kevtaylor

A friend of mine bought some expensive new shimmys with the latest QD Drag system. Awful - truly awful, there is no-where near enough adjustment between drag clicks, it goes from mid baitrunner to tight clutch with nothing inbetween, so you'd have to use your finger on the spool coz the setting just aint there - stupid idea gone too far IMO. My spod and marker are shimmy's with a QD but they have the small inner wheel for fine adjustment - so much better, best of both worlds

Yes mate, I imagine I'd only use it for a quick depth check for zigs on an overnighter but on a week session well worth having a proper go. My mate borrowed one for a foreign trip and found a little hump off to the right where you wouldn't have naturally chosen in the swim, it turned the week around massively. Generally I prefer to lead about with small leads to minimise disturbance, I always feel like I am decimating the swim with the marker, so I like the idea of the deeper overall.

Very true I have nothing whatsoever against Korda - great company and Danny seems a lovely guy trying to do the right thing. My issue is purely the technology and what I see as a shortcut to success. There have been recent posts from Nash on Instagram where a particular fish was caught directly as a result of drone footage. Yes it makes good telly so to speak but that doesn't mean I would appreciate it next to me buzzing round lol Where's the shotgun?

From what I've watched of the new Korda 7 there seems to be an awful lot of drone use for fish finding. Really don't want to see these damn things flying over the lakes I fish, highly annoying and IMO not angling in any way, cheating! For me a big part of fishing is not knowing exactly what features are out there and where the fish may be, its the art of working it out for yourself - for me anyway, I don't want or need shortcuts to success.

I borrowed my mates large gas bivvy heater, yes it was nice having the option to warm the shelter up or warm your hands after you've been outside, at the time it feels epic tbh BUT it is dangerous no doubt, can you say that you will deffo turn it off before dropping off to sleep - it's a real concern. Many years ago a guy told me that he was only alive because his mate decided to check on him at 2am, he was completely blue and non breathing (fell asleep with the stove on for warmth), his mate dragged him outside and resuscitated the lucky so and so. All in all I'd say the guys above are correct, get better clothing and sleeping bag etc. If you're going to use a heater use it in the day and switch off long before you get in bed!

Very true - god i'm so carpy!

I know the odd one has come out the mill Jan/Feb but its like a miracle not the norm lol I was in Oak in January and in the night the wind swung from West to East, as soon as that happened I got a load of liners one after the other. Speaking to a guy who moved into West End Point, he got a load of liners 20 mins after me, so they were plenty still moving about and reacting to conditions. I think that 20ft depth thing on the Mill tallies up with the slow start on other waters nearby - such as Kingy, its a good 4 - 6 weeks behind neighbouring waters for the spring switch on. The Heron and Island fish OK right through don't they as does Beedles in Leics, but thats Syndi now.

They will have been pre-occupied on naturals through Oct - Nov on a typical gravel pit no doubt as the weed drops and the bugs end up congregated in the silt troughs, frustrating to the max. Good advice so far - try those zigs for sure 👍

Whilst this isn't aimed at the original poster, it is definitely worth choosing the venue most carefully for winter. The only water I've happily fished right through and caught from regularly was a shallow pit 6ft max. Like snowmanstevo has said 11:00 - 15:00 was bite time bang on, so I'd fish days only arriving mid morning, back home by 4pm. It was a 25+ acre lake and the fish grouped in the central couple of acres in amongst the flocks of wildfowl, careful observation and you'd see head and shouldering just behind or in the flock itself. I had 3 in 20 mins whilst trying to tell a guy that it was usually difficult, he must have thought I was trying to put him off. Winter felt like the best time to be there tbh. The deeper gravel pits where you've got good depth to say 20ft the fish are much harder to catch and the fishing starts a good month later in spring than other shallower pits, that's just my observation anyway. IMO you want to be focusing on the West bank initially as it gets the first sun, also reed beds as said previously. This shallow water advice relates directly to the zigs advice for deeper water I guess.

Thanks for the suggestion, I dont usually add anything 👍

I think you need to look at how much tiger nuts swell when soaked and boiled - because I'd guess a minimum 4 times the original size and I'm being conservative on that. If food swelled to 4 - 8 times its original size I'd be in trouble.

Cheers mate - appreciate that 👍

This reminds me that I always wanted a night scope or bino's. Too many things in my head, I forget the good stuff!

