admacdo

I say. That's the shiznit! Thanks!

Not long distance casting for carp. Just long distance casting to see how far.

Things are getting warmer in Canberra. Enough to make me break out the tarp and tent poles. Thus I've finally found the joy of fully shaded fishing. Despite wanting to take up a pastime that didn't involve mounds of gear, carp fishing has crept up on me and I find myself looking longingly on anything that will enable only one trip from the car. The day was hot enough on Saturday to drop the GPSr off the windscreen again. It had nothing to do with the crack that's been creeping across the glass for two weeks as the temperatures changed. So, armed with a decent layer of sunscreen, we attempted our luck in a new spot in Lake Tuggeranong. I can't drive past there now without thinking of Steve Bok's STUPENDOUS achievement of a 10 kg Carp on a one kg HAND LINE!!! I would have loved to have seen that. It would have been worth recording. Once you get something like that achieved, you just make doing anything to top it more of a challenge. The way things are proceeding, Steve is going to have to start catching big carp on a line made of braided nasal hair, while blindfolded in the middle of the night in a thunderstorm. And using a brick for bait. So we set up in the likely spot, briefly burlied the margins and set up the gear. I'm never in a hurry. The mornings seem to be quiet. Eventually my fishing buddy decided to walk around and burly up the reeds which were some distance away. After a couple of hours with nothing happening, he reeled in, rebaited and put one out to the other side towards the middle of where he'd burlied up. That's when things started to move. We estimated the range at the first take at about 70 meters although Google maps later confirmed it as 80, with probably even slightly more when he cast deeper into the reed crescent. I will admit that seeing someone catch a fish at a distance is quite entertaining. It's more fun when you've got it on your own line, of course. This carp dodged back and forth and mixed it in with the reeds a few times. Eventually, it ended in the net and of course, the guestimations of weight started. I was pushing for something on the 5kg mark and was stunned to see it barely make 3.6kg. Mind you, I think that I seem to be overguestimating lately. I only had my 9 foot rods out, so couldn't make anywhere near the far side and continued to set the hook baits along the reed edges on the right hand side. This eventually proved beneficial and I got to do a bit of a run around the reed beds in order to untangle a little feisty [censored] who didn't even make 3kg. I was also hamstrung by not being able to get my rod tips close to the water and so had to listen to a wind plucked alarm serenade when thermal activity started. My companion had the better situation with longer rods, more angled rod pod and of course, the best choice as he'd turned up before me. I was left wondering if I could find a rechargeable hedge trimmer at reasonable cost for some custom made access to the waters edge. I wonder how suspicious that would look to find a neatly cropped patch of grass when we left... To keep ourselves amused while nothing was happening, we left one of the nets in the water under a nearby tree and lifted it into a white bucket to see what little fry we could find in it. Very quickly, we had a bucket full of tiny fish. We figured that they would be some sort of unrecognisable species, but to our surprise, we could see the start of the characteristic stripes of the Redfin perch on fish about 4 centimeters long. My buddy has a longer net and so tried ambushing some other small fish near the reed beds to the other side of the tree. This produced some slightly fatter, greener fry about 5cm long. When taking a closer look at these, a very distinct course scale pattern was visible on a reasonably transparent fish. They had a visible black spot on their internal organs, which were largely silvery. I never thought to take a photo which showed them from the side, but we suspected that they might be carp fingerlings. Shortly after this, I raised the net again and discovered a saucer sized long net turtle had crawled into it. He went into the bucket for a photo opportunity. Shortly after that, we noticed that some of the redfin fingerlings had died or at least had stopped swimming, so we tipped everything back into the lake and bid the turtle farewell and good luck. The carp fishing magazines were broken out at that point, and much was made of the huge amount of gear at amazing prices that one could have for the exchange of pounds in the UK and other parts of Europe. The range of chairs particularly seemed to be unbelieveable. I'm after something that turns into a chair only once it's conveyed all one's carp fishing crap to the waterside. The second take from the far side was most entertaining and took quite a few minutes to get into the net. Once weighed, it topped at 7.65kg and there was much rejoicing. We're now both over the 7kg mark and slowly being more strategic in our quest for the 10kg barrier. Once we get there, we might even be tempted to start bringing the line strength down. Until then Steve, you'll be quite firmly kicking our collective asses. My hat's off to you.

