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Looking at the forecast we'll be seeing 15C+ starting tomorrow for the foreseeable. Hovering around 17/18 for the coming weeks. IT'S HERE LADS! In a strange twist of fate, it's fallen perfectly for me. I have a few days planned this week. Fingers crossed I can get on them. Good luck for the season guys.

Ive just moved onto the shrimp after a conversation with @yonny (dont have the time to amke my own this year), good start as i managed to catch one first time out, has a very distinct smell to it (think possible SSA & Monster Crab combo/Nash Cajun Prawn as the lead smell/flavour.)

I can relate to topic, Think my best carp fishing days were in the mid / late 90's, without boring people to death with nostalgic memories, but my early Horseshoe days were something never to be forgotten. After that, things changed, couldn't do it anymore, a very long drive and work and family stuff meant I gave up and sold my ticket., did a lot of day ticket fishing in and around Sussex, and a few club lakes too, then the noddy carp anglers arrived en mass, all the argos gear with no idea, no manners or respect. Had a great spell with pole fishing on a certain sussex venue that had lots of crucians in their front lake. Then moved on to find a few Dorset and Kernow venues that were relativily undiscoverd back in the day. What I am trying to say is, don't loose the feeling, at my age, can't go as much as I ever used to, but still have a Sussex club water I can think will do me. My one regret is that I have never caught a Barbel! Sorry for a bit of a rant

There was a frost this morning! I got woken up to an occurrence at around 5.30, thick mist across the lake and a frost on the ground. Let's hope that the forecast weather wakes a few fish up. 0

It's their own patented shrimp flavour. Stinks doesn't it 🤣

Good luck mate. I'm setting the alarm for 4am so I'll be sneaking round the pond fist thing tomoz!

I'm going after work tonight, buzzing even though it's going to be cold, come on you carps. Let's have a muncher or two.

Well I decided not to rejoin, then the owner, in all his wisdom decided to close the season, a month early??? Im not too keen on day ticket waters. So, without anywhere to fish until the estate opens in mid June, I've signed up to a local angling club for £90 + a small joining fee. There's a few small local lakes with some reasonable size fish to go for. My boys are welcome which is important and no stupid rules, which is refreshing. A new chapter for me, trying out the club scene.

Sounds interesting! As with all waters, look for the fish. Despite the depths, most waters still have margins, a shelf or ledge and then either a gradual slope or a sudden drop off. I can't imagine that there is much natural food at depths beyond say 40feet either. That's not to say none, but I would think most is above that. I seem to recall a thread around 5years ago asking how deep carp go, and I think that 50feet was the limit that carp were caught from (Bundy's?). Funnily enough I was reading Rod Hutchinson Carp Now and Then again this week, and his thoughts were that Cassien carp preferred to feed in depths to around 20feet, but would go down to 60feet. This is where your friendly echo sounder and bait boat may be handy? (Did I really just say that?🫣) Casting near the gardens is relative, how do you define what is near? Do the residents always sit out with a measuring stick and a yellow or red card?😆🤪 A small splash may or may not be noticed, and once the line is in the water who is to say where it was cast.

@yonny, once again cheers Mate. I did the same, placed an order for 15kg of boilies, mixed fresh and stabilisd, added some pop-ups and hard hookbaits. Trent Baits website is easy to navigate and payment was easy online. Compared to many companies it was no hassle.

Thanks Mate. I'm limited on freezer space so reckon that 5kg is the maximum I can keep in the freezer, which makes a good shelfie important. I've not done badly on shelf life's from Alton and The Syndicate. The Rod Hutchinson KMG was a brilliant bait in shelf life. I do tend to use the throwing stick to put bait out so reckon using frozen to put some bait out at the start, then 'prebaiting' at the end of the session with shelf life, and mixing the two during the session. Normally 70metres is my maximum on the syndicate.

Frozen is better but the shelfies are decent. A little firmer so brilliant for sticking at very long range. At normal range I'd go frozen every time.

The jack saved you from getting skunked, and you got to go fishing. Take the win. 😄

You clearly fish all the places this type go to, which would suggest that you are one of them! 😂😂 that’s in jest of course, but you are clearly fishing the wrong venues.

Good luck everyone who’s out

Good luck, hopefully they will be sheeting up all over the gaff

Sounds like a plan! I get the 'not feeling it' feeling about a few places, some of which I used to love, one of which was and is a day ticket, Suffolk Water Park. I really enjoyed going down there, walking around, finding fish, choosing a swim, and being able to move if the fish moved. It was at the time £20 for 24hours, so a just about affordable 2 nights. Then over time we have now come to book into a swim for however long the session, which at the rate the SWP fish move may be miles away from them, and £35 for 24hours. Sadly my local club has lost the ball, they were unable to take on one of their biggest venues when the owners sold up, and now only have two stillwater venues instead of three, which makes one water in particular rather crowded. I am keeping my syndicate ticket, I do occasionally put on pictures even if I can't name it, although a few people know where it is.

