gjc1

Woke up to this view early hours, 😁
 

says it all really !!!!!!!!! no instant fix so move on ! i personally wonder how folk can invest that sort of money on a whim and then just change their mind ,is that amount of surplus cash available ? i know for me its not . changing worlds 

i bet if you worked out the replacement price of that lot it would come to more than double the £1500 he's asking.
poor little rich boi

as a follow on to a recent thread by BC 'beginning of a decline' i spotted this on a media platform that i frequent (mods please note that i am not advertising this for sale).
NOT SELLING AS A JOB LOT !!!
NASH ABBREVIATED 6FT 3LBS X2 £150
NASH BLACK OPS NET £100
NASH SAWN OFF TIP TOPS X2 £10
NASH BLACK OPS SLEEP SYSTEM £180
NASH BLACK OPS BROLLY £80
NASH BLACK OPS CHAIR £65
NASH BLACK OPS RUCKSACK £50
NASH BLACK OPS FLAT MAT £30
NASH BLACK OPS 6FT DOUBLE BAG £30
NASH BLACK OPS RETAINER SYSTEM £15
NASH BLACK OPS WATER BUCKET £5
KORDA SAFES FULL TACKLE /RIGS £110
KORDA STOW BOBBINS ISOTOPES CASE £45
KORDA REUBEN SCALES AND BAR £50
KORDA COMPAC X4 £40
NASH R3 X2 GREEN £100
FOX BLACK LABLE COMPACT POD £100
SHIMANO ULTEGRA 5500 XTD X2 £140
END TACKLE JOB LOT £45
BAIT JOB LOT £65
KORDA TOWEL KORDA CATAPULT £15
NASH CYBER SHOT THWOINGSTICK £25
I will add more to the list once I've sorted through it. comment or pm me for any info
Most items have only been used once 😱 😱 😱
looks like someone fell for the hype then realized his xbox was more appealing

my opinion? for what its worth,
1) tackle companies are ripping people off, why? cos they can.
2) carp anglers are nowhere near as friendly as the old guys, they are more likely to be rude, ignorant or just sarky, or even know it all (which is worse imo) and
3) most millennials  and their offspring have lost the hunter gatherer Gene and are too money shy as they need to pay for a house first.
*****the above statement is the opinion of the author and in no way reflect the policies/religion of the site owners*****

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.
 

thats about my thoughts as well !! its was just like this in the sixties and seventies as well as later. theres the issue of people generally wanting everything NOW and instant success ,being partly driven by  imported fish and larger stocked weights, in the 70's/80's there were more naturally stocked fish and having to work harder for them created more of an achievement ! now it seems that possibly because of the easy dissemination of information via social media and the internet that achievements are much shorter lived and not worth as much ! " just my thoughts! there are also other thoughts lol"
signed 
"grumpy old git" lol 

thats about my thoughts as well !! its was just like this in the sixties and seventies as well as later. theres the issue of people generally wanting everything NOW and instant success ,being partly driven by  imported fish and larger stocked weights, in the 70's/80's there were more naturally stocked fish and having to work harder for them created more of an achievement ! now it seems that possibly because of the easy dissemination of information via social media and the internet that achievements are much shorter lived and not worth as much ! " just my thoughts! there are also other thoughts lol"
signed 
"grumpy old git" lol 

thats about my thoughts as well !! its was just like this in the sixties and seventies as well as later. theres the issue of people generally wanting everything NOW and instant success ,being partly driven by  imported fish and larger stocked weights, in the 70's/80's there were more naturally stocked fish and having to work harder for them created more of an achievement ! now it seems that possibly because of the easy dissemination of information via social media and the internet that achievements are much shorter lived and not worth as much ! " just my thoughts! there are also other thoughts lol"
signed 
"grumpy old git" lol 

Angling has been in decline for decades now , look back at the history of match fishing some open matches on the big canals would have a 1000 anglers with people turned away . The 70' and 80's where probably the peak in fishing numbers  . Carp angling has grown massively in a short space of time with a lot of 'instant anglers' and as in many things these days a lot have just seen it as a money making exercise even to such an extent that kids can't nip to their local lake for a few hour FREE fishing .
The sad thing is UK fishing is in decline , will it change probably not .
When I've got more time I'll bore you all with my views . 

ali asked me to lend him a quid the other day, i said "rich bloke like you cadging money, cant you afford to buy your own"? he said "nah!! im short"

I'd take absolutely no notice whatsoever of what ever comes out of Ali H's mouth or any other commercial angler in regards to fish safety..... Seen a few and heard of many times where fish are retained for unnecessary lengths of time, whilst waiting for the Gimp, sorry, photographer, to arrive... Only for the poor stressed out creature to be then, kept out of the water for far too long a time, so the gimp can get enough shots off.. Followed by the immortal words on camera...… "Now let's get her back in the water as quick as we can"...……  .. 😀

I have and shall continue to lift fish from the water in my net , just because hes a known angler doesnt make his statement right , just his way of doing it .

