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Ha! I’ve been lurking and not contributing for some time now but a new PB is worth sharing….. I’m still on a session at Dinton’s Black Swan as I type this………Arrived at dawn yesterday. Clearly lots of fish still in the big ‘winter bay’ despite being on the back of a big SW. Lapped a couple of times, debating where to plot up with 3 nights ahead. Decided to keep it simple and put my rigs where the fish were actually showing rather than where they might end up…… Cast 3 singles out for drops amongst the emergent Eel grass which they seem so attracted to. Decided to get my head down for a couple of hours-I’d set off at 2.45am. An hour or so later I’m woken by a screaming Neville. Lifted in to a very heavy feeling fish which was dogged rather than spectacular. Worryingly, it hit the surface about 25 yds out and started shaking its head at me as I led it in; with braided mainline I’m always anxious when they do this with no water depth to cushion the lunges. Fortune was on my side and I netted a Common that got larger with every yard I gained. With the assistance of 3 other anglers we weighed and photographed an amazing creature of 53lb 2oz! Blown away!

Couple nice ones on caught on solid bags, always good for a quick bite.

Where I live there is an abundance of disused ,deep quarries,some are barren,and fishless...but a few have some surprises and have held carp and other species for many years .. When you fish these places,you have to think like a miner ,and find the galleries, which are mined ,and step down into unimaginable depths ,find the galleries and you find the patrol routes.. The weather was awful ,I had a river running under my shelter,at one point ,wind,rain,hail,thunder,lightning..and a big fear of falling branches made it interesting..,then all the mica,clay residue gets everywhere...anyway .. I found the marginal gallery, and fished very simple running lead tactics ,using the Ressi specials I use a lot..After the storm had passed ,I seen kingfisher,heard deer rutting,and woodpeckers, nature at its best ..

Great stuff lads .... good to see you out catching. I'm off to churn pool at the end of the month with a few mates . First time fishing in a long time ! Hopefully have something to write about.

Almost a rod shot just had to set them up Went rag worm drowning this morning glorious weather 😎

I like this, when the fish have seen it all I find myself tying a standard hair with a bottom bait and tiny funnel web of crumb- simple as it gets, and works 👍 No baiting just a trap in the zone.

Check out temu, I just picked up this bad boy for £22.96 I've been waiting for the right deal on this for ages and they knocked off £11 for me. And it's got lid ice packs.

Look at the tail on this rocket ,I had a hellish battle with it in about 30ft of water I reckon ,it was jet propelled.. I also had 12 others ,similar to my first pic ,but didn't want put em all up., just lovely to be out in raw nature ..

Well I picked a good day to log back in . Congratulations on the pb hell of a common that mate 😎 And thanks for the welcome back lads 😎

Hoping @Pete Springate's Guns gives us the low down on his latest result!

Done a mid double common yesterday and just done this one at 17lb 12oz, it's hammering down and my hood wouldn't stay up, it all went wrong 🤣 Anyway it will be my last night tonight, hopefully get another cat 👍

If your boilie is breaking off when you withdraw the needle, it sounds more like you are using a baiting needle with too harsh a barb rather the knot causing the problem. Boilie recipes have undergone a change from being hard, which was supposed to put off smaller fish and make them easier to catapult or stick out, to softer which requires less boiling and so they retain more of their nutritional profile and allow water to penetrate them and release their attractants more readily. I use a Korda needle which is fine enough to penetrate boilies without causing any damage to them.

Might be on an earner…You should try eating it could be truffles 😂

Excuse my ignorance but. What is that???

Absolutely next level mate! Awesome! Edit: what a shot too. Fantastic photo of a fantastic carp.

Threw £20 at a little temu haul, pair of croc type shoes for any night time dashes (more to the tiolet than the rods these days 😆), water bucket to replace my leaky old one, bait spoons, tackle pouch and some bait pots for my pop ups, plus some tiny pots ideal for soaking zig foam in, all in all pretty happy

IMO the fishery manager was weak letting them get away with that, vacate the swim or you're banned would be my take on it.