So, a few weeks ago my fishing buddy decides that he wants a sinker with a swivel embedded. As a machinist often has an outlet for such things, a few days later he sends me photos of his little mould. It produces 80 gram sinkers one at a time and they look like a little hockey puck. The swivel is just poked into one end of the mould and the molten lead poured in the other. A few seconds later, you can split it apart and out pops another sinker. (Yes, don't bother mentioning the lead fumes thing. It's all under control.) So the grand showing of these little beauties was Bowen Park on the side of Lake BG where we've never fished before. Now that we've both got rod pods that don't require pushing into the ground, we have been exploring other venues with access to carparks and cement paths near the lake edge. We figured that the big rods should get a showing and just to see what would happen, used some bolt rigs out far and some regular rigs in close. We know that the edge of Bowen park is where the original river used to run, but we were very surprised at how quickly it drops off in depth. Far more than what we thought based on the length of line we put out and how steeply it went into the water. Some work with the float rods reqired in future. Anyway, people either side of us were pulling in carp, except the Vietnamese guy with the 80 pound braid and the shark hooks. (We set him right on that) I managed to bag two Refin on corn, much to my surprise and to the delight of the Vietnamese fisherman, who was looking for lunch. He popped them into a plastic bag and disappeared. Eventually, we decided that it was time to see just how far one could cast one of these little sinkers tied to some 15lb braid. After a few medium effort lobs that we pegged as close to 80 metres, I decided to have a go like some of the casting instructors show how to do it on facebook. At this point, yes. I was told earlier on to get a finger stall when I used braid. I'd forgotten. I might have gotten away with it if I hadn't also set the drag up properly. So, with a large step forward, and left hand into the chest and right arm out in a snapping motion, I powered the poor little sinker out towards the far horizon, or so it seemed. There was quite a sawing sound as the drag slipped on my trusty Shimano. "Wow" said my co-conspirator" That was a rather savage noise!" as we watched the sinker disappear from sight. By then, the first stings of pain were well and truly on the way, but the blood hadn't yet started. (You can't see anything but the faintest trace of a scar now...) After we saw the tiny splash, I chanced a look at my finger. Hmm. [censored]. With a bit of luck, nothing will hit that bit of my finger for a while. I managed to abrade about a millimeter deep trench about a centmeter long. And who brings bandaids fishing, honestly? Clipping the line off and winding in then saw me retrieve two tent pegs from the back of the car. With the tape measure, I put them exactly ten meters apart and then wound the line off until around them until I hit the clip again. With eleven strands between the pegs and a meter more, that puts the cast at 111 meters. Overgunned? You bet. Everything we caught that day was at about 4 meters away, so it wasn't so much casting as swinging things out. However, we have a trip planned now to a lake a few hours away. It has a channel running through it which we have measured at 84 metres from the most convenient casting point, thanks to Google Maps. And then of course, I can always go surf fishing at the coast. Stainless steel rod pods rock on the sand!

Actually, it's only illegal if you use them for other than your own personal enjoyment. The copyright legislation on this sort of thing was investigated by the Federal Attorney-General's Department a few years ago. There was a call for public input on it. I didn't see any submissions, but I read through the half inch thick report. The main interest was in "format changing" or ripping your CD's to your MP3 player. Copyright Branch think that this is absolutely fine. Even making backup copies is fine. Reproduce and sell anything though, or even give them away and your arse will be in a sling. Now, about them carp...

