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Change of scenery, equally mega - got a rod on the spot I know does the biggun and one I've caught from before so fingers well and truly crossed with these poor conditions - still, easteries, high pressure and misty 👎 Still in it to win it, just fab being out and getting the swims I want for a change🤞😎

Managed to get out for storm Austen and it was great fun. I really enjoy being out in extreme conditions and while it was a bit sketchy at times, I came out the other side free of injury and/or death. I got myself right on the end of that massive wind so careful placement of the brolly was required to prevent losing it. The rain wasn't actually too bad where I was, but the wind was every bit as strong as forecast. Just as the storm hit, I managed a nice low/mid twenty common which made the trip worth it. I added another little one later that went back without a pic. Saturday morning was fantastic..... wandering around surveying the damage, branches all over the place. All in all, a fun little trip.

One from last week just prior to the storm and right on dusk at a days only water. A lovely half-lin at 21-8, one of the nicest looking fish I've ever caught.

Blank 3 nights last weekend, started on the spots i'd caught from, by the last night I had 2 up against the snags after seeing one saturday morning. Heard a lump bosh near there rods at 11pm but no takes. Frustrating but back again Thursday with a new baiting plan and lure rods after a pike grabbed the leading rod and felt decent!

A moody one after a busy night..

To anyone thinking theres a lack of ladybirds this year - wrong! Same as last year when parked down the lakes. Love nature!

No mate big fat blank but loved it, was gonna do an extra night tonight but ran out of supplies, deffo fishing a spot on the middle sized lake there that does the big-un. I absolutely love this lake, drawn between two - a nice problem to have. On the plus I did find some suitable wood to make a hobo stool for the garden lol. Back next week sunday - tues 🤞

That's good, you know to ask the naming committee first - i.e. me and Elmo 🙃 and NO Dayvids Mirror/Common is not allowed!

Well I actually went back Tues to Thursday armed with particles including tigers, same swim, not a touch. Could see fish in the swim opposite, two anglers went in and both failed, watching them I figured I was pretty close and went long after them but same result. Was kicking myself for not getting maggots instead of the particle choice as they are clearly on naturals in the areas still containing surface weed or where that had recently cleared. Found 3 fish on the back of the wind on the 2nd afternoon and said to myself I'll move down here if no action for the 2nd night, with one being a good sized common, but the following day no fish in that area so a move turned into a go home early. Social at Bluebell this week but then back to the syndi end of Oct armed with maggots, worms and/or casters. Always disappointing to blank but have to remind myself it's 2 fish per acre at best so never easy.

2nd time I've seen the odd bubble come up in this tiny back bay, this time though the culprits moved about up in the kelp bed on the left, didnt look big but a bites a bite. Nothing overnight but heard a slosh amougst the fireworks last night, fingers crossed - last trip before a venue switch.

Always use a wading pole. And don’t just prod. Push down with your body weight. You’re heavier than your arms will push down. I’ve had numerous dealings with silt in waders. Falling down a silt hole whilst playing a fish was fun. One leg thigh deep in a hole. The other just about keeping my wader from overtopping about 3ft higher up! All in 2ft of water already. Harder crusts can form on silt, You prod it and it feels firm. Step on it and you sink. I also remember losing a boot of my wader whilst working on a fish farm in heavy silt. Boot stayed, I stepped, silt closed round the void. I couldn’t get my foot back in so was on hands and knees crawling out of my waders to the nearest firmer area whilst the other lads were howling! I was lucky the lake was empty.

Well done mate - great stuff! I was on Bluebell Swan Thurs to Saturday with a mate, nothing came out despite the favourable conditions but good to get the feel for it ahead of the winter ticket I guess. Picked the shallower end after seeing some fizzing close in but could only get drops, no pull back so ended up swapping over to hinges for the 2nd night. Think I probably ended up fishing in eel grass and not presented well enough despite all rigs coming back clean every time, weird one!

