheap but most importantly for me it cant be great leaving all these leads behind on the lake beds. Yes i know they are made of safe materials these days but every angler dropping a lead on every take just sounds overkill to me.

One from the weekend after the heatwave.

Result! I'm delighted for you. Ian.

Great combination of products When needed.

Same. The original and best.

Is that not what a forum is for?

Not always like that Ian, A fantastic swim for floater fishing back in the day, before flying rats arrived 👍 Just if anyone is actually interested, back then it was an early fox bed chair, think an Argos sleeping bag and a blanket on top...... did me ok at the time 😟

Just watch any video with terry Hearn in it Most of the time the fish are not on the bottom anyway so most of that can be discounted at times of the day watch for strange movements in weeds look for bubbles. look for bow waves. find one and you will usually find more once you know HOW to look. use the wind and follow it down or across the lake.

A successful angler will always be on the fish and if that means spending more time looking/searching than fishing then so be it. If you're not on the fish then none of the other stuff (dissolved oxygen, rigs, tackle etc) matters.

Your eyes....... they're the most important piece of tackle you have. Pressure, depths, temps etc etc are all good starting points but I'll not fish until I see a carp to fish for. You cannot catch what is not in front of you.

Im still recovering from one of the worst nights fishing ever, last weekend. Getting my companions and the gear to the lake was a separate fiasco, but won't bore you with that. Rods out all quiet until I started falling asleep around 11. Beep. Beep first bin lid🙄 I was then plagued by them until about 4.30am. Despite changing spots, going out as singles. I got a few hours kip. With the odd carp cruising about, I switched to zigs at 2 /12ft, about 2/3 depth. First blip after an hr, as my son reeled in, seemingly with nothing on. As the lead became visible, a fish rolled off in the margins. All I saw was a bronzy/gold flash. Back out, 10 mins later a few beers, my son struck. Again seemed like he lost it, but kept the line tight and felt something on. As the fish broke the surface, I quickly pulled the net in to avoid the bream slime. Ive only ever had perch or carp before on zigs, so this seemed a bit weird. Recast and same again 🙄. I changed them all over to 3 1/2 ft, nothing after that as it went overcast. One to forget 😀

Well the extra air supply looks to be working. All of the fish seem happier and they're all feeding well. One is still heading to the filter return regularly but he's also socialising and eating food. I'll be keeping the extra air going in for now, especially with temps heading back up next week. I now need to get the balance of food right. Digestion uses lots of oxygen so I don't want to pile the grub in for growth until the water temps are down a little.

Sounds like worrying times. Hopefully this intense heat will soon be over and I see that a fair bit of rain is forecast for Saturday and Sunday, hopefully that should help.

Water depth and oxygen levels in relation to stress will be an issue in shallow lakes. The mostly deeper lakes on the main continent are not as likely to cause as much stress. Oxygen is not as big an issue in the depths of lakes as it is in shallow waters. Fish can fight themselves almost to death in warm water, and take ages to recover. In theory, yes. Yet every year adults as well as children die in lakes and rivers. A no swimming lake just outside Norwich, a number of deaths related to swimming in hot weather.

Thank you, baited up late last night, strange atmosphere there at night, its right next to where a young couple got shot riding a motorbike trying to flee the DDR the observation tower still stands today!

I bet you are. What a result.

Lake exclusivity is a great result, good for you We'll look forward to hearing about your campaign.

Just ignore the rules and fish it Anyway .. or is that just in England they get away with that…

Good feedback thanks gents. I get that its not difficult to change batteries but one of my alarms thread had broken and they are a bit rubbish so i could have don't with replacing them anyway. Time will tell i guess.

Oh [censored], thought they looked big

Good'n's for sure.

for me the language, but i remember the first week of the test 11 people failed out of about 50. and they were ofcourse native germans

This is that "mycamoalien" guy on Insta I believe. I think he is, or was, a bailiff on the Wraysbury waters? He's had most of the bigguns over there and did well at Wingham too. His dusted bottom baits look good but I've not tried them. The pop ups seem expensive to me but the attractor combos sound good. You'd be surprised.