Well, I must admit to going back with a boot rod and fishing old style with a second hook to hold the chip. Boot rods are by definition the rod that stays in the boot of the car for no plan fishing expeditions. The tackle box is not much bigger than a cigarette packet. I managed to refrain from eating the bait and hooked a small carp of about half a kilo. With no scale, it makes experience the only judge. Next time I'm going to try some chicken breast with mayo. If that's a goer, I think that pizza is definately the next thing to try. If the pizza dudes will deliver to GPS coordinates, I think it has the making of some serious extended fishing experiences.

I just wonder if anyone will own up to trying chips. I am extremely tempted to give it a try, but the thought of buying extra and still probably eating them myself tends to put me off.. Nice fish, chris. Maybe it's time for me to go out again now that my top lip has healed from sinker strike!

Yesterday I drove to Belconnen to drop off a CD and decided to do a drive by my favourite Drive through. Big Rooster. They are one of my favourite chip makers. Just as I was about to turn right into the driveway, I noted that there was a guy fishing right out in front of it. Big Rooster in Belconnen is right on Lake Ginninderra (or however you spell it) He'd hooked up and it looked to be giving him a rough time of it, so it was interesting to hold up the queue in front of the microphone and turn back to see if he landed anything. Keep in mind that the lake is about four feet down from the edge. After fulfilling my need for a Rooster Roll and Chips, I parked in the carpark and went down to investigate. There were actually two young guys about 19 or 20 and they'd just netted a carp of about 4.5 to 4.8 kg. I watched one guy get two more in another 15 minutes. Both about that size. I watched as they baited up with RED ROOSTER CHIPS! While I had a bit of a laugh, it was certainly doing the trick. Who knows how many other people had sat right where they were and flung their excess chips to the ducks.... who wouldn't have always got everything. So while his mate caught the big ones, the second guy told me of his larger fish the previous fortnight. He said that it was a metre long and weighed 15kg. Of course, I gave this the credibility it deserves. Until I said the magic "Pictures or it didn't happen". At that point, he whipped out his Samsung Galaxy and showed me the longest carp I've ever seen in Australia. It wasn't real fat, but it was still huge. He was holding it up in several different shots so I gave in and asked more about it. Apparently it hooked up on their 10lb rods and stripped line until they panicked that it was going to take the lot. (They hadn't really filled their reels to the brim for a start.) They said that it was jumping out of the water quite a distance out. Eventually, they managed to bring it in and of course.... had no landing net. And it's a not inconsiderable drop to the water. As I was wondering how it all went down, the second guy chimed in and related how he'd ripped his pants off and had jumped in over the side so it wouldn't escape. This appeared to inspire more actual mirth between the two than anything else. It would have been up to this guys waist at least and who knows how many shopping trolleys lie just beneath the surface? Regardless, they actually weighed it. I didn't think to get them to email me the photos. I just might convince my regular fishing buddy that we need to fish closer to the lakeside restaurants in future. As long as people don't mind hurdling our rods, it should be at least handy when the chips run out.

Hmm. Yes. I got off easily. Would you believe that some people would use pictures such as that as an argument that fishing was dangerous and needs to be regulated with laws and such. I tend to have much sport stirring them up. Regardless, I don't think I'd be down at the creek when it got dark. In terms of things you'd need to watch out for, it doesn't enthuse me. My other night fishing spot has far less potential to cause issues..

