Golden Paws

Here's my quick thoughts on winter fishing. Layer up. A good base layer (preferably long enough to go well past your waist.) Wear a belt. I've seen enough builder's cleavages in my time and also it exposes your skin to the elements every time you bend down. For my goretex over trousers, I bought a set of braces from Woolworths and they also stop the aforementioned condition. My winter suit has salopettes i.e trousers that already have loop over clips that go over the shoulder and the higher cut doubly protects your core. Wear a hat. Actually I wear 2 in really cold conditions. One's a tighter fitting woolen hat and the 2nd a larger tea cozy style and nobody knows I'm doing it!. Who says you only to wear one? Gloves are essential. Most woolen or nylon style gloves when wet will make your hands feel colder. Divers use neoprene and wet suits work by trapping a layer of water and your body heats that up and you stay warm. https://www.prologicfishing.com/products/clothing/gloves/neoprene-grip-glove I've used a similar pair (prologic) and the fold able finger and thumbs mean you don't have to take them off to rebait or tie knots. A scarf or neck gaiter to seal your neck area to stop heat escaping. Like you mentioned, a good pair of moon boots because your feet will be in contact with the ground and the cold will travel up.

Unfortunately I can remember when Labour was in power and it wasn't quite the Utopian Society that you dream of Elmo. Whenever the Tories do anything bad, I just look across to the other side and wonder what they would have done! In comrade Corbyn's case, it would still be discussing if a Covid vaccine was worthwhile!

Welcome to the Site. Unfortunately the profanity filter can be a little bit sensitive at times but you'll get used to it!😄😅

https://www.fabsil.com/product-page/tent-care-kit Try this. Give the brolly a good wash with warm water to remove the mud and spod spill (don't use detergents or else it will strip the proofing.) Clean and allow it to dry with the cleaner and then I rub on the sealer with a cloth and allow it to dry for 24 hours. It does stink of vanish a bit at first and so outside or in a garage is best. Redid mine last year (brolly must be 10 years old) and when it rained the other day, the water was literally bouncing off or settling in large droplets. A quick flick at the end of the session and it was dry.

http://www.carpbooks.co.uk/ I read The Black Mirror Cult and thoroughly enjoyed it. A bit different from the first series as it's more of a "who is it" rather than an out and out fishing yarn. The good news is that a new book is coming out soon, The Italians Job. I'll be getting it!

This has been on the radio for weeks and it always stops me in my tracks. It's a few years old but is being used to advertise the Samsung S22 mobile and has been given a second lease of life. (A bit like Running Up That Hill.)

Thanks for the reply, everything you say makes sense now.

I must have been living in a box because I've only recently discovered buckethead. Soothsayer seems to be his most popular track and it's worth every minute. Luckily I found Sophie Lloyd quite a while back, enjoy!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-62330478 I was watching the Redmire episode of Passion For Angling only the other day and apart from Hugh Miles's brilliant camera work, Bernard's voice over really made it with his gentle woody voice and comic insights. He also featured in Catching The Impossible, when Martin Bowler got a shoal of large carp fishing in the margin in a tree covered swim and one roared off. Martin gave him a huge shove in the back so he landed in the drink with the rod in his hand as to land it, he would have to be in more open water but it was one of the funnest angling moments I've ever seen. His career also included one of the best episodes of Fawlty Towers where Basil though he was a hotel inspector and fussed over him although he was incredibly rude to him. When Basil found he found out that he wasn't, there was a great slapstick scene, just as the real inspectors walked in. Also famous for Carry On, the Wombles and later on Dr. Who. Rest easy Bernard, one of life's really funny and nice guy's.

