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Quite a few times. Last time was last week.

Yes Mate, I've done it as well. Drove 70miles to Nazeing, saw the fish in the inlet feeding on massive ball of daphnia and all the sailing bank swims with anglers in, walked around the South and Central didn't see another fish and the weed was thick in front of South Pylons and Helipad so just walked back to the car and came home. Done the same at Suffolk Water Park as well. Thick weed in Heaven and Hell with the fish hiding in it, anglers in any swim that the fish could move into so went home again.

I’ve done it a few times mate, sometimes the lakes all stitched up and the only places left you wouldn’t want to sling a rig in, good judgement sometimes means you leave it for another day pal. I’ve found that if I end up in an unfancied swim, not been happy with it, not done a carp in millennia, I’ve not felt confident, not fished to my best and blanked… I suppose I’ve defeated myself before I’ve started, fished like a Wally, expecting to blank - then do so, thus proving to myself it’s a waste of space swim in the first place… a self fulfilling prophesy you might say!

I use metal bait screws on popups as it adds to the weight to counterbalance the rig, means you use less putty, if any at all...

Welcome back to more pointless waffle ie a detailed account of my session weekend just gone on my new water , hope it doesn’t bore the pants off you all 😊 I was a lot more organised this time out , all packed and ready to go for when my chauffeur (the Mrs) got home from work. Where we live , tucked away down an alleyway , can be an advantage . No junk mail received or trick or treaters at Halloween cos nobody knows we are here . unfortunatley neither do parcel couriers but that’s another thread 😡. The biggest disadvantage of all though is having a 50-100 metre walk to the car . So the plan is to load up my recently acquired , as yet unused , barrow to get my gear to the car . Well anyway there’s obviously a knack to it as the damned thing kept toppling to the left as I lifted it …. 3 times , despite loading it in various different ways . Therefore I’m sure there’s a method ? Anyway on with the waffle 😉. The lakes like Fort Knox , 2 keyed gates and 2 Combi locks to get not only onto the lake itself but into the actual road/dirt track that leads to it . Good for security obviously though I’d imagine not so good for access after a few Autumn days of heavy rain … we’ll see . Arriving at about 6.30pm I was delighted to discover NO other anglers at all so after a leisurely walk round TWICE I chose a swim and set up . Im going to be posting up a few pics at the end here lads , none in any particular order , mostly of the lake itself . Nick I’m sure you can tidy most of those up for me at some point as I know I can only post a couple at a time . I set up in a swim that not only had plenty of room ( I like to be comfortable if poss) but had plenty of features to fish to , a couple of Islands one large one very small , reeds and lots of pads . There was also plenty of fishy activity but no more than the rest of the lake . It was just beginning to cool down after a scorcher so things looked promising for the evening and nights to follow. As usual I set my rods up first , something I do to maximise my actual fishing time , and something on this occasion I was to live to regret . Using just the two rods initially , if it proved more difficult I could always add a 3rd option later , I tested the water . A couple of Combi rigs , 16mm Black Snail with a pva stocking containing more of the same , barbless hooks as is the rules unfortunately. Action pretty much from the word go . Nothing big , I was warned about the little commons , and so it proved . At first I was just getting the odd beep then 3 or 4 second shrills from my Fox’s and was always lifting into nothing . I was reeling in rigs with half eaten boilies still attached . By now one more fella had arrived , having asked if I minded if he fished 2 swims along from me despite the lake being empty … I didn’t mind as he’d had the courtesy to ask and it wouldn’t have disturbed me anyway . Turns out he knew a lot of the same group of Canning Townies that I grew up with so we shared a few natters and cuppas over the next two days. He suggested that especially whilst using running rigs to sit on my hands until the rod pretty much comes off the bank stick . He said when they go they GO . So I took his advice and waited till these short alarm bursts turned into fully blown screamers and I connected with the very first one . And it set the tone ( pardon the pun) for the whole weekend really . Little common (5-8lb at a guess) after little common with the odd low double thrown in , quite often both rods off at the same time . To be honest after a while I didn’t even bother with the pva attachments , I don’t think they were assisting. I’d switched to 24mm hookbaits a little earlier to try to hopefully single out the bigger fish but these little carp didn’t care they just jumped on them . Any freebies I felt would just be a waste of bait , I didn’t need em neither did the Carp. I was so busy it must have been almost dark before I’d managed to get my brolly up , next time it’s the first thing getting done , going against everything I’ve ever done before . And totally dark by the time I’d had a brew up . Unheard of 😂 Action was steady after dark then got busier and busier. At 3am I thought enoughs enough and pulled my rods in . I’d got up at 03.45 the previous morning for work and I was knackered , time to get my head down for a couple of hours . And a couple of hours it was . Awake just after 5 I went for a mooch about and saw a few interesting things . Can I post videos on here Nick , as I have a couple of Carpy activity I took first thing that morning ? Anyway I got both my rods out again , a bit slower that morning , still quite warm and bright though nothing like the previous day . A few more fish arrived , again nothing big , though I have to say some of them , most of them in fact gave a very good account of themselves and a few of said Carp never gave their size away till right before the net , fighting strongly and staying deep in the water as long as they could . I very rarely knew what I’d hooked until the death . It went quiet mid morning as the sun got higher in the sky and I dabbled with a few surface baits for a couple of hours . I got them feeding competitively quite quickly but they knew which one had my bait in every single time , from the Bakers complete to the fake doggie biscuits , they just knew . Floater presentation is definitely something I need to work on. So I needed a slightly different approach to bottom fishing . This time a spread of B5 and Black snail boilies over the general area of both spots and rested the swim for about 90 minutes during which time I managed to cook both late late breakfast and lunch and chatted Carp fishing and West Ham Utd with my good friend of about ten , er , hours 🤣. This tactic appeared to work as things got hectic again despite the weather deteriorating . So hectic in fact that I never noticed that big storm closing in and just as it got dark … BANG !!!! Thunder Lightening very very frightening ! I doubt I’ve ever moved so fast . Rods in , dived into my Cabrio and there I stayed . I dunno how long the storm lasted as I must have been exhausted and fell asleep . This time inside my sleeping bag which hadn’t even been unpacked it being so warm the night before. The following morning went the same way as previously though after breakfast I even went down to fishing just the one rod . I knew Tracey was coming to pick me up at about 2.30 and needed the time to get packed away for when she arrived . I was happy with my first attempt on my new venue . I know I’ll eventually get the hump with the smaller Carp and will have to find a way of finding out where the upper 20’s and 30’s hang out . My first thought was finding the deeper parts of the lake . The owner has told me that’s it’s pretty uniform 3-4ft deep all over but I’ll be finding out for myself for sure . If it really is that shallow everywhere then it makes it even more of a challenge. In a way , I think , just as much a challenge as fishing a lake with far fewer yet bigger Carp ? These bigger fish are in there , I’ve seen the stocking photos of a couple of 30’s , but to me it’ll just be a natural progression . Size has never been important to me ( just ask my Mrs) , I’m equally happy catching fish of any description all day long or just sitting by the lake waiting for a bite for hours on end . It’s not just about the fishing is it ? It’s just as much to do with the peace and tranquility of a little lake that few people even know exists . No more day ticket circus for me . Hallelujah ! 🤣 there will be a couple of cradle pics added later to give you all an idea of the stamp of fish I was catching ( I lost count after about 30 or so) and one of a fish not all that big but pretty enough to warrant a pic I thought .