emmcee

That's what put me off on black swan. I fished it for a couple of months one season and then the following season I gave it my full attention, doing the whole season on there. I'm pretty sure I was top rod that season but had nothing big. A few 30's to 38, the 38 being "the unit". I did lose a couple of fish that I felt were proper chunks, I just couldn't hold them. But the public etc on there done me In so I called time after one season.

I'd love to go back but only if I could do mid-week. The weekend's were and apparently still are a nightmare which is why I called it a day when I did.

Yes it was. I think he renamed it Astra-max due to it being its top weight when he caught it or his van was an astramax, something silly like that. Mind you that was before I got on there. He also renamed another fish, " the long linear" which after he caught it suddenly became "Bernie's linear". Mind you some of the members named fish at the drop of a hat. Some were ridiculous and being named for the sake of it. On dinton if you caught a new 40 then you could name it. My mate had a 48lber that was stocked from black swan into white swan and as he was the first to catch it he named it. This went onto to be called "Sid" (my mates nickname), the next thing you know one of the glory wannabes on dinton had renamed it "Sid the Pig". Some people are so desperate to be "someone " they'd do anything to be noticed Haha.

You know it yonny. On dinton in winter we were always "trotting" , from one end of the lake to the other. Mainly because you knew you weren't going to catch haha. And also I've nothing to hide nor nothing to gain from lying or not telling the full story. Glad you enjoyed it. I'll do some more once I scan a few more pictures.

Yes it was at its peak. There were 2 maybe 3 50's in there and 10 - 15 40's. I think a year later we had terrible summer flooding and some fish escaped and some in the next few years died, mainly the bigger ones. But yes back to it's best if not better now. It's not for me though as a weekender.

Must admit I use a 1 1/2" loop when I'm fishing over a bed of scattered boilies. I've used this rig over particles as well but I use a smaller loop, probably about 3/4". But all the time it's with a size 4. Personal choice i guess.

So after a couple of people saying they would like to see/hear about my time on dinton I've managed to find my pic's and even my old diary/ fish lists. So here goes, I'll start with my best session I had on there. I'll give a little insight into the season first and to what then followed. So its 2006 and just before the start of the season a mate i worked with , who also fished dinton, asked me if I'd like to go on his bait. It was a homemade bait so something I'd not really done in my fishing and especially as I was more than happy with premier baits and also the fact that I'd given a recipe to tony at premier for him to roll for me and some mates on dinton that year but I wasn't sure. This mate and a few of his mates always caught loads of fish from dinton. 20 plus fish a year each which isn't or wasn't heard of on there, especially being they were all weekend anglers and along with the numbers of fish they also caught the big lumps. Over and over they would catch them between them all so I decided to go with him purely on the fact his bait had a knack of catching big fish. So my mates were left with the new premier bait and I went with my mate I worked with. He decided upon a milk protein bait to use that year, a very high protein one at that. So opening night (june 15th midnight)and my mate bags a 49lb mirror, the other bloke on the bait had a 44lb mirror and I sadly had nothing. I blame the draw Haha, but straight away he was saying, "told you, this bait will have'em this year". Fast forward to the middle of October and we were struggling like mad. I'd had 4 or 5 fish til that point and my other 2 mates not much more. My other mates on the prem though (4 of them) all into double figures with a couple of the bigguns amongst them. I was well gutted, what a waste of a season I thought. Though my mate whose bait I was on said, " don't worry, this bait comes into it's own in the winter. The colder the better". The following weekend and he had bailed out and gone to an easier water, now I was doomed. Now a lot of hard work, a nice slice of luck and if I do say so myself a pretty good bit of angling changed my season around. Now fast forward again to 19/01/07 and my best session. So I get down usual time of about 3pm on the friday. Only a handful of us fishing the lake now as most packed it in at the end of October , so knew I'd get "my "swim. I was baiting 3 spots in this swim and had been since mid August when that area became unfishable so I hatched a plan to bait down there knowing it was free food for the fish and no one could fish off my back. So all sorted by 4-30pm. At 5-00pm I'm off to my mates swim, so I place my Neville sounder box on a bank stick as I had the box with wires back then and faced it towards my mates swim which was about 250 metres away (yes not good angling but it's what we did). So I get round there and its pitch black, tea in hand my mate says "that a red light on your sounder box?". I looked up and said yeah but it will go out in a second, did it hell. So I'm sprinting as fast as I could along the path, the nearer I get the louder the Neville is screaming. I hald expected to find swans as it was pitch black and couldn't really see from my mates swim. No swans, middle rod is ripping. I lift the rod and thump, thump, thump. Christ I thought, this is a lump. Not a spectacular fight, just a heavy weight. My mate arrives as the fish is nearing the net and one scoop it's in. Head torch on and there's a lump of a mirror "the dustbin ". Onto the mat , in the sling and needle stops at 44lb 06oz. Well made up. Lift the fish for the pictures and right rod bursts into life. I hit the rod, one mate sorts the fish and another is there and he reasembles the net. Play the fish In and again no real fight but a heavy weight. In the net and torch on and a big common is staring at me. So sort the common out and a new PB common of 38lb 06oz . So a bit of composure and we do the pics, mirror first and then the common (the blind eye common its called). Blown away and a call to a good mate to say what happened etc. Now later that night one of my mates had the biggun at 53lb and ounces and another mate had a 32lb mirror. So first light and camera in hand off I go to take pics for my mates. The mate I called the previous night said he'd be down as he wanted to see the 50lber. Now once again not good practice but I left my rods out and bearing in mind one mate is the opposite end of the lake to me and being 23 odd acres I'm a little off my rods. First mate done, the 32lb mirror. Then to my next mate with the 50, he's only 200/300 metres from my swim. We do his pics and hand shakes etc and I head back to my swim with my mate who drove down to see the 50. My mate asked if my rods were out and i said jokingly "yeah of course, I've probably got one on". Walk into the swim and left bobbin is jammed into the Neville's wheel. Pick up the rod and once again just a heavy weight and not being big headed but after catching a few chunks you kind of know when you've got a kipper on. So in it comes and it rolls into the net, yup it's a kipper. On the scales and the needle stops at 42lb. This is a fish known as "Astra" . Absolutely gobsmacked, I recall feeling 10ft tall, on cloud 9 literally. The rest of the morning and day past and it was soon dark again. It was just past 6pm and right rod goes, this time a 32lb 12oz common Grace's the net and my last fish of that session. I recall walking back to the van grinning from ear to ear. And not just for me but my mates 50 etc. Dinton doesn't give up its residents that readily, maybe half a dozen on a good weekend in summer or autumn but that weekend there were 8 fish banked. It was and still is my best session and one that I know I'll struggle to beat and it became the centre point of what turned into one hell of a winter for me. This last pic is of my fish list that season. The last 10 were from November til the end of the season which was the end of March.

