Leaderboard

Good morning to you all, so as I defrost in front of the fire i shall regale you with a tale of carp, rain and mud! (I’m like a cut price Terry Hearn!) This tale has its foundation in last week, when I found myself once again ensconced in a stuffy hotel room for a “preparation course” ahead of my final exams next week. Chatting to wifey on the phone, she asked why I didn’t take any fishing gear with me, I explained how there wasn’t any time to disappear to a lake for a few hours, so wifey suggested that I get an overnight trip in as she is working and daughter is at nursery and I probably won’t be missed! Still, as the wifey and I have another baby on the way, due in the summer, opportunities to get the rods out are going to become few and far between, so I prepped the gear, my daughter and I rolled some bait and on yesterdays dawn I was gone, heading for zombie sheep lake. In arriving, I found the lake looking grey, sullen and foreboding. The water level was up by a good 2ft, meaning one of the islands had disappeared completely, and the other, only a few sorry looking branches poked above the water! As I was alone, and the wind was piling in, with this being a rather barren landscape, with little to stop the howling wind between the Russian Steppes and my bivvy, I chose to set up on the back of the wind, tucked in behind a sorry line of bushes that did at least act as a wind break. It wasn’t raining, so I took the time to have a lead about to find my usual spot albeit from a different angle. Happy with my spots, HMS Jenny (my bait boat) was launched into the chop, where she gamely battled the waves to deposit two pva bags of boilie crumb, pellet and maggots onto the spots. With that, I was fishing. Both rods being Fox Horizon X3S’s to Fox EOS 12000 reels, to lead core leaders, 3 1/2 oz leads fished as helicopter rigs to fox cortex braid, ESP Clawhammer hooks barbless size 6 fished slip D style. Bait was my usual Premier Superaminos with belachan, shellfish and salmon oil with added robin red, I tend to just keep feeding the same bait all year through here and still keep having bites, plus it helps keep it established for next year. A good quality bait gets better with application in my eyes. With the rods out, it was time to set up house and have a cup of tea. As I was crouching down by the rods, watching the water for any subtle show that there may be fish about, my right hand rod tightened up, so the tea was flung to one side and I snatched up the offending rod, on hitting it, the rod took on its battle curve as the battle was joined. After a spirited 20min scrap, where it bored remorselessly around the flooded margins, it finally rolled over and hit the net. I checked all the fins were flat, popped the hook out and rolled it up in the mesh for the short walk up the bank. As it is rather steep on this side, with all the rain, it was like an ice rink, and I managed to slip over, landing on my bum with a carp in my lap! Still, the fish was undamaged so I laid it on the unhooking mat and unfurled the net. I was faced with another rig in its mouth! Hanging from the scissors was a pink boilie, attached to a rig, safezone leader and a 4oz lead that had no chance of discharging from the lead clip as the tail rubber was jammed on tight! So I unhooked it for the second time and held it up for the happy snaps at 28lb exactly, he was in rude health, I don’t think the other rig had been there long as the mouth was not torn, but I treated both hook holds and let him go, a 4oz lead lighter! I felt that he could be the start of a few, to get a bite so quickly, but alas, it wasn’t to be. HMS Jenny continued to battle the waves to deposit my baits back out there, the rain closed in and started hammering it down, I discovered a few leaks in my bivvy that will now need attention, the bank became a quagmire and it soon became a challenge to stand upright without slipping, let alone walk anywhere! So diving into the stand of trees, I picked up a carrier bag full of pine needles, pine cones and twigs, which I made a path from my brolly to my rods, now I had a grippy surface again, I got my head down and had a peaceful nights rest! This morning, I awoke and redid the rods, or at least tried to! HMS Jenny, my indefatigable little Amazon special bait boat, finally gave in. Her props still spin, she splashed bravely through the waves, but when it came to drop the baits, the hoppers refused to release, the motor working the release mechanism had given up the ghost. HMS Jenny was like a WW2 Escort Corvette who’s used its last depth charge, it can sail gamely on, but not a lot else! I chose to stick on a stringer on each rod and cast them out for the last hour or two, whilst I slowly packed up. Sat on my bedchair, looking at the bags that needed packing away, whilst trying to drum up the enthusiasm to make a start, my left hand rod registered a rapid drop back! I leapt off my backside and promptly landed back on it again as my feet shot out from under me in the slimy muddy bank, and I landed flat on my back, picking my self up I watched the embryonic take fizzle out, I’d missed it! This proved to be the motivation I needed to pack away and go home. With the barrow loaded, I slip and slide my way back to the car park, load the car and head for home. This proved to be a more mentally challenging session due to the conditions, and it did cross my mind to pack up and go home, but I gave my head a wobble and stuck it out. Besides, a 28lb common in February isn’t a bad reward! Now time for a hot bath, get HMS Jenny in dry dock and see if I can get her back to her little bobbing best!

