B.C.

Nice Gaz..... This sought of thing is something I was thinking about the other day and begs the question, "How long do you leave it, until you realise something is wrong?" I'm inclined to leave the traps alone, for fear of spooking the fish...… It's a difficult one to decide on imo…. Left my right hand rod out for 18hrs last trip. After some initial liners in the first hour (or so I thought), I reeled it in 17hrs later with no boilie attached..... Can only think a coot was to blame early doors... Nice write up mate 😊

That'll be the first and only pic from this place, pushing it a bit with this one..... Self imposed , solo work party on the cards now 😊

A 24lber from a few days back, caught from under the tips..... Short 4 inch rig, slack lined and locked up clutch...… Have locked the kit away for a couple of weeks now. Too tempting to nip over the lake with it in the van...…. Had a walk round last night and put about 1kg of bait in around the edges, no where in particular. I will try to do this a couple of times a week. Saw a few showing. Had I left the kit in the van I doubt I would have got home any time soon 😊

Cheers, I'll have a look at the Hydro Tuff next time I'm in my local. I did buy a spool of Gardner Pro Line, in light.... As I'm fishing a lot of the gravel slopes atm..... I'll try it out first see how it goes, it's pretty cheap, £11 ish for a bulk spool. If I don't like it, I'll invest in the Hydro Tuff....😊

That is a decent price mate, you'll be surprised how much you'll fit in the holdall..... As for landing net, the one I have is discontinued, but if you can find a second hand Chub vantage 2 piece, they are worth a look and fit snug into that holdall. They also came with a quick release block as standard, which comes in handy...... Well in, for that sesh last week mate, top angling fella.

Popped back last night for an intended evening session, winkled out a 24lb Common at 7pm from under the rod tip again. So decided to stay on for the night..... Should've quit while I was ahead. Only a stubborn Cat of around 15lb through the night, took me into the weed, took about 40 mins to land and completely wiped out both rods which needed re setting from scratch...….. They don't half pull back, those cats..... Heard a few fish showing to my left through the night. My guess is that I wasn't the only one plopping some bait in after Sunday's work party...…. A fella took some pics of the Common and is going to email them to me, so I'll post it up when he does...……. Getting low on bait now, so will have to make time for a rolling sesh soon...…. Also, had 5 more tench, they are costing me a fortune in leads, Not much I can do about it though at the moment, as , imo, even a small lead needs dropping with the weed still up and dense...…… I went back onto the Gardner GTHD in 15lb for this place and I'm finding it a real pain in the backside. Can't fault it's strength and abrasion resistance, but it just seems to krimp/crinkle at the slightest touch of anything, weed, tip ring, bobbin etc. Even when playing 5lb Tench….. Not too happy about having to strip off 10 yards of line a few times each session.... It's the second time I've loaded this on my spools and had a few coiling issues the first time round. So I'll be looking to re spool again this week with something else...….

You'd be better off phoning them I recon...… 01702 233232... At least they will let you know if they do parts.

Work party tomorrow on the little lake I've been dabbling on...… The gear is still in the van so might do a few hours into dark after the fish have settled down a bit after any noise we make. Failing that I'll trickle some bait in while I'm there and hopefully nip back for an evening sesh in the week.

Thanks mate...… It's just one of very few simple rules on that ticket..... It's not the most difficult of venues and a few "bait boys" have exploited it in the past to not only promote their products, but literally fill it in with their bait and ruin the fishing. So banning public pics is a sensible way to prevent that..... I'll try to squeeze the odd pic in if I get a gooden from here, via my profile pic...… Should be ok now and then as long as no products or the venue are mentioned...…. I would have to check first, don't really want to lose my ticket over a fish pic.

Cheers, more than happy, considering my time is limited for the next month or two, it was nice to land a couple of carp.....

