Roughtor

Now my memory head is on ,that lake in Sussex ,was near a place called either Loxwood or lockswood .. Lake was electrofished, it had a mini wildwest town for the lake owners grandchildren ,enclosed netting for fruit n vegetables, huge place ...huge rudd ,and Tench ,all went in Bury Hill, long ,long way from Boscastle...lol,you don't forget adventures like that ,or the journey in a Ford Anglia.. .wtf...!

Don't be shy I won't judge ,well not really ! We've all done silly things ,hopefully learnt from them ,and moved on ,this aimed at us all regardless of experience or skill set .. Here's mine ,I got left a clip on plummet by father ,it's a lightweight job... I used it yesterday to plumb a marginal swim ,learnt its not heavy enough to give correct depth readings ,the rest you can guess..lol What's yours !

I've got my father ,and two uncles and Graham Rowles ,netting a private lake in East Sussex on film in the late 60s ... The lake was known as Strowgers ,I used to get taken there before the tench got put in Bury Hill main lake .. Fished as a child by the white dove cote ...on Bury Hill.. Long way from home in those times ..

One of the little clubs I belong to is an hour away ,and it's only 40 quid a year, no nights ,days only with a great mix of members ..thats the sort of place I like,especially the 5lb perch in the pool.. That's great value even if I only went 3 or 4 times a year ..

Thanks for that info Yonny ,very helpful .I've had my integrated UV bulb light going for nearly a year ,so that's what I'll change first .. I got three marginal plants in suspension cages in the pool ,but they need cutting in half and replanting in new aqua soil as they gone a bit mad ,then I'll have a look at that chemical you saying about .. I bought a Solar ,flashing ,noise making anti rat ,cat deterent,box it seems to work ,Seagulls hate it .. It's only a small water feature ,but I absolutely love it ..especially when the fish swim past a viewing porthole ,...plus lol,they like tiny amounts of ressi specials ,crumbled as a treat occasionally...those fish literally know I'm about ,especially as I feed em same time same spot ,which is interesting especially if crossed over into angling mindset ,they become trained !!!!

I had one given to me as a laugh it said emmet hunter ,I wore it once in the carnival ,had to bin it ,after threats of violence !!!! 😂

We have a 147 litre Blagdon affinity feature pond ,currently housing Ravioli and Nelson ,two ancient huge goldfish ...I have a uv light and a good filter system which i clean out weekly ,water is clear ,fish are well happy ,no more than two fish due to pond ,feature size.. My question is ,what can I buy or do to reduce this filamentous ,stringy weedy stuff ,I can pull it out in clumps ,but it comes back ...any ideas .....yonny or anyone ?

That's a lot of money mate ... Shame it's got so very pricey ,used to called a working man's hobby ,I guess it's gone 'football' expensive ,a place I still fish used to be £1 a night ....lol I still reckon some will stop fishing as its too expensive, mind you I have a huge blue pond behind my cottage ,which is free...makes me think 🤔

Did you do the Italy 🇮🇹 trip or no ? That's a lot of money ..

Great points ,can't disagree with any points of view... I guess, I'm one of the few that thinks it's putting a few off going ,what with the Catch App ,which I personally detest ,if it rises any more ,on a couple of places I love ,money wise ,then I'll have to vote with my feet . I got other hobbies but angling is huge to me .. But we all have to remember ,prices are rising in all daily aspects of our lives ,hobbies are fair game vs eating or living expenses.. 'Fish on '...!!

One of my favourite open access waters has put the prices up.,it's a lovely safe ,secure place .. I've just worked it out ,for me to do a 48 hr sess,all things considered including Fuel ,its an hours drive on bad rural roads Food Bait and other sundries ,I'm now looking at 100 quid for a 48 hr ,I shall still fish it ,but not as many sessions ,for me it's too much outgoings ...so really ,they've lost custom in reduction of potential sessions from me ,I know a few who are saying the same ...so in a way the reduction of footfall is counter productive ...to putting up the prices ... Lots of full carp set ups for sale,not only post scamdemic either,have some places priced themselves out of reality of today's climate ..?

Witley Park.,of course very ,very famous Crucian water ,huge bags of Crucians not unheard of ... Family member ,used to belong to Merton AC and fish matches on it ,coach used to pick them up ..

