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OK so earlier this year I decided to drop my ticket on my syndicate lake in the Fens. I've enjoyed it there and done ok, but it really doesn't suit the handful of overnighters per year that I normally get to fish, and it works out too expensive when I simply don't get the time to be there. I decided to sign off with a few nights to bag one of the special ones. When I say special, I mean it.... a handful of old big mirrors with scattered scales and little melted heart shaped tails, and a couple of bigger commons. They share this little pit with a mixed bag of carp that have been stocked since the turn of the century. Even the stockies, as can be seen in my previous post, are a bit special with plenty of lookers to go for. The trip started as well as it possibly could, but we'll come to that later. For now, the next fish I want to show you lot is one of the bigger stockies, certainly destined to become one of the A-Team at some point. This fella came at first light after my 2nd night off a little spot that's only fishable at this time of year.... by June it'll be covered in weed. I discovered this spot a couple of years ago and it's done me a fish for the last 2 years. Obviously, I needed a rod on it. Nothing special required here, a short cast with a nice smelly pop up on a hinge. Job done. I actually caught this one last year so it's a repeat but I'm not complaining. It was 2lb up in weight so doing well. If it carries on like that it'll be a real biggun in a few years.

I have a few to upload but file size will be a problem so may have to do it over a couple days. Lets start with the smaller ones.

I can trouble this month's Catch report, with a 26lb mirror this morning on a 12mm Monster Crab pop-up on my reverse combi rig

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.

Right then, let's rewind to the start of the session, one that began in the wee hours after I'd set my alarm for a very early start. I'd been creeping around in the dark for over an hour before the sun came up to aid my search for carp. I'd found plenty of tench but it was a while before I settled on the swim of choice and by the time I was all set up it was getting on for the afternoon. I'd spotted a few patches of fizz mid-morning that were no doubt produced by carp and, knowing the swim quite well, I was happy to spend a while dangling there. To the right of the swim, between me and the reed spot I mentioned earlier, is a small, very weedy, very snaggy marginal bay, protected by overhanging trees on the bank side and an impenetrable lily bed on the other . The sun was shining down into this little bay, and I was observing a new snag that had ended up in there - a large tree branch that had obviously been blown in during the storms over winter, to join the other branches that littered this bay. As I watched I noticed a decent carp drifting in under some floating weed. Then, I noticed another and another. I set about making my way through the undergrowth along this bank until I found an area you could wade in under the trees and get quite close to where the carp were milling about. I chucked on the waders and did so, but couldn't get quite close enough to see the carp with any clarity. However, I did notice a small clear area no more than 2ft from the near-side reeds under the trees, basically under my nose. Just for fun, I popped back to the swim, crumbled up a handful of baits and returned to the spot. I chucked half on the spot, and half dotted towards the where the carp were situated before going back to my swim for a cuppa. While drinking my tea I was watching the 3 carp in the corner and could see they were proper ones... almost certainly originals and at least 2 of them were mirrors. They drifted out of sight for a minute or two, and then a few plumes of fizz popped up towards the spot I'd baited.

No dogs, unless you're surname is Lane apparently. He didn't like me pointing that out, and no I didn't make the waiting list lol No baiting poles WTF weird

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.

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)

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

Had a good half day down at Brookfoot lakes Aireys pond today 2 Bream then 3 carp 2 were commons around the 10lb and the nice mirror was a tad over 12lb, i took brew making gear for me and mrs to have a decent brew and my trusty ancient Webtex stove was leaking gas big time stripped it when we got home and now ordered a set of seals so it will give me another 15 years lol

Yeah that's a bit cheeky that!

I may be able to merge posts for you if it limits it due to picture size

This is another session that seemed to start out badly for various reasons. I got to the lake to discover someone in the swim I had been baiting up, no major problems as there is 45acres of lake, so I chose a swim opposite, albeit over 150metres away, so not going to interfere. A pallet had blown in and drifted up the lake into the margins, so I attempted to pull it out. As I did so a rotten piece broke and the pallet fell down my leg, with a nail ripping a brand new pair of combat trousers from thigh to shin, and giving me a couple of cuts on my thigh. I already knew that I had left my coffee and sugar at home, so after changing into clean trousers I took a trip to the shop in Botesdale for some antiseptic and coffee and sugar. Last night I had ducks taking off and flying through the right hand lines twice, on the second occasion for some reason my middle white Ipro indicator body broke in two, so I had to bodge a repair. This morning just drinking coffee and the male swan swan through the right hand line, getting tangled in the process and eventually smashing me up. I re-rigged and was sat with just two rods in the water, thinking I'd recast after walking Sky round. Another coffee and the left hand rod screamed off, this was a better result on the reverse combi-rig and 12mm pop-up when I landed a 26lb mirror. That puts a smile on the face!

