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OK so earlier this year I decided to drop my ticket on my syndicate lake in the Fens. I've enjoyed it there and done ok, but it really doesn't suit the handful of overnighters per year that I normally get to fish, and it works out too expensive when I simply don't get the time to be there. I decided to sign off with a few nights to bag one of the special ones. When I say special, I mean it.... a handful of old big mirrors with scattered scales and little melted heart shaped tails, and a couple of bigger commons. They share this little pit with a mixed bag of carp that have been stocked since the turn of the century. Even the stockies, as can be seen in my previous post, are a bit special with plenty of lookers to go for. The trip started as well as it possibly could, but we'll come to that later. For now, the next fish I want to show you lot is one of the bigger stockies, certainly destined to become one of the A-Team at some point. This fella came at first light after my 2nd night off a little spot that's only fishable at this time of year.... by June it'll be covered in weed. I discovered this spot a couple of years ago and it's done me a fish for the last 2 years. Obviously, I needed a rod on it. Nothing special required here, a short cast with a nice smelly pop up on a hinge. Job done. I actually caught this one last year so it's a repeat but I'm not complaining. It was 2lb up in weight so doing well. If it carries on like that it'll be a real biggun in a few years.

I have a few to upload but file size will be a problem so may have to do it over a couple days. Lets start with the smaller ones.

I can trouble this month's Catch report, with a 26lb mirror this morning on a 12mm Monster Crab pop-up on my reverse combi rig

In 2024 I visited the worlds largest cork producer in Portugal with work. It was amazing.... saw all the processes from harvesting of the bark down in Lisbon (they even let me have a go!) all the way through to production of wine stoppers and everything else they make up in Porto. Was one of the best work weeks I've had. Those trees take 12 years to get to the first harvest then once every nine years after that. It takes nearly 50 years to get to the quality required for natural wine stoppers. Some of the trees were 150+ years old. It makes sense, having seen all this, that the price of decent cork balls has gone up so much. They have something like 4 million acres of trees and in the middle of one of these huge plantations they had a reservoir providing the water. I was standing there watching the water (as you do as an angler) and a big common whalloped out. I pointed it out to my host, their technical director, and it turned out he was a carp angler too. He had this reservoir full of massive carp in the middle of nowhere that only he could fish. Incredible.

Right then, let's rewind to the start of the session, one that began in the wee hours after I'd set my alarm for a very early start. I'd been creeping around in the dark for over an hour before the sun came up to aid my search for carp. I'd found plenty of tench but it was a while before I settled on the swim of choice and by the time I was all set up it was getting on for the afternoon. I'd spotted a few patches of fizz mid-morning that were no doubt produced by carp and, knowing the swim quite well, I was happy to spend a while dangling there. To the right of the swim, between me and the reed spot I mentioned earlier, is a small, very weedy, very snaggy marginal bay, protected by overhanging trees on the bank side and an impenetrable lily bed on the other . The sun was shining down into this little bay, and I was observing a new snag that had ended up in there - a large tree branch that had obviously been blown in during the storms over winter, to join the other branches that littered this bay. As I watched I noticed a decent carp drifting in under some floating weed. Then, I noticed another and another. I set about making my way through the undergrowth along this bank until I found an area you could wade in under the trees and get quite close to where the carp were milling about. I chucked on the waders and did so, but couldn't get quite close enough to see the carp with any clarity. However, I did notice a small clear area no more than 2ft from the near-side reeds under the trees, basically under my nose. Just for fun, I popped back to the swim, crumbled up a handful of baits and returned to the spot. I chucked half on the spot, and half dotted towards the where the carp were situated before going back to my swim for a cuppa. While drinking my tea I was watching the 3 carp in the corner and could see they were proper ones... almost certainly originals and at least 2 of them were mirrors. They drifted out of sight for a minute or two, and then a few plumes of fizz popped up towards the spot I'd baited.

No dogs, unless you're surname is Lane apparently. He didn't like me pointing that out, and no I didn't make the waiting list lol No baiting poles WTF weird

Looking at the forecast we'll be seeing 15C+ starting tomorrow for the foreseeable. Hovering around 17/18 for the coming weeks. IT'S HERE LADS! In a strange twist of fate, it's fallen perfectly for me. I have a few days planned this week. Fingers crossed I can get on them. Good luck for the season guys.

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 gave 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)

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

Yeah that's a bit cheeky that!

