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Caught my first carp of the year this weekend after a winter in which I did next to no angling for one reason or another. The weekend started well with 3 carp and a tench. Another bite resulted in a loss on Saturday morning but it was enough to have me blagging another night. Unfortunately, despite that warm sunshine, that cold easterly had them backing off and without a move on the cards I was stuck camping for the night. Still, a lovely weekend and I just hope I can get back out at some point soon. Here's the best of them. The linear is I think an original, typified by the little melted heart-shaped tail that most of the OG's in this water have. The common is I think a stock fish but no less welcome for it. Clearly one on it's way to being a real biggun.

Ha! I’ve been lurking and not contributing for some time now but a new PB is worth sharing….. I’m still on a session at Dinton’s Black Swan as I type this………Arrived at dawn yesterday. Clearly lots of fish still in the big ‘winter bay’ despite being on the back of a big SW. Lapped a couple of times, debating where to plot up with 3 nights ahead. Decided to keep it simple and put my rigs where the fish were actually showing rather than where they might end up…… Cast 3 singles out for drops amongst the emergent Eel grass which they seem so attracted to. Decided to get my head down for a couple of hours-I’d set off at 2.45am. An hour or so later I’m woken by a screaming Neville. Lifted in to a very heavy feeling fish which was dogged rather than spectacular. Worryingly, it hit the surface about 25 yds out and started shaking its head at me as I led it in; with braided mainline I’m always anxious when they do this with no water depth to cushion the lunges. Fortune was on my side and I netted a Common that got larger with every yard I gained. With the assistance of 3 other anglers we weighed and photographed an amazing creature of 53lb 2oz! Blown away!

Done a mid double common yesterday and just done this one at 17lb 12oz, it's hammering down and my hood wouldn't stay up, it all went wrong 🤣 Anyway it will be my last night tonight, hopefully get another cat 👍

21lb 12oz common 👍

Off the mark with this mirror at 19lb 8oz, not the species I'm after but I will take it 🤣 nailed it on a size 2 wide gape double 20mm boilie 🤣

Went on a quest for my first catfish this weekend, I lost one the other night as it was steaming towards a bridge, I was felt a bit defeated lol. Anyway I carried on and managed this beauty this morning at 29lb 8oz 👍buzzing 👍👍 Anyway I feel like I got the bug for these things so getting some catfish rods ordered, I now want a bigger one but have learnt I need stronger gear lol. I'm wet and covered in slime, so packing up and going home 🤣 mission complete 👌

50 belachan pop ups and 50 maple pop ups rolled onto 10mm cork balls. the belachan is evil smelling… the wife wouldn’t let me air dry them in the house!

Couple nice ones on caught on solid bags, always good for a quick bite.

Where I live there is an abundance of disused ,deep quarries,some are barren,and fishless...but a few have some surprises and have held carp and other species for many years .. When you fish these places,you have to think like a miner ,and find the galleries, which are mined ,and step down into unimaginable depths ,find the galleries and you find the patrol routes.. The weather was awful ,I had a river running under my shelter,at one point ,wind,rain,hail,thunder,lightning..and a big fear of falling branches made it interesting..,then all the mica,clay residue gets everywhere...anyway .. I found the marginal gallery, and fished very simple running lead tactics ,using the Ressi specials I use a lot..After the storm had passed ,I seen kingfisher,heard deer rutting,and woodpeckers, nature at its best ..

Great stuff lads .... good to see you out catching. I'm off to churn pool at the end of the month with a few mates . First time fishing in a long time ! Hopefully have something to write about.

