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I pulled this from a group I follow...………. Just brilliant..

Birthdays, weddings, funerals..... friends and family...... always getting in the bloomin' way!!! So inconsiderate aint they?!

It's pretty much done for this year I think mate. Got my missus 40th and my daughter's 10th birthdays next month and then Xmas so need to start smashing the overtime. Probably do a reccy over the winter to work out a plan for next spring.

I have been checked once. It was April 1st a few years ago, which I hadn't realised, and it was the only day in more than 20 years I hadn't actually bought one!!!!!! I literally rang up an bought one in front of the EA bailiff, and I got a letter a few weeks later saying that they checked my history and saw that I'd always been licensed, therefore no further action was to be taken. Phew!

I have been fishing since i was 5, Im now 31, I have never had my rod licence checked. I always buy it, because you know that i will be having the session of my life when they turn up and kick me off!

Half day up braxted back lake, 1 tench, 1 hook pull and the weirdest take I have ever seen but after the hook pull was to hesitant 😕 and it didn’t turn into a full blown run....better luck next time

Was up at 5 yesterday for a 6am start......... in Work 😩😩😩😩 Around 9 a small chlorine leak sees our job stopped. By 9.30 told to get yaself home no more work being done today (Health and Safety really is your friend..... sometimes) 😆😆 oh and your payed till 6pm...... RESULT 😎 Phone call to matey boy asking if he fancied a drive and a couple of hrs later we’re on our club stretch of the Severn in Atcham. It’s 2pm by now so 2 rods flicked out kettle on and time to top my tan up as it was a lovely day with clear blue skies....... not ideal conditions but after an early rise for a full day in Work to be sat by the river still on pay i wasn’t going to grumble 😆😆😎 Unfortunately nothing of any size graced my net but a switch to lob worm on one rod seen me catch a steady supply of perch and bream🙄 a small chub on the pellet rod. Fished till dark ended up with 20odd fish and had a good day with a mate. And I still managed to get home and showered in time for MOTD ..... happy days 😬

I suffered a couple of hook pulls a little while back on the same sesh, really annoying...…. I decided to add a bit more weight to the pop up rigs I was using..... Next two enquiries on that rod resulted in 2 tench hooked and landed. Not the carp I was hoping for, but I think the added weight helped the hook stick a little better...…… Bad luck mate, tricky little lake though, very pressured. If ever there was a case for fish feeding "on edge", then that place would be on the list. Just makes them feed a bit more carefully, bit more riggy imo……. The way I see it, you've caught from there already, which takes a bit of doing. And you are getting picked up now and then..... Compare this to when you started on there, you've come miles mate...…. Inches away from something really special imo… 😊

It's the only hook I use for that reason. I believe Tom dove had something to do with the development of it. The krank choddy is the same, near perfect hook holds. I've only had 1hook pull in the past few years, every other bite has put a fish in the net.

LOL , I think Ginger991 is 31 and a stab in the dark here , Nicks 48. As regards to being checked whilst Carp fishing I think the last time was probably in the 90s , but have been checked several times during matches on match/pleasure commercial fisheries . The higher the volume of people on a venue regularly ,the more chance of being checked.

It's a great tactic, especially where you only get challenged by the public. Bit different if landowners or staff turn up!! Not going to lie, I used it on a guy who I defo thought was an angler when I came ashore the other day. I mean the two big camo buckets didn't help my case though! But a saw, loppers, etc all fit with a "doing some vegetation clearance work" story, which is true, you're cutting a swim out!!

who owns it? Some official looking clothing, a boat and a few dip nets or something of the sort might be able to see you get away with at least one boat trip!! "just doing a weed and invert survey" being the get out of trouble card to passers-by. If you can do this then repeating the surveys every 3 months to build a base of data means you can sometimes make those trips out on a boat. I'd suggest finding the most difficult to access place you can, make it comfy for yourself, get kit in, leave it there.

That's what i use, although the pens aren't that effective imo. Specialist Sharpened Hooks do an Anti Rust Compound which is much better.