The days of me seeing red has happily past but it takes some effort tho. The bailiff found the sign in a bush

Simple overhand loop knot? What hooklink material are you using?

You technically can go as high as you want with natural liquids, IMO they have a point where its just pointless adding any more (for me thats around 60-70ml) but some say as high as 120, 40 should be ok, personally I have a pref for one thick hydro combined with a thinner bulk liquid. dont forgot you can also give them a coating of hydro before freezing or prior to going to the lake to let them draw a bit more liquid in.

Caught my first carp of the year this weekend after a winter in which I did next to no angling for one reason or another. The weekend started well with 3 carp and a tench. Another bite resulted in a loss on Saturday morning but it was enough to have me blagging another night. Unfortunately, despite that warm sunshine, that cold easterly had them backing off and without a move on the cards I was stuck camping for the night. Still, a lovely weekend and I just hope I can get back out at some point soon. Here's the best of them. The linear is I think an original, typified by the little melted heart-shaped tail that most of the OG's in this water have. The common is I think a stock fish but no less welcome for it. Clearly one on it's way to being a real biggun.

Im interested in what you think your providing Mr Carp nutritionally with something like the above, part of making your own for me is not always about cost but providing a good nutritional bait that can be utlised by the fish, the above is very carb heavy and seeing as Mr Carp has limited ability biologically to break down or utilise carbs to any great effect unless i have missed something

Will you be mentioning that one is 8ft 11 inch ? 😉

That was 4 hours worth that my daughter caught, nothing that big yet but we were just bashing them out on the whip, might get the match rod out this year and try further out for some bigger ones, I do quite enjoy watching a float sometimes.

Thought i should post the pic of the rods prior to breaking the tip of one, BTW had a repky from Wychwood asking me to take broken rod to local dealer for them to send it back and let them see if it was poor workmanship that caused it but i have repaired it so not going back, i have instead ordered a pair of Rod Hutchinson 10ft rods and will sell on the 9ft Wychwoods

Sort of, their buoys. Had a small conger that went back in I fished with the brother-in-law had a laugh 👍 I can see the coyotes but no dog. Best of luck and don’t forget the suntan lotion

Lovely morning after a wet night. I call the trees opposite Wile E Coyote and Scotty Dog. I've had a few fish out of this swim in the past, but it is the area where I've seen the big uncaught common.

Oh yes they certainly move a lot. I was in 30/31 one night and had 3 fish by 9am. The wind turned towards "big no dogs" and the fish were rolling towards there within half hour. I packed up and moved to "big no dogs" and had 3 more that day. Knowing the weather and air pressure was a big thing for me and a few others in my time on there. I've only ever seen " petty's" twice, once in Lee's photos and the other was close up in some snags in "spooky bay". It was only a few weeks after Lee had caught the fish so roughly knew the weight and I saw a mirror roll up in the snags with it that absolutely dwarfed it. It's certainly a special lake/complex with special carp.

Is that "Petty's comon" or another one? Either way top angling fella. I'll have to pop down one day and meet you, I'm only a 20min cycle ride away. As for them being on the back of a SW, they always used to be on the back of a low pressure SW but would follow a high pressure SW. I used to love a big low pressure SW on there as most would be down the boat club/golf bank and leave winter bay well alone. Congrats once again on a magnificent carp.

I've still got my biomaster xta 8000 reels, my dad bought them for me nearly 20 years ago as my first set of big pits, even though the bail arms have dropped slightly, they are still mechanically sound 👍 I retired them last year but got them back out recently for catfish and they're still going strong 💪

I have really used and abused my Aerlex's, for fishing, spodding and marker float work. I know that the gearing is lower, reel handle turns compared to bail arm rotation, but I actually feel that may be better in terms of the work they do. I think I got them around 2005, so to be still going with minimal care is some going, just the occasional drop of oil. They get covered in groundbait, occasionally soaked and still do Big Boy work. Not bad for an £89 reel. I preferred them over the £105 Biomaster I think it was then, although it might have been I didn't want to spend the extra £20 each on 5 reels... I've said since that Shimano quality has dropped, reels were built to last, now they are built to be upgraded or fail... I'm still using my 7000 Beastmaster XTA's for fishing, and still getting positive comments from other people on the syndicate. The DL10000's I have just don't feel as robust. Give me the original Seaspin Baitrunners, or the 4000/6010 Aero GTE Baitrunners and I would be happy with them on lighter rods.