I may be able to merge posts for you if it limits it due to picture size

This is another session that seemed to start out badly for various reasons. I got to the lake to discover someone in the swim I had been baiting up, no major problems as there is 45acres of lake, so I chose a swim opposite, albeit over 150metres away, so not going to interfere. A pallet had blown in and drifted up the lake into the margins, so I attempted to pull it out. As I did so a rotten piece broke and the pallet fell down my leg, with a nail ripping a brand new pair of combat trousers from thigh to shin, and giving me a couple of cuts on my thigh. I already knew that I had left my coffee and sugar at home, so after changing into clean trousers I took a trip to the shop in Botesdale for some antiseptic and coffee and sugar. Last night I had ducks taking off and flying through the right hand lines twice, on the second occasion for some reason my middle white Ipro indicator body broke in two, so I had to bodge a repair. This morning just drinking coffee and the male swan swan through the right hand line, getting tangled in the process and eventually smashing me up. I re-rigged and was sat with just two rods in the water, thinking I'd recast after walking Sky round. Another coffee and the left hand rod screamed off, this was a better result on the reverse combi-rig and 12mm pop-up when I landed a 26lb mirror. That puts a smile on the face!

Ive just moved onto the shrimp after a conversation with @yonny (dont have the time to amke my own this year), good start as i managed to catch one first time out, has a very distinct smell to it (think possible SSA & Monster Crab combo/Nash Cajun Prawn as the lead smell/flavour.)

I can relate to topic, Think my best carp fishing days were in the mid / late 90's, without boring people to death with nostalgic memories, but my early Horseshoe days were something never to be forgotten. After that, things changed, couldn't do it anymore, a very long drive and work and family stuff meant I gave up and sold my ticket., did a lot of day ticket fishing in and around Sussex, and a few club lakes too, then the noddy carp anglers arrived en mass, all the argos gear with no idea, no manners or respect. Had a great spell with pole fishing on a certain sussex venue that had lots of crucians in their front lake. Then moved on to find a few Dorset and Kernow venues that were relativily undiscoverd back in the day. What I am trying to say is, don't loose the feeling, at my age, can't go as much as I ever used to, but still have a Sussex club water I can think will do me. My one regret is that I have never caught a Barbel! Sorry for a bit of a rant

There was a frost this morning! I got woken up to an occurrence at around 5.30, thick mist across the lake and a frost on the ground. Let's hope that the forecast weather wakes a few fish up. 0

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!

What's the day???

Had a good half day down at Brookfoot lakes Aireys pond today 2 Bream then 3 carp 2 were commons around the 10lb and the nice mirror was a tad over 12lb, i took brew making gear for me and mrs to have a decent brew and my trusty ancient Webtex stove was leaking gas big time stripped it when we got home and now ordered a set of seals so it will give me another 15 years lol

I popped into a mates lake, thinking most of the carp were dead, only to find around 20 mid doubles all cruising around, occasionally breaking the surface and splashing their tales about. If I didn't know better, I'd have said they looked to be getting ready for it. We have had a fairly warm spring so far

How it's done!!! well in big man ♥️

It's lovely to see you smiling in the top 'photo , Nick . You usually seem to be grimacing in pain from the effort of lifting your catch due to your bad back . 😃

It's their own patented shrimp flavour. Stinks doesn't it 🤣

Good luck mate. I'm setting the alarm for 4am so I'll be sneaking round the pond fist thing tomoz!

I'm going after work tonight, buzzing even though it's going to be cold, come on you carps. Let's have a muncher or two.

Well I decided not to rejoin, then the owner, in all his wisdom decided to close the season, a month early??? Im not too keen on day ticket waters. So, without anywhere to fish until the estate opens in mid June, I've signed up to a local angling club for £90 + a small joining fee. There's a few small local lakes with some reasonable size fish to go for. My boys are welcome which is important and no stupid rules, which is refreshing. A new chapter for me, trying out the club scene.

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.

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 😁 .

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.

I used to fish one trotting rod for pike and got to the river and couldn't find the rod. A 60 mile round trip found it propped up at the rear of the house against a wall. Well, it was dark when I set out! Another time I had 2 conoflex barbel rods but they were slightly different. I picked up a top and bottom piece and when I got there, discovered they were from different rods and wouldn't fit together! Just drove home and sulked but after that, always kept the rods made up and held together with bands.

When I first started carp fishing, I bought my first set of bite alarms. They were wired to a receiver as that's all I could afford. Anyway... I got a run in the middle of the night and the receiver blurted out the tune to jingle bells.

Just my opinion? Use a standard size 8 swivel. Ok, so PTFE has the lowest coefficient of friction known to man but we're asked to believe that this helps with rig alignment when this relatively small device is lying amongst whatever detritus is in the area of the landed rig. The PTFE thing is more a marketing ploy than a mechanical advantage. Once again, just my opinion. Ian.

