ouchthathurt

Yeah they’re not cheap, I’ve still got my issued pair, wandered all over afghan in them, they’re 11yrs old and still going strong

It sounds like the spod mix is having a positive effect mate, but also the confidence it instils when you’re fishing over it might also be a factor, the more confident you are the better you angle in my opinion

I’m lying on my jrc cocoon right now! Still as good as new!

It seemed to buddy, I actually carried it because my alternator was fubared so I’d use it to charge my phone and kindle over a 3night session then jump start the old crate at the end of the session! Needed a recharge then though… I’m sure Halfords did a red cased one that was cheaper, I can’t remember if it had a plug socket though, it did have cigarette sockets and a usb socket though

I just used one of these mate https://www.halfords.com/motoring/battery-maintenance/jump-starters/halfords-6-in-1-jump-starter-power-pack-654898.html?cm_mmc=Google+PLA-_-Motoring>Motoring+Products>Battery+Maintenance>Jump+Starters-_-Motoring>Motoring+Products>Battery+Maintenance>Jump+Starters-_-654898&_$ja=tsid:|cid:17363835999|agid:|tid:|crid:|nw:x|rnd:17194195658762331538|dvc:m|adp:|mt:|loc:9045120&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoI7xw83ggAMVGrjtCh1tCwuIEAQYAyABEgI_w_D_BwE

My worry would be those plastic arms that sit proud of the magic twigs body once the device is activated, it then looks like a tiny weed rake. I can see them getting tangled in the mesh of the landing net and causing mouth damage.

The line on my reels are 0.40 18lb breaking strain coupled to 3lb 12ft carp rods. I fish some quite snaggy lakes and canals, this set up does me well.

What ever happened to the good old days when you just pub chucked it any old where and hoped for the best?? 🙄

I’ve found in the past when they are feeding on bloodworm deep in the silt, they can be annoyingly difficult to catch! My only success has been a small medusa rig with only a few red maggots, or I tear my hair out, cut my losses and try find them feeding somewhere else! I find they turn their noses up at “usual” carp baits, sometimes a small dendrobena might produce, something that they may expect to find there whilst rooting around. I’ve tried a bit of freelined bread flake in the past, but in my opinion, if they are preoccupied on the tiny goodies buried gill deep in silt, it can be a struggle to get them to focus on something else.

So my old man called me earlier, came out to feed his Koi carp and some bar steward has stolen all his fish! Scum

Set of 2 rod buzz bars and bank sticks for a river campaign

Just brought 2 local club tickets that gives me lots of options for lakes and rivers, £130 both tickets

That’s the plan kev mate, I do the bass fishing as it’s a few hours and it keeps the fire burning so to speak. The canal will be a mega challenge, I don’t even know if there are any carp in there! But I think about it during sleepless nights, so the bugs still there, just gotta find the right venue.

I haven’t had the rods out properly in nearly a year… bit of bass fishing, but no bivvies or nights etc, my baby is 7months old, so session angling is off the cards right now. Haven’t even renewed my tickets yet! my local waters don’t excite me anymore, I don’t want to travel too far with the baby at home, so I’m a bit lost for ideas at the moment. the Royal Military Canal might be a fresh challenge, no idea what’s in “my” stretch

shame it’s a no fishing lake!

I usually dig all my own bait, but I was unable to get to the beach due to work and fancied a dangle, so brought some wraps. They were well past their best, the crabs enjoyed them though…

£12 for 3 wraps I usually get them by the score, but I was only planning a few hours and I felt 30 would cover it! As it was, I had 10 left over… blanked!

Newest purchase would be 30 lug and 4 new batteries for my Steve Neville buzzers

As you walk from lake car park to the lake, just before you get to the main lake, there’s a smaller pond that is separated by a huge bank of reeds. During times of heavy persistent rain or when it’s winter and the water level is high, the marshy ground in the reeds flood and both lakes fully join, when the water level drops, they can become 2 separate lakes. I never saw any carp in the smaller pond, although I did a few nights on it. I used to just concentrate on the large pit. If I remember correctly, there was a dog poo bin (the last one before you reach the main lake) next to this bin was a small path that led to the smaller pond, but it could all have changed now of course! It was a fair few years ago that I did any serious time on it

Hi mate, I fished there for several years but I can’t remember anyone targeting it for pike. Used to do some nice carp and tench, however there were only a small group of us targeting the place back then. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were not a good head of pike in there. I’d probably go for my favourite pike baits, trout, roach, smelt and mackerel. Fish one on the deck and one suspended. Or as the pit can get a good wind across it, maybe a more roving approach with a deadbait under a drift float to search out the water? When you first reach the lake from the lake car park, that bay (summer bay as we called it) was sandy and shallower. There was a bar running from the point across to the reeds on the other side at the narrowest point, there are supposed to be some proper depths (although I found that the depths were not as extreme as I heard quoted) I also heard of stories of a bus and a midget submarine in there somewhere that the Marines used to dive over. I never snagged them though! I saw a pic of a mid double cat out of there. On the “beach bank” which you reach following the paths down from the holiday camp, if you stand on the bank looking out over the lake, to your left will be a reed bed extending along that margin right round past the point and onto the smaller lake, to your right there is a tiny bay that was full of lilly's in the bay in the summer, that always looked pikey to me. As the lake is a bit of a forgotten entity, at least it always was, so the piking could be amazing, it could be patchy, but best thing is to speculate a season and give it a go! Good luck mate

Sent you a PM mate 👍

Hi mate, I make all my own pop ups using the same basemix as my bottom baits, wrapping it around a cork ball. I make mine up in one egg mixes, (minus the yolk) adding slightly more flavour than I would in my bottom baits. I also add a sachet of egg white powder from the supermarket baking isle - egg albumin. When rolling, I only make enough boilie paste to do a handful of cork balls at a time, to prevent the paste from drying out too much, which makes rolling a pain. I make sure that the paste fully wraps the cork ball with no gaps, cracks or visible joins, as when it boils and drys out, they will crack and break up. I also drop each one in a glass of water once I’ve rolled them to check their buoyancy. With the egg albumin, a 1:30 - 2min boil (you’ll have to see what works best for your basemix) makes them harden right up. I then air dry them somewhere warm for a few days (the airing cupboard!) so they dry out, then pop them in an air tight container, I’ve had pop ups like this last all season, in fact I’ve got a tub I made in 2021 and they still catch just as well as when they were first made. I have added a few mls of salmon oil into the tub and shook it about so the baits took on an oily sheen, when they absorbed the oil, they have still remained hard enough to sit out for 24hrs, I change mine every 10-12hrs though, just to ensure the bait is ok and not come off or anything, as they will take on water and the paste skin will swell, especially if the paste wasn’t tightly wrapped around the cork ball in the first place. I tie mine on to a spinner rig using dental floss, sticking a baiting needle is a no no for me as it often pushes a bit of cork through which leaves a large hole that water will get into and cause the paste to break down quicker. Dental floss doesn’t break the boiled paste skin so the bait lasts longer - that’s my take on it anyway.