Tbh, I'm generally a summer fisherman. I have avoided going when it gets below 6c at night. My bag is a big snooze+ 3 season jobby. I'm over 50 now and am fed up with being uncomfortably cold without good bl**dy reason. So, a heated blanket for a few hours with the bed cover so I'm not climbing into a freezer seems like a sensible idea and a weight sacrifice I'm willing yo make. It runs off my Ridge Monkey Vault 26000mah powerbank which I take anyway, so its a negligible change for me. I don't get the self flagellation at the altar of discomfort. If your doing something to save weight great you do you, but doing something just because it was done like that 30 years ago seems like madness to me. 20-30 years ago I smoked, mostly used a bike to get around and used to go raving. If I hadn't changed I'm not sure I would still be here, let alone have a decent job, house, be married with kids going to uni. If carp fishing had stayed the same we'd still be using argos sunbeds, optonics and cheap 50" brollies with a tarp over the top. Just look at your phone in your hand. How old is that and how old is the tech? The world changes, moves on and progresses. Embrace it where you want to/can justify it. I would ask, do you use a throwing stick/spomb/bait boat/baiting pole/sonar/gps? None of those were available 30 years ago, at least not in their current form. Back then, were there any carp reels, rods with the specialised ringing we now use?

I try not to worry too much about mosquito bites. All too often they're the only bites I get. Ian.

Fogged out ! 🤞🤞

I've started on my 1:48 Harrier GR9

It's not just deep water that is risky! The water depth at Botesdale is currently no more than 1.6m, or 4feet. That is water depth, but the silt itself can be a couple of feet deep. The causeway itself is wadeable, you can walk across it, it is a proper stone causeway built around the 15 or 1600's, a stone pathway built across the marshland to the manor house before Lancelot Capability Brown created the lake. Step off the causeway towards the shallower (east) end and most of it will go to no deeper than thigh depth, however carp have fed up and created holes that go chest deep. Step off the causeway to the dam end and you will be going into water chest deep, but with around 1-1.3mm or 3foot of silt you can sink in. Put a marker float out and if the float comes up you will get 3-4feet of water, the lead sits on it, as @greekskii says, it has a hard crust, except, again where carp have fed and it is softer. There is also a stream bed running along the lake on the house side, which is a metre of silt.

It only takes one step! There are areas on my current lake I will not wade at all; between the causeway and the dam wall is a definite 'no chance'. A mate went in, in his wetsuit and life jacket, rather than chest waders, to land a fish. He said that the silt he stepped in came up to his knees, and without someone pulling him out with a rope he had tied himself to would have struggled to get out.

And finally finished Bismarck I think that the reason I left it so long was it got so fiddly to add in the smaller gun mounts and masts. This must be the closest HMS Hood and Bismarck have ever been... At 1/600, the range of the battle between them would work out at 23metres apart!

If it doesn’t hurt anyone else’s fishing and it is not against any rules then fill your boots with whatever makes your fishing more enjoyable. boat drone baiting pole hair rig nylon line or a bite alarm

My 2p for what it's worth..... The best and cheapest source of heat available to you at any time of year is the heat from your own body.... you just need to harness it. If you get a really good set of insulated togs (i.e. jacket and salopettes), they store the heat you produce. The trick, which most guys miss, is not to wear too much underneath. A decent base layer and micro fleece mid layer is all you need. Anything thicker than that (like a hoody) interferes with the system and prevents your body heat from heating the insulation. Same as a sleeping bag basically. It's why I'm happy in a brolly all year.... I've just learned how to use the heat my body produces. I'm with you on this. Not a big fan of technology in angling but when it comes to winter fishing and warmth, you fill your boots imo. Use whatever you want mate. The situations we'd put ourselves in back in the day were frankly stupid and certainly a little dangerous. It's easy now to look back with rose tinted specs but I think back to the completely inadequate gear I'd use in the depths of winter and I shudder. If I caught my lad heading out in minus 8 with the rubbish I used to use I'd go ballistic at him 😂

Np. I didn't mean to sound like I was having a go back if that's how it came across. I was just letting loose a little. And, again this isn't meant as a dig at you personally, but there does at times feel like theres a bit of hypocrisy from some people when it comes to comfort/more recent innovations. If there wasn't any progress, we'd all still be using split cane rods with 10+ rings all sat within a few mm of the rod blank and centerpin reels loaded with cat gut. As I said, you do you. Everyone's entitled to do what they want as long as it's within the rules and doesn't affect others. I've never fished through the winter before and have had previous few nights before, so a bit of comfort/warmth will be very welcome. Who knows how long any of us have left. If there's something you want to try, I say go do it.

