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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!

Got out for a night over the bank holiday. The syndi is closed for spawning so I visited a day ticket down in the Nene Valley. It was absolutely rammed as one might expect given the timing, but I managed to find a few carp in a quiet corner. It was dead hot, so I flicked a couple of zigs out just under the surface. It was clear the carp were just sunbathing, so I was expecting to have to wait for the sun to drop behind the trees for any action. So it proved with a take around 19:30 which resulted in a lovely grey linear. Onto the deck for the night and I realised I had a problem – I’d forgotten the spod rod! I found one of those Wolf X-Spod jobbies in my bag (bought it ages ago and never used it) and bodged it onto one of my carp rods. It worked a treat…. those X-Spod thingys are great! I put 2 on the deck and left one up in the water. At 02:30 I was away off the baited spot and a nice little cricket bat common was landed. Re-did the rod and 04:30 saw an awesome chestnut linear landed - worth a pic this one. Photo’s done, I was half expecting that to be it but at 09:00 the zig rod went. It kited to my right past several other anglers and the hook pulled when I over-gunned it trying to stop it. Still, a good sign. In come the rods on the bottom, zigs on all of them, and back out they go. About 10:30 I get another take and another cricket bat common is in the net. I planned to stay a bit longer after that but as the heat increased, I decided I was happy with what I’d had so called it a day. A great little session in the end.

Couple nice ones on caught on solid bags, always good for a quick bite.

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 👍

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 ..

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.

Had 5 today, 2 mirrors and 3 commons... On snowman rigs with a small bag of pellets with a dip of Manilla glug

Change of hook baits over the same spot has done the trick & I'm off the mark .certainly not a big fish but very a welcome one 👍

Evening gents, well I'm out fishing. Sudden change of venue over the weekend as we had been double booked at churn ! We've ended up at the woolpack lake 4 exclusive, so considering it was so last minute not ended up to bad bit tight for 4 of us but its ok . Fingers crossed

Not carp exactly but…

Almost a rod shot just had to set them up Went rag worm drowning this morning glorious weather 😎

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.

Just got back from a 24 with my dad, we had a wicked session 👌 he had a 21 and two doubles 👍I did 25lb 8oz, 21lb 4oz and a mid double 👍 I think they are getting ready to spawn, they were all really plump and as we were leaving there were a few crashing around the back of one of the islands so that's gonna probably be it for a couple weeks now. Maybe have a dabble at some sea fishing 👍

Wasp Exile rod shot.

One of the smallest in the lake, but really nice to get and bend in the rods, from an old 2 acre pond.

Whatever floats your boat init lol, I love catching Carp on the ressies, fishing at distance. When you lift into something feeling solid 100 yards, just feels wicked 👌 then it starts stripping you when youve got it half way back🤣 I find they fight so well on the ressies, 100% my favourite way to target carp lol. @yonnyit was your advice years ago that helped me get some of my first captures on a 90 acre water, which is now my favourite place to fish 🤣 I do try to mix it up a bit though, I go to a 4 acre estate lake with my dad, it's pretty easy to get a bite once you've cracked it, but tbf it's more about spending some time with him 👍 This year I've joined a complex with some stunning fish, I've managed 3 20s this year on the 4.5 acre lake, but still struggling on the 9 acre, not a single fish yet lol, they are very weedy lakes and just learning how to fish on them has been a massive learning curve and that's just presenting a bait 🤣

I agree. Big waters are a case of find them, catch them. Small waters, anglers are on them all the time. You need a little time to figure it out.

I can relate to this massively. It was an 80 acre nature reserve with a very low stock that did it for me. I was nowhere near ready for it and blanked for a whole season before catching one right at the end (to this day one of the best I've ever caught). What a learning curve it was. The buzz from catching that carp set me on a path that I could never go back from. There are very few blanks that wind me up. As long as I learn something (i.e. literally anything) about the lake or its inhabitants on a blank, I'm not bothered. Every now I'll have a blank session where nothing is learned and that's the only time I'll be a little peeved. Best thing for that is get back down there and bag one!

Check out temu, I just picked up this bad boy for £22.96 I've been waiting for the right deal on this for ages and they knocked off £11 for me. And it's got lid ice packs.

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 ..

21lb 12oz common 👍

Thought i'd fill in the blanks from a couple of recent syndi trips. Back out tonight for another go, buzzing 🙏💪

Bit of bait for the summer. Gave £100 for this lot! 20kg of boilies (12/15mm) plus liquids and hookbaits (popups, wafters, hard hookers). Chuffed.

Struggles pah! If I don't catch the biggun after this , there is no carp god. Lost 2 to cut offs, bivvied up next to a rats nest, caught a 12oz rudd on a zig, managed to get the extra night, went to the shops, was having a look round the lake, when I came back thousands of wasps are flying round the same rat tree. I've taken a rod, net, mat and the hand of god baiting pole and I'm currently perched on a boat. If it wasn't fishing I would have quit, but it beats a day at work so I will enjoy it anyway. There is still time for my luck to change.