Looks spot on mate. 👍

I use it as an all round rig as well.

Haha, neither do I. One thing though my mates takes are absolute rippers on these 6oz leads. With most anglers using 2oz - 4oz leads, the fish ain't got a clue what's hit them.

It doesn't look right at all, but boy it works. Or at least it has for me and a few mates that use a curve shank with it.

Just thought, I only use 16mm pop ups on this rig. Bait size my alter the hooking potential, I don't know for sure. Yet my mate he always goes against the grain, 6oz leads, 12inch or longer hooklinks if most are using 6-10 inch hook links and his pop ups for this rig are 20mm and he nails them also. My mate is currently fishing dinton and he will not use any other rig since he's gone over to this. I think in the 4yrs he's been using it he has only ever had 1 hook pull , which on a lake like dinton or any lake for that matter, you don't want hook pulls. And he always tells me how they were nailed when he goes to unhook them.

Well once my little jobs around the house are done I might just do that. All my pics from back then are all photos so I'll either need to scan them or just take pics of them on my phone. Need to find them first though. Might do something like a favourite session from the lakes I've fished if I can find the pics to go with them.

Well the n-trap soft is coated so it's got some stiffness to it, obviously enough for it to work for me. Plus I use the tungsten rig sleeve which helps kick it away. And if I worried about how my rig was sitting then I don't think I'd leave it for more than 5mins in the water before checking it Haha.

Size 4 Korda curve with korda N-trap soft hook link, with 9 out of 10 times its bang centre of the mouth. My loop is inch and half long that goes through the eye of the hook. I always over weight the pop up. And yes targeting 30s and 40s. But I've obviously caught much smaller fish on it and it's still bang centre. When I've used chod type hooks, I've had hook pulls, hooking in different parts of the mouth etc.

What a stunning fish yonny. It resembles some of the ones that reside in my old lake (dinton). As you said in your write up, size is irrelevant when you've got a fish like that. Top result. You've certainly had some corkers, fair play.

Get a curve shank hook on there. Can honestly say, I've never lost a fish using a curve shank hook with the multi rig. A mate put me on to it. It Doesn't look right I grant you but it works. A bit of food for thought maybe, especially as you like to think things through .

I've been sent plenty of april fools but sadly none would be allowed on here 🤣

I've cleaned all my sea fishing gear, rods and reels cleaned and serviced. Rig tying next . Then once that's completed it will be the carp gear. Not touched it for over 6 months so will need a good sort out. Luckily I've plenty of time so it seems.

Quality fish mate and what a session. That 45 is a proper barrel of a fish, Perfect proportions.

Well said 👍. Fingers crossed for your dad mate.

Yes they do now and have done for a while but I was using my Neville's before these came out.

Exactly haha. At least then you can still look the part whilst blanking.

That^^^. Chances are you'll have more smell from your fingers/hands tainting your hook link than a marker pen.

They only crack if you tighten them up to much. I use leather washers under my alarms and don't have problems. I had Neville alarms and as you say "on and off", simple as that. I only changed as they were too loud and when trying to be secret squirrel they weren't ideal. I had them before the remote ones came out. I did buy the extension lead sounder box in the end and taped the alarm heads up, painted out the l.e.d's and taped up 2 thirds of the sounder box head so only I could hear it. It worked though.