Fished through a downpour couple of days back...… Im not kidding, it felt tropical..... Temps were still mid twenties the next day, the rain had stopped, but couldn't get anything dried out too well as it was overcast and the air was thick with humidity..... For me, Summer truly starts tomorrow , June 1st...….. As mentioned by a few others, I think we've done ok weather wise apart from very early Spring when we had that cold snap.. Distant memory now 😊

Went back to the scene of my last blank while my mate fished the nearby runs water. Found a few fish where I'd seen one lump out last time...….. Different approach this time...… Fishing mega close in about a rod length out on the margin slope.....Simplest of rigs and maybe a dozen whole and broken baits scattered along the margin...……. 11pm a 19lb mirror obliged during a torrential downpour, 4am a lovely 23lb common on the same left hand rod... Happy days, first 20lber of this season...… I did have a couple of Tench, including a huge male which I weighed out of curiosity, bang on 6lb... Both tench coming to the right hand rod...…... Fish pics not permitted on public forums from this venue unfortunately..... But if I'm lucky enough to land something decent with a decent pic, then I may well change my Avatar now and then 😃

Got a mate coming down for a 48 hr guesty on the lake next door to where I blanked the other day.... Will be my last outing for a few weeks. It's quite runsy this lake and could throw up anything up to the high twenties for carp or 40lb cat, bit of fun and a bend in the rod this lake with lots of smaller fish..... It will give me a chance to put a little bait in the main lake and perhaps a little stalk around it the following morning with a single rod for a few hours to try and exact my revenge... lol. The kit will be put away for a few weeks after this, back to the old grind stone for me..... Hoping to hit the Syndicate through July as best I can, they are still spawning on and off on there. Once a few of the big girls have drooped a bit of weight, should see a drop in anglers.

I used to fish for Chub a lot in the past and found the best way to get the bigger ones was freelining bigger baits into likely looking spots.... Under trees and bushes and bridges mainly where they are waiting for food items to drop in and have some cover..Luncheon meat and especially cheese were good baits about an inch cubed would give enough weight to flick out on a waggler rod and 3-4lb line straight through..... If they were visible near the surface, plopping a bait a few feet behind them will usually see them turn and investigate the "plop".... Seen them follow my bait in when reeling in, like a pike chasing a spinner... About 15-20 mins each spot and you will either catch one, lose one, or realise that they aren't there and move on...… A day river roving for Chub was always a good day out and what you spot along the way may throw up a few carp spots too..... …. As for me, doubt I'll get time for any river fishing at all this season. I'd love a river carp of decent size, but feel that I'd need to put some time in to find and pre bait a likely stretch... Having said that , the 9ft Dwarfs look like they'd make great little lure rods, so a few hours walking and spinning for perch/chub/pike is an option, which I'm sure the dogs would agree with 😊

The Tench have made a real come back on a water I fished a few years back and raking the swim really brought them in. Had nine in total between 5-7lb, felt sure the carp would make an appearance, but they were happy in the weed.... I stayed put as swim choice was limited. The lead free leader material (Nash cling on), made nice weighty boom sections, spliced double at 6 inches helping , imo, to nail the tench , bottom lip all day long... Did the extra night, hoping for the carp to show up, but the coots diving on me in the morning told me that not a lot had moved through the swim through the night, so it was a blank for me..... Got a feeling that the limited swim choice at the moment, has seen the same spots being fished a lot lately, the clean bottom enabling me to use bottom baits was a big clue, perhaps why the carp are a bit wary of feeding here...…. Gonna play around with the weighted booms a bit more, perhaps going shorter..... Will try to squeeze a sesh on here again next week, feel like it owes me a fish already.... Also won't get out much through June...… No carp this time, but haven't felt so relaxed in ages on a water..... Went home happy..

There are Cats present on a water I fish up to possibly 60ish (One particular fish has never been landed, but hooked and lost a few times on carp gear)…. for me it's about balancing your tackle if you are deliberately targeting these Cat's. The fights they give are epic.... Cat's to mid 30's can be tamed and landed fairly easily on standard carp gear 3lb tc and 14lb line on a lake with little weed or snags...… The bigger specimens will give you some problems, in fact they will own you on carp gear and it will be pot luck as to whether they find a snag or weed bed before they are tired enough to land...… I would look at the average size of the cats and not the biggest.... An 80lb cat will give you problems whatever gear you use. But if the average size is 40 plus then I'd be looking at using at least a 3.25 tc or even 3.5 tc, that way you can up your line bs to 18lb or above and still have a balanced set up for casting and enough grunt to have some control over the fight. If there are just occasional cats, then the 3.25 tc will be ok, quite common nowadays for carp fishing, but be prepared to up your mainline and every now and then be telling a story of *the one that got away" lol. Trust me, the big cats are brutal, I'm sure they don't know they are hooked sometimes and just hug the bottom moving slowly, possibly still feeding... Once they decide to run, they really go ,so investing in some stage stands or pod anchors would be sensible too.