Well im on the alternative rig, most anglers are like you say ronnie, spinner and slip D, i have gone back to full on Choddy, light lead with lead free leader and blatent pop up , i had a eureka moment and realised the lake is perfect for chod rig, and now im getting the odd take, plus im happy with my bait choice i think its a matter of time before i get a few out of main lake

That's my point, when it comes right it does mean so much. The common went in in 2018 at 18lb, it's now over 30lb, the linear was a 2020 stocking that was double figures. Last season I did have a very good year, although a 6 fish session really made my season

I tend to fish harder lakes with very limited time so blanking is part of the furniture. Sure it can be frustrating, but it doesn't break me and I never question my tactics (unless I see something that tells my I'm using the wrong tactics which in itself I would consider to be a result.... critical info learned innit). Ultimately, I'm not going to get the buzz I seek from easy, heavily stocked waters. If that means I have to go for longer periods without catching then so be it. I'd rather spend my one night a month doing everything in my power to find and catch something special than queuing up on a day ticket to catch a fish that comes out once a week. Again - I don't get this. In years gone I've retreated to easier waters when it looks like a blank year is on the cards but the result is always the same - catch a few doubles or twenties that mean very little to me..... feel like I've wasted precious time that could've been spent chasing the proper ones...... go back to the hard lake and stay there until I've achieved what I wanted to achieve. Basically a pointless exercise. Of course it's all personal choice but for me: the harder the task, the bigger the buzz when it's job done. That's in all walks of life imo - not just fishing.

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 😎

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

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

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.

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.

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 👍

Hi mate I found a set of nash dwarfs 9ft 2.75lb were ideal for most of my pond fishing, stiff enough to send a 2.5oz lead as far as needed and they felt really nice playing carp, done more 20s than I can remember on them, and they would certainly be enough for bigger fish. For a cheap bait boat, me and my dad share a actor baitboat by boatman. Its nothing fancy but will get your rig and some bait to them island's and over hanging trees 👍

At Hanningfield reservoir today... took this of a lovely Great Grey Owl (had to use the phone camera for this shot) His name is Atticus...

I will say my local lake is well fenced, we do have to keep an eye for Badgers digging under and we did have a disgruntled member cut the fence close to the river, but all is good now and we have CCTV and trail cams monitoring the complex

Had to get a cool box for sea fishing £25 could use it for carping 🤔…just don’t tell Kev 🫢

There is no problem in this case the gates there the fence is gone lol

Awesome. Made my day that has fells 👍👍👍👍

I agree totally, blanking but learning is progress, knowing what you did wrong is as important as getting it right I guess - the bigger picture of understanding. I think the pressure of catching spoils it for many or they allow it to, but I'm doing this for me no one else, so I set the bar!

Lovely morning after a wet night. I call the trees opposite Wile E Coyote and Scotty Dog. I've had a few fish out of this swim in the past, but it is the area where I've seen the big uncaught common.

If your boilie is breaking off when you withdraw the needle, it sounds more like you are using a baiting needle with too harsh a barb rather the knot causing the problem. Boilie recipes have undergone a change from being hard, which was supposed to put off smaller fish and make them easier to catapult or stick out, to softer which requires less boiling and so they retain more of their nutritional profile and allow water to penetrate them and release their attractants more readily. I use a Korda needle which is fine enough to penetrate boilies without causing any damage to them.

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

Trad day today... well nearly every days a trad day now... just lost one off a big drop back, probably a Bream... bit of a stuttery movement on the bobbin, but I'm out and freezing in a north easterly..., got the wind off my back so its not too bad, no carp out this morning but plenty of Bream... giving the new banksticks, buzzbars and bobbins a run out... Rods are Sharpes 9'3" and the reels are Leszek Delag fettled Mordex Merlin centerpins...

I see more animals hit with crossbow bolts than I do with a catapult! Saying that I used to see a pest control officer using a Barnet Diablo or Black Widow for rats, and at one time they were a carp anglers best boilie pult. I really don't understand the logic of some people, those who are trying to ban a legitimate use of a catapult for groundbait or boilies, or those who aim for animals. As a kid I made longbows, catapults and other arrow launchers, and I am positive that not all were used legitimately, kids play fights, pigeons or rats as targets or the occasional school window... As for the police, if I misbehaved, I'd get a clip round the ear from whoever caught me, and if I was stupid enough to tell my mother, another when I told her, or if I was caught by the village Bobby, no matter how fast I ran or cycled, how many shortcuts I took, he was stood at the door talking to my mother when I got home. We have lost education, from one or two misbehaving children in a year group to one or two well behaved children in the year group.