Hmm. Mighty looking is that piscatorial porker there, Chris. I was incredibly lucky in not breaking anything on snags although some weed strands and a low branch did provide some entertainment for a while. It is odd to pull on your line and see a carp head pop out of the water so far away as a branch reaches down to grab it.. Luckily, it headed in the right direction when I gave it some slack. As it turns out, six days after wondering if I'd need stitches, my mouth had healed to the point where the scab came off. This could only be because last Saturday was my birthday and we've apparently evolved to prioritise being able to eat birthday cake without any pain. I've had mosquito bites for three weeks that have done virtually nothing. Makes you wonder..... I've always been a bit wary of sinkers under line tension. Nylon line itself under stress has caused some nasty injuries. When I used to fish under the Port Bridge in Adelaide, some guy got caught on something and decided to pull his snag free. He grabbed the spool and walked backwards. Someone yelled at him to hold it to the side and he must have figured it was a good idea as he instantly did so. He disappeared behind a bit of bridge and I looked away. A few seconds after that, I heard a loud metallic hollow bang come from his direction. . Then I heard the swearing from someone else. From what I gather, the hook link let go and the sinker missed him, but didn't miss someone elses car. They appeared to be less than amused by it all. Since then, I've pulled my snags out with arm 90 degrees to the side. Oddly, I've never had anything happen since. Losing an eye would be much worse than losing teeth. I can happily think of a few people who I'd be glad to see diving in after their rod though. Maybe I should introduce some more people to fishing....

