yonny

My 2p for what it's worth..... The best and cheapest source of heat available to you at any time of year is the heat from your own body.... you just need to harness it. If you get a really good set of insulated togs (i.e. jacket and salopettes), they store the heat you produce. The trick, which most guys miss, is not to wear too much underneath. A decent base layer and micro fleece mid layer is all you need. Anything thicker than that (like a hoody) interferes with the system and prevents your body heat from heating the insulation. Same as a sleeping bag basically. It's why I'm happy in a brolly all year.... I've just learned how to use the heat my body produces. I'm with you on this. Not a big fan of technology in angling but when it comes to winter fishing and warmth, you fill your boots imo. Use whatever you want mate. The situations we'd put ourselves in back in the day were frankly stupid and certainly a little dangerous. It's easy now to look back with rose tinted specs but I think back to the completely inadequate gear I'd use in the depths of winter and I shudder. If I caught my lad heading out in minus 8 with the rubbish I used to use I'd go ballistic at him 😂

Managed to get out for storm Austen and it was great fun. I really enjoy being out in extreme conditions and while it was a bit sketchy at times, I came out the other side free of injury and/or death. I got myself right on the end of that massive wind so careful placement of the brolly was required to prevent losing it. The rain wasn't actually too bad where I was, but the wind was every bit as strong as forecast. Just as the storm hit, I managed a nice low/mid twenty common which made the trip worth it. I added another little one later that went back without a pic. Saturday morning was fantastic..... wandering around surveying the damage, branches all over the place. All in all, a fun little trip.

I've sued size 2's on spinners. Absolutely fine.

I've had this before. Absolute nightmare. I tend to avoid PVA completely as we head towards winter.

Still £337.50 over at Trent Baits.

I don't think it matters, but it also winds me up. I don't use bags a lot but when I do I protect the hook between a couple of little bits of corn starch packing peanuts (what most people call PVA nuggets). The corn starch is released more easily than PVA, and tends to keep the hook/barb free of debris. It also protects the hook point from penetrating the bait(s) in the bag.

Maggots not allowed at Bluebell mate so keep them hidden if you do 😉

Honestly, I'd be using your Aviators! But to answer your question, if you're prepared to spend whatever the Telos cost for this particular water/swim, then I'd absolutely be prepared to spend on downsizing the reels. There's a set of as-new SS2600s on FB Marketplace for 250 notes. Bargain. You could use them on this lake then sell them for 300 I bet. You'll probs save as much weight on the reels as you have on the rods too. Likewise. In fact I'd be taking the 13's. As most on here know, I am completely anal about mobility when it comes to angling. All my tackle is chosen to enable me to get where I need to be quickly and easily. The trick is to reduce the size/weight of all the supporting kit... brolly, bed, sleeping bag, sticks, net, etc etc. I do not mess with the bits that put the bait in front of the carp. The way I see it I'd rather be fishing way over-gunned under the tips with 13s, than walk 2 miles to get on the fish and find I can't reach them. I do love a short rod on a small water but the reality is I hardly fish small waters. There is a little 4 acre lake in the Valley I visit now and again but even on there I like to use a nice soft, slow-action set of 12s. It just makes everything so easy.

Simple answer is, imo, yes. I had a set of tournies (some of the smallest pit reels you can get) on my Harrison Stalkers, which I believe the Telos is basically a retractable version of, and even those wouldn't balance the rods. That said, your 50 mm butt rings will likely unbalance the rods anyway. Info on the Telos isn't easy to find, in fact I can't even see them on the Harrison site yet, but what I did find suggested the rods are primarily for stalking, boat fishing, and fishing in snaggy areas. It looks like you intend to use them as an all-rounder which is fine, but you're compromised straight away (for casting). Having owned the Stalkers my advice would be to downsize everything...... reels (you want something like the SS2600), line diameter, and in particular the leads size. You'll find distance and accuracy will be improved with something like 2-2.5 Oz rather than the big 3-4 Oz leads many use nowadays. If it's not too late, I'd cancel that order. As an all-rounder I'd not look past the Aviator or even the Torrix in 12ft.... unless there's a specific reason you want the short rods that you've not mentioned of course. Either way, enjoy your new rods 👍

I had no idea it's DEET free now. Cheers for the heads-up. Ill be trying that.

I've also read it's something to do with blood type. I'm the opposite of you, they love me. I react to the bites too. Still wont go near Jungle Formula/Lifesystems (DEET) though. Horrible stuff. Dyes your clothes and melts plastic. The Skin-So-Soft tends to work for me in the UK, as does Incognito. Abroad I really struggle. I've defo had fewer mozzi problems this year. I think most insect species are down in numbers.

Fished with a mate on Friday who was on the new DNA test bait. He caught and I blanked so take from that what you will.

That's highly unusual given the temps....... do they know what the underlying issue is?

Mrs bought me a Tamiya Lunchbox several years ago. Throwback to my youth..... loved building it. With my lad turning 7 it's recently made a come-back. Great fun.

That is changing. What us guys in the UK would call proper carp angling is becoming more and more popular over there and has been since the 90's. Some decent starting points below if you're interested. All strictly catch/release in principle. Home — American Carp Society Home - Carp Anglers Group A good while back the US record was caught in a river in Connecticut. It was 44 lb as I recall (far surpassed nowadays by fish well over 60 lb). I used to work for a US company and travelled to CT regularly, and that same river actually went through the grounds of the the site I used to visit. I never got to fish it but every day I'd be down there at some point looking for monsters.

Torrix all day.

It was to land a fish, not place a bait!

This can work against you too though. I remember fishing an area a long time ago now and getting plenty of bites. But when I saw the area from the boat it looked nothing like it felt with a lead. In fact to look at I wondered how the heck I was getting bites from there due to the weed! Had I seen it before I fished it, I'd have not bothered, and not caught all those carp!

That moment of realisation that this was nearly half a century ago and I'm an old git!😭

Tbf if you're going to catch a stocky you couldn't ask for a better one mate. Fantastic looking carp 👏

It wasn't that long ago (early 80s) that 10ft was pretty standard. It was Rod H that pioneered the 12ft carp rod by fitting a 2ft parallel butt onto some 10's. It was done solely to get distance on the likes of Savay. In the simplest terms, longer/stiffer is better for distance. If you can afford to have multiple sets of rods I think it's nice to have a shorter set for the right water. If you have just one set, you'd be mad to go shorter that 12 (imo).

When you're rig is buried it doesn't necessarily mean you have no chance of a bite. A lot depends on the type of silt. Carp have evolved to harvest the goodies in the silt so I wouldn't worry too much about being buried, unless it has a covering of that dead/dying silk weed type stuff (it can mask your hook as it gets kicked up during feeding). There is nothing more frustrating that having fish fizzing away all over you but you can't keep your rig clean enough to get a take. If you can find a spot clear of that horrible silky stuff, silt is about as forgiving as you can get in terms of tactics. You can chuck almost anything in it and get a bite. Made me chuckle 😅

You have an absolutely amazing moon phase for the next 3 nights according to my moon app. Best of luck lads.

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Maybe, but to be clear, propolis does not contain honey. It's a completely different substance.