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Back on it post spawning, great to be back out at long last.

I’ve had a look at both today. It looks like the Okuma as the only one they had was the owner of the shop. He s going to ring me when he can get one in. I must admit they both look good, the reason I went for the Okuma was the price.

With a line lay like this you won't be disappointed. Smooth a silk, excellent drag, great retrieve, much better than my aerlex spod reel tbh.

Thanks for that I’m going to have a look today. I am thinking more on the lines of the Okuma 8k.

I found August is usually the same until the back end of the month

Mmm nice 😎

It is believed that carp were introduced into Britain by the Romans, however it was monks who introduced them heavily in around the 1400's, as Catholics were not to eat meat on Fridays, so stew ponds were stocked with fish.

I had the IW versions with green wheels and deluxe receiver Found in bright daylight very hard to see if LED on alarm was lit having to look at the receiver to check As I only day fish I decided they were not for me and sold them for basic Fox Micron alarms with double LED which are easier to see from any position

Yonny beat me to it. Great natural liquid and preservative. Jammed with salt and salty fish extract and some sugar. Can’t go wrong. I have used it loads in the past, not so much anymore because I’m using liver hydro at the moment to complement the bait. You can use this stuff to create dips and glugs yourself due to its preservative properties. Add some powders of choice and give it a good shake, cut with a bit of water if necessary. Only annoying thing is the lid, I’d advise cutting the spout bit off. All this talk, I may have to add it back in to the mix!

I must admit one of the things I miss since is wind ups. After 40 years in total in the Army and Prison service where wind ups were a daily incurrence.

Welcome in

This 👆 I tend to split my baits into kilo bags before freezing. When I take them out I'll put in a healthy glug of this stuff, enough to coat them plus a bit extra, and let them soak it up during defrosting. The stuff is stacked so full of salt it actually acts as a preservative so the baits will last a little longer on the bank. It's also a good method of giving the baits that softer washed-out consistency without compromising on attraction.

I would just coat them in a bucket so they have a good glaze, then let them soak it all in and repeat as necessary. I think I overdid it in my spod mix this weekend. I probably put half a bottle in and it made it honk. And smell a bit sour.

It doesn’t matter as it’s a natural product and can’t be overdone I would just put a slug of it in

Interesting mate, I'm gonna have a look and see what I can find on it 👍 Just bought a bottle of this Any suggestions on how much to put with a kilo of boilie?

Night view Morning view complete with still glowing green light. You gotta love day ticket fishing.

Yeah that's the ones mate, I was thinking of the wychwood reels while writing this 🤦‍♂️🤣 Sadly my only had the one reel in stock so ended up getting a set of fox eos 10000fd reels. Cheap and cheerful tbh, they will do for the river 👍

Do you mean Okuma Inc 6000 reels ? ,if so they have a great reputation ,except some of the first version ones which had a stretchy spring in the anti reverse ,switch / thingy ,not all but some ,this has now been resolved with latest incantation..

i cant comment on the wychwood reels, only ones i ever owned were not great, early rogue big pits i have a pair of these small pit reels and so far very happy with them, i use them on my 10ft rods https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/405453475110?_skw=dam+darkside&itmmeta=01JZD1PA4F0B6F0Q9BP3583BCT&hash=item5e66e90d26:g:yx0AAOSwZU9ndsGR&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1dzYSzeRr28Lc5ULn2X0VYSN8b8oitw0K1rCgaWw4liokTyLRFYwX6XaIPIyCh2H5AKuYEs8liWVEPqcSmHT7S32tL%2BIpDXUAoB1PHfNZ6sTOROZ1ub%2BFFBY30LcxYrguX1jPYyOey7eIWsewwCkc7ASU8GjDUPbx0qYcay4UQzLHROUG8xwpf49qLJ1CqNRxFxGoMDiSG0ceS5VSQBsHdHZPo%2BIUqW%2BMMAxyMb1Ps5irKwm6MoGKDH2JjO5PczVy8%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR7ai2aH7ZQ

The joys of media... I worry about how much salt I put into my bait. This spodding neat salt into the water really worries me, as salt does not 'go away'. Putting it in neat when we don't know the full effects. Salt will kill micro-organisms and various water life. I cannot remember which university, but from research, 1 teaspoon of salt can pollute 5 gallons of water permanently, which can ruin freshwater ecosystems. Even more amusing is that table salt is possibly a repellant. The best level in carp diet of salt is 1.5%. The shelf life versus freezer baits, no matter what I do when I make bait, I nearly always dry it for 24hours and then freeze it. I've tried totally airdrying them until all moisture is evaporated. No matter how good the preservatives, sometimes mould gets in. I've had foods and baits all go mouldy, despite being supposedly dried or preserved. The airdried bait is a strange one that confuses people. It is rock hard, but draws water in faster than baits with moisture as in either frozen and thawed or shelf life. As a result, they go softer quicker. They do not go as far with a throwing stick or catapult, they are lighter. I am sure it was Shaun Harrison who came up with or wrote about 'washing' attraction back into dried boilies, using hemp or particles juice. This is almost the predecessor of our fishing on the posts of this thread.

Shock horror i managed to winkle out a little carp from the smaller pond, i was fishing mainly a bunch of maggots on size 10 hook with 10ft Diawa spinning rod and small freespool reel caught an Ide about 1.75lb, then a snotty (the Ide was a new species for me) i was just packing up and went to switch of bite alarm when it sounded a full on run, landed this nice little mirror just under 10lb but sadly the rod snapped for an unknown reason, might just be its age

This time of year drives me mad mate, it feels like it should go off but it doesn't lol. One of my local lakes they just bask on the top all day, massive groups of them, 30 - 40 fish, chuck a floater out and they ain't even interested 🤣 roll on August and September 👌

So to start the thread I mentioned the steak, so here is the real deal. And that is a Fishing Dinner: Rare rump steak with mushrooms, sliced green beans and sliced fried potato, a dash of mixed herbs and a crushed clove of garlic.

A simple stir fry ,nothing amazing ,but I live 2 mins from the lake ,and could get my lady to bring me dinner down,but I like to eat on the bank...

I packed up today after a 3 day blank. I felt that last night or this morning I should have had a fish or two, but it was not to be. Monday was boiling and I had to set up in the deepest shade possible, opposite my usual pre-baited swim. It was not until the weather cooled yesterday and we had some cloud and rain I even felt I was near the fish. Oh well, let's hope that everyone manages to get on the carp this month.