yonny

Yup. I have that trip in March (can't wait!) and then a week planned in April so I'm making up for all this lost bank time 😁

All good here mate. The carp went mental feeding after Fridays storm and then this last couple of days headed to the bottom. I think they'll stay there for the foreseeable. I completely missed my Nov fishing session. No free nights until December now. We still have lots to do on the new house so it'd not surprise me if I don't get out again this year.

With the drop in temps the fishing and the forum posts appear to have slowed right down!

Agreed. At 6am this morning I checked my pond (as I do every morning) and the carp were really active. It was 4 degrees and had been raining so I expected them to be sitting somewhere near to the deck, but they looked up for a feed. You just never know innit.

Pressure is dropping and temps are rising by me. I'd not let the rain put me off tbf.

That's the one mate. It's a Gin Rin Platinum Ogon. Quiet a mouthful 😅 I really need to get pics of some of the others to put on here but it's getting more and more difficult with the temps dropping!

No more worrying about leaves...... I spent Saturday building some netted covers. I made 3 in 2.4m x 2m rather than one biggun - A) to give some flexibility in coverage, and B) because a biggun would weigh a tonne. Quite happy with the result and it's nice to know that not one single leaf will be in that pond from now on. The fish are slowing right down now, winter is defo on its way. It's a bit gutting after such a short space of time to enjoy the pond, but at least I know we're in good shape for next year. The water quality is the nuts, the fish are looking very healthy, all set to grow a British record in the coming years 🤣

After xmas imo 🎅

So this weekend was great. I've been doing a lot of work to improve water quality/clarity and on Saturday morning I realised I can now see the bottom in 2m of water. Result. The skimmer I put in is working a treat. A decent weekend all round. Fish are still happy but the feeding has slowed right down in the reducing temps.

Tricky one mate. I never fish as well on a social as I do on my own. When you're on your own it's easier to put 100% into your angling imo. I guess you need to ask yourself why you're not feeling it. In my experience, catching a few good fish is the best way to start feeling it, so I'd go all out to bag a good'n before winter hits. Staring at a 40lber in the net is a sure fire way to get the buzz back and you have the opportunity to do that right there in front of you. If it were me, I'd forget about the socials and get down there with a plan to watch, and watch, and watch, and move onto them at any given hour. Hard work always pays off and the harder you work, the bigger the buzz when it all comes good.

I think snail based boilies are a complete waste of time (in terms of trying to compete with natural snail consumption)... but if I was going to use a boiled bait with snail content I'd be using this: https://essentialbaits.co.uk/products/black-snail

Now that's what I call a catch report😬 I'm not jealous at all @kevtaylor. Not one bit🤥 Well done mate.

The storm on Friday gone was a nightmare for the leaves.... I put a net over the pond but it was useless. I'm worried about the leaves blocking up the bottom drain and filter, and drawing oxygen out of the water as they decay. I have the local expert round tonight to quote for replacing the skimmer system and I've ordered the best temporary skimmer you can get. Should do the job for now, but we'll wait to see the cost of the the permanent solution 😬

That's an expensive way to feed the nuisance species!

Yeah sounds like it.... shame.

@jh92 how are the nuisance species?

I think you guys misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting they might not be fully waterproof. I'm suggesting the theory that plugs might help with water ingress is preposterous.

You'd hope so 🤣

I personally would be absolutely raging if I needed to plug speakers to avoid water ingress 🤦‍♂️

No idea about a hard reset. Silly question but are you absolutely sure the heads are the remote version?

Yeah I did years ago. I used live ones, dead ones, dehydrated/dried ones.... and they were all rubbish. Imo the carp get on the (natural) snails simply because it's the easiest food source to harvest at the time. They're tuned into the food sources available in their watercourse and I don't think you can compete with that with any snails apart from those that are plucked out of the venue - so @jh92 has the right idea. Even then, there are other natural baits (maggots and worms) that will do a much better job of competing. The snail discussion comes up every few years. Lots of guys try it. Hardly anyone has any real success. Imho, snails are just not a great bait.

The other one (white with light orange - a Kohaku??) aint as big as it looks in the photo, maybe 20 lb at a push. Still, a great fish. It's a Doitsu which for those who don't know means leather/lightly scaled mirror. They sound like bangers mate, especially the zip karashigoi... looking forward to seeing them.

Popped out to get a photo last night. It's the one fish in the pond that's not a koi. It's an albino grass carp. Despite its mental golden colour, this one was always going to be tricky to get a shot of as it tends not to come up for food, preferring to mooch around about a meter under the surface like a massive orange submarine. It has to be nearly a meter long but v tricky to put a weight on. It's certainly the longest fish in the pond but not the biggest. Maybe 26-27 lb? This is the fish that's had all our visitors giving it "oooooh" and "aaaaah" which is silly because there's 2 or 3 that are a fair bit bigger, but the length just blows people way. I just call it The Big Grassie. Again, apologies for the poor pic quality.

Funny, I was looking at these online yesterday! Glad to hear they work!

Destructive creatures aint they?!! I think I'll just take the lily out. I'll want to give them some shade come spring/summer, I'll figure out how in due course.