bluelabel

Had ATTS's for ages, love em... wife bought me a set of TXi's for me birthday last month and I love em too... I had Fox's with a wired sounder box back in the day and I still have a set of 3 Optonics... circa 1978-82 ish

Size 4 hook.... big prawn.... no lead.... just fish overdepth some broken prawns and 8mm pellets... hang onto your hat... ( and the rod)

Couldn't afford the Mortgage... they are supposed to be a bit good though

These rods are not cheap and in all honesty you could do the same with an 8 or 9 foot carbon rod of 2.5lbs/2.75lbs or so... Rod poundage isn't set in stone for big fish... Walkers 44lber was caught on a rod of 1.5lbs test curve... Yates's 51lber came on an Avon of about 1.25lbs... cane is expensive for named rods... I'd stick with the black stuff if I were you...😛🤣

My cane rods are approx 2.75lbs test curve at 9'3"... they handle 20's with little or no effort and I was in the process of playing one of Ashmead's 'A' team on one when the hook pulled... this little chap went 22lb 6 oz on a little 8 foot stalking rod

You misunderstand... I've used carbon since it first became available... I've since revisited cane, found it agreeable and suits my style of fishing... fear not, I still have some black stuff Chiefly a pair of 9' Nash Dwarfs in 2.75lbs and a pair of 4000 Shimano baitrunners and a set of 3 Delkims... I am not averse to modern life😛 I learned a valuable lesson, inasmuch as it matters not how you get a rig in place or with which rod and reel... its the last 3 feet of your endgame that catches fish...

As an angler who uses cane rods and centerpin reels do you honestly think I would stoop to such a travesty as a bait boat...?😛 You'll be accusing me of being a drone pilot next...🤣🤣🤣

Have a look at Docklow Pools... 9 lakes 6 stretches of river, tackle shop and bar/restaurant on site, lodges, B/B, apartments and chalets... been going there for years... set in lovely countryside and the waters are very prolific for general coarse fishing, plenty of carp to mid upper doubles if you fish late in the day/ evening in the margins... oh... and the food is superb and plentiful....

I rarely fish at distance Yonny... 60-70 yds max and a 2.5 oz lead does that job...👍 Y'see fishing mainly cane rods (2.75lb max) with the occasional dabble with carbon rods(2.75lb Dwarfs) long chucking's not really advisable...😛🤣 Besides... the biggest water I fish is 5 acres... no need for a long chuck anywhere...😎 Especially as fishing margins is so productive..😛

I asked this when I first joined... a call to Nash elicited the fact that you simply can't... The best way is to take it off the bed, air it out on the line for a day and brush off any mud or solid detritus... Then give it a spray with Febreze, let it air a bit longer and then zip it back on... washing makes the Hollofil insulation bunch up and renders the bag useless...

I used boilies (still do) but on a pressured water using a bait out of left field often pays dividends... the great thing about a boilie is it's convenience😎 I've said it before, too many carpers get stuck in a rut with bait and rigs... try float fishing a prawn or a shrimp, corn and meat still work, Chick peas, Billotti beans, Butter beans... slap a bit o' goo on em... cheap and cheerful ready made baits for a few pennies...👍 Glace cherries are a cracking bait as long as you can stop eating them yerself🤣 As for rigs... Christ the carp must've seen em all... try freelining a bait in the margins and sit well back and be quiet, you'll be amazed how much you can catch... 4 ounce leads...? why fergodssakes...? where's the skill in that... if you get a run on a freelined bait you have to strike the hook, (not a huge overhead sweep either) just a nice lift of the rod top to set the hook... I use as much lead as it takes to get my bait in position, sometimes as little as a swan shot on a bit of line looped over the mainline and stopped by the hooklink connector/swivel Hair rigs...? what happened to hooking a large prawn on a big size 2 or 4.... I may not fish the way the media stars proscribe... I'm strictly old school... but I catch more than a few.... and as many as a lot🤣 try summat different fer a change... gowaaaan... I dare ya's Tight lines 🍺😎

One of the waters he fishes in this vid I have fished before with the old Carpology Massive, Jay the owner is a top lad... (I had the pleasure of hosing his previous water Tall Trees...😛😍) this water, Blue Lagoon in Bedfordshire is VERY hard with a very low stock...