The first foray of the year happened yesterday and it wasn't without some interesting occurrences. Our normal fishing choices in the lake have been slightly distroyed of potential by the amount of floating shrubbery. This was imported by that minor flooding of all the inlets a month or so ago. In the quest to clean up the lake, a couple of guys in a boat spend their days removing the forest of driftwood and putting it in piles in the shallows. Other crews stack it up. I have chanced by one such stack piled as big as a greyhound bus. Regardless, we decided that seeing our favourite spot had been turned into a subsurface shrubbery, we'd take our chances with Sullivans Creek near the University boathouse. http://maps.google.com.au/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Canberra+Australian+Capital+Territory&ll=-35.28184,149.112349&spn=0.001629,0.003431&t=h&z=19 When you've not taken the extra steps of finding out what is on the bottom, we assumed that the best idea was to pepper some arcs with groundbait and try and fish those arcs. Then of course, my spod rod reel sheared off the line clip on the second cast. So I managed to keep the spomb in a two metre line rather than a half metre line. We figured that it wouldn't be so critical as the area was significantly reduced and there was a slight movement in the water to leave a burley trail rather than a burley cloud. Once that was achieved, we set up and proceeded to relax. Normally we don't expect much action until about 3pm, so starting at 12.30 gave us some time to sit around and fix the problems of the world. Small turtles inhabit the lake, although you tend not to see them very often. One the size of a meat pie popped its head out of the water and looked at us for a second, but a move towards the landing net saw it turn around with a surprising amount of speed. It startled a large carp that looked silvery in the few moments that it revealed its presence. Throughout the day, carp cruised unseen in the turgid brown water meer feet from our chairs. Only our movements spooked them and it was quite interesting to see the amount of activity that was so close. After half an hour of not much happening, we had just decided that it was going to be a quiet day. Then the detectors started cheeping enough to get us out of the chairs and taking up strike positions. This of course, always means that nothing happens. In between the lights fading and our chairs once again taking the strain, our quiet time was punctuated by joggers, cyclists and pedestrians enjoying the humidity. The hotter it gets here, the less they wear. Being near a residential uni always has some benefits. All of a sudden, the strikes started to happen. These were viscious. So hard and fast that my spools over ran and I had to dial in some baitrunner drag. I've NEVER had to do that before. We didn't have room to set up chairs behind our rods so each run was longer than it had to be. Although I practice the action of knocking the baitrunner lever off as I set the hook, sometimes it doesn't come off quite as smoothly as I'd like. There were a few times there that I helped the over run along, to the amusement of my fishing buddy. I've found that it is hard to get a feel for the size of a fish if you're constantly changing rod lengths and before we managed to bring these fish in, we had no idea of how big they were going to be. All I can say is that even the little ones were putting up a hell of a fight. Zig zagging left and right at a surprising speed and heading for snags like hungry shoppers outside Bunnings during fundraising night. (Australians-only humour). The extra two feet of rod length was handy for keeping the line out of low trees and putting sideways pressure on the fish near the reeds. I didn't have much trouble, mainly due to luck. My fishing buddy lost two in the weeds and one in the snags. He also had one ferocious take which just straight snapped him off. This must have annoyed him no end as he popped the 6lb off without a word. We have an unwritten rule that he who uses the strongest is the softest. I use this to renegotiate handicaps when comparing the days total weight. I have stuck with braid and he's returned to mono. A fact which would prove to be unfortunate for me a bit later. I've gone to flurocarbon hook links despite the added stiffness. For some reason, I've been getting broken off at a similar place below the top loop knot with the mono that I used to use. I couldn't find an explanation for it other than just lame mono. The new stuff seems to have sorted it. The inordinate amount of hard takes and escapes continued, much to our delight and frustration. There's always a chance of interesting times when multiple lines are out. For the first time ever, I had two savage takes with solid hookups within seconds of each other. Scarcely had I set the hook on the first then the second line started screaming. It's odd to think of how long a rod in a holder can peel line before it starts to sound like an eternity. In all honesty, it was probably longer than a "Home and Away" Star's singing career, but shorter than Ricky Pontings defence of the Ashes. I called my companion over to take the reigns on that one, while I watched my line ski up and down the other side of the creek. Barely had he taken over, when his rig lit up with a banshee wail. He handed my second rod back to me and ran over to sort things out. His run was cut short with a spontaneous unhooking so he reaquired my second rod and we both bought our energetic carp in while doing the fishing maypole dance on the squelchy limited bank area. He decided to elect that carp to my total, even though I maintained that it was actually his. Minutes later, his lines went off again and as I stood by with the net, after a tremendous struggle we got to see a very nice mirror carp of about 2.5 kg roll in the water right under the rod tip, before it too shed the hook and disappeared. At this point, we blamed the turtle for coaching the carp into tormenting us. Things were quiet for a little while and then I was suddenly on net duty again as the carp that appeared to be on proton energy pills bent the wrapped carbon tapered rod into a nicely curved arch in the hands of my piscatorial activities companion. Remember that he is using mono. As he got the fish closer to the bank, I stepped in front and knelt down, submerging the big net which the fish duly swam over. I stepped up and back as I lifted the net and then something flashed into my cone of vision. I hadn't even started to wonder what was going on before something smacked me hard in the face and things went blurry. (I'm glad to report that although the carp was now unhooked, I managed to pull the top of the net forward before dropping it.) I'm not sure if I beat it to the ground, but I couldn't speak for a bit as the pain subsided. At least localised pain lets you figure out what has been hit. Then I realised what had happened. Our netting procedure in close quarters had seen me enter the danger zone at precisely the wrong time. I had been smacked by a one ounce sinker. My action of lifting the net must have somehow unhooked the fish. A centimetre lower would have taken out one or two of my front teeth. Lifting my head slightly, I proposed a new rule about rod tension when the fish is over the net. I had quite a bit of blood on my forearms and it had ended up on my sunglasses which explains why things went blurry. After it stopped bleeding and swelled up, I decided that it was on the borderline of requiring stitches, but hell, the fishing was still good. It might scar, but on the plus side, people won't hate me for being beautiful any more and Brad Pitt might get some more pinup work now. Things settled down a bit after that anyway and after a while some people showed up and gathered around a car that had been there when we arrived. It appeared that their key had stopped opening their doors, which happens occasionally due to uneven wear. I helped them open up with a bit of coathanger wire and a few years of experience which must have looked odd. Here am I with a swelled split lip and blood all over my face, forearm and shirt sleeves. Once they were sorted, they inquired as to what we were doing, so I gave a quick lecture on the theory and practice of specialised carp fishing, showing the flashing lights and beeps of the bite detector. (That's always popular and novel around here.) Baiting up with corn on a hair rig was demonstrated, along with the tendency of the knotless knots tendency to turn the hook toward anything it bends around. That also is something which impresses people who don't know of it. Much discussion was had as to this method of fishing and the trio then said that it's a pity that nothing was happening. Barely had the words escaped their lips, than the rod at their feet tried to climb out of the pod as the line came out of the spool against the increased baitrunner drag. (no more birdnesting over-runs for THIS little black (and bloodstained) duck) After twenty seconds of fight, this one also escaped the hook. So for timing and putting on a show, it was quite a good day. I still can't get over how hard these fish fought for their size. My total haul was 11.7 kg across six fish banked. I had at least four break offs. The biggest weighed of mine was 2.87 kg and 3.2 was the biggest between the two of us. I even managed to play one for a bit while back in my chair. The mirror that escaped looked to be bigger than any of the others, but that's always the way. At least we both saw it. If this is any indication of the year ahead, I daresay that a lot of corn is going to be spent feeding the fish. I hope you guys have managed to stay out of the flood zones and have an even better start to the year than I have. Just watch your lines of force with those damn sinkers on mono lines!

