Golden Paws

Sounds like line bites, which are common when you have a pile of attraction in a small area. Slacken the line right off after casting and look at back leads or add some drops of rig putty to the line behind your rig. Blunt hooks are another common cause of bites not developing. Carp have leathery mouths and can pick up baits and not get hooked. Check how sharp the hook is by (gently) checking it against your thumb or running it along your thumb nail and seeing if it "digs" in. Hook sharpening is a bit of an art and there are companies that sell filing and polishing stones that can make even "sharp out of the packet" hooks that little bit better and restore hooks that have dulled a touch.

Yorkshire’s stolen fortnight Before some clever Yorkshireman emails in, the old rivers boards that were formed in the early 20th century were allowed to vary the close season provided it comprised a set number of days – 93 to be precise. Therefore, for a period 'Yorkshires stolen fortnight' allowed them to start coarse fishing on 01 June, though to be fair the whole of March was lost to fishing. These were their original proposals put forward in 1878 and somehow they crept back in, I think as part of the 1923 review of the Act. (Source: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/fishing/angling-histories/angling-history/history-of-the-coarse-fish-close-season) Many years ago you could fish in Yorkshire on the 1st of June, the so called stolen fortnight. Even though being further North and colder then most Southern area's and common sense would say their season should have finished and started later. I had a mate who is a very experienced river angler and went on the last day of the season which that year was on a Friday night. He commented to someone that he couldn't believe the car park was empty when he got there late afternoon. His mate looked a bit stunned and then told him the season finished on the Wednesday which was the 14th, not the 16th on Friday and the Penney dropped!

I think that you'll find most camping gas canisters are a mixture of propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). In an ideal world, it would completely combust in air with the Oxygen present and form Carbon Dioxide and Water. Unfortunately things are never perfect and you'll always get a percentage of Carbon Monoxide. The older and more blocked the nozzles are, the greater the chance of CO formation. You might get away with it for a while as CO is a silent killer (doesn't have a smell and the effects creep up on you). It's like loading a revolver with one bullet and playing Russian Roulette 6 times!

I disagree but agree with you! The worst thing you can possibly do is go to sleep with one on as you could possibly never wake up. I remember a while back Pete Reagan wrote in Carpology that he went to sleep with one burning during a cold spell and awoke a few hours later and was violently sick and had the mother of all headaches. He survives to tell the tale but hasn't used one since. Even if you use one just to warm up the bivvy, Carbon Monoxide poisoning causes drowsiness which is likely to make you sleepy. Don't do it!

There was a discussion on them a while back. My advice, don't!

MOT Check Try this Site. Enter the reg of the vehicle and it will give you the mileage and any failures or notifications on any car going back several years. Came in useful when my daughter was looking at a car and the amount of advisories and the severity of some of them made me advise her to give it a wide berth.

A long one at 1 hour 40 minutes but the calibre of some of the fish are truly stunning.

Simple answer is anything you have confidence in. Most bait companies still trading have been in the business for quite a while and to survive in a competitive world, you have to be good. The days of using sweepings from the floor are probably gone. If you half, crush or grind a boilie, it will leak off attraction quicker and it always pays to get some into the swim to get the fish grubbing about and get a taste for you hook bait.

Bought a 12.5kg of B&M sack of bird seed for silly cheap money and blended it with some hemp (which is very expensive now) and added a bag of frozen sweetcorn after cooking and use that as my spod mix. I get most of my seeds from Jollyes pet store as they have 20kg sacks or you can buy loose from the tubs which is far cheaper then buying from fishing shops. Pigeon conditioner is another good one although I do tend to add some foreign finch mix so there are a blend of larger and smaller seeds.

I'm not claiming to be experienced on such a daunting task but I remember watching a Terry Hearn video on the rarely caught 30 where for weeks he went to the lake but didn't even take the rods, just a bit of bait, a notebook and binoculars. First light is always a good time and I remember taking the dog on a walk around my local lake at 4:30 am one summer morning and was amazed at the amount of activity (note to oneself, do it more often!) If it's local, definitely try to catch it at a time of optimum shows or else you could be camping for months. Other than that, a baiting campaign might be worth trying. Good Luck.

