salokcinnodrog

I wish that happened Saturday morning. I'd checked the forecast and was aiming to pack up between 11 and 12 once the rain stopped, only it didn't... I ended up reeling in, putting my rods in the sling then going to get the car and pack everything away and straight into the car leaving the bivvy until last. The only good thing is I hadn't used the full groundsheet just the front.

If you go carp fishing and catch a 7lb tench have you blanked? Catching other species while carp fishing has put me onto some proper specimens of other species. Catching 10lb bream on carp gear put me onto some big bream, so next session the carp rods stayed at home and I caught 12lb bream. Catching 7lb tench on my carp gear meant I switched tactics and fished for tench and caught a 12lb tench. Carp fishing has also shown me where 2lb roach are, even waters with worthwhile pike. Carp anglers are too snobby, sadly many have no respect for other species.

The number of times I've caught in the rain. I've caught in rain so heavy that it poured off my waterproof jacket and my boots were squelching as they were full. If anything I think the low pressure unsettled weather increases the feeding urge over high pressure and just the 'occasional snack', especially if it is with a south or westerly based wind. I must admit I do hate packing away a wet bivvy though; wrapping the umbrella up in a dripping wet groundsheet is not fun.

Gladwells hemp is around £38.99, although recently it has had a few twigs in there. I don't think any hemp is as good as it was a few years ago. I do my particles in a big pan on the cooker. Bring to the boil and then turn down to as low as it will go for around 15minutes. I often add extra water before I boil it so no chance of it boiling dry

If you get some bird foods they have suet or fat pellets in them, and they definitely become a sticky congealed mess if you boil them up. I've been camping, swearing at swans and pike...

Now you know why I dislike Crocs and insist on slipping into trainers. I must admit the breaking of the rod and reel is the biggest misfortune I have 'seen', but I have heard of loads of people going 'a over t' while wearing Crocs on wet slippery banks, grass especially.

Yet another Dot spod I've found attached to just braid crack-off, although this one was just the fractured knot on the link clip. I did cut the knot off as I used the spod for putting out some particles at short range. It's now in the spod compartment of my rucksack. I still use an Amnesia shockleader, and have no problems with the mono leader at any range. Last week it landed an annoying swan that swam through the line... Poxy thing I cast out and watched this swan swim straight for where I was baiting up, and as the Spomb hit the water the swan tried to empty it and swam through the line

There is a rule on 'No buying and selling through the forum'. My suggestion is to take it to a local club and donate it, or see if there is a disabled angling association nearby to you, possibly even a day ticket lake and see if they will take it. It might even be worth contacting The Angling Trust and see if they can use it for charitable causes. If I add ' Get Fishing's' Facebook page, there is a link to the Angling Trust and their email: https://www.facebook.com/GetOutThereGetFishing

I mentioned the Solar chair last week (?) It got its first outing this week, and I like it! It is not as low as I was expecting and the extending legs are good. Get the back level, and to extend the legs, push the button and they automatically extend to full. I've put full weight on it, on uneven ground, and the legs stay in place. The added head rest cushion, attached by a locking strap is a nice touch, although I've taken it off.

Yes, but you are missing out on Chestnut, she definitely spawned, stopped and then started again. Horseshoe, they've been and spawned at least three times this year alone. That will include stop, restart and some going again. Even Rod Hutchinson mentioned it when he had the big mirror from the 'secret' lake, she'd been seen spawning earlier in the year, it was late in the year then was going off again just before he caught her and was dropping eggs in the sack. It's likely she was 40 when he caught her, but had dropped to 39 something when he weighed her. This is a quote from Ben Gratwicke: What temperature does the water have to be for the carp to spawn? “18şC and above for successful continued spawning, although if the water drops once spawning has begun a carp will continue.” Do carp spawn more than once a year? “A female could potentially spawn three to four times if they’re lucky and obviously this is weather dependent. And that same healthy young female, as a rule of thumb, will lay 100,000 eggs per kilo of body.”: If the temperature stays high through summer then carp will spawn as late as August/September on and off.

