cobleyn

Progress is slow I'm afraid- all the pits that I had my eye on have been lined up for other use. I suspect it may take a year or so to find a suitable location. I suspect the pits you are talking about are near eggington? Long waiting list- one-in-one out and a very full reserve. No night fishing either.

its dependant on what waters are availible when people start responding to my enquiries and find out whats out there. If theres no-where suitable, I guess I need to widen my search or just carry on sitting on the trent.

Guys- just wanted to get an opinion really. As a long time east midlands resident- the lack of decent carp waters has finally driven me to start the search for a gravel pit in south derbyshire to rent and stock. I dont know how viable it is- but I've started down the road. I'm not an experienced fishery owner- just a middle aged guy who's naffed off with the lack of 'serious' carp waters and stupid rules that commercial fishery owners apply. So the question- If it comes to fruition- how many people would want to join the syndicate- and what do we call a reasonable amount of money per annum to fish? It would be a low number syndicate which I would look to stock at low levels with mid sized fish (high teens, twentys and a spinkling of thities). Assume a typical mids gravel pit of 12 acres. A bit of a pipe dream- but I'm sure one that everyone has had when the local chavs decend onto your water and cast over you/ try to bum some bait. Clearly I'm not looking for any commitment- just some honest thoughts or experience of people trying this thing before.

kryston quicksilver- tough as old boots- 35lb or 45lb

Try readin bill cottams book- a couple of chapters are dedicated to it and might give you some ideas.

Just finished Bill Cottams book. Great read, some good tales that normal anglers can relate to about early days fishing, through an angling career progressively catching bigger and more sought after fish. Definately not a "I sat for 300 days without a bite" book, or "heres the latest fantastic rig, rod, reel that I owe all of my success to".

I've had a lot of hooks giving me issues- but the fish that I have been using them for are a little bigger than the average. Ive had several Korda's open out on me, two owner MUtu's where the eye opened and esp raptors bent out of shape. I can however recomend Raptor Big T's and solar stronghold longshanks. I have landed carp to 80lb on the esp's and arapiama to 300lb on the solars.

Unfortunately the east midlands is somewhat lacking in decent carp waters. It depends what you want out of life. You can sit on some busy day ticket waters like allestree and hope for a twenty or stick out all season on a head banger like swarkestone and stand a chance of a 40 but do so in peace and use good angling skills. The trent is under fished and rewarding with unknown and unamed fish that fight like stink.... or move down south

I've not fished it for around 6 or 7 years, but its a set of nice little pools with a relatively good stock level. The speci pool see's a lot of action, but the otehr pools also hold reasonable fish. The average seemed to be a fish per 24 hours- upper doubles were the target back then. Nice pub at the top of the drive.