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So when I used to do my old catch reports I couldn't add any pics due to publicity bans. Now it's been a few years since I fished the venues I can re-post a few with pics to go with them. To alleviate some of this boredom I thought I could start with this one from Sept '16. The original post is here. Below I'll re-post with kipper shots. If you like it I might do some more over the coming weeks. Two month blank run ended this weekend. The first big northerly of the year hit us on Friday, I'd been looking forward to it for weeks. Headed straight to the end of it when I arrived at the syndi and the swim I'd been hoping to get all week was free. Get in! Rolled a ciggy and watched the water, the wind smashing into my face. Within 10 minutes I'd seen 2 huge black heads break the surface. Bucket goes down, off I go to get the gear from the car. Arrived back in the swim in record time. I'm out of breath but roll another ciggy out of habit and watch the water. Bosh! They're still here. Three singles in the zone, time to get the brolly up, it's starting to rain. Sit back for a couple of hours and the number of shows i see suggests the best part of the stock is in front of me. Need to get some bait out. Ten spombs on the main spot and the carp disappear, as usual. They're still showing but they've pushed way, way out behind my spot and to my left. I sit there for another couple of hours, trying to invent a silent spomb in my head, and see they're moving back in on this big wind. Waves rolling into my swim, rain blowing right into my brolly and soaking me, love it! Closer and closer they come, I'm getting excited. Finally, 3 shows in quick succession right on the spot. Off it goes, the bobbin whacks the Delkim, I'm in. I played it so carefully, it's my first bite since forever it seems. The first run is immense, it strips maybe 40 yards of line, but then it's well behaved and comes in steadily. My mates in the swim now and he does the honours with the net. We recognise the fish straight away, one of the bog originals, and I realise I might have a PB in the net. It's a real biggie, and I'm smiling from ear to ear. Weighing and photo's done, I sit back for the night. As it hits dusk I see one or two shows but it's looking like the bulk of the fish may have moved. I get some kip but I'm up by 03:00 looking for signs. I see nothing, they've gone elsewhere. By 09:30 the rods are in and I'm off searching for them, or rather I've found them, in the swim probably the furthest away from the one I'm fishing. Down goes the bucket, off to get my gear. An hour later I'm back with the barrow. Swim booked, I'm off home to feed the cats. Get back and the carp are still there, now I need to make a decision, do I spomb? I know it'll push them out of the swim but I believe, like yesterday, they'll move back in tonight. So, I fill it in. I see the carp push out but they've not moved too far, same as before. That night I go to bed feeling confident. 03:00 and I'm woken by a single bleep. I turn on my side and stare out at my spot, the surface is illuminated by the reflection of street lights in the distance. Within 2 minutes I've seen 1, 2, 3, 4 carp roll right on the spot. Big carp as well, causing huge rings to roll all the way back to the bank with each show. I'm out of bed now. I get a savage liner on the middle rod, I nearly hit it, but don't. Roll a ciggy, make a cuppa, sit on my hands, this could not look better. Three more liners in the next hour, lots of tea and smoking, rolling and fizzing over the spot. Whack! The bobbin hits the Delk again. Get in! Now this swim is a little trickier to fish then the last one, shallow margins with overhanging trees, so I'm straight into the waders and out into the pond. This one fights like a beast and if I hadn't seen it quite early in the fight I'd be convinced it was another monster. Still, it was by no means small, far from it, and it had the biggest tail I've ever seen on a carp. Mental looking thing, another original, two tone colouration with small scattered scales. That tail is literally ridiculous! Called a mate who's in the next swim round for the photos. I want them done quickly as I'm watching the fish rolling and fizzing on the spot, I know the other rod is going to go off very shortly. Too shortly in fact, because as soon as I get the fish on the Matt I get the take. Off into the pond again while my mate gets the big tailed mirror back in the water. Another decent fight sees a smaller carp in the net. It's the prettiest of the session, a beautiful little fully scaled mirror, and I'm happy as Larry. We get the photos and weighing of both fish done and I have one rod left in the water. I don't want to recast the others as the fish are clearly still on it and I don't want to push them out again. I sit watching the fizzing/rolling etc for an hour before I decide there has to be something wrong with the rig, it should have gone by now. I bring it in, it looks OK, but put a fresh one on just to be sure. Two rods on the spot, one just off it. The fizzing stops, but half an hour later they're back, and I'm getting excited again. Rolling, bubbling, epic stuff. It's getting light now and I can see the bobbin twitch by maybe half a centimeter as I get another bleep. I'm hovering over the rod now and again it twitches. I watch the line, where it hits the water it's twitching, or rather it was, as it's now lifting up through the surface as the Delkim let's me know that it's time to get wet again. Another good fight and I can tell this one is a lump straight away, it hugs the deck, not doing much, a proper big fish fight, like playing a breeze block. As it rolls over the net I recognise it, a solid fish, one of the big stockies, short and wide, a nice, clean, chunky carp (if a little pale looking lol). Two months with nothing then 4 fish in 2 nights. I'm over the moon, All the blank nights are forgotten about. We suffer the lows and enjoy the highs, and enjoying it I am. After the photos the fish have move out, they've cleared the spot, I'm out of bait. It's game over, so I pack up a happy man and go home smiling. The pics came out great. Still smiling now, it's my best session so far of what's been a very difficult, frustrating year, and of course it's not every day you get a new PB. The weights were 20.10 lb, 29.12 lb, 31.10 lb, and 45.12 lb. I also had some nice tench, but since the forum aint called tench.com I omitted them from the report. Roll on the next session!

