A Bit Of Interactive Bank Chat

[smufter]

5 minutes ago, greekskii said:

A friend put me on to the PB products control mono. Seen it in the flesh and it’ll be on my reels when I respool. Silly thin diameters with high breaking strain and it lives up to it too. 24lb is 0.35. It also sinks very well. I’d say a tad better than the HD, which I found to be very easy to sink once wet. A bit expensive at £25 per 1000m but it comes on a larger diameter spool to help stop any coil memory. 

As somebody who tends to go by line thickness rather than breaking strains, those ultra thin diameters worry me...

18lb 0.30mm?????? 😱😱😱

[greekskii]

1 hour ago, smufter said:

As somebody who tends to go by line thickness rather than breaking strains, those ultra thin diameters worry me...

18lb 0.30mm?????? 😱😱😱

It did me initially, but then you can up the breaking strain and retain the same thickness line as a would normally use. I did also watch him saw in to a branch with the 18lb stuff. 

Edited June 7, 2018 by greekskii

[greekskii]

3 hours ago, smufter said:

As somebody who tends to go by line thickness rather than breaking strains, those ultra thin diameters worry me...

18lb 0.30mm?????? 😱😱😱

Just to add, I have just looked it up and 18lb in Gardner GT-HD is 0.39mm and you get 800 odd metres on a spool. PB Control line at 0.38mm has a breaking strain of 28lb and supplied on a 1250m spool. 

As you said, if you go with diameter as I do, you get a higher BS as a result, an overall stronger line. Makes sense! The 24lb seems perfect. Same diameter as the 15lb GT-HD but 9lb stronger BS! 

[yonny]

I'd take the BS with a pinch of salt @greekskii. What I'd call a poor 0.38 line breaks @ ~17-20 and a good'n breaks at ~ 20-22. The HD goes 21ish so it's underrated and I'd almost guarantee you the PB is over-rated on BS.

Edited June 7, 2018 by yonny

[greekskii]

probably @yonny but from what I've seen it is a good line and highly rated by the lads that use it. I'll give it a go, HD has been a very good line for me, but I've heard some stories of if going downhill. I got the first release, it wasnt available for a while and the newer stuff seems to kink easily and not sink as well. 

I clipped on a spin doctor to sort out some twist I had a few weeks ago, the line came back more twisted than it was originally!! Not quite sure how, it's a simple thing to do, start short, go longer. Led the lead stop spinning after each cast. 

[Gazlaaar]

I did my first session back down the Cotswolds on Wednesday, and despite finding a group of fish and sneaking in as quietly as possible nothing materialised. It did give me a good chance to see a number of the fish up close and personal, and boy are there some crackers to be had. Nonetheless I absolutely loved being back, the peace and quiet definitely suits me.

 

[B.C.]

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 😊

 

[B.C.]

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 😊

[yonny]

Nice @B.C.

[Gazlaaar]

I've started keeping a diary on my phone and it very quickly turned into a little account of my session, so I thought I'd share it on here.

I went for a walk up and down the Green Mile, I quite fancied a swim half way along, as I had caught from the swim before and to the left lay about 50 yards of unfishable tree lined margin, but I really didn't want to fish a swim just for the sake of it, I wanted to see fish first. I did see fish up in the top corner, nothing to big and they looked like they were just sunning themselves. I know these fish weren't really up for a feed so I kept looking, but the area was noted. It wasn't until I'd gotten down into the car park swim on magoo bank that I saw a good group of fish milling around down the right hand side under the scum and floating weed that had gathered into that corner. The group were 14 strong, mainly doubles with a handful of twenties and two very big dark fish. A foot across the back, one was a heavily plated mirror the other a common. I held back any thoughts of getting a rod in place while they were there, and just kept watch.

After what seemed like an eternity of watching them move in and out of the area I ceased my chance and quickly got a baited rig onto the route they were using down to my right.

My left hand rod was spooned in with a good helping of chops and pellet right under a branch.

