kevtaylor

It seems pretty safe to assume that they will be spending most of the time hiding in the most dense areas of weed. Can you locate the most likely areas, study them for signs and come up with an approach to fish where they are spending the majority of their time? If everyone fishes the few clear areas they are likely to dry up on the action front.

A couple of lads had 3 between them off the top on Kingy to 46 I believe on scorching hot Friday afternoon whilst I was setting up - inspiring! Need to refresh my floater skills 👍

Brilliant - well done, effort = reward One thing comes across loud and clear, you enjoyed the active approach and learnt plenty - keep up the good work. 👍

Mechanically the rigs look fine. Maybe the pop-up is a bit blatant when the fish are singles, doubles, twenties. A chod is a good choice for fishing over dense weed, but is it dense weed? were there more sparse areas where you consistently get a good drop but cannot pull back any distance, in this instance you could use a more subtle bottom rig because you're in a gap or channel. Look at the emphasis placed on accuracy, finding the right spot. Take the time to measure and record any nice spots you find or catch from for future reference, it will help you to keep disturbance down in future sessions and inform rig choice. Be wary of how you fish those obvious spots you get in every swim, do you want to be in the middle of it or off to the side inside the chod - for want of a better word. Interrogate the spot - sometimes you want to be on the smoothest part - other times the opposite.

I'm always trying to improve my accuracy and it's been 30+ years and still a long way to go literally. A good friend of mine said that his biggest edge is accurate casting and baiting at 90 yards - doesn't sound a lot by what you hear in videos but in reality it's a massive deal. There's my level of accuracy and then there's his, I think I'm having the best day ever if I have next to no rogue spombs and keep it to a rod length spread at that range, his however is a two foot spread with no rogues- bang on every time. When it comes to fine lines he is a level above me.

Well think about this, if everyone is fishing further out, bait and wait style then you can only expect to catch as many as they do - IF you are doing it as well as them. For me - I'd drop that style completely and go stalking instead. Answers: Yes you use your normal rig but lower it in quietly Bait a few spots and either fish the most likely from the off or wait until one of the spots is being fed on. How long should I fish for - impossible to say, sometimes I fish 8 spots in a day chasing them round other times I'll sit it out in one spot because it has regular visitors. On small lakes you might well see the same groups going round and round all day on the same circuit/route, your job is to make them feed, and feed with enough competition to get a bite. One fish alone may eat all the bait except yours, get more than one interested in feeding and mistakes start to be made. Remember all this is going on out in the lake but you cannot see it - this way you see it happening, can adapt the set-up and learn from it fast enough for you to get a result on the day.

To me this sounds like stalking territory, and nothing will teach you better than watching them feed right in the edge. You get instant feedback and can adapt much quicker because you actually see the reaction to the rig and baiting. One rod, resting on the ground, baitrunner on is all you need, be as quiet as possible, stay back, stay low - a small amount of micro pellet and chops or similar and if you get it right - you'll see plenty and catch regular. Stalking gives you a realistic chance all day, under bushes, near reeds, lillies, undercut banks - bait a few spots in the edge around the pond and check for activity. Honestly - it is the most exciting way to fish and the learning curve is rapid, sometimes I've caught the first fish onto the bait, other times I've waited 6+ hours watching the same group pass over the spot time and time again, looking, then hours later sampling the bait and spooking - before eventually smashing the spot with gusto, competitive feeding and the time to get a run. Very similar to surface fishing. Trouble is people see camping, spodding buckets out and waiting as being the norm, how it's done. Keep day only fishing I say it will give you a different perspective, wider skill set.

You need to see what others on the lake are catching, have a chat, how many did the top rod catch last year? How many nights do they do? You may have unrealistic expectations for the water, whats the lake size and total stock? I would say that I fish intermediate to fairly challenging waters and they tend to have a way of punishing you, particularly if you start to think that you've sussed it. I seem to have runs through the year when I catch consistently for weeks, then the obligatory blank run and head scratching moment when you question how you ever caught anything. The high, lows, eureka moments and frustrations we all go through it, the blanks are part of the puzzle, just keep trying and learning, keep improving your game! Most of all enjoy the experience 👍

Can you put a picture up of your rig end tackle - could be something not quite right. Are you getting bleeps, rod knocks, line pulls? TBH you are starting with carp fishing which can at times test the resolve of the very best of us. So tip one has to be find somewhere classed as easy - a runs water!

