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I've just had the best fight of my life, fish was kiting down the res from 100 yards out, it was a long slow plod towards me until about 40 yards, started going again, got it back to about 20 yards and it just went off, the rod went in half with it just charging off, it kept doing this for about 15 20 minutes, every time I gained some it just took off again, I didn't want to tighten the clutch anymore at risk of losing it and the rod was already going in half 🤣. I eventually got it into the net and straight away knew it was a chunk 🤣 33lb on the nose!!! Guys i am absolutely buzzing, my adrenaline is going and my hands are still shaking 👍🤣 I do have some photos on the dslr too, they came out acceptable to me but still can't get the focus correct. But it don't matter tbh I'm happy with my phone photos and can look back on them 👍👍👍👍 fish has destroyed me 🤣🤣🤣 In the middle of the fight my second rod went off, then the third at the same time. Once the fish was in the sling I lifted into the second rod and connected to a fish, starting getting it back but it Bumped off, so drops that rod and lifts into the 3rd rod and landed a little common about 10lb All rods are out the water and I feel done in🤣 might have a chill tonight then get rods back out early with a fresh lot of bait 👍

25lb 👍 had this fish last session (one i posted for the first fish of the month) Bailiff took the photo so didn't set it up on the intervalometer and tripod, the focus isn't good but I don't mind, it made it onto the bank 👊

another one on the bank bringing it up to 6 fish 👍

You do not want to know 🤣

Great result and what a write up got my heart rate up 👍

Well had a stocky brace the net so perfect excuse to use the camera Next time I think if I lower the camera a bit it will be level with the fish bringing it into focus better 👍 @yonny thanks for your advice mate I think I'll be taking some decent shots in the future 👍

I got an app on my phone called selfer, and you can set it like an intervalometer, Thanks yonny looks great, will screenshot it so I can keep it and will get my camera out tonight and have a play.

OK.... Change from ‘Auto’ to ‘Av’ mode. Set your ISO to ‘auto ISO’. Change your AF (auto focus) Area mode to ‘Single point’. I think on the 650D you have touch screen, so set your focus point by tapping on the screen where the fish will be in the shot. A box will appear to confirm your focus point. Zoom the lens out to 35 mm focal length. With your lens you can have a bigger aperture at shorter focal lengths so it should be about right. Set the aperture size at the largest it will go at 35 mm focal length. You’ll be looking for the lowest f number you can which again is probably around f4. Make sure the focus box on the screen is on the fish. Snap away.

Happy 50th @commonly Hopefully with the new moon and you hitting the magical 50 there's a monster waiting to jump on in your net Tight lines

Thanks Elmo. I was torn to mention on here, as I'm quite likely to blank my but off😄 Really looking forward to it. Only got that long as it was my 50th this year. Work, family life and life have meant things don't always go to plan, but you got to make the most of what you've got. I can at least post a few views from the bivvy door and rod shots though😎

Wicked mate, It's took a lot of googling (don't have a manual) but got it set to your settings, I've had a little go but realised I had the single point to the bottom right instead of the middle 🤦‍♂️anyway it should be good to go, will test when it stops raining 👍 Wader shot using your settings Happy days 🤙

24lb 12oz, first time using my dslr, image quality is so clean lol

Thanks bud, it was a great buzz 👍

Just been having a look mate, there's no facial recognition but the focus mode is on af-a, I'm gonna try it on 'af-s' and see if it helps, apparently when using af-a, it can focus on the face more than anything. Trial abd error I suppose 🤣

The camera is still focussing on your face for some reason. See if you have 'face recognition' on. Not sure if your camera has this feature. If it does, turn it off mate. Well done on the kipper, sounds like a great session.

Short answer..... no 😂 I can make a few recommendations but you'll need more than 500 if you're buying new mate. First thing to decide is whether you want a compact, a DSLR, or a mirrorless. You can get compacts with big sensors and these are capable of brilliant shots. My recommendation would be the CANON PowerShot G7X Mark II. It's not DSLR quality, but most would struggle to tell the difference. They cost just over 600 quid. Next would be DSLR. They're cheaper than mirrorless but there's a reason for that. None of the OEM's are developing DSLR lenses any more. There's still loads available, but what you see on the market now is what you get - no more development (the technology is slowly being replaced with mirrorless). It's no secret that the quality of DSLR shots is great. My recommendation would be the Canon EOS 250D which is the cheapest Canon with a flip screen. It's about £750 with a standard kit lens. You can add an EF 50mm f1.8 lens for about 120 quid which will get you AMAZING shots. Then mirrorless. A mirrorless camera is basically a DSLR without a mirror which offers advantages. This is basically the future of photography, but they're still quite expensive. The most cost effective flip screen Canon mirrorless is the EOS R50 which comes in at about 900 with a standard kit lens. Lenses tend to be pricey but for 200 notes you could get the RF 50mm f1.8 which again will give you awesome, awesome shots. Both the DSLR and the mirrorless above have quite big APS-C sized sensors. The next step up would be to go to a full frame sensor.... but we're then talking mega bucks. OR... you could go second hand which opens up loads of options!

