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Just watch any video with terry Hearn in it Most of the time the fish are not on the bottom anyway so most of that can be discounted at times of the day watch for strange movements in weeds look for bubbles. look for bow waves. find one and you will usually find more once you know HOW to look. use the wind and follow it down or across the lake.

A successful angler will always be on the fish and if that means spending more time looking/searching than fishing then so be it. If you're not on the fish then none of the other stuff (dissolved oxygen, rigs, tackle etc) matters.

Your eyes....... they're the most important piece of tackle you have. Pressure, depths, temps etc etc are all good starting points but I'll not fish until I see a carp to fish for. You cannot catch what is not in front of you.

I have polarized sunglasses and binoculars. I’ve never tried observing from a tree, but thanks for bringing that up; it’s helped me see just how important this is.

Sorry about the typo, its actually about 3000 ltrs. Water quality is improved since using a stone/media bio filter for a few days. I dont need to clean sludge off any more, so feel im on the right track Planning on just under 11000 ltrs for the new pond. Im hoping to use the existing pond as a kind of bog pond with a small stream feeding into the new one, with catch pool to a skimmer run off. Might take a while, but it's captured my attention from the rat race grind

As an aside, if you were to head to an unfamiliar body of water, even in a foreign country, how would you start fishing? I'm from Asia, and our holy grail is landing giant common carp, grass carp, and black carp. But every time I arrive at the water's edge full of confidence, I end up feeling completely lost. I check the air temperature, barometric pressure, and water temperature. I even own a pH meter for water quality testing. I try to pinpoint the best fishing spots using satellite maps, measure water depth by every means possible, and even use a sonar fish finder. I observe the vegetation along the banks and gather every scrap of information I can about the water body, both online and from fellow anglers. Yet I still consistently struggle to catch fish well. I don't know if I'm missing something crucial or if I've lost sight of what truly matters. Whenever I feel this confusion, I always default to fixating on my tackle: should I buy a dissolved oxygen meter? A device to analyze the bottom substrate composition? A thermometer that reads water temperature at different depths? Or perhaps invest in better groundbait and hookbaits? But I suspect that's not how a truly skilled angler thinks. So how do I become a real master angler?

For years, around 1995 to 2008 ish I used Daiwa Sensor in brown, on various lakes and reservoirs. From 2008 or 2009 I started using Gardner Pro, normally light as the waters I fish are normally clear. I mentioned above about leaders if I was casting long distances, Drennan Greased Weasel in grey, Amnesia in clear or black has never been an issue. I've watched carp spooking around lines, and it's usually tight lines. I've also seen them spook off fluorocarbon mainlines, whether it was the shadow on the lakebed or possibly the vibration (?) I don't know. Unless your rod tips are mega high, and fishing super tight line, at anything above 40metres the line near the end tackle is likely to be on the lakebed, unless you have 'raised' features like gravel bars to hold it up. I've not been one for 'fish protection' * as with monofilament or copolymer lines, I think the line rarely damages the fish. Braided mainline/leaders and leadcore however I do think can cause cuts, grazes and scarring if they rub. I occasionally fish with tubing, but it is a rarity, and it is for the real name, anti-tangle tubing, to prevent braided hooklinks tangling around the mainline. I normally fish with my rod tips as low as possible, often underwater, to keep the line down, and if I can with running leads and slack lines. *Fish protection, that doesn't mean I don't think they deserve protection, but just that the line is not at fault. We normally fish rig rigs or floater fishing with naked mainline, and hook carp on tench gear, or accidentally while float fishing or ledgering for other species. Camouflaging weights, (sinkers), is it necessary? On my current water the lead in many swims is in the silt. Just dropping a lead in the margins, it is a job to find it. I have lost a few that I have seen fall off the link clip, the run ring fell after a pike bite-off, or where I dropped the blooming thing. I do paint and coat my leads, with a hard varnish, but I think its more a confidence thing camouflaging than a requirement. The fish I had this week and subsequent casts, I had to pull the lead free from the silt!

Looking at a bigger pond etc. I read that you ideally want 1000ltrs per fish. Mine are only 6-8" atm so im already short with 5 in just under 300ltrs

The more I research probably not. Its a 5 in 1 Blagdon 2000. Ive now set up this bog filter which seems be reducing the sludge in the media.