Within an hour, the group were back, totally oblivious to my presence, I had set the rods right back and very low, I'd positioned my brolly and kit behind the bankside vegetation, I knew I had done everything I could and all I had to do was wait. I felt sure the right hand rod would go and waited full of anticipation.

The wind had been pushing into this corner for a couple of days and it's also the area the sun first hits in the morning so even if I didn't get a fish during the day it was still game on for the morning.

It was a very hot day, there was a constant breeze pushing into the corner, I couldn't feel it being set up behind the long grass.
It just seemed to get hotter and hotter, I gotten through a gallon of water that day, I don't do well in the heat of the sun, I even had to take a couple of ibuprofen as the heat had just started to kick off a headache, but still I remained and waited.

Nothing happened all night long apart from the constant buzzing of mosquitos that kept me awake for quite some time.

Eventually I did fall asleep and awoke to a lovely calm morning, overcast but still warm, the water was still. 

As I gathered myself and put the stove on for the first coffee of the day I noticed something out of the corner if my eye.

A movement over my left hand spot, nothing too visual but water displacement. It's difficult to explain this kind of movement, it's not a definite sign of a fish but more the aftermath of something moving water, a bit like when you get a take off a big fish close in, the water almost drops as the fish charges off.

Anyway

I kept watch and saw a tail, the very tip silently broke the surface. I couldn't see the fish as it was still pretty dark, my heart skipped a beat and I knew a bite was immanent.

I quickly slipped on my boots and kept watch, something was definitely moving and the clock was ticking as I had to start packing up in an hour.

That hour passed so quickly and I didn't receive any kind of indication, I knew something must of been wrong.

It wasn't until I wound in, that I knew what had happened. The pop up was missing, damn crayfish I thought, or words to that affect, and although absolutely gutted at the thought of missing a bite, it was comforted by the fact I knew I had done everything right, it was just one of those unlucky moments.

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Gazlaaar

[cloud9]

You need to write a book gaz , no kidding you have the touch.....

[Gazlaaar]

38 minutes ago, cloud9 said:

You need to write a book gaz , no kidding you have the touch.....

Cheers Cloud

[cyborx]

gutted for you Gaz, had many similar experiences myself but none of them have prompted such an outpouring of angst as yours bud.

must be worse reading about someone elses let downs than my usual shrug, grunt and move on

[Gazlaaar]

It's just one of those things Jon

[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 😊

[Gazlaaar]

1 hour ago, B.C. said:

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 😊

Hindsight is a lovely thing,

you can never be too sure, 

[Gazlaaar]

There you are 

 

[Gazlaaar]

Yesterday's session

Well what can I say

I found a group of fish after hours of looking, got everything done really quietly, so quietly the fish were milling over my 2 margin spots. Of course I was rubbing my hands together. I watched them for an hour or so when from nowhere appeared several fishermen. Right behind my bivvy, baring in mind I was the only one fishing. 3 old boys and the rest around the same age as me I suppose. 

They thought nothing of laughing and joking calling eachother this and that in raised voices, in full view of the very fish I was fishing for.

I actually watched all of the fish slope off, and then stepped out of my bivvy. Not one for confrontation plus I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, I explained to them all that these fish were very finicky plus I was only fishing a couple of yards out, at which point they all looked very apologetic and moved on. 

I waited another hour but nothing returned, so I went for a walk, found a couple of fish, set up, in the usual manner and sat back with all the days events a distant memory.

Then the nasty little critters moved in, all night long, bleep, bleep, bleep, I didn't get a wink of sleep.

So to sum up yesterday's session, not the best but at least I was out trying and as for crayfish, hate them lol

[greekskii]

Lost my first American carp today. Hooked on a worm, all of 1lb or so. On super light tackle it took me round the scaffolding of the jetty we were fishing from. Hook ended up bent out. Fair to say I was gutted!

but I did catch a bluegill so I didn’t blank! New species for me too.  

[B.C.]

On ‎14‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 14:43, Gazlaaar said:

Yesterday's session

Well what can I say

I found a group of fish after hours of looking, got everything done really quietly, so quietly the fish were milling over my 2 margin spots. Of course I was rubbing my hands together. I watched them for an hour or so when from nowhere appeared several fishermen. Right behind my bivvy, baring in mind I was the only one fishing. 3 old boys and the rest around the same age as me I suppose. 