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

The first image is a wind up, unfortunately the second isn't! I would just like to thank the pair of clowns on Big Hayes last year for the inspiration!

What's the day???

Not a lot lately for me, but i did get another 2 kilo of NFusion 12mm dairy nut boilies, cheap but i get on well with these and very similar to my 15mm corus Nut cluster, also i scooped a Michigan 88" brolly with side panels to use as a wind break when me and Mrs H go for a day session, dropped a cheeky bid on it before going fishing sunday as it was ending soon winning bid £12.50, this is new end of line, will see what its like next time on the bank

Latest purchase this week was obviously the Trent Baits Shrimp, but a quick trip to Markham's tackle shop also found some original and possibly still the best, John Roberts run rings or ledger rings, Kodex PVA bags and a new Gardner Stringer needle to replace the one I broke my catching the tip in my chair. I was feeling it for Gary at the time, poor guy had 3 Eastern Europeans in who he had to keep an eye on the whole time. 'Want this, want that, and no idea'. I also need to replace my Bulin T4 which will hopefully just make it through 2 more nights, but the burner grill is rusting through after years of service on the bank and beach. The replacement is another already ordered.

I popped into a mates lake, thinking most of the carp were dead, only to find around 20 mid doubles all cruising around, occasionally breaking the surface and splashing their tales about. If I didn't know better, I'd have said they looked to be getting ready for it. We have had a fairly warm spring so far

How it's done!!! well in big man ♥️

It's lovely to see you smiling in the top 'photo , Nick . You usually seem to be grimacing in pain from the effort of lifting your catch due to your bad back . 😃

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.

Well the koi are absolutely loving the elevated temps this past few days. Scoffing their heads off. The covers and parasol are doing a good job of prohibiting a sudden increase in water temps so it's warming up slowly which does the fish a favour. As a result the water has remained very clear with temps currently around ~11.5 C. Feeding has increased gradually over the last month or two which has given the bio filter the chance to get going properly. A few more degrees and it's time to start piling the grub in for growing season. It's been awesome feeding them this past few days. I could sit there all day watching them I swear it. The covers will be coming off in the next week or so as most of the blossom has now fallen from the trees. Shouldn't be long before I can get some good shots of the fish to whack on here.

This weekend I tragically lost my vintage JRC Cocoon, must have been 25 years old or more. It had a bent frame, lots of tape,mouse holes and I had replaced the elastic for zip ties and it was light as anything. But sadly the loops started to rip away from the mattress and it could no longer be saved. It's out lasted many other bedchairs, it's now gone to bedchair heaven and will be sadly missed RIP So I have found a new JRC Cocoon 2 arriving tomorrow, it's probably 4 times as heavy but looks mega comfortable and it's a sleep system. I still have the sonik one but that does tend to give me back ache. But it is pretty light and will do for when I need the barrow.

Aren't a lot of us now showing our age , Jules , except Elmo of course who just gets more adonis like 😁 .

I’ve recently started taking a pair of flood lights with me. They are absolutely brilliant as they provide a nice even light that makes tying rigs or cooking a meal dead easy and no more faffing about with head torches. I’ve got a 3kW portable power station with LiFePO4 batteries that will provide enough juice to run them for at least two full winter nights. The picture below is me on the right and my mate is in the next swim. He’s a bit of a wimp and only went for some cheap lower powered lights. The photo was taken by another mate who was fishing the far bank but I think he’s a bit jealous as he said it was like fishing at an airport! It will make landing fish after dark pretty easy but I haven’t actually needed it yet, the fish on my lake seem to have shut up shop since I’ve been trying it out.

Went to a little pond with my youngest boy yesterday and he caught his first ever carp. Lovely little 7lb common. He's got the carp bug now😉

a mid double common to christen the new rods

Golf gloves are brilliant for casting if you know anyone that has old ones (depending on which way you cast/they play golf) but generally can get cheap gloves for a tenner and they’ll last you years.

Great write up Yonny. Does the venue allow bait boats? I know that you're not a fan but it would make fishing a spot like that so much easier and by wrapping, you can always get it back on the spot, even after dark with the aid of the boats lights or a torch. I was a bit sceptical of boats at first but it's a case of it can't beat 'em, join 'em! One of my favourite venues has plenty of overhanging trees on the islands and it would be suicide to cast close to them. I'm sure that some venues quietly encourage the use of boats as they don't want to have to go out and remove trailing tackle that can cause a hazard to other wildlife.

Bit early! The water temperature is not high enough for carp and I don't think the days are quite long enough yet, be about right towards the middle of May.

