salokcinnodrog

I can add still more and from this year on the syndicate a 4 day session. It started off well with a 22lb fish the first night, then I had a 27, 24, a 21, 29, and a 26 over the trip. Then another session where I equalled my largest carp with a 33, and on the same trip an 18lb Linear, which went in this year at 10.8.

My floater fishing and stalking rod for years was a 9ft Browning spinning rod, and I found it brilliant. Seems weird as it had no test curve rating, I think it was 30-50grams casting weight, sadly it was stolen. Most of my fishing is on big waters, where long casts may be required and I know that I can cast a lot further with a 12ft than a 10ft rod. In fact I don't think that I have fished a water less than 45acres since 2010, other than occasional day trips to Bromeswell, and there I prefer to use my specialist rods as I'm not going to fish for carp just reaching double figures with 2.75 or 3.25lb rods. Even feeder fishing with a 10ft specialist rod, I am casting shorter than the exact same make in 12ft, although to be fair on the river that's not a problem.

@yonny how does it compare to Snakeskin and Snakebite?

Nash tackle started a trend for shorter rods. Fine for smaller waters but on big lakes where you need big casts...

Check the weight rather than the tub size. I remember 50grammes used to be around half a tub of the old Nutrabaits powders. Don't forget 'product settles in transit'.

If I had to, I'd say pink. I got my garlic spice made up in pink, and I also have my food bait in natural colour and pink. Strangely the one colour I've rarely done well on is yellow!

Annoyingly it can happen anywhere between rod tip and end tackle. I always use run rings, so they can get off the broken line. I've actually waded out and retrieved a couple of my rigs, and other people's, and mine had no lead attached, although the other people's...

Yellow pop-ups? Any pop-up. I'm not sure if I dare use yellow even though I sometimes put a bit of sweetcorn in the particle mix. I landed one jack of about 4lb on a brown KMG pop-up, had one big double hit purple a Monster Crab and I had to stand holding it in the margins until it recovered enough to swim away. Then the number of times I have been bitten off by the darn things on the syndicate, a few times reeling in a hookless hooklink. As you say sitting in the margins being a pain and getting tangled in the line from your rod tip. I'm honestly not sure how many small rudd and roach there are in the syndicate lake, it's mostly perch, tench, pike and carp, although I'm positive there is one shoal of big rudd around. I think the pike are self predating, bigger females munching on jacks, although the biggest pike I landed from there is 23lb.

I don't like using leaders anywhere in weedy or snaggy lakes. I'm always wary of the lead being able to come off by running over the leader knot, with the silkweed algae so bad this year it wouldn't be able to, so there might be a fish trailing a whole lot of rig, lead and leader. I'll not argue with that! I remember a Frank Warwick article where he was fishing over hemp and the fish suddenly going quiet, he reckoned pike were sitting over it or just off it keeping the other fish on tenterhooks. He proved it by casting a spinner over the hemp and landing a few to over 20lb. I've had pike attack Spombs and spods, sitting in the margins, and near the particle bed

A warm winter, plenty of rain and lake temperatures not dropping, fisheries buying stock from untested stock farms, and often stocking in the warmer days?

There are no snags in the lake, the weed isn't a problem and doesn't frag the line. The problem is pikes teeth! When I took the line off the reels by hand I checked it, and it was only on the rod I fish over particles or groundbait. The rods and line I fish over only boilies had no problems with fragging. I think that the pike sit just off the bait picking off silver fish over them and swim through the line, biting it off in the process. The carp will push them away, or are too big to be spooked by the pike. If I could fish just boilies I would, but the particle bed is often a 'bonus' fish or two. Years ago I actually tested Gardner Pro for Richard Gardner and wrote reviews on it. It's actually pretty good and abrasion resistant.

Just found 3 more Shimano Beastmaster 7000 XTA's on the ebay. Decided to get them so I can have the same reels on my 12ft 2.75lb TC Enduro's as I have on my 3.25lb The Ones. It also means that I can get one set properly serviced.

A new spool of Gardner Pro light in 15lb, and some tip 'tectors This year I have been plagued by pike fragging and biting my line, chasing Spombs, sitting in the margins or chasing small perch and tench in the clear areas. Tonights job is take the old line off all 3 reels and replace it with new.