And therein lies much of the problem. Big bait companies have had an advantage; if I buy a kilo of semolina it's around £1.80, if a big bait company buys a tonne of semolina it will work out at a lot less per kilo, around £920 per tonne, so £0.90 per kilo. Do the same with every bait ingredient and my homemade bait costs double the price to produce. Billy one man bait company in his garage or shed, won't be buying fishmeal, semolina, liver powder or maize by the tonne! As a result his prices will be more than a big company. The days of Bill Cottam expanding from his (parents) garage to a large industrial unit are long gone. Bait and boilies specifically is a 'busy' market, and it seems anglers don't necessarily understand it, from the bait itself, to using it, and even the difference in cost of buying it from tackle shops or direct. Nutrabaits, Mainline, Nash Baits, CC Moore and others had a recommendation on food baits, and a recommendation on attractor baits (originally shelf lifes). Feed the food bait, continuously, prebait, and the carp will accept it and take it comfortably. Good results will follow. Attractor baits, use as that, don't fire in loads, maybe a few freebies around the hookbait, use the few to attract the carp to try the hookbait. Then along came the published 'Korda' method, (used earlier but Danny Fairbrass did well writing about it), put in plenty of pellets, and spod mix and get the carp feeding on that. At the same time we had the mega high attract hookbait, the single pop-up that got a take, or not. Fishing moves on and backwards, now we are using high attract baits, maybe with added hydrolysates, liquid glugs over spod mix in the hope that the fish pick it up first. The food bait is 'gone' for various reasons, cost of ingredients rising, becoming harder or impossible to get hold of and even big bait companies changing direction or disappearing. Lots of little bait companies pop-up, disappoint or disappear. They are able to charge silly money for baits because fewer anglers have loyalty to a company anymore.

Never heard of them! Not being funny, but 'getting good press'; advertising now is more dissipated as social media takes over. I used to be very up with knowing bait companies, but when even long time companies are falling by the wayside. I keep making this point, if you have a cake of 30centimetres across, with 5 companies taking a piece, each has a decent slice. Now the same cake with 10 companies taking a piece, the slice is smaller. That is what is happening to the tackle and bait trade.

Thanks mate. I already have those Korda sleeves and beads. I'll go with the leadcore. Probably get the ESP bulk spool in silt. Thats the stuff I used back in the day. Cheers. 👍

Fishing is what you make it. I don't like bait boats, despite having owned one long before they were a must have, and then getting rid of it as I felt the ethics of it weren't there. In the UK fishing is very 'mixed'; anglers who do like, do use bait boats and those who don't, fisheries that allow bait boats, fisheries that don't. Some waters allow Deepers, GoPro or WaterWolf cameras, others don't. I know anglers who still reel in at night as they don't believe in fishing while sleeping, others who won't use boilies. The British 'way' is 3 rods on alarms, and that took off. The other adaptations occurred sometimes because mainland European waters are bigger compared to most UK waters. Taking bait out in a boat occurred for years, but on a water that is 10miles long, the use of Sonar and WaterWolf cameras became almost a necessity to find the fish. There is in the UK, a saying or word to describe people who just follow fashion, the media or news without question, without thinking, 'sheep'. Fishing is full of these people, they buy the latest must have item of gear, the best rods, the best reels, fashionable alarms, use the latest published rig and follow slavishly the articles in the magazine, the YouTube or TikTok video. They don't think what they are doing or why. Many get into it, think it is easy, catch to start, want bigger and better, and either learn in a hurry or maybe burnout or quit. There is a lot of secondhand tackle on Ebay! Then there are people who kick back against this fashion chasing, are traditionalists, do things as it was done before the invention of the bite alarm, before the hair rig, only use cane rods, pre-1970 reels or centrepins. Despite not having most modern gear, their watercraft is frequently top notch and they catch or not on their terms. Then there are I suppose a middle ground of people who question their fishing. Who buy gear to suit their fishing, the rods may not be the latest Korda Super Kaisen 3.5lb test curve designed to throw a lead 200metres and some, but instead are around 10years old, well used, possibly from Harrison or Century, maybe ESP, with alarms that are 25years old. The tackle is well used, abused, but still catches fish. They question the articles written by the latest name sponsored by Nash, Korda, Incredible, Fox, Sticky or whichever company gives them the best deal. They watch the water, they try to learn how the fish behave, where the best place to catch what they want. They may also fish a water for years rather than jumping from lake to lake in search of the largest. As with every rule, there are the exceptions to that: Terry Hearn, a lifetime angler, who despite going after some of the hardest carp in the country, catches and continues to catch and fish. Dave Lane who probably 25years ago made his name, or Chris Yates, a traditionalist who despite catching the UK's first 50lb carp, will not use carbon rods, hair rigs as he thinks bait placement on feeding fish is better than the way the bait is attached to the hook. Let me tell you this, people are gullible. They believe adverts, whether the facts are true or not. The advertisers need to sell their product, and when the product life runs out, they need another new product to replace it. Why buy Flash Bathroom and Flash Kitchen when Flash All-purpose will do both? They need you to buy Flash whatever floor wipe on the stick because a mop lasts longer and you don't throw away a mop head for months. A fishing company need you to buy fishing tackle. You buy hooks and swivels, that is two items. You read an article by superstar angler sponsored by tackle company who is telling how his superduper rig is the best thing since the invention of the hair rig, you buy hooks, swivels, rig rings and hook stops that is four items.

