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Lovely to read all your favourites guys well done 👍 I think I've got 3 or 4 main favourites lol, This was the one and only fish I ever put in carp talk early 00's I think 🙄, I had been really struggling to catch anything from this lake, but then I think probably on the advice of someone on here, I prebaited a swim for 2 weeks almost daily tbh after night shifts and all sorts, this one was the first of 5, my first 20lber at 26lb, I had another scraper 20 but I had learnt prebaiting works, I got 5kg of free pellets for that too 😂 Then from more recent times it was these 2 first trip back on Virginia after losing my dad, I had already had the confidence boosting 10 fish hit on the other lake pretty soon before and I felt in the zone, I had done a little baiting but then in evening I had this one New PB 27lb3oz, that alone would have been enough I was buzzing but in the morning I recast a bag into the hole in the weed and it ripped off And this one was the result proper buzzing and I remember the lucky moorhen, not sure it was coincidence or not but it always seems to appear at significant times was here for this one too, my favourite from this year so far 😉

I see a lot of confusion over mainlines. Guys seem to compare lines that are intended for completely different uses. There are numerous different types of lines and each have different advantages/disadvantages, and I'm only referring to mono here.... not fluoro, braid etc..... Pre-stretched lines: These are your casting lines like Fox Exocet. They obviously have very low stretch and fine diameter vs. BS and they have a super smooth finish. The result is a line that casts really well. Unfortunately the abrasion resistance is what suffers. Hence in a weedy lake you want to avoid pre-stretched lines. Semi-stretched lines (I made that name up, not sure what they're actually called): These are the latest in line tech and include Gardner GT-HD and Shimano Technium. They are pre-stretched but to a lesser extent than the casting lines. This means they cast very well but maintain other qualities (so they can sink well for example). They beat the pre-stretched lines for abrasion resistance yet still cast a long way. All-rounders: These are the more traditional mono's, the meat-and-two-veg carp lines. they include stuff like Gardner Pro and ESP Synchro. Just because they're not high tech lines doesn't mean they're not very good indeed. They'll not cast as well as the stretched lines but they are hands-down stronger, with better abrasion resistance. If weed is an issue I'd not look past this group of lines. Snag lines: Brute lines, thick with immense strength and serious abrasion resistance. You'll struggle to cast these past 100 yards without casting lessons but if there's snags about this is what you want. Stuff like Gardner HydroTuff and Rig Marole SLS Specimon Tough. ***** Now I see guys comparing lines from different categories all the time. Just the other day I saw a thread on another forum asking if GT-HD or HydrTuff was best. They cannot be compared imo - the GT-HD would be best in a lightly weeded lake requiring big chucks, but with snags or heavy weed in the water the HydroTuff wins hands down. Therefore you can only decide what is best for your angling situation. You need to look at how far you need to cast and what kind of challenges your water presents (weed, bars etc) and choose a line to suit. I always err on the side of caution i.e. STRENGTH. What I mean by that is I would rather be a few yards short of the carp and be in with a chance of landing them, than being able to cast on their heads but lose them all to snags/weed. I have used pre-stretched lines on French trips to huge silty waters with no weed/snags, waters where you need to cast 150, and they've been great. But there is no way I'd choose to use them on the weed choked waters I fish in the UK. I think a lot of guys pay to much attention to castability. If you need to cast 150 then fair play, go for pre-stretched lines, if you don't (and most don't), go for a proper carp line, an all-rounder or semi-stretched line at least, one that will land you everything you hook. So next time you see a "what's the best line?" thread we need to stop and think before we go shouting out the name of what we're currently using. What is best depends entirely on the individual and his/her angling situation. If the angling situation varies, then it is logical that the all-rounders are best (the best of which imo is Gardner Pro). I'm currently suing HydroTuff due to a minimum diameter rule on my syndi, which is normally very weedy. It's been great, never let me down.

Back on the res for a 48 hour, on the second night now and off the mark with this one 👍 Hovering just over 25lb 👍

One from another season. Dogs learned when to watch the water.

