yonny

It still winds me up tbf. I've paid probably tens of thousands in tickets over the years and not once have I seen any syndicate I've been on benefit from license fees. I had a club ticket for the past few years which I thought made the license fee easier to swallow but even then I saw nothing. If I fished the rivers then I'd think the license is a bargain but I don't. Imo your average carp angler sees nothing from license fees. It's just another tax. I've only been checked once in the last 25 years. It was the 1st of April about 10-15 years ago, on a day ticket place, and I hadn't had time to renew (schoolboy error). To be fair to them they checked my history on their little tablet thingy and saw I'd had a license continuously for years. They let me get the license online there and then. Got a letter a while later saying no action taken. Fair play to them.

I agree. I did get the option to receive a paper license this year and went for it..... same artwork as last year 👎. Obviously clearing stocks. I've saved every paper licenses since the Miller art started. At some point I plan to get them all in a frame, will make a nice edition to my carp room.

Tbh if the X-Stiff aint stiff enough you have little choice but to go to a high memory stiff/bristle/chod filament type material. I've not come across any coated braid stiffer than the X-Stiff. Any decent stiff filament will do. I've used Gardner, Korda, and ESP stuff over the years. They're all much of a muchness imo. Knots are dead easy with super stiff stuff - just do a 2 turn blood knot. Doesn't get any easier 😃 Yup. Something a little different. Their CAMH20 stiff link is decent too and also a bit different to others on the market. It pulls straight!

Has to be the reels, all Daiwa. GS3000's and SS3000's, both from the early nineties, and 5000T's from the mid nineties (they still make this model today which says a lot). All heavy, and a bit clunky, but proper reliable - bombproof. Also have a British Army NI Patrol Pack which refuses to die. Been using it for years.

That's awesome @elmoputney. Colours on it!

It's shame MPE Tackle shut up shop on the bankware to focus on general engineering. Imo still the best gear there ever was.

Indeed it is. Is it an older fish? Looks a little different to some of the stock fish you've been having? Well done.

Tbh you'd be better off with some walking boots for the dog. OK for fishing though. Not warm enough for proper winter but great for autumn and early spring.

They're OK, they'll fit fine. Get some spare inners as they don't last that long mate.

It'll get you great, great shots mate. The 50 for trophy shots, and the zoom lens for all round work. Good deal too!

@jh92 fantastic mate 👏 👌 👍

The camera is still focussing on your face for some reason. See if you have 'face recognition' on. Not sure if your camera has this feature. If it does, turn it off mate. Well done on the kipper, sounds like a great session.

You do not want to know 🤣

Short answer..... no 😂 I can make a few recommendations but you'll need more than 500 if you're buying new mate. First thing to decide is whether you want a compact, a DSLR, or a mirrorless. You can get compacts with big sensors and these are capable of brilliant shots. My recommendation would be the CANON PowerShot G7X Mark II. It's not DSLR quality, but most would struggle to tell the difference. They cost just over 600 quid. Next would be DSLR. They're cheaper than mirrorless but there's a reason for that. None of the OEM's are developing DSLR lenses any more. There's still loads available, but what you see on the market now is what you get - no more development (the technology is slowly being replaced with mirrorless). It's no secret that the quality of DSLR shots is great. My recommendation would be the Canon EOS 250D which is the cheapest Canon with a flip screen. It's about £750 with a standard kit lens. You can add an EF 50mm f1.8 lens for about 120 quid which will get you AMAZING shots. Then mirrorless. A mirrorless camera is basically a DSLR without a mirror which offers advantages. This is basically the future of photography, but they're still quite expensive. The most cost effective flip screen Canon mirrorless is the EOS R50 which comes in at about 900 with a standard kit lens. Lenses tend to be pricey but for 200 notes you could get the RF 50mm f1.8 which again will give you awesome, awesome shots. Both the DSLR and the mirrorless above have quite big APS-C sized sensors. The next step up would be to go to a full frame sensor.... but we're then talking mega bucks. OR... you could go second hand which opens up loads of options!

Let me have a look and come back to you mate.

You're getting there now mate. See how the whole background is blurry instead of half of it like previous pics? That means the settings are working, you just need to centralise the focus point on the fish.

What do you want to spend mate?

OK.... Change from ‘Auto’ to ‘Av’ mode. Set your ISO to ‘auto ISO’. Change your AF (auto focus) Area mode to ‘Single point’. I think on the 650D you have touch screen, so set your focus point by tapping on the screen where the fish will be in the shot. A box will appear to confirm your focus point. Zoom the lens out to 35 mm focal length. With your lens you can have a bigger aperture at shorter focal lengths so it should be about right. Set the aperture size at the largest it will go at 35 mm focal length. You’ll be looking for the lowest f number you can which again is probably around f4. Make sure the focus box on the screen is on the fish. Snap away.

IMHO the best line on the market 👌

Yup, the above settings can be used with an intervalometer mate.

I'll pop something up tomoz for you Elmo 👍

Spot on. See how the waders pop from the blurry background. Much better mate. For info to all, if you click on any photo on here, you get the higher quality original versus the heavily compressed version that appears on the thread.

Similar yes. On Canon you need 'Av mode' (same as A mode on Nikon). What Canon have you got as some stuff like Focus Point differs from older models to newer ones?

OK. First thing - get your manual out. I know how to do all of the below on a Canon, but not a Nikon. You'll likely have to go into menus to do some of this but the manual should make it clear. So.... Change from ‘Auto’ to ‘A’ mode (aperture priority mode). This will mean you control the aperture, and the camera will do almost everything else for you. Set your ISO to ‘auto ISO’. This means the camera will control sensitivity to light on its own. Change your AF (auto focus) Area mode to ‘Single point AF’. This will prevent the camera from trying to focus on multiple items (your face, the trees in the background etc). Change your Focus Point to ‘Centre point narrow zone’. This means it will focus on the centre of the shot i.e. the fish. Zoom the lens out to 50 mm focal length - a great length for trophy shots. Set the aperture size at the largest it will go at 50 mm focal length. The larger the aperture, the smaller the ‘f number’ – so you’ll be looking for the lowest f number you can which is probably around f4. Make sure the centre spot on the viewfinder is on the fish and off you go. This will focus on the kipper, your face will be very slightly out of focus behind this, and behind you you’ll have a lovely blurry background. I strongly recommend you practise all of this, and take shots with a prop like a bag or something. You obviously don't want to be playing with all of these settings with a fish on the bank.

I'm a Canon man. Let me google your camera model and I'll come back with some tips.