salokcinnodrog

First time with new reels is fun... The first time I put line on new reels (or spools) is to see what they take in terms of amount (say 15lb 0.35 380metres) and fill them with 15lb line, I do a uni knot loop, put it on the reels, pull tight and wind line on. If the line spool contains 1000m then the last bit is left on the spool. If the 3rd reel needs line I use a brand new line spool, so first time you might end up buying 2 spools of line.

I was trying to think of the name of Frensham Ponds, that's the subject of Chris Ball's chapter in Big Carp, I'll Let you Be in my Dreams. He had gotten the stocking records from Chris Yates. Sadly hit by a fish kill after a stocking of new fish.

Funnily enough I am still using an Aqua rod sling. I mentioned it earlier in this thread, the bait market became saturated, from one man bands to bait companies and the big difference in costs. If a tackle shop is buying boilies at £7.99 per kilo then to be sensible they will have to sell at £11.99. If an angler is buying direct at £7.99 then they won't be buying from the tackle shop. It is an ever decreasing circle. I suppose I am as guilty as anyone in that, although in my defence I was originally field testing rather than just getting discount. It is where there was the 'big split' with tackle brands, or bait companies selling only to shops, ( or rolling companies) or those that chose to sell direct, and to compete one man bands went straight to anglers.

There were quite a few waters stocked with fish purchased from the Redmire spawning explosion in the 70's and early 80's. I don't think any of the fish did as well as the original Redmire stocked fish which was a very good year, but they did have the looks.

I have a Leney from Redmire that as a baby made its way to Norfolk. The excessively successful spawning of the Redmire fish, with other originals, many of the netted fish were sold off to various buyers across the country.

Feral carp reverting towards the original wildie type have what is referred to as a Danubian Notch. However true wildies don't have it. I think it is like the straight head to the body, whereas bred carp have a slight dip.

As @framey says you will get loads of answers. In Asia I don't know what boilies you have or can get, and are likely to be different companies available to those in UK. I seem to remember you asking about bait recipes and had a bait around 30% protein which is about right.

It's that trying to undercut other companies, often with inferior products, that has caused the bait market to be such a nightmare.

I saw the news this morning although I had heard the rumours from about a week ago. Some of the early palatants and flavours after he split from Catchum and Rod Hutchinson were brilliant. I've used a few of the NashBait boilies but did try to avoid Nash as much as possible. Gary Bayes I believe came with Nash from Rod Hutchinson. Personally I think that the 'stabilised' baits were not as good as the freezer versions of the same bait.

I got hold of Hutchy's Golden Years after pre-ordering it almost as soon as it was given a release date. Rod Hutchinson was, or is, an angling hero of mine, and I have read many of his own books; from bait to tackle he was a pioneer and understood more than us mere mortals will ever get, so I was really interested in his early life and journey into carp fishing and this book most definitely does not disappoint. From his time at Redmire with Chris Yates, to Savay, with chapters on his captures by long time companion Brian Hankins and his joy for fishing and life by Simon Crow.

Tufty torch doesn't work on here when the mallards and tufties are in the mood. The only thing that keeps them away is a laser pointer pen. In daylight you have to line up on them with the laser pen underneath your binoculars and 'ping' them, that gets rid of them. I had mallards diving over boilies and particles a few weeks ago. I hooked, landed and returned one. The swan last week was not fun either. There were swan wars at the time, and one of the more dominant in the group decided to chase a younger one which tangled up in the line about 2metres from the rod tip, despite the tips being almost touching the water. It took 10minutes to untangle the poxy thing, holding a swan between my legs, while untangling the line from it's wing, head and legs, all the time keeping away from Sky who was on her long lead attached to the bedchair. This week the swans are keeping across the other side of the lake.

I used to forever play with ingredients in groundbait to make it 'active' and attractive for particular species. Roach love active groundbait and turmeric and ginger, so I would grind Ginger Nut biscuits and dry dog food and add them and a few teaspoons of turmeric to my groundbait mix of brown and white crumb. Bream and carp are not so worried about active groundbait, so it was looking for attractors rather than anything else.

I identify with that as well. And yes, I look at mates playing American football and think I used to do that. I'm also looking at kids coming through that weren't even born when I was playing. One of my mates I used to play with's son is now in the senior team. I retired from playing at 39, and now the kids who were starting then are now retiring.

There are 'only' about 30 on the lake this year, from over 100 2 years ago. Bird flu took a big hit on them, more so than the geese. The lake, which is just up the road from Lopham Fen seems to be a spot for young swans to grow before they go get their own territory. The 2 dominant pairs, there were 3, but 1 was killed in a swan fight keep moving them about.