Hmm! Your eyes and ears are your biggest advantage. My fishing for years was fishing waters big reservoirs and lakes, for a maximum of 48hours. I'd get home from work, frequently at 11pm at night, load up my gear and go fishing, arriving at the water between midnight and 1am. The picture is just 30acres of a 75acre water I fished for 10years. Even arriving that late I would often sit listening before deciding where to set up. To start with, the only baiting I would do is with PVA stringers or PVA bag of pellets, no other free bait. I don't use a bait boat, everything is by hand, throwing stick or spodding bait in. In fact I put most of my bait in either as I left, or on specific baiting sessions where I was prebaiting for later trips. Getting your lines the right distance is easy with distance sticks or walking it out. I don't worry about water temperature, if it is not iced over it is possible to catch. Fish will be where they want to be, they may follow wind lanes, move from weedbed to weedbed to natural food. As much as you ask, there really is no substitute for being on the water, while carp as a species tend to behave the same, every water is different and they have their own rules. Fish can follow a new wind, especially in summer if it is warm, but not so much in winter. As the wind grows stale they will move back off it. Don't immediately think that long range is the answer, many fish get caught from the margins. It is easier to see them, easier to bait for them, and easier to cast at them (quietly). Does your big baiting attract nuisance species? There is no point in piling bait in if other species eat everything before the carp find it. It is easier to cast in a PVA bag of bait and your hookbait, than stand spodding for 1hour if it is going to get pinched by something else.

Sounds like you @OldBoyare the one who would be more at home on the other forum As yonny said, if you've not got anything constructive to say, then its probably best you dont in future??? Thanks in advance

Sorry, English isn’t my first language, so I try my best to learn your fishing tactics by asking questions, since I can’t express myself freely in English. I often fish at unfamiliar venues hundreds of kilometres away from home, which is why I had to buy a bait boat fitted with sonar. Even so, I frequently draw a blank. Take today’s spot for example: the average depth here is 4 metres, with the deepest points hitting 6–7 metres, while the bank-side water is only 2 metres deep. I chose the transition zone between the 2-metre shallow shelf and the 4-metre channel drop-off.

The guy has given us a paragraph explaining what he's doing and is asking for advice to improve. Give him a break. It's no wonder this place is dead when newbies get jumped on for no reason whatsoever. If you can help him, do so. If you can't, just move on.

Be handy on the pit when the wind is up. You might have to dig them out so I can see what ancient relics look like 😂

I have polarized sunglasses and binoculars. I’ve never tried observing from a tree, but thanks for bringing that up; it’s helped me see just how important this is.

Sorry about the typo, its actually about 3000 ltrs. Water quality is improved since using a stone/media bio filter for a few days. I dont need to clean sludge off any more, so feel im on the right track Planning on just under 11000 ltrs for the new pond. Im hoping to use the existing pond as a kind of bog pond with a small stream feeding into the new one, with catch pool to a skimmer run off. Might take a while, but it's captured my attention from the rat race grind

I don't mate.

I would defo have a rod on any source of aeration tbf.

