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I have a couple of ngt black ones I use if I need a storm pole they haven't broken yet, seem OK for the money

I haven't been able to find any decent replacements as yet but have had my eye on few that look to be better quality. Problem is, they come at a much higher price point. The other issue is finding things in stock at the minute. Quite a few of the ones I have been looking at are out of stock everywhere in the sizes I would want.

Chub silicone collapsible kettle. Absolutely perfect for the short sessions I do and an absolute steal at £6.99. On the other hand, like Highy, I picked up a couple of the Avid lockdown banksticks a while back and they were garbage. The entire locking mechanism on both sticks fell off during my first trip out with them. It was obviously attached to the stick with a tiny dot of glue in the factory. A good blob of epoxy in there has sorted them out but still, you don't expect these things to be so shoddily made for the price you pay for them.

16 anglers on this lake tonight, 8 fish out so far, I'm fishing x2 running rigs with a 3oz lead, 1 on a Ronnie, 1on a combi, was the Ronnie that went about 2 rod length out. Slow pick up... Beep Beep Beep, hit it n was on.

Because I got the AXS Brolly that don't come with Storm Poles, it needs em when wrap on. I bought 2 Avid Lockdown storm poles for the Brolly (Only 1's in stock at time). This is what happened on setup lifting the latch up.... It snapped Had to tape it so wouldn't retract, need of some decent storm poles now 😢😢

Surely the major down side with those if one goes wrong they all do? If I won the lottery I would just buy all the alarms i quite liked, and also a few nice rod and reel set ups for every eventuality, and a range of bivvies and pretty much everything I may or may not need 😁

I've just finished creating these Defiant mps heads Iceatope ice green 3x15mm Cygnet pivot arms (also have chains) regretting not getting 3"a bit though but 6"will do for now 😂 Just need some stainless hockey sticks to complete the look now

If I see fish show I will move onto them. Not all shows are obvious either; I have seen what I thought was a swirl, just a circular ripple, almost like feather going round three quarters of a circle, and caught from it. The head and shoulders, jumping are obvious, easily seen, but not all indicate carp feeding on a spot. I have seen fish head and shouldering, but the catching spot was 20metres to the left of it. I think the fish were digging into the silt, feeding, then coming up to clear their gills. Other times the dolphin type shows were carp moving onto a feeding area.

There's loads of reason imo. Feeding, clearing gills, ditching parasites, regulating the swim bladder..... and I also believe that sometimes they're just playing (for lack of a better word). Head'n'shouldering is a strong indicator for feeding on the deck. Those flicky, splashy shows indicate feeding up in the water (ziggy shows I call them). But ultimately I'll move on to ANY kind of show if I'm not seeing them in front of me. Active fish are normally catchable fish imo.

Not been posting much lately, basically because I haven't been able to get out what with one thing and another. But the best bit of kit I've bought is my Trakker Tempest 100T brolly. It's absolutely fantastic. I already had the standard Tempest V2, which was good, but I sometimes clouted my head getting out in a hurry. Don't get me wrong, it didn't hurt at all, it was just annoying. Before the 100T came out, I was thinking of getting a couple of vents put into the V2 to give me a little extra ventilation on hot days. I'd looked into the cost of getting these fitted by "Army Andy" who is renowned for doing this sort of mod, and it was going to cost me just over £120.00 to get done. Bearing in mind the new 100T had two vents as standard, AND gave you the extra headroom, it was a no brainer really. I sold the V2 and adding not much more than the vents were going to cost me managed to get the 100T. It's superb. Goes up in an instant, and has masses of room, not only in height, but in depth and width too. I generally fish days, with the odd overnight thrown in, and go to France every year for a week. I could seriously live in this for the week in France, plenty of room for my needs (I tend to fish fairly light unlike friends of mine who's bivvies are more akin to Cape Canaveral on launch day)... it suits me just fine. On calm days/nights I don't even have to peg it down. Steady as a rock. I'd recommend one of these to anyone looking for a decent sized alternative to a full blown bivvy.

I forgot to add I wouldn't let it change me 😁😁😁😁😁 I once saw someone walk into a shop and ask how much is the euro millions tonight? Shop assistant 12 million Bloke just turns and says that ain't enough for me and walks out 😁 I'm not sure what world he lived in but I don't know anyone whos life wouldn't be more comfortable for a 12m boost