Cool! I'll wait for things to die down a bit and go Platypus spotting while waiting for bite alarms to go off. I've never seen one before. Now I have a plan for Christmas Holidays. That super cell a few years ago killed my "no-claim" bonus..

I think that their supposed advantage with oxygen extraction from water (if it exists) might help them survive the conditions. There's already reports of big fish kills in South Oz. It may get worse as rotting vegetation gets into the water in big amounts. Guess we'll have to wait and see. Some guy caught a yellow belly of reasonable size on the flooded bowling greens of Captain's Flat. So I guess it just bought comfortable seating close to the water in some areas.. Apparently someone saw a Platypus investigating the water that was under the picnic area seats in Queanbeyan... Sullivans is one of my fallback spots for some variety and now it's getting warmer, the Uni students that run along the path next to our spot have started wearing skimpier attire. So I think I'll have to test your theories on a purely scientific basis, of course Chris.

What do you think, chaps? Will the carp have shunted off the effects of the floods or does rain, mud, trees, cars and general bits of detritus in their habitat just make them more inquisitive? We're booked in to see how things are on the 22nd of this month, providing the lake is cleared safe to fish after the semi treated sewerage from Queanbeyan has sluiced through the Capital's biggest lake.

Sometimes the morons can be entertaining. I've got lots of tips on how to prepare a wall for future graffiti just by quietly watching. Currently though, I prefer to fish within visual range of my car. In fact, if I could have a combination of the factors that I enjoy in Canberra, easy access to the lake, convenient parking, shade, lack of wind and a path for scantily clad fit young women to randomly ride and run past on, I think I'd pay a reasonable fee to go fish there even if there wasn't a guarantee of a stocked swim.

I think if someone wants to promote their own fishery, good luck to them. They might go out of their way to grow some huge carp. It's worth paying for. I'm also in favour of angling clubs as Steve suggests. Clubs have a much better education mechanism for responsible behaviour and a better feedback system if something goes wrong. It's a group of likeminded people who can then pool their resources. I don't think anyone would allow a public waterway to be leased for a commercial paying fishery. England is quite different from Australia in terms of fishing access to streams that cross land. I don't think there's anything to worry about.

There is a link to the video at the top of the page. http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2010/s3065821.htm?site=melbourne Or you can just read the transcript.

I'm very pleased with my new home made, other than the attachment/handle sliding system which will be replaced as soon as some delrin of the right size shows up. It is oversquare deep and we can now leave the fish in the water for photos, just by lifting the top of the net out of the water. It becomes a holding pen! The flat seam bottom supports them in a reasonably straight line and de-hooking is quick and straightforward. The shade cloth stays wet (a bit too much actually, at the end of the day), doesn't stick to the fish at all and has enough thickness to act as a protective layer compared to normal mesh. The only disadvantage is that I now pack a wheelie bin liner to take it home in. It just stays too wet to put it in the car without the bag.

