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My son has been trying to catch a carp from the park lake for 11 months. (Doesn’t help it’s a tricky water, he’s only been able to do weekend days, taking whatever swim is left and to top it off, I had the 3 out the other night while he blanked) Today he finally had the bite he’s been dreaming of all this time that photo says it all I think… 18lb 8oz (whilst wearing my lucky fox hoodie…) caught on a home made premier superaminos boilie with shellfish sense appeals and belachan. Freebies were 12millers that I rolled. My little girl rolled some 25-30mil baits from the scrap ends, he caught it on one of those! buzzing, when it hit the net, we both screamed for joy! That’s what this game is all about, that buzz

Had this one at 29lb 8oz on Tuesday. The session was off to a bad start as I left my buzz bars and alarms at home so just fished them off my cradle 🤣 not the end of the world though as i was only fishing for a couple hours. Anyway it nearly pulled the rod off the cradle lol. I caught it from the 4 acre lake on the complex and I believe its same fish as the first carp I had out of there in jan/Feb at 28lb 14oz 👍 here's the one from the beginning of the year Off to the canal in a bit, fishing through to Sunday, will report back if we get any carp on the bank 👍

A 29lb 5oz mirror on Friday evening. I had 3 rods about a rod length from an island but saw 3 shows really close and so lengthened the cast to a really shallow spot. Did a 54 hour stint and that was it and didn't hear of any other fish coming out. Strange as Saturday conditions were perfect as the temperature rose a bit and a pretty strong Southerly wind picked up and chopped up the water.

Did a quick overnighter on the park lake last night as my current seasons tally stands at: nights fished: 1 days fished: 2 carp: 0 I’m still sat under the oval winding down the last few hours of the session. September being my favourite month for carping, l felt o needed to get on the score board for this season. This one went 23lb

Got lucky on my Bluebell trip, arrived Sunday morning as swims became free from the weekend - lots of swims available on Swan but onto my favourite Kingfisher for a lap. Fairly busy but suprisingly the 1st and 2nd points had become free and had the wind smashing in for the duration of my trip. Within minutes I'd seen several shows in each so I bucketed the 2nd point and went to pay and get my kit. With my kit in the 2nd point I noticed more activity in the 1st point so quickly moved and got set up. I gave it a couple of hours watching to identify the main areas they were showing in then checked with a light lead - all presentable with just tiny bits of black silk weed coming back on the swivel. I decided to go in with pva mesh bags with mixed pellets and crumb and 10ml pellet wafter hookbaits. Conditions at this point were banging 50 mph gusting winds, low pressure and rain. Sunday evening as the rain became biblical the right rod signaled a take, I frantically fumbled around for my coat and got out there. Waders on out in the pond playing a fish in the monsoon - head torch shining through the spray it was mega and I netted a lovely 26lb common. 10am Monday the activity restarts and a guy round the corner leaves who was taking the mick in my water so I get the left rod repositioned where I actually wanted it. Late morning and early afternoon I had 2 doubles from the 2 rods straight out so 3 in the bag and I'm praying for a big un. Then at about 4pm i hook what feels a better fish and it kites right this time then I feel grating as it finds weed. No drama it's still coming and I get ot free, but after 2 heavy head lunges it slips off - gutted. Early evening after seeing a bigger fish roll on the left side - the left rod is away, this time it's in weed straight away but I manged to keep it coming bit by bit weedbed after weedbed and then after a great tussle close in I slip the net under a long common. It wasnt until I plonked it down on the mat that I realised how wide this fish was and that I had made a mistake not going for the bigger scales. The Ruben Flyweights bottomed out at 43lb so unfortunately I'll never know how big it was exactly but who cares when they are knarly as anything - best fish I ve caught for a long time - absolutely buzzing. The rest of the trip got slower and slower by the day but who could be disappinted, I'd made the most of my weather opportunity - right time right place and no bait boat, spodding and distance sticks 😎👌

34lb 10oz mirror

Sacked off an overnighter with my youngest, we didn't fancy packing up in the rain. Went to a little farm lake instead for a few little ones. He caught his new pb log.

