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On a serious note, shop around and have a look at Shimano Beastmasters. I love mine although they are 5 or 6 years old now. A baitrunner spool doesn't take much to get used to, I found it pretty easy. I honestly think that they are a better buy than the latest £100 plus Shimmy's. As I say shop around, but here is AD link https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/shimano-beastmaster-xb-reel

Got the AVID Ascent 2 man bivvy - its a decent bit of kit, masses of room for 2 beds, you can actually get 3 in no doubt (I have). With 2 beds pushed to the sides there's a massive gap in the middle. I like the inner lining which you leave in, works a treat, outer fabric is top notch. I also have the Ascent Brolley Mk1 - fabric on that is unbeatable - proper quality. No complaints - AVID gear is the business.

I think I can safely say that wearing them all day made me cold too despite having 4 layers on 😂 the damp is no fun! In summer they'll be like that viral weight loss idea of wrapping cling film round your stomach haha. Super slim legs haha

Send the picture to the fish commitee or someone like that and ask them or you could ask dr Paul garner he has a Facebook page of him in a hat and holding a tench. I think it’s a comet goldfish personally

In John Wilson’s carp fishing guide, (available on kindle) he describes F1’s as being a cross between crucians and king carp, the end result apparently produces a fully scaled fish with smaller barbules and a deeper body shape. They are also resistant to KHV and feed all year round.

I've posted in the past about fishing reservoirs on here: Obviously as @yonny has said, find them. Even though you have a nature reserve, that may not always be the best spot. I found that reservoir fish can really follow a good wind, and a big wind coming into my face is usually when I had my best catches. A good shelter is a MUST; across a 100acres plus of water that wind can really blow, with big spray. I have had nights when rain and spray blew into my bivvy even well up the bank. Those were often the nights I caught most. Reservoir fish can move very quickly. Baiting up on top of the fish can be enough to move them, but equally it could be enough to hold them if you bait up when they are not feeding. Also if they are not there, then you are giving them something to hold them if they move in while you are there. My baiting to hold them tended to be Vitalin, mixed in with plenty of hemp, tigers and boilies. Bream attractor at times, but hookbaits were big, a 2x 20mm boilies, 20mm bottom and a 15mm pop-up as a snowman or a 20mm pop-up to reduce bream taking hookbaits. I found that my catching depths were between 6 and 15feet deep, usually on a ledge rather than right out in the middle. The exceptions to fishing ledges were when I fished shallower bays, the shallower Dam at Wick Lane at Ardleigh and Alton Water culvert area, but they were still in those depth ranges. The culvert at Alton was very snaggy, you could not fish directly onto it. It ate tackle, fragged mainline and hooklinks, blunted or broke hooks. You had to fish the swim to the left. Feature finding is simple, but unless you have a brilliant memory, write it down; forget wraps as distances you write down, because water depth can change as water levels rise and fall. Simply get your marker rod, cast out and check depths, features, feel the lead back. When I say feel the lead back, feel it at all times as you reel in. You might feel it lock up as you come back to the base of a ledge, or you might find blocks or other lumps on the bottom. If you count and let the float up, be aware that there may be undertow, so you could be a few metres away from the actual lead. Check each swim like a clock. Alton between highest and lowest level was a 4metre straight vertical height on the bridge supports at Lemons Hill. That could equate to water level being 10metres (!) down the bank.

I'm gonna start wearing mine all the time free sauna 😂😂😂

Carl and Alex reservoir diaries may help, There is some useful stuff to be learned from quite a lot of videos korda masterclass and underwater series, Rob Hughes does some good informative vids, just type it into YouTube and get watching as much as you can mate, of course none of this is as useful as practice,practice, practice but it will give you a good start

Same as I go for what does the job I want it to at the time

We all have our own preferences mate, I love my fox torque rods and EOS 12000 reels, I can’t fault them, yesterday I managed to accidentally stick a 3oz on the far bank at 115yrds - I was looking at putting it at 90yrds but overcooked it somewhat!! Yet I’m not a fan of the fox alarms... except the micron minis, it’s purely a looks thing, I don’t like their shape!! As for the Exocet braid... I really couldn’t comment... I’ve never used it! I tend to buy braid that’s not “carpified” as it’s cheaper! I’ve got some nondescript black braid in 40lb on both spod and marker rod and it is pretty bulletproof, even if the black dye comes out all over my fingers when it’s wet 🙄RM gear I’ve not used, so no comment. Nash stuff, I’ve got one of their pods which is pretty good, their fang hooks are decent, Korda - I love their leadcore, especially the gravel one... I’m not so much a slave to a particular brand, I just buy what I need from whatever stable offers it, then I continue with whatever brand offers the best version of that product that suits my need best. I guess we are all like that really.

Everything I own that is ridgemonkey is a good product to be fair to them, but I have to think about it usually as the price is high, I've got some fox stuff that is OK, some I really like (tadpole lead inserts) but I don't think the quality is as good as when I bought the old mini microns years ago, and exocet spod braid isn't fit for purpose(did I mention that😂) 😔 I don't tend to buy Nash stuff either due to the titan that was weak and fell apart although I would buy a bushwhacker maybe, Basically I try to buy the best thing that suits the budget, reel wise I didn't get on with sonik, I do like diawa as they re always reliable, the shimano aerlex spod has slightly turned me to the darkside though it is a nice reel to use 😂

Look like really good quality reels and without the "Carp Tax!"

Lol thanks but no fox for me 😂 I think they are more or less the same tbh just the colours and probably sealed bearings like you say 👍 I also really like these sea reels 😳