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Gonna have to do this one in stages, but went for a 2 night trip with the kids and the dog, arrived at lunchtime after the usual struggle and then some, but luckily got in a lovely swim with plenty of space for our bivvies I had previous in this swim having fished it last time, although there were people fishing far side so I opted to come shorter, this was a good decision. And had 2 rods on it today. And one on my banker spot. Nothing happened the first night but I had done some good big baiting and had left some line free moments (mainly because I had forgotten cutlery and plates) got back from dog walking and shopping (dog friendly garden centre) and wanged in another 8 spods on each spot, and was quite surprised when it ripped off an hour Later in the afternoon, really scrapped hard this one due to its mega paddle. 22 1/2lb Tbc......

Whilst that one was awaiting processing in the retainer, I had another bite, this one off the rod I moved and the only one not on a match the hatch wafter. (MTH Pop up 😊) lovely fish, look at that tail 21lb 1/2lb Somewhere in all this lot I managed to lose 3 to hook pulls and one with a boulder of weed that acted as a pivot. And finally at just before lunch I had another run from the banker spot came in like a dog on a lead until it saw the net, then it took forever having seen it for quite a while I thought it was one of the bigguns. Turns out it was 27lb 12oz. but again what a creature all ancient looking and a real solid beast of a fish. I did lose one while this was in the retainer. But I'm not complaining. 5 fish in a session is mega and getting to share it with your kids and having a real good time too was awesome, I usually fish alone and while I love it, it is nice to share the special moments along the way. Also lucky to have a photographer as I had forgotten my camera 😁

Rather than relying on liquids you could try adding some of this, i use 2 little scoops in my spod mix and it honks,it was my little secret lol, but it has done me really well for the last 2 years 😳

I used to cook Sunday dinner for around 1pm, and got to take Levi for a few hours on the whip for silvers after lunch while Liz washed up. He loved it. Then it got to the stage of I would carry Lily and Levi's gear and rods to the park while they cycled up. When they got bored fishing they'd leave me with the rods and go for a cycle, then come back for a bit more fishing. Hard life being left in charge fishing... He soon learnt to trot a freelined dog biscuit downstream for chub as well as I could, and on days I couldn't hit a bite he would manage chub to 4lb. That was on my rod and reel as we'd just take the one between us and the other would land the fish. I might split the 'children into fishing' to a thread of their own back in Carp Fishing, so if some posts disappear, please don't panic and I promise to try not to delete them😖

I've bought a couple of new additions for my spinner rigs after recent burred points on the sharpened one I normally use, mainly when using wafters I might add. I also have found normal spinners can give you hook pulls, i relearnt that this week 😳 they are just less faffy when you want to chuck one together. ESP trig hammer XT and esp d rig kickers. These seem sharp and slightly stronger than the originals, The flex was my main concern with those tbh. And some korda longshank beaked, these have an aggressive eye angle and are beaked, they seem to fit well with the avid D rig kickers. My reason for the different kickers is I find the ESP ones are a tad fiddly as the bead end doesn't seem to have much of a hole so works best with a straight point hook, the avid one does have a hole in the bead end but can be prone to slightly moving. But actually seems quite snug on this hook. I would probably use both out the packet as they are pretty sharp, this would also save on rusting because I'm yet to find a product that really seems to stop rusty hooks on my lake.

10 and 8 going on 14 i think 😬 It's worth starting off small, rods were tricky to use, a 3m whip is a good tool to start with and plenty of action, my youngest thinks fishing is boring but we convinced her to come. She claimed to not enjoy it but had loads of fun camping and messing with her sister,tablets and audiobooks are good tools for the times when you need to get stuff done, but my eldest seems to want to learn more, she now uses my baitrunner and 7ft greys rod sometimes, she gets it I think and always wants to come, she's happy just being there, I think what I am trying to say is try it and I don't think it's a bad thing, but they will either love it or not you can't force that. Good luck, Also when you really want to go but know your misses won't allow it having a kid onside is a good tool in your armoury 😎😉

As many will have noticed I havnt been fishing in several months now and probably not more than 4 times in the last 18 months , but this Bank holiday I made the effort , and was truly rewarded. Started with a 33lb Mirror then a 14lb Mirror, followed by a 33lb Common then to finish off the Bank holiday a 44lb Common

Then I had to wait till 10:30pm for the next action, after some more spods and prepping as well as I could I felt confident, we had an all day breakfast for tea, I heard what could only be described as a pair of idiots walking around the far bank shouting stuff, luckily the girls were asleep, and then just as they were close enough on the far bank my alarm went into a one toner and I was battling with a demon fish and getting heckled at the same time, they run off after never to be heard again. But after thinking it was a catfish for a long time I finally got it in after an issue with my left hand rod, it had done a 50yd run and back before I gained any control, I only got control when it got weeded up but I had to bite the other rod line and reconnect it to get it in the net. Anyway it was a cool one, 27 1/2lb and i had to wake up my daughter for the pics. She loved seeing it though. Then all was quiet after a late night sorting and redoing and a couple of doubts I topped up with the rest of my spod mix and redid my banker rod and moved one back alongside the shorter rod as it was a nice clean channel. I had made the girls breakfast and just served my own sausage and egg sangers, one bite and the middle rod went into meltdown. My daughter netted it about the 3rd time of asking, 27 1/2lb again. Tbc....

Had a whale of a time down at Wraysbury on a social with @greekskiilast week. Between us we had 40 odd bites over 3 days. Conditions were PERFECT. Here's a couple of my faves: