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Imo they are cheating but I have a couple mates with one and I've also seen an entire lake mapped out with one. What do you want to know? Mapping is one thing but fish finding fish really is taking the wee wee. Carp fishing is suppose to be hard - that's why it's so rewarding when we catch. I think replacing watercraft with sonar is blasphemy of the highest order lol. But hey - that's just me. I couldn't live with myself if I caught a special'n that I found with a fish finder that proper anglers had been chasing for months or years.

Fantastic week away guys 😎 ... with great friends. Lake was absolutely stunning as was the surrounding country side . Epic 20 hr drive on the way there in 40 degrees heat , we were in convoy & the lead car decided on a site seeing trip around Paris at rush hour 😂 . Was 8th out the draw so peg choice was limited for me , but opted for the far end of the lake where the river came in. first half of the week was tough going with temps not dropping below 38 . Didn't manage anything of any reel size lost four bigguns in the lillies. Landed a good number of 20lb + fish with this common bring my best catch of the week .

There was ample room for a rod on the jetty. I suppose we’ll never know his thinking behind his set up. At least he had the gonads to show his loss and have it on film.

The lowest row of scales look different and the scale count and pattern just above the ventral fin is different, so in my opinion they are different fish. I would love to see those fish in daylight side on pics, you'd only get accurate identification that way.

lol, i just dont see the benefit of them if you have daylight on your side, Its the extra gratification you get from catching them doing all the hardwork first. Im getting a lot better at feeling the drop in terms of guessing the depth, that will probably stop me using the deeper in the winter as well. The deeper makes a huge amount of noise when it hits the water, a couple casts of that and im sure you will clear your swim, also it drifts like mad due to the size so at night...in winter when it tends to be pretty windy....wasnt great.

I have one, Brought it as i only fish nights after/before work. I used it over December/jan to work out the depth of spots (because it was pitch black when i arrived) and i would often flick out zigs during the night. Opinion: Meh, Served its purpose of giving me the depth of the lake bed when arriving in pitch black, never used it to find fish so i cant comment on it being any good, have used it probably 3 or 4 times since January during daylight, mainly to confirm that my marker skills were accuate... in terms of feature finding....i dont think i have found a lake interesting enough to find drop offs etc. I will probably start another lake in december, It will come out of the bag again for a few sessions, It will go back in the bag soon as i can see in the evening..... Save £200.

We all are stevo 😎 .... he was still blanking on Wednesday evening, I had an ealier walk for dinner on the Wednesday & stopped off in his swim for a chat . One of the best things about socials is bouncing ideas off each other, he applied what we spoke about that evening & had a 30 + & a 47 lb er a few hours later . Then followed it up with the biggest fish of the trip with that 53 lber. Awesome stuff mate 😎

I don't like them personally, I can't help but think the further we move into relying on tech the further we move away from natural ability, saying that. If I was already set up fishing and someone turned up next to me with the intent on markering, I think I'd rather they use a deeper. Everybody to their own, if you choose to climb or take the lift up Everest, who am I to argue.

If you have plenty of time use a marker ,if time is limited use a sonar, in dont hold faith in the fish finding ability's but for depth excellent , you will still need a marker though after to tell you what the make up of the bottom is . Just another tool to help you fish better.

In your opinion, are these the same fish?

Yea I've always thought the same about bait boats and casting/baiting up Think I'll save my £200 and put it towards some new rods Spoz if i ever got to the point where I couldn't be bothered to get the marker rod or have a walk round for a few hours it's time to flog up and by some golf clubs

I discipline myself to turn the Fish Finder off , although the fish icons aren't to scale as I understand ; I did turn the Fish Finder on one Winter session which saved me casting into the margins as the fish were shown as grouped up in the middle of the lake . Also in the Winter when the lake was empty I very quickly mapped a small lake . Occassionally I may make a single cast well past where I intend to fish to quickly check out the lake bottom , and yes I grimace at the splash , but then is it as bad as 2 x 3ozs leads with maybe pva bags plummeting into the water ? . 🙂