So after a couple of people saying they would like to see/hear about my time on dinton I've managed to find my pic's and even my old diary/ fish lists. So here goes, I'll start with my best session I had on there. I'll give a little insight into the season first and to what then followed. So its 2006 and just before the start of the season a mate i worked with , who also fished dinton, asked me if I'd like to go on his bait. It was a homemade bait so something I'd not really done in my fishing and especially as I was more than happy with premier baits and also the fact that I'd given a recipe to tony at premier for him to roll for me and some mates on dinton that year but I wasn't sure. This mate and a few of his mates always caught loads of fish from dinton. 20 plus fish a year each which isn't or wasn't heard of on there, especially being they were all weekend anglers and along with the numbers of fish they also caught the big lumps. Over and over they would catch them between them all so I decided to go with him purely on the fact his bait had a knack of catching big fish. So my mates were left with the new premier bait and I went with my mate I worked with. He decided upon a milk protein bait to use that year, a very high protein one at that. So opening night (june 15th midnight)and my mate bags a 49lb mirror, the other bloke on the bait had a 44lb mirror and I sadly had nothing. I blame the draw Haha, but straight away he was saying, "told you, this bait will have'em this year". Fast forward to the middle of October and we were struggling like mad. I'd had 4 or 5 fish til that point and my other 2 mates not much more. My other mates on the prem though (4 of them) all into double figures with a couple of the bigguns amongst them. I was well gutted, what a waste of a season I thought. Though my mate whose bait I was on said, " don't worry, this bait comes into it's own in the winter. The colder the better". The following weekend and he had bailed out and gone to an easier water, now I was doomed. Now a lot of hard work, a nice slice of luck and if I do say so myself a pretty good bit of angling changed my season around. Now fast forward again to 19/01/07 and my best session. So I get down usual time of about 3pm on the friday. Only a handful of us fishing the lake now as most packed it in at the end of October , so knew I'd get "my "swim. I was baiting 3 spots in this swim and had been since mid August when that area became unfishable so I hatched a plan to bait down there knowing it was free food for the fish and no one could fish off my back. So all sorted by 4-30pm. At 5-00pm I'm off to my mates swim, so I place my Neville sounder box on a bank stick as I had the box with wires back then and faced it towards my mates swim which was about 250 metres away (yes not good angling but it's what we did). So I get round there and its pitch black, tea in hand my mate says "that a red light on your sounder box?". I looked up and said yeah but it will go out in a second, did it hell. So I'm sprinting as fast as I could along the path, the nearer I get the louder the Neville is screaming. I hald expected to find swans as it was pitch black and couldn't really see from my mates swim. No swans, middle rod is ripping. I lift the rod and thump, thump, thump. Christ I thought, this is a lump. Not a spectacular fight, just a heavy weight. My mate arrives as the fish is nearing the net and one scoop it's in. Head torch on and there's a lump of a mirror "the dustbin ". Onto the mat , in the sling and needle stops at 44lb 06oz. Well made up. Lift the fish for the pictures and right rod bursts into life. I hit the rod, one mate sorts the fish and another is there and he reasembles the net. Play the fish In and again no real fight but a heavy weight. In the net and torch on and a big common is staring at me. So sort the common out and a new PB common of 38lb 06oz . So a bit of composure and we do the pics, mirror first and then the common (the blind eye common its called). Blown away and a call to a good mate to say what happened etc. Now later that night one of my mates had the biggun at 53lb and ounces and another mate had a 32lb mirror. So first light and camera in hand off I go to take pics for my mates. The mate I called the previous night said he'd be down as he wanted to see the 50lber. Now once again not good practice but I left my rods out and bearing in mind one mate is the opposite end of the lake to me and being 23 odd acres I'm a little off my rods. First mate done, the 32lb mirror. Then to my next mate with the 50, he's only 200/300 metres from my swim. We do his pics and hand shakes etc and I head back to my swim with my mate who drove down to see the 50. My mate asked if my rods were out and i said jokingly "yeah of course, I've probably got one on". Walk into the swim and left bobbin is jammed into the Neville's wheel. Pick up the rod and once again just a heavy weight and not being big headed but after catching a few chunks you kind of know when you've got a kipper on. So in it comes and it rolls into the net, yup it's a kipper. On the scales and the needle stops at 42lb. This is a fish known as "Astra" . Absolutely gobsmacked, I recall feeling 10ft tall, on cloud 9 literally. The rest of the morning and day past and it was soon dark again. It was just past 6pm and right rod goes, this time a 32lb 12oz common Grace's the net and my last fish of that session. I recall walking back to the van grinning from ear to ear. And not just for me but my mates 50 etc. Dinton doesn't give up its residents that readily, maybe half a dozen on a good weekend in summer or autumn but that weekend there were 8 fish banked. It was and still is my best session and one that I know I'll struggle to beat and it became the centre point of what turned into one hell of a winter for me. This last pic is of my fish list that season. The last 10 were from November til the end of the season which was the end of March.