There are 2 different compounds that have been used to make PVA bag. Originally there were made from Poly Vinyl Acetate and they have a vinegary smell and taste (acetic acid). Most manufacturers switched to using Poly Vinyl Alcohol (sometimes referred to as PV-OH) as it doesn't leave that horrible lingering taste. Technically if you are a Muslim, you aren't allowed to use it and I don't suppose recovering alcoholics would be tempted back on again with a quick lick and stick!

https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/fortis-wraps-bifocal-2-00-polarised-sunglasses My close up sight is rubbish and I need reading glasses to do a lot of simple tasks which is pretty annoying. At work I wear a pair of safety glasses but with the same sort of lower lens that makes reading easy but my long sight is near perfect and looking straight ahead is just looking through normal perspex. I've got a pair of the Fortis glasses and they are very good. Sorry about the AD advert but the Fortis website is pretty rubbish when it comes to displaying exactly what you need.

Just browsing on YouTube and found this which might help: The bit about saving the hemp juice rung a bell, I freeze any I drain off and use it to make a groundbait plug for my spod.

It's all about building up the fishes confidence. The longer they feed freely and without anything untoward happening, the more confident they become and the more the larger fish will bully their way to the front of the feeding queue. I've witnessed it happening in clear rivers and it does take several hours of baiting and waiting until you can achieve that. I used to bait about 6 spots and visit and watch them over a few hours and then normally a large smelly bait placed in the swim on dark could result in an instant bite and with a high average size. Baiting in the margins will allow you to lower a bait dropper and your bait into the swim with minimal disturbance and less bait will be washed out of the swim by the current.

I used to fish rivers for barbel a few years ago and used plenty of hemp and corn as a particle to get the fish grubbing around. If you just throw the bait in, it will scatter and create a large area of bait. I used a bait dropper to get most of my bait down, here's my Heath Robinson home made versions that I made from a tuna can, piece of metal rod and some roofing lead and a hinge made from an old bicycle inner tube and fastened together with rivets. You can buy them in the UK but not sure about NZ. PVA mesh is another good option for getting bait down (if using hemp you'll have to add some salt or else it will melt too quickly) or a swimfeeder. A large smelly bait fished as a single is another good option, I used luncheon meat fried in tandoori and garlic with some success although it was better after dark or when the river was carrying extra water.

https://www.foxint.com/home/product/fox-black-label-qr-banksticks?c=pods-and-rod-support When I used to use banksticks, I found these really good as you could really bore into quite hard ground as the T-bar supplied made it easier to dig it in. I've gone over to a pod as it is easier and quicker in the long run.

My local park lane deepens down rapidly to about 7 foot a rod length out. I drag a lead through the margins until I feel the rise and then tighten the rod to the lead until the tip is on the surface and I've found the transition. The loose feed is then fed about a foot further out. The far bank trees always get targeted by most other anglers and I've normally got one rod there and the other is in the margins. Don't let on but the margin rod often outfishes the other!

Lead has a specific gravity (weight v size) of 11.35, whereas Zinc is 7.2. Incidentally, Tungsten is is 19.22 but I suspect it's cost would be prohibitive. Most of the lakes I fish are fairly weed free and no snags I'm aware of and I try not to drop the lead on every fish as I don't think it's necessary.

A lot of venues do state that tents aren't allowed. I assume it's in case anyone turns up with a family size job. Saying that, some bivvies these day's are so big, you drive a van in. A mate of mine was fishing a lake a good few years ago and brought his missus along and she put up a multi-coloured wind-break. A jobsworths bailiff decided it didn't conform and chucked him off!

Perhaps that bit wasn't clear. I also use a Korda safezone leader (made from 30lb fluoro that is very heavy and abrasion resistant and keeps the last metre pinned down.) I was attaching this to my mono and using olivettes to keep another metre of line pinned down. As I used a bait boat on my last trip, the olivettes were dragging behind and so I changed over to my spare spools of line loaded with fluorocarbon on them. The stuff has been used for quite a few previous trips but the inherent wiriness puts me off. When I first put the stuff on the reels, the stuff was literally leaping off the spools. I had quite a few wind knots on casting for the next few trips that you rarely get with mono. When I got home from my last trip, I put the mono spool back on the rods. To help pin the line down and without using olivettes, I attached about 30 foot of 20lb fluoro after the safezone leader. I was stretching it as it behaves better as there is less coiling. That way I get some of the benefits but reduce some of the problems. You do introduce a weak spot with the joining knot and when playing a fish, the clatter as the knot passes through the rings always gives you the jitters. Most people have a love hate relationship with fluoro. Love it heaviness, invisibility, lower stretch and abrasion resistance but hate its tendency to coil and casting is restricted compared to mono.