It seems to have died down a bit in the last week or so. Full moon wasn't awesome and yesterday I sat around in the spot at Lake Ginnindera with very little happening. I had a savage short run and then what appeared to be a snag. A guy on a canoe offered to check it out and pulled it up with the line fluffed. Whatever it was, was sneaky. In four hours we banked three Koi. Two at virtually the same time. My fishing buddy's brother now has a koi pond.

After a bit of thought, I obtained a snapper net from Kmart and some black shadecloth from Bunnings. The plastic joiner that connects the net loop with the sliding handle is getting replaced with something custom made. It looks like it's the fusible link in the entire setup. Solid delrin or alloy. We haven't decided yet. With a stapler to tack the net together prior to sewing, the netting goes together quite easily. Finishing the bottom was straightforward as well. Leaving it in an envelope edge ensures that the fish will line up easily with the bottom of the net. (Well, at least anything as big as 85 cm or so will be kept straight.) Lake Ginnindera provided some 4 kilo carp to test it out. With the minimal hole size of the shadecloth, there is noticeable resistance in the water. This is good because it will discourage bad netting technique. Being so wide means that it's just a case of getting the fish's center of gravity over the inside edge and lifting it up. Not one fin hookup or dropping a sinker through the net for some impromptu braid/net macrame dreamcatcher construction. The mesh is reasonably thick too and you can unhook without taking the fish out of the net most often with access being so wide. The less slime layer damage, the more likely the fish will stay healthy.. There are some disadvantages though. It retains water like a sponge camel on it's monthly cycle. Great for keeping your fish wet, but not so good for getting rid of the smell! Beating it on the grass gets rid of a lot of it, but not enough. I'm going to have to transport it in a garbage bag.. Other than that, I'm extremely pleased with this home made contraption. Thanks for the suggestions, chaps!

I discovered an environet in Ray's Outdoors today. I see what you mean. The mesh is still reasonably big compared to the spines. This will mean some experimentation...

I wondered why nobody else on the videos seemed to be having trouble with spine hookups. Sounds like regardless of what I get, I'm going to have trouble with the spines. At least two thirds of the carp I catch require untangling. It looks like the shadecloth net is a idea that I might have to experiment with. The second biggest problem is that if it's not the fish, it's the sinkers wrapping themselves through the netting. With millimetre size netting, the only thing that will snag up is the hook..

My fishing buddy is an outstanding designer/machinist. My version of "home made" is significantly different and usually a lot better than "the real deal". I'd rather throw money at him.

The market for safe carp gear in Oz is non existent. That's why there is a large replacement net for a triangle set up right next to me at the moment. I thought that I'd be able to use the fiberglass spars from a tent to spread it and get the spreader bars made up. Unfortunately, the tent spars aren't long enough. Looking at it though, the sides appear to be slightly smaller than the one we already have. The base is very fine mesh. It might come down to getting a huge open mouth one from the local supermarket and stitching shade cloth into it. At least I can make it to what I want. There won't be any fast netting movements and I'll probably pick sieve krill from the water...

Well, I'll make the best of it. We've hit the same place since again and I scored my smallest carp ever. A micro at 350 grams. Things weren't so fast and furious but I got broken off on the strike three times. It was very unusual as the hooklink broke in the same place, about a cm underneath the top loop knot each time. Maybe some further analysis required. Today, I scored two mirrors. The first one looked like it was in a bad way. Covered in the irregular scales of a mirror, but they looked like chewed fingernails. Also it had red blotches all over it like someone had spent time swatting mosquitos on it. It didn't look healthy at all. The second mirror was the closest I've ever come to losing a rod. The rear supports are machined to close over the rear screwed portion of the rod seat and occasionally we've had them jam during the pick up for a strike. So I seat the butt of the rod forward ON them and not IN the Without the bait runner engaged, it took a leap forward and climbed over the bite alarms. So back in the designed position from now on. Corn has been the big provider. My colleague had started in the morning on worms as he was trying to target the occasional redfin as well. The worms stopped working about midday.. Odd how that happens. Oh, the second mirror was more of a scaleless one. First one we've seen like that from the lake.