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Just ordered this for Jack, hopefully keep him comfortable at night when it's freezing cold in the bivvy.

Been working away decorating a barn conversion, staying on the job for six days then home for the Sunday. I had a modern static caravan for digs it had all the mod cons but no tv which after 3 days I didn’t miss the Gogglebox at all, I had a radio and kindle. 👍 Just my own company and the wildlife which there was a lot of, the barn was set in 6 acres and two of them was wooded. Took me a couple of days to get used to the hustle and bustle of being back in the city, never realised how noisy and dirty it was. 🤔

Good luck all attending

Lovely fresh spring morning. Nothing else to report, so far.....

Got a light for my camera from amazon, £5 👍 it comes with a battery and charger and also has the option to use AA batteries instead 👍 It seems really bright but will test it tonight when it's dark, maybe the dog is up for some night shots in the garden 🤷‍♂️🤣

No sadly not, just looking back to better times 😏

Well the sun is shining, and it is a beautiful venue. The birds and crays are proving a challenge, and so far the fish aren't munching either. It's still great to be here, hanging out on a social and 🎣😁. The pizza was good once the driver found us. Even better cold for breakfast (and lunch). Now if the carp would start munching that would top it off nicely.

Seemed the perfect swim to choose

26lb 8oz at first light this morning 👌

No Elmo, no party ❤️

On the 9 acre lake as the one I normally fish is full lol. Found some fish fizzing in one of the bays, got 3 rods on a clear spot close to where I seen the fizzing 👍knowing my luck it will be bream but it's good to be out, lovely weather 👌

No need for that is there? 🥴

See you soon pal 🎣

Today is the day, buzzing like an old fridge full of bait.

We are nearly there.

Jack was soon back in the bivvy Sunday morning, heavy frost and ice in the edge, who can blame him.

Never any pressure, just go to enjoy, if you catch you catch, if not so what - you've had a nice time with good people and learnt something. If blanking mattered I'd never choose the venues I do. Catching is for noddies 😂

Probably not for previous members of said lake owner, I don't like to name drop or give obvious detail just commenting on a very typically funny post I saw on face book whilst looking for a lake membership. The company in question with rude photos up was advanced hook baits, not advanced baits, I was going to message the lake owner, say I hear he has a ticket going 😍

It was meant as a bit of fun mate. Reading your post is a bit of a word salad and quite hard to understand

Maybe give it a miss before you post?

Midweek membership at Ecton all lakes but will mainly be on Jigsaw or Clover I reckon.

Should be adjustable low - high for brightness, mine had a wheel on the side. Got the newer versions now USB charged jobbies. The older ones were 4 x AA Batteries i.e the version before yours. 👍

Have you bunked off work?

NO - but tuff titty, he's coming anyway 🤣 He does love getting home tbh

Good luck fella 🤞🏼

I started carping in 79' back then both KM & RH books, plus the monthly fishing mag articles both hammered the High Nutritional Value theory as the way forward...it wasn't until I read a fascinating article mid-80's in BIG FISH Mag by Clive Dietrich (richworth baits, i still have that mag in the loft!) about low to mid-protein baits, brilliant piece, i kept that articles theme in my mind over the years... what i bolded above is SPOT on (similar views as Clive's article) in regards to how i make baits today

Hi Kev. Didn't you mean good people , and Elmo ? . I'd rather go with Jack . 😁

I often see the males group up in an area just before spawning, with the bigger females moving in a couple of days to a week later. It's when you catch that female, and she is followed in by a male or two you know that they are just about ready to go. It's at that point I change species. I don't know if it's worth a couple of roach sessions on the reservoir in the next few weeks before the carp show at Redgr.... as the big known common normally comes out early April at around 42lb from the shallows. A bit of swim clearance coming Friday while other members are otherwise busy.

Good on you for putting fish welfare 1st mate, some anglers forget the Pike is a bit of a delicate fish in some ways

Not me

I'm here

If one catches we all catch tbh. It's not going to be easy, but we're having a good go and there is a 60lb + common out there somewhere. We've just got to get it to slip up.

So what members are fishing? Can we get a little wager on who's gonna catch first 🤣

Problem is that eel numbers are down, probably down to various causes, pollution being one, and eels were apparently otters favourite food. Back in the 1980's the Wensum in summer you could see 100's on the bottom, then they started being caught with sores around the area of Hellesdon, just below the chemical factory outlet. The Broads, lakes and rivers, it was almost impossible to use maggots as a hookbait if you fished the bottom. On the Gipping I used to stand on the bridge to Sugar Beet pits and feed maggots to the silvers, what they missed, eels would pick up of the bottom, you could see them. However this lack of eels is not restricted to East Anglia, it's nationwide. Behind Barham Pits there was a pair of otters, the river was full of big chub, gudgeon, perch, roach and pike. Then an otter explosion saw more appear in the valley, so where 4 or 5 were between Ipswich and Stowmarket, 18miles, (by road) there were now at least 15 otters, and 4 were on Barham, and another 4 on Bosmere, munching everything sizeable. As I mentioned though, my syndicate is not fenced, yet has little trouble. Coots go missing in winter and we lose occasional pike, not many. I think that at night otters stalk the rushes coot hunting as they will suddenly chirp and scatter. That is also pike territory!

Can't wait, see you there.

I finished my couple of days with a blank unfortunately, but it just reminded me what a loss the place is. The jungle on the old lake was supposed to be fantastic for tench. That was the part that was only accessible by boat. I also had some really nice tench and bream whilst fishing for carp on the old lake. Apparently the old lake's been netted and most of the specimen fish have been removed and the new owners have plans to use it as a retreat for people who have social issues. They don't need to run it as a fishery. I think it's unlikely fishing will ever return there now. So sad, but so many great memories.