I'm thinking maybe Interax doesn't want to end up crippled with arthritis in old age and unable to go fishing / enjoy his retirement ? .

That is the reason I nearly always make mine fresh just before casting. I do use a mix of pellets for bagging and meshing; halibut, CSL, bloodworm, koi/coarse and GLM in various sizes. Note, the Crafty Catcher bloodworm and GLM seem to be oversprayed. I managed to leave some Nash bags in my trouser pocket once, I was quite surprised that they were still undissolved after an hours 40⁰ wash. The plastic bag they were in had allowed water in, but the bags themselves were still almost intact.

I don't think it matters, but it also winds me up. I don't use bags a lot but when I do I protect the hook between a couple of little bits of corn starch packing peanuts (what most people call PVA nuggets). The corn starch is released more easily than PVA, and tends to keep the hook/barb free of debris. It also protects the hook point from penetrating the bait(s) in the bag.

Big hike? Not being funny, but a big water I'd stick with 12ft rods. Ardleigh and Alton reservoir, 160 and 500 acres respectively, even Nazeing Meads Lagoons, around 65acres, could be some long walks to swims, and 12ft rods do give you better casting range. Sounds simple, but co-ordinate your barrow and tackle you carry. Do the standard take out non essential stuff that 'I might need one day'. I use a Carp Porter Porterlite (original), and I can take the gear for 3 days in one trip, and the 12ft rods and bivvy on top of the barrow.

Rumour has it they call him Ghandi though

Changes to KHV disease controls in recreational fisheries - GOV.UK I don't know if this has been seen or commented on here, but I've just seen that KHV outbreaks are no longer requiring control measures. I'm split on this. We'll no longer know where has had an outbreak, but if it's as prevalent/endemic as they claim, what can really be done? What everyone's thoughts? ETA: There are currently no KHV control measures in place anywhere. Controls of fish and shellfish diseases in England and Wales - GOV.UK

Blue Algea and low water levels have meant its closed until further notice (significant rainfall I guess) Shame as im told there's 8 nice 30's to go at😒 Plan B produced a 38 common 2 weekends ago, so hopefully its hungry again🤞

I liked the colour, I now got a lifetime supply of marker braid lol. Luckily it went on my spare spools instead of stripping the SBX.

During Lockdown in 2020 I started getting back into my model building again. The majority of the aircraft are in 1:48, with a few 1:72 on separate shelf, and the ships are 1:600. Got a few more to do

Kranks or any decent curve shank, usually a Mugga.

Looks carpy as.... . Any joy @kevtaylor??? I'm not jealous at all

I am not on here very much lately, i have already told Nick, im having lots of hospital appointments leading up to Aortic valve surgery to replace my worn out valve in the heart as a result not been fishing in a fair while. I have known about this for 7 years and it has been stable but recently it has got worse, hoping the opp wont be till next year, have to wait and see

Best wishes!

I am of the make sure you wear decent clothing and have a decent sleeping bag brigade. I can remember a few nights wrapped up wishing I was warmer though, from inadequate bedding and being soaking wet. I've been through the brolly and wrap, EasyDome, Apotheosis and gone back to brolly and wrap, with a decent sleeping bag. I've woken up with condensation frozen inside the brolly, but I was nice and warm in the bag. Come to that, I have had to get up to reel in as the lake froze over or woken up with the lake surface gone solid. At night the jacket, hoody, (not many decent fishing ones around) and overtrousers come off and I sleep in my (Regatta) base layer. The important thing for me is socks, Merino wool socks keep my feet warm in my boots, either combat boots or Tundra boots. Now while I prefer not to be using a heated blanket, if it does keep you fishing go for it. However if it is that cold, I'm not likely to be fishing now.

