smufter

It was about £55.00 or thereabouts. Top of the range me.................... 😱

I had the same "dilemma" a few years ago. Buy a cheap one for France or pay the 100 euros the fishery wanted to rent one for the week. I ended up buying a cheapie off of Amazon, (picture below), and used it for two years without any problem at all. I subsequently sold it one last year when I treated myself to a decent boat and the new owner is still using it. To be honest, I'd never have used it on a fishery over here for fear of ridicule, but on a lake exclusive in France???? The only ones that saw it were my family and they thought it was great fun, as did the Bailiff. We ended up christening it "HMS Gonads" lol! It did the job, got my bait to some difficult places that I couldn't cast to, and my biggest fish of the week was caught using it. As I say, I've got a decent boat now, but faced with the situation again, I'd do exactly the same.

Well documented on here, but this is my most important capture......my first "White Cottage" fish after 15 months of blanks, blanks, blanks without so much as a beep!! Caught in January of last year, 27lbs. Not my biggest, but certainly meant the world to me.

Good shout. Looking at these on Amazon now. £4.95 for 10. Might just order a pack of 4's and 6's.

Off to France in July, Lake rule is barbless only. Any recommendations for good ones. Bottom baits and pop ups preferably size 4, may go up to a 6. Help much appreciated.

I used a cheaper one than that in France two years ago Dayvid and it did the job. It's still going strong in the hands of its new owner. I wouldn't have used it over here though as I'd have been laughed off of the lake, but on a lake exclusive in France??? ...................Didn't care 😉

Nothing yet mate

Out today, 1st time in ages. Water level back to "normal" and a few new fish put in over the last few weeks. Fingers crossed.

I'll be trying these out in France in the Summer. Some big cats on the water we're visiting....

Hate fishing in the dark so no overnighters for me until about March. Can't be doing with sitting in the dark for 14 hours plus.

My regular water allows 3 rods, and I'll use them more often than not. Another water nearby has a 2 rod rule. I never feel "disadvantaged" when I fish there.

Have a look at the Lake Reaper. I have one and it does the job, although I only use it in France. About £300.00 new.

I'm beginning to favour wafters nowadays......

Trying this one out next year with 5 mates from White Cottage. http://lakebeauregard.com/about.html Have a week booked from the 6th July, (only week available despite actually booking it about 8 or 9 months ago). Lots of decent videos of it on YouTube, anyone on here actually fished there???? Carp to over 60 and Cats to 95. Not particularly interested in Cats but may just take a hefty rod and reel with me and lob something stinky out at night. Seems a shame not to try to hook into a cross channel ferry!!

With the level of water being so low in my lake, if I tried to do it any other way I'd be going in for a swim.

Always the 1st place I look at for terminal bits. Have never had a problem with anything I have bought from there, brilliant delivery and service. Highly recommended.

I'm a relative newcomer to "carping", having started around 2010. I'd been fishing for years, (mainly for Tench), and hadn't come across boilies prior to then. I didn't know the 1st thing about them, but had to "get on board" as they were what you caught carp on, weren't they??? I can remember the first ones I ever bought. They were shelflife, (fresh/freezer baits confused me), and were like bullets. Chalkie things, crumbly and horrible. I don't remember what flavour or brand they were, but do recall that they were a "name" as I wanted to give myself the best chance of catching a fish. I do remember wondering to myself how fish were ever attracted to these things when they could have a lovely lump of luncheon meat, breadflake or worm??? Fast forward 8 years. I now use fresh/frozen baits whenever possible, but still use the odd shelfie now and again. They bear no resemblance to those first ones I used. There is absolutely no comparison, I cannot tell the difference between a fresh/frozen bait or it's shelf life equivalent. I think massive strides have been made in the manufacturing of boilies over the years and have no hesitation in using a brand I trust.

They are thought aren't they??? I do love a nicely scaled Mirror but those horrible grey things with one scale on them. Yeuk.

When I started fishing 50 or more years ago, I was "naturally" drawn to it. No video's to watch, maybe Jack Hargreaves on the telly showing you the basics, but that was about it. We learnt how to make do with the tackle we had, starting off catching minnows and gudgeon, and progressing on to bigger (hopefully) fish. If you were lucky, you'd catch a 5lb Tench!! Carp fishing was almost unheard of as a "branch" of fishing, and the guys that used to fish solely for them were looked on as some kind of "weirdo", moving in the shadows or only seen at night. You imagined them carrying out some form of satanic ritual using baits that were completely foreign to us lads. No internet in those days, you'd spend your spare time trawling around your local tackle shops buying bits and pieces as you could afford them, collecting a variety of floats as you went along, with always one becoming your favourite and you'd almost be in tears if you lost it. Fast forward 50 years and anybody with a few bob to spare can become an instant carper. You can go onto ebay, and buy a "complete" carp kit for less than £50.00. Add a £3.00 bag of boilies from Decathlon, and you're away. Tip up at your local hole in the ground, pay your money and pull out a 20lb Mirror that looks like it's just landed from the planet fugly. Now you consider yourself an expert in the field, not knowing (or caring) that some old boy, years ago, spent his fishing lifetime trying to catch a fish that big, There are more people on the bank fishing today thanks to the carp industry. But there are a lot less "anglers" than there used to be.

I've used Sticky's Krill to good effect in the past, but if you want the best "loaded" Krill bait, take a look at Northern Baits offerings. They have the maximum Krill added that will avoid the dreaded floaters!! A bit cheaper than Sticky's and trust me................. they are good. Delivery is spot on, I have never had their bait turn up in less than "perfect" condition. Would recommend 100% https://www.northernbaits.com/shop/kriller-4-5-1094p.html

I fished next to a guy the other week using heavy leads, which was overkill as he was only casting a maximum of 30 yards. He kept casting and re-casting to find his "spots" and was driving me mad with the constant splashes. My little old 1oz lead was going out with hardly a noise or ripple.

I never use anything else other than running rigs and light leads. 1oz normally. "Semi slack" line. Quite a few snags in my lake so don't fish too slack, and I hate fishing locked up. Never leave the rods.

If I knew for certain that I wouldn't be venturing out for the duration I guess I'd take them out. But I can never guarantee that so tend to leave mine in and just make sure my alarms are switched off properly. Easy to do with my alarms as the hard cases will not fit over the alarms unless the toggle switch is in the "off" position.

I do. Plan b and MC Nut to name just two. Great baits and great service.

That would be the Wychwood Slugs then....... In orange (😉😉😉)