I used to think that but after watching the waters, it's not just temperature dependant. After talking to the Symonds family about Homersfield and watching lakes myself, with known fish, Brackens, current syndicate, Taverham, and a few more, they do stop and start. Also I've seen carp spawn below 18⁰C once the required daylight hours are reached, around May 8th. Brackens, they actually started spawning while I was there, but a rain shower dropped the water temperature so much they stopped and they didn't start again until a couple of weeks later. Again, that happened this year on my syndicate, weeks between first going in May and finally going properly last week. Last year Chestnut was seen spawning at least twice by me, and her weight was up and down, 42lb, 44lb, 39lb, 36lb, with a second bout of spawning between the two lowest weights. She was caught earlier this year at her normal 42/43lb. Also, check out the Carp Society's Horseshoe, that has been closed a few times this year as they have spawned a few times.

The other thing is that if the weather stays hot, some of the fish may actually spawn a few times, totally emptying out, hence why some waters close again and again or request anglers not to fish particular areas. I can remember so many years, in the old close season days, where on June 16th the carp were more interested in each other. I've seen fish spawning and within minutes of finishing are at the other end of the lake clearing out feeding spots, be it bait, snails or bloodworm. I've actually been at Ardleigh where some fish were spawning, yet others were feeding up. Pretty much the only time that the female fish have no eggs in them is immediately after spawning.

Fish will be Fish and be where they want to be. The fish in my lake started to spawn around 8th May, then stopped, then got it on again last week. I don't think the fish 'move to deeper' water, they just go back to normal behaviour. Some fish are resident, live and hold most of the time in a particular area, then probably the majority move around dependant on food and conditions. July is normally pretty warm in this country, and I would be looking around the edges of the weed in ALL areas of my lake, which is between 2 and 8feet deep.

I used to want my particles as fresh as possible, preferably still warm as I was catapulting them in. Then I fished a water with hemp I'd prepared Friday, by Sunday it seemed to get better and better as it got sticky and slimy. Pigeon conditioner is another one that as it smells a bit fermented is better. Even so, I had some that went beyond that, that I thought was off, with mould appearing on the top, so I poured it in the margins for the swans, and within a few minutes carp were on it. I simply don't take particles home, either poured on the bank to keep the swans and geese happy or prebaited. If I don't go, I end up with a bucket of bait in the freezer. In fact I've just pulled a bucket of hemp out today for use tomorrow. I've got some ice cream containers full of particles that I'll leave in until the morning for the day after.

I'm not a fan of Sonik tackle full stop! Too many problems with rod rings, and lastly the weld on a chair that I don't think made 3years. I have been through landing nets over 30years, and there are a couple of manufacturers who stand out for landing nets that last: Gardner Tackle, I think the current standard is the GTN. Rod Hutchinson Sceptre Landing Net 42inch. The first fish i landed in it was a 30lb common, and its usually the first of my two I set up. Easy to set up, and to take apart Fox Warrior 42, brilliant, still in use, although had a number of new meshes fitted. It always seems to be easier to pop open on one arm to get get it out of the spreader. I did have a Nash Outlaw landing net, yep, me praising a Nash item. Why oh why do manufacturers replace a good item with often inferior newer versions?

I'm still using my Aqua rod sling that I got 20years ago. I hope the new stuff is as durable as it was back then, although the plastic lining is starting to crack and flake.

Thanks, I spend a lot of time in the water hunting for feeding spots and clear patches when I'm at the lake. I know the course of the old stream bed, and pretty much know when the shallows get to swan reach depth. The swans can get to be a right pain. There are 3 pairs on the lake, one at the dam and who is extremely dominant and a pair two thirds of the way up who regularly argue with the shallows pair. We then have as many as 150 to 200 transient swans who are not yet old enough to have a territory that have been ejected by their parents. The dominant pairs (males especially) will attack or bully them. The Fens on the Norfolk and Suffolk border are a big area for the younger swans. We don't feed them, but some of the reserves do. For us swans can get onto bait or go through lines with absolutely no idea, yet geese and ducks avoid the lines.