Not a fan of this being a record fish. May have been in the lake almost a decade (sure I read that last time it was caught at a record weight) but it’s one of the Israeli super strains like big rig and the rest of them. In a lake that’s basically run for the ‘must catch huge fish’ brigade. 
I think most of the carp world doesn’t acknowledge these type of fish, or capture of them as being skilful at all. 

I'm thinking of building this one but not sure yet 

Don't apologise Finchey, it's not a stupid question mate...…… It's a good subject this with a few angles to consider imo…. Here's a few of my views, and they are just opinions based on a bit of reading, a bit of fishing and various comments from different people...…
Glad you mentioned digestion. btw. Imo ( I will keep saying "imo", so as not to offend anyone)… The ability of a bait to be easily broken down, not just crushed, but dismantled , a molecule at a time, by natural enzymes, is everything  imo. It not only allows the bait ingredients to by utilised by the fish,( As once broken down by enzymes into, amino acids,simple sugars and fatty acids, to name a few, these can be absorbed through the lining of the fishes digestive tract, and on into it's circulatory system and delivered to wherever they are needed, within the body, to promote, muscle growth, tissue repair, plain old energy, etc etc..) but it will also attract naturals onto the baits/baited area too, for the same reasons. Ie, the naturals, snails, bugs etc , will be looking for the same nourishment. So a good bait, imo, will be attracting naturals from the off, onto your baits and providing a veritable banquet for any fish, this, imo gives the added attraction of lots of tiny movement over the spot, which fish will home in on, imo, with their ability to detect such things , through "electro sensory" detection... So these, easily digestible baits, promote a whole cycle of events, a life cycle if you will. And even if you are fishing a vast water and have put some bait in a spot where they are difficult to find by the fish (carp)… They will still attract naturals and in turn silvers etc and be devoured by the lakes inhabitants...Worst scenario, because the enzyme activity produces gas, primarily CO2, if the baits are not completely eaten, they will gas up and float to the surface after about 3 days and be picked off by the bird life or blown into the edge where the birds, rats etc will get them...……… Basically, they will not be sitting on the bottom and rotting for weeks...…. The only time that could happen with a good bait, is when temperatures are at their very lowest, this will slow down the enzyme activity and therefore slow down a whole chain of events. So in cold conditions, it's very important to put any bait in the right place, where a degree or two of warmer temperature can make a huge difference, to the life cycle..... So there you go, a brief description of what a good food source can bring to water, plenty of life in a cycle that benefits everything that lives in it...…..
Right, now shelfies, how can I put this?...……. " NONE OF THAT HAPPENS"........ They should be banned imo..... It's most likely some very clever attractor packages used in them, as to why they catch fish.. But the fact that they are stuffed with preservatives to stop the enzymes doing their thing, means they add nothing to the environment they are chucked into, with some reports suggesting that the preservatives leaking out, can actually be quite harmful to small creatures and actually kill off fish eggs...... Add to that, that the preservatives will also hinder the gut flora (enzymes found naturally in the gut) in our fish, so they cannot possibly break these baits down and utilise anything that is in them... You may as well be feeding them cardboard...... Bleached cardboard with a sugar coating imo......... When you catch a fish that is Emptying out loads of a particular bait, imo, it's a stinky winky bait that can't be digested and is just passed through, so please don't think they are thriving on it........
Right, getting back to the OP, soft baits, hard baits etc (again, just my op'). I'm going to dismiss hook baits, as I will always use a hard hook bait to get round the smaller species pecking at it , or coots etc picking up and dropping it.........
That just leaves "feed baits", mine are always soft, boiled for about 20 seconds just to form a light skin that stops them sticking together in the bag. The plus side of this , is that very few of the goodies, liquids and soluble ingredients are boiled out of the baits and once they have been in the lake for a couple of hours, they will break apart when the coots try to pick them up, mostly............ And having done a few pint glass tests on them, they will literally disintergrate , after about 10hrs, if you touch one...... Whether the softness of a bit is more attractive to a carp, who knows, they pick up snails, mussels etc which are hard, but they also feed on, bloodworm etc, that are soft..... Being omnivorous scavangers I would think that the hardness/softness issue wouldn't really come into it, as long as the right food signals/attractors are being picked up on... Nuts are hard, worms are soft, they love both.... The problem I have with harder baits (boilies), it just says to me that there are fewer soluble ingredients in them and imo, will be mostly cheap ingredients held together with something like whey gel or egg albumin, and give me the feeling that they are slightly "locked up", which may take longer for any attractors to do their thing, not great if you are on a shorter sesh imo...... If I had some baits like this, I would probably try to boost them and soften them at the same time, by first air drying for 24hrs and then rehydrating them/soaking them, in something with a bit of pulling power, liver hydro, fish hydro, that sort of thing....... Even some plain old liquidised live, a quids worth of liver, liquidised and diluted with some lake water is all you will need for a few kg of bait.......
 