I’d just like to take the time to thank you lads, it’s a tiny little percentage of the internet this forum but just what I needed... I may not have the bottle to post to much on here but love reading the stuff you lads post... 👍

Managed to catch a PB at 35lb 0oz during a 48 hour session. After a quiet first 24 hours, managed to move onto fish and also had a 26-0. Took a CreAmino wafter on a slip-D rig.

Tough week in France, Brothers Lake. Weather was all over the place but not really doing anything, light winds going all over the place and temps freezing one minute, warm the next and regardless of that the fish seemed to migrate into the 2ft shallows every night - so odd. Was expecting to smash it on the dam wall in the deeps 🤷‍♂️. Stupid fish - anyway ended up with 7 to 45 which I said i'd be happy with before the trip. Nice lake and surroundings, would go again, recommend having 2 anglers although you can have 4. Special thanks to our Yonny for the camera advice, the final pic is my last self take with max blur it really pops, thanks mate, getting the hang of it slowly 😎👍

One or two of mine

Until a few months ago I hadn't been fishing for over twenty years. Since I've been back I've had some solid results culminating in this cracking scrapper that went 22lb 9. Not the biggest fish but it really put a huge grin on my face.

So when I used to do my old catch reports I couldn't add any pics due to publicity bans. Now it's been a few years since I fished the venues I can re-post a few with pics to go with them. To alleviate some of this boredom I thought I could start with this one from Sept '16. The original post is here. Below I'll re-post with kipper shots. If you like it I might do some more over the coming weeks. Two month blank run ended this weekend. The first big northerly of the year hit us on Friday, I'd been looking forward to it for weeks. Headed straight to the end of it when I arrived at the syndi and the swim I'd been hoping to get all week was free. Get in! Rolled a ciggy and watched the water, the wind smashing into my face. Within 10 minutes I'd seen 2 huge black heads break the surface. Bucket goes down, off I go to get the gear from the car. Arrived back in the swim in record time. I'm out of breath but roll another ciggy out of habit and watch the water. Bosh! They're still here. Three singles in the zone, time to get the brolly up, it's starting to rain. Sit back for a couple of hours and the number of shows i see suggests the best part of the stock is in front of me. Need to get some bait out. Ten spombs on the main spot and the carp disappear, as usual. They're still showing but they've pushed way, way out behind my spot and to my left. I sit there for another couple of hours, trying to invent a silent spomb in my head, and see they're moving back in on this big wind. Waves rolling into my swim, rain blowing right into my brolly and soaking me, love it! Closer and closer they come, I'm getting excited. Finally, 3 shows in quick succession right on the spot. Off it goes, the bobbin whacks the Delkim, I'm in. I played it so carefully, it's my first bite since forever it seems. The first run is immense, it strips maybe 40 yards of line, but then it's well behaved and comes in steadily. My mates in the swim now and he does the honours with the net. We recognise the fish straight away, one of the bog originals, and I realise I might have a PB in the net. It's a real biggie, and I'm smiling from ear to ear. Weighing and photo's done, I sit back for the night. As it hits dusk I see one or two shows but it's looking like the bulk of the fish may have moved. I get some kip but I'm up by 03:00 looking for signs. I see nothing, they've gone elsewhere. By 09:30 the rods are in and I'm off searching for them, or rather I've found them, in the swim probably the furthest away from the one I'm fishing. Down goes the bucket, off to get my gear. An hour later I'm back with the barrow. Swim booked, I'm off home to feed the cats. Get back and the carp are still there, now I need to make a decision, do I spomb? I know it'll push them out of the swim but I believe, like yesterday, they'll move back in tonight. So, I fill it in. I see the carp push out but they've not moved too far, same as before. That night I go to bed feeling confident. 