Leaderboard

Agree. The proper ones are the nuts. Half the price of tackle brands, ten times as tough, and carpy as Terry Hearns nut sack.

Easily done, I must take 12 big leads and a few small ones and backleads with me, then there's at least 20 more in the car. I wont admit how many I've got at home - can barely move the box lol

Very quiet on the fish front but the weather is lovely, really does feel like spring, all the birds are chirping. Good to be out 👌

I was fishing last weekend when a mother and her son he must have been 12 ish turned up to fish the nx swim the wind had got up and they were struggling to hold onto the bivvy and put the pegs in, the ground was solid I popped over and between the 3 of us got it pegged down I mentioned bringing a mallet nx time, the granddad turned up late afternoon and brought them a pizza and gave me one as a thank you The gesture made up for a iffy trip 👍

Really happy with this, keeps it all organised 👍 also got rid of the stuff I didn't use 🤣

Been saying to my mate that my rucksack weighs silly amounts, I just don't see where the weight is coming from tbh it must weigh 30-40k Anyway into the fishing store room goes the rucksack, everything is now packed into the barrow luggage - hopefully this will be a game changer for me. 🤞

I need to have a trim down of what I take, my rucksack has got to the stage where it is heavy again. I don't know what I take that I don't need though 😂 Will have to get ruthless 😱

British Army NI Patrol Pack. These are getting tricky to find in good condition. Most of the surplus stores now show as sold-out. I used my old one for 15 years+ until the foam padding in the straps and back plate became brittle and it became uncomfortable to wear. I managed to find a dealer on e-bay so messaged him and he went through his stash and found an absolute corker..... almost looks new which is mad since they've not made the DPM one for almost 20 years. That's me sorted until 2040 now 😁

50 belachan pop ups and 50 maple pop ups rolled onto 10mm cork balls. the belachan is evil smelling… the wife wouldn’t let me air dry them in the house!

That's the first thing I ditched - a bucket of alternative hookbaits. I think the 8 tubs I carry anyway should be enough lol - all pop-ups, I figured I don't need wafters or bottom baits until later in the year anyway so they can stay in the garage. I've got beef with my tackle boxes tbh all those tiny things do seem to add up and when you don't ever use over half of the stuff what's the point I'm asking myself 🤷‍♂️ Think I need a tiny new tackle box and then keep the rest of the spares in the car. I must carry 1000 hooks easy, 10 different hooklinks minimum - just silly really

Deffo 1 trip now, was a struggle with 2 trips lol

I've stuck with British Army Bergens, my old 100litre DPM Bergen lasted years, probably around 15 I guess, the only reasons I replaced it is that the top skirt had a rip in it and it was delaminating. As a rucksack it still works! I replaced it a couple of years ago with an Airborne Bergen https://www.militarykit.com/products/kombat-airborne-bergen-100-litre Front pockets take Delkim receiver, stove and Spods and Spombs. Top outer pocket takes cup, top inner pocket takes scales and weigh bar. The main rucksack is loaded as such: Frying pan, spatula and plate against the back of the rucksack. Waterproof jacket and trousers right at the bottom. On top of them go spare socks, trousers and t-shirt and a long sleeve top dependant on time of year. Then the saucepan, 2 gas canisters, Bialetti coffee maker, a rig bin with bottom bait rigs and a rig wallet with pop-up rigs. On top of that is my fleece and my coffee and sugar containers, usually packed in last. As much as @elmoputney hates it, my tackle box contains all the bits, leads, baiting needles, rig rings, quick links, hooklink materials etc. My food bag is the Korum ruckbag which also has a couple of powerpacks in the side pocket.

Still getting the odd frost til last week ..glad of my TB long top discontinued

Having just got back from a blank night on the park lake, the boy and I were unloading the car when a neighbour came up and asked me if I was interested in rehoming some “old” reels and bits that she was about to chuck in the bin. I said I’d have a look, after all, I could clean them up and find a home for them (or bin them myself!) so she soon returned with 3 diawa windcasts z5000 reels, spare spools still in their boxes! One has a bent handle, but they are otherwise pristine! she also gave me half a dozen fox single sticks and a pair of what appear to be fox micron M shaped (they’re copies) alarms! She wouldn’t accept a penny for them either. the alarms will be checked that they work and I’ll gift them on to a youngster in need of a first set, the single sticks have been snaffled by the boy and the reels already have a home on my spare carp rods… just need to repair the 3rd. anyone know much about the windcasts? They seem lovely reels from what I can see.

There wasn't that much I don't use, other than some bits in my tackle box, and scales, camera etc if I am blanking 😂 I have 5 sections in my rucksack 1) rig box, scales, unhooking bits like forceps, side cutters and antiseptic etc. 2) marker float, pva mesh x2, glove, mini weed rake, spomb, lead pouch. 3) buzz bars, bite alarms and receiver, banksticks and matrix piledriver, and one spare alarm just incase. 4) electronics in a case , camera, light, head torches x3, binoculars, power bank, camera light and intervalometer,leads, spare batteries etc. 5) tackle organiser korda tackle box, 2 other sections one with a korda pouch for my tools (files, baiting needles, floss, lighters, the other one with a few spools of leaders and hooklinks that don't go in my tackle box. And a rig tray Maybe I could lose a headtorch and some items of tackle but it seems to work because I know where stuff is lol. I mainly fish with the car so I could quite easily leave some stuff in a car bag which could be my main barrow bag as I always take it just incase I need it, I can feel a reshuffle coming on. 😱😂

Stocking up for spring. 20kg of squido boilies. A bulk spool of Fluoroshield in 0.4, another chod it tool and a castable thermometer. Also trying out some new Fjuka Sensate wrapped boilies and thick liquid. Oh, and some rock salt. Started baiting yesterday, so the campaign has begun...

What I used to do is ,if I don't use it on a couple of trips ,it don't come along anymore ..it sounds ruthless ,but I'm an older angler now ( 😭 )..so less is more One thing I won't get rid of is my original lockey stainless ,my wife bought it for me ,so I appreciate it even today ,when there is much light options ..to be honest ,much of my inspiration comes from the Bushcraft/wild camping crowd,they seem to have it down with minimalist ideas

Lucky boy, love good days like that, one of my neighbours recently moved and gave my daughter a pair of old 11ft daiwa sensor Z carp rods, they will be perfect to get her started. I've bought her a new reel for her birthday, hopefully she can get out and catch a few with me this year on them.

I quickly went through my rucksack this evening, i removed a dozen leads and that was about it,still have about 10 spares but it still feels quite heavy, but everything in there all seems to serve a purpose. My tackle box didn't seem that heavy, just a few things that weigh a bit combined. Will try and reduce all my other stuff next.

I'm trying to work out how I lose leads. I've had a few snaffled by pike, and last week the swans caused a break-off by dragging the line through the rushes. I did get the rig back but lost the lead. I'm just looking at my modelling table, and noticed that I have 10 3oz leads that are in a state of mid paint and coat in protective varnish. I can't remember buying them unless I stuck them on a sea fishing leads order which is a distinct possibility. I've got a tub full of 4 or 4.5oz Stonze, I don't like using them, they cast like a bag of spanners and can only be lowered in or go straight in a PVA bag, but that weight is too heavy.

I've been following a visual patrol route from the shallows to a mega patch of dead and decaying pads . It's pretty shallow ,but you can see the stems and rhizome entrails moving around ..so I plonked here for 24hrs . 11 takes ,and 8 landed ..including this one ,which was stocked nearly 5 yrs ago ,when it was much ,much smaller..soon those pads will be impossible to fish until next year.

You should try and book another trip while you have their sympathy, hopefully they will roll out the red carpet for you next time, sad to hear that though sounds like the people fishing it just removed it so they could fish it. That's the gamble with day tickets you never know who will turn up.

Amazing stuff, pull to straighten. It's the only hooking I use. I found Mouthtrap to be a bit springy/wirey and sometimes came back not straight, so needed to be steamed. I only used a few times before I found the one above.

Well mate it goes like this…. We turn up to our pre booked swim that the bailiff had placed a stake with a laminated note saying the swim had been booked for the 48hrs, this was way in advance I believe 4 days, and theirs two guys fishing in there 🙄 looked for the sign and couldn’t find it. we drove to the office had a word with Chris the fishery manager and he said he made the sign and a bailiff said he seen it there on the Wednesday. Chris apologised and sorted a swim out on the Tar Farm set of lakes and said we just had to pay for the one ticket….. And we blanked 😏 Haven’t heard anything today from Linnar so il send a email off tomorrow to see if they got to the bottom of it, we were thinking next time we go il phone the head bailiff the day before to make sure there’s a sign up. Some might think we got to fish and for half price so it wasn’t to bad …but a 30llb plus fish is on my mates bucket list and oxlease is the best bet to get it. The organising he’s got to do to get away for the 48hrs you wouldn’t believe and I won’t go into his personal problems here.

I once seen a guy with so much weight in his lead bag ,it was heavier than my main ESP bag,rucksack ..so I thought about it and carry 6 leads ,3 on and 3 spare ,but with spares in me car...

I did one trip at the social but it was a struggle lol, most of the time I don't need a barrow so it makes it easy to take extra stuff, I will get down to 1 bucket one day 😂

I minimalised my kit for years, rucksack, unhooking mat strapped to rucksack, rod holdall with lightweight bivvy dome or umbrella in, bedchair and then bait bucket. I could carry it in one trip or barrow to the swim, and it worked nicely. I did plenty of weekend or two night sessions like that. Sky totally changed my fishing, I then had to add extra water and dog food, and the barrow was struggling, so now it's 2 trips if I barrow, although I'm lucky on the syndicate that I can unload behind the swim most of the time, and then put the car in the car park. I've had to move swim mid session, and although only 100metres, it took 3 hours!

Are you gonna get it down to 1 trip now 😱😂

the boys rods out, his first night done and dusted, he missed a drop back at 6am, no other action

enjoying a brew on the park lake watching the water. Alas a blank, but was a lovely dawn

I was in that swim in 2007 when the big floods hit. Me and my mate were chilling having had a couple when the most intense rain arrived. We were bivvied up maybe 15 yards back from the water and in the space of an hour the water had come up so much it reached the bivvies. We had to pull everything out of the ground and dump it in the van to get out. Very nearly got flooded in. It was crazy. Sorry to hear you've had problems. Don't let it ruin your session. Enjoy yourself 👍👍👍

Hopefully you catch a few, that will make up for the disappointment of not being where you were meant too Good luck mate

Oh dear , what's the matter , BB ? . Did you want to share with the forum , and maybe someone will have an answer to your problem , or it might be good to get what ever is bothering you off your chest .

Finally took the plunge and ordered a Trakker Tempest RS 150 bivvy and the skull cap to go with it. I've got an older trakker with the pram hood style and it's such a faff to get it up and down. I have preferred to use a brolly system for years but it was a bit cramped and it did suffer from condensation if I had to have it zipped up.

That looks like a big old Tench ! .