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With the big pit covered in a giant weedberg on the end of the wind where I wanted to be, I decided to pop to the local day ticket for my monthly session. I experienced all the highs and lows associated with such places - plenty of carpy activity but got casted over, spombed at, hemmed in...... but all's well that ends well. Caught a few with these being the prettiest. The linear is typical of the stock of this water, but the other one is a true leather. Quite a rarity nowadays.

Went back to Belgium Carp Arena Lilly Pool late July-Aug and was regretting the booking in the run up with the extreme heat forecasts. First day set up camp and got my son fishing and he got off the mark with 2 x 30s within the first 12 or so hours so all pressure was off. Sunday I got my rods sorted and didnt take long to get off the mark too with another low 30. The heat midweek killed the action but we got a couple late on in the week. We ended up with 7 for me including the biggest in the lake and 4 for my son. Mega week for me practicing boat skills to drop rigs, bait up and play a few that became weeded up, my son loved the bait boat and wasnt keen on the actual boat as he felt unsafe with me moving all over the place trying to help him hand line fish out of the weed etc. Tactics were my low pop-up rigs, match the hatch baits and small scatterings of boilies which seemed to work well considering the conditions. No night bites which seemed odd but great, all fish came between first light upto 10pm with 7am - 10am the most productive. Will go back coz I love the boating element and a lake exclusive.

One from this weekend.. Only taken on a phone but with some editing they can look ok..

Last week in Belgium, rods far and wide on a lake booking between me and my son.

During the long blistering hot summer we've endured, I've had more joy with the camera than the rod on some waters! The shot with the rods were on zigs just under the surface and the dragon fly was on that Common for quite a while.

Gets me when on a pretty quiet lake a new arrival will choose to go right next to you or bang opposite - I mean really?!?! I've been doing this fishing lark for a long time now so if I want to go down a particular end of the lake but find it to be busy down there I go the other end instead of fitting in and spoiling it for those already present. I'm not desperate to catch these days and it usually works that the pressure pushes them away anyway. 🤷‍♂️

A couple of weeks ago I sent a couple of models to Help for Heroes, a 1/740 Prinz Eugen which I had ordered in the wrong scale ( I build ships in 1/600) and an HMS Belfast I had duplicated. Really pleased to receive this today and that it is handwritten makes it such a nice reply.

I felt the switch Sunday night. After a few trips not using the bivvy it was put up as soon as the rods were in this trip. As I was setting the rods up we had a light shower in North West Suffolk, and at 2.30am it rained properly for an hour, and fish started crashing. Yesterday a massive difference, fish moving during the day. First time I have felt comfortable putting in any more than a PVA stringer or bag full for months.

Big switch this week lads and while it's still warm, it's looking mega outside in Northants. Overcast. Rain overnight. Great temps. I predict the carp will switch on big time this week. Best of luck to anyone out this week.

View OF the bivvy doors - this is camp from the last trip, thankfully the trees left side of the swim covered us from mid morning until 7pm. We moved the Nash tarp and used as a wall to block the early morning sun - worked a treat. 👍

At Brackens I knew everyone else was going to recast around 6pm at night, so I would make sure I had my baits in place long before that, and use their disturbance to move the fish out of their areas. Quite frequently I would get fish about 8 o-clock at night while they blanked. I also try not to change hookbaits, even after a fish. The smell of 'me' is gone, the first fish found it acceptable, so changing it might upset that. That attitude also comes with me now at the end of a session. My pop-ups are already counterbalanced, on floss and lighter blobbed, so don't come off unless pulled. I can quite easily just attach a fresh bag or stringer without actually touching the bait. The only time Sky goes silly, talking and jumping, when someone comes to visit, and most people she loves, but there are one or two who she is not keen on for some reason, possibly because they are nervous about her. I don't mind the majority of people if they move in next door, but sometimes there are some you wish hadn't. I make sure Sky is on bark mode, lol. I try to spot fish, and if I do have to move in next to someone I will just stringer and one cast rather than make a massive disturbance.

You've certainly got the swim covered lad!

From a few years ago.

I've been known to move swims if someone shows up next door with a mallet and a ten billion lumen headtorch. Can't be doing with that. Tbf I'm not bothered if someone moves in next door and they're quiet and show etiquette. If I see fish in an empty swim I'll move in there regardless of who else is about, but I'd be mindful of the situation. For example, I'd not cast out at bite time if there's guys on the fish next to me.

