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couple of low double Christmas commons

72hr blank 👍🤣

out for a few hours to bag a December carp. Fishing locked up to the reed line

Althoigh it's not really cold at the moment, and to continue doing my winter sessions in some sort of comfort I always use base layering .. Anyway I thought to upgrade and have bought Zerofit 'heatrub' made in Japan....all I can say is get some !!!!

Well the end of the year has gone well. The koi are doing great and still feeding most days due to the elevated temps. The nets/covers are now off since the leaves are gone. The water clarity is insane.... you can see every little detail on the deck in 2m. The temporary floating skimmer has worked a treat. I picked up a pond vacuum a month ago and gave the bottom a good clean at the weekend which means there's no detritus for any nasties to hide in ready for the spring. It's a real shame I can't post vids on here as I have some great footage of the koi milling about. So now I need to plan for spring which apparently is the most tricky and dangerous time of year. Parasites wake up before the koi so it's essential I do everything I can to keep their immune systems working as well as possible. If you lose your water parameters early on, you're chasing your tail all year, so I have to be bang on it to stay a step ahead of any issues with algae, weed, DO, and ammonia, nitrite, pH etc. Really enjoyed the last few months and looking forward to my first full year with the pond. Looking to feed heavily next year to get some good growth, while maintaining the water quality. I'll keep this thread updated from time to time for anyone that's interested.

Literally ,right in,amonst those dying reeds,i had placed my bait..you can see the line cutting down from the peg on the bankstick it was good knowing your freebie and rig were spot on

Across the field from our cottage are a couple of small pools ..its where I go in the colder months ,or should I say rain ,..I thought I'd try the washing line method as they seem to spook off the lines very easily...any way this fish was one of two I fluked out ..

If you want to look like a complete plonker, go ahead and buy one!

Funny you should say that, on my local park lake it was 3 grains of corn held up by a single piece of fake corn over Vitalin that produced the vast majority of the carp caught. It is a very silty lake and most people tended to fish boilies which sunk into the gunk. The Vitalin and sweetcorn sat on top. I had some very successful sessions, and watched many others fail to catch. Boilies did work, but only in specific places where the bottom is slightly harder. I think there were or are some specials that really work, but I think many have changed as flavours have been regulated. The Solar Squid and Octopus, original Scopex (not later copies), Monster Crab, Green Zing, or Pineapple really did have something about them, there are still others now that work, but is is finding them. Add to that, fishing over bait whether groundbait, particles or beds of boilies may make our 'non smelly' baits effective, or even the single bait that the carp think 'here's one I missed earlier'.

My mrs always moans that she’s cold I bought some of the uniquelo ultrawarm base layers for her as they are rated to about -25 doesn’t moan about cold when she’s wearing them

I've got 2 , and as you say they're very warm , although they don't seem to breath much and you can get a bit of a sweat on if you're not careful 😁 .

The Fortis Tundra salopettes are the best clothing item I've bought recently, waterproof and very warm indeed. I bought the matching coat but in hindsight I'g go for their marine jacket instead as I cannot see me using the Tundra coat as I'm already warm enough in the salopettes. Already got lightweight waterproof trousers and jacket but would look at the Fortis Marine stuff if I didn't 👍 Whilst the Catchdry coat may be good, for me personally it's too long and bulky - cant see that being suitable for days roving the river or carp stalking, but were all different. Fortis looked at the serious competition (Geoff Anderson) and made stuff that probably almost matches but at a much lower pricepoint, serious clothing for serious anglers I'd say so you get what you pay for, but the pricepoint of Fortis is much lower than Grundens and Geoff Anderson. Serious carp clothing was long overdue so well done Fortis I say.

Whilst I should play it down - last 3 trips were successful to a degree and all fish taken on Halibut Pellet wafters that barely smell of anything and very dull. Proves the point really, who are the special specials attractive to? US!

I just use a pair of jog bottoms and a hoodie over them and have been nice and warm ..I got the socks too,but not tried them yet.. A good purchase ..

Looks decent 👍

I knew I had it somewhere..

Very, very interesting..Not me but my father was one of the first members of BKKS .. We used to go around various members gardens/ponds and learn from each of them ..My Dad used to go straight up to Heathrow, a long drive to pick up his Koi from Japan,this was in 70s,things different back then.. One story ,he bought two Koi,introduced them to the pond ..we all went to school/work ..When I came home I found one newly stocked Koi had jumped out ..and was not looking at its best ..!! I think it survived ...

I know those supersonic baits you speak of ...I tried them ,had more on two plastic fake corn critically balanced and a few crumbled freebies in a mesh bag ...

Hi Everyone I see Skeetex do their own version of a Catchdry , or should I just stick to a suit comprising of salopettes and a jacket ? . Your opinions please , ta . 😃

Thanks very much for your detailed reply , Kev. 😃

You've just sold it to me , Golden Paws ! 😁

Super special mega expensive hookbaits, I wonder how gullible we are? I used to keep on buying tubs of pop-ups; strawberry ice cream, cranberry, dairy cream, squid and octopus, tutti-frutti, monster crab, pineapple, and goodness knows how many others. The honest answer is I found that the majority of the time that I got takes on 3 of them: squid and octopus, monster crab and my own spiced garlic. Those 3 produced fish as single hookbaits or as the topper on a snowman setup, with other baits like the pineapple and the green zing, tutti-frutti producing occasionally. I can't forget one session over winter, for two days 4 takes came on high attract pop-ups, after that the bait that produced was only the food bait tipped with the spiced garlic, and I constantly kept a high attract bait on one rod.

Plenty of similar hookbaits out there apparently, without the constant rants that guy gets away with on one of the many forums available out there 😂

Winter sun found ❤️