Thought we were in for some bites over the weekend with some favourable conditions at last. Only fish seen were in a section with no swims between points - absolutely choked with weed. Plotted up nearby in whats become the usual swims for a little while now - 6 weekends. Changed back to pop-ups but rained the baiting right back to just a few boilies with the catapult. 10pm a decent one clatters out in my water, we both hear it and think game on. But as usual that was all the activity all weekend, what a kick in the nuts! Think the fish was just telling us he was off somewhere 🤣 Plus points - bivvy pegs are good and seen dear on the island again - sorry for the phone pic.

22lb mirror, bring it on September!

So this is what the pond looked like when I arrived. The pond is 2m wide, 6m long, and 2m deep. It holds 24,000 litres (~5.2k gallons), with the filtration and pipework capacity taking it to over 30,000 litres. Construction is by way of reinforced concrete base and walls set into the ground by ~1.6m, with the top ~0.4m sitting above ground. The wooden decking on the left is essentially a lid that is raised using a pulley system. You can then walk down into the filter house, which is also set into the ground just like the pond. The filtration system is gravity fed, which means there is a bottom drain in the pond. The water is pushed down the bottom drain, along some pipework, and up into a Nexus 310 which is a high-performance combination mechanical/bio filter. First the water is pushed through the mechanical filter section which removes dirt, grime, and weed etc. The water is then passed to the biological filter section which uses a filtration media, agitated by air lines, to foster friendly bacteria growth. This bacteria converts ammonia and nitrite (from carp poo) into harmless nitrate. The water is then fed, by pump, into a UV filter which passes the water through a tube under UV light which kills algae. The treated water is then returned to the pond through an outlet ~15cm below the ponds surface. There’s also a skimmer system which filters contamination from the surface of the pond. Water that goes through the skimmer is then pumped into a ‘veggie’ or ‘bog’ filter (an additional shallow, gravel-filled pond, planted with moisture-loving plants). This section, located over the back of the main pond, is currently blocked off due to a leak – I’ll worry about this next year. So, as you can see, it’s far from just a hole in the ground. I’ve spent loads of time online researching how all this stuff works, and spoken with the local koi centre, and the local pond builder. I’ve replaced a pump, and the UV bulb in the UV filter, trying to get the existing system working as perfectly as possible ready for winter. We have loads of trees, which means loads of leaves, and this could be a problem when autumn hits properly, especially with the skimmer system blocked off. I’ve purchased a massive fine mesh net to protect it this year and I’ll just chuck this over when the time comes. In the coming days I’ll post about the best bit…… the fish.

In my opinion you will absolutely increase your average weights by using pop ups. The higher you fish them off the deck, the higher your average weights will climb, and it's purely down to the mechanics of how fish of different sizes approach baits. If you whack a pop up 3 inches off the deck you'll hook fewer small carp as it just looks alien to them. Bigguns can't even tell as they're approaching from above due to their sheer size. Just my opinion of course..... I have a mate that fished the same waters as me for 5 years. Great angler. His average, every year, was significantly smaller than mine, and he caught just as many fish if not more. Only difference is he fished bottom baits where I used pop ups. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not..... During my most focussed campaign after 1 particular fish, I increased the height of my pop up rigs significantly to avoid smaller fish. I landed 16 fish after that modification with an average of over 30 lb, and then the biggun. Normal average on this water was mid 20, my smallest fish was 25. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not..... You might sacrifice bites with big blatant pop ups but when the bite comes it's normally one that matters. My first piece of advice to anyone looking to target big fish would be to use blatant pop up rigs. You'll still catch smaller carp, and you'll still catch tench/bream, but imo frequency will be reduced.

the boys rods out on the spots

Conditions were next level by me last night.... had me standing by the window wishing I was on the bank!

