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Ha! I’ve been lurking and not contributing for some time now but a new PB is worth sharing….. I’m still on a session at Dinton’s Black Swan as I type this………Arrived at dawn yesterday. Clearly lots of fish still in the big ‘winter bay’ despite being on the back of a big SW. Lapped a couple of times, debating where to plot up with 3 nights ahead. Decided to keep it simple and put my rigs where the fish were actually showing rather than where they might end up…… Cast 3 singles out for drops amongst the emergent Eel grass which they seem so attracted to. Decided to get my head down for a couple of hours-I’d set off at 2.45am. An hour or so later I’m woken by a screaming Neville. Lifted in to a very heavy feeling fish which was dogged rather than spectacular. Worryingly, it hit the surface about 25 yds out and started shaking its head at me as I led it in; with braided mainline I’m always anxious when they do this with no water depth to cushion the lunges. Fortune was on my side and I netted a Common that got larger with every yard I gained. With the assistance of 3 other anglers we weighed and photographed an amazing creature of 53lb 2oz! Blown away!

Great stuff lads .... good to see you out catching. I'm off to churn pool at the end of the month with a few mates . First time fishing in a long time ! Hopefully have something to write about.

Where I live there is an abundance of disused ,deep quarries,some are barren,and fishless...but a few have some surprises and have held carp and other species for many years .. When you fish these places,you have to think like a miner ,and find the galleries, which are mined ,and step down into unimaginable depths ,find the galleries and you find the patrol routes.. The weather was awful ,I had a river running under my shelter,at one point ,wind,rain,hail,thunder,lightning..and a big fear of falling branches made it interesting..,then all the mica,clay residue gets everywhere...anyway .. I found the marginal gallery, and fished very simple running lead tactics ,using the Ressi specials I use a lot..After the storm had passed ,I seen kingfisher,heard deer rutting,and woodpeckers, nature at its best ..

Hoping @Pete Springate's Guns gives us the low down on his latest result!

Excuse my ignorance but. What is that???

Well I picked a good day to log back in . Congratulations on the pb hell of a common that mate 😎 And thanks for the welcome back lads 😎

The days of me seeing red has happily past but it takes some effort tho. The bailiff found the sign in a bush

Simple overhand loop knot? What hooklink material are you using?

Done a mid double common yesterday and just done this one at 17lb 12oz, it's hammering down and my hood wouldn't stay up, it all went wrong 🤣 Anyway it will be my last night tonight, hopefully get another cat 👍

Might be on an earner…You should try eating it could be truffles 😂

Look at the tail on this rocket ,I had a hellish battle with it in about 30ft of water I reckon ,it was jet propelled.. I also had 12 others ,similar to my first pic ,but didn't want put em all up., just lovely to be out in raw nature ..

Wow😍 😍😍😍 that is next level, congrats Mr Guns that is a mega stunning beauty. Well done Yonny for making it happen too it would have been criminal not to share this one 😏 good luck for the rest of the trip 👍

Wow ,that's fantastic ,great photo .. Need to have that framed and put on your wall..

Absolutely next level mate! Awesome! Edit: what a shot too. Fantastic photo of a fantastic carp.

IMO the fishery manager was weak letting them get away with that, vacate the swim or you're banned would be my take on it.

Kind of like a Chelsea smile???? It's why I stopped using uncoated braid, it happened to me. Now I've got the double beep shock rig I can use any rig I want with a mesh bag, usually a spinner tbh 😉if it ain't broke and all that.

Friend of mine was getting mouth damage in Italy, problem seemed to be the 15lb supple braid cutting the corners of the mouth. Think he just upped the BS, it was odd and out the blue - no previous issues. 🤷‍♂️

I can't help thinking supple uncoated braid causes damage, especially if you have a big lead swinging about 4 inches from the fishes face, but yeah most fish on my syndicate with mouth damage came from when the lake used to be a match lake, we are now trying to catch them ones and retire them to another pond.

Oh I'd be so angry, I'd have gone home absolutely raging after giving them what for - so bad!!! So those guys just moved the sign and got away with it. 🤬

I like this, when the fish have seen it all I find myself tying a standard hair with a bottom bait and tiny funnel web of crumb- simple as it gets, and works 👍 No baiting just a trap in the zone.

No doubt you will fella 👌

She doesnt look too impressed by Nick tbf Earned a treat yeah - where is it? Hmmm 🤣 George had a thing about mice in the garage, was like a kid jumping up and down at the door to have a sniff round and check the traps every night. Brilliant ❤️

21lb 12oz common 👍

Caught my first carp of the year this weekend after a winter in which I did next to no angling for one reason or another. The weekend started well with 3 carp and a tench. Another bite resulted in a loss on Saturday morning but it was enough to have me blagging another night. Unfortunately, despite that warm sunshine, that cold easterly had them backing off and without a move on the cards I was stuck camping for the night. Still, a lovely weekend and I just hope I can get back out at some point soon. Here's the best of them. The linear is I think an original, typified by the little melted heart-shaped tail that most of the OG's in this water have. The common is I think a stock fish but no less welcome for it. Clearly one on it's way to being a real biggun.