I was out having a vape last night and noticed it was v clear skies.... I expected a frosty car this morning and I got one. It'll be cold tonight too but tomorrow night is...... wait for it....... 11 degrees! Feeding time.

Good morning all, many thanks to all who have reported the spam appearing recently on the forum, special shout out to @elmoputney and @InteraX who gave me a pleasurable 10min banning them all! please keep reporting them as soon as you see them and the mod team will get them rid. many thanks! ouchthathurt (Matt)

Sounds like you have done the right thing, enjoy some nice angling with your lads, it will be quality time spent, i only fish the local club these days, got a few mates on the ponds and usually i really enjoy the sessions, main lake has some good fish but i tend to fish the smaller pond and some lovely fish to about 18lb, good enough for an old codger like me

seems each time i log on the most recent spammers have been dealt with, sadly at times forums just get hit with this rubbish

Went to local lake yesterday just for afternoon managed one carp just an 8lb 40z, lovely scaly mirror, jesus i really am looking like an "old codger" these days

In 2024 I visited the worlds largest cork producer in Portugal with work. It was amazing.... saw all the processes from harvesting of the bark down in Lisbon (they even let me have a go!) all the way through to production of wine stoppers and everything else they make up in Porto. Was one of the best work weeks I've had. Those trees take 12 years to get to the first harvest then once every nine years after that. It takes nearly 50 years to get to the quality required for natural wine stoppers. Some of the trees were 150+ years old. It makes sense, having seen all this, that the price of decent cork balls has gone up so much. They have something like 4 million acres of trees and in the middle of one of these huge plantations they had a reservoir providing the water. I was standing there watching the water (as you do as an angler) and a big common whalloped out. I pointed it out to my host, their technical director, and it turned out he was a carp angler too. He had this reservoir full of massive carp in the middle of nowhere that only he could fish. Incredible.

Can think of a few but they'd all be censored on here lol. Probz would've had to have been called "little winkie" 🤣(was cold in early march 🤦🏽) Didn't fancy leaving my maggot 🪱 dangling in the water especially with pike being present so I assumed it better to leave certain things covered especially my toes 😅

Here we go again 🙄 🤣 Friday I made it back to the syndicate lake, and was surprised to find someone else fishing, but no problem on 45acres. Easy swim choice, back to the previous area, which just happened to be where Andy had moved out of. Left hand rod, 40metres, small MC pop-up and a PVA bag of pellets. Middle rod, LT snowman at 50metres, a stringer over around 200 throwing sticked boilies. Right hand, over the bucket of garlic birdfood particles which with the wind was easy. I'd just finished Spombing and the left hand rod bleeped, pulled out of the clip, and I discovered a numpty pike of around 3 or 4lb. I got it into the margins and just grabbed the line to lift it out, at which point it unhooked itself and bit through the mainline, losing a lead in the silt. The rest of the night passed quietly. Saturday, I walked Sky round, again, no reason to move, no signs, no shows. About 1am heading into Sunday I was woken up by a decent run on the middle rod, but as I picked it up it didn't feel right, line taken against the freespool, and as I tightened it just broke off. I don't know if the male swan had swam through the line and smashed me, or if it was a take. I do know that setting up again, fresh run ring, 3oz lead and rig is not easy in the freezing air at 1am! Monday, around midnight, the swan did the middle rod, swimming through the line, causing another recast in the frost. As I reeled in this morning I am positive that both pick-ups were the swan as my line looks badly twisted and kinked. Reality, could do without it...

imo, The whole 1980's was the BEST of the best in the carping scene, (maybe the 70's but i wasn't carping then) super lovely times, hardly anyone carping, cheap tickets for plenty of lakes & pits to fish, this was the era of 'no one told ya nowt, its Secret! etc' ...which i liked cos it made ya think and do ya own thing /experiment... fast forward to today: what ive witnessed over the last 20 years, around 80% of modern so called "carp anglers" have NO etiquette, are loud, have ZERO water craft skills, their modus operandi is: sitting in the latest £1k + bivvy, complete with the latest super doper broom handle carp rods, catapulting out ripoff shop bought boilies that some d.i.c.k.head that thinks hes famous cos hes on youtube, told 'em to buy, together with there paid subscription to some BS carp fishing channel!🤡 RANT OVER!