As some of you know I've inherited a koi pond after the purchase of a new home. It's not your average garden pond... in fact it's pushing 7000 gallons. Quite an installation I tell thee. It holds 16 koi to nearly 30lb, and 1 albino grass carp which is also a biggun. I'm considering doing a diary of sorts on here to document my journey keeping koi. I'd talk about the set up, any changes, and more importantly the kippers and their condition and growth. Obviously I know a thing or 2 about carp but I'm a complete newbie to ponds so it could be interesting to share in the fun of it all, as well as the blood, sweat and tears that are bound to manifest!

That's certainly made me think! I have tried hinged stiff rigs and even Ronnies for a while but didn't really set the world on fire with them. I always test my rigs in an old ice cream tub before I cast them out to check that they behave as "natural" as possible. Your analysis on the average size of fish using blatant pop-up's is really interesting. I remember reading a Dave Lane article where he forgot his rig putty and so cast his pop-up's out anyway and had a red letter session!

Just reading through this thread and it got me thinking 🤔. I'd say about 95% of my UK big fish captures (35lb plus) were on pop ups and they were nearly always different colours to my free bait.That being said, I fished nothing but pop ups for a very long time so if I hooked a lump then it would have been on a pop up. It was only in the last 4 or 5 years of my carp fishing that I started using wafters a lot. I'm pretty sure that most of my French fish were on wafters though. A mate on dinton once asked me "how come you catch a lot of bigguns?". I put it down to the spots I was fishing if I'm honest and a large slice of luck but this thread has maybe changed my mind on that as I virtually always fished pop ups, he was a snowman or bottom bait angler. Interesting for sure.

I'm not going to get all technical ,here's what I've learnt over time .. I had an old friend 'Egloskerry Tom' Tom had a massive influence on me as a youngster ,as far as carping went he was God.. I used to watch him set up a rod ,cast his latest rig out ,with the latest homemade RH recipe, Partridge hook ,then came attaching backleads ,sinking the line ,....you get the picture !...a right kerfuffle!.. He didn't catch many ,but I loved him as a friend .. Anyway I used to turn up with a bag of Richwoth tutti, some not looking to good ,just found some ,spots that I felt held fish ...one Sunday I turned up he'd been there hours same routine etc ....and nowt ...by lunch time fishing simple running rigs and so on I had 7 nice carp...what that taught me is over complication looses against simplicity .. I fish similar even today, simple is best ,no gadgets or gimmicks ,just a sharp hook in the right place carp are simple creatures...if they don't feed there is nothing you can do about it...and boy ,don't those tackle manufacturers know it they play on people's insecurity..

Mega fish and nice write up. I've always thought that fishing is a bit of a game of chance but when all the stars align and you have the skills and knowledge to capitalise on them, those long gruelling blanks start to feel like a distant memory.

That is a mega fish Kev. World class 😍

I've been fishing and re finding intimate waters I visited from 35 yrs ago ,one of which I looked around ,but never fished ,it's all overgrown ,and farmer is 90 yrs plus.. Had around 12 fish to 8lb ,no monsters at all ,but the Oaktrees are centuries old ,ps,thats my 50 inch Mhr dwarf ed by just one of these amazing trees

I'm not on social media, except for the professional one. I much prefer the chilled out vibe we get here. A lot less 'look at me' and agro.

Thanks The most stressful thing is PFT (PRE FISHING TENSION) Will it be busy? Will I get a decent swim? Will I find some fish? Will I get stuck in traffic? Will I remember everything? No 12:15 I leave work and then it's full on PFT. I've smashed the work out this morning to make sure I can chill though so come on the carps.