03:00 and I'm woken by a single bleep. I turn on my side and stare out at my spot, the surface is illuminated by the reflection of street lights in the distance. Within 2 minutes I've seen 1, 2, 3, 4 carp roll right on the spot. Big carp as well, causing huge rings to roll all the way back to the bank with each show. I'm out of bed now. I get a savage liner on the middle rod, I nearly hit it, but don't. Roll a ciggy, make a cuppa, sit on my hands, this could not look better. Three more liners in the next hour, lots of tea and smoking, rolling and fizzing over the spot. Whack! The bobbin hits the Delk again. Get in! Now this swim is a little trickier to fish then the last one, shallow margins with overhanging trees, so I'm straight into the waders and out into the pond. This one fights like a beast and if I hadn't seen it quite early in the fight I'd be convinced it was another monster. Still, it was by no means small, far from it, and it had the biggest tail I've ever seen on a carp. Mental looking thing, another original, two tone colouration with small scattered scales. That tail is literally ridiculous! Called a mate who's in the next swim round for the photos. I want them done quickly as I'm watching the fish rolling and fizzing on the spot, I know the other rod is going to go off very shortly. Too shortly in fact, because as soon as I get the fish on the Matt I get the take. Off into the pond again while my mate gets the big tailed mirror back in the water. Another decent fight sees a smaller carp in the net. It's the prettiest of the session, a beautiful little fully scaled mirror, and I'm happy as Larry. We get the photos and weighing of both fish done and I have one rod left in the water. I don't want to recast the others as the fish are clearly still on it and I don't want to push them out again. I sit watching the fizzing/rolling etc for an hour before I decide there has to be something wrong with the rig, it should have gone by now. I bring it in, it looks OK, but put a fresh one on just to be sure. Two rods on the spot, one just off it. The fizzing stops, but half an hour later they're back, and I'm getting excited again. Rolling, bubbling, epic stuff. It's getting light now and I can see the bobbin twitch by maybe half a centimeter as I get another bleep. I'm hovering over the rod now and again it twitches. I watch the line, where it hits the water it's twitching, or rather it was, as it's now lifting up through the surface as the Delkim let's me know that it's time to get wet again. Another good fight and I can tell this one is a lump straight away, it hugs the deck, not doing much, a proper big fish fight, like playing a breeze block. As it rolls over the net I recognise it, a solid fish, one of the big stockies, short and wide, a nice, clean, chunky carp (if a little pale looking lol). Two months with nothing then 4 fish in 2 nights. I'm over the moon, All the blank nights are forgotten about. We suffer the lows and enjoy the highs, and enjoying it I am. After the photos the fish have move out, they've cleared the spot, I'm out of bait. It's game over, so I pack up a happy man and go home smiling. The pics came out great. Still smiling now, it's my best session so far of what's been a very difficult, frustrating year, and of course it's not every day you get a new PB. The weights were 20.10 lb, 29.12 lb, 31.10 lb, and 45.12 lb. I also had some nice tench, but since the forum aint called tench.com I omitted them from the report. Roll on the next session!