Bought a pair of super light weight foldable 2.5 litre water cannisters from Prolite explorer... One in the car as a spare, other on the bank .. They are good, especially if your trying to cut down on weight kit etc..

If you love the countryside, enjoy it now ,now the reason I say this is because the area I live in has thousands of homes being planned or built ,I think it's 50,000 in the next few years .. The Infrastructure is not in place ,including hospitals ,and virtually zero dentists are available .. From my cottage ,I counted 60 plus huge windturbines, and factor in the farmland disappearing under solar panals ...the green party supports this and net zero ,including 15 minute city's, anyone supporting the greens ,do your research they ....are...extremely dangerous.... You can check on the SAS website where the sewage discharges are coming from and where it happens ,for example the local sewage works cannot cope with all these new homes,with people searching for a alternative lifestyle, which ruins it for established locals ..anyway ,in this case the River Allan which flows into the catchment area of the River Camel ,its so polluted its unreal ,if you was on holiday you'd not know ,being local I'd not be letting my dog swim in any local stream ,nor would I swim in the sea ,especially at Polzeath or Bude beaches...the media won't tell you that... A lake I love, we've had to stop the stream feeding it,as it was ruining the water quality...now the phosphate ban has been lifted ,it'll be a free-for-all... This country is completely mismanaged and over populated,we all know why that is ...

100% Original Donald leneys from Surrey trout farm are still alive and fished for ... I have seen pictures ..from the very person who has the original stocking records ,...Golden Scale Club ,they are definitely still around ....

I understand that 'Guides and Blanks' are still trading with a new owner,they might be worth a try ... Or any good rod builder would be worth contacting I bet ..ps ,this could be a good opportunity to get 3x anti frap tip eyes for yr sons warriors ..

No one trusts the water company around here ,having been poisoned by aluminium Sulphate many years ago ,and the water company hid the facts from customers in my area for 16 days ..the Sulphate also went into a local famous cheese making plant ...

There are definitely still about fish from the old Surrey trout farm.. I once asked Skeff if he could search the stocking records for a water local to me,which was stocked in the mid 70s ...but he found no record of them ,I guess it will remain just a hearsay ...mind you some of the fish I had were wonderful creatures...lovely scaling on them ..

Back in the mists of time, I used to make my own baits ,I mean they were based purely on attraction ,semolina ,soya flour and so on ,known then as a 'stinky winky bait ' only thing was ,they totally outfished well known carp catching concoctions from the main bait companies at the time... It was so successful I caught someone stealing my bait from my titan ,if they'd asked I'd have given them the recipe..the main constituent was low boiling points ethyl alcohol flavours and Asafoetida essential at 2 drops in a pound mix .....it was coloured yellow or orange ..it was truly devastating.. Especially when critically balanced with a round bean bag foam thingy pushed inside ,then a coke bottle cut in half to hold up infront of myself biting tiny bits of putty off ,until it sank ,ohhh so slowly.... I reckon and I'm always honest ,around 90% of stock , of the several waters I fished in the 90s fell to that bait ...thats no bs ...Good fun at that time ...

Just got a copy of A fool and his eel by Mark Walsingham aka Skeffington Dolrimple and the other Along fisherman's paths by Mike Winter ,who is Skeffs mentor .. Lovely read both..

I just use a pair of jog bottoms and a hoodie over them and have been nice and warm ..I got the socks too,but not tried them yet.. A good purchase ..

I knew I had it somewhere..

Althoigh it's not really cold at the moment, and to continue doing my winter sessions in some sort of comfort I always use base layering .. Anyway I thought to upgrade and have bought Zerofit 'heatrub' made in Japan....all I can say is get some !!!!

Very, very interesting..Not me but my father was one of the first members of BKKS .. We used to go around various members gardens/ponds and learn from each of them ..My Dad used to go straight up to Heathrow, a long drive to pick up his Koi from Japan,this was in 70s,things different back then.. One story ,he bought two Koi,introduced them to the pond ..we all went to school/work ..When I came home I found one newly stocked Koi had jumped out ..and was not looking at its best ..!! I think it survived ...

I know those supersonic baits you speak of ...I tried them ,had more on two plastic fake corn critically balanced and a few crumbled freebies in a mesh bag ...