Donations LOL - get stuffed 👍

I've been told about a canal that gets electro fished by contractors to the Relevant Trust - removing the Zander apparently, so it's legal. Said contractor runs a carp syndicate - lovely mixed stock apparently 😒

Could be a free membership- point is its recordable. So if as you say a baillif spends 30 mins with someone and is concerned about the ability they can record that and advise he goes on a more suitable pond for a while to build themselves up - get to know people. Easier said than done obviously

Very true lol I'm thinking of a membership of sorts. You pay an initial fee - say £100 to get a numbered membership card. Any probs, agro, rule breaking you get advised/banned and this is recorded on a database. Phone bookings for a space on one of the lakes not specific swim bookings and online payments. Keeps it in-line with Tony's ideal - whackers on a day ticket.

Yes mate, dodgy ground indeed fingers crossed they are lucky. Yes management have made a few mistakes trying to please a massive wave of new customers, but overall you have to blame the anglers for fitting in anywhere and putting in too much bait. Isn't spring supposed to be about singles and zigs, not piles of bait when it's 30 degrees and they are in pre spawn limbo. How do you police it, no noddies? It does say experienced anglers only but that's self assessed!

Wow bad news. Kingy was bad last year as well or the year before, I seem to remember Lee Birch almost begging people to stop piling it in, fish zigs or margin traps nothing coming out in the open water and showing a video of loads of old bait littering the lake bed. He said it was close to being a disaster then. With the current temps I bet they are right on the verge of a fish kill. I also heard that the 'Z Fish' was ottered, they didn't say that part.

You couldn't write the timing on my part lol Now you have to collect a bucket off them - get a sticker with your name and reg on and off you go to find that killer peg that's not available! Brilliant - like a game show, running round wiv buckets, moving other peoples and pinching their peg lol Can you imagine the agro ticking off, pressure for pegs and extra noddies galore. My mate had free pegs either side of him on the first sunday on Mallard, I've no idea why he wanted 50 buckets! 🤣

A circus at the minute 🤣

It's not for me at the moment sadly, I don't do long sessions, so queuing up for a decent swim in a few days time is not the one. I generally do OK on there because I'm happy to fish 4 of the 5 lakes and can usually get on fish on at least one of them, but when all 300 pegs are taken you're fitting in not choosing. It's pretty un-heard of tbh so I intend to return when the holiday campers have got bored and hung their rods up for another year.

I'm setting myself up with a lightweight roving, and mixed species day kit. Given that my plans to fish Bluebell properly this year have been ruined by a massive influx of campers I've had a rethink and buzzing for it, first off was a local canal Perch next up a river Soar Barbel.

This morning will stay with me forever, watching the fight from afar and wishing whatever it was into the net, go on son! The shout of all shouts went out, electrifying I got goose bumps! and I just had to reel in, grab some bits and run over there to see this incredible beast in the flesh and congratulate the big man! What an achievement, what a year, what a stunning UK BANGER, and what a lovely fella to catch it - truly deserved, very well done mate - inspiring!

I am a fan of ESP Syncro XT, I found that to be supple and strong, I'd recommend that no doubt. Then in recent years syndicate rule changes forced me onto a thicker line, so went with Diawa Sensor in 20lb then the next year in 18lb and was fairly happy with it. Subsequent batches of the same stuff behaved differently some how, more twist in use and a pig to get on in the first place. My mate has only ever used Sensor as well but he was having the same problems. I cant explain it so I cannot say anything bad about the line itself, maybe we were contributing or causing the issue. Anyway for this year I've chosen Fox Exocet in 16lb because I've seen some good reviews and there is a chance I may need to fish further out than normal or at least have the opportunity to do that. Whilst I've not used it yet first impression is that it is the limpest line I have ever seen hanging off the spool, my friend and I were both shocked by how good it looks and feels, fingers crossed it's a good-un. Will give feedback when possible.

LOL my first alarm, from way back when I was float fishing but had a ledger rod out for carp with a a trusty Bitech Viper giving me constant false bleeps, if you had light enough bobbins/monkey climber it became quite musical and played tunes ALL DAY! It's safe to say I had no concept of adjusting the sensitivity - thank god Fox came out with the Micron 👍

I should add as Ian says how often do you actually need shorter rods for stalking in the edge? I did 4 years on a stalking water with my 12's there wasn't a problem in any swim ever, I'd go back now with my 12.5 footers. I got the 10's for short session general fishing, barbel, pike and carp - but I will leave one in the car from now on just in case I do find that one off spot under the trees and there's a few whackers down there.

My mate really struggled with 12 footers under a tree on Parco, but did land fish to 66lb. What we needed were 9 or 10 footers in 3lb, I don't go along with this lighter test curve thinking tbh 3's are not stiff at all. Since then I got a set of 10's which I think will be OK in that tight situation, could and maybe should have got 9's but we'll see. 6's are tiny I cant really see a need for them and we were in a really tight spot, I'd trade any gains from that for the advantages of a bit more length if that makes sense.

I see Bluebell Lakes has closed finally, still watching out for some local syndicates to do the right thing though.