Leaderboard

So before the v hit apart from a flask and the rods and net this is what I carried. going to thin it down again whilst I have the chance I now have the wychwood x bars so I don’t need to buy a pod for certain swims on a couple of lakes But I can change to what ever I need to at a drop of a hat bag is a thinking anglers unhooking mat is the korum fast mat unused lol

Your thoughts are similar to mine, I think all this spare times making me overthink things and I’m giving the carp to much credit..

Green, brown black etc, I've got no problem using any dark colours. Never noticed any difference myself. I'm more worried about what the carp feel rather than see.

I think the main thing I like is for braid not to be a solid colour that way it should blend in better, unless it looks blatent in the margins I wouldn't worry I tested the esp camo sink link in the margins the other day dissapeared completely, I am colour blind though 😁😁😁

I'll give you 20 quid for the hand sanitiser lol

I’ve pretty much re-read my collection of Carp books so I’m looking for recommendations. I’ve not read any of Shelley’s and I certainly don’t expect a literary classic but are they worth a punt, his latest is still available I believe?

That one ☝🏼

I remember Yonny saying he just has everything in Brown . I thought , " well if Yonny says that , and that will save me money ! " - win , win ! . 😁

I have never 'worried' about hooklink colour. I put worried in inverted commas as although I often do use green or camouflaged hooklinks, it is down to my preference for the old Kryston hooklink materials which just happened to be available in those colours. Merlin is a black, white and green mixed colour braid, I use it straight or as part of a combi-link over weed, gravel or silt bottom. My coated braid is Mantis in dark grey or Snakebite in green. Again I use them over all bottoms. If camouflage gives you confidence, then go with it, a confident angler catches more than someone who does not believe in what they are doing. Going back to your hooklink braids, weed stems can be green or brown, even red tints on some. Gravel is never just brown, it can be yellow, grey, or brown. Even softer lakebeds like clay have different colours from lake to lake, area to area, county to county. Some are a blue grey, yellow brown, red, or red brown. About the only consistent is silt, it tends to be black, or dark brown.

Buy it if you feel it’s cheap enough and run over it with a marker if you feel you want to have a different colour

My kit looks like that... I took 1lb 3oz out of me lead bag t'other day

I’ll swap for 2 pairs of thinking anglers scissors lol

Honestly can’t say sorry I only bought it because it was his lol

Don’t forget Ritchie has 2 books

In fairness you're not the only bloke that's said that to me mate.

Have you read Micky gray's book "a merry old dance". The best book I've read by a mile. No airs no Grace's, told exactly how it was. I couldn't put it down. Read it in a weekend. Martin Clarke's book is ok (his first one I've read). Mike willmott Nigel sharps book, living the dream

Regarding his books, like you say they are ok. Something to do to while away the hours. But as a person I found him to be a top bloke if I'm honest. When the rumours were about that he would be going to dinton when I was fishing there I just thought we don't need anyone like him on the lake. Though one angler who i knew and knew him well said don't believe all you hear and find out for yourself. And I found an all round decent bloke. One night on the lake a few of us were having a social with him and he was openly admitting that in his past he was a right ****.. and because of that if anything bad was said about him he was guilty full stop, yet it was a lot of the time made up to smear him or get him banned. Stories made up by numbers of anglers on certain lakes all backing each other up, he didnt stand a chance because of his past. Though he treated dinton and its anglers with full on respect, so can't knock him at all. And the man is one hell of an angler. I can safely say I've met other "named" anglers on there who are a damn site worse than Shelley.

Yeah, read Forgotten Chapters and Savay. Pecky’s book is one I’d like but only seen it for silly money. I’ll look out for the ‘Chronicles’ series👍

Darrel Peck's book is great. He's brutally honest in it. A really good read. Savay by John Harry is a must-read. Forgotten Chapters by Fareham/friends is brilliant if you've not read it. The Chronicles series (Wraysbury, Horton and Savay) are good - especially the Wraysbury one. The History of Yateley books are also good if you like reading about the old Yateley kippers. Looking at your list I suspect you'll already have got some of these tbh.

I’ll give them a miss then! Any suggestions? I’ve read Hutchy, Maylin, Maddocks, Sharman, Hilton, Hearn, Lane, Holness, Gray, Penning, Warwick, Paisley, Dempsey, Yates, Crow and others I can’t remember!

The first one is half decent. It covers Wraysbury, the 'Brooke etc. The 2nd one is OK, it has the Mere chapter. The 3rd one is OK at best. The 2nd two make you cringe a bit. He talks like he's a victim but you can tell he's anything but. There are much better books out there IMO.

If you are still planning on fishing at st Ives, you will find the bivvy tramps books interesting if you haven't read them already 👍

Definition of Carpy.... paying a fortune for summat that cost pennies cos its painted green or cammo...🤣🤣🤣😜

😂 That's Lil Don Exotic. A mash up of Joe Exotic and Lil Donnie Trump Mugshot. If you haven't seen Tiger King on Netflix, I'd strongly recommend it - very entertaining.

Or at least say I need to go and use it or it will go off

It was Yonny.... and I'm a fan of Rod's stuff... if someone had finished it for him it would have been okay but it's ending was just abrupt and left the book incomplete