I almost always do this nowadays, albeit with a micro ring swivel. Even for chods. Dead easy.

Yes , I guess I have , Yonny you wise old owl . I'll start of with a basic plastic screw , and maybe then upgrade to a small rig ring and attach the pop up with floss . 😃

If you have seen that with your own eyes, I think you've answered your own question!

Like @InteraX I don't like them. I would prefer a bit of nylon or bait floss on the D or rig ring as I have found that bait screws can work free and drop the bait, no matter how much a swelled bait is supposed to grip better. It takes a big plastic one to grip properly! Incidentally, I save cut down used rig materials for that specific reason, to use create a hair or for mounting pop-ups. It doesn't matter whether it is monofilament, coated or uncoated braid. The only thing that doesn't lighter blob nicely is fluorocarbon.

I've met some great people on the bank but also some I'll be glad never to meet again. Here are some examples of "That Guy"; You've found a spot, got the rods out and the bivvy is up. Time to relax with a cup of tea and then it starts. Tap, tap, tap........tap, tap, tap.... tap, tap, tap. Worse, you know the idiot has about 11 more pegs to get in! You struggled to push yours in the hard ground with a bit of sweat and a few choice words but did it confident that the fish wouldn't be aware of your presence. Anyone owning a bivvy mallet should have it inserted blunt end first! It was 2 in the morning. It was during one of the recent heatwaves and all the bivvy sides were up. A blinding light hits you and a car rumbles past on the gravel track. Everyone has an emergency ever now and again so you let it go. Ten minutes later it comes back and parks again. I know the portaloo is 200 yards away and despite what you think, your Tesla does make a racket! A bloke was fishing on the opposite side with his missus and 2 kids. They had a BBQ at dinner time. No problem. Then the 2 kids get out a football and kick it all around the lake! I was fishing one rod about a rod length out near some rushes. All of the sudden, there is a huge splash right where I was fishing. I thought it must have been a fish. Twenty minutes later another splash and I saw the lead go in! I walked a good 25 yards to the next swim and had a few words with the bloke! A couple of kids were fishing near the dam. Doof. The lead went in. Five minutes later another doof. Every five minutes another doof as they cast repeatedly for hours. Yes, I blanked. A noisy bloke was on the other side, Regularly you would hear him tell his dog to lie down. Luckily after dark it all went quiet. Then at 2:30a.m., he started chatting to his mate in the next swim. I could hear every word, despite him being 100 yards away!

I just walked Sky round the lake and to talk to the bailiff who was fishing. As we walked round I was keeping Sky calm, she likes James, so bounces, and because I thought he was margin fishing I called out 'hello' well before I got to him so he could come back to the main track past his swim, rather than me walk along the bank and possibly disturb his fishing, especially as I could see fish in front of him. We did stand talking fishery, syndicate and rules for around 30minutes, and the fish in front of him evading his baits. He was no more than 5metres from his rods even on the path. Hopefully it is respect.

I hate them! A bit of floss on the end of a micro ring swivel gives the bait a bit more movement.

I've not set the bivvy up since May! Instant!

Same as nick pick up the flashing led rod it’s usually the one with the bend in it for me as I fish clutches a little tight. I have never needed an isotope either.

I have a very simple system: My indicators and alarms are red, white and green. The receiver bleeps and the led lights in those colours. As I go to the rod I check the bleeping buzzer for the correct led, and look at the falling or rising indicator. This works with anglers who have a choice to be like me with different colour leds on the alarms, or those who chose to have one alarm led colour. The receiver will bleep, an led will show. Now in the UK, there is a legal maximum limit on the number of rods an angler can use, a maximum of 4, and clubs may limit anglers to 3 or even 2, so the numeric readout is not a particular need.

Exactly! What's wrong with these people? 🤣

Well done for rising above all the provocations and triumphing . I mean did these numpties not realise from your hat that they were dealing with a serious carper ?. 😁

Yes his hookbaits are the real deal. First night in using them i had a 40 coincidence or not they do work well, hence his catchphrase. Buy with confidence

I use the ESP bait screw and haven't noticed damage, but that makes good sense, will keep an eye on that. Also got the Korda ones which are plastic screws moulded onto a metal swivel - these are buoyant so no affect on the po-up itself 👍

I don't know whether it is amusement or annoyance, but one of the fish in the syndicate has picked up the name of a Darwin Award winner to its name or features. Last year in June I had a really nice linear at 33lb, part of a 2 fish catch, with an 18lb mirror on an overnight session. Really nice fish, beautiful, and while I enjoyed catching it, returned it unnamed, and put pictures on our FB page. Going through the captures this year, that Linear has put on 4lb and been given the additional moniker. One of the grievances I suppose for me is I know how much stroke pulling this person did in the background, yet despite being friends with the fishery manager kept it hidden from him. No rule breaking as such, but just sneaky...

