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Week in Belgium for the first time, trip was everything I'd hoped for and more - lake to ourselves 2 anglers 6 acres, paid more but wouldn't add another angler tbh Epic week, tough fishing but so interesting, acting on sightings as usual, spreading the rods far and wide obvs to the point where I was quiver tipping from the pod in both directions at one point lol. This kicked me hard after a bleep in the early hours suddenly turned into a rod flying through the air into the pond as the clutches were too tight. 3 boats trips later after much panicking I picked up the line, got the rod and landed the fish unbelievably. Several boat battles each, quality fish averaging mid 30s, great company, many laughs, team work - learning on the job in boats it was mega in truth, didn't want it to end. By the end of the week we had a well established pattern of only ever catching on a spot on the first night/dawn, no spot did another bite after a fish came off it, so if you weren't moving spots you weren't catching end of. On the last night we predicted that we could both reel in 2 rods and only leave the new one out and obvs it was true - one take each that night on the new spots - pretty mad really. We caught by far the most on the complex and laughed the loudest I reckon. My 'GET IN' when the rod was back in my hand must have woke the complex lol 8 fish for me from 26.8 to 42, my mate 6 from 29 to 44.12 I had all mirrors which is perfect - he had mostly commons again, interestingly he caught mostly commons last trip I didnt and same on a syndi water. Only difference I've noticed he uses a yellow topper, I don't. My second biggest fish's pic wasn't focussed unfortunately, I didnt show him half pressing - usually give him the remote- cant go wrong with that but thankfully re-mastering it made it semi useable so sorry about that. Ian again, thanks for the camera tips etc, got my best night takes ever of mateys big commons and enjoying using my remote - should always do it tbh my self takes are always my favourite pics of the trip. 🤦 I've had worse tbh another mate chops your head off lol Carp Arena, Lilly Pool - drive and survive, small supplies shop, bbq area with fridges, freezers, drinks, chocs and water. Flushing toilets near clean warm showers, bio toilets elsewhere, saw dust is amazing no smells and emptied every 3 days. We didn't get bothered once which we loved, others who blanked on other pits moaned about just about everything so it's not a complex for everyone I guess. Looking to re-book the lake and possibly have a go on Clover Lake 😎🇧🇪

You go off places - sometimes unexpectedly it happens, I do agree with Yonny though in that you've got the ticket and there are whackers, it's a great time of year now right into Dec. You've paid the money why not commit to having a good bash if you're not renewing, nothing more rewarding/inspiring than seeing the broad back of a monster in your net! All it takes is seeing one patch of bubbles at dawn and you might have unlocked the autumn feed-up area and a hit could be on!

Tricky one mate. I never fish as well on a social as I do on my own. When you're on your own it's easier to put 100% into your angling imo. I guess you need to ask yourself why you're not feeling it. In my experience, catching a few good fish is the best way to start feeling it, so I'd go all out to bag a good'n before winter hits. Staring at a 40lber in the net is a sure fire way to get the buzz back and you have the opportunity to do that right there in front of you. If it were me, I'd forget about the socials and get down there with a plan to watch, and watch, and watch, and move onto them at any given hour. Hard work always pays off and the harder you work, the bigger the buzz when it all comes good.

They're two separate tickets mate. The estate has about 2 miles of bank, over 4 stream fed lakes in a valley, a lot of it is unfishable. It is lovely, with natural English carp rumoured to e around the 30 mark. Just talking about it is making me want to go

It's took me a while to adjust from the ressies as well mate, I love everything about it. Fishing at range, spodding big beds of bait out, hauling multiple 20s a day 👌🤣 I haven't really done any fishing on the reservoirs this year, its been mainly the canal and the complex. Totally different type of fishing imho, really weedy waters, trying to find little holes in the weed then trying to present a bait over it lol. I think out of the last 30 days I've spent about 5 at home, and only had 2 carp (same fish 🤣) Starting to feel burnt out from it now, ended up coming home this afternoon, but now I'm watching the weather forecast and we've got some low pressure coming in and now I'm thinking should I go back down 🤣

So, I joined a little syndicate recently. Well stocked to a few early 40's, Initially thought there's a few odd rules, but whatever. As times gone by (4 x 48's), I've had a low 30 on the first visit) I've sort of lost interest in the place. A few mates are on the ticket, but we haven't been free at the same time for a social. After fishing a reservoir and that feeling of having something no ones caught before, I've just not had the same buzz with this place. The search for a decent venue continues i guess??

