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Iv had coots take my hook bait in 14ft of water, I’m sure they go deeper. Tuffs can out dive a submarine. Iv fished a shallow swim and there were carp about but also a family of swans which were a nightmare till I found a 5ft ish area up against a island the only place they couldn’t pick up my baits, had 3 carp from that spot. A Dutch angler on YouTube had a underwater camera in his swim filming a carp feeding when a coot dived under saw the carp 20lb + and pecked it 😳

Watching bird life can be a good aid when working out various waters. On deeper venues, you can use tufties diving to work out the clear areas as well as the depth as each species has a maximum diving depth. Swans only feed to a certain depth, if they can’t reach, that can give you an idea of depth. You can see birds stood or wade on shallow bars and sunken islands. On one water, if I see coots diving on my spot, then I usually know that there are no carp down there, when the coots stop or spook off, then I’ve usually had a take soon after. Geese and swans sometimes suddenly alter course when swimming from point A to B if they come across a carp basking in the upper layers. I’ve seen coots and moorhens become territorial and call out or stamp their feet when carp come near to their nests. There are lots of subtle signs everywhere when you take the time to look, if nothing else, watching the wildlife makes the sport so aesthetically pleasing.

They just hang round my spots terrorising the small fish and waiting til night time to eat a yellow pop up 😪

I've used the black magic ones before to add to my Pva bag mix , they seemed pretty good, not seen those particular ones before they seem a new addition, look pretty good though high in protien and oil might be worth a punt, I have bought a few bits from BAF and they always seem good quality

Thanks for all this, a few years ago I did a pain management programme, it doesn’t solve the issues it just teaches you how to deal with the pain. Plan and pace was the bug thing they kept saying, plan what you have to do and pace yourself, take stops if you need to walk any distance. I use a shooting stick which is pretty good really, I also have a motorhome and plan on doing as much fishing as I can while out in that, it’s finding the right places that’s the hardest. I’m hoping I’m going to be able to cope with my bivvy, I still have my old hutchy apotheosis but it’s the bending to peg out that has stopped me using tents over the last few years. I know there are going to have to be compromises, and as you say, painkillers are pretty ineffective long term, all I have usually is 2 paracetamol as I go to bed, it helps me sleep thru any pain in the night. One of the things on the PMP was them wanting everyone off meds as much as possible as long term effects can be worse than short term pain. thanks again

If you want a line that doesn't break try 15lb hydrotuff 👍I've had it stuck up trees, deep into pads when I've forgotten to clip up, and I've always got the rig back 😂 Closest thing to elmo proof I've found 😳

I usually sit and tie rigs when watching you tube on the telly, it's probably not as proactive and probably a lot slower but it's an enjoyable way to make them in advance of my sessions