Oh yeah. Went away for week and pulled out masses of it Ive tried a few treatments, but they dont seem to have much effect. Record temps maybe part of the reason. Well, I put 3 x 10cm grass carp in on Sunday. Haven't seen them since 😕

I was out Sunday as soon as my fishery reopened. Whilst it was still hot, it was overcast. The fish were a lot more active. From about 11 am, I had 8 bites and landed 5, all mid to upper doubles. I lost 3 in what I think was snags that were unknown to me. My mainline just parted which started to get concerning. Overall I used least thank 1/2 a kilo of boilies and packed up around 5. I think they're on the feed now. It's good to hear others are able to get out and are having good sport.

Thanks , Yonny .

Had a look at the website. All the flavour combos are classics, tried and tested.

A Dragon Fly hitching a lift on a Common , extraordinary ! . The only way I can think of to get an even better 'photo would be a Kingfisher sitting on one of my rods . 😃

So, I'm continuously being plagued by the blanket weeed, it literally grows while you watch it! I added 10 more snails, ive only seen a few lately, so fear that the pigeons, or magpies have eaten the majority of them. I hadn't want to, but am going to try a grass carp, or two. The Copdock pellet is certainly doing the trick @yonny, they're certainly growing and looking very healthy👍

Thanks for your Input. Carl Pettit is a very competent angler. Everything he does is done with precision, which shows in his hookbaits. Deffo casing ripples in the hookbait world.

Yep Ben said you're gonna capsize us lol He's not happy in the massive boat on the pike ressies either tbh 😄

This is something that bothers me always has and something that came up on a recent Korda Podcast where Dovey of all people admitted to doing it all the time. To me this is pure noddy! Re-casting at dusk, what is that about?!?! Was taught early on you get the rods set and leave them ready for the key bite times with no disturbance i.e dawn and evening into dusk. So on what planet does it make sense to reel in during bite time, cause commotion and smash the lead back out for no reason whatsoever? We find a spot were happy with, cast accurately, use rigs we know present and reliable bait that stays as it should, it washes out (ages) along with the freebies and can stay out for the duration of your trip, unless you suspect something has got away with it. Why would anyone re-cast at key times when you should be sitting on your hands - it's beyond me tbh - smacks of not being confident with all of your previous steps so doubts have set in, if not that why would you want a fresh hookbait that now looks alien to the rest? Stupidity IMO

Is that you Ollie? 🤪

Although I've no real need to buy bait I would most definitely give these consideration if I did, I know a few lads using them and only hear positive comments about them on very difficult waters too.

Wish I took more photos from those days.

Only the one ? treat it to a pair lol

Early 90's again, at the time a working gravel pit very close to M25, remember Concorde used to pass overhead.... Noisy [censored]! 😃

Early 90's Broadlands lake

TBH, I recon now the temps have eased off a bit the fish are up for a feed. I don't think they've been feeding much whilst it's been so bright and hot, not there's a bit of a breeze, the temps have dropped and we're getting occasional cloud cover, they've got to feed in some shape or other. If you're luck enough to be there when they switch on and can keep them in the area, you'll get a great result. I haven't been back to my local pond to check water temps since last weekend, but I hope they've dropped a bit and I hope the breeze has helped oxygenate the water a bit.

going to a club water this weekend for a few nights, hopefully it cools a little by then.

Hi everyone, I'm Caprini, from Spain. I mostly fish freshwater: shore fishing, reservoirs, a bit of carp fishing, small predators, float fishing and fly fishing when I can. I'm joining to learn from real fishing communities and understand how anglers actually organize trips, keep notes, find access routes and protect their spots. I'm also validating an Android fishing app idea, but I'm not here to sell anything. There is no app released, no download and no product to promote. I'll keep things respectful and will use one separate thread if the forum allows it, so I don't mix the app discussion with my introduction. Thanks for having me.