Leaderboard

When I first fished a big pit I set my stall out and fished at 40yds or less for 90% of my fishing, especially when seeing most anglers casting as far as they could. I also concentrated on the bays on this particular lake as the fishing was comfortable for me and more into my style. Im not someone who likes to fish as far they can so I only ever launched baits to the horizon if that's where the fish were. Don't get sucked into what you see everyone else doing. And the obvious one is location, location, location. Also Write down where you see them , the wind direction, weather, the atmospheric pressure (in my opinion and my findings were these factors play a bigger part on larger pits than smaller ones)all these will help you get a picture of the fish are up to.

Great advice that 👆 do your own thing

All of my fish at Ardleigh Reservoir were caught at around 40-50metres maximum. One was caught at about 20metres when I saw fish moving around an inlet so cast a bait where I saw them. Even on Alton I don't think I cast more than 70metres.

Korum Opportunist Mat Bag, with a Korum fully loaded tackle box in the kit bag, along with alarms, sticks, catty, pva tube, bait tub (bait tub since replaced with a Korum EVA eva bait and tackle station), Chair, rod bag and I still have a hand free for gates etc... I travel fairly light these days... short trips for me nowadays, even reverting to the use of a trolley as my back is totally naffed Do yerselves a flavour and travel light... it do tickle me sideways when some bod with a barrow piled higher than the Shard say's... "Ya gotta stay mobile man"... 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Here's a picture including all the items above in their respective pouch and my other tackle pouch which has all my tackle for river fishing (chub, barbel, and perch). The bottle of scotch is for scale purposes obviously.

To scale back you really need to decide what you actually need for the vast majority of your fishing. You also need to be content with the fact they you will never cover every possibility. I really do not enjoy carrying loads of unnecessary things in anything I do - whether that be fishing tackle or tools for a job. If I can buy something that has multiple uses then I will prioritise that. When I stopped carp fishing exclusively, my items of end tackle all fit into a 9" by 6" zipped bag which I have attached a picture of. The little box has a few beads, swivels etc in, the bit of pipe lagging as a few pre-tied rig bits pinned on, and the cut down pva tube has the hook section of hinge stiff rig/chod rigs in - which can be used for either rig obviously. I have three packets of hooks only. I think most people would shudder at the idea of taking so few items of terminal tackle with them. Personally, I always found it very relaxing to have a very simple approach to work from. Granted I may add items as a situation dictates but I never found myself feeling the need to try something for no reason whatsoever. I would advise seriously considering concocting a very basic approach to carp fishing (i.e. deciding on three rigs that cover most situations you can envision) and decide EXACTLY what you need to do that.

Hi Nick, Plano tackle box - that takes me back and puts a smile on the face, wow!

Doubt it mate, I keep all pva stuff in a bait bucket where I keep pellet to make bags etc 👍 I normally take the kitchen sink with me. Prefer to have it just in case 🤣

Does it fit mesh pva tubes mate?

I still use the same tool box I found 30 odd years ago coz it fits in my rucksack and seems to be the right size. I also carry a zig disc (fox) - thats good because it's 1ft round so use as a measure and rig storage. Theres lots of stuff I rarely use which lives in a big rig wallet - only goes in the car on big trips where I dont know what might happen, multiple zig lines, bait drills and corks, various leaders, tubing sets, spares on top of spares. I used to carry a big float tube full of spods, marker floats, floater floats - again only on big trips - but left in car. For normal fishing trips (95%) of the time I carry just one spare spod, one floater/zig line, one marker float, PVA funnel web all in the lid of my rucksack, one tackle box FULL of rig making essentials, rig box (Korda) and the zig disc (Fox). Spare leads can stay in the car, I carry some in a lead pouch - enough for a few fish, back to the car if I run out. You could spend a fortune buying all new stuff that goes together perfectly or just make what you've got work - I'm kind of reviewing what I need on a venue to venue basis.

I too tend to find larger venues a bit intimidating, it's like fishing an ocean! I agree with all that Framey says, particularly the part about breaking a large lake into a series of smaller ones, psychologically. I try to remember to never overlook the margin, it's the one feature that every water has and is frequently ignored. I remember being told that three things will find fish. Observation, observation and observation. Ian.

Walk and look as much as possible, often leaving the gear in the car or at home. I used to fish a 400acre plus reservoir; 4 or 5 days a week I would walk a section (as @framey says breaking it down) or all the way around, then fish my 2 days off. The walking often gave me an idea where they were, weather and wind dependent, or I expected them to turn up. Wind may have more effect on big open waters than tree surrounded lakes. A big westerly based wind used to push them up to the North Eastern end, whereas a northerly I would be looking into sheltered bays. Don't forget your binoculars and polarised sunglasses, and even on big waters, the margins or close in can produce.

I moved here yesterday into bogmageddon, I'm not looking forward to packing up, been a fun weekend though, bbq and a curry and some good laughs.