I guess it’s down to what people are comfortable with, and obviously the venue rules. I have seen anglers pulled because they are too far from their rods, which was nowhere near as far as Martin was, and also fished waters where you are allowed to be a “sensible” distance from your rods, even a couple of swims away? If fishing completely open water, no snags or weed, apart from the fish possibly going through another angler’s lines, probably no need for panic. Obviously snag fishing, an angler should be on the rods instantly, weed fishing, or fishing close to weed also needs a bit of thought. As we all know there are lots of types of weed, some aren’t too bad for coaxing out a fish that’s got it’s head and body into it, where as other types can be a blooming nightmare, and there is definitely the potential for mouth or fin and body damage. Fish can get tethered in weed too. When we lose a fish through any situation, we like to think that the hook became dislodged and the fish got it’s freedom, often though, the reality is the fish has sustained quite bad mouth damage as a result of attempts to get it clear of the weed. So, the type of weed and situation, needs to be taken into account when setting up. Martin obviously felt that what he was doing was safe, especially as it ended up on film. Personally, I’m still not convinced it was right? I honestly can’t understand why he didn’t leave the net by the rod either, there was more than enough room on parts of the jetty to leave the net, so unless it was a snide rod, why didn’t he? Regarding the jetty/stage, building these properly is a lot of work, so why not make them big enough for a bivvy or brolley, many waters have the bigger ones, and cover can still be achieved by surrounding reeds etc? Usually the longer narrow stages are built for matches or day only fishing. Also, at what length should we say the jetty/stage is too long for fishing bivvy’d up? What I mean is, what if the jetty in the video was twice as long, would it still be ok to have a bivvy one end and a lone rod the other? Personally, after watching the vid again, I think it’s odd that the net was not left close to the rod, and I do think he was too far from the rod. Just an observation and opinion though. 😉

Looked like the heat was a killer. Made up for Oz tho😎 Go get em in spring,mate. 🎣

Looks like you had a good time over Phil.

Two Different fish...Both beautiful fish

I have a local water that the majority of swims are on jetties, and you have to bivvy back off them. If the water level is up, you could be wading through a couple of yards of soft mud before reaching the jetty. I have seen anglers sit waiting on the jetties, and the disturbance they create. Every movement, every bottom roll as they shift on the chair, all create waves, vibration and noise. Brackens has a swim called Boards, I have blanked when bivvied up in there, it is big enough for a bivvy. Back to the video, awesome. Long distance from the rods? I think my comments above sum that up. We are commenting about him bivvying up, and his 2/3 hours, but a simple question has been missed. Is he sleeping with his rod out? Or is he casting at first light? If casting at first light then he is not sleeping, but sitting where he creates least disturbance.

Something you definitely know about mate 😄 Different fish Gaz .... Congrats on the capture .

Yeah same rig, supple braid hooklink, size 8 curve in a solid pva bag.

Well in chilli

Definitely same genes

Twins for sure but not identical twins lol.

They're very similar but one has a mouth that is far more over-slung than the other and the lower lateral lines look very different. One is more chesty than the other and one has an area free from scaling above the anal fin.

Both exactly the same weight, I know there's a few fully''s in there, I took it as being the same fish but the more I look the more I question.

Imo no. Quite a tricky one tbf.

Already booked back on in March mate 🎣 , the lake is pre Napoleon & you can feel the History in the air amazing place to wet a line 😎

The place looked awesome in Nige's vids @chillfactor. Glad you enjoyed it mate. I've done that too. Not fun lol.

I have to say, that human error or not...… If I have a bad experience with a company, I tend not to use them unless I really have to... Over time and the odd bad experience I've whittled it down to a handful of places that I buy from, even if some of them are a couple of quid dearer on some things...…. I don't mind if it's a good reliable service... Hate waiting for deliveries that don't arrive on time...….. Good to know they sorted it fella. 🙂

Big fan of the Jelewyre too, but since I discovered the ESP tungsten loaded I've just gone with it for the last few seasons (semi stiff version) for boom sections on HSR with the coating entact, and also basic combi, "stripped back coating" rigs for bottom baits..... I do find that coated braids can make me a bit lazy and I'm never entirely satisfied with the braid inner and usually wiggle it about a little to loosen the weave and make it more supple...… I say lazy, simply because , with combi rigs I think you can achieve a better rig by using two separate materials, one being a designated braid... For braid sections or short braided rigs for bags, I've been using Korda supernatural for a few seasons now. It's very supple yet thick enough so that it doesn't feel like a razor blade when taught, like some of the on-line cheaper dynema braids..... The suppleness of the Super natural, imo, brings the weight of the hook into play a bit more, I just think the hook will drop down easier with a real supple braid..... I bought some RM Tech chod material a while back, just to have a play and I've been quite impressed, although I use it doubled up.... It's easy to shape and holds it's shape pretty well too...…

Don't see the problem myself, Martin lost a fish in the weed ( who hasn't ? ) He's fishing effectively and in my mind safely one rod in the right spot where the fish are also.... He's not right up against the weed he's fishing the margin slope , by the sound of things those fish know if their being fished for so his approach is correct......

Well humans make mistakes mate, I used them again recently via eBay (bought a nash bp6 reel) said it would be a week and turned up two days later, it funny how one company can give such varying levels of service

There’s possibly another explanation why he was so far from the rod, and running with a landing net. Perhaps he did have other rods out, and the single was a snide! Lol!

it was thru watching Jules that i got into the habit of using two colours, then you know that both pieces have come off

I did a write-up of a session on Stanwick in the catch reports last April but it's not what you guys want to read - it was a nightmare, stuff getting nicked, couldn't get on fish..... it's never normally that bad so I won't post it as it'll put you off!