yonny

I agree mate. The spod reel takes some serious punishment and gets covered in bait. It's worth spending the extra to get something reliable.

Looks a minter as well buddy. Well done.

I think the Bling fish is actually quite a young one? I know a chap that had it a year or two ago. Don't think it was around when @emmcee fished it, if it was it would've been a little nipper?

I agree mate.

I think it's a good idea to leave them alone during AND after spawning. We spend all year taking advantage of one of the only things they need (food) to hook and land them, the least we can do is let them go about the other thing they need (to reproduce) without hassle. Not sure about that mate. The only time fish are NOT pregnant is a week or 2 after spawning. They immediately start rebuilding the ovaries and growing eggs. So if you don't want to fish for pregnant fish it's a case of giving up angling I'm afraid.

I agree, often you'll find there are many more fish in a water than you thought. Not always monsters either. This water I'm fishing is said to hold 30 originals and 30 stockies. Based on what I saw during spawning last year there are way more than that, it's just that many tend not to get caught.

Bear in mind the post you're replying to is 10 years old. A lot can change in that time fella.

Lovely colours mate.

Nearly correct. By law all peanuts (including bird food grade) have to be tested for aflatoxins to get into the UK. Assuming we buy from a reputable source they are all OK.

Totally agree mate. You'll take that mate. Well done.

Mid 40 common in the middle here.

That is very good advice. Even a lowly 20 mph wind feels like 40 by the time it's crossed these big open reservoirs. Just this winter I nearly got blown away in my Lo Pro. I bought a Tempest Air instead and bent all the poles on the first session in storm Ciara lol. Replaced that with a Tempest Brolly and am now very careful about how/where I set up.

It contains citronella 👍

💪Whallop!

Hows it looking Elmo? You seen owt?

Don't panic dude. I have experience with res fishing, you'll love it. First thing to do is completely ignore the advice of the manager (imo). Carp go where and do what they want. They may well feed mid water on fry from time to time but that is not how you should try to catch them imo. Carp are carp, and they like food (i.e. bait), so you should start with the method you're confident in. If that doesn't work start thinking about why it's not working and change accordingly. 10000 BRs will be fine mate (assuming you can hit your spots), you'll not run out of line, they are just normal carp in a bigger water. You will defo see them showing mate, but you might have to look harder. Basically you should approach it like any other water. First thing is to find them, don't even bother setting up unless you've done so or the blanks will soon mount up and you'll lose your head. Once you've found them, fish for them like you would any other carp. If you get the very basics right you will catch them. Don't over-complicate it. If over time you find they frequent certain areas, you can start pre-baiting and get good results very quickly. Have fun.

Baggy and tight - I've not heard action described like that before but is does actually describe how they feel lol.

I mean with a fluoro leader buddy, which is still widely considered 'naked'. You can certainly do it with fluro mainline but I'm not a fan tbh.

Tubing and helis doesn't work imo. The Korda heli/tubing kit was actually taken off the market as it was unsafe. If you want to avoid leadcore use fluoro imo. If you want to use Korda components then ideally you need: https://www.anglingactive.co.uk/korda-naked-chod-safety-system.html?sel=37448&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInNmAuv6t6QIVgrTtCh2few1-EAQYBSABEgIMpvD_BwE https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/korda-line-saver-bead?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIq8yI1v6t6QIVRuztCh3C_ARxEAQYASABEgLZafD_BwE https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/korda-quick-change-ring-swivel-round?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt92c3_6t6QIViLPtCh2HjgyjEAQYASABEgIuUfD_BwE https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/korda-anti-tangle-sleeves https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/korda-heli-rubber There are hundreds of options out there tbh but this gives you an idea of what you need.

Even with a 3 lb rod you'd have very little control mate. Cat rods are around the 4.5 - 6 lb tc range. Imo you'd have next to no control whatsoever with a 2.75, but that doesn't necessarily mean you wouldn't land them depending on the characteristics of the lake.

The quality of the fish in this vid is amazing. Absolutely wicked carp.

