salokcinnodrog

Mine failed last month, rusty sills. Would have cost more to repair than replace the car! Congratulations 🎊

I think you will find Nash got his Scopex flavour from Hutchy, they then used the same supplier when Nash took over Hutchys original bait company and changed it to Nash Bait. The original Ultraspice and Megaspice flavours were also good, and the base for my Garlic Spice hookbaits. Green Zing was one of the best winter flavours on lime green pop-ups. One of the big things about changes in flavours was not just legislation, it was the cost of the base solvent; Diacetin, Triacetin, then the various laws around alcohol bases. If I remember rightly it is that Diacetin and Triacetin are glycerine based, but not how they are synthesised. I think Diacetin is glycerine and acetic acid

Oh gawd! So for around a month I have had the awful feeling of that tiny piece of breadcrust stuck in the back of the throat, that won't go up or down. When I had throat surgery in September it was explained that scar tissue would take a while and it could happen. However it came complete with the taste of smoked bacon in my mouth. Not the worst taste, but it does mean I'm not enjoying the taste of food or drink. Doctors visit yesterday, it turns out I have a virus that could last up to 3 months.

Dead Horse Lake I think, with the dog that bit him as he tried to get it out of the burning car. I dumped Coleman petrol stoves after mine sprayed me with petrol. Went back to gas and much prefer it for safety and edible food rather than either half cooked or burnt to a crisp. Even Coleman gas canisters are not as good as Primus or GoGas. The only good thing with Coleman stoves is normally they are serviceable.

If you can find one that Ultimate fleece cover I use is perfect in summer to sleep under itself, and it has a mozzie mesh in a zip up pocket on the front. I confess, I don't know if it is still available but here is a link: https://ultimateangling.com/en/fishing-sleeping-bags/ultimate-night-fleece-cover It may be an eBay search for unsold stock

One Taverham fish did get nicknamed Peanut. I took the pictures of my mate, and realised that his shorts had ridden up his legs in some of them. It wasn't us who named the fish, it was when we gave a couple of the pics to the manager that the fish got it's name.

My fishing is the same this winter Mate. I know you had some health issues and so did I last year. I hope you are all good now. Strangely I went to chase hip replacement at doctors yesterday and make an appointment for the problems I still have in my throat. @welder Ian pops in occasionally, Nige not so much and Phil occasionally.

I think it's condensation from your breath and the ground. I use an Ultimate Night Fleece Cover myself. I know that it's colder and you get more condensation not using a groundsheet, but even so I still often don't in winter on single overnighters

Darenth Valley? Annoyingly the name comes up as censored, but I think I know the fish you mean. A heavily gutted fish with a recessed line down the keel line, and yes, it looked like a pair of testes in the scrotum. I agree and disagree. As I've mentioned above we do have some named fish in the syndicate lake, but we also have mystery with uncaught fish and how quickly the stock fish have put weight on.

Good to see you back online Mate

I saw Dave Lane doing it years ago on Suffolk Water Park in peg 1. He was casting the bait along the margin to the left, and spodding floaters and milky liquid in front of him. The cloudy mix was colouring the water and he was picking up big fish on the Zig.

Half a slice wrapped around the hook used to work on Bromeswell. The Nash Bolt Machine controller used to be the best controller for that. In fact I do like those floats. Please can somebody bring round paracetamol and ibuprofen, I have developed a headache for recommending a Nash Tackle item...😲😆😱

For years using Sensor I replaced it every 3months or so. It became a habit whether it had been fragged or not. I did have a few fish going through weed, so rather than risk it I changed it. I switched to Gardner Pro, and went back to every year. Then for some reason probably environmental and not seeing or feeling any damage while on Alton, made it 3years with the same line.

A pit and Barham fish: Gary Linear, The Male, Stumpy, Arfur, Turbo, Titanic, The Cow. I know the background to The Cow, she basically had a belly like a cows udders, quite short but gutty. Stumpy the Common, when she was a double figure fish, someone dropped her and her tail and back was damaged, it looked like the bone was broken, but she recovered and made it over 20lb. Arfur tail, pretty obvious. Turbo, fast run, fast fight and like always at full throttle. Gary Linear, a play on a famous footballer. The Male, a known male fish. As for Titanic, I have no idea. Not forgetting Dippy, who was originally named so because she was regularly caught. Brackens had some named fish, Digit, Rocky, Sam's, The Ghost, although the only one I know where the name came from was the Ghost. It was a pale koi looking Common and appeared like a ghost in the area. The syndicate I'm in has a few named fish, although I'm hoping to name the big uncaught common myself. I miss Heather, Bazil, and the waters and names of that era.

You like the Hydrotuff, stick with it. Sounds silly, but it can take a while to get used to a different brand or type of line. Saying that, the Gardner lines, must be the best available. Floater fishing wise, I go old school, still on Daiwa Sensor with a Berkeley XL, Preston Reflo or Drennan Sub Surface fly hooklink.

Believe me I'm forever trying to figure out a way to split a bucket into sections

I honestly don't think that the container would fit in my fishing simply because of my fishing at the moment. A bucket of particles or particle/pellet mix, another bucket of boilies, then the bag mix bucket which covers multiple sessions. I frequently take a sack of pellets and Vitalin/Vitacarp and keep it in the car to top up every day. I also usually have a few tins of sweetcorn in there as well. It might work if I did single overnight trips, in fact it might be an idea for my occasional chub/barbel trips to make bait carrying easier as I frequently end up with multiple ice cream containers containing luncheon meat, hemp, pellets and boilies. I suppose you could use the bucket and innards for the daily bait up?

I have a 5l bucket with pellets and bag mix in, tubs of pop-ups and my pva bags and mesh live on top of them as I need. Another 5litre bucket of boilies for feeding and baiting up at the end of a session.

As much as it is an idea, by the time it alarms, it may be too late! If you are unconscious in a bivvy from carbon monoxide a CO alarm might not wake you up.

When I did occasional rebuilds those were the places you used for guides and whipping thread.

How about just making some harder hookbaits? The quick breakdown for freebies is a big advantage.

That looks good. Tidily packed, makes life easier and reduces freezer burn. Freezers work best when full, fridges work best with least full. As much as I like a freezer full of particles, the ease of preparing means I don't really need a load done upfront, whereas boilies I do.

For years my stalking and floater rod was 9ft. The only place I ever wished for something shorter was in overhanging overgrown swims. I replaced it when it was stolen with an 11ft 6in rod, mostly for floaters and float fishing and in designated swims it was perfect.

I actually looked at the website last night before I replied, so had an idea of the map. My starting points if no fish are showing when I arrived would be looking at water on the bank with any northerly wind coming from behind or across me, so i can face the back of the bivvy into it, and a reasonable depth in front of me, say 5-7ft deep. No fun with a winter northerly wind piling into your face! That would make my first choice of swims as 4, 5, 6, 7, with 10 or 11 as the next two. Basically I would feel confident in anything other than the shallow water in front of 1, 2, and 3.

It really depends on the water. Yes the fish can shoal up tightly so certain swims may be the best place to be for weeks. On my current water, nothing has been reported for weeks, BUT no-one has been fishing, because it is such a tough winter water, so the circle decreases... Then on other waters I would know that I would catch. The past few years I have slowed down my carp fishing, normally switching to pike (I've been pike fishing since my teens anyway), with only the occasional carp trip. When I was fishing Nazeing Meads both the Brackens Pool (2acres) and the Lagoons (60acres), I had a fair few winter catches, sometimes just after the lake had thawed. On the current syndicate I tend to start carp fishing around March, mostly because I know the areas that Chestnut comes out from on her usual first capture of the year. Her capture seems to be when the carp start moving around the whole lake.