Just had an e-mail from a mate who has booked some trips on a new carp mecca water: We are pleased to announce that Britain's first indoor Carp arena will open in the autumn and we are taking bookings now.The venue is known as Mary’s Pool and the fish were stocked last week and are being fed with high protein boilies and pellets. The facilities will include a fully licenced cafe that offers deliveries and every swim has a cabin with an en-suite toilet and shower, kettle, microwave, air fryer, fridge, toaster and small oven with hobs. Other benefits include rear of swim parking with free EV charging points The 5 acre lake is inside a converted warehouse that has been insulated with thick layers of high efficiency rigid foam and is near Farkham Hall. The high-tech venue circulates the water using a bank of 150 metre ground source heat pumps incorporating oxygen saturation technology and will be kept at an optimum 24 Celsius, which will promote rapid growth of the fish. There will be 100,000 LED lights in the roof that are programmed to give 12 hours of day and night and are graduated to simulate dawn and dusk. There are also 200 wall mounted heated industrial wall fans that are strategically positioned to create an on-shore breeze and the strength of the fans are on a cyclic 360 degree power system so that it will encourage the fish to permanently move and so all swims should contain fish on a regular basis. The roof contains over 2,000 ten metre solar panels and the venue will be carbon neutral. “I’m incredibly excited about this new venture” enthused the owner, Rupert Chudley-Smith. “Thirty specially chosen fish with high growth potential are already in their new environment. They are all triploid fish as the eggs were subjected to heat and pressure shock on fertilisation and as such, they will not have the annual stress of spawning and associated weight loss. There are 10 forties and the rest are high 30’s and have a potential growth rate over 8lb a year and we are looking at UK 80’s within 5 years.” I know it won’t be cheap but after spending £400 on a winter ticket only using it 3 times and blanking every trip due to the weather, I’m sorely tempted.

Almost a rod shot just had to set them up Went rag worm drowning this morning glorious weather 😎

Having just got back from a blank night on the park lake, the boy and I were unloading the car when a neighbour came up and asked me if I was interested in rehoming some “old” reels and bits that she was about to chuck in the bin. I said I’d have a look, after all, I could clean them up and find a home for them (or bin them myself!) so she soon returned with 3 diawa windcasts z5000 reels, spare spools still in their boxes! One has a bent handle, but they are otherwise pristine! she also gave me half a dozen fox single sticks and a pair of what appear to be fox micron M shaped (they’re copies) alarms! She wouldn’t accept a penny for them either. the alarms will be checked that they work and I’ll gift them on to a youngster in need of a first set, the single sticks have been snaffled by the boy and the reels already have a home on my spare carp rods… just need to repair the 3rd. anyone know much about the windcasts? They seem lovely reels from what I can see.

Agree. The proper ones are the nuts. Half the price of tackle brands, ten times as tough, and carpy as Terry Hearns nut sack.

the boys rods out, his first night done and dusted, he missed a drop back at 6am, no other action

enjoying a brew on the park lake watching the water. Alas a blank, but was a lovely dawn

I've got the kits because I have to with the club rules, do I use it NO, I might treat a bad hook hold coz I know the damage is fresh but as for treating existing wounds I don't really believe in it TBH you could easily be making it worse, trapping harmful bacteria in - we're not vets IMO Tin hat on - bring it 😂

I can relate to this massively. It was an 80 acre nature reserve with a very low stock that did it for me. I was nowhere near ready for it and blanked for a whole season before catching one right at the end (to this day one of the best I've ever caught). What a learning curve it was. The buzz from catching that carp set me on a path that I could never go back from. There are very few blanks that wind me up. As long as I learn something (i.e. literally anything) about the lake or its inhabitants on a blank, I'm not bothered. Every now I'll have a blank session where nothing is learned and that's the only time I'll be a little peeved. Best thing for that is get back down there and bag one!

Finally broke my record long blank and hooked and landed a lovely 12lb common today, while playing it i kept it up in the top layers and it looked a right belter, thought it may go 16lb plus but seems not, good to get a fish, no pic as no one to do the honours

I like this, when the fish have seen it all I find myself tying a standard hair with a bottom bait and tiny funnel web of crumb- simple as it gets, and works 👍 No baiting just a trap in the zone.

Very quiet on the fish front but the weather is lovely, really does feel like spring, all the birds are chirping. Good to be out 👌

Easily done, I must take 12 big leads and a few small ones and backleads with me, then there's at least 20 more in the car. I wont admit how many I've got at home - can barely move the box lol

I use propolis occasionally. Bit like Kev though, just let them heal themselves unless it’s really bad. I also have some korda stuff (very old though) in the side pocket of the mat. as said. Best course of action if you want to/have to use something is any of the anti septic stuff followed by propolis on the body. But tbh there’s every realistic chance that the fishes goes and rubs the propolis off once released anyway! Or thrashes on the mat or sling and knocks it off beforehand. if a fish is obvs suffering from some infection from a wound it’s best to give it a salt bath and quarantine it, any treatment an angler puts on won’t be of much use!