Well done Jules 👍 Forgot to say I put a fine dap of clear nail polish over the repair 👍

That’s a bit of bad luck Easy fix if they don’t, grip the broken piece with grips heat below the eye then slide the eye away. Try it for size if it fits bit of super glue job done if it don’t a light sanding to it till it fits then glue. Iv done the same fix to a quiver tip and a sea rod 👍

Big foot ....ha ha...no seriously .. Whatever it was spooked this deer ,as it ran past me,.. made a hellish crashing noise,what with the non stop rain ,thunder ,lightning, was a night to remember.. ( I loved it )...

Wow What a breathtaking pic Congrats on a great pb

Yes what is it ? , the poo of one of those big cats that roam about leaving tantilising clues of their existance ? .

Lovely looking dog , Roughtor , sad loss indeed .

Wow😍 😍😍😍 that is next level, congrats Mr Guns that is a mega stunning beauty. Well done Yonny for making it happen too it would have been criminal not to share this one 😏 good luck for the rest of the trip 👍

Wow ,that's fantastic ,great photo .. Need to have that framed and put on your wall..

And down the lake ,well not 'in the lake ' at the point lol...

Here's my Casper having a pint down by our local pub.. Like as mentioned ,kind words indeed,I looked at him as my little buddy spoilt rotten ,but well trained and socialised very well...( except near water lol 😂

Kind of like a Chelsea smile???? It's why I stopped using uncoated braid, it happened to me. Now I've got the double beep shock rig I can use any rig I want with a mesh bag, usually a spinner tbh 😉if it ain't broke and all that.

Friend of mine was getting mouth damage in Italy, problem seemed to be the 15lb supple braid cutting the corners of the mouth. Think he just upped the BS, it was odd and out the blue - no previous issues. 🤷‍♂️

I can't help thinking supple uncoated braid causes damage, especially if you have a big lead swinging about 4 inches from the fishes face, but yeah most fish on my syndicate with mouth damage came from when the lake used to be a match lake, we are now trying to catch them ones and retire them to another pond.

Oh I'd be so angry, I'd have gone home absolutely raging after giving them what for - so bad!!! So those guys just moved the sign and got away with it. 🤬

No doubt you will fella 👌

She doesnt look too impressed by Nick tbf Earned a treat yeah - where is it? Hmmm 🤣 George had a thing about mice in the garage, was like a kid jumping up and down at the door to have a sniff round and check the traps every night. Brilliant ❤️

21lb 12oz common 👍

We've all been there over the years, trading tackle in, chopping and changing - often too cheap by mistake as you can't sell it on Ebay (courier fees have gone mad; its the full insurance that's the issue on flash rods) Collection puts you a bit on edge, its easy for a dodgy stranger to dash off in the darkness without putting the code in for you to confirm the sale I had a stupid thing for pairs of flash beach casters before I realised I don't like using two rods from the beach anyway as its hard work and faffy rebaiting etc. and moving up and down with the tide on shingle Long story short I deeply regretted selling a pair of Bruce Ashby Mirage over a decade ago, they're a timeless classic fish playing, small water big fish carp rod - even nicer to play fish on than Ballistas - Romantically I found a set again recently, these will not be sold, I use Ballistas as well and was very happy to find some excellent cheap fibreglass rods which have fabulous actions - they aren't dirt cheap, about £40 each - they're called 'Freshwater Carp' - made by WSB Tackle and I can't recommend them highly enough as the PERFECT beginner rod for a youngster - I use them very happily at a rough park lake where I don't want my shiny best reels and Harrisons on show while I'm snoring off the whiskey!

That's a shame was looking forward to seeing you catch loads of fish on your new mix.