So this weekend was great. I've been doing a lot of work to improve water quality/clarity and on Saturday morning I realised I can now see the bottom in 2m of water. Result. The skimmer I put in is working a treat. A decent weekend all round. Fish are still happy but the feeding has slowed right down in the reducing temps.

I agree with the others, you might as well have a bash at those whackers, you've got the ticket and you may as well, you might find you enjoy it when you catch another one. That being said I couldn't be bothered to go tonight, I was so tired last night I couldn't be harrised to sort my kit out just to rush before dark, so I didn't 😂 You might find the banks are a bit quieter now and that might help you to enjoy it. Rather than comparing it to the other place look at the challenge you are faced with and think how best to catch them whackers.

Now that's what I call a catch report😬 I'm not jealous at all @kevtaylor. Not one bit🤥 Well done mate.

I'm quite lucky where I am mate, the river and canal hold some really good fish, although the river is on the decline because of otters and they haven't done any restocking, but they do keep stock the canal every few years. Love a bit of perch fishing too, 0.5g - 7g rod, dropshot setup on holes of weed 👍 I think we can get a bit caught up with the carp fishing and sometimes a change in species can make fishing enjoyable 👍 I'm back on the complex tonight and just done some photos for my mate on the other side with a 20lb linear 👌

After working a 2pm-2am shift, I popped down to a local park lake to await the morning when I would be able to park on my road (that was my excuse anyway) I managed a carp that probably wouldn’t look out of place in Yonny’s koi pond, but it kicks off October

No I'm not either, I am doing an overnighter Friday that's probably it for the month 😂 Well done Kev some absolute crackers and sounds like you got it sussed. Good observation on the spots too. It made me think how often I expected to catch more but hadn't. Not something I would usually even consider tbh 👍

Nice one Kev. It would have been so easy to sit behind the rods after your first fish and think you had it sussed. Had to laugh at the moaners, some people think that just because you've paid your money and travelled, you're bound to catch! Some of these lakes are highly pressured and the fish are wised up just as much as most of the circuit waters over here.

If you still have the estate ticket fish on there, dont rule out the syndi venue it may be that you go back and have a great session

The canals sound like great fun. I've tried a little bit of river fishing for perch and pike recently with my boys. Carp fishing time is very limited and precious to me, there's just something (mainly daft rules), that's just not giving me the buzz

Like @yonny I never fish as well on a social as I do on my own. However like you I have lost interest in carp fishing at the moment, despite having a good syndicate, for a couple of reasons, most of which revolves around my dad. I'm also slightly bugged by issues that happened around members who only fished when their other syndicate was closed. I tend to catch when I can do 3 or 4 days, and either setup on fish, or prime an area for them to move onto. However I do know I love the lake and when things work out I will be back on there aiming to catch both Chestnut and the BC along with any other fish that just happen to come my way.

Thanks @yonny, wise words as always. It's just lost, or not got that sparkle for me. I must admit a big turn off was finding out my son's couldn't put a carp rod out, when I was told they could fish with me. I broke my usual rule, of not fishing barbless venues. They always have the most ridiculous set of rules, for the most random reasons??? Maybe my estate ticket is where I should focus. Literally no rules whatsoever

I think snail based boilies are a complete waste of time (in terms of trying to compete with natural snail consumption)... but if I was going to use a boiled bait with snail content I'd be using this: https://essentialbaits.co.uk/products/black-snail

I know Rod Hutchinson do Water Snail Naturalz: https://rodhutchinson.co.uk/products/naturalz-16mm

there was a company doing snail boilies It looks like they have stopped doing them, could be worth a phone call to double check https://www.carpparticles.co.uk/product-category/boilies-hookbaits/

3rd time this year ffs 🤣 I've had 5 fish from this lake and 3 of them has been the same fish 🖕🤣 29lb 8oz lol

They are full of stinky winky though mate, the chemicals and stuff the flavours are made of are toxic lol. Wonder what health issues are gonna come about in 10 - 20 years time lol

The storm on Friday gone was a nightmare for the leaves.... I put a net over the pond but it was useless. I'm worried about the leaves blocking up the bottom drain and filter, and drawing oxygen out of the water as they decay. I have the local expert round tonight to quote for replacing the skimmer system and I've ordered the best temporary skimmer you can get. Should do the job for now, but we'll wait to see the cost of the the permanent solution 😬

The other one (white with light orange - a Kohaku??) aint as big as it looks in the photo, maybe 20 lb at a push. Still, a great fish. It's a Doitsu which for those who don't know means leather/lightly scaled mirror. They sound like bangers mate, especially the zip karashigoi... looking forward to seeing them.

