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Every year since I started "proper" carp fishing i have always had the same week off to fish. The week in question is the week of the autumn equinox. I'm pretty sure it's when the daylight hours are the same as the hours of darkness, a signal to not just the carp but nature in general to get ready for the coming winter. This occurs around the 22nd or 23rd of September. I read an article by dave lane about the week in question and recall he stated it was a big fish week. I recall in my own fishing that the week in question was most definitely a big fish week. On the odd occasion I've been lucky enough to bank one myself but nearly always big fish were caught around the lake I've been on at the time and most definitely the carp mags are normally full of big fish captures around that week. Now I've heard of the harvest moon and one of my mates calls it the 40's moon. It's a fascinating subject but one I'm sure we may never understand.

If I haven't shaved for a while I always get a bite. If I'm clean shaven I struggle . That's good enough for me lol

I kept my wife happy, so we split up...😖😱 Don't leave any unpackaged PVA in oily pellets, it will slow down the dissolve times, and if left long term, can actually prevent dissolving totally. Obviously keep your PVA dry, so my advice is always keep it in sealable plastic bags or containers. You may find different manufacturers or brands of PVA have different dissolve times.

Thanks for your reply mate I am also going to bin it as it's rubbish

Best float's i've used I made. Using balsa allows for a very short float with silly amounts of buoyancy which helps reduce tangles. Very easy to make and cost around 80p per float.

MCF changed their swivels over to plastic poo eyelets a long time ago and I went off using them because the braid used to eat through the plastic. Since they changed back, it's all I use. One other thing to mention, get the korda marker stems, their absolutely brilliant at reducing tangles.

Spod rod without question, I've yet to find a marker rod that will cast and work properly at distance. The further you cast the more buoyant (bigger) float you'll need to successfully pop up, which inherently means more weight from the float and lead. You may not be casting the distance at the moment but what if you fancy fishing a bigger lake in the future? I certainly wouldn't want to feel under gunned. Tie a 6" loop in the end of your marker braid to make changing between a marker float or spomb/spod a doddle. 2.75 to 3lb tc marker rods just don't cut it with me. Plus, don't neglect the size of reel. My normal fishing reels are 5000's but my marker/spomb reel is a 5500. Anything I can do to get that extra distance will make everything else that little easier. The best floats I've use are from a company called MCF, I use a number of their floats but the Thunderbirds really are the best all round marker float.

Had to swap my day off this week so out tomorrow. New rods getting their first trip out. How I'd love to christen one.........

I'm not out fishing until a week Friday, I've got too much to catch up with at home, building wardrobes, hanging doors and decorating, that sort of thing. Typical because it's looking great out there at the moment (sods law) Long Term I've decided to do the winter where I am, a couple of perch fishermen and mentioned in passing the amount of carp they saw last winter and not a single carp fisherman. The cray activity would of died off, the weed won't be such a problem and the fish aren't really fished for during the colder months. It's not an easy water by any stretch during the best timed but if I can just get one or two I'll be happy. Anyway, as for now I'm just going to keep plugging away week in and week out, there are some lovely fish to be had and my spirits are high

I don't read that much into it tbh. purely down to not getting out enough... I think you need to be a real bank rat, ie, do enough nights outside the moon phases to be able to compare against them...…. But who am I to disagree with Dave Lane?...… I was under the thinking that a full moon was good for commons, and a new moon was good all round, must have picked that up from an article somewhere...…. Funny thing is , I always buy a callender that shows the moon phases even though I don't really plan anything around them. If I'm on my way out to fish and look at the callender and see that it's on, or near a new moon, it's a bonus, and a little confidence boost. If the moon phase is nothing special, I just take no notice lol...🙂

I fished a water where putting bait out by catapult or spod was banned, every free bait had to be put in by PVA mesh, bags or stringers. A number of times I was casting PVA's full for 30 minutes or so to get bait around my hookbait, be that stringers etc, and a number of times I had takes within minutes of the last cast of my hookbait and stringer. Stringers as large as 30 boilies! Century AK47's had a 2.75 tc I think, two tip sections, a 1.75 and a 2.75 that fitted one butt. Quite an old design now! With heavy bags you may find a gentle lob is better than a full on whack cast, and as said it may pay to drop down a lead size or two.

A 3lb tc should be ok, the bags will take a bit of practice at first but once you get used to tying them their a doddle.

If I have it right, when the sun and the moon are both on the same side of the earth the gravitational pull from both is at its strongest and then you get a spring tide, which is the highest tide, when they are opposite each other you get a neap tides the lowest ( I think it's correct) ...... there are a lot of marine creatures that the moon affects at breading and feeding time, so it could be having a effect on something else in the lake rather than the fish themselves, something could be hatching or breading that the carp are eating.......

Interesting that this weekend I saw nothing on each morning despite getting up at 4 am every day. There was no feeding activity at all until the hot conditions subsided. Then when the winds got up and rain started falling they started showing like clockwork. Just goes to show that no matter what we think of bite times sometimes it just won't happen if conditions aint right.