Went to a little pond with my youngest boy yesterday and he caught his first ever carp. Lovely little 7lb common. He's got the carp bug now😉

a mid double common to christen the new rods

After not going carp fishing since August due to having personal issues to deal with regarding my dad I managed to get a couple of trips on the bank this month. Last week was Wednesday to Friday. I got to the lake, and fancied an area towards the shallower east end of the lake. I did have an angler on the opposite bank slightly to my left, so I made sure I wouldn't interfere with his fishing, and got myself set up. Sorting out my dinner I realised I had left my cutlery set at home, no major issue as I had a fork in the spares pocket of my food ruckbag. It did mean that I had to gauge 2 teaspoons of sugar in my coffee though. The more important issue was the bucket of birdfood to get the ducks and swans to clear some weed if the carp didn't eat it, and worse Sky's food bowl. I was in the sleeping bag for 8pm, but awake listening for fish. A few crashed between Dave and I between 8 and 10pm when I eventually fell asleep while the frost was forming. Sky refused to come in the bivvy, and slept outdoors. Thursday was a walk around looking, but nothing made me want to move. That night was most definitely warmer, but nothing crashed, so Friday saw a slow pack up with a blank. I wasn't intending to fish again for a week, but Sunday I got back to the empty lake, complete with garlic soaked birdfood particles. I hadn't forgotten anything this week, set myself up in the same swim, although checked the wind forecast to the 3nights and had the back of the bivvy facing North West. Two quiet days, despite searching and walking around the lake with Sky on Monday and Tuesday. The only action I saw was the swans, tufties and coots mooching around the particles, although they never picked up a hookbait Tuesday night, just after dinner Sky decided to come in the bivvy, so I knew that the rain and wind forecast was coming that night. Around 8 I crashed out for a couple of hours, but at 10 got woken up to the short bivvy pegs being pulled out of the soft ground by the wind getting up to 50mph. Sky was sitting on the umbrella skirt/groundsheet join, so it didn't blow away, but it was close! I got out my long pegs and bank sticks, and went out to swap pegs and push them in at least 50cm. Managed to get sorted, but stayed awake until 1am, when I realised that my 20year old Aqua rod holdall had been blown away, and is likely to have sunk. This morning was a bit of a pig to pack away, my mix of banksticks, tent pegs were difficult to pull out, and obviously trying to juggle loose rods, landing nets, slings and throwing stick into the car. The sad part is that the historical black poplar has finally given in to old age and nature. Expectations or hopes were a fish, reality was a near disaster.

This has to be one of my favourite rod shots, taken this week, with the sunset.

In fact this morning that size 4 Incizor, reverse combi-rig(*) and 12mm pop-up landed a 26lb mirror. The reverse combi-rig is around 100mm of soft braid, and the stiff section to the hook was 20lb black Amnesia around 10mm long from the join to hook fished D-rig style.

Thanks Mate. I'm limited on freezer space so reckon that 5kg is the maximum I can keep in the freezer, which makes a good shelfie important. I've not done badly on shelf life's from Alton and The Syndicate. The Rod Hutchinson KMG was a brilliant bait in shelf life. I do tend to use the throwing stick to put bait out so reckon using frozen to put some bait out at the start, then 'prebaiting' at the end of the session with shelf life, and mixing the two during the session. Normally 70metres is my maximum on the syndicate.

The jack saved you from getting skunked, and you got to go fishing. Take the win. 😄

Good luck everyone who’s out

I was out having a vape last night and noticed it was v clear skies.... I expected a frosty car this morning and I got one. It'll be cold tonight too but tomorrow night is...... wait for it....... 11 degrees! Feeding time.

Sounds like you have done the right thing, enjoy some nice angling with your lads, it will be quality time spent, i only fish the local club these days, got a few mates on the ponds and usually i really enjoy the sessions, main lake has some good fish but i tend to fish the smaller pond and some lovely fish to about 18lb, good enough for an old codger like me

If I had as many takes as spammers recently, I would have had the season of a lifetime already! 🙄

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

Could always dull it down with a sharpie coloured pen.

That is same as the club book i fish, but night fishing is allowed however its a long wait to get night book and its an extra £140 for night book, lucky for me i dont really do nights no more and if i want to do 24h i can gust on for £20, yes fishing is getting expensive

One of the little clubs I belong to is an hour away ,and it's only 40 quid a year, no nights ,days only with a great mix of members ..thats the sort of place I like,especially the 5lb perch in the pool.. That's great value even if I only went 3 or 4 times a year ..

Great points ,can't disagree with any points of view... I guess, I'm one of the few that thinks it's putting a few off going ,what with the Catch App ,which I personally detest ,if it rises any more ,on a couple of places I love ,money wise ,then I'll have to vote with my feet . I got other hobbies but angling is huge to me .. But we all have to remember ,prices are rising in all daily aspects of our lives ,hobbies are fair game vs eating or living expenses.. 'Fish on '...!!

Bought a pair of super light weight foldable 2.5 litre water cannisters from Prolite explorer... One in the car as a spare, other on the bank .. They are good, especially if your trying to cut down on weight kit etc..

Of course not. But tbf she knows that whatever I tell her it costs, she has to double it then add some 🤣