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Exactly..... I'm a hero really 😁

Cup half full , Yonny . You know that the Carp are going to start spawning soon ( in some places they have already had a go ) , and then they will need a rest to recover . So you are selflessly waiting until the end of June before you fish next . 😁

Another afternoon on my local park lake and 8 fish up to 18-4 chalked up. It's not the most difficult lake in the world but it's nice to have a confidence boost to compensate for a run of blanks on other waters. I was sending the boat out to the far bank tree line with a combination of boilies, pellets and crumb and topping up every hour and the fish certainly responded to the bait. I did chuck a little bit of crumb in the margins to see how it descended through the water column as I was worried it might be spreading out too far. A few hours later I saw a fish over the bait and it dropped down on it with it's tail waggling clear of the water as it mopped it up. Needless to say, my confidence on adding it to my baiting up has gone through the roof!

Or a quick way to empty your pocket.

Not necessarily. Even soaking and boiling is releasing attractors, additional fermentation of particles releases hydrolysates. Aging certain beef cuts, steaks, increases the utilisation of the available protein. Hydrolysate is a posh way of saying more digestible or usable protein, and can refer to meat, seeds, beans, legumes. Soaking and boiling hemp is doing just that. In fact while hemp is edible 'raw', it is more attractive when heated and oils are released. Even plain crushed hemp is more attractive after boiling water is poured over it. You have never read the Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series of books. Myron Bolitar would rather drink Chocolate Yoohoo over his friend Win Lockwoods choice of wine. They can do, but have been used for years, and quite probably many anglers have used them without knowing that they have done so: CSL Liquid, Liquid Yeast, Liquid Liver, various liquid fish products are all sources of easily utilised protein.

We have a cat. She sits on the side of the pond watching the fish, she loves it. This keeps all the other pests like birds away. I have a fake heron next to my smaller goldfish pond, wouldn't recommend it. The cat couldn't care less about it and I suspect none would. We had a heron visiting this pond despite the plastic one, but not seen it for months now.

No sign of cats, or birds? Ive got both. Luckily not a heron, but a magpie (which have fairly large beaks I've noticed) I nearly got a fake heron, but wondered how long that would deter the cats. The hexagons do keep the food in the middle, they're not ideal, but dont fancy having a net.

I get your point, but this a bit like shouting 'I LIKE CHOCOLATE MILK' when people are discussing wines.

My pond is raised with a good drop to the surface so not accessible for pests (and so far no issues with herons either). You could try a feeding ring which would keep food away from the edges but the koi might take a while to get used to it. The floating hexagons might work if they keep food away from the edges. It is defo worth keeping pests away. If they come to the pond to feed they'll end up pooing in the pond and that can introduce parasites.

How do you keep pests out? Ie. Cats, birds and the like. Ive noticed a few animals that'd take them given half a chance. Im trying these floating hexagons

Quick night on the local day ticket on Friday. Managed to get on them easily enough but a bit disappointed to just catch the one. I put a bucket of bait out about 30 yards in front of me and got continuous liners on it from about 9pm until 3am. Bizarrely, the only rod to go was the one chucked under the bush in the near margin. I can only assume my hinges were not the one..... should have put bottom baits out. Still, better than a blank and a very pretty little patchy common. I'll not get out again until the end of June which is a killer.

I had no bass, but 11 doggies on Friday night. Mine are Daiwa 7HT's on a 12ft6in Daiwa Sandstorm and a 12ft6in Daiwa SeaHunter Z.

What a session. Well done to the lad. Yesterday I went for a walk around a water on which I have a ticket starting in June. It's an awesome place, nearly 90 acres of water in a massive nature reserve/SSSI/SPA. A proper big pit with everything that you could hope to see..... bays, islands, snaggy margins, massive sheets of water that go on forever, a really impressive place. I actually fished this water ~25 years ago when I was completely out of my depth. I caught one carp, to this day one of the best I've caught. Would you believe it..... I walked into the swim I caught from all those years ago, and there were loads of gulls diving on a huge hatch. I persuaded the Mrs and kids to stop for 5 mins so I could check it out. Straight away I spotted the carp popping there heads out feeding on this hatch, well within casting distance too. All that water and I found them straight away. Couldn't believe it. Law of the sod dictates I'll not find another chance like that once my ticket starts but it certainly got the blood flowing ready for June!