Had this belter this morning 👍 27lb 14oz, first carp from a new complex👍

Got down Fri night about 8pm, 3 of the swims down the windard end were taken and I didn't fancy fitting in between. I thought they might push them out anyway and with cold night temps they might make their way up the other end. Saturday 11am I see the first of around 15 - 20 shows over the course of an hour, some over the rods so wasn't a complete surprise when the left hander pulled up at 1pm. A low double common 12.4lb, female still full of eggs (fish are so behind due to the influx of cold water), so I was made up, another swim caught from and a spot found back in March. Sunday morning, they arrived at 10.30 with one crashing out against the island, then 3 subtle rolls at 11am just short of the rods. 11.15 I'm on the phone and notice the left hangers off and line out the clip but no bleeps whatsoever (no idea), pick up the rod and there's a weight on the other end and weeded up short of the spot, I pull it out and gain 10-20 yards and it's off, hook pull - damn! Interesting it was the left rod both times especially as the fish arrived from right to left. It was the only yellow bait - with corn in the mix so I'll take that forward next session, all 3 on yellow.

Fab weekend on the syndi - chose the windward end on a easterly and felt confident but by dawn I'd only heard one fish crash through the night deep working the bay on my left. I sat it out until 9am but couldn't believe they weren't having it elsewhere so I reeled in and drove to the other end (back of the wind) to see if they had popped up on top after eating down there at first light. After a quick walk about and speaking to the one guy down there it seemed they weren't there so I hurried back vowing to make the most of the spot I had, they just had to be there at some point. Walking back in the swim late morning I see one straight away passing my rods along the margin going into the bay, then another going the other way, I'd made the right choice afterall. I shot up a climbing tree to be greeted by many fish - basking in the sun, some of them proper units - right down the end of the bay sitting in a 5 yard gap between overhanging trees. Over hours I fed mixers into the scum that had gathered up against the reeds and waiting for my chance to wade into the reeds and cast out my hookbaits but fake mixers and cut down boiles were either being rejected or just missed completely. At a loss I went back to the bivvy and got my bag of bagels, a size 4 hook and off for another go. The fish had all but gone by this point but I tried for one in the scum line but quickly lost sight of the bait and that fish drifted away, I felt gutted all those hours feeding and having little casts here and there have lead to nothing. I was about to get out the water when I see one more fish drift in and under the scum line so I put on some fresh bagel and make a cast a couple of feet from the scum. A head pops back out then moves at speed for the bait, smashes it so I guess he's got it, strike and hang on for dear life as it tries to power away but I can't let it go anywhere, it tore through the right tree line but thankfully I just pulled like a mad man and got it back somehow, was lucky as I could feel it crating on the branches several times, proper heart in mouth stuff. Epic battle 26.14 Common in the net, made up. The next day was a real slog waiting all day for that one chance, somehow after not getting it right several times I finally managed to hook one of the stragglers like the day before but sadly lost it to a hook pull just when I felt that I was getting on top of what had been an epic and scary battle. Gutting but loved the trip can't wait to get back - I'm having em FACT - so buzzing for it this year. Best thing of the trip I saw my target fish, must be 4ft long, jet black linear, old as the hills, he's alive and kicking, and he's got some very large friends, more than I knew about. 👀

We all have captures that we will always remember, for whatever reason. What’s yours? It may be a PB, or it may stick in your mind for another reason. Which ones are your favourite captures and why? The first carp was a mirror I caught on my first trip in 5yrs after afghan, I’d hung up the rods and was undergoing treatment, my counsellor told me to get back fishing so I replaced all my gear, rolled some bait and hit the bank. First rod out, 5mins in the water and it was away, it weighed mid 30s and I was instantly obsessed again. second carp was a 31lb common I caught on a session at a local pond, the wind switched unexpectedly in the night and picked up in force and it totally destroyed my brolly! The bailiff was telling me that this carp had been stolen the night before … I was able to send this pic to him the next morning the 3rd common was my personal target for years, I’d been baiting with my own boilies and he hadn’t succumbed… one winter session I’d forgotten the bait in the rush to the lake, so picked up a few pints of maggots. Fishing pva bags with a Medusa rig baited with maggots produced him at 37lb+ a week before Christmas. That left only one fish on my “hit list” which was no 4 in the pics! The mid 20 linear was also an elusive target. He also fell to the mighty maggots! My last two targets and I braced them. I walked off the lake a happy man that day.