As that great 20th Century philosopher Dolly Parton once said, If you wanna see a rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!

Second part of the installment.

Passion for Angling episode on the search for "Harry the Monster Carp".

http://www.carp-lakes.co.uk/bowyers/4531783008 http://www.leevalleypark.org.uk/en/Default.aspx?n1=3&n2=18&n3=198 Found these 2 articles which should give you a starting point.

After the love and peace nonsense in the 60's and flowers in your hair, this must have a been a shock to everyone's system! Ozzy and the boys in concert in 1970 putting the heavy into metal. I reckon Bill Ward had to replace his drum kit after every gig as well!

I wasn't expecting to see Carp on the Dorset Stour and it was only a few seconds before I realised my error. If it was a mirror it would be evident straight away but being fully scaled, it did look a bit like a chub. I bet many fishing "stories" of large chub could be pale carp.

We all like to read stories about fish of monstrous sizes. It seems every lake contains a whopper that a few people have seen but has never been caught. Some stories are told by respected anglers which gives them some credence, others by younger and more inexperienced anglers and the size gets higher by every pint downed! Twice in my angling experience I have "witnessed" fish that would make the record books but on both occasions I realised that all was not what it seemed. The first was whilst fishing a water in the Cotswold Water Park fishing on Hills Pit. At the time it was crystal clear and I would stalk tench by watching them pick up my sweetcorn baits fished on a float and well over depth for a bit of casting weigh. One day whilst fishing I caught sight of a fish coming along the marginal shelf. My jaw dropped, it looked absolutely huge, far bigger than anything I had caught previously. I watched it for a good 10 seconds and couldn't believe how big it looked. As it got closer, something didn't look quite right and then I realised it was actually two tench swimming in perfect unison but about a foot apart and they had overlapped giving the impression of one big fish. They literally swam under my rod and continued on their journey, oblivious to the near heart attack they had given me. The second was on the Throop Fishery on the Dorset Stour. Again the river was crystal clear and I saw so many big chub that day that 5lb'ers seemed to be the norm. I fished an area called the Highbank later in the day and it gave me a superb view of the swim, I could see every bit of gravel on the bottom. I put out a couple of droppers of hemp and corn and the chub downstream seemed to notice straight away. I cast out another dropper and a chub of record breaking size appeared from the streamer and made a beeline for it and ate the hemp out of the dropper before the current could take it away. My knees knocked and my mouth went dry at what I had just witnessed. Then as I looked closer, I realised that is was a silvery common carp probably just into double figures and I managed to calm down. There must be countless tales of similar events or unexplained mysteries that turned out to something more explainable, anyone else got any?

The latest video from Tel on his exploits on the Thames. No one tells a story like Tel, I could listen to him read the shipping forecast and not get bored! Very interesting revaluation about Nick Huellers 50lb'er that was reputedly ottered, perhaps it wasn't after all (or at least when it was alive.)

I think that you already know the answer. A medium sized Carp or Catfish wouldn't even be able to turn around in a keepnet. If you want to take a photo, keep it in the landing net for the shortest time possible to set up the camera and then put it back. To keep several fish in a keepnet of that size for a grouped shot at the end of a session would be highly frowned upon in the UK. Sorry if that sounds a bit harsh but I think that we take our responsibilities of fish care very seriously and it ensures that our stock survives and is able to flourish, despite some fish getting caught several times a season. There are some knowledgeable and helpful anglers on this Site so feel free to tap into it and expand your understanding of the sport and the standards that we aspire to. Good luck.