 

Lol, no mate nothing like that, I just like to know what I'm using. I tend to do plenty of research on the stuff that matters and it can only benefit us all if I share what I've learned over the years.

Some things, you just can't buy...……… Good to have a few lads on here willing to share their knowledge for the benefit of everyone...……..
 

a bit late really " well no VERY LATE " not been on for a while but ive had a few (6)trips out now on the big water with the low stocks of good fish since reporting last,im feeling VERY comfortable now being back at carping but its very quiet up here now with the weather ,we had a cold spell starting a few weeks back that came in all of a sudden and even knocked a commercial ive been having the odd day on off the feed ,ive stopped the pre baiting now for this year and planning on starting again next spring when the weather warms up again ! if we should get a warm spell ill get the gear out again but now im thinking of starting on a bit of piking until spring ,on a positive note when i do start carping again ill be hitting the ground running 
   Plenty to catch up on  on here though ,all the best guys 

Good luck fella's

no ,no more liners ,the more i think about it im convinced now they were dropped baits,possibly off the bream in there ! yep really enjoying being back and that distance is to much for me (i used to be able to get around 130-140yds with a clipped down rig with shore gear) but not with any carp gear and arthritis    ! nice to see and a confidence booster all the same as because of the low stock and size of the water its a rare occurrence .likewise on yours bud 

Maybe thinking a bit outside the box??? Move a swim or two down and fill it in with pellet. Then fish your original spot with your rods. Being only a swim down, you can keep an eye on it for any carp activity and move onto them if needed!

shhh no shouting    , i think your spot on about late spring , thats my initial thoughts as well ! but youve got to have hope and dreams to keep you going  ,and all the time i can spend on the water this season/year will stand me in good stead for the spring 
   i fish against myself and the water as ive said before so any fish i eventually do get is a step forward for me , plus there is always the possibility of a very good fish .no rush !, no panic ! and no publicity ! its all just for my own personal pleasure as it should be     

not sure if this is really the right place but !
         aye just a bit  gaz   !  cant do interactive bank though im a bit of a technophobe and only do dumb phones  ,im just really getting a feel for the place, though ive spent a fair while just looking around before the fishing started ! ( i was hoping to start around may/june but building work unexpectedly started and i had to delay) and i have settled on an area that i know has and does produce fish occasionally " recon im wearing a trapper badge  " pretty much agree with whats been said about baits by yourself and big common and settled on particles " as ive a  lot of confidence in them from when i last fished for carp 30 odd years back and happy to stick with them for the duration plus its a big water with little pressure on the carp "or other species"from large quantities of boillies or other hnv baits so its natural ish ,whether this is the right approach or not time will tell ! theory behind the particles is i  can use a variety of particle hook baits  or fish a nut based boillie over the top (so it has a link to the basic background taste) giving a bait size the fish are used to ! im pre baiting twice a week regularly with about 1.5kg each time and generally trying to fish the morning and day after the pre bait and putting in about 1/2 a kg on each spot on leaving !  
   its taken a couple of sessions to get the feel of the tackle again so it becomes second nature ,and something i dont have to think about !,(i spent a day on a commercial just to give me a day casting,baiting up and handling fish again which helped ),its getting closer now to the stage where i can start thinking of doing a few over nighters ,im fortunate that i can get out mid week as despite the size of the water there are very few accessible swims and im limited due to a few mobility issues 
  i will get there eventually no major rush ,im just enjoying being back on the water fishing for carp again.im having another session monday and ill get out later in the week as well ,each time out gets better and i discover something new and fresh about the water   

Just stick to your plan, and tweak if need be,