salokcinnodrog

Hi Jordz
I'm surprised to read that these are the first Carp you have caught , because from the way you are crouched down holding the Carp over your unhooking mat it looks like you regularly catch them .
😃

Last night it rained from about 11pm, but amazingly I have the bivvy with the wind coming from behind so no problem, and I didn't need to drop the front.
I'm a bit more worried about the ground water as I didn't bother putting the groundsheet down.

You caught. Did they make you smile, did you enjoy yourself?
If the answer is yes, then yes it is a good catch.
Quick tip, turn your headlight off, it makes for a better pic, but I can see the smile, so all is good.
 

It's not just the space Mate, it's the atmosphere.
Inside a Capability Ground Park Estate, a bit of history from the Second World War, a PoW camp and hospital, scenery and some good fish.
I can't remember a small water with that sort of atmosphere and I just end up chasing big fish without enjoying the chase, almost like there is pressure only to catch.
If you are talking about Earith, I enjoyed it, but somehow found my limit was 2 years on there before I needed a change. I don't mind catching, who doesn't, but a 20lb fish every trip...
 
 

 
This is an old picture of the camp taken from what is now the last remaining structure, the water tower.

Ignore my fingers being taped uo there broken but nothing stops me foshing lol had my first carp ever well 5 last night are they good catchs ? 

I'm seriously contemplating splitting some of this thread off as it appears to have become a happy topic in its own right.
 
200 acres?
Small water then🫢😅
Brackens was the last water I fished that was small, at 2 acres, most of the other lakes have been 20acres plus, with Ardleigh at 120acres for the main reservoir, Alton 400, Nazeing Lagoons at 20, 40 and 60, and this lake at 45.
Both big and small have different challenges, from finding the fish, to rigs on the smaller waters, to baiting, from weaning off natural food, or 60lb of carp per acre. Then consider that that 60lb of carp could be 2 fish, or potentially 1!
 
'My happy place', this water really is, it is not just the fishing, it's the whole atmosphere, the surroundings, there is an indefinable quality of things there that draw you back.
 
 

I'm seriously contemplating splitting some of this thread off as it appears to have become a happy topic in its own right.
 
200 acres?
Small water then🫢😅
Brackens was the last water I fished that was small, at 2 acres, most of the other lakes have been 20acres plus, with Ardleigh at 120acres for the main reservoir, Alton 400, Nazeing Lagoons at 20, 40 and 60, and this lake at 45.
Both big and small have different challenges, from finding the fish, to rigs on the smaller waters, to baiting, from weaning off natural food, or 60lb of carp per acre. Then consider that that 60lb of carp could be 2 fish, or potentially 1!
 
'My happy place', this water really is, it is not just the fishing, it's the whole atmosphere, the surroundings, there is an indefinable quality of things there that draw you back.
 
 

Last night it rained from about 11pm, but amazingly I have the bivvy with the wind coming from behind so no problem, and I didn't need to drop the front.
I'm a bit more worried about the ground water as I didn't bother putting the groundsheet down.

I'm seriously contemplating splitting some of this thread off as it appears to have become a happy topic in its own right.
 
200 acres?
Small water then🫢😅
Brackens was the last water I fished that was small, at 2 acres, most of the other lakes have been 20acres plus, with Ardleigh at 120acres for the main reservoir, Alton 400, Nazeing Lagoons at 20, 40 and 60, and this lake at 45.
Both big and small have different challenges, from finding the fish, to rigs on the smaller waters, to baiting, from weaning off natural food, or 60lb of carp per acre. Then consider that that 60lb of carp could be 2 fish, or potentially 1!
 
'My happy place', this water really is, it is not just the fishing, it's the whole atmosphere, the surroundings, there is an indefinable quality of things there that draw you back.
 
 

Don’t have to be the big boys mate anyone is welcome to come and have a go as long as they care about fish and wildlife like I do. all you guys been friendly to me on here so I’m just showing some love back. It seems to be so hard to get on syndicates these days so I was thinking if I offered some guests on my lake maybe someone might offer me the same back! But even if you ain’t on a syndicate and can’t offer me the same back you are still welcome. Also I really appreciate my place on this lake and this will be my last year on here starting may 1st because I already caught all my target fish but i don’t wanna leave just yet as there’s still a few fish I haven’t bagged. The manager Richard is a great guy and I get on really well with him so if someone did come down for a guest with me and there decent and caring that would be there way of jumping straight to the top of the list for next season which is a bonus for them and for Richard knowing there’s a decent angler joining
. They start a new waiting list each year and 3 years in a row there has been over 75 applicants on the first day for a 25 man syndicate and normally there’s maximum 5 places available each year so really I’m doing my mate Richard a favour and one of you guys a favour putting an angler forward who is decent rather than him letting some random guy come on the lake. There have been some shocking events since I been on there! 1 night at about 2 am I heard a run from some guys swim which carried on for so long must have been 2 mins and then about 10 mins later I could hear the fish splashing around for such a long time under the rod tip I thought this guys in trouble here he must be tangled up or something so I decided to run around, woke up my mate to watch my rods for me entered his swim and said are you ok mate? He said yeah I’m just having trouble netting this fish I said ok shall I do it for you he said ok if you don’t mind so I looked closer and suddenly realised that this guy had a 12 foot rod and had reeled down and had about 3 inches of leadcore off the tip of the rod before the rig and was trying to reach forward with a 6 foot landing net to net the fish! Like that don’t make any sense does it lads ? Like the maths of it 12 foot rod 6 foot landing net pole maybe 2 foot on the net itself hold your arm back holding the rod in some weird position it’s all gonna end bad ain’t it. I told him let some line off mate hold your rod up high he said but I don’t want the fish to get away I had to get serious and say seriously mate let some line off yeah he gave me about a foot I said come on mate more more so he did lifted his rod up with about 6 foot of line from the tip to the rig and then I netted the fish, then he said thanks mate I normally lose any fish I catch I said yeah in future hold your rod up high and net the fish with your rod upright. Really I should have reported him but Danny Hearn ain’t no grass so I just made sure he learnt from it.
 