So some of you know I love quiet waters, by quiet I mean I'm on my own. I have found many untouched hidden gems in my life, he a a sample of unfished[before me] waters.

So my O/T is as good as over so it was time for the drive south for a session on the river. Went to a club stretch that did me well last year and it was good to be back bank side. It was a lovely day and the weather behaved itself and the only other people me and matey boy seen was a couple in a canoe. All fish came in a 5 hr feeding spell through the night and ended up with 5 barbel with 2 of them going 9+ and a PB chub at 5,7 as you can imagine I was over the moon. The wildlife and solitude really is good for the soul……… but not the horse fly bites have 😫😫🤣🤣 A couple of mat shots as was a bit unfair asking me auld mate to battle the vegetation for every fish. 😬 Its a 3 hr round journey for me so you can imagine I was glad to get home after a long day/night. Cup of tea,cheese and ham toastie,shower and I was whacked 💤💤💤 All in all a great session with a good mate and got a roast on the go listening to Floyd and celebrating the PB with a few Guiness, thanks for reading 😬😎😫

Well the exclusive lake we had booked at woolpack ,has started spawning 🙈. As we were here, we ended up on one of the syndicate lakes instead of a refund, so only just got the rods out & sorted. 🤞

Winter in western Kansas is lasting too long, but the sunsets are pretty.

Tbh I'm way past all this. It's why you don't see me on the Latest Purchase thread. I've been fishing way too long to see any need for short rods or buckets with trays. There really isn't that much tackle that genuinely influences your ability to catch carp imo. You need rods that can reach the area you want to fish, line that can deal with the topography of your chosen water, a very sharp hook, and a half decent bait. The rest is all just "stuff".... none of it really matters. The way I see it the cheapest way to set yourself up is do some research and get the ABSOLUTE BEST gear for your type of angling, regardless of cost, and stick with it for many years. That might sound silly to some but saving up and spending a fortune on the best gear once is cheaper than upgrading poorer gear over and over again for 10 or 15 or 20 years (I learned this the expensive way). You'll find if you have the absolute best gear, you very rarely come across anything that's a genuine upgrade. I'll often go 2 or 3 years without any significant purchases. A few quid here and there on hooks, line and bait. Job done. I'm genuinely not really tempted by all the gear sitting in tackle shops, it's just dross that will empty your bank account.

A couple from April blanks - looked good though lol

Started here around 15:00 with in the first hour had one but lost almost at the net , now this one has just graced the bank 🙂

You would be amazed whats in it though, 😁 Really annoyed by the noddy hand and that leaf , kept wriggling so much it was just a case of trying to get a pic and get it back in the end

Been here an hour or so and opened the account with a Mid 20

If anyone wants to get behind a military charity, can I suggest SSAFA? After the breakdown of my marriage due to PTSD, and having approached a GP for help and being told that I would have to go on a 6-12 month waiting list for initial assessment (a timeframe doubled by the GP then "forgetting" to do the referral - 6 months waiting for an appt that was not gonna arrive) I was found by my parents and brought back to Sussex. They asked H4H for help twice but I was never seen by them. In desperation, (as I was a total mess, been hospitalised twice with pancreatitis due to self medicating with Stella and vodka - been tee total since 2016 - and having had my father find me removing my tow rope form the boot of my car - ideal noose after all) they contacted SSAFA or the soldiers sailors air force association. They spoke to a SSAFA rep who interviewed me the following day, (he was ex parachute regt) he immediately realised I was a danger to myself and referred me to a clinical psychologist privately of which they paid the fees, the day after the referral was sent, (a sunday) the rep collected me from my parents house and drove me to see the psychologist at her own home. I was formally diagnosed with severe untreated PTSD and referred for immediate treatment. I started counselling on the Tuesday. It took a while, but I got there. I even returned to the ambulance service, something I couldn't have done prior to SSAFA's intervention. On the last day of my treatment, the counsellor told me that it was "the first day of the new life" I left, drove to Wales to collect my boys, returned to Sussex and took my boys to a local holiday park 15mins from my house (nothing too taxing - got an awesome carp lake!!) walked into the restaurant and got chatting to a very attractive blonde girl, (terrified she would tell me to get lost - but as a test of confidence it was pretty scary!) After 3yrs and 3 months together the same blonde and I will be getting married next year... There is light at the end of the tunnel. Seeing my son catch his first fish, teaching my other son how to ride a bike, my youngest son catching a PB 28lb+ mirror... A thousand little things that I could have missed had SSAFA not stepped in, along with family friends children and my partner, I thought I was pretty strong, being a blood splattered war fighting medic, but my reluctance to ask for help nearly cost me everything. The fight in getting better was tough, but screw it, don't let the bad uns win! I mean, miss this? No way!

Nothing better mate, been taking my boy since before he could walk . Slowly progressed him to bigger fish the last two fish were caught on our first over nighter together, I had also took his older cousin with us . He had gone to bed a bit down as his cousin had caught a couple during the day & he hadn't had a bite lol .. his rod screams off at 1 am & there's no waking him no matter how hard we tried so his cousin landed that one too , anyway he stuck with it the next day & got his rewards . Very proud Dad x

I pulled this from a group I follow...………. Just brilliant..

A 24lber from a few days back, caught from under the tips..... Short 4 inch rig, slack lined and locked up clutch...… Have locked the kit away for a couple of weeks now. Too tempting to nip over the lake with it in the van...…. Had a walk round last night and put about 1kg of bait in around the edges, no where in particular. I will try to do this a couple of times a week. Saw a few showing. Had I left the kit in the van I doubt I would have got home any time soon 😊

22lb common caught at 8am this morning

Not sure if I used @yonnyphoto class to its max, but it was piddling down, I had the camera in the bivvy and just went for it. Turned out pretty well I think, Thanks to @Higham1987for the night spodding advice. I redid the rods this morning with a fresh pop up on a classic Elmo spinner rig, fired about 20 more baits with a pult and 10 minutes later this was the result. Naturally I used mollasses in the spod mix and this 29lb 8oz common was the result I had worked so hard for. Confidence is king.

I'm still fishing until Friday. Went quiet today, but had this one at 24lb, 5 rod lengths out this evening, they do like the Monster Crab.

Rod Hutchinson Monster Crab pop-up working again. Proper wake-up call this morning, an absolute screamer from around 40metres out and a clear spot in the weed, so I can fish my preferred running leads, 27lb 8oz

Finally decided to start my river campaign only about 2yrs late! First night last night, one small carp seen cruising along the far reeds, another bigger fish breached and rolled mid channel and I got a few bream and a nice tench from under the bush to the top right of the shot. I spodded 3kg of hemp and 2kg of pellet just upstream and fished a 7 bait stringer over the top with about 50-60 boilies pulted around it. That was the middle rod sorted, the left hand was fished tight to the far reeds in 5ft of water with just a stringer attached. Right rod fished tight to the near margin on a 4ft shelf as a single, with a few broken boilies and a handful of 1mm & 2mm pellets over it. I was worried I’d over done the baiting/spodding on the middle rod, but it was the only one to have any liners or do any bites. Gonna be a challenge this venue, miles upon miles of wild water, an unknown stock of carp (a few come out along this stretch) plus limited and restricted stretches you can night fish stack the odds against me. I can only go to certain places, the carp can go anywhere they like! 🙄

Buzzing 👊 had this little beaut within 15 minutes of getting the rods out. Was just about to put the first spomb out and it ripped off. Real strong fighting fish, wondered what I hooked into at first 🤣 anyway lads I'm off the mark 👌👌👌

I've started with PVA solid bags with mixed carp pellets and crushed boilies, inside I'm putting in a hair rigged 15mm popup hookbait - on a very short (3cm - 5cm) 20lb coated braid hooklink, an inline lead size-appropriate for the water, connected to 15lb sensor mainline. Trapped a couple, 8 and 9quid respectively, the biggest in this tiny water is 11lb so it's not too bad! I'm off work all next week so spending this weekend assessing venues to target some bigger fish 😉

Iv clacked it. Iv solved the old age conundrum of how to dunk your digestive biscuit in a empty pva tube filled with coffee because you forget your mug …

I’m sure this pic is already on here somewhere but seeing as I just found this thread I thought I’d post it here anyway , to this day my biggest and probably best looking fish . 28lb dead .

Not my pb, but a real good looking fish from long ago. I wheeled him in 100 yds, and he took 1 look at me and went straight back out about 90, so I got to do it all over again. I suppose this one was memorable too, because it was just nasty out, cold and windy and we only got 1 bite, but I got the fish.

Sometimes you just have to improvise 😎

I was sorting a cupboard out and found some old pics. One made me chuckle as if I'd not had the picture no one would believe it. It's not super imposed as one mate reckoned. The pigeon was a racing pigeon that landed in front of my mates bivvy and was obviously very tame. My mate took it home in the end and it flew off the next day. Anyone else got pics of things you didn't expect to see on the bank?

Temp dropping fast now , but yet another Carp grace’s the bank

I've had things going through my head today, and I mentioned 'lifesaver' in my facebook capture post, but that doesn't really cover all. I had just netted a double figure carp for my mate. As he got up to come round for pictures, he slipped or fell like poleaxed straight into the lake. The lake owner and I jumped in to get him out as he surfaced. My mate is a man mountain, 22stone, so we dragged Dave to the bank. At some point he must have breathed in some water, so while trying to get him into recovery, still in the water up to our thighs, I had to give him cpr, which the position we were in, the only option was to thump him in the chest, once, as hard as I could. He then started fitting and snorting while breathing. Somehow while this was going on I managed call emergency services, who stayed on the line until help arrived. It took 5 of us to get Dave onto the bank. Thank you to the paramedics, especially Zoe, first there who jumped in herself to help, to the fire brigade, and the other two anglers. The last I saw of Dave was being taken away in an ambulance. Please get well soon Mate, I hope you recover fully. As an add, somewhere in that lot, I did also manage to tip the fish back alive, quite possibly as I was getting out of the water after getting Dave out. As an addition to this, please don't think I am angling for praise. I did what anyone else would have done. I didn't think, I did it, my Mate. The important parts of my post were how easy it is for an accident to happen, a slip or trip, and it could be curtains. The second part is Thank you to all of the emergency services personnel who helped when needed. I have no idea how long it took for them to arrive, but it was quick, at an out of the way address. Thank you to the ambulance operator on the end of the phone line, who could hear everything going on, and gave advice and help when needed.

My Favourite...with my lad on his 1st propper 24hr nighter with me on fathers day.

Loving my new power barrow lol Proper prebaiting 😉

I've only gone and won myself a sonic bedchair, sleeping bag and pillow. I don't know if they are any good but can't complain for FREE.

I'm in this month, a lot of hard work for the result so far. 4 hours of raking and baiting with hemp, sweetcorn and boilies on Thursday, this morning I had one of this years stock fish at 15lb on sweetcorn. It went in in January at 11lb 4oz. I knew there were fish in the area, the young coot that was diving on my baits kept on coming up looking panicked, running away then return to dive again, so the run was not a surprise.

A view from the bivvy door 4am saturday - quite a gathering 😍

Not the same without my old girl with me especially on the long sessions , my new water allows dogs witch is great as she's getting on now bless her & want to make the most of the time left with her & fishing is a big part of that . she's been on a load of socials over the years with old members off here never been a problem in fact quite often the first thing mentioned is " are you bringing Jess "