Let me have a look and come back to you mate.

Not silly money, knew I should have added What have you paid - lets try that and half it lol

I have that app as well, I'm sure it doesn't take pictures the same as using the built in camera app, like the quality is set on max but it doesn't seem as good as the standard camera photos 🤔

Any camera suggestions mate? mine has packed up working completely so I've just got my phone

I have a cheat, one of my banksticks which I use as a distance stick has a Gardner camera adaptor and phone bracket mount screwed into the top. Get the unhooking mat in between the two and I'm normally at the right distance. Add Selfie voice trigger app on the phone, and it is good to go.

18lb 👌 not the best shot I had someone take the photo instead of being on the tripod, with that it hasn't focused on the fish properly. I'm still happy with it tho, it's a memory 🤙🤣 I'm gonna put some pegs in the swim in a bit and have one where the tripod goes and one where the cradle will go. Should be able to keep everything pretty centered like that 👍 it's a learning curve but I'm sure I'll get there 👍

Yeah got that reply myself more than once n TBF some of the stuff was that processed it may as well have been lol

Anyone else, when you was a nipper annoying your Ma about what's for dinner and she would reply... with sugar on?.. What a world we live in today. 🤑

Good luck mate, hope you bag a whacker.

cheers, Marsh Lane not too far about 8 miles but with rivers that could be anything or nothing reckon it will be fun and if i catch anything will put in on catch reports

Almost 😁. New set of bite alarms next and a one man bivvy for the solo sessions Was between the xt and hydrotuff and landed up choosing the XT. TBF I swear by the gardener braid

IMHO the best line on the market 👌

OK. First thing - get your manual out. I know how to do all of the below on a Canon, but not a Nikon. You'll likely have to go into menus to do some of this but the manual should make it clear. So.... Change from ‘Auto’ to ‘A’ mode (aperture priority mode). This will mean you control the aperture, and the camera will do almost everything else for you. Set your ISO to ‘auto ISO’. This means the camera will control sensitivity to light on its own. Change your AF (auto focus) Area mode to ‘Single point AF’. This will prevent the camera from trying to focus on multiple items (your face, the trees in the background etc). Change your Focus Point to ‘Centre point narrow zone’. This means it will focus on the centre of the shot i.e. the fish. Zoom the lens out to 50 mm focal length - a great length for trophy shots. Set the aperture size at the largest it will go at 50 mm focal length. The larger the aperture, the smaller the ‘f number’ – so you’ll be looking for the lowest f number you can which is probably around f4. Make sure the centre spot on the viewfinder is on the fish and off you go. This will focus on the kipper, your face will be very slightly out of focus behind this, and behind you you’ll have a lovely blurry background. I strongly recommend you practise all of this, and take shots with a prop like a bag or something. You obviously don't want to be playing with all of these settings with a fish on the bank.

Didn't even notice that mate 🤣 I've got a nikon d5000 with a af-s nikkor 18-105mm lens yeah its in auto mode mate, i don't have a clue what im doing, ive only just managed to work out how to use the intervalometer 🤦‍♂️🤣any help would be great thanks 👍

Hi, just popping in to pop a beach towel down so to speak no angling this summer so far. Found this as a hook bait dazzler got winter singles write all over it.

Yeah it's not for me, if I wanted it off the bottom I'd use a pop-up rig, but I'm sure it works just like all rigs work in the right situation. I have 2 rigs that do it all and both are versions of the multi rig. They want to sell us all sorts of stuff to put a rig together, when you start needing swivels to connect the hook and pointless weights I'm out. But if I start blanking badly I might revisit lol

Look at the rig right at end of video ive just put in thread....

Method feeders are usually tied with around a 3” hook length.. they work

In the great scheme of things, yer average carp seems to take a bait on the move, and with the fish in Saint Danny's vid, they ghosted in and seemed to sna-tch at a bait rather than the "waddle up, nod down and bingo" that we all pray they'll do... I think that the blatant popup will spook some off, but you can't argue with the sheer numbers caught on them... it may be that the fish in that particular water just don't like a popup. As a matter of course I use snowman rigs on my club waters and they score well, a 16mm bottom bait with an 8 or 10mm popup to sit the lot up nicely, works well for me, sometimes I trim either the popup or the bottom bait to achieve the required neutral bouyancy, but as long as it just sinks I'm happy

Back on the res for a 48 hour, on the second night now and off the mark with this one 👍 Hovering just over 25lb 👍