smufter

The place I go to in France is up for sale. http://www.theretreatlake.com/ I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Beautiful farmhouse with a two bedroomed cottage next door, together with a Gite that sleeps up to six (that's the part we rent). Lake with carp to mid forties, and loads of land. I think it's up for something silly like £325,000.00. I'd have loads left over to employ somebody to maintain it and I'd live (and fish) there for 6 months of the year. If only.

1. The type of reel you use (big pit /baitrunner) Daiwa Emcast 500BR 2. What lb line you use and if you use a leader 12lb in the UK, 15lb in France. No Leader. 3. The distances your are achieving 50-60 yards on small waters 4. The size water (feel free to give multiple answers r varying sizes of water Vary, but never over 5 acres. 5. The length of rod 11' Chub Outkast 2.25tc (shorter length for more control)

I'd rather not take the chance. With the number of leaves on my water at the moment there is a better than 50/50 chance that I might (might) land on one on the way in.

Just ordered some pva nuggets for just this. I bet my lake had more leaves than yours...

I'm seriously thinking of loading my spare spools up with Technium Black and going back to that for a while. I have a spare bulk spool of 12lb which is gathering dust at the moment, so nothing ventured nothing gained. The lake I am now fishing is quite silty and I have the utmost confidence in the Technium having used it for the past 3 or 4 years. This game is all about confidence. I have confidence in all of the rest of my tackle, my bait and my approach. The only thing I don't have 100% confidence in is the line. I'm thinking of taking that out of the equation. The DPF casts and sinks superbly. Of that I have no doubt. But is that enough??????

Can't remember if it was last year or the year before. Certainly wasn't this year.

Have fished it a few times, nothing of any note pulled out, couple of low teens. Have you booked up??? I was put off the place by the number of people crammed onto it. Had my nephew come down from Essex to fish it with myself and my daughter one weekend. Booked up and paid in advance but when we got there we had nowhere really left to fish. It was hosing it down with rain as well, possibly the worst rain I have ever encountered in this country so we got back in the cars and drove home. But seriously rammed out with anglers. Another time a mate and I went to fish there and there was a guy in one swim fishing the near margins of the swim to his right which we were planning on fishing and he wouldn't move his rods despite asking nicely. I don't go there now. Sorry.

Well I'm hoping it's a coincidence, but since using it I've only caught one fish! Having said that, I've been fishing notoriously hard waters. But I have noticed I'm getting a lot more liners so maybe they can't see it??

The reels will be fine for general carp fishing. What sort of waters are you going to be regularly fishing, snaggy or fairly clear? Also, what sort of distances are you looking to cast?

It's also very expensive!! Almost twice the price of the JRC

I'd be fishing "wafters"....

The supplied sleeve is quite long, and is supposed to a) Cover the qc end and b) Act as an anti tangle sleeve. Proof of the pudding I guess. I will try one out on Monday on one of my rods to see how it goes, I'll stick with my tried and tested size 8 swivel on the other. Thanks for your comments lads.

I nearly bought one of those a couple of years ago Dayvid, but stopped fishing the venue where a barrow was a necessity so didn't bother in the end. It does review well. But the JRC caught my eye as it looks a little more compact, and folds down really small (and easily!). I haven't used a barrow in the past, preferring to fish as light as I can, but now that I've joined White Cottage I can see me doing a lot more overnighters so I'm thinking I've now got to get equipped with one. I think my minds made up on the JRC, just wanted to see if anyone else on here had one mate.

I've had a few bits of JRC stuff over the years and always been happy with it. This one is good because it folds down to a really small size, which would please the wife as we don't have a lot of storage space at home....

Missus says she'll buy me a barrow for Crimble and I've seen this one. http://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/jrc-contact-barrow Seems ideal for the shorter sessions I generally do, and folds up really easily, (watch the video!), and quite small, which is what I'm after. Anyone one here use one/seen one in action or have other suggestions?? Not looking for anything too massive, the longest session I am likely to do over here is a 48 but usually I'm a 24hr merchant.

Short and sweet Rodney, short and sweet

I prefer to use a simple running rig for the vast majority of my fishing. Usually, I just tie my hooklength to a size 8 swivel, incorporating an anti tangle sleeve. Only problem with this is if I want to change my hooklength to say a pop up rig I have to break everything down and start tying again. With this in mind I have recently purchased some of these (to obviously avoid the tying part!).... http://www.bobcotackle.co.uk/shop/Gardner-Target-Kwik-Lok-Terminal-Pack Problem is, they come with size 12 swivels, not my usual size 8 and they seem tiny in comparison. Are they going to be "up to the job?"

My mouse problems are in my shed....

Were the mice holding little swords or something?????

I went for the SKS one in the end.....price had just dropped to £22.00

I had seen the NGT and SKS ones, and they do look good alternatives. The reason I highlighted the Trakker one is that the metal rings for attaching it to your scales to are sewn in, and cannot move. This means that if my fishy friend decides to get a bit "lively" while he is being weighed the sling is not going to tip at all. I had this happen a couple of times in France during the summer and it's a bit frightening when it goes (although we caught them in time). Thanks for all of your thoughts lads. Much appreciated. Rob

Was looking at this one. Gets good reviews http://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/trakker-sanctuary-safety-weigh-sling

I've seen some right old capers going on with people trying to weigh a decent sized fish in a landing net before. Lay the weigh sling out over your cradle/mat, unhook and zip up. Where's the stress????? I would say that a fish gets a lot more stressed hunched up in the corner of a landing net than it does by laying out on a weigh sling.....

Looking to purchase a basic weigh sling, don't want to break the bank but want one that's "up to the job". Any recommendations????

I have had a couple of private messages from guys on "another" forum who have fished there and are still members. They don't have a bad word to say about the actual set up, they just comment that the going can be a little slow at times. But that can be said about any venue. I can't wait Dayvid. As long as I do okay in the interview of course. Just hope he doesn't want me to show him how to tie a zig rig. :wink: :wink: