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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.

Shame I didn't manage to include the carp that leapt just after I took the original picture.

Mrs bought me a Tamiya Lunchbox several years ago. Throwback to my youth..... loved building it. With my lad turning 7 it's recently made a come-back. Great fun.

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!

I had a mozzie bite on my arm about 30 years ago and remember struggling to drive home as I could hardly change gear as it was so swollen and it lasted for a week. After that, nothing. I can't remember getting bitten in all that time. There are several threads on here about the merits of jungle formulae, Avon skin so soft and burning coils but didn't really need to act on it. Two weeks ago I got bitten, luckily just on my ear lobe and it was only a minor inconvenience. I decided to get some jungle formuale just in case and stuck it in my bag. Just got back from a Sunday to Tuesday session on another lake and on the Sunday, I had some buzzing around my ear and when I woke up the next morning I had been done with a series of bites across my forehead, neck and cheek. I try to avoid putting the door panel on my bivvy during the warmer months as I prefer to be able to look out and watch the water, even after dark. The second night I sprayed some jungle formulae on my chest and head and heard some mozzies approach during the night but they seemed to fly straight off again which was encouraging. I found one outside my bivvy the next morning and he got squashed into the chippings under my size 12! I've been up the chemist and got some Anthisan bite and sting cream which will go in my bag for future sessions. I wonder if the long hot summer we have had increased their numbers and activity time as conditions are still unseasonly warm.

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.

If I get stung/bitten I use after bite, the sting of it working is a relief itself

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🤞

Blank night, new swim 3 islands and 4 channels to go at. Just one fizzer seen and closer than I was fishing. Back down Thursday 🤞

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

I had no idea it's DEET free now. Cheers for the heads-up. Ill be trying that.

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.

Fished with a mate on Friday who was on the new DNA test bait. He caught and I blanked so take from that what you will.

Everyone I know within a 5 mile radius has been bitten in the past 5-6 weeks. I had jungle formula on, sprayed the sheets (mmm that sweet aroma), but still had about 5 bites. Thankfully none in the past week.

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!

Hope it all goes well and you're on the bank soon 👍

Not a doubter mate, does make me think when you reach a 'certain' age.... whatever that is but you will know, night fishing in winter probably not a great idea tbh. Completly understand a days pike fishing with heated stuff, also I remember having a Zippo hand warmer when winter day fishing in my younger days.

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

Looking at this again they have other fishmeal baits that haven't gone up in price, so it can only be the GLM content. I'm gonna stick with the bait as it confirms to me that it's their best one.

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.

Is it the GLM content then more than the fishmeal?

Still £337.50 over at Trent Baits.

No worries mate, I was referring to the syndi on the naturals 👍 Bluebell is just bags of crumb and pellet with halibut pellet wafter hookbaits.

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.

"Carp were introduced to the US has a food fish by immigrants" They were brought in by the government, which makes them introduced vs invasive. The Silver, or Asian Carp are invasive, Snakeheads are invasive, but Common Carp (or German Carp as they were known at the time) were introduced. Lincoln was the President and had a good relationship with the German immigrants (providing them a printing press when a Democrat mob threw theirs into the river, or he might never have become President), but the introduction of the carp was likely as much due to looking ahead to the waves of immigration that were coming as for those already here. I've been fishing for carp for 30 years (out of 65 years at least of fishing), done the research, know the history, and I'm still the new guy here. If you want to see them being fished as a food source, check out Carp Killer on Tik Tok, he's one of the commercial fishermen on Lake Winnipeg that began netting for carp when the demand began. He'll take a contract for tons of carp with probably a million or so in equipment and a 4 or 5 man crew. 20 years ago when Lake Winnipeg was suffering due to aquatic plants being uprooted (and carp were blamed), proposals included poisoning the carp, erecting barriers, poisoning all the fish in the lake then restocking, but now that there's a market for them, the solution appears to be just catching them. Lake Winnipeg is an inland sea twice the size of Yorkshire or about the same size as New Jersey, for scale.

i bought a load of bits and pieces during lockdown in an attempt to make something, dug them out recently and have managed to put together a few old Tamiya kits. have a very battered and loved Holiday Buggy and now a Gravel Hound 4wd to mess about with, still have an FTX racing truck thing though which is insanely fast and lots of fun. RC is still way cheaper than 40k though...........

After reading this thread I now understand why most venues prohibit wading . Scary stuff ! 😱