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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.

Quick 3hr session this afternoon produced this nice common

They feel like a miracle at the mo tbh too few and far between, must do better, 2nd proper season fishing just this lake, 4th year on the complex and still dont know where they go overnight and indeed whether they feed at night with the weed growth? I have seen some dawn showing but when you move onto it the next day and next trip not a sausage showing, no pattern other than the assumption they're doing laps through the day. Few sessions ago a few of us had 4 hours of showing fish over our traps and no bites whatsoever, so bizarre - never happened since - like what?!?! Where they eating naturals that were on the baited patches? I know exactly when and where the 2 main targets get caught from in spring (ones now dead) but the behaviours outside of that are a mystery and noone has really sussed it - certainly testing me to the limit but I love it thankfully. Lots to keep you busy 👍 Do it while you're able to hey - to the max, one lap exceeds my daily step target so small wins! 💪🤣

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

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.

22lb mirror, bring it on September!

34lb 10oz mirror

5 x 3oz leads, pack of size 6 ESP claw hammer barbless hooks, pack of small fox shrink tube, pack of ESP streamliner sleeves, pack of ESP splicing needles, 3kg prepared hemp

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

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

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

To celebrate my latest blank I just bought 20 3.5oz dumpy distance leads and 20 micro hook swivels.

That's my view from earlier. I've seen some, I am a little bit confident.

Yeah tried that looked great but no bites, also tried real snail meat popped up inside a real snail shell - looked MEGA - no bites! 🤣 I do think anything like that will work and well - my attempts were just wrong time and place. I like the idea of small deadbaits tbh for the busy waters that see it all I will be trying that at some point, the dog has dried sprats that look good and I have a big bag of small roach in the freezer. I'm changing my approach for a while from tonight - back to pop-ups and sticking baits out (small amount), think it is the baiting that is wrong not the rig - fishing for single passing fish not big groups the baiting is just too much.

Tbh most people just think you are an idiot for making that much disturbance, if you can do it without being spotted it does help though. But most people tend to be doing their own thing and slaves to other swims, so you can get away with it to some degree. Pellets are good for spot clearing as they tend to suck up the smelly silt once you have raked and make your spot smell like it's been shake n vac'd, it's all you have to do.........

I love these pegs already, the carbon insert is a perfect fit and my mate screwed one straight into my rock hard lawn no probs last night. No more untangling dogs from pegs, after 15 years of doing that I deserve the rest!

Snide rod in the boat??? 😎

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

Well done ouch that's a banger. Nice log commonly.

This is different to a mallet imo. Raking means so much more than clearing a spot. The naturals you release during raking serve as the ultimate attractant imo. They carp are bound to come back in. I've raked perfectly clear presentable silt spots and you see fish coming in no time at all. They absolutely love it.

A lot of swims on dinton were rock hard, topped up with road plainings. I often smacked the pegs in with a mallet to the sometime amusement and sometimes anger of fellow fishermen. On one occasion I set up opposite two mates who decided to hurl abuse at me and call me a "noddy" across the lake for ruining their fishing, my reply was simple "how many 40's you had?". The reply was, silence 🤣. Unless you're fishing right in the edge i personally believe it has no affect, though especially so on a lake like dinton where dogs are jumping in all the time, kids throwing stones etc, the carp ain't bothered by it. Bang a peg in, it might bring the fish in. 🤣

Bought a set of the Jag ones, it is your fault Elmo but they look great and the cross bar slides out so no more dog cable getting caught around them every 5 mins so worth it for that alone 👍

Iv had a run in with a deliver bike he must have been going 20mph he skidded to a stop and we both went down, sadly I lost my balance as I got up and stood on his front wheel damaging the spokes then would you believe it trying to untangle my foot I stepped on the back wheel 🫢

You will have to serve high tea in Kev's corner next year.

Ebay about a quid a pop for me.

Foxy, kev!

I walked around a pay lake with grandkids on Saturday and the fish were coming out all over the place.. one of those wish I took a rod type days .

I like the look of this avid revolving table, Kev you really are the poshest angler I know.

Very silly little item but picked up a new bait needle this was about £3.30 ish on ebay, but a really nice well designed little item, a very short needle with a recessed catch for line loop this should be great on small pop ups and little wafters

Great session @ouchthathurt!

Very interesting topic, the club i fish insist on carp care solution and seem to favour propolis as the one to use, having read comments about maybe sealing in nasties i am not keen to use it, i bought the propolis to replace my ancient bottle of Klin-ik, that is maybe 15 years old, i was gonna bin the Klin ik but maybe i will keep it for a while...........though 15 years might be pushing it a bit

Please tell me you're not trying to play Elmo's screenshot 😅 Speak English lad 😅

Video clip doesn't play for me, errr if that is a new product, why hide it behind silly Back Lead clip thing... not exactly a new thing ☹️ Somehow think they will not be appearing at all in the near future?!!

Gonna have to get on this, just gotta do it quietly. was thinking of taking the rake out on the baiting pole for stealth if it will take the weight. When I saw my spots last week in good light I realised anyone would have found them on the right day, so no doubt I'm fishing the usual spots, not finding anything new at all - doh!