Certainly is mate. It's only been caught once more since that day which is mad given the pressure this water sees. A tricky, tricky fish. It's still there, I was sent a vid of it last year from a boat, grubbing about on top of the weed looking massive. Estimated 55+ now😮

Likewise mate. I still owe you one bro👍

Right, so this weekend signals the end of October and the start of November and signals the end of my season on this lake before I head for the winter water. It was a very tough and frustrating session but as you will see, it all came good in the end with something very, very special. I hope you enjoy it: So here I sit writing the catch report I have been hoping to write for a long time. If my page-long catch reports bore you then you're in trouble today boys. So...... as many of you know I've had a great year on my water, I started with the big common (albeit down in weight) and followed that up with a string of other decent fish. What has eluded me however is one of the real monsters. The pick of the bunch is this UTTERLY RIDICULOUS fully scaled mirror carp that I set my sights on some time ago. I showed up on Thursday with 3 nights ahead of me, ready for one last big push for something truly special. As soon as I arrived it was crystal clear where the carp were, they were showing like dolphins, and unusually the lake was quiet so I slotted in right on top of them. Result. I did not hold back on the bait, I picked an area and basically filled it in with the full intention of sitting on it for 3 days (unusual for me, I usually take the mobile approach). Would you believe it, as soon as I put the spod down after maybe 30 minutes of spodding, two carp smashed out directly on the spot. I was surprised at this as I normally find spodding pushes them out for 24 hrs. If I'm honest the baiting hadn't gone as well as I'd hoped.... have you ever been in that frame of mind where none of the spods go exactly where you want them too? When they all land just a few ft off the target? Well... that's what was happening. The hook baits went out great so I was hoping while not being perfect that I'd done enough. I vowed that the next day I'd get my game face on and do it better. Anyway..... those carp were out there on or near my spot all day, and as the sun went down they continued to show into the night, and I went to bed a very confident angler. You can imagine my disappointment when I woke up to my alarm clock at 06:00 without having had a beep. This was made worse when I popped my head out and saw they were still there... showing just off my baited area..... head scratching time...... The carp continued to show until about 11 am and then it slowed down. I figured that they must have been on the bait, they were everywhere.... so I decided to fill in it again. This time it went miles better, on a six-pence every time, perfect! I knew that the wind was due to pick up big time the following morning so planned to leave the rods where they were from today until home-time if I had no bites..... so I positioned them very carefully and sat back knowing there was little more I could do. Come the afternoon it became clear the carp had pushed off over to shallower water in the bright sunshine, chasing the temperatures, but I was hoping they'd be back that night, and they were.... 2nd night and I'm seeing them top near my baited spot, not quite on it, but close enough for me to go to bed a confident man. I get up at midnight and at 03:30 and continue to see the odd fish but guess what.... the alarms clock goes off at 06:00, not a beep. More head scratching. I watch the carp topping in the area knowing full well they're mugging me off. I contemplate all kinds of changes in this time until 08:30 when I get a twitchy take. It's a tench, and I curse it for springing my carefully laid trap. I unhook it in the water and let it go (I now regret this as it was massive, clearly a pb tench, but I was just too focused on these carp to appreciate it at the time, unforgivable really). I get the rod out perfectly before the big winds arrive and once more I'm happy to sit it out. The winds finally arrive and they're every bit as big as forecast. This makes it incredibly difficult to spot the fish. I do see a couple on the end of the wind you'd expect but once more I fully expected them to come back overnight. On my third evening the blanking is starting to get to me, I see hardly anything, I've not caught anything, it's too windy to set up in a new swim effectively and I'd not seen enough to move anyway. I won't lie, it was starting to do my head in and this time I went to bed with confidence lacking. It was a rough old night, 30 mph wind smashing down the pit, I had to get a storm pole out to give the brolly a helping hand, but eventually I drifted off. This time it wasn't the alarm clock that woke me up though, it was an almighty BOSH as an absolute brute smashed out near my baited area. Two more massive boshes had me out of the bivvy and looking. I was back in carp mode and confidence was back. It was just getting light and I was confused about the alarm clock not going off until I remembered about the clocks going back. I sat up for the rest of the morning. These carp were showing just to the right of my spot which was great but sometimes 20 yards can feel like 10 miles in this situation. Worryingly all I saw directly on my spot were 3 tench pop their heads out. I was wandering up and down the bank and found myself in the next swim staring at these carp. I called my mate across the way and we were discussing a possible move foe the last couple fo hours when my receiver lets out a single bleep.... then another. "I'll call you back mate" I said as I casually walked towards my swim to land what was obviously