Well it was a difficult weekend to say the least. I got the new/additional airlines in on Thursday night before going fishing on Friday night. Both of the fish that were struggling (a 68cm yamabuki (bright yellow/gold common) and a 60cm doitsu kohaku (white/orange mirror)) seemed to improve initially. The fishing was just savage in that heat on Friday so by 9am Saturday morning I was back home to check on the koi. The smaller of the two, the kohaku, was feeding and swimming around like nothing ever happened - a full recovery it seemed, but I couldn't spot the big yamabuki. At 10am, having still not spotted the yamabuki, I started work cleaning the filters. I still had my polarised sunnies on after fishing and I was taking a closer look at the fish from the filter house when I spotted one on its side on the bottom. I knew straight away which one it was and so it proved when I fished it out with the net. One of the best in there and certainly one of the most valuable... the yamabuki.... dead. Digging the grave in 35 degrees was not fun as you can imagine but that paled into insignificance compared to the pain of losing one of my favourite and most valuable koi. I'm a member of several koi pages on social media and it seems all over the country people are losing fish despite following all the right procedures. My water parameters are fine and I have tonnes of oxygen going in. There's not much more I can do. I'm hoping this drop in temps does us all a big favour but I know that we're heading back up to 30 degrees after next weekend. I've increased the frequency of my water changes in an attempt to bring water temps down so that should help a little. So basically it turns out winter is a doddle compared to summer when it comes to keeping koi. I knew that high temps introduce risk for koi but I genuinely thought I was prepared for it. Let's just hope that that's the end of the serious problems.

What size do you think these mirrors are? I got close to them and they look blooming fat and deep. if you look close i am on the hill to the left for size comparison,

Action stations at home. The last few days 2 of the koi have started sitting high up in the water in the flow of the filter return. No probs I thought, it's just because they like the flow of the water over their gills. Then a couple of days ago those 2 fish stopped eating. I've checked pH, nitrites, ammonia, phosphates..... all fine. Then last night a few of the others started sitting in the flow of the return. They're still eating ok but I'm obviously getting worried. I already have two air pumps feeding several air supply systems but they're all in the filter. This means the freshly oxygenated water is all coming out of that filter return and it's looking like the koi are desperate for it. None of the fish are gasping at the surface but they're opening/closing their mouths quicker than they normally do. Not yet gulping, but it looks like it could be on the way. Obviously the heatwave has elevated water temps considerably so it's becoming clear I need more oxygen as soon as possible. I'm picking up a new air pump later with a new air stone... both the biggest I can get. On paper there's loads of oxygen going in already but it's a big old pond with big old fish. Hopefully the new air line will sort it.

I absolutely hate dropping the lead. Despite the theories of reducing the risk of picking up weed, and empty lead clips catches up weed. An zipp or distance inline lead will actually travel through picking up less weed than a lead clip. Again, littering is an issue, just because you can't see it does not mean it is acceptable. I know, stand on the bank of his lake, just throwing leads in. That is exactly what you are doing dropping the lead on every take.

although i do still have my Street Triple, i did buy a sports tourer last year in the form of the Suzuki GSX S1000GX.