I've sued size 2's on spinners. Absolutely fine.

It's Lifesystems btw, used by the military so my mate says when recommending it. Also do a spray for the shelter itself 👍

Hi, I'm using small PVA mesh bags of boilie only, (2 x 15mm and 6 x 12mm baits ) with a match the hatch pop up on a Ronnie rig, barbless hook with a supple hook link on a lead clip. When using barbed hooks, does it matter if you have PVA residue on your hook where the barb is? I've tested the rig several times in a pan of water and most times there's a large visible amount of residue stuck on the underside of the barb that rarely completely melts. If I use barbless hooks the residue always slides off past the hook point. I'd rather use barbed if possible. Thanks

I am such a Tackle Tart id charge to view my set up .😂

Thanks for the info, I had a size 4 standard gauge Korda Krank open up on me on Sunday, gutted because it felt like a good fish. I was using 15mm pop ups. I've got some size 2 wide gapes at home and some 14mm pop ups, these are more buoyant than the 15's I was using. If 2's are ok i'll order some Korda basics Krank X's today as I prefer this patten.

For what it's worth, pva bags in colder weather probably not a good idea, also the preping them up with anything with oil in them does stop the breakdown. Just an alternative idea for winter, why not try the old idea of pva stringers? I used to do the 3 bait stringer thing many years ago, it actually did work back then but too old now to get on bank before next spring 😂

I've had this before. Absolute nightmare. I tend to avoid PVA completely as we head towards winter.

My funnel webs are pretty round like golf balls and I piece through the sides so I'm not going anywhere near the 2 knots, works well

That's almost how I managed to pick up the second set of Beastmasters, although in my case it was Ebay. Someone selling a set of 3 for around £50 each, when new they were £59.99. I knew that they were decent reels having used them for years. Not that I am in a hurry to sell them, but I still wouldn't lose money if I did. Possibly the best of the budget range Shimano reels, better than many more premium reels from them.

"In the American Anglers Guide published in 1845 John J. Brown wrote about the carp as follows: “This beautiful fish is not a native of our country; but as they have been imported from England by a number of persons in many parts of the United States for the purpose of stocking their ponds and protection having been given them by the laws of the State of New York, they will undoubtedly become an object of the anglers pleasure." I thought importation didn't start until the 1860's, but it was well established long before. https://www.carpanglersgroup.com/main/history-of-carp/

It's blood type O that is most susceptible to bites, I did have to check it up. I did look at my Jungle Systems this morning and I know that they have moved away from DEET. It used to give me a real headache, and took print off t-shirts. Skin-so-Soft was good, but apparently the amount of citronella has been reduced, and I could only get the original from Avon Poland.