Korum do some nice simple run rigs too... most of my fishing is done on run rigs or inlines (set up running style) or even freelined

One of the probs I have is that I don't have access to some of the high profile waters the top lads do... sour grapes...?? bang on...🤣🤣 as a retired bloke I can't afford syndi tickets, or long stay sessions and my clubs hold fish to about 30lbs max but are few and far between... again its about what you put into your fishing... I've fished a few high profile, open access waters with mixed success... the highlight for me was catching from Redmire in 2018 and oddly enough losing one of the Ashmead A team in 2019... I'd loved to have caught it, but I don't dwell on it (much)... if it mattered that much I'd be back at every opportunity to bank one of Skeff's big girls... but I can't afford it sadly... although I'll be back at some time in the future... but if my name was Terry Hearn I'd have been back till I'd banked every one of the bigguns... I suppose its a matter of what you want or can afford to put into your sport that will dictate what you get out of it

To a certain extent its about being in the right place at the right time... the difference between us and the likes of Lord Tel... is he knows the time and the place already...😛🤣

The division ( for me anyway) between a REALLY talented angler and an average one like me is the need to deconstruct every session and look into the minutiae of how and why I did or didn't catch... I don't feel the need, for the simple reason that I go fishing for my own enjoyment... and to take my sessions to that point where I have to examine every facet of the outing means my enjoyment of my sport diminishes.... In short do what you want, but be aware that you'll get out what you put in

It depends on a lot of factors... are you driven enough to chase the fish...? Have you got the patience to learn a waters moods by watching it for weeks without a rod...? Does your level of watercraft enable you to predict where the fish can be found...? for the majority of us the answer (if you answer truthfully) is no... otherwise there'd be tons of pics of us lot in the press holding 50's 60's every week... No... the majority of us love our fishing, but have very little spare time to pursue carping the way the top lads do... therefore we do our best and catch the odd lump (not often in my case) and we aspire to get better... sometimes it pays off... more often than not it doesn't...... but we keep trying do we not...?

There are those who are in tune with a water... bit like Chris Yates and Redmire... he fished it for years and got to know its moods... then guys like Dave Lane or Adam Penning who will move onto any showing fish, some folks are seen patrolling the water for weeks before a cast is made, getting to know patrol routes, feeding times and feeding spots... they are the ones who take waters to bits... in short... they put in hard work

Looks like an ATTS copy with a few more farkles added... like the wristband though

Shot knees (6 arthroscopies) and 4 collapsed discs in my back... (3 operations) I still manage to cart me toys about without a barrow... as long as I keep moving I can still keep moving... if you get me drift

For a day session there really should be no need for a barrow... it tickles me rigid when you see all the YouTube vids about keeping mobile and theres a barrow piled high for a 10 or 12 hour session sitting behind the presemter... my young apprentice is always moaning that I get to the water before him... I'm usually setting up bankside while he's still loading his barrow... ruckie, chair, rodbag, bait bag, thats all I take for a day session... only use a barrow for 24 hours or longer and even then the only addition is bedchair and bivvy... the carping media has brainwashed folks into taking all bar the kitchen sink... sometimes a rod reel net loaf of bread and mat are all that's needed for a days fishing... I despair I really do

Give it a year, furlough finishes, folks get back to work, time starts to become short and little johnny will be back playing footie instead of pestering dad to go fishing... mum will want more decorating done and slowly the upsurge in anglers will fall away

Actually yes, you can leave the lead out it's just another variation of freelining... the downside (if you can call it that) is that in the event of a run you have to strike to set the hook, rather than letting the lead hook the fish for you.... its a method that I use on occasion at close range (margin fishing) give it a go... do summat different from the norm it often pays off

And do the clutch up rock solid...