emmcee

Surely the BBC should be on your list along with Kyle, farage etc?

Some cracking silver bars there mate. 👌

That would have been good to have a session or two but yes a long way apart sadly. Im guessing you mean tackle/set up so hope you get sorted out soon mate. And totally get what you're saying, I've got a buzz about sea fishing that I hadn't felt in my carp fishing for a fair few years. Tight lines

I'm 90mins drive from my nearest beach, that can be from Brighton in West Sussex through to Southbourne in east dorset. Luckily i have 3 very good and renowned Tope beaches inbetween Brighton and East Dorset so I know where I'll be heading. Already got the first 2 weeks of May booked off. One week on Chesil beach for the plaice and hounds and the second week in West Sussex after tope. Can't wait.

It's exactly like that. Never had a fight like it, flat-rodded over and over again, god knows how much line it stripped on each run. Its a pure adrenaline rush I know that much.

I've got a mate who owns a bed and breakfast up in Criccieth, I keep thinking of going up there for a week next year. Seen plenty of reports from Llandudno as well. My next year's target though is to get into some Tope. I had one this year, not that I was fishing for them but boy what a fight and what a fish. I need to catch me another one. Good luck in your venture.

Exactly the same for me, fell out love with carp fishing and with what it had become. I took my spod rod down the coast one day, brought some ready tied rigs and not looked back since, that was 4yrs ago now. Last year was the first time id not carp fished for the entire year and the same this year. And like you it involves lots more driving, I fish the south coast and my nearest beach is an 80min drive but It doesn't bother me. Whereabouts do you fish from the beach?

Would certainly make you think that something has changed wouldn't it. Everything has gone up in cost including all bait ingredients, the delivery cost on them etc, the import tax on it and yet the price has come down. 🤔 I wonder if catch rates have gone down on it.

Congratulations. Hope mum and baby are doing well.

Makes me laugh when people want to ban this that and the other because it "might" cause fish damage or death and yet they are more than happy to put a hook into a fish (causing damage) , drag it from its watery home causing untold stress and who knows possibly death and then put it back. The thing with those rigs are they have been put together by the uneducated. A tail rubber jammed on will not drop the lead and yet I've never seen on a korda dvd (other tackle manufacturers are available) one of the blokes jamming on a tail rubber so you can't blame the manufacturer.

I've got the special forces 2 sleeping bag and the Antarctica sleeping bag, both are excellent, but depends on your budget obviously.

You don't get anymore compact than a Snugpak sleeping bag

100%, when you're confident in those 2 things it means you can put 100% into finding them. Fair play mate and keep it up.

Well OK, I bought a sasquatch coat in xxl and its huge, i reckon an xl would still be slightly too big. So an L might have been OK if I'm honest. All I know is I've never been cold in it and only wear a tshirt under it.

Cracking fish, you're smashing it this year. Nice one

As already said, I found them to be generous in size.

Sea fishing, Tope Undulate ray Smoothhound Freshwater, Carp Tench Perch From both, Tope Carp Undulate ray

I feel your pain, been there and done it. Hopefully that's the end of it for you. I learned the hard way, kept forking out on a motor and in the long run I spent more than it was worth 3 fold and when I did sell it all the work I had done on it didn't add any value. Next motor I brought was nearly new and suffice to say you get what you pay for. 🤞 for you and the motor.

I personally wouldn't assume they follow it at all, I'd only place a bait there if I actually saw them patrolling it or signs they patrol it. If you do decide to fish it then if its like lakes that I've fished before there may well be certain pick up points along it and not just cast on it and catch. One of the lakes the bars were mainly made up of large stones (the size of your fist or slightly bigger) and a bite cast on this was very hard to come by but by leading about you could find areas that were made up of much smaller gravel and this is where your bites came from. Just a bit of food for thought.

Agree 100% with all this. Location is everything in all fishing but winter especially as in summer they are mobile and winter not so, so you need to be "on them". In my experiences the only times they were mobile in winter was when the winters were very mild. I'll also second the snugpak gear as well. I've got the softie shirt and sasquatch coats. The Antarctica sleeping bag and special forces 2 sleeping bag and you are literally like toast.

I had a decent camera but in the end just downloaded a camera whistle app on my phone. Hold the fish up, whistle and picture is taken. You can have the screen facing you (as in selfie mode) so you can see exactly what you get. Most mobile phone cameras are pretty good so was a no brainer, less weight to carry for starters

I hope you got more than just "mat" shots for your first 30? Well done by the way 👏

I know from speaking to the owner of premier that he will and has to adjust mixes/wetness etc when rolling different sized baits and also different shaped (dumbbells). You may need a few trial and error mixes before you get it right. I'm guessing you might need a wetter mix. For instance, if it's say 1egg per 100grms then use 80grms and see how that rolls or You might need to add extra binder to hold it together for the bigger bait (wpc or egg albumin).

An update on premier. As said, I was down at premier last weekend and basically he is on his own doing the bait now. It used to be one person on hookbaits, one on making paste, a couple rolling and one boiling etc but not anymore. Well it's tony and his wife with no other staff so updating the website etc hasn't been a priority for them. They still do matrix RR, you just need to call them.

If I remember rightly I started with them in 1998. Matrix RR was my first bait I used. Sadly a few desperado's found out what I was on and got the bait through Geoff Bowers and fished off my back. I then went on to a custom supaminos bait and stuck with that and it would be my go to to this day .Had a play about with a lot of their baits over the years mind, catching on all. The best of which for me was the pro-fruit. As you say, never had a bad batch and nothing but great customer service.