emmcee

Know how you feel. I've had this week booked off work to have a long break only to test positive for covid last Friday. Its the first time I've had it and it's absolutely floored me. The way I feel I'll be pleased to be able to get up on Xmas day let alone enjoy it.

Totally agree with all this. As i predominantly sea fish now I can confirm it is a cheaper form of our hobby. Yes you can buy a £500 rod and £500 reel but you can also get a rod and reel combo for £30 and catch fish with it. The hooks are on average £2-£3 a pack, put those hooks in a fox, korda, gardener, nash etc packet and they are £5 - £6 a packet. Yes lugworm and ragworm are expensive but you can also pop into your local supermarket and pick up a whole mackerel or pack of sardines for little more than a pound and catch fish and as you rightly say , fish that you can eat.

If anyone wants some inspiration on what to cook or what is possible to cook whilst on the bank then I fully recommend watching "Fish Disco" on YouTube. Its mainly beach fishing but boy this bloke can cook and all on a single burner camping stove. I hope one day I end up fishing next to him and eating his food 🤣

Is your current approach working, if it Is then I wouldn't change anything. Amount of feed is individual to every lake (number of fish, pest fish, birdlife etc) and to every angler. Some anglers will use high attract singles or just stringers, bags and some might apply plenty of prebait and to try and trigger a feeding response. Try and find out about previous wintrers on your chosen lake, what was caught and from where etc. Might be a certain swim or area that do the fish etc.

Big thumbs-up for a couple of Nicks high attract flavours. Tutti and black pepper (though I used to use solar esterblend 12, very similar to tutti) , excellent combo. Green zing (once again similar to tutti) was my go to winter high attract flavour used as a single or a handful of freebies at most. With the green zing, I'd make the hookbaits then once air dryed I'd put a couple of mil of flavour over the top and repeat the dose once a month. Used milk b a bit and it will definitely compliment a creamy type flavour. I mainly used to use "milky b" which was made by rod Hutchinson if I remember rightly and it was a very good additive.

I'd be rather careful with minamino brought from a bait supplier or tackle shop as the chances are their supply isnt stored correctly. I used to get it 5ltrs at a time straight from the manufacturer. I'd then split it into 500ml bottles and put them in the freezer (the real stuff doesn't fully freeze but turns to slush puppy consistency, if yours freezes solid then its been cut). One bottle would be in the fridge and if I'd not used 500ml with in 2 weeks I'd bin it as it starts going off. Only found this out after my catch rate nose dived one season. Basically I'd used all my minamino up and couldn't get any from the manufacturer so brought shop stuff, lots of blanks followed. Told an old school angler I knew about this and the first thing he asked was where did I get my minamino from, straight away he said it was the shop brought stuff. He gave me some of his and hey presto started catching again. Bit long winded but thought I'd explain my reasoning.

Interested to read this. Got 3 sleeping bags and 2 coats in the Snugpak range and they are the best in my opinion. If this waterproof coat keeps you as dry as their coats keep you warm then it's a winner.

What lb line do you use and size of lead can I ask?

100% agree. On my old lake 1 swim was made out of bounds due to one anglers inability to snag fish. He had 3 rods all with baitrunners on and lost 3 fish in 2hrs whilst the head bailiff was opposite him. If anyone decides to snag fish then they need to be 100% confident in their gear and their ability to snag fish.

I've seen one of his recent videos and he recommends putting your whole hand in front of the reel. Feels weird but works

I watched a video of some bloke with £25 beach rod which was floppier than a floppy thing. I wouldn't grow runner beans up it let alone fish with it and he cast this rod 140yds on his first cast with it with ease. Its all about technique in my opinion. I'm not a big caster or I wasn't should I say. Watch Terry Edmunds on YouTube, he's done a few videos lately full of tips. So maybe work on your technique first as it might just save yourself a few hundred quid.

I ended up using my 3.5lb tc's all the time simply because they could be fished at long range or under the rod tips. OK they won't be good in little poke holes but for everything else they were spot on.