I think Dayvid is making a good point. What starts off as an EXCUSE for exercise, then becomes an excuse to fish, then of course you will need a barbeque and a few drinks and a few friends to help and …….. It’s a bit like that bloke stopped halfway up Snowdon in a Range Rover claiming he was going to exercise. WTF Wot Bluebell said. This thing is killing people. Stay at home and go nowhere unless you have to feed yourself or get medicine – and it only takes one of you. How hard can it be? Disclaimer – I am over 70 with COPD so I have a vested interest in people sticking to the very simple rules. I am not ready to die yet just because some [censored] is getting a bit bored.

It amazes me the amount of folks trying to find a way round all the bans and gatherings.... WTFlip do they think this virus is....? Its a killer ferchrissakes... there is a very good chance you can die if you get it.... I want to slap some folks rigid with some of the rubbish I've heard

Allotments , Exercise , well the allotments not far from me are being used by family's as an excuse to get out ,Mother digging and three kids playing ect. This got me thinking ….. if you have a Syndicate, a true Syndicate where you as a group of guys rent the venue off an estate and have free rain to do as you wish , then this applies to mine . So im going to make myself a plot, say around 20 feet by 10 , Dig and plant who knows what, and whilst im at my new Allotment by the lake ,why not take my fishing gear and to protect said allotment plot stay overnight . I see nothing wrong with this whatso ever .

I think people should just stay at home and stop trying to beat the system, it's the others who suffer, my dad is going in for a an op as he has bowel cancer tomorrow, I'm scared that even though he is isolated at present he can't isolate himself against idiots who take it upon themselves to break the rules for whatever petty reason they can find, these people then go around infecting others who then infect others and others and others, it's just a few weeks off, just do what you can to stop the spread it will save lives

Seems like I shall have an extensive range of rigs over the next few weeks , well 3 or 4 types but lots of them . I assume many will be doing the same , Photos to come later👍

Just had a phone call from my mate who I fish the secret lake with. There has been a bloke fishing down there for 4 days. Not hiding like we do, blatantly set up so anyone can see him. He's just been moved on by the police.

Exactly haha. At least then you can still look the part whilst blanking.

That^^^. Chances are you'll have more smell from your fingers/hands tainting your hook link than a marker pen.

No. The smell of markers is the solvent that carries the ink. When you apply it, the carrier (solvent) evaporates, leaving just the ink which is largely odourless.

Level rods is more important than location imo.

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 still have this pic of me from that 2nd night as the rod ripped off with a carp already on the bank. Panic stations 😂😂

Fag butts fit aswell lol they do now have a sensitivity thingy built into them as well as the wheels

Well said 👍. Fingers crossed for your dad mate.