Good morning all, so the last 3wks have flown by in a sleepy haze of sleepless nights, nappies, bottles and sterilising bottles, however yesterday wifey told me it was time to get the rods out! Trying to overcome my surprise, after all I hadn’t planned an overnight trip for many months into the future, why the free pass? My wife wanted a practice run of looking after the children alone for when I return to work next week, so I was banished to the lake! well you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth do you?? luckily, if you saw my “playing with bait” thread, you’ll see that I had a bag of bait tucked away in the freezer, so the gear was dragged from the shed, food and bait loaded and I was off to the Kent boarder to fish a lake I’ve christened “zombie sheep lake” I needed to pop into the tackle shop to pick up a few bits and while browsing the shelves, my eye wandered over the racks of bivvies all in a row… now my JRC STI 1 man bivvy has finally died a death after far too many years to count, indeed it had been coughing up blood for at least 10yrs and now I’m in my 40s, the thought of doing winter sessions under my trusty oval brolly and storm sides really didn’t appeal! 13yrs of Army service, sleeping under a poncho in a ditch had meant that I was pretty used to kipping in less than favourable conditions, but any fool can be uncomfortable can’t they? so I ended up going in for a few packs of hooks and pva bags and left with a JRC Defender bivvy… oops after a 20min detour to the bailiffs house to pick up a part of my carp porter barrow that I left behind on my last (blank) trip 6wks ago, I got to the lake about 1pm, happy to see that I had it all to myself. I barrowed my gear round to the point swim, as I can see and cast to a large portion of the lake, where there was a nice gentle breeze drifting in, and set up the gear. I rigged up a pair of Fox Horizon X4S TT 12ft rods with my Fox EOS 12000 Reels spooled with 12lb synchro XT mainline, to a length of Korda leadcore fished helicopter style, hook links being 10” fox cortex soft coated braid, fished to a size 6 ESP Clawhammer hook fished slip D style and a 1” length of shink tube, line-aligner style. Bait was my fishy boilie offering. breaking out the marker rod, I found a nice silty hump with 7.5ft of water over it, with the surrounding lakebed 9ft deep. It was plenty big enough for the 2 rods that I would be using, although what was obvious was the lack of water, it was at least 2ft down from its usual summer levels. As a result, the lake hadn’t been fishing well, but who cares! I’m out on the bank in the sun and a carp just came out up to the wrist of its tail only feet from my marker float bobbing about. i catapulted about 100-150 baits over the hump and cast both rods to their respective spots. One on a 7 bait stringer and one in a pva bag. Now obviously, a soft coated hooklinks 10 inches long aren’t ideal for for pva bag use, and I really couldn’t be bothered to faff about trying up soft coated braided links, so snipped off the corner of the large pva bag and threaded the hook link through the hole so the hook link dangled out the bottom. After filling it with 1 & 2mm pellets and crusher boilie, I sealed it all up, then nicked the hook into the bag opposite the lead. It looked a bit noddy, but it was worth a try! with the rods out, it was time to get the base camp set up! You can see how low the water it as that gravel shelf is usually under water! now it was time to break out the new bivvy!! I lovingly unpacked it from its bag, laid it all out, fanned out the poles and started clipping it all together, only to find that one of the poles was snapped! Nightmare! Despite all my bodging attempts, this bivvy was knacked, so in an absolute huff, I wrapped the bivvy back up, reeled in the rods and trudged back to the car to chuck the bivvy in and grab the oval brolly, no decadent abode for me tonight! returning to the swim, I redid the rods (again!) and threw up the oval, still muttering to myself about the injustice of it all, a quick brew soon sorted me out though. the night soon drew in and the carp were getting more active and I retired to the carp cot around midnight confident on some action to christen the X4S rods that haven’t had a decent carp on as yet! at 1am, the left hand pva bag rod gave a flurry of bleeps, with the dinky esp bobbin tight to the Neville, so I struck and found myself into a plodding weight. After a pretty unspectacular fight, a carp was now nestled in the folds of my landing net. at 23lb, I was buzzing! The dodgy tied pva bag had done the job! with that working, another found it’s way back out there, and I got back to sleep. At 4am, the same rod absolutely flew, the Neville was screaming as I made my way to the rods, one shoe on one off. This one started beating me up from the get go, and after a spirited battle, a 21lb common hit the net, along with 20 tiny perch. with the pva bag working, I pressed repeat and got it back out there. As the sun was rising, I made another brew and watched the water as the sun came up (proper carpy that) once dawn had arrived, I climbed into the bag to get some kip, although it wasn’t to be, as the pva bag rod dropped slack. Winding down i soon felt the weight and soon had the carp boring down the margins, where it promptly beached itself! I couldn’t get it in the net, so gently guided it into deeper water where it rolled into the net first time. At 26lb, it was an immaculate common! (Check out the realtree MC Hammer pants!) I redid the rod and had a celebratory cuppa, when 4 day anglers arrived, that was my sign to wrap up and head home, slightly earlier than planned, but I had my share, it was time to let the day guys enjoy this delightful little pool. swinging into the tackle shop on the way home, I exchanged the defective bivvy for another one, which is sound, so alls well that ends well.

A couple from France, double take madness 🇫🇷