Fortunately most people cannot be bothered to rake these days, preferring to look for existing spots or moaning about the weed, last time I fished I raked a margin spot and the next morning it had regular visitors, the only reason I didn't catch was I reeled it in with a big rudd that had impaled itself on the size 4, I went and cleared a couple of spots this week with a view to fishing this weekend, hopefully the bait and freshly cleared spots will have the fish visiting regularly cleaning them up for me. If I still can't get a drop I know they haven't, I baited a hole in the weed somewhere else also so I have options.

" but I love it thankfully. Lots to keep you busy 👍 Do it while you're able to hey - to the max " . Well that says it all , Kev. , as long as you are enjoying yourself . Some of the lakes I fish have a number of swan mussel shells about , and I remember about 50 odd years ago chunks of swan mussel on a big hook were used . I wonder if that would work ? . 😃

Ah , all this forward planning must give your captures extra pleasure 😀 .

I use these for my caravan awning. I bought them from Aldi £10 for 10 you get the the drill attachment with them. It’s a lot quicker and less noisy than hammering pegs in.

I managed to break the blank spell yesterday and got not one but a pair of nice mirror carp, this was on Aireys pool, the middle size pool on the complex, 1st fish came pretty soon after setting up using very light tackle (new Adventa river ambush 7ft 1.75 lb rod and 4000 size mini freespool) this was on corus nut cluster 15mm boilie and a proper one tone solid run 12 3/4 lb second later in day was a charming 9.8lb scrapper on a Mulbz 12mm pop up bait, well chuffed, the first fish had a couple of sore looking lightly lifted scales so a good dose of Propolis !!!Yes i really do need a good hair cut lol!!!

Couldn't get the swim I wanted, busy bank holiday weekend, hopefully bait it when he's gone. Done a bit of cutting back as usual and this swim will certainly do for now ❤️

Buckwheat has very low oil content and in my mind its the oil content that in hemp that makes it so good. Buckwheat to bulk out a particle mix yes but not to replace hemp , for me anyway.

There are certainly some still around. My old syndicate lake had 4 known originals in it when I fished there, all from an original stocking of Leney's. As far as I'm aware they are all still in there, I stopped fishing there 5 yrs ago but I still chat to mates on there and the usual one was caught last year and the most sought after one came out this spring. Some members had been on there years trying to catch one but luckily for me my second fish from the lake was one and the most sort after one at that when I fished there. I had it in 2017 and it was 50yrs old then. It wasn't caught last year but made an appearance this spring so still going strong at 58yrs old. Another lake that may well hold some original Leney's is Frensham ponds.

There was a low 20 in a little complex I was a member of,it was the biggest in the lake ..sadly it got dropped and landed side on ,on a scaffold pole, on a bordered a bark swim ..we all thought it was going to die ,injuries were awful ..but on advice it was put in a salt bath and survived and grew .. The amount of Carp I've caught with predation damage is unreal ,and yet as long as the fish actually survives ,regeneration can occur ..here a pic of my first fish from a little water ,its clearly been munched at some point ,and has started to grow back.. I guess I'm trying to say carp are proper tough creatures.

Thanks very much for all your answers , and I must change my fish care procedures . I started to read Yonny's 1st. post , and I thought " he's going to mention sealing nasties in " - oh poo I've been using MCP's Propolis . So reading all the replies I'll go back to my Gardner Intensive Care which is a few years old . I've also got some Kryston Klinik which is even older . Also I'll stick to treating just wounds where the flesh is broken and there is bleeding . 😃

I don't mate, I've only ever used it on wounds like where the fish has damage to its body area, I only use antiseptic in the mouth 👍 To be honest if I pull a fish in that's badly damaged I'd retain it and call the bailiff 👍

I wouldn't use Propolis in the mouth at all, if it washes back onto the gills it can't breathe potentially. Antiseptic for hook holds ONLY if required, Antiseptic then propolis for the body. I don't think we should be doing any of this as a matter of course tbh only if you deem it necessary. 👍

Interesting thoughts about sealing in germs 👍 I was always told to pat the area dry then seal with propolis 🤔

I think the thing to do before propolis is some kind of antisceptic spray then prop it to stop it getting infected but like you say, people just use propolis as a one stop shop, I just tend to use the gardner stuff. I don't think you are wrong though, I've never seen them go to the quacks after spawning. Not sure if they even have a GUM clinic 😅

No tin hat comment from me. I've seen how quickly carp heal in their own environment. All the split fins and torn scales from spawning. Within weeks that damage is unnoticeable and healed up. Like you I'll treat a bleeding hook hole, but carp must cut their mouth on stones, sticks etc when feeding and that heals. I remember Dave Chilton coming up with Klinik and he refused to make a profit on sales, so sold it at cost as he felt that carp welfare was more important than profit. Obviously Dave Chilton sold Kryston and I believe I may be wrong, Richard Gardner went to the same source as Kryston's new owners didn't have the product rights. I must admit, I do have plenty of time for Richard Gardner and Gardner Tackle.

I've got the kits because I have to with the club rules, do I use it NO, I might treat a bad hook hold coz I know the damage is fresh but as for treating existing wounds I don't really believe in it TBH you could easily be making it worse, trapping harmful bacteria in - we're not vets IMO Tin hat on - bring it 😂