You could've put bog roll in the speakers if you could find some 😁

Do you remember Kryston Supersilk? Until I got worried about its diameter and possibility of cutting fishes lips and stopped using it, I used to stain my Supersilk hooklinks in tea or coffee, although it does take on the colour of the silt on the lakebed.

Will be perfect the longest ones I use are only 9”

That fully scaled is a beauty, fish of a lifetime. Nice one yonny!

Old rods for bean or pea poles lol

LOL nojail for just working on my allotment 😀, and no officer thats not my old fishing gear behind me .

WOW !! Look at the size of that tail on the mirror second pic down 😳 Please don’t post anymore pics it’s like being tortured 😞

As always some belters there,mate. 😬😎🎣 The lads on here are in for a treat if you post some of your fish,mate. 😉😬😎🎣

It is it’s very good but could do with being possibly 2” longer sometimes but then if it was 2” longer we’d want another 2 on top of that the piledriver is lighter than the 2 jag excavator sticks I used to carry

Same as mate i live with someone that has a compromised immune system i'm all so doing the shopping for my mum she is well old and not long got over cancer, i'm 50 myself and on statins.

The red thing in my pictures is a jag palm saver that has a level in it lol one of the kids bought it for me as a Xmas pr3sent a couple of years ago

Or you could pay the 30 quid fine and walk away lol.

Wouldn't that send you mad though constantly checking they were still level, at least with a spirit level you could lock In the car or something 😏

Yes lol. Although some bars have them built in now!

😁 Thing is you have to look at them a lot while your fishing, and it just eats away until you get annoyed that it's not level, I actually got annoyed just as darkness was descending, I had started recasting them all and it just lolloped to the right so I had to sort it out and rechuck them all as I felt I may have moved them a bit, then in the morning when I got the take they moved again 😫 Is a spirit level going too far or is this an item that can be used but just not talked about 😅

Thinking about this it isn’t fleet that do the alarms it’s south custom reels

Iv got no issues with colours just got to be stiff enough so it don’t tangle but not to stiff tho lol ......but who’s to say you won’t catch on a fluorescent hook length 🤔

The only thing that made me a bit paranoid about the Nash stuff is because it’s so light compared to the brown of other hooklinks I’ve used

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 ! . 😁

As much as it might be a pain in the rear for some I think it's a step in the right direction. Some people really aren't taking this thing seriously enough. People not following the advice and keeping apart by 2metres etc. The only way this virus stops by no contact. It's going to get worse before it gets better if you ask me.

I have just returned from my first shopping experience since the lockdown started in France. I thought you guys in UK might like to know what the rest of Europe is doing and what might be coming your way. First, on the drive to the nearest town I did not pass a single vehicle. It felt very post apocalypse. In town there was a police check. I was a bit nervous because I had a sheet of paper with 6 “attestation de deplacement” (signed declaration of reason for leaving house) printed on both sides of an A4 sheet and was not sure if this would be acceptable. The idea being to sign and date a fresh one and cross out the previously used one. The first thing I noticed was that the police were not wearing masks. I guess being stopped by a heavily armed man in a mask could be seen as a bit disconcerting. I wound down my window to give him my Attestation and Carte de Sejour but was instructed to wind up the window and hold my papers against the glass so he could approach and read them. To my relief, he waved me on with a smile. In the pharmacy there was a table blocking entrance to the main shop. When it was my turn I had to move forward from my marked position and put the prescription on the table and step back. The pharmacist then got my prescription and placed that on the table and stepped back so I could approach and pick it up. Another customer, who had to pay for a purchase was presented with the credit card machine in a plastic bag. At the butchers, there was a marked line away from the counter so you could not just point at what you wanted. Your purchase was then placed on a table away from the serving area. In the supermarket there were hardly any trollies left. I assumed the place must be heaving but inside there were fewer people than normal. They must have taken a lot of trollies out of service to stop too many people visiting at one time. I was able to buy everything I needed. There were one or two gaps but I suspect this was just a shelf refilling problem because there were fewer staff. At the till you had to wait at your marked spot until the previous customer had left. All staff were wearing masks and disposable gloves. It was a sobering experience but at the same time very reassuring that EVERYBODY is taking the situation seriously.