This bad boy! Does nearly 60 lb now this one!

out for 4hrs today, just to enjoy the sunshine! Had this 15lb common on a single NS orange pop up

out for a few hours enjoying the sunshine 😎

It's been a long hard 6 months of Autmn & Winter. I haven't been able to get out since last August. Glad to finally be back at it again. Its a rock hard water, but today's not about catching. It's about being out and enjoying life for a few hours. Tight lines anyone else out there today. I hope this isn't a false spring......

I'm in the mud tonight.

Twice! 🙄

Hi Yonny, Thanks for the positive comments regarding Trent Shrimp. I've decided to go for it. I only hear praise for Trent and they've got those white cork balls back in stock at last Cheers for also sharing your common capture, what a creature!! Luke

Yup! Been using it for 10 years+. I don't use a lot of boiled bait but when I do it's always the Shrimp. I had just dropped a bait deal back in ~2015 and was looking for something new. I'd bought 20kg of Essential B5 and was really struggling. Literally couldn't catch a cold. Given the track-record of the B5 I was reluctant to believe the bait was the problem but a pal of mine put me onto the Shrimp. On my first session with the Shrimp, 4 hours after casting out, I caught the big common I was after. It was like flicking a switch.... just started getting loads of bites. Just yesterday afternoon, with the temps in my koi pond rocketing, I decided to see if the fish would eat boilies. I chopped up a handful of Shrimp and plonked it in each corner of the pond. Given my koi have never seen a boilie I expected they'd take a while clear it up. Wrong. It was gone in about 1 minute! They absolutely love the stuff. I can't help here I'm afraid mate. The Shrimp is that good I'll not try anything else. I have 100% confidence in the stuff.

Yes , they do come big sizes. I told my mate about them and he uses the 6's. He absolutely loves them. And the bonus being, no carp tax.

Dark moody and damp February session

I bought a second hand 12ft daiwa super spod rod the other week. I used it for the first time this weekend. Was nice to go back to an anti frap tip again. That was really bugging me on my old chub spod rod. Seems a nice sturdy beast too 17 wraps seemed like a flick. Very happy with that purchase for £45.

They don't call me the stringer flinger for nothing 😂

Maybe try using a stringer, no problem

Tight lines , Elmo . Don't fall on your bum like Ouch . 😁

Since before Jesus was resurrected I heard.

Think Yonny is a Trent baits user

Get yourself some "Varivas Chinu" hooks from Veals Mail order. They are a sea fishing hook, Sizes 8's and bigger. They are choddy style hooks, super sharp and half the price of carp hooks. If i was still carp fishing I'd 100% be using them.

If anyone’s interested, I’ve edited my catch pic above with a full catch report.

The NGT canisters if you are talking about the 500's are actually some of the best gas canisters out there. The ones to avoid if possible are Coleman!

Is this the right room for an arguement? LOL

And I thought that I was mad with some of my sessions😅 Proper result that Mate, lovely looking fish, and the weight is just a bonus.