White crumb is a better binder than brown crumb. I've mentioned it in the past, but when Layer Pits banned spodding (hemp), all the anglers just started fishing groundbait and hemp, firing in balls of it by catapult. Strangely enough that was one of the best match tactics on there from years before where they used to use massive floats and groundbait, casters and hemp at range. I know that Tommy Boulton wrote a chapter on Layer Pits match style in Carp, Quest for the Queen by John Bailey and Martyn Page. Some interesting chapters in there on some Norfolk Waters!

I still use it every now and again rather than using PVA bags or mesh. I don't necessarily resort to a Method feeder, but mould groundbait round a flat lead. I don't think Ardleigh ever qualified as a runs water, and that moulded groundbait round the lead produced a lot of fish, and well into the 20's. My favourite groundbait is not quite the same as it was, Vitalin as a dog food company sold the makeup to Gladwells, who now make it as Vitacarp, although I don't think it is as 'sticky' as it was, with less rolled maize in it. I used to pour boiling water over it the night before use, or add in soaked and boiled birdfood, sweetcorn and hemp and allow to stand for about 30minutes before balling it for groundbait and moulding around the lead. Not forgetting some crushed and crumbled boilies in the mix. I wasn't keen on shop bought Method feeders with the elastic through the middle, but there is now a decent choice.

It is believed that carp were introduced into Britain by the Romans, however it was monks who introduced them heavily in around the 1400's, as Catholics were not to eat meat on Fridays, so stew ponds were stocked with fish.

I do love the nostalgia of 'older' anglers. I've already read Hutchy The Golden Years and it seemed from that, other books, and my memories, fishing was so much simpler

Around the year 2000 I would have said Shimano top range reels were the best to go for, but I don't think quite the same any more and the better value Shimano reels are in the lower price bracket. I can't remember exactly when I bought my Beastmaster 7000's, but it was when I was fishing Nazeing on the Central and South Lagoons so around 10years ago, maybe a bit more. They were around £85 each and I bought 4 at the time. 2 years ago on Ebay they were selling for around £80, so I bought another 3. I've got them on my 2.75lb rods and my 3.25's, and they have handled a fair number of fish. The current Beastmaster incarnation is the 14000XC and is around £90. I can give you the link via Johnson Ross: https://johnsonrosstackle.co.uk/shimano-big-pit-reels/27133-shimano-beastmaster-xc14000.html As a tackle shop either mail order or going in personally, Johnson Ross are good people to deal with.

That's only part of it, we are good at occasional wind-ups as well... Not always intentionally!

Welcome to carp.com

I know one of the bailiffs on Brackens used to use solar powered 'rock lights' to light the trip hazards in his swim, and had a Solar panel to charge his powerbank and laptop.

I used to love my Browning 9ft spinning rod for floater fishing and stalking. When it was stolen I was really upset. I honestly don't know how many fish I caught on it, including my first ever 20lb carp floater fishing. As for breaking rods, I went through a stage of doing it. 2 Century NG's trapped in the car door, my Daiwa Pro-specialist 1.5lb caught in the seat belt latch. I really have no idea of the best rod for stalking and floater fishing now, I seem to have different preferences to the media. I was digging around, is this your kind of thing:

The joys of media... I worry about how much salt I put into my bait. This spodding neat salt into the water really worries me, as salt does not 'go away'. Putting it in neat when we don't know the full effects. Salt will kill micro-organisms and various water life. I cannot remember which university, but from research, 1 teaspoon of salt can pollute 5 gallons of water permanently, which can ruin freshwater ecosystems. Even more amusing is that table salt is possibly a repellant. The best level in carp diet of salt is 1.5%. The shelf life versus freezer baits, no matter what I do when I make bait, I nearly always dry it for 24hours and then freeze it. I've tried totally airdrying them until all moisture is evaporated. No matter how good the preservatives, sometimes mould gets in. I've had foods and baits all go mouldy, despite being supposedly dried or preserved. The airdried bait is a strange one that confuses people. It is rock hard, but draws water in faster than baits with moisture as in either frozen and thawed or shelf life. As a result, they go softer quicker. They do not go as far with a throwing stick or catapult, they are lighter. I am sure it was Shaun Harrison who came up with or wrote about 'washing' attraction back into dried boilies, using hemp or particles juice. This is almost the predecessor of our fishing on the posts of this thread.