Living next to it you needed webbed feet with how it's flooded the past few years!

I'm wary of fishing my local river, aside from the fishing going downhill; chub, carp, roach and pike have disappeared from various stretches. Predation and pollution have taken their toll, and abstraction has lowered flow. In Needham Market and Sproughton at times by the sewage outflows it stinks. From Sproughton downstream, the river was totally covered in duckweed and algae and was unfishable with no flow. The Conservative MP was campaigning for a river clean up, yet voted to continue the sewage be pumped in, bit of virtue signalling methinks. He got voted out at the GE. I don't think Labour will be any better! I'm not sure dredging is the answer as that just means high levels flow off faster, you need some barrier. Allowing building companies to build on flood plains doesn't help as that is where standing water flooded onto and gradually drained off. Now that flood plain is houses, and they are getting flooded. The Environment Agency are hamstrung, government funded, and with our licence fee, so have to approve national and local government building ideas. The anglers lose out, despite paying for it. I totally agree about the parasitic politicians, although I'm not sure they are working class. They rule the country, whether Labour, or Conservative but introduced devolution which to me is a backwards step. One of the meanings of devolution is to regress, to go to a lower or worse state, that has definitely happened! Devolution has not put more decisions to a democratic process, it's given more decisions to business, to private companies, given them more freedoms to pollute, to rip off the public and population.

As good as it is, it's too thick at 0.40mm for casting any distance. The 15lb Pro is copolymer and I can get well over 100metres if I need to. Whatever line doesn't take well to pikes teeth if the blighters decide to have a play. One of the other members lost around 80metres of braid a few weeks ago after he cast at a show, and a pike in the margins swam through his line, fragging and eventually biting him off.

Mine need a good clean, for some reason the splash and detritus from silkweed has made my reels absolutely filthy. That will get done this week when I replace the line with Fresh co-polymer line (Gardner Pro light) after pike fragging it (yet) again. I'd like to go fluorocarbon but I'm not spending silly money to have pike go through it.

Depends which side of the border you come from, and I can never remember who says what... I think Norfolk is Waverknee, whereas us Suffolk people who talk properly say Waveknee

The past 4 years I actually haven't been checked, although much of my fishing has been on the syndicate. When I was fishing Alton Water up to 2020, the local bailiff knew me and my dog so would always know that I had one. He'd get to the swim and the licence was in hand. For years I was getting checked in Essex and Suffolk, often a couple of times a year. Sad that the licence has gone paperless, I did like the David Miller art. Being disabled I get the concessionary rate for 3 rods. As @framey says, don't go anywhere other than gov.uk to buy your licence.

This year's stock fish have been bionic! One went in at 11, I caught it as part of the 6 fish session at 21lb, the 18lb was stocked at 10.8, but other fish to other members stocked between 10 and 12lb are coming out at weights between 17 and 20. There are at most around 5 anglers fishing each week (Syndicate season start 1st September being an exception with 12), and the fish are on naturals as well as munching on bait. Even the stock fish from 2018 have shown a decent growth. The 33 was last caught in 2021 at 25.14 and was a 2018 double figure stock fish.

For years my boom material has been 20lb Amnesia in black or clear. The black seems slightly more supple, but both work. On booms, I use it either knotted to a supple material as part of a combi rig, or tied to a size 10 swivel if I'm using it for a pop-up rig.

I'm just waiting for the rain to stop and for my bivvy to dry out a bit this morning. Had a busy night, not all good, having to retackle in the dark after a pike bite-off as I went to hit a run, a double figure linear which I landed on the recast rod and a hookpull as the fish got into the silkweed when it was nearly ready for the net, on the same rod. Gutted as that felt bigger than the 18.

My beach fishing Daiwa 7HT's are still being made as well, first released in the 1990's: I remember them, not very well though as I went straight to Optonics, which I added white painted 'owl ears' to. I know many Delkim conversions are still about, and in use.

@Higham1987 Yes Mate. I put the hook through the corner of the bag and drop the lead in the opposite corner, then fill with pellet mix. I then tease the lead up so it's at the top of the bag, then lick and stick the bag shut. I deleted mine and Elmo's posts arguing, it was childish, on both sides.

Afraid so, £53 something for a 3 rod licence.