bishops

The Wye a lovely river to be sure and well worth the journey, last time I was down that way was 4 or 5 years ago but it was in full spate and heaving though, The Seven I've never fished best of luck to you both.

No need to travel that far unless you really want to, there are some big barbel rivers much closer to Brighton.

One to look at, http://www.korum.co.uk/products/line-and-braid/xpert-reel-line Used mostly atm by barbel guys but suits carp too, thin, good knot strength, strong abrasion resistance, sinking, kink resistant, cheapish bulk spools.

What type of job do you want the gear to do, margin to medium range, medium to long, or compromise a bit of speciality with all rounders, it may also be worth looking at separates rather than two of the same and cover more bases. What size of fish do you want it to cope with, better to suit starting gear to your preferred style and expectation. Lots of questions I know but better to think about these things before buying than after.

now and again when the mood takes me yes, On lakes and ponds it needs to be in the right place with very little other bank side disturbance for float fishing or free lining, River trotting with a stick float and a pin certainly.

On the mainline, lead core is unnecessary and imo potentially dangerous to use in that situation.

In line running lead on a semi slack line 95% of my fishing needs.

Been doing the same, in-fact more and more the last few years, neat easy and something different.

Not much of my actual kit I would change, it's by no means the best or the worst come to that, but I'm comfortable and happy with it. I've decided what I really need is fishing Sherpa's to get it all to my swim, the downside to fishing some less manicured lakes is the paths can be long, narrow and tricky especially in winter.

not very practical from my point of view, I like to fish either separates or 2 on buzz bars / pod and one on sticks, also a problem with one head means you need to send the whole thing away.

old shoelaces is a great idea, I've used last years line, electrical tape and the green string gardeners use in the past to bulk out spools but never though of that one, cheers. I once brought a reel second hand that had elastic bands as backing to bulk out the spool.

wouldn't buy anything from that place. I do have standards, and any company that treats its workers that way no matter how cheep won't get my money. The way the thread went is sad but not unexpected, same old faces.

Too expensive for a rod rest for me but if it wasn't I would go for something in the defiantmps titanium range.

As others have said, don't think the money side really comes into it much now once you take into account time and how much ready made's have improved over the years. But for personal satisfaction and getting exactly what you want to achieve with a bait, for me it's still worth it as I don't make a lot at once. a 3 egg mix normally takes about 1 1/2 hours including boiling and clearing up.

I also do my baits just cooked 60 - 90 seconds mostly (I like fishmeal base so boil until they float), but apart from the first night to dry them in the air before freezing, I don't air dry or rehydrate them before use. As others have said gluing in oils is only useful if your not confident in the ingredients or attraction of your base mix which do the talking. I prefer them lightly skinned and mostly soft inside almost still a paste, to counter this will armour mesh them even if crays or other species of fish aren't present to be sure they are still there in the morning.

No shame in blanking anywhere, admitting to fishing brasenose 1 or 2 on the other hand.

Immunized not immune, some carp (mostly Israeli koi from certain farms) are vaccinated with an attenuated strain of the Virus, I have herd of cases of these fish reverting and shedding live KHV so they are no real defense against an infection and may even make the chances of it happening more likely, defra have also warned that there are risks, especially mixing immunized and non immunized fish.

sorry no, not for me, never been in a situation where I thought I needed it and don't think I would be where it was the only way to get the same effect.

It was the Everning Swim that was the suposedly haunted one, I even think they had an exorcism there in the late 80's, I've fish Pitchfords and everning swims they are very close to each other and never had any otherworldly disturbances. Confessions still holds up as a great carp book.

Jeremy Wade was always a dude, his carp mobile used to be an big old mark 2 Jag. http://r.ddmcdn.com/s_f/o_1/cx_0/cy_16/cw_625/ch_416/w_625/APL/uploads/2014/06/jeremys-early-adventures-pictures0.jpg

Jack Hargreaves out of town (always had a fishing section in it) and gone fishing certainly take me back and are remembered fondly. Anything with chris yates, passion for angling, secret carp, caught in time. Also partial to a river monsters but they can get a bit samey.

A fellow black adder fan I feel there is a lot still to do with carp nutrition and finding feeding responces to chemical and nutritional triggers, what made me join and post was the finding and dispersal of knowlage in this field can only help in the long run and it's not to be poopooed as you well know "what more evidence do you need? The poo-pooing alone is a court-martial offence!"

No not quite, every larger animal is on the red list, it's where they are on the red list that matters, wild carp are only listed as vunrable on the red list, not endagered. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6181/0but it is currently impossible to identify pure carp by genetic analysis, so it's very likely, only very few stocks remain genetically unpolluted from the more domesticated populations.

Sorry these statements are just plain wrong, carp as we know them today (Cyprinus carpio) evolved around 10,000 years ago