Ive had century rods, daiwa rods but Harrison rods are all day long the best for me for through action. I've got Harrison chimeras in 3lb tc and 3.5lb tc, a floater rod at 2.75tc and a 1.75tc barbel rod. My latest additions are 2 Harrison beach casters. The chimeras can put a lead 120yds plus and be just as forgiving fishing under your rod tips. That said its all about budget, preference etc. What one person finds excellent another might not, best going to a tackle shop and get the feel of a few rods before buying. Also what size lake are you fishing? Do you need to cast to the horizon or is it 60yds max etc, a lot to take into consideration.

Not sure to be honest. They are or certainly were round line clips and on the 5000's they are the shape of a shield and it causes line damage where as the round ones don't. Can't remember the company but there's one that does custom spools for reals and they have metal line clips so maybe a Google search will find what you're after.

I've had both in the past and for me the 6000's are the ones. They have a much better line clip than the 5000's.

Totally agree. When carp ingest something alien to them they just spit/blow it back out, even when it sucks in a mouthful of bait with sticks/small stones etc it blows the rubbish out and ingests the food. As for the bailiff, obviously making up a story to back up the reasoning behind banning the fake corn, he went very overboard with it but some will believe the utter nonsense 🤣.

Excellent bait mate. It changed a few of my mates catches right around. They would average 2 or 3 fish a season from dinton when we were on there but once they got on this then they averaged 10 fish a season. Would say it was a big fish bait but I've caught big fish on all the baits I used from premier, though my mates certainly caught better fish when using it. Use it with 100% confidence. A couple of my mates are still on it . Luckily they put a big order in back in May so have some still.

Never heard of that or used mineral water when I used to do my particles. Maybe do a batch with and a batch without and compare catch results.

A bait boat will help you put more fish on the bank for sure, simply because you can put a bait where it is impossible to cast to., but... I fished a lake in the Colne valley many years ago and one season a new angler arrived and I'd never met somebody who was so bad at casting i thought he was a proper noddy. I got chatting to him one day and asked where he'd fished before etc and he rolled off a number of impressive catches and i thought i had misjudged him but at the end of our conversation he mentioned that the lakes he had been fishing were all bait boats. He said he hadn't cast a rod in 6 years. So yes a bait boat is a huge help but if you rely on them then it may very well take away all your skills as an angler, which if your next lake didn't allow them you may well come unstuck. On a side note, I've never used one and had ample opportunities to use them, especially in France but I personally see it as is not right. I'm not knocking anyone who does use them by the way, each to their own and fish how you want to fish and not how others want you to.

I got an order for my mate off him back in May and that was rolled although not by him. My mate will be gutted as he has no place/time to roll his own. I'll have to call Tony I guess and find out straight from the horses mouth as it were.

Is he still doing bait ,as i thought he had stopped doing bait from what my mate told me. Me and a few mates were on the supaminos for the last 12 years, well I was until I started the sea fishing.

I'm the same regarding hamidi. Something about him that I've never liked and you've summed it up in one of your words "loudmouth". He thinks he's Something else and as for this contraption he's selling he should be ashamed of himself. Not surprised to hear you say dinton has banned it, Simon who runs it doesn't allow any gimmicks on his waters and good to hear that many more waters have done the same.

100% agree. I've got a solar bed and by far its the best I've had in how it's made and how comfortable it is.

Not sure what phone you have but some mobiles have excellent cameras on them. I downloaded a whistle camera app. I put the phone in selfie mode so I can see the screen and you simply "whistle" and it takes a pic. The reason I downloaded it was because I really struggled to hold the fish whilst I had the remote button in my hand for my camera, daft I know but I just couldn't do it. Though if you really want a dslr then most of my mates have Canon camera's and the odd one has a nikon. What model's I don't know off the top of my head.

Any bait made by Geoff bowers will be good, I'd use the hydra k with confidence if I had to use it.