I’m really surprised to find that European – or rather British – anglers also feel so strongly against this trend. I always assumed this high-tech approach had long been accepted and widespread over there. Over the past few years, I’ve gone through nearly every carp fishing article available online: every online magazine, every tackle brand blog, everything you can dig up through search engines. This style of fishing felt so novel, fascinating and almost magical to me. Whoever invented it must have been an absolute genius; it feels almost inspired. To this day I still don’t think I’ve fully wrapped my head around it. Honestly, I went back and forth for ages about buying and using a bait boat, and had endless discussions about it with my fishing mates here. But for whatever reason, we caved in to the temptation in the end. I don’t know the exact situation across Europe, but I get the impression your fishing regulations and the whole scene are really well established. And for you lot, it’s all about the enjoyment, not the catch itself. It’s different over here – we have a long culture of eating carp and grass carp. So apart from a few influencer streamers who do it for clout and to take the moral high ground, very few people actually release their catch. Another factor is the ripple effect – almost like a butterfly effect – when someone bags loads of fish, and big specimens at that, in no time using a bait boat. It’s incredibly tempting for regular anglers. Especially when you’ve driven hundreds, even thousands of kilometres, fished solid for days on end and come back blank. After a few runs of that kind of frustration, it’s really hard to turn down a shortcut that seems to work. Carp fishing has blown up to become one of the most popular freshwater fishing styles in China right now. On live streaming platforms, people sell tackle while broadcasting from reservoirs. Big catches are a regular sight – especially footage of 100-jin (roughly 110lb) black carp. It’s visually spectacular and drives huge traffic, which in turn boosts bait boat sales. It got to the point where the high price tag seemed like the only reason not to buy one. A few years back, a team of Chinese anglers sponsored by tackle brands entered a world carp fishing championship for the first time. They were among the very first carp anglers in China. They used all kinds of high-end kit: inflatable boats, underwater drones, bait boats, the latest top-of-the-line fish finders, you name it. And since all that gear was permitted in the competition, this approach got spread around here as the “proper, orthodox” way to do carp fishing. The logic goes: if the fish are released anyway, any method is fair game as long as it’s legal. Part of this is driven by tackle sales. On top of that, barely anyone here has actually travelled to Europe or the UK to learn first-hand, or to fish and talk with local anglers. Almost everyone learns everything online. That flood of information, mixed with commercial push, is what’s led to this whole situation. That’s exactly why I came onto this forum to ask. I want to know how real anglers in Britain and Europe actually fish. I want to learn the actual, meaningful skills and knowledge behind carp fishing. Throwing endless money at it lowers the bar for catching big fish, and makes honing your own craft and skill feel pointless. That was never what I got into this for. Thank you so much for your thoughtful replies. I know it’ll take me a while to take it all in and put it into practice properly. But I truly believe this is what fishing is really all about.

I have various weights of the fox captive back leads. i don't use them religiously but when I need them they are in a lead pouch in the bucket ready to go along with the solar flying back leads back from donkeys years ago when Richard walker was a boy lol. don’t strike when using them either just pick up the rod and let the line tighten and mostly they then drop off. if weed has gone around the gate and stops it opening a little flick of the rod usually sets it free.

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

For years, around 1995 to 2008 ish I used Daiwa Sensor in brown, on various lakes and reservoirs. From 2008 or 2009 I started using Gardner Pro, normally light as the waters I fish are normally clear. I mentioned above about leaders if I was casting long distances, Drennan Greased Weasel in grey, Amnesia in clear or black has never been an issue. I've watched carp spooking around lines, and it's usually tight lines. I've also seen them spook off fluorocarbon mainlines, whether it was the shadow on the lakebed or possibly the vibration (?) I don't know. Unless your rod tips are mega high, and fishing super tight line, at anything above 40metres the line near the end tackle is likely to be on the lakebed, unless you have 'raised' features like gravel bars to hold it up. I've not been one for 'fish protection' * as with monofilament or copolymer lines, I think the line rarely damages the fish. Braided mainline/leaders and leadcore however I do think can cause cuts, grazes and scarring if they rub. I occasionally fish with tubing, but it is a rarity, and it is for the real name, anti-tangle tubing, to prevent braided hooklinks tangling around the mainline. I normally fish with my rod tips as low as possible, often underwater, to keep the line down, and if I can with running leads and slack lines. *Fish protection, that doesn't mean I don't think they deserve protection, but just that the line is not at fault. We normally fish rig rigs or floater fishing with naked mainline, and hook carp on tench gear, or accidentally while float fishing or ledgering for other species. Camouflaging weights, (sinkers), is it necessary? On my current water the lead in many swims is in the silt. Just dropping a lead in the margins, it is a job to find it. I have lost a few that I have seen fall off the link clip, the run ring fell after a pike bite-off, or where I dropped the blooming thing. I do paint and coat my leads, with a hard varnish, but I think its more a confidence thing camouflaging than a requirement. The fish I had this week and subsequent casts, I had to pull the lead free from the silt!

The more I research probably not. Its a 5 in 1 Blagdon 2000. Ive now set up this bog filter which seems be reducing the sludge in the media.

Correct 👆 The guy is trying to get lead banned for one reason only $$$$$$$$$$$$ I disagree with the unnecessary dumping of leads. However, I believe the safest rig is the one that lands the fish safely and efficiently, and on many waters I've fished dumping the lead plays a part in that.