I've used a few brands of fluoro and they are more difficult to manage than mono's. They do tend to bed in with use and become more manageable over time. I was giving my leader a good stretch the other day as I find that it does behave better. I switched over to using pure fluorocarbon on my last trip as I was bait-boating the rig out but when I got home I took it off again! Using a leader does give you the benefit of a heavy invisible line near the rig but without some of the drama's associated with fluoro.

On my last trip, I lost a good fish and when I reeled it, I found that the trace had snapped at the knot after the swivel. The lake I fished isn't easy and one chance in 24 hours is a result and then to lose it was a kick in the nuts. I tested all the rigs in my wallet and one failed quite easily but the others survived a good yanking with a couple of puller tools. I have been using olivettes to pin down my main line but since buying the bait boat, it does cause the line to sink a bit too much. I went back to using a 30 foot fluoro leader on the mono so everything near the hook should be pinned down without the drama's of using fluoro all the way through. As fluoro can be a bit temperamental, I put the hook through the gridding on my barrow and gave the line a good pull to try to iron out the inherent coiling the flouro likes to do. On one rod, the line snapped without too much pressure. I was convinced it would be the back to back grinner but when I checked, it had gone a foot above on the mono. I must have nicked it putting it in the holdall and created the weakness. I used to check every rod before casting it out but fell out of the habit. Today's thought is to check everything is sound before you lose that fish.

Did a 24 hour on Wednesday and it was hot. I prefer my brolly system to a bivvy as it fits in the rod quiver and is less to take and set up. Didn't bother with the overwrap as it was so mild. Plastered on the sun cream. legionnaires cap to protect my neck and spent most of the day sat in the shade in the trees that surround the swim and drank cups and cups of orange squash. Still got a touch of sunstroke and had a headache yesterday!

Our outstanding Lunatopes are your brighter than bright, luminous, non-toxic, isotope replacements. The Lunatopes come in a sets of 2, 3 or 4 and in various sizes to fit your existing equipment. Simply fit the Lunatopes into your bobbins to light up your tackle at night time, for up to 7 hours glowing time. The Lunatopes are charged by UV light, so the daylight will charge them to full brightness, or a few seconds of light from your headtorch will also re-charge. The Lunatopes will glow at maximum brightness when charged for the first 30-40 minutes and will slowly dim over the 6 hour period. Recharge at any time to restore full brightness. They can be charged repeatedly and an unlimited amount of times. I hadn't heard of them before I have used the (very low level) radio active isoptopes in the past. To be fair, the product description does specify what you can expect. Should be OK for a summer overnighter but wouldn't be brilliant for a winter session.

I haven't used the rest but do find Colemans tend to run out when there is still plenty of gas in the canister. Being naturally tight and with the huge rise in gas prices, I recently bought a valve that connects two cylinders together. You put the fuller cylinder in a freezer to cool it right down and then put the other cylinder atop, open the valve and the gas should flow downwards and condense and start a flow until the top one is empty. I can confirm that it doesn't work!

I can understand that sentiment. I think I paid about £300 for my camera about 10 years ago so it's not expensive but I wouldn't want to fork out unnecessarily for another one. I keep my camera in a bag in my rucksack and inside a zip and seal sandwich bag that keeps any stray moisture out. I quite often take scenic and sunrise/sunsets shots on my camera that a mobile would struggle to do justice. It's also easier to be more create with the flash and cheaper camera's or mobile phones automatically try to flood the scene with light.