crusian

All set 🤙

I'm blooming cold just standing at the smoking shelter at work. Hope you catch one, good luck. I'm going in to get warm. 

overall opinion seems to be i just dont need the 6ft so for once i will heed the good advice and give it a miss, the 9ft rods will do just fine

I don't possess a carp rod over 9'6" can honestly say I don't miss the length of the 12 footers, my shortest (8') is great for getting into little nooks and crannies and winkling the odd fish out... I love the portability, and the easy handling of the short rods... to be fair though, I've borrowed a pair of 6' 3lb Scopes paired with my shimmy Aero 400X runners and hated them... too short, too stiff not nice at all... my Dwarf 9 foot 2.75lbers are a nice playing rod, but sit idle these days...
My Sharpe 8 footer see's more use, with a pin they're superb for margin work

Or Ikea if your other half has dragged you there 😁.

Well in that case I'm guessing that the pegs on your lake  won't have overhanging branches so bad that you would need a 6ft. rod , unless there are very tight , underhand cast margin spots ? .
Personally I don't have enough spare cash to buy a 6ft. rod that I would seldom , if at all , find a need for .
😃
 

Should be alright mate, got 10 screws with washers so the bivvy shouldn't go anywhere 👍🤣

Well in that case I'm guessing that the pegs on your lake  won't have overhanging branches so bad that you would need a 6ft. rod , unless there are very tight , underhand cast margin spots ? .
Personally I don't have enough spare cash to buy a 6ft. rod that I would seldom , if at all , find a need for .
😃
 

For goodness sake don't get trapped in your bivvy , and get blown into the lake .
😬

I've just got home mate, bailed out of that the bivvy ended up flooding 🤣 be back in the next day or so but will be fishing from a wooden platform that's out in the lake 👍 gotta screw the bivvy down to it which should be fun 👍🤣

You mad fool 😱 .

6footers are like using a tea spoon for eating your breakfast.
they serve a purpose but it’s hard work..

Do you have to stick religiously to your swim on your lake , Jules ? , or can you go " off piste " , crawling through the undergrowth where the monsters may lie ? .

I've made a boo boo coming here 💀🤣 mate there's thunder, lightning, hailstones 🤣🤣🤣 

https://amzn.eu/d/bCGEtJI
These with a couple of clothes pegs. #BobsyerUncle 

I believed that for years, and based everything on that premise, but sadly Covid messed up the blood flow to my right leg especially, so I now get cold feet. My legs might be warm, I'm not cold, but my feet...
 
The overtrousers come off as I get into the sleeping bag.
 
I struggle getting waders on full stop! 

Nah, the secret to warm feet is warm legs - keep the warm blood flowing to the feet. I tried loads of different socks/boots looking for a silver bullet solution to cold feet - it doesn't exist imo. When I switched to thermal salopettes it made more difference than any socks/boots I'd tried. Toasty.
For info - best boots I ever tried were North Face insulated waterproof snow boots (I think they call todays equivalent the Chilkat). I still use these now as the insulation is like an extension to the salopettes. Army ECW socks. Job done.
Normally no, but if it's really cold I'll keep them on, but only get under the top layer of my sleeping bag (it's Snugpak so again, insulated really well). This leaves two layers underneath me to insulate from the ground/under the bed. Works really well for icy cold conditions.

If its really cold use 2 hot water bottles and just stagger the start times, that way when one starts cooling the other will still be nice and warm. Also base layers, good socks, sleeping bag, hat and hot drinks and a hearty warm meal are your friend. And use a groundsheet and overwrap on your bivvy, it will keep the free warmth from farts safely stored 😂

Welcome to Carp.com
OK, let's go through this in order, and it will depend entirely on your waters.
Would I Spomb or spod on a 1acre lake? Yes if it is the best way to get the particles, groundbait or pellets out to where I'm fishing.
How long between a recast? I've left a bait in place for 48hours. I was convinced that after baiting up and casting in, the carp would not come onto it for 2 days. It worked! If there is no sign of showing fish? I'm nearly always binoculars and watching the lake. If I see fish I will move onto them. If I don't see anything then I'll leave the bait where it is until the morning on an overnight or longer session. Yet on a day session fishing I might recast after 15minutes or less if I have had no action.
Are plastic or imitation baits effective all year? They may be, but I refuse to use plastic baits, I don't like the thought of me leaving plastic in the environment in the event of a crack-off. A hook will rust away, plastic takes years to break down.
I would use wooden balls soaked in glug in a crayfish infested water, but on my current water, all plastic and fake baits are banned.
On arrival at the lake, if I don't see fish, I will go on weather, current and predicted, my hunches, or whether I have prebaited swims, or areas that I know that the fish move onto. 
 
 

Welcome in Tom 
1 no limit only limits are your baiting ability
2 depends on time of year 15 mins or so at a start 
but also depends on method of fishing
3 don’t see why not 
4 this time of year ?
fish the warmest side, they will most likely be there somewhere anyway.

Be interesting to see what happens with solar now they have been bought out again by a different (2nd ) Chinese company whether the quality will still be there or not.

Personal choice would see me avoid Nash, even if it is better, I try not to put money in his pocket.
Too many failures on most Nash tackle in the past.
Saying that, I have not had a problem with Solar.
Big problem is often finding one shop that stocks all brands.

I was running a village pub and restaurant, and another Marina restaurant near Ipswich, 5miles from home, so easy to get to.
I was supposed to have Mondays and Tuesdays off as when I was taken on at the marina, it was closed Monday and Tuesday, but the village pub was 'given' to me after the manager there left.
Even on Monday I often ended up going in to get change for the weekly float, but the owner refused to let me know the bank details so I would have to pay the post office to get change, and I would sort out my weekly bar stock orders.
I discovered the 'area manager' was using her credit card to swap payments from card to cash as I started doing an 'x' reading at the start of shift when cash and card did not add up.
I then had two of my waitresses in the pub had both been given holiday at the same time by the area manager and she had not arranged any replacement, so I ended up hiring someone out of my own pocket. The Marina restaurant I was lucky as I had an assistant manager who could run that while I was at the busy village pub.
I don't have a problem with hard work, but when you have proven the area manager is fiddling and stealing cash from the takings I was not going to take the blame with an owner who wasn't interested.
 
The second one was just after Covid. I was assistant manager at a 20 bedroom hotel. We'd had a Christmas party and had used plenty of stock, so Sunday morning I did a full stocktake before the Sunday Carvery and mid service the manager came in swearing "I can't order that, we don't sell that", complete with expletives.
Wednesday as I was due to be in, I got a phone call asking me to go to MY cash and carry and buy the stock we needed as she hadn't placed a spirits order. It took 3 weeks to get my money back from petty cash as there was a £100 weekly limit.
I was having to deal with things my overall manager had 'forgotten' or not done, customers not had a return call, bookings, and her spending more time off site.
Next few weeks over Christmas I was rostered lates on Friday and Saturday with an early Sunday 12 hour or longer shift. I can finish at 3am after a party, but can't start at 8am with a 45minute drive either side.
We still had covid restrictions in place, and I was losing staff to illness left right and centre, and despite having staff, the rotas were continually being cocked up.
I had enough just after New Year when every shift was a reverse, late early, late early rather than able to catch up.
 
 
 

Beware of summat too comfy... As a bad back sufferer, finding a chair is a bit of a mission... I bought a Chub recliner as it was comfy as owt  and had to get rid of it as it was murder on my back the next day, couldn't find a setting that didn't aggravate it...

I think you need to just go and sit on them a bit like goldilocks would. One mans chair is another man's porridge or something. You will know when you find the "one"