Snide rod in the boat??? 😎

Mate, it went right off, decent nights angling 👍🏻

the rods out on last nights session, the calm before the carpy storm

Just done another 24 on the canal, found a nice clear area so thought I'd put some time in here, a bit of prebaiting etc. What I didn't take into account is that I'm set up under a motorway... safe to say I didn't get much sleep 🤣 on a plus note my spot is getting cleared and I caught a tench 👍🤣

Well I can't even upload a screenshot atm🙄 He had a nice little perch about 1 1/2 lb. Needless to say he now wants try live baiting next time. Predator fishing is allowed on my ticket from October with some perch around the 3-4lb mark. Well that is if we get some more rain and increased oxygen levels in the water🤞

After Elmo's plea for more content, I decided to start this one. Below is a video I found on You Tube. It's a fair effort and uses tech to the max, bait boats, drones and underwater camera's. Despite all that, I couldn't believe how blatant the rig was, especially the pop up. The line was bow tight and stood out like a sore thumb and even the lead stood out more than I thought it would. I've seen quite a few of these types of video's and I can't believe that the carp continue to feed anywhere near the area. I'm a bit paranoid about trying to make everything as unobtrusive as possible. I use Korda Safezone leaders (fluorocarbon) and always backlead to keep everything pinned to the deck although I know it compromises bite detection. All my rigs are combi's with a fluorocarbon boom with an inch or so of supple braid to give the hookbait some movement. I don't use pop-ups but but do often use a slip-D combi rig with a wafter that has been bored with some cork to create what I call a wafter+, it is enough to lift the bait off the bottom but the hook still touches the bottom. What edges do you use to minimise suspicion?

two little 2lb test 11ft shimano aero rods with little shimmy bait runners out this evening, left rod to the tree in the water opposite, right rod next to the platform right of shot. Had 3hrs out, landed 5. Nothing huge, but nice to be out again

Agreed although I only really use 3inch pop-ups in spring and catch all sizes because it's spring, it's been proven over and over and on film that the whackers cannot tell it's off the deck so it singles them out. I should fish them more tbh 👍

Wicked post mate 👍 what size pop ups do you use? My mate uses hinges instead of Ronnie's due to the bait being higher, reckons its harder for smaller fish, nuisance species to get hooked on, swears by it lol. I've done really well using big snowman baits over the last couple years, with the bottom baits being between 18 - 24mm, and a pink pop up between 14 - 16mm. I would say my majority of captures were rarely under 20lb. I wonder if it's the size of the bait or the bait being sat up right topped off with a pink pop up is selecting the bigger carp for me? Why is when you think you've got things sussed out another rabbit hole opens 🤣🤣 For years I've mainly fished big open ressies, presenting a bait was fairly easy as the bed was mainly silt, with a few hard spots. As I was fishing mainly around 100 yards my thoughts behind it would be that the rig and and several yards of line would be flat on the deck and out the way of the Carp. Never really had an issue. When I started fishing the canal and complex this year it felt like a whole new type of fishing as I was dropping baits in holes of weed, having my line semi slack riding up out over the weed. My head was falling off as I couldn't see how it would it catch with line coming up off the spot, like surely its going to spook the fish off🤣 my mates take on it who's been fishing there for years was saying I'm over thinking things, the carp are coming out of dense weed, are they really gonna feel the difference between a semi slack line and a strand of weed lol. I still have my suspensions but tbh after I kinda just settled with the idea and continued to fish like that I've started to get through to them when fishing like that 👍

I'm not saying you won't catch on bottom baits. I just feel pop ups are more selective and smaller fish tend to ignore them.

Whilst this is mainly true some of the trickiest carp to catch can be those that have seen it all on a daily basis on a busy commercial, I reeled in a bent hookpoint after one bleep last trip so deffo been done. 95% of bites are dropbacks and you rarely connect, that is NOT normal - this is my finding on Bluebell's Kingfisher anyway - cute as anything. On my big, low stock lake I think they are scared of baited patches which again seems pretty rare, they usually say find them and you'll catch, here it's find them - cast out and they're gone lol This lake is so clear I've been looking at my flouro leaders thinking well they're easy to see - should I go back to leadcore. Minefield!