I mean the lakes are going, the clubs are going, un-fenced venues are on a hiding to nothing because of Otters. Gravel pits and new lakes being dug, generally do not have deep margins such as the old slate quarries that are nearly always Club Waters. Which is what I am trying to say to you, decent stalking waters are very thin on the ground, especially if you are looking at catching decent sized fish not pasties. The skills live on but the waters sadly do not.

Your rods and reels look lovely no doubt about that, it's great to see! Whilst I really like it, if I had the money for good cane rods and vintage reels I would still choose the modern alternative at that price range. It's a sport and I want performance. I do hope you have the tweed flatcap and waistcoat, wicker basket the full works, if you're gonna do eccentric it's all or nothing surely! The old methods will always work in the right situation, sadly the situations are dwindling fast! You need to find the wild club waters, I've been there done it, the best times, short sessions fishing under the tips, watching the line, creeping around, catching proper fish but these waters and stocks are diminishing year on year.

You've got some good rose tints on there. Who fishes tiny ponds for wildies now, these places don't exist, typical carping is now sizeable gravel pits, possibly distance fishing, margins that are probably not suitable for close work under the tips. Are you going to watch the line all night? The opportunities to float fish and freeline are so limited on typical big fish waters that I've only stalked in the edge on one water out of my last six or more and I am a mobile, roving, stalking angler at heart and would choose that style first and foremost over anything else. I'd summarise to say that the opportunities have gone not the skill set. Old kit - don't even go there

Just a bit mate he was blown away, pulling the bait away from 50s WTF but you know I'm totally calm to have around doing pics etc lol 🤣 We were both blown away - get the saddle out!

I found an amazing stalking spot under a large tree on my mates side of the swim at Parco, completely overgrown and un-fished. I climbed up and could see a good depth of water and no branches under the water and more trees to the right, the depth in the edge right under me was 6-8 foot, dropping down to a shelf of prob 10-12, then the abyss. With a little bit of work it was more than fishable, I excitedly climbed down and told him to come and see. My mate spent the rest of the trip up that tree watching monsters feeding inches from the bank at times, smashing 20k of feed between a small number of fish each day, just as the light started to fade. When he could see well enough to select a fish he lowered freelined corn onto its nose - can you imagine, fish to high 60's, it freezes, the lips move, the bait vanishes, the gills flare and WHAM set the hook and hang on for dear life! 10 hours standing on a branch watching, no food, drenched to the skin and just 10 mins fishing each day saw him catch some stonkers in the best way possible IMO - selective stalking, and freelining - it doesn't get any better. What scenes, experiences that will stay with us forever, sheer magic!

I believe the Freespirit CTX was rated as one of the very best in it's price range in one of those tackle testing features, it may have won it outright but not 100% sure - the old memory is going. I'd go Freespirit over Shimano, although that's based on reputation not personal experience.

My limited experience of fluoro line is that it attracts detritus and sediment and looks awful, needs regular wiping, then attracts it again and so on. TBH it looks so bad I've stayed on Mono ever since.

I was looking at changing baits completely after 15+ years on a custom Aminos bait (you read all the BS about other baits being the ultimate) but spoke to Toni - he suggested the T&G version to combat the silt and weed. I caught from the off, no surprise there, absolutely love the bait - it smells brilliant and being the Aminos base you know its gonna do the business, tried and tested for many many years. Tony is very helpful and doesn't push anything on you, just good advice!

I'm trying Matrix Plus which is Red, alongside my usual Amino Plus T&G - catching on both baits and the mix looks banging.

Not with my casting technique mate - that's all I know. Don't forget that with the Multi your talking about an extremely low pop-up, maybe if it were higher it wouldn't be able to turn and catch under the putty, but it can. Granted it's quite rare that it happens but occasionally it does. A lot of this will depend on how stiff the hooklink is, I know that with the materials I use, big blobs of putty are a no no Urban baits pop-ups stay up for days, hold up a size 4 and only require a small amount of putty, I've tested a lot and these work perfectly for me 👍

IMO you don't want really buoyant pop-ups for the multi rig, having huge blobs of putty makes a definite tangle point. I prefer a reliable medium buoyancy pop-up with a small amount of putty. Just my findings for what its worth. 👍

Mine come fresh ready for freezing, but I have no issue with freezing and re-freezing