Also my pal I fish with (when he bothers to get up and go at it lol) is a member with 10 guest tickets available too so if any of you wanna come with a pal you can do that! I promise you Danny Hearn ain’t a rapist even though that’s my nick name on the lake but that’s only because I only use plastic gloves when baiting and putting baits on my hair rig hang around watching the lake in the bushes and sometimes look expressionless in my pics 🫣you all know I’m keen so it shouldn’t surprise you about the gloves because I don’t touch bait with my bare hands ever.
 
I have rambled on again aint i 🤣. Who cares I love it.
all the best everyone 
Danny Hearn 

Nobody seems interested but thought I would announce that my plan actually worked and I caught him finally. I’m shocked and still finding it hard to say to myself well done you did it you targeted a new area done a bit of prep work in search of a certain fish and it paid off. Especially because this fish came out a couple weeks ago, it has been known to come out a couple times a year to be fair but I’m pretty sure that was only 1 out of the 4 years I been on there. I want to believe that I forced a quick capture! That was what I was trying to do. I watched Adam penning talk about it on a video and I had already invested a bit of time and effort and bait into this area that I just said to myself carry on you have nowhere else to go so just keep on and now it’s done. He took my bait in less than a minute so I believe he had been hanging around munching my prebait. I was still pulling my baiting pole back in when it went off and I thought somehow I had picked up the line pulling it back in as I had a massive drop back but a few seconds later my bobbin smashed the rod and I knew there was 1 on.
If you read my first long old essay you will get the true extent of what’s been going on for me. I would rather have some likes for that to be honest and now I’m so glad I actually shared it. But if you just like a nice picture that’s cool because I know it’s ridiculously long. considering the weather tonight and it was dark I’m well happy with the photos I took a lot of them but sadly he had some damage on 1 side but still I’m over the moon and screamed the place down when he went in the net. Was only me on the lake so it was ok. 
Paw Print 33lb 14 oz
Lord of Hook lake 🤣


Love this pic 
Only sad thing about it all is that my time on there is up now really and I just paid for a new year starting on may 1st. What a lake I really loved my time on there and I doubt I will find another place as magical as there any time soon.
Danny 

Good luck with Prince Albert, a lot of waters on that ticket, and with the 20lb fish.
I'm glad that is still a 🎯  to aim for.
 
 

Too darn fast!
I'm hopefully chasing both new stock and originals on the syndicate.
We went through the picture  records of stocked fish from 2020 after a capture last week. A cracking fish put on 10lbs in a year, and 14lbs since being stocked!
 
 
I have an obsession with the syndicate lake. No matter how much it seems to take the Mickey, everything against me, swans, drifting weed, pike biting lines, almost as soon as I get home I'm planning to get back

This is what matters ☝️ 
Stuff the high pressure, over subscribed fishing of today, tolerating many annoyances just to chase a number - madness looking back!
The atmosphere and wildlife is my new target!

I'm kind of doing the opposite , Highy , in that I'm renewing my club ticket where there may be some 20lbers .
It's like Nick says " it's my happy place " . Carp Anglers are in the minority at my club water ( it's predominately Match Anglers )  , so I feel I'm not competing with other Carp Anglers while trying to outwit the Carp ; and I enjoy the wildlife .
I can always pay for a day ticket at my local runs water where I stand a much better chance of a 20 , or maybe if I believe the hype , a 30 .
Sometimes I think I enjoy the planning / anticipation of going fishing more than actually sitting lakeside waiting for a bite ? .
😃 

Not quite a view from the bivvy door but from the swim to the next poke hole, gotta be one of the most carpy paths ever? - would love to see others.  😎

The things we do in search of the next nice carp.
The reservoir I fish is full of water atm, we cant launch from the sailing club, so have to barrow several loads through loads of mud to get to the boats. My average time from the load up until being all set up is around 5 hours??? Crazy. Considering it's only 30 minutes away from home.
Enjoy and good luck mate.

I would normally wish you all the best of luck.. but iv sent the lot to Arsenal tonight.. and their in need of it mate  😏
A fishing trip is always better with proper coffee 👍

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

Sadly Mate, pretty much not being able to work life is nearly all fishing for me at the moment. I know it sounds strange, but I hate not working. Boogered back, hip and shoulder put that to bed. I hope my body can straighten up after the new hip!
 
My car is only until its MOT in August, hopefully I can get PIP approved and all back pay since September last year before then.

Until Saturday.
Was a horrible experience pushing 2 barrow loads of gear again, but until the track is dry, I'd much rather not get the car stuck. Should have dried out by Saturday so I can load up into the car

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee