greekskii

Anglian water have a huge one in the pipeline. But it’s not started yet so funding may disappear. Similar to the Cambridge relocation. can imagine whatever has happened is very major and something they won’t want to admit publicly. The storm excuse is a cop out imo. It happened around our way ages ago at Pitsford, dead rabbit in one of the chambers, had to shut off and drain, sterilise and refill the entire system. The intermittent water supply will be because they are pumping potable water from tankers in to the system, hence a bit of stop start as pressure fluctuates. The entire situation will cost them tens, in not hundreds of millions at least. One thing I will note, developers only pay for direct infrastructure. Bill money is meant to pay for the rest which is wildly unfeasible. Wouldn’t be surprised if they start getting charged for the site upgrades soon too. House prices might rocket or development slows though! btw I work in part of the industry so see the costs of things and whilst I can’t reveal much, a housing development of 3000 homes paying £1,200 a year won’t touch the sides on the upgrades or new works to deal with the flows.

Agree that investment has lacked but can’t say they don’t invest at all. I’m part of a £5billion portfolio…which does need an extra 2b to deliver fully. that’s over 5yrs. Most of that is to just keep up with either tightening regulations or demand from development. The underinvestment in the 80s/90s isn’t rectifiable now. Not quickly anyway. Even if the money was there, the workforce isn’t. It’s catch up and plasters to the tune of enormous sums of money. whatever’s happening with your water company is shocking. Be interesting to know exactly what the issue is. Must be major to be offline for so long!

Couple from my year to date for you all. One from my new ticket, one of 2 trips I actually got over there since July. Mountains of weed cleared from the swim!

Dynamite still going alright. Plenty of anglers on their books. Think in Europe they have a good following. Their new squid and black pepper seems to be doing alright to those using it locally to me.

Yonny beat me to it. Great natural liquid and preservative. Jammed with salt and salty fish extract and some sugar. Can’t go wrong. I have used it loads in the past, not so much anymore because I’m using liver hydro at the moment to complement the bait. You can use this stuff to create dips and glugs yourself due to its preservative properties. Add some powders of choice and give it a good shake, cut with a bit of water if necessary. Only annoying thing is the lid, I’d advise cutting the spout bit off. All this talk, I may have to add it back in to the mix!

Could always try eBay!

Personally I’d use it neat to soak in to them but I don’t do washed out type baits. I use enough for the boilies to soak in, but stay firm. Basically they just get heavier. This way you can still stick them out. elmo was right on ratios. Use the leftover water, frozen for next time or to add to pellet/spod mixes. I see so many anglers just tip it away. Crazy.

They’ve just put a video on social media of someone’s delks surviving a garage fire.

At least they paid £2 for a premium lead though.

The mk1 delkins are great. The new ones don’t have the water ingress issues being reported, just avoid the version in between. Mini microns are a good choice of alarm, the originals were pretty much indestructible.

Are boilies boilies if they are steamed? Steamies aren’t banned 🤫 plenty of good suggestions here already. Pepperami is a great bait, dip it in marmite before casting out.

That’s a brilliant question. I think you’d be quizzed on them but can’t see why not, you can take food items through.

I expect to hardly get on the bank 🤣 My task for this month is to cut around the new ticket a few times with a leading rod and try and locate some fishable spots in all areas of the lake so when I can get on the bank I can drop rods on spots with minimal leading around.

Big no no! Can’t be baiting next to someone. but depending on someone’s situation they may just do it anyway. Imagine driving an hour to bait up and someone’s in the area but not on the spot, 2hr round trip and no bait, can see why some may just wing it out anyway. other scenario is, did they even know you were there with it being dark? Seen this happen multiple times in the dead of night, someone creeps round trying to be sneaky and ends up baiting on top of someone in the next swim about 10yards away. Then someone rocks ups 2hrs later and does the same thing, still under the cover of darkness. Club water antics at their finest!

A lot of places are now banning these type of cradles due to fish being damaged by them. Just a heads up as in all honestly there’s some great packaway mats out there now, sonik just released a zip up one.

This can be true. I’ve had a single bleep and woken up to my line pointing at a right angle and reeling down to a snagged fish that has just kited in to the margins. Slack lines don’t help this at all but sometimes needs must. Another thing to be aware of, if your pop ups are balanced so they very slowly sink, if you get done, you will still be fishing. It may have moved or turned the hook point so always worth a check but leave it a half hour and see if you get another pickup, can easily happen. Like I said though. A sharp hook is a must, the fish isn’t getting hooked using the weight of the lead when fishing chods so it’s even more critical.

I fish chod rigs a lot on leadless leaders. You need a sharp hook as the most important thing. Just spread boilies, they’ll work over smaller items of bait but the hooking mechanics don’t suit the way fish feed on small items. Yonny is right, you’re missing some part of the puzzle and a shake up of tactics is probably worth a go. Find some nice firmer spots, margins are vital on smaller waters from my experience, and fish bottom/balanced/low pop hookbaits over it.

The bag probably costs more than the boilies do.

Not walking enough to locate fish, not moving on to fish & convincing myself I’m close enough!

All of these stories are why I like to go where it’s quiet and I can do my own thing! Of late I have been pushed to fish busier waters due to lack of time but it’s done me in. I’d rather blank on a harder and quieter lake than put up with all that comes with busier waters! Had one matey turn up as I was setting up, saying how he had hoped to get in his favourite swim that I was in for the weekend. He lingered about until he realised I wasn’t going to give it up! He set up next door and watched me catch within 20mins. He was in a huff before he left my swim so can imagine he lost his head in the swim next door!

Plenty of rod licence money out there for predator fencing. 2x a year clubs and fisheries can split for it. When the otters start hitting the Scottish and southern salmon rivers and the MPs start seeing the issue firsthand it’ll change. Whilst it’s mainly coarse species bearing the brunt of it they won’t pay it much thought. Public opinions being another issue for MPs. They don’t want everyone to hate them, after all it’s a popularity game.

On minimal kit, I take the same basic kit whether I’m doing 1 night or 4, more bait and more food but everything else is the same pretty much. I could probably cut down further, and likely will this year for a new water with long barrow journeys. However all my kit fits on the barrow so nothing on my back. Under Barrow bag with spares and other things like sack, tripod, etc. bedchair on top, rucksack, food bag and unhooking mat on top, rods on top of it all. I’m like a few of you, I have loads of bits of end tackle I never use but just keep in the tackle box because of the dreaded “you never know” that hasn’t happened for 5 years+ 😂 need to sort that out this year!

This is why I like my walled mat. So much lives in it when it’s on the barrow or being carried. Throwing stick, distance sticks, collapsible bucket, any loose items pretty much. ideal if stalking too as you can just throw loads in it and off you walk.

I use propolis occasionally. Bit like Kev though, just let them heal themselves unless it’s really bad. I also have some korda stuff (very old though) in the side pocket of the mat. as said. Best course of action if you want to/have to use something is any of the anti septic stuff followed by propolis on the body. But tbh there’s every realistic chance that the fishes goes and rubs the propolis off once released anyway! Or thrashes on the mat or sling and knocks it off beforehand. if a fish is obvs suffering from some infection from a wound it’s best to give it a salt bath and quarantine it, any treatment an angler puts on won’t be of much use!

You can get various devices. I got some pest plug in things from Amazon for this winter. I still left the poison traps out but only had one dead. Previous years it has been 6+! I do back on to fields though so have a steady population nearby. the plug in pest thing seems to have worked for all manner of creepy crawlies and mice. Worth a look