No you didn't get lucky , Kev , you just went the extra mile . I do hope you were able to let the mickey taker who was fishing in your water know how you got on after he had left ? 😁.

I tend to not be so paranoid tbh, I prefer a fluoro boom on my spinner rig, I nearly always fish a pop up. Mainly bright yellow pineapple this season. I use an unleaded leader (whatever colour I have) knowing it will sink well and it works well with my chosen lead set up (PB Hit n run) And I never back lead or pin the line down. Most people on my lake use a bait boat, so I try to spread the baits out, so the fish have to move between mouthfuls. I like to think they don't really know what rig components are and just see them as detritus but I will slacken my line and get it to sink properly if I can. Although if I need to fish with a bow tight line, I have no issues doing that either. We are all different though and I'm not saying I am right, anything that makes you more confident is a good thing it's just not something I worry about too much, I did use coloured kickers for a while on my spinner rigs and I still caught fish,

Well chatting about fishing is about as close as I'm getting at the moment. Not been in more than 2 months due to the house move, which finally took place last week. Still loads of unpacking to do but the move itself went ok. Managing to partially scratch the itch by sorting out the koi pond ready for winter. I'm doing my best to get the water quality as good as possible ready for the drop in temps. Seems to be working. It's looking crystal clear and the carp are certainly acting very happy. Some real bigguns in there, it's absolutely awesome. At some point I'll get some pics up on here.

Yeah same as, kind of why I like talking about it 😉

I try, but am struggling to get out fishing ATM.

For a long time Iv been thinking about cutting down the amount of gear I take on short afternoon sessions after work, had to be quite ruthless wasn’t easy I can tell you but it had to be done ...

Even if we did save the cash and became millionaires, what would the first thing we would buy?? a carp lake… you know it makes sense!

Don’t forget the carp anglers prayer… “dear lord, when I die, please don’t let the wife sell my carp gear for the price i told her I paid for it”

Ages ago I decided to calculate my annual spend on carp fishing. I took into account tickets (of which I had a few back then), bait, tackle, petrol, France trip etc etc.... I had to stop counting the figure got so high. It was eye watering. I decided I didn't want to know! 100%😅

If it wasn't for fishing we would all be millionaires

XXX Wafters, hard hookers, 2ltr Hemp Oil, 2ltr Bait booster and 25k hallibut pellets mixed sizes. Think the pellets were cheaper than going to the big boys as free delivery and the bulk suppliers are not. Was gonna buy 50k earlier in the year but the price with delivery put me right off tbh but can't be avoided forever as only got about 5k pellet left. 🤷‍♂️ This fishing lark doesn't half cost some money it seems never ending tbh

They'll go for the easiest target for maximum reward so the birdlife may well be doing you a favour mate. Interestingly, at Denton you'd tend to only get a couple of carp taken in winter as they're all sat in the middle 250 yards from the nearest bank - difficult for Mr Otter to take. Then, in spring when carp start to gather for spawning in the shallows the otters would be back and you'd see a flurry of kills. Easy pickings innit. The issue where you are is the island on the big lake..... the bailiffs used to go over there and find corpse after corpse after corpse 😔. Not sure if they still check?

Indeed mate lots of prep time and fairly costly granted - final tally 340k including liquids, but this is Parco and as he's been about 10 times prob knows it better than anyone tbh I'd love a 2 week trip somewhere - proper chilled with the security of a 2nd week should the first be rubbish.

No tigers - whole, chopped and powdered, 10 x crates of corn, maples and boilies.

Mates going Parco again this week, taking 330k of bait for 2 weeks, something like that might last someone years, there it's nothing special.

Little intimate water I found recently,Tranny and 2+1...

I am mate, I only needed a couple, plus I’ve known this particular tackle shop owner for 25+yrs and he’s been very good with sorting out kit at decent prices, I only paid £1 a lead. I like to give him my custom as much as I can