You still need to sharpen them from the sides (imo) to get them looking good from above, but the machine sharpening from above is very, very consistent. In fact I couldn't find one in the pack that didn't look almost perfect from the side! They are exactly the same hooks as their standard ones, the only difference is this machine sharpening process, therefore all the extra couple of quid saves you is the time it takes to sharpen them yourself. I'm more than happy with that as after years and years of sharpening, I just cannot be bothered any more. I'd rather buy sharpened hooks and finish them off myself in less than a minute than spend 5 minutes getting a standard hook sharpened perfectly myself. I really should have taken photos of the hook holds I'm getting on the Kranks.... they're literally text-book perfect hook holds!

its the yobbo mentality bud, have you seen the kid driving a BMW but wont pay for insurance or pass his test? same family Welcome to the forum btw

some really nice stretches up around shrewsbury, must start paying some attention up there soon

it amazes my how many guys don't do it. I've shown a few of my mates the results of a few strokes a file will make and they still just tie up with hooks straight out of the pack! You can lead a horse to water!

I've been doing it for the last 3 years & will select only the sharpest one's from the pack to begin with. Bin the blunt one's. Thanks for your feedback., nice to hear someone else's opinion. I was only going on what I'd been told. They are a few quid dearer but if it gives me an edge, then I'm on it.

They're not chemically sharpened buddy, they are mechanically sharpened. They've designed a machine that orientates and grinds the point. See my comments in my most recent catch report, I'm reasonable impressed with them. They still need work with the file out of the packet imo, but they are very sharp compared to 'normal' hooks. I've been sharpening hooks for years and it amazes my how many guys don't do it. In an age where there are hardly any real edges left, hook sharpening is a HUGE edge!! Anyone that doesn't realise a sharper hook will catch more fish should give up fishing imo!!!!

Fishmeals for me too, all year...……. anything 7-8c or above and you will be ok...…. IMO the winter/summer bait switch is old school, there are much better, more soluble ingredients in todays fishmeal baits...… As has been pointed out before on here, it's unlikely that their nutritional requirements will change, fish meals give them what they need, although as the water starts to cool and their metabolism slows down, they won't be needing as much of it..... Besides, if you are going next week, they should be well on the munch still...…… Come Feb', we'll be begging for 8c water temps....

I dont switch , ill be using Fishmeal this winter as in previous winters .

This would seem to be you best option , if you dont want to get caught tt

I don't mind the gimp suit but I wouldn't be seen dead dressed as a dog. Early mornings not really practical with work. There is an area of woodland on one side of the bigger lake that we are gonna try and find a route through and make our own swim. There's also another lake but it's surrounded by thick reeds and just looks a mission to be able to make an area that's fishable.

Crack of dawn buddy ? You dressed as a dog with a lead on..... Your mate as the dog walker......🤣.

Need a new angle I think. We got seen by a passer by who called security . Luckily the security were not the brightest and were checking the wrong lake . Walked straight past them with the scopes tucked away in the rucksack on the way back to the car.

That made me laugh mate...…. My mates dad was an electrician, we were always nicking roles of leccy tape from his shed, he used to go nuts about it...…. Our kit was so bashed up, we would use it to tape our reels to the butts of our rods and tape the occasional eye back on the blank...… All different colours too, lol.....Whatever we could get our hands on from his shed...…. I can still picture us two denying this petty theft, his dad fuming and us two standing there, rods in hand, with different coloured leccy tape up and down the rods for our eyes and reels, ready for a session of minnow bashing...…...🤣.

I feel like there’s been an increase in carpyness recently. I think we should take it back to the old school, dodgy banksticks, makeshift brollies, etc. That’ll get rid of the instant carper. I can see the next daiwa reel now, comes with taped on handle knobs and a cracked reel seat as standard.

I see what your saying but if your child didn’t like angling chuck the stuff on eBay and take a £40 loss. I was just trying to compare angling to other hobbies/pastimes mate. A local commercial will charge around £8 for a full days ticket,I wouldn’t have a clue how much a round of golf is but I’m thinking around the £20/25 mark for a few hrs (any golfers on here who can put me straight) Footy is even worse...... £45 for 90mins 🙄🙄 My point being after an initial outlay basic angling for a dad and lad is cheap as chips.

The trouble with casting in a high arch, for the spomb to open (it needs to land nose first), is that any sort of cross wind will have you dumping bait all over the shop. Before the dot spod came out, I would use a traditional spod if any wind as I am a bit ocd with making sure my baiting is spot on. With the dot spod, you can cast it and hit the clip the same as your ‘fishing’ rods. If you clip up to the distance with a spomb, you have to allow extra yardage because of the need to hit the clip so high up, allowing that nose dive. For me, the dot spod has answered all my questions.

Don't know what your on about mate 😂