yonny

There are no hard/fast rules but generally you'd go heavier for longer distance work and lighter for close-in stuff. I personally am not a fan of back leads. They reduce sensitivity and if there's any weed or debris around they can cause big problems. I remember watching a lad having to land a fish in a boat a few years ago.... his back lead had snagged in the weed. Once released, the rig/fish was also weeded up. It was like a spiders web of line around his swim, looked like a nightmare. He lost the fish. If I had to use one, I'd use a flying back lead. The important thing is getting that last few feet pinned down.

You know what... you're right mate. I ditched them on Northey because it's all close in stuff. They'll be great on the big pit.

Yes! I have a couple of sets of these. They look great but the heads are very heavy. No good for close range stuff. I ditched them for some of the original Solar heads. So, so light.

A successful angler will always be on the fish and if that means spending more time looking/searching than fishing then so be it. If you're not on the fish then none of the other stuff (dissolved oxygen, rigs, tackle etc) matters.

Your eyes....... they're the most important piece of tackle you have. Pressure, depths, temps etc etc are all good starting points but I'll not fish until I see a carp to fish for. You cannot catch what is not in front of you.

Your issues will get worse as the koi grow mate. You might need to bite the bullet and upgrade the filtration.

That's a more serious problem. Are you sure the filtration is up to dealing with the koi? I've not tried Envii stuff I'm afraid.

What matters most is that the line is strong enough to deal with any weed/snags etc. No point in dropping the diameter if you're going to lose the fish and/or tackle. Use a decent leader or tubing to get the end tackle pinned down. Fish the lines as slack as you dare (i.e. very slack with no weed/snags, and less so with weed/snags to deal with). Assuming you can get the tackle pinned down, line colour is less important imo. I wouldn't worry about lead and hook concealment. Get them feeding and they'll take a hook bait at some point.

Yes. The thicker it is the easier it is to see. I've watched carp spooking off lines numerous times. That said, as others have pointed out there's no point fishing with line that's not up to the job. I will always go too strong/thick rather than than too fine for the given angling situation. Just make sure the last few feet are pinned onto the deck.

The only concerns would be A) the rat smashes your koi food, and B) the rat poos in your pond introducing parasites (unlikely). I've never heard of rats having a pop at the fish themselves. Just get rid of it and you should be fine mate.

I have a photo at home of me with Bobby Kerr and Jimmy Montgomery - the captain and keeper from the '73 team. Bobby owned a pub a few miles away from where my Grandma lived so I'd visit quite regularly and often see ex players. The Stadium of Light has a stand named after Jimmy nowadays, harking back to that incredible double save in the final.

I'm just back from a few days away and mine's looking murky. I gave it a real good clean last night but I'll need to do it every night this week to get it back to what it was. They still haven't spawned.......! Any plant life will be smashed to bits unless protected. Might be worth removing the silt altogether then you should just get a thin layer of blanket weed that's easy to keep on top of.

My family moved down south a year before I was born. Sunderland is in my blood (I obviously wouldn't have chosen to be a Sunderland supporter 🤣).

No signs of the koi spawning this past weekend which has surprised me. Water temps are 19+ so should be getting frisky any time now.

I would have preferred to see Spurs go down but WHU will have to do😅 To see my beloved Sunderland go to Europe for the first time in my life (and I'm 47 years old tomorrow!) is absolutely mind-blowing. Still can't quite believe it.