After not going carp fishing since August due to having personal issues to deal with regarding my dad I managed to get a couple of trips on the bank this month. Last week was Wednesday to Friday. I got to the lake, and fancied an area towards the shallower east end of the lake. I did have an angler on the opposite bank slightly to my left, so I made sure I wouldn't interfere with his fishing, and got myself set up. Sorting out my dinner I realised I had left my cutlery set at home, no major issue as I had a fork in the spares pocket of my food ruckbag. It did mean that I had to gauge 2 teaspoons of sugar in my coffee though. The more important issue was the bucket of birdfood to get the ducks and swans to clear some weed if the carp didn't eat it, and worse Sky's food bowl. I was in the sleeping bag for 8pm, but awake listening for fish. A few crashed between Dave and I between 8 and 10pm when I eventually fell asleep while the frost was forming. Sky refused to come in the bivvy, and slept outdoors. Thursday was a walk around looking, but nothing made me want to move. That night was most definitely warmer, but nothing crashed, so Friday saw a slow pack up with a blank. I wasn't intending to fish again for a week, but Sunday I got back to the empty lake, complete with garlic soaked birdfood particles. I hadn't forgotten anything this week, set myself up in the same swim, although checked the wind forecast to the 3nights and had the back of the bivvy facing North West. Two quiet days, despite searching and walking around the lake with Sky on Monday and Tuesday. The only action I saw was the swans, tufties and coots mooching around the particles, although they never picked up a hookbait Tuesday night, just after dinner Sky decided to come in the bivvy, so I knew that the rain and wind forecast was coming that night. Around 8 I crashed out for a couple of hours, but at 10 got woken up to the short bivvy pegs being pulled out of the soft ground by the wind getting up to 50mph. Sky was sitting on the umbrella skirt/groundsheet join, so it didn't blow away, but it was close! I got out my long pegs and bank sticks, and went out to swap pegs and push them in at least 50cm. Managed to get sorted, but stayed awake until 1am, when I realised that my 20year old Aqua rod holdall had been blown away, and is likely to have sunk. This morning was a bit of a pig to pack away, my mix of banksticks, tent pegs were difficult to pull out, and obviously trying to juggle loose rods, landing nets, slings and throwing stick into the car. The sad part is that the historical black poplar has finally given in to old age and nature. Expectations or hopes were a fish, reality was a near disaster.

This has to be one of my favourite rod shots, taken this week, with the sunset.

In fact this morning that size 4 Incizor, reverse combi-rig(*) and 12mm pop-up landed a 26lb mirror. The reverse combi-rig is around 100mm of soft braid, and the stiff section to the hook was 20lb black Amnesia around 10mm long from the join to hook fished D-rig style.

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.

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.

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.

Just check it before your next trip, shelf life particles usually stay OK for a while.

noddy!😜

Hate to say it but I'd be somewhat upset if someone set up floodlights in the swim next to me.

So onto another session at the syndicate lake from Sunday through to Wednesday. I arrived around 3pm Sunday afternoon amidst a mix of South Westerly winds, rain shower and yuck. Syndicate rules permit putting the shelter up and putting tackle inside before taking the car down to the car park, so that is what I did. Car down to car park, and give Sky a walk back to the swim, followed by getting 3 rods clipped up and baited. Left hand rod 40metres, a 12mm purple Monster Crab pop-up and a small bag of micro pellets, middle rod, a 'greedy pig' snowman of 2x 12mm bottom baits topped with a couple of tiny Spiced Garlic pop-ups and a stringer at 50metres, and the right hand rod was a Monster Crab pop-up core. I know it's early, but I've been putting a bucket of particles in on one rod on arrival, to prebait and to try to wean a particular fish that I have never seen eat bait. This fish is a big uncaught common, that I reckon makes a 42lb common look small, added to the mix this time was a couple of pints of red maggots. Spombing out 40metres was not fun, the Spomb was on target with hardly any effort, but retrieving it was fun, and trying to catch the Spomb in the wind... Sunday night I spent much of the night awake listening to the wind shake the bivvy. No joy, and even the coots, tufties and swans left me alone. Monday the wind switched more westerly, with a touch of north. After a walk around with Sky, fish searching and putting the sheep's electric fence back up there was no reason to move. Sorted the rods out, sticking to the same formula. A really quiet afternoon, but around 10pm the tufties moved in, and with the laser pen the little gits would spook and then come back. At 1am, I got a few bleeps and watched the indicator move up and down, so picked up the rod, and landed a tufty. Expectations, and reality...

Similar to yonny, I had a £75 club ticket last season, fished there for 3 nights and a £275 ticket (June-june) and I’ve only done 3 nights so far! Expensive trips. Spent most of my year fishing a club water for free as I’m on the committee! But none of those club lakes really do it for me tbh. hopefully fit in a couple more nights on the ticket before June but then I don’t know whether I’ll renew. See how it goes. Pretty expensive trips!

nope! Ive never felt the need to loose so much of my fishing time, travelling abroad. This social coming up is 3 nights, I haven't counted everything, but it's well over £500 + 2 days off work🫣