Finally took the plunge and ordered a Trakker Tempest RS 150 bivvy and the skull cap to go with it. I've got an older trakker with the pram hood style and it's such a faff to get it up and down. I have preferred to use a brolly system for years but it was a bit cramped and it did suffer from condensation if I had to have it zipped up.

See I don't get this. I tend to fish harder lakes with very limited time so blanking is part of the furniture. Sure it can be frustrating, but it doesn't break me and I never question my tactics (unless I see something that tells my I'm using the wrong tactics which in itself I would consider to be a result.... critical info learned innit). Ultimately, I'm not going to get the buzz I seek from easy, heavily stocked waters. If that means I have to go for longer periods without catching then so be it. I'd rather spend my one night a month doing everything in my power to find and catch something special than queuing up on a day ticket to catch a fish that comes out once a week. Again - I don't get this. In years gone I've retreated to easier waters when it looks like a blank year is on the cards but the result is always the same - catch a few doubles or twenties that mean very little to me..... feel like I've wasted precious time that could've been spent chasing the proper ones...... go back to the hard lake and stay there until I've achieved what I wanted to achieve. Basically a pointless exercise. Of course it's all personal choice but for me: the harder the task, the bigger the buzz when it's job done. That's in all walks of life imo - not just fishing.

Check out temu, I just picked up this bad boy for £22.96 I've been waiting for the right deal on this for ages and they knocked off £11 for me. And it's got lid ice packs.

Look at the tail on this rocket ,I had a hellish battle with it in about 30ft of water I reckon ,it was jet propelled.. I also had 12 others ,similar to my first pic ,but didn't want put em all up., just lovely to be out in raw nature ..

Well I picked a good day to log back in . Congratulations on the pb hell of a common that mate 😎 And thanks for the welcome back lads 😎

Hoping @Pete Springate's Guns gives us the low down on his latest result!

Mate, When I was in my teens we had a Shetland Sheepdog, Sheltie, called Little Mo. I used to take her fishing, she loved it. Very well behaved, and despite being free roaming, she would sit still for hours watching. I still think of her. I think that we remember all our animals, not as pets, but more as friends. Rats? I got presented with this one morning: Exactly, she does try to bury it as well, although I think that is 'prey drive'. A predator does not necessarily want to give away the fact they are about.

It wasn't until I encountered rats all over the swim, on the bivvy, everywhere - on a day ticket complex that I decided I needed a new dog if I was to enjoy fishing again. I didn't feel ready for a new dog (6 months) but my daughter found one and put a deposit down in the hope I'd like it too - it was a great move looking back. Still think of George daily but a new dog does help, we are supposed to have them at the end of the day being dog people - there's one out there waiting for you to give it a great life, that's how I see it anyway. ❤️👍

Sky is still fishing with me, and still can't be let off lead. Today's extra dietary items were a goose egg she found in the margins and a dead thing that she found as I took her for a pee. She won't pee or more in the swim, has to go for a short walk.

Managed to sneak 3 nights in for this week to test my new rods 😏🤣 Had this one around 2am this morning at 29lb, caught it on a piece of chorizo sausage topped with half a pink wafter 👍 the rods are like broom sticks to cast with, but have got a decent back bone, enough to put pressure on the fish and turn it when its heading towards snags 👍

For me it's everything, not only weight but speed of set up ,drying off kit at home ,carrying it in my now much smaller car ,I have to know where it all is ,so I can just add bait ,bit of food ...and bye bye wife til tomorrow... Here's a pic of myself fishing a mega water ,just tarping it under a 58 pattern poncho tarp ,which make great barrow covers n all ,walked over a mile ,over big stone walls etc

Thin it right down and be clever and carpy OR buy a power barrow and take more 🤣🙃