Well, it's been very spawny round my way... Syndicate is shut for now and they just finished a couple of days ago on another lake (for now at least), so the raking and baiting has been put back a few days. I will walk round the local lake tomorrow evening with a rake and a barrow in the van. And if there are no signs of spawning, I'll pick up from where I left off last week and get raking... I've prepped some particle. 24 hr soak with some of the liquid aminos I concocted on the Enzyme thread, I've used the mussel one, and a slow simmer this evening to finish them off. We've got maple peas, tares and buck wheat.... I've left the hemp soaking for another 16 hrs or so as there were a few floaters still. It's the huge hemp, which usually needs a bit of a longer soak. Probably end up with about 10kg of wet particle along with 5kg boilies, enough to get a few spots going post spawning...… The maples especially, would have soaked up a lot of the liquid aminos and I'm hoping that the fish gain something extra and instantly utilisable than the plain particle offers, which will need digesting to attain the free form aminos…….. You just got to love this time of year, the extra daylight hours and long evenings makes it possible to get a few things done...….😊

Here you go Chill... Tried to show line lay and bale arm width and compact body profile...…. At the time I bought these, I thought they were the best I could get within my budget, the spare spools being a bonus too, saves you at least another £150 on 3 of them... The Technium Black in 14lb is a very wiry line, something more supple would probably lay better.

I haven't, mine were ok from the off...….. Me being lazy. If anything they load a mega fraction top heavy, but seriously negligible and only noticed when they were fully loaded, by a few strands. I will probably adjust when I re load...… You get plenty of spare washers and spool savers too..... You'll need the spool savers, if you are buying the 14000's, or you'll end up with about 600 yrds of line on each spool...….. I'll dig them out later and see which size spool savers I used, I'm pretty sure it was the largest ones, but still get 280 yds of technium black 14lb on them.

I have these Chill, they are very light, with a very compact body... The 14000's have a very wide spool/bale arm and will not fit comfortably in any old rod skins/bag. They are fine in the Trakker one I ended up with... Brilliant line lay imo and cast like a dream due to the spool size.... Haven't caught on these yet so can't comment on playing fish on them.....£200 is a good price, that's about £80 off the rrp ……

Been using these at the lead end, just to stop any swivels biting into the main line under tension..... They do have a small hole in them at the top, so if you wanted to create a drop off system with some braid and foam nugget you can.... Tbh, I prefer the lead to stay on with a heli set up, which will aid the rig sliding off in the event of a break..... If it's weedy, I use the little Gardner clips to attach the lead, which will let you cast ok, but will open up and drop the lead under tension...….

Think I've mastered it with the poundland jobbies..... But I did lose 2 splicing needles today, they somehow disappeared into thin air... Gonna scan the bit of lawn with my bivvy light magnet tomorrow, hoping to find at least 1 of them, I've only got 1 left, and that isn't going to last five minutes at this rate 🤣

If I've enjoyed my time somewhere, I try to leave the door open , just in case I want to return in the future sometime.... Some places, you just get attached to, whether it's the scenery, atmosphere, other members or the fish.. Think you've got your monies worth though mate, slaughtered it really... Good luck on your next place. Them carp will be worried sick when they see you walking the bank lol...😊

Gonna look round a local lake this evening and grab some lake water to prep some particle ready for Monday night...… Hopefully the anglers would have pulled off by Sunday night so I'll go and rake a swim out and hemp it with a jar of ready prepped and some boilies too. The lake hasn't changed much in 10yrs since I used to fish it, the fish are in their usual haunts, as long as they are finished spawning, I've good a good feeling for Monday night...…. Gotta re spool some reels and get my new rods rigged up and ready to go and tie a load of rigs up ready..... Today Ill be bottom of the garden, nice cold bottle of cider lovely sunshine, prepping for a session, love it...😊.

Sorry Rob, just haven't had time mate...… But couldn't stop thinking about it when I lapped a local lake yesterday, where I saw so many situations where a pole could/should be used..... Hopefully sometime next week I'll have put it together as best I can...… The thing you have to realise is that it it was it is, ie, it will do the job, but will have a few flaws compared to £150 shop bought version.