bluelabel

Great if you have £500 spare... not so great if you haven't 🤷‍♂️ Even when I was working I couldn't justify spending £500 on a syndi ticket from a cost or time perspective... perhaps I could afford it now I'm retired, but the urge to tie my fishing to one water just to justify the cost of an overpriced ticket, isn't high on my list of priorities any more...

Carping can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it from a tackle and bait perspective... however... from a Day ticket/ Syndi angle, owners mightily take the pee A syndi I joined one year for £250, the following year went up to £400 because the owner stocked 2 x 30's... its now over £500 a year for an irrigation pool with very little in the way of "Facilities" I fish club waters now, as they provide much better value for money...👍😎🎣

Rod test curves have gotten steadily heavier over the last 20 years... I mean... I started my carp fishing with a pair of Gerry Savage S/U (probably 2lb T/C) because the fish we were after were well over 20lb nowadays the tackle shops are selling carp rods of 3.75lbs rods that would have been used as spod rods 20 years ago... when you see carp hooked on them they hardly bend... I have gone backwards over the last 10 years and my carbon carp rods (Dwarf 2.75lb) lie gathering dust and I'm landing 20's and nigh on 30's on rods with barely 2lbs t/c and cane to boot... If I want to fish the far bank I don't cast a 4 oz lead 150 yards with a 3.75lb rod... I walk round and drop in a freelined bait and sit quietly... In Angling Direct a few weeks back the bloke was trying to sell a dad a pair of 3lb 12' rods for his 9 year old son... who, being knee high to a gnats doodah, would never EVER be able to compress the rod to get a decent distance with it... what the blinking flip is it with these "Salesmen"... And as well as that I've seen blokes with 3.5lb rods... (cos I'm chookin it a long way like) and then boat everthing out... fergoodnessakes)😳😳😳 I've come to the conclusion there's no earthly reason these monster rods are needed,other than the buyers are just fashionistas following Saint Danny and his ilk... Don't moan when your long awaited prize comes in with a mouth like a lace doyley and you wonder why... There...I've had my rant... going for a lie down

Had Optonics... not bad given their age (still got em atcherlee) had Fox Microns... okay... had ATTs Brill, got Delkims now... also Brill... in hindsight... I preferred my ATTs... its all down to personal preference in the end, compared to the ATTs the Delkims are bulky but thats it really... they all did a job... even the Optonics which I still use occasionally

This is my old STi 2 man with the extended wrap on it... mahoosive... cheap as chips and a nifty bivvy, very roomy, 2 bedrooms, the bathroom's a bit small though...😛🤣

Has he got planning permission for that bad boy...😛🤣

Just a hook pull at the net...😭😭😭 But that was enough... Lumpy went 30lb 8oz last time out...😭😭😭

Connected to the biggest fish in the lake, a half Linear called "Lumpy" on a heavy float rod... (a Marco Test and Fred Crouch Ariel) It didn't end well...☹😭

Out on a club water today... one rod only, corn and meat

Going to have to miss this one... waiting on an appointment from the pain clinic (collapsed discs in my lower back) sorry folks

The fish is approx 24-26lbs ( no scales but a buddy had it out in April at 27 and its spawned out

My little sis sent me an AD voucher for me 65th birthday, so a new Korum Opportunist mat bag was my latest... Christened it too

Managed this lump last thursday, (Sites been offline so couldn't post... Invalid cert) Christened my new Korum mat bag in style, I had no scales but my buddy had it out at 26lb in april... a real scrapper had the handle creaking on my 8' Sharpe...

Out on my club lake...

I got mine from Angling direct a few years back...👍😎