As for recent purchases, after going back and forth over deciding on a new bank side home i have final settled on a Trakker RS Brolly, Skull Cap and Infil, will be out on a couple of weeks time but have had it up in the yard looks the business

On minimal kit, I take the same basic kit whether I’m doing 1 night or 4, more bait and more food but everything else is the same pretty much. I could probably cut down further, and likely will this year for a new water with long barrow journeys. However all my kit fits on the barrow so nothing on my back. Under Barrow bag with spares and other things like sack, tripod, etc. bedchair on top, rucksack, food bag and unhooking mat on top, rods on top of it all. I’m like a few of you, I have loads of bits of end tackle I never use but just keep in the tackle box because of the dreaded “you never know” that hasn’t happened for 5 years+ 😂 need to sort that out this year!

I'm starting to like my non essential car bag idea tbh, i could leave my net, unhooking mat, scales, camera,rods & reels pretty much everything I don't need to not catch fish, might as well just park up and sleep in my bivvy, game changer 😂

Nah, you're doing it all wrong fella. The correct way is to clear it all out in spring, then slowly add it all back in, plus more, over the course of the year 😅 Yeah it's tricky to justify hauling stainless around nowadays with such decent ali, carbon and titanium stuff available. The obvious answer is your mrs buys you some new stuff 😅

I was in that swim in 2007 when the big floods hit. Me and my mate were chilling having had a couple when the most intense rain arrived. We were bivvied up maybe 15 yards back from the water and in the space of an hour the water had come up so much it reached the bivvies. We had to pull everything out of the ground and dump it in the van to get out. Very nearly got flooded in. It was crazy. Sorry to hear you've had problems. Don't let it ruin your session. Enjoy yourself 👍👍👍

Thanks very much for all your answers , and I must change my fish care procedures . I started to read Yonny's 1st. post , and I thought " he's going to mention sealing nasties in " - oh poo I've been using MCP's Propolis . So reading all the replies I'll go back to my Gardner Intensive Care which is a few years old . I've also got some Kryston Klinik which is even older . Also I'll stick to treating just wounds where the flesh is broken and there is bleeding . 😃

For me IF the water quality is bang on they'll need no help healing. I was keeping an eye on a mates house when he went away on hols, during the week his biggest koi managed to trap itself between layers of the surface netting which I didn't see obvs. By the time he returned it was in a very bad way, fins and tail gone and skin red raw. He released it and it sank down not doing much at all. After a few days it was completely covered in white mould and he thought should I kill it for kindness, well he didn't and after a week or so the white slime vanished and the fish looked great with new fins growing and everything. It's still going now, maybe 10 years later. No treatments were given but the water quality was obviously very good.

Me too. Yes and no. The use of propolis originates in koi keeping. It creates a barrier on the wound to lock out any nasties. This is fine when a koi is living in a posh pond with clean, filtered water with controlled salinity. Not so fine for a carp lake - you risk locking nasties IN to any wound. Best bet is to use a proper antibacterial/antifungal treatment (like the Gardner stuff), and then use propolis afterwards👍

Hi mate I use Gardner intensive care for hookholds, it's just a spray, just be mindful it sorta dyes your fingers blue 👍🤣 I use prolopis for damage/wounds, it creates like a scab over the wound. I think prolopis if sealed properly has a shelf life of around 10 years 👍

You can get various devices. I got some pest plug in things from Amazon for this winter. I still left the poison traps out but only had one dead. Previous years it has been 6+! I do back on to fields though so have a steady population nearby. the plug in pest thing seems to have worked for all manner of creepy crawlies and mice. Worth a look

The area I cleaned out and created and started prebaiting 2 weeks ago and now fishable.

Been saying to my mate that my rucksack weighs silly amounts, I just don't see where the weight is coming from tbh it must weigh 30-40k Anyway into the fishing store room goes the rucksack, everything is now packed into the barrow luggage - hopefully this will be a game changer for me. 🤞

Still getting the odd frost til last week ..glad of my TB long top discontinued

Ha ha, the kids call it a victory flag I believe 😎😱😅