elmoputney

Might just be fox after Brexit

Pop up cradle bought, fox str retainer sling bought , looking at the NGT cheap quiver at the moment ???????? Any views on those ?

Yeah I've been googling to see what I can find I think that any carp from there will be a Special one but there are a couple of absolute stunners

Yup just fancied trying to find my feet there a bit this year and thought these gave me a chance to go overnight occasionally, and it's only 10mins from home so can get out to visit quite often and these 3 should provide a big challenge and any fish will be a result

I've gone for a second drove ticket so Ivo Lowries and Anderson's for me this year , I think Ivo is the first challenge for me, I was looking at that NGT one thought it looked quite good, I got an NGT bag which is quite good so thanks might get that one

I've just paid for my st Ives ticket and ordered 10kg of matrix plus some pop ups and wafters, so at least I am fishing this year, It seems beanie mats are now not in favour and it's all about the carp cradle ? My unhooking mat/ sling and possibly net all need replacing really, anyway guess that's a priority What's a good lightweight cradle ? That doesn't cost the earth I don't want to release much more than £40 for an ornament

Cheers guys I quite like the look of those pros waders I might get some, they are still a little way down the list of things I need though, I am trying into lighten up but it seems full of dilemmas, the viper is too cumbersome for overnighters , so I need a brolly , do I need 10ft rods hmm do I need a barrow to get about the rough terrain quicker and easier, do i need new bite alarms(no ) would I like some (yes ) the list goes on and on unfortunately the budget doesnt

I'm toying with the idea of a baiting pole and waders at present there are a lot of margin areas that may benefit, from at least waders but I can't work out if a pole seems like cheating or not Has anyone got any experience of bison chesties some on eBay for £35 heavy duty ones ?

I want sponsorship as well here is my list of things I need A few bivvies New beds and chairs Bait loads of it Really expensive rods and really expensive reels A flunky to pre bait my spots and push my barrow for me Carp barrow for my personal assistant Nike air Max for the "Nash look" Lots of expensive day tickets And a black edition VW transporter if it ain't black edition I won't be happy I need to buy some Instagram followers so will need some free stuff to hand out to them as well I need all that stuff and probably more and will happily review anything positively even if it means actually pretending I am using them alongside my proper tackle in the next swim If you catch a whacker please contact me on 01838484 3459593 and if you let me have a pic with it, I will give you a kilo of bait from my sponsors I sold my soul at an early age and I now have a skewed moral code Seriously just go and enjoy fishing you don't have to be on the front of total carp mag every month to be a successful carp angler, just make your own goals and choose your own path

I think my 7ft stalker rod will see a lot of use this year, that's going to be a good little tool for margin fishing

a big mink has been sighted there Sunday so that may the cause of the mussels, I've been chatting to premier baits Tony a bit via electronic mail this week , he has steered me towards the matrix , I've also been advised to keep it simple Only hookbaits to be glugged and no other tweaking for now I must sit on thy hands until confident and not meddle, so now have boilies ,particles and pellets sorted, This morning I've cleared out my tackle box put all my rig items into my old rig and bits pouch, I am streamlining and lightening, I am going to have a pop up sized tub for spare leads in my bag and no more, working towards light and simple,

Some of the mussels were about 3-4 inches maybe even bigger and there was the odd one in the shallows as well,

Yeah should be fairly easy for a social with a few swims Not sure about the cafe he is rebuilding the shop at the moment doesn't look very open at the moment though and still in need of a refurb, there are takeaways that deliver though,

Definately on the bank and quite a few of them dotted around

I've been fishing on vermuyden at fenland fisheries recently I should think by April the fish will be properly mobile again a guy had a 31lb er out last thursday , never fished willow but apparently you need to book early

I ordered 20kg of monster mix from monster particles last night thanks to your post about them tree123, the half price sale is still on, I think chods may be a good thing for me to try tbh and actually a hinged stiff rig would probably be my other choice for a pop up ? Are bait screws as good as they seem ? I quite fancy using those for ease

Just been for a look about again looks like travelling light is essential, so may need to take a tackle diet, lots of walking and looking required I think, only 10 mins from home and a slightly indirect route to work so I should be able to walk round quite often There were quite a lot of mussel shells around the banks, would they have been left by anglers or other species do we think ?

Cheers Yonny I am always hard on myself to be honest, but with hindsight I know I could've fished better, it was a small winter challenge whilst getting back into it, it's been a good training exercise and I have learnt a few bits and re learnt a few others so hopefully stepping into the next challenge I can do a little better and maybe even catch one, not going to be easy though but would it be as satisfying if it was easy ? I am going for a look round the new place again in a bit gonna start trying to make some sense of it April 1st is when I can start fishing it so may as well try and look for ideas until then

I did have a look at some rig vids on the tube last week, I found a Terry hearn bottom bait rig, that I think I will adopt seems to turn nicely and is fairly simple to tie, just need to settle on an effective wafter and pop up rig now, the lakes I am joining are all quite low stock so I need my rigs to be working when the chance arrives,

In my play with flavours i've found a lovely condensed milk powder from feedstim if you make your own, milk b+ smells fantastic, Will spend a little time researching premier baits for the best option

Thanks guys It probably is me tbh, I've made mistakes and don't feel like I am fishing at a 100% of my previous capability yet, just need that confidence boosting first run really, it's not like the olden days when I had time on my side and could be sitting there for a couple of days, now I need to try and make every second count as I won't get out as often or for as long as I would like, i think I learn something each time but mainly this week's lesson was my initial plan was better than the execution and my choice of swim let me down and having taken the bivvy and bedchair meant I couldn't move as easily so I sat it out ( I had planned to try and sleep but couldn't chainsaws all day ) There is always next time and I will learn from my mistakes. Hopefully I've suffered enough now I think I will have a look at premier can't decide which to go with tbh i like the sound of the aminos with peach and black pepper, as I quite fancy a peach flavour but the matrix sounds good too

I've decided to use the same rod for spodding and marker float to save on load when fishing as long as you clip the line on the same spot you are happy with then it should be fine This video was quite interesting https://youtu.be/eWAmnLeE0Fo

Hi guys After yesterday's debacle one of the things to come out of it was that it's hard to have confidence in a bait you haven't caught with especially if you are spending a few hours to make some for every trip, this could be time spent prebaiting or walking the lake, I think this could prove a better use of my time, I have looked at premier baits this morning and they seem to have good deals certain 5kg deals for £30 on matrix and aminos with peach and black pepper, the great thing about this is that I could also buy basemix as well so I can keep a plentiful stock and tweak if needs be, but to start with could spend time working on my angling rather than bait Trouble is ive never used premier baits either ? Has anyone used either of these baits before ?

Well that didn't go to plan really shot myself in the foot before I had begun, had a right brain fart and picked totally the wrong swim , I had a sort of area in mind before I went, then just walked straight past it to look in the snags, didn't see anything kept going and thought it looked carpy around the cut and as it was sunny would probably warm up quicker was really only full of ducks and it turned cold, i spodded a bit near the reeds on a gravel spot , ducks went nuts for it, had a chat with the only other guy on he'd had a 30 the night before and over bait, I can put it down to tiredness having done a night shift but if I had stuck to the plan I would have given myself a chance at least , I think the motto has to be if you cant find em fish where there Is plenty of water to aim at, Made some lovely spod clouds though that's something to work on

they could at least provide Fast and Free postage, 🙄