Thats a proper unit, though so is the one in the picture with it if the grassie is a metre long roughly. It's surprising how big they can grow in a pond. My two koi i currently have are both knocking 50cm to 60cm. One is a Sanke and the other a perfect zip linear karashigoi, I'll try and get pics but my water clarity isn't to good as I've just not had the time this year to keep on top of it.

Popped out to get a photo last night. It's the one fish in the pond that's not a koi. It's an albino grass carp. Despite its mental golden colour, this one was always going to be tricky to get a shot of as it tends not to come up for food, preferring to mooch around about a meter under the surface like a massive orange submarine. It has to be nearly a meter long but v tricky to put a weight on. It's certainly the longest fish in the pond but not the biggest. Maybe 26-27 lb? This is the fish that's had all our visitors giving it "oooooh" and "aaaaah" which is silly because there's 2 or 3 that are a fair bit bigger, but the length just blows people way. I just call it The Big Grassie. Again, apologies for the poor pic quality.

Destructive creatures aint they?!! I think I'll just take the lily out. I'll want to give them some shade come spring/summer, I'll figure out how in due course.

When i had the 6 carp in my pond I put a lily in the pond. Next morning the water was like a cup of tea. The carp had literally smashed the clay to bits that the lily was planted in. Even despite the pot being covered in pond grit and then larger pebbles. They just smash all plants to bits given the chance.

I'd planned to introduce another kipper today but was busy as owt last night and didn't get the chance for photos. I did manage a quick filter clean on dark and grabbed a shot of how the pond's looking now. You'll notice I've removed most of the plants, basically taking it back to a blank canvas to help me visualise what I want to do with it. The water still isn't quite as clear as I'd like, probably due to the fact the UV filter hadn't been changed in ages. This was done last week so hoping to see an improvement for the weekend. Although I don't want to, I may have to remove the water lily too. The carp are smashing it to bits as it dies back for winter which really isn't helping the clarity. Not sure which would keep the carp happier tbh... keep the lily at the expense of water quality or get rid at the expense of the carps favourite 'toy'!

I have another pond down in the main garden with goldfish in.... the heron can have them! Otters...... now there's a scary thought. We're 3 miles away from the Nene... but there's a small brook just 250m away. Fencing the pond, or the garden, isn't really possible. Maybe a steel mesh over the top of the pond when I'm not around?

Lovely sized pond mate, I'd love one that size but I know they are pricey to build/maintain etc. Do you have the automatic self cleaning nexus. Looking forward to seeing a few pics of the fish. I've got a tiny 2 metre square pond by 900mm deep. I built it soley for goldfish originally but I did have 6 dinton carp in it once upon a time and believe it or not one of them grew to just shy of 10lb and the rest all over 5lb. Sadly they all died due to a freak accident. I've now got a few goldfish, one gold tench, 3 x carp that i grew from spawn in 2020 from my old lake, one of which is probably 6lb and 2 x koi that are knocking 7 or 8lb.They've out grown the pond really and i do need to upgrade mine really. Time and money holding me back at the moment. I've got a bog filter on my current one and boy do the plants grow in that, especially when I up the feed in spring. The first picture is after I built the bog filter. The next picture is after one month, second picture after 2 months and last picture after 5 months and cutting it all back after 4 months.

That's not accurate. Hooks are made from high carbon steels and heat treated (sometimes referred to as spring steels). While it's true that a finer gauge wire or hook is more prone to straightening (obviously), elasticity (or Youngs Modulus of elasticity to be precise) is a physical characteristic of steel - there is no 'may' about it. A hook is essentially a spring - it is critical that it can flex during the fight (this is known as elastic deformation), otherwise it would just snap because it would be too brittle to deal with the loads applied to the steel. However, it's not possible for the hook to flex to the point of straightening without the yield strength of the steel being exceeded. The yield strength is the point at which the steel deforms under load permanently (this is known as plastic deformation). So yes, a hook flexes (to a point) but no, a hook cannot straighten and then spring back into shape. The physical properties of spring steel do not allow it. If a hook straightens, you know about it.