They thought nothing of laughing and joking calling eachother this and that in raised voices, in full view of the very fish I was fishing for.

I actually watched all of the fish slope off, and then stepped out of my bivvy. Not one for confrontation plus I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, I explained to them all that these fish were very finicky plus I was only fishing a couple of yards out, at which point they all looked very apologetic and moved on. 

I waited another hour but nothing returned, so I went for a walk, found a couple of fish, set up, in the usual manner and sat back with all the days events a distant memory.

Then the nasty little critters moved in, all night long, bleep, bleep, bleep, I didn't get a wink of sleep.

So to sum up yesterday's session, not the best but at least I was out trying and as for crayfish, hate them lol

That's a bloomin lobster mate ……………...

Got the chance for 24hrs Thursday night...… Really low on bait and the bait rolling gear is buried under a shed load of stuff so bought one of these from Aldi for 3 quid to do a quick couple of kg in the kitchen..... I say quick,, it always takes longer than intended, so should encourage me to sort the shed out...  "again"...…

Been knocking up a little groundbait/stick mix/bag mix..... Just some basic seed mix, with added mung beans, crushed hemp and pellets put through a little seed mill with the addition of some dynamite amino black at about 20% to help it bind and help darken it up a bit more (you could use a bit of bread crumb to help bind it, but I had the amino black knocking about)...….. the pellets giving it some nice fishmeal attraction and some oils to hopefully lift a few small particles up into the water column and I'll mix it up with some BAF fish hydro... Tiny half inch stick with an egg sized ball over the top, is all I'll be using, bite at a time stuff on my local.

Burnt my little seed mill/grinder out, so will be looking to get another... My fault for over doing it..... But for around 10 to 15 quid they are well worth having in the cupboard, giving you lots of scope to experiment with different stick and bag mixes, if that's your thing....

Just to add... When using ground bait or small particles ground up like this, there is no need to fill it in, I find less is best as long as you are adding some liquid food in there..... Too much in the water can sometimes lead to fish just sifting on the spot and too pre occupied to find a hook bait. They have an incredible ability to find a mouthful of food as long as there's some nearby attraction.

[muftyboy]

Been at the lake for a couple of hours.

Only one here and will be going straight to work in the morning .

Had 2 shows a rod length out so that's where I've just moved one rod to.

The other one is close to an areator with a couple of kilos of bait .

Hopefully won't be plagued by the big bream in here.

 

[Gazlaaar]

I got absolutely mullered by birds and crayfish fishing the margins last week so I'm now declaring war. The birds got on the bait during the day and the crayfish at night. I must admit I've not really used a lot of bait and I've now switched to solid pva bags to ensure a decent presentation. Ive decided to bait heavily in the margins just before dusk, an hour or so before I attempt to fish to try and feed some of the crays off, hopefully it'll help and I've also switched to just fishing plastics close in.

The top one being my preferred rig

I don't seem to be getting any problems off the crays out in the lake during the day, so I'll pick a spot and stick both rods on that spot then move one close in during the night. The margins definitely produce more fish but it's such a ball ache to fish. My mix is mainly corn and a handful of 12mm Boilies, hence the yellow plastic.

Wish me luck 

[chillfactor]

Creys are a nightmare on the water park , I had a result feeding the creys tight to the bank then fishing a metre or so down the shelf . Gave me just enough rest bite to get a take . 

Don't think your feed them off though mate your just encourage more  (imo ) 

[Gazlaaar]

To be honest chilli, I just want the hookbait to last long enough for a carp to find it. It's one of the reasons I've set myself up for a bit more stalking during the daylight hours, floater fishing and the lift method. I doubt I'll feed them off but enough bait may keep them at bay for as long as I need. Without doubt the diving birds are spooking fish, I've seen a lot of it this year, so baiting has to be put in during dusk. 

[buzzbomb]

I'm a caretaker and maintenance man at a bar, never buy sunglasses (or gloves) again.