Bringing this up again, as I have found a couple more decent brands of canister: Taylor and Brown. These were an eBay search after I got annoyed at Coleman going from £20 for a 6pack to over £30. They were priced at £21.99 including carriage. Admittedly I have not used them carp fishing, but I think cold, wet, windy days and nights under a Beach Buddy or umbrella while pike or sea fishing might be a serious test. The canisters ran until empty with only a little reduction in flame due to low pressure. This one was a surprise to me, NGT canisters! My mate Will mentioned them last summer after we had sworn at the Coleman canisters together previously. He picked up a bargain through Ebay and again, pike fishing mornings were the test. While I have not seen the canister run low, Will praised them for not being a problem when low.

I do like my 12 footers, I find the eyes a bit flimsy though. One of my butt rings is quite bent already.

Times like that, I bet you wish you'd kept the boat?

When you realise you don't even need to change your line yet 😂

Pretty sure Yonny has used the shrimp for as long as I can remember

It doesn't empty properly, even when put upside down when nearly empty. Always have to heat a bit of water up in a pan, then put the gas canister in the warm water in pan to get a decent burn, otherwise the flame is too low.

Legend - well in mate 😎👍

I love a varivas hook 👍

Beautiful fish, well earned buddy👍

Great find mate. They look like just like the Drennan Continental Boilie hooks.... except massive😅

You're the epitome of " you have to be in it to win it " , Ouch , but I'll leave the heroics to you 😁 . Well done on the big Common you thoroughly deserved it . 😃

Thank you

I like the go gas ones but they do seem to empty quickly.

😱

Funny thing is that many freezer baits become bio-active by a simple process called efflorescence, where salts and sugars come to the surface of the boilie. It is why some baits are more effective after a couple of days out of the freezer. There were a number of bio-active ingredients, from meat meals to milk products, to pineapple juice (bromelain).

That’s barren lol congrats on the fish

It is a tad open, the rains hammering down now and I’m under a brolly and storm sides! The hot water bottle is working overtime tonight!

I bought 20kg of S7 and failed to catch anything but 3 tench from St Ives, might have been out my depth at the time though. So possibly not a fair reflection. Their hookbaits never seemed to set the world on fire for me either though. But might again be me.

Personal experience is years and years ago now so probably not much use. Tried the switch when first released and found it poor compared to fishmeals. a friend has done extremely well on the bug in recent years.

You're a hard man ,Ouch . No natural cover in view , and the wind wipping across . I'll just stay indoors , and cheer you on . 😁

sorry i should of been more clear, its a slightly different design from the other 2 alarms - whereby a circuit wire keeps the back cover close to the main cover, i'll post a pic next time i do a battery change...

The colour doesn't affect the process which is what you were questioning originally though. I guess it makes them more saleable as most pop ups are bright. I take it you have read the part about the process though? Also you are now calling them liars, even though you don't really care. 😂 So you can't recommend any but having not tried them you are keen to slate specialized hook baits. Also you spelt your best mates name wrong It's Bryan Jarrett. 😉

Thanks Kev. 👍 Thanks Kev 👍

It's written on the website.

Pretty sure he’s gone in to some level of detail about the process and how long it takes. Also in to how the cure works on the baits and why. I thought I recognised your style and tone from the other forum. end of the day, you don’t think they are worth £22 a pot, plenty do. Personal choice eh. As I’ve said, can’t deny the baits catch plenty of fish and they are used by plenty of sponsored anglers on the sly, or more recently publicised that they use them. This speak volumes on its own when people that get free hookbaits chose to buy something different. plenty more expensive air balls out there that are nowhere near as effective based on catch reports. Massively publicised in mags and things, SHB is irregular social media and a paid for thread on a forum and has an incredible customer base. Again, that says a lot. Enjoy your fishing as you say, probably don’t focus on continually trying to discredit SHB. Especially when you obviously have no idea about what goes in to creating the baits 🤷🏻‍♂️

That's a can of worms Kev, I'm sure someone will be able to assist but I used Co pilot to try and understand bio active ingredients a bit better. Still don't properly but this is something I learned which may help 😱 😂

Just fitted my new rod locks ready for spring - hopefully no more flying rods 😆