another tench. However, I didn't have time to hang up, in fact all I had time to do was launch my phone in the bushes as the left hand rod went into complete meltdown. It's a 10 seconds sprint back to the swim but it seemed to go on forever with that alarm absolutely screaming all the way...... After what seemed like an age I'm into the waders and I hit it. WHALLOP..... it's no tench. I know that it's a good'n straight away, a plodder, using its weight, kiting slowly over my other two rods and away from the spot, so far so good. It kites maybe 60 yards to the right heading towards shallower water, it's because that's where the weed is. I try to turn it but my efforts are fruitless and it just carries on taking line until the inevitable happens. Everything draws to a stand-still, the rod goes solid, it's weeded me up. Sigh...... I try for 5 minutes to free it but nothing is really happening. I lost a fish in very similar circumstances over the other side of the lake earlier this year and at the time I thought I'd lost a very special carp (in fact I suspected it was the big fully scaled mirror). I was now contemplating the same thing happening again and after 3 nights of blanking I just couldn't believe it. In one last effort I walked to my left along the margin in an attempt to bring it out the same way it went in and...... BANG, the rod tip slams down, I manage to pull it back, gain a yards of line, and boom, we're back in business. I give it the beans now, it's not getting in the weed again, and I walk out as far as I can to meet it. About 30 yards out the fish rolls and I see it for the first time. It's a big scaly one, so scaly that it can be one of only 3 fish. It's the wrong colour to be one of them so that narrows it down to 2... neither of which I've caught, so the legs start to go a little even though I'm assuming it's the smaller of the 2 carp I think it could be (which is still 37 odd). I gain some line and it rolls again about 20 yards out. This time there is no doubting which fish it is. It's absolutely MASSIVE, covered in scales the size of saucers, and my legs go to jelly. The rod tip is knocking as I'm shaking so much and I begin to wonder if it's possible to shake a carp off the hook? The fish dives deep and huge plumes of bubbles erupt across the surface as it plows through the silt looking for weed beds. I just do the only thing I can do... pump it slowly, trying to keep its head up, gaining line inch by inch. The fish eventually tires and before you know it it's on the top taking a gulp of air. The sight of this will stay with me for the rest of my life..... I don't know how big it is but it has to be the most impressive carp I've seen in my life.... it gets closer.... closer.... out goes the net.... over the cord.... jiggle it a bit as it doesn't fit...... and it's in! Out goes the shout and every angler on the pit knows exactly what the score is now! I get a cheer from the lads and I stand for a few seconds just staring down at this fish. It's big, real big, and stunningly beautiful to go with it. I secure the net, detach the hook-link and turn round to see the ABSOLUTE LEGEND that is Mr. @kevtaylor who'd wound in and came round to help. I was in bits at this point, a gibbering wreck, shaking, spouting rubbish, just all over the place, so I was glad I had someone with their head screwed on to help out. Only problem was Kev was just as bad as me lol.... he knows how special this fish is and he too was gibbering away.... he even had the shakes lol.... so now we have 2 gibbering wrecks to try and sort this carp out.... The next 5 minutes is spent giggling like kids, checking out this absolutely amazing carp, having a Fag to settle the nerves. We set the mat up in a little spot down the bank where the light is good, sling/scales zeroed, cameras at the ready... and fetched the star of the show; Mr carp. We lift it out together and give each other a bit of a look as we feel the weight. Looking down at it we're saying that it has to be a foot wide...... we cart it over to the mat and grab the scales. We hoist it up with the scales facing Kev and straight away I can tell from his face that it's every bit as big as we thought it might be. He doesn't want to call it as the needle is bouncing.... around the 50 lb mark! We swap sides and I check it out, he's right, it's bouncing between 49.10 and 50 lb. Now I might be greedy when it comes to catching fish but I'm not greedy when it comes to weighing them so I go with the lower option 49 lb 10 oz and the biggest smile I've ever smiled graces my boat race. We do some pics, which I have to say Kev does an absolutely FANTASTIC job of (THANK YOU MATE!!!). We take her back to the water, a couple of returner shots, and then we stand there watching a true British near-50 fully scaled mirror swim silently back out into the depths, absolutely blown away. An hour later I'm packed up and on my way home, mission accomplished. So basically, on the last morning of what will be my last session before winter hits, my dreams came true. I really cannot thank Kev enough for his help and I couldn't have asked for anyone more fitting to join me on that special morning, someone who really does know what that fish means..... cheers mate! Booya. That takes us to the end of 2017 so I'll bring an end to these catch reports. I did actually fish the water again in 2018, trying to catch the last remaining biggun I'd not had. I never caught it (in fact it was never caught again) but I did have a string of other good fish to 43 odd, and a crazy month is September where I had 9 x 30+ fish! Maybe at some point in the future I'll come back to those reports and show you the pics. Until then, have fun lads.

A shock leader would stop that for sure buddy.