greekskii

Put it in warm water.

too right. Everyone has the authority. It should be on the fishery owner to check and not sell tickets to those with no license. If they all ran this way, everyone will be forced to buy a license and those that dont will be fishing where they know they wont get checked. It should be part of possessing your fishery license. I know the AT is working on this all the time. I sit on my local consultative and enforcement is a permanent item on the agenda. EA as a government body are not for profit. Any license monies are put back in to the Fisheries team. I know they are starting to increase the amount of warranted bailiffs. How it works is that any member of staff or anyone can ask for your license however only warranted bailiffs can take details and put you up for prosecution. Historically this has just been the enforcement officers, however now members of the FBG (fisheries, biodiversity and morphology) team are being warranted so they can carry out checks whilst out on site and also be on call to respond to call-ins. One thing that I see as counter productive, and it's too late to change now is not charging to get fish movement licenses. This would have increased fisheries revenue massively but wasnt done. Now the system has been changed to an ongoing license, not per movement, the chance to charge is limited. Most fish farms will already have their licenses in place. Unless a new reform on that comes around (unlikely) then you cant introduce charges really as the bulk of the income will have been missed.

Personal view... YES! before a ticket is issued a valid rod license should be produced. Clubs and syndicates should do it too. A very complex system would be required for the online purchases though, some form of verification with the EA database. Problem is it creates more hassle than its worth. You'd lose money, have to chuck someone off the fishery which could result in aggro. An EA officer was assaulted recently http://www.anglersmail.co.uk/news/rod-licence-dodger-guilty-of-assault-74962 A responsible fishery owner would check, one that cares about the industry/environment/etc. unfortunately many are only in it for the money and dont actually care beyond growing the bank balance.

It's double figures still. Nice and mild tonight. One pair of socks and open front with the sides clipped back on the bivvy.

Well I'm out tonight in the mild weather. 4 others were here when I turned up and meant I couldn't fish my normal area. Luckily last week I spread bait all over the lake before I left. I'm giving the other open water area a shot after seeing nothing for 2 hours worth of looking apart from silvers. Three rods cast out with pub chucks looking for a decent drop. Had a single bleep on one but still yet to see/hear a carp! Fingers crossed they get active during the dark and I can locate them.

true. I just feel like I've been missing something and I should have been catching. They are still using the area I have been baiting and catching from. The bailiff saw a fish bosh over it the Wednesday and I fished the Friday night. In the cold water temps i'd not expect them to move far. Oh well, another session is another chance to catch!

Hope to come out of the rut. 3 blanks in a row and not even seeing any signs of the carp. I may be missing something though as my rods arent out until gone 1pm on arrival and I'm packed up and off by 11am. Potentially bite time is sometime inbetween that! luckily getting to stay on longer on Friday so we shall see.

I'm off out Thursday night, the winter solstice. Shortest day of the year coupled with an almost new moon and 10c during the day and down to 9c at night, early morning 7c. Xmas eve looks even better but thats not happening! Anyone have any views on the solstices (summer & winter) fishing wise?

Shocked at that. But again highlights the microclimates that are about. The valley is always fairy extreme in conditions I think. When it rains, it pours. When it's cold, it's arctic. When it's hot, it's very hot. Differs from further up the hill to where I am now. Little 5 acre lake not fully iced over. Your lot are much bigger and deeper and have got majority of it with a lid on.

Depends where that pit is! As I sit here now. About 30% of the lake is iced over. The deepest bay, the shallowest bay and the boathouse bay. Plus a bit of open water. The deep bay has been iced over for a few days now. It started icing last Friday night. The first part of the lake to go. I think everywhere has it's own microclimate. Here it seems to stay hotter for longer in the summer but also stay colder longer in winter. Best winter lakes are the shallowest. Just wish there was a shallow old washing pit close by.

I'm watching the lake ice over. I can actually see the sheet of ice growing.

Springs are hardly running. Overflow out the lake is raging though. Still a mystery as to where they are held up. I've not seen any signs for a while now but I'm not here enough. At least the pair of kingfishers are a joy to watch this frosty morning!

Well I'm currently on my third blank in a row. Both bays were iced over so I went back in the area I've been fishing since September. I had nothing to go on but on Wednesday I got a text from the bailiff telling me a fish boshed out over it. Maybe it'll pay off this morning who knows. Plenty of silvers showing in front of me.

I've found after a lot of use the spod 'button' gets loose and opens on casts, I just turn it around as the original feature is there to allow for spombing in high winds to stop it opening on a real hard chuck. But as it's a bit looser anyway it works a treat. prolongs it's life by a few months anyway. Also with spombs, if they open when being stored for any length of time they are MUCH harder to keep closed

Yep. I hope it does thaw. Was meant to be on a site visit today. Cancelled that though. Didn't need to be sliding around the countryside in the van!

Well the estate lake is frozen solid. A few places free of ice in the margins have got a dribble of bait. Hope it thaws for the weekend but doubt it.

You're my hero. That's brilliant. Hope you have supplies to last you a week! Hope you catch too. Must be boiling insulated by the snow though!

A45 is blocked up. No one is going anywhere I don't think. Hope he has enough supplies to last out another night if necessary. Only a short walk to Tesco though if needed. I got around the village this morning just about. Don't think I'll venture out further. Even if I added weight to the van it won't help. It's compacting so easy that it's just slippy everywhere.

We've had like 4 inches in an hour this morning. Roads are blocked. Including dual carriageways. Grit didn't have a chance. Ploughs are out but I'm stuck in the village I reckon.

It's as CM said. Can't really fish in there. Although the fish have been known to go in there when it's hot conditions so maybe they would when it's cold. Bait boat the ideal tool to get right in there as you could never cast inside it.

Ooooo snow. @yonny are you alright mate?? Make sure you get some good pics.

What any sensible fishery manager does is have a net, mat and sling in every swim. Problem being that things like KHV and SVC and even CEV (the latest one) will transfer on things like line, leads, hooklinks. You name it. Braid is the worst for it as water soaks in to it Then you have birds, can't net your lake can you. But a port of call is have fishery nets, etc. It will drastically reduce then chances of getting it. But how do day tickets do that? Places with huge turnovers and some of them a bit unsavoury.

Get the anglers locally to promote good biosecurity. Put it on pages they can't take the posts down. Irresponsible owners is what it is. They'll be moaning when they get it when they could have stopped it. Look at @yonny water. A confirmed KHV not far away and the owner did the right thing... although the spray you have to use, well I'm sceptical about that.

Massively. I imagine a lot lakes will be icing over.

Just had a look at the weather for the week... this is mondays forecast! Don't fancy that at all. Fish will be rocked big time by those sort of temps.