I sometimes engage with the more extreme end of the EWs on twitter they ain't got a clue it's all political opportunist trying to sell the impossible I'm fairly well informed on hunting with dogs or hounds and terriers to be correct, I school the fool out of them on the many environmental and and wildlife positives there are in using dogs as opposed to any other method, you just need to get them to admit there is a need for predator/pest control, they can get a bit irate as they like control the narrative of there is no need for hunting of any sort. Keeps me busy better than a crossword puzzle.

until they start damming up and peoples houses flood. apparently it’s happening in some places already

interesting post! where can i buy a tin of this, cheers! my view is & in agreement what rod hutchinson wrote all those years ago in: The carp strikes back...with 1 addition below* ie what i bloded in ya post "was missing from their food, carp would search out foods that provided all the nutrients they required" back then when most carpers made home-baits....most lakes get hammered with the going bait, early 80's semo-soya-flour sweeter flavor....once results started to flatter, someone tries protein AND cleans up! all get on to protein...at some point results decline, fish meal come alone, then meat, liver, then tigers, then hemp etc, etc ...a constant ongoing cycle... case in point, do ya remember the story about andy little on savay....he was spending a FORTUNE on protein, his results were TOP NOTCH ...however he couldn't afford the expense with the amount of protein he was paying out for, so he decided to do a test and substitute the milk-protein for semo-soya-flour mix ONLY using the same flavor as in the successful milk-protein, to his amazement he got the same successful results! * I believe carp have *ADDICTIONS* just like us lol who can resit eating a bag of cheddar cheese & onion crisps even knowing its c r a p junk-food? ...i open a 150G bag only want to eat a few BUT...end up scoffing the lot down in 1 sitting! its simply an addiction to those TASTY crisps even though you can eat bags AND still not feel full! If you look at the last 25 years the BIG NAMED brand commercial carp boilies sold, NONE are HNV...YET they WORK quite well don't they? I reckon the recipe guys behind the BIG brand commercial carp boilies are making bait based on the above*...of course imo.

I didn't notice til afterwards this is a battery one mine is rechargeable. I just use it on top of my camera without a flash seems to work OK but I don't catch that many 😂

I have a Korum pop up mat and its fine for carp up to 30lb and I have a korum opportunist mat bag... both very usable walled mats and both quite reasonaby priced

The pop up one wasn't too bad

When Fred Wilton came up with 'The HNV Theory' back in the 1970's I don't think that he was wrong, but I do think that it has been unintentionally misused, misquoted and misinformed. I think from memory he reckoned that after watching rabbits in Australia chew wooden posts to get an additional mineral that was missing from their food, carp would search out foods that provided all the nutrients they required. His answer was to come up with a milk protein boilie or paste providing everything nutritionally they needed. Skinning the paste made it small fish proof. This is where it gets difficult; milk protein is not the easiest protein to digest requiring a specific enzyme, lactase. If there is no or limited amount of lactase, the milk boilie can't be digested, filling the carp up until it is excreted. This brings up that milk protein baits don't need massive amounts of freebies. Milk protein baits were effective, especially so when an additive called Bengers was added. Bengers contained amylase, trypsin and lactase, helping with the digestion of the baits. The Bengers meant that larger quantities could be used. Then we have the 'revolution', from a guy named Hutchy... He disagreed with Fred Wilton, not over the theory, but on the best source of protein; he believed that the best protein source was fishmeal. We move on in time, where the only non meat best protein source with easily digestible and fully utilisable proteins is yeast. Now I'm sure Mainline have got that down to a T, their baits may not be high protein, but everything is useable, from the roughage, the protein and carbohydrates.

Exactly this. I often find the younger ones just have more drive and freetime on their hands so they fish harder and better than I do,good on them, most of the time they are respectful and will have a chat and pass the time of day,and when they catch I am always the first to congratulate them because they've earned it.

I agree. I've been carp fishing for more than 30 years now (which probs sounds like nothing compared to some on here). Yes, of course it's changed in that time. The biggest change I've seen is the disconnect between young and old. Back in the day, it was the love of carp fishing (which included all the blanks, rubbish bivvies/bedchairs etc) that bought everyone together - a common love/obsession of this fantastic sport we all live for. You'd have youngsters, old boys, cops, criminals, brickies, students, lawyers and god knows what else on the bank - all getting on like a house on fire because we shared this bizarre infatuation with a fish. That togetherness is still there for those that seek it and most of the youngsters I meet on "proper" carp lakes are as driven by this love of fishing as anyone was back in the day. I see very few with a "catch at any costs" attitude tbh - they're just keen as mustard, as we all are or have been at some point. In fact, the guys I see ruining this comradery are generally the old boys, rejecting the youth (as is unfortunately so common for any generation), because they talk funny and push boundaries in their pursuit of carp. Tolerance is a virtue. Younger generations owe nothing to older generations. They are a product of a society that WE have all influenced in some way. They cannot choose when they were born. Next time you're out, have a chat with that spotty teenager who's up and down trees and moving swims 3 times a day before settling down to smoke a joint in the evening. Once you get past that ridiculous way they talk (😂) you might find he's an ok guy.

It was £10 a day when I fished it lol

Also a cheap round keep net cut it to suit… or go to a greengrocers and ask if you can have some onion sacks or pop up laundry basket loads of things if I think about it

You could try making/finding a drop net for your burco, something like that would work a treat if it doesn't melt 😂