I normally get pop-up mix from BAF. https://www.britishaquafeeds.com/pop-ups-and-wafters For normal size pop-ups I put them through a rolling table as per normal baits and boil them keeping them moving. For the tiny ones they are all done by hand. For a boilie or maize on the hook, I go back to a standard hair rig and line aligner with a rig ring on the shank.

My thoughts as well, barbel are a river fish, and from what I've seen do not grow as well or as big in a still water.

I still use size 6's, and the rig is short, no more than from base of palm to tip of middle finger. I normally put the whole rig in a PVA bag of very small pellets, crushed boilies and ground breadcrumb.

Weird how some cause grief, yet for others including myself, never had a problem. Incidentally, "no bleeps on a take", that can happen on a drop back, no matter what alarm, and the cause is apparently water resistance and heavy indicators preventing the alarm sounding. I was actually talking to a friend this week about the very issue, and I think the name he mentioned was Martin Crackoff on YouTube where the heavy indicators were deadening indication, so the answer was actually to go light. We don't help ourselves with semi-fixed leads!

It might not just be down to aniseed, it could actually be the whole pigeon conditioner and hookbait. Small particles can get the fish grubbing, but quite frequently they won't take a big bait over them, a 15mm boilie is too big. It may be that you need to be using hookbaits no bigger than 10mm, or the size of say 2 grains of sweetcorn. I've had to come up with a presentation of small baits on the syndicate if I fish over particles, and that involves 2 6mm pop-ups meshed together on a Multi-rig, or the next experiment, meshed grains of hemp tied to the hook. The alternative option is to use bigger baits in your groundbait or freebies, and that's not just a few bigger boilies in your pigeon conditioner, but bigger freebies altogether. I say "bigger baits in your groundbait or freebies", but sometimes the carp will ignore the boilies themselves, so your bigger freebies may be bigger particles like maples, chick peas, kidney beans, or even just boilies as the freebies.

I love to disappear and be uncontactable. I'm the same, about no mobile signal. Part of the problem is that different providers have different signal. As an example, near Botesdale and Redgrave, Vodafone is absolutely awful, signal will come and go from 4/5G one or two bars to Emergency calls only, yet EE offers an almost continous 4/5G. Worse is it is not consistent, always one provider with best signal, it is fragmented, some areas if O2 or Vodafone have masts in the area, you will get signal, where if EE or Three whoever don't, you won't.

Before I fished Virginia at Earith I spent 2 days feature finding and pre-baiting. I mapped out the whole lake for myself and @brucelait, I know I had a hand drawn copy, I think we had one each. Over 2 years I had a total of 4 blanks, and 2 of them were when the lake froze over while I was fishing. I can't remember how many fish we had, but it was hundreds and many were over 20lb. It's not that hard. If you want full depths and distances then a float and lead, if you are happy with just 'rough' then a lead alone. Use braid to a 30lb mono ( Amnesia) shockleader for a better feel, with a run ring and 3 or 4oz lead (maybe a lead link), and a marker float at the end. Obviously cast out and feel around; gravel feels 'bumpy', sand is smooth, clay often a bounce as the lead comes free then slides smoothly, silt is the lead pulls free, but slides slowly. Weed almost pulls back, jams, comes through, sticks, and repeat. Hold the line tight down, then pull a foot of line off the reel at a time until the float reaches the surface. Weed might stop it, even with a lead link. If you use just a lead you are counting it down from the cast, I've always used roughly a metre a second, but it won't 'donk' on or in silt or weed. You then have to clip up once you find the spot and get the distance on sticks or walking it out. I can't remember who said it, I think Dave Lane, mono is a smoother cast, and on distance sticks I think recommended taking a wrap off for the fishing rods. So if you got 15wraps with the marker rod and braid, go 14 with mono on your fishing rods.

I'm upset, I mean, they said 08.20 and it was 09.50.😆 Fed-ex usually deliver at the first time mentioned, not within the time bracket. Seriously, that is some service from Johnson Ross, and to be honest from Fed-ex. I know the depot is not in Ipswich so fair play.