carpepecheur

I think the UK government does care about its people- at least if they are rich Tory donors or powerful political influencers - just not you and me.

It is just the French government knocking 30 cents/ litre off petrol (roughly £1 per gallon). We used to nip over to Spain for cheap petrol, now they come here. It is the EU however who are going to force the energy companies to pay for the energy price cap rather than dump the cost on us poor consumers.

The EU are going to force the energy companies to use their profits to reduce prices. Thanks to Brexit, Truss can do what she wants now we have got back control (and given it to her).

At the other end of the scale but along the same lines --- I had just landed a fish when this very old chap who had been fishing not far from me came up to take a look and the conversation went something like this. “That’s a nice fish” he said “Thank you. Do you fish here often”? I asked “once or twice per month” “any luck? “Oh I’ve never caught a fish – I just like fishing”

Oh dear, I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. Use traditional methods as a starting point of course but I find the fun part is developing and trying your own methods.

"Proper" carp fishing means different things to different people. There is nothing improper about float fishing for carp.

I have found using a solid cross bar helps battle weed safely (rather than the cord drawstring modern net makers seem to favour). I also have problems holding and manipulating a straight handle because of arthritis. I hate having to deal with a fish while the handle of the landing net is still attached. I seem to destroy everything around me with it. Having detached the net from the handle, I still have to lift it out of the water. I find a folding net a more useful useful way of doing this. Having got the carp in the net to my unhooking mat, I still have to manipulate it out of the net onto the mat. I found a heavy duty nylon zip sewn into the back of the net solves this problem. Finally, modern nets seem to cost an arm and a leg which is a struggle on my pension so I have attached some photos of my "cheap as chips" "tried and tested" home made landing net, based on an inexpensive sea fishing landing net frame and a pair of crutches obtained when I hurt my leg falling down the bank.

From an angling point of view, I would not take a very expensive camera into the hostile environment a lakeside represents and use it in close proximity to a wild animal intent on returning to that environment. Bigger cameras are heavier and need heavier tripods where as a ‘phone goes in the shirt pocket. However, if your intention is to enter the world of photography then that is a whole different ballgame and loads of fun. Enjoy. (But DO take a look at the time lapse option)

I am not familiar with Panasonic cameras but I am fairly sure it has a time lapse facility. This is very similar to an intervalometer. It will be a lot easier to use and far more versatile than any add on self-take kits with clamps and wires and bulbs etc. Regarding quality for basic trophy shots, you want the biggest sensor you can afford with a good kit lens. (I was under the impression you were talking about selfies on a 'phone)

IMHO the only way to take trophy shots is using an intervalometer. Yes you get loads of unusable shots which you simply delete. You then get to choose the best from the rest. If you are are only using a phone try this app camera FV-5 Don't forget to keep the bloopers as well.

I use sharpened re-bar. Works a treat.

The rate of improvement in drones is increasing almost as fast as the regulations to use them. I don't think it will be long before they reduce the weight restriction requiring a license. The current exciting development is the use of 360 degree cameras in drones.

The way I use a Deeper is to search for a mark, towing it behind a bait boat. When I am over the mark, I drop a self levelling marker float from the bait hopper plus some bait at the same time. I think we should call these devices echo sounders. "Fish finder" is a misleading marketing description.

In my day, the equipment needed to do everything the Deeper does now, cost several tens of thousands of pounds and weighed around 200 kilos. For me, the Deeper is a miracle in a tennis ball. The biggest omission is not to be able to put in a tide height. This means that if your water level changes between sessions, as it does on the big reservoirs near here, you can't match up surveys done at different times of the year.

I can assure you Highy, that you can never be certain what the reflections you see on the screen of an echo sounder represent. I spent a substantial part of my working life hunched over a very expensive echo sounder running exactly the same sounding lines year after year. I can say that I have picked up many sharks on an echo sounder. Sharks do not have a swim bladder. How do I know they were sharks? … I could see them! A good indication of a potential fish are the parabolic reflections (or fish arcs in marketing speak) you get as you move over a fish and the measured distance to it changes. The thickness of the line forming the arc can indicate the size of the fish. You only get an echo from a change in density. The strength of the echo depends on how much the signal has been attenuated (absorbed) during its path, the degree of density change it reflects off, and the angle at which it strikes it. It helps to understand the physics of sound. A low frequency (wide angle) will penetrate further than a high frequency (narrow beam). So a low frequency helps locate a solid bottom beneath silt whereas a high frequency will show weed better. The science is very simple. Understanding the results is incredibly complicated. There is no substitute for experience but the Deeper software does a pretty good job at interpreting the results for the average layman. I assumed your post was Deeper's reply but, having read it, I still can't get my head around CHIRP technology.