A book I highly rate is "Rolling in the Deep" by Adam Penning. It's a right doorstop (will come in useful if we're in lock down for 6 months!) The fishing chapters are top quality and you get a grasp of what it takes to be top rod and the chapter on Wraysbury was almost painful to read, let alone endure it. But it's not all fishing. There are plenty of autobiographical bits that intertwine the stories and I felt they added to the book by relating how he managed to spend his spare time fishing and some of the sacrifices he made. Not cheap at £40 (with postage) but I read it 3 times last year and will probably do so again some time, a classic testament that it is worth the money. https://calmproductions.com/rolling-in-the-deep

With the outbreak of Corona Virus and most of us in social isolation or exclusion from fishing, we need something to cheer us up and keep the grey stuff ticking over. "Carpy" is a word often used but hasn't really been defined.......until now! Here is my list of things required to be considered "Carpy" Driving in a car with the registration C4 RPY. The ultimate! Have a beard, the bigger and bushier the better! Those long sessions don't leave time for showers or other types of "man grooming" than non anglers (or poofs as they are sometimes known) seem to think is necessary. Oh, and having an ear piercing so large you can push your finger through it. Drinking out of a cup that should carry a public health warning as it hasn't seen the washing up bowl since last Christmas. Etching words like "bacteria" and "salmonella" on the grime built up on the back of your tea spoon and photographing it and putting it on instagram. A photo of your kettle boiling on the stove in the pitch black on the same Site, it's almost compulsory. Speaking phrases that non anglers have no idea what you are talking about. "Lovely times", "buzzing", "happy days "and other toe curling terms are compulsory if writing in one of the Carp comics. Talk to your non-angling mates about your all consuming hobby in a way that totally bamboozles them. "Yea, I caught Mary at 25 wraps on a popped up tiger on a stiffy" will have most people scratching their heads. We have already established that some anglers regard personal hygiene as optional. Going into work the next day after rolling some bait with Monster Crab flavouring will have you in self isolation in the canteen even before the outbreak of Corona Virus. Drive a car that could be classified as a "shed". Used builder vans or estates that have used nets and slings as well as all that bait, "just in case they're 'aving it" are common in fishing vehicles that no members of the family will dare to venture in. Be in a Zombie like state at work the next day after an overnighter. You think that you're blagging it but the eyes like organ stops and dense utterings to even simple questions show that you should have waited until Friday night. You've (rightly) been banned from cooking hemp in the kitchen as it stinks the house out, so what do you do? Buy a Baby Burco and cook it in the garden and [censored] off the neighbours off as well. You went through the motions as school, doing just enough to scrape a few O levels together so at least you could get a job and pay for your fishing gear. Your knowledge of nutrition needed for fish growth, protein absorption rates and stimulation for cyprinid preoccupation levels show that a degree in Science wasn't beyond you. I must have missed a few, any more takers?

It’s with regret we need to inform you that The Big One Show at Farnborough has been postponed We are incredibly disappointed that we've had to take this action so close to the event opening. However, it became clear that the recent acceleration in Covid19 cases in the UK has led to heightened concerns for all participants and the show would be negatively impacted from all perspectives should we have proceeded. We understand how important the show is both from an industry and community point of view so we are pleased that we are able to postpone to later in the year when we are hopeful that the threat of Covid19 will have significantly receded. Please bear with us while we make all the necessary arrangements to facilitate this move and contact all participants. Found this on the Website. It's starting to get a bit scary now with virtually all sports and large gatherings cancelled.

I have a fairly regular subscription to Carpology. They keep enticed me with crazy offers. Last time I had 10kg of Live System, pop-up's and wafters as well as a 500ml bottle of Amino 365, a book and a 6 month subscription for a lot less than I would have paid otherwise. https://www.carpology.net/shop/subscriptions/carpology-sticky-krill-returns-deal/ I found this on their Site, 10kg of Sticky's Krill which would set you back about £100 alone with the book and 1 litre of Krill liquid, pop-ups and a 6 month subby for £69.99 and normally about a fiver for postage. The way I look at it, I'm getting the magazine for free (and some more). I do enjoy the mag and look forward to reading it every month so as far as I'm concerned, it's win-win.

I'm against dropping leads, if it's not necessary. Obviously if you're fishing a weedy water then it may be wise to err on the side of caution but not as a matter of course.

http://www.korda.co.uk/fishingtackle/baiting-up/mini-skyliner/ I quite often use one of these. This is my weapon of choice for baiting overhanging trees on the far margin. It makes so little splash compared to the larger spods, providing you hit the clip and soften the landing with the rod.