Hello fellow carpers, I"m new to the whole carp scene, and I have a question about the knots, I use the figure 8 knot for my hair rigs and sometimes the knot is too bulky for the boilie I end up breaking just to try to get the hair rig through. I"m wondering if there's any other options or any other suggestions or any type of micro knots available. I've looked around and tried the loop knot I got the same bulky knot Thanks in advance Pablo

Yes what is it ? , the poo of one of those big cats that roam about leaving tantilising clues of their existance ? .

Sorry mate ,I should have explained better ,it's scat ...there's a lot of wildlife out there some if which is unaccounted for ,all sorts .. I've seen stuff ....

Also during the storm, I heard a right commotion behind me in the woods and saw a roe dissappear like a rocket past me in the half light ,in the morning I put my 'tracking ,predation head on ' and soon found this ...

Don’t know how long the guys had been fishing in the swim before we got there.They could be innocent or if there not they could just say there was no sign. Maybe some (censored) got peed off not finding a swim and took it out on the sign. When we book again il phone up the day before and on the day to make sure all is good.

Here's my Casper having a pint down by our local pub.. Like as mentioned ,kind words indeed,I looked at him as my little buddy spoilt rotten ,but well trained and socialised very well...( except near water lol 😂

Threw £20 at a little temu haul, pair of croc type shoes for any night time dashes (more to the tiolet than the rods these days 😆), water bucket to replace my leaky old one, bait spoons, tackle pouch and some bait pots for my pop ups, plus some tiny pots ideal for soaking zig foam in, all in all pretty happy

Good luck matey, hope it's a memorable one.

Never had an issue with the figure of eight. I'd be looking at the boilie or maybe the hooklink if I were you. Assuming the link isn't too thick, the boilie must be too hard/brittle?

I've been comparing it to the old Vitalin and after treating it as I did Vitalin, it does not seem to bind as well. It definitely needs a lot less water, and there is less flaked maize than in the original.

Can’t be bothered to read back as I can smell an argument brewing lol whilst I have never had a knotless knot slip per se they do twist around the hook shank unless, you whip back up the shank a turn or 2. most people won’t see it as the knot is covered by a bit of tubing. I used to use superglue but it just goes off in the tackle box and leaks everywhere so now don’t bother 👍🫣 when I was a lot younger we did a job at Loctite when it was based in Welwyn garden city and I was given a few tubes of it, one of the boffs there used it for fishing.

Yeah I dont doubt it won't be perfect, just really an experiment to see whether a £20 reel will be up to the job, if its OK I will use it, if it annoys me I haven't really lost much and will swap back to the aerlex or buy an okuma or something.

Hi Nick Sky seems rather disappointed that you haven't even had a nibble of your rat , not even a " thank you " , " oh why does one even bother ? " . 🐀

Mate, When I was in my teens we had a Shetland Sheepdog, Sheltie, called Little Mo. I used to take her fishing, she loved it. Very well behaved, and despite being free roaming, she would sit still for hours watching. I still think of her. I think that we remember all our animals, not as pets, but more as friends. Rats? I got presented with this one morning: Exactly, she does try to bury it as well, although I think that is 'prey drive'. A predator does not necessarily want to give away the fact they are about.

Well you know how it is Nick , " you don't poo on your own doorstep . " 😁

It wasn't until I encountered rats all over the swim, on the bivvy, everywhere - on a day ticket complex that I decided I needed a new dog if I was to enjoy fishing again. I didn't feel ready for a new dog (6 months) but my daughter found one and put a deposit down in the hope I'd like it too - it was a great move looking back. Still think of George daily but a new dog does help, we are supposed to have them at the end of the day being dog people - there's one out there waiting for you to give it a great life, that's how I see it anyway. ❤️👍

Sky is still fishing with me, and still can't be let off lead. Today's extra dietary items were a goose egg she found in the margins and a dead thing that she found as I took her for a pee. She won't pee or more in the swim, has to go for a short walk.

Managed to sneak 3 nights in for this week to test my new rods 😏🤣 Had this one around 2am this morning at 29lb, caught it on a piece of chorizo sausage topped with half a pink wafter 👍 the rods are like broom sticks to cast with, but have got a decent back bone, enough to put pressure on the fish and turn it when its heading towards snags 👍

Those mirrors are impressive looking fish.

Off the mark with this mirror at 19lb 8oz, not the species I'm after but I will take it 🤣 nailed it on a size 2 wide gape double 20mm boilie 🤣

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

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 👍👍👍

The area I cleaned out and created and started prebaiting 2 weeks ago and now fishable.

Moved 4 times today, first spot on the 9 acre lake got done by the birds so moved further down, so I've set up found a clear spot, some guy has set up opposite me so had to move as I was fishing into his water. The 3rd swim I got to didn't last long as I was getting the rods out and started moving my kit I started to find ticks on my rod sleeves and quiver? No idea where they came from but it spun me out so moved down to the 4 acre lake, I'm quite happy with the spot I'm in as it's the one I've been recently fishing. There's a lot of fizzing going on over the spot I baited previously and there's a few fish showing in this bay so I've stuck 3 singles out over the spot, if it doesn't produce tonight I'll put some more bait out but for now I just want to keep the disturbance to a minimum lol. What a day, feels good to have a beer 🤣