Leaderboard

If anyone wants to get behind a military charity, can I suggest SSAFA? After the breakdown of my marriage due to PTSD, and having approached a GP for help and being told that I would have to go on a 6-12 month waiting list for initial assessment (a timeframe doubled by the GP then "forgetting" to do the referral - 6 months waiting for an appt that was not gonna arrive) I was found by my parents and brought back to Sussex. They asked H4H for help twice but I was never seen by them. In desperation, (as I was a total mess, been hospitalised twice with pancreatitis due to self medicating with Stella and vodka - been tee total since 2016 - and having had my father find me removing my tow rope form the boot of my car - ideal noose after all) they contacted SSAFA or the soldiers sailors air force association. They spoke to a SSAFA rep who interviewed me the following day, (he was ex parachute regt) he immediately realised I was a danger to myself and referred me to a clinical psychologist privately of which they paid the fees, the day after the referral was sent, (a sunday) the rep collected me from my parents house and drove me to see the psychologist at her own home. I was formally diagnosed with severe untreated PTSD and referred for immediate treatment. I started counselling on the Tuesday. It took a while, but I got there. I even returned to the ambulance service, something I couldn't have done prior to SSAFA's intervention. On the last day of my treatment, the counsellor told me that it was "the first day of the new life" I left, drove to Wales to collect my boys, returned to Sussex and took my boys to a local holiday park 15mins from my house (nothing too taxing - got an awesome carp lake!!) walked into the restaurant and got chatting to a very attractive blonde girl, (terrified she would tell me to get lost - but as a test of confidence it was pretty scary!) After 3yrs and 3 months together the same blonde and I will be getting married next year... There is light at the end of the tunnel. Seeing my son catch his first fish, teaching my other son how to ride a bike, my youngest son catching a PB 28lb+ mirror... A thousand little things that I could have missed had SSAFA not stepped in, along with family friends children and my partner, I thought I was pretty strong, being a blood splattered war fighting medic, but my reluctance to ask for help nearly cost me everything. The fight in getting better was tough, but screw it, don't let the bad uns win! I mean, miss this? No way!

Your one of the best mate, the amount of knowledge you give away on here is great. Keeps this place going. We all know how secretive this carp game can be 😂👍

My condolences to yonny and emmcee, support to itsgrimupnorth.

Sorry to hear about your recent losses guys, nothing I can really say that will help but my thoughts are with you, it's nice to see you all opening up and being honest about things that effect you, I am also dealing with anxiety and depression quite often these days and sometimes it's a struggle and as you may have noticed it sometimes makes me overthink everything, when I look back its been with me for many years only I didn't really understand it and just felt like a bit of a freak,last few years I've really tackled it though but one thing I've come to the conclusion of lately these symptoms are more common than you think, talking openly about it has helped me no end, Keep posting its grim up north, some of your photos have been really Inspiring, and also just keep talking, it really helps take the pressure off, Tight lines all Elmo

I lost my mam last year mate, she was 55 and full of health. We found out she had a rare brain disease called vcjd. It was a big shock for me at 28 she was my rock even tho I’m married 😀. It was a big eye opener for me tho and I’d like to think I’m more of a man for it happening. I watched my sisters and my dad care for her and seen how strong they were. Basically made me realise we get one life and you don’t realise what’s around the corner. Big reason I got back into carp fishing, I think being alone and getting comfortable with your own thoughts helps a lot

It's a great forum. Its quiet recently but the members are great. Always good for a debate.

Overstocked. Get caught far too much .

These are proper northerners and they would have used a bath those 2 are Imposters

We do a bedchair buddy that would suit your needs. As not to sound too biased on here, there are other companies that have them available too.

I'm no expert, from personal experience it can be hard to relate, explain or burden, loved ones with your inner feelings. Yet a perfect stranger, that has no misgivings is a different matter & can be the desired tonic. I'm sure it wasn't personal stevo. Good for you ouchthathurt! Top man.

Very effective but that is due to the amino content (digested worms) rather than pH change. Imo a food signal will always be more effective than a simple investigation trigger. Certainly in any baiting situation anyway. For singles and zigs the jury is out.

I'd say some of the fish are deformed because some of the people fishing the lake have no idea about fish care. The other reason is I expect the owner brought a job lot of stunted fish.

Blank Bruno...but managed another Robin shot on mates rods...

Lol the conga I would have said

Good call mate. As water gets colder it gets denser so the coldest water will be on the deck, particularly in the deepest area. Some believe this is part of the reason the feeding spells are so short - because it's physically uncomfortable for them to feed on the deck due to temps. Obviously zigs can come into their own in this case.

I agree commonly i find it quite hard talking about my feelings to very close loved ones, but i find it much easier talking to somebody that doesnt know me. Please guys dont take it personnaly if people dont talk directly to you i know myself how hard it is sometimes I think as long as you can talk to somebody wether loved ones or strangers will certainly help. Gaz

I reckon I could, I did buy some olive green thermal work trousers from Aldi Saturday, they are fleece lined and kept me nice n warm with a base layer underneath, I also bought some thermal socks from B+M £2.99 I tried them today after my feet were getting cold in the merino wool ones, absolutely brilliant, they will probably shrink when I wash them but first go very impressive for the money

I’m lucky.... I can pass for the midlands mafia or the possy!!!! 😂

I shouldn't really but https://twitter.com/SlenderSherbet/status/1191974896114569216?s=20

Just bought 3packs of evolution maggot clusters white, washed out pink and glow in the dark, i am going to try adding some wrigglers into the water column for my next session

They are going to have to break down at some point or they will just rot on the bottom 4 days will be the top end of how long it should last IMO unless you go down the preservative route

I used to use a lot of boilie crumb, chops and boilie bits in my freebaits, winter and summer. Obviously you have the attraction the smaller bits provide, keeping smaller fish and carp picking them up. I rarely used any high oil pellets, switching to carp pellets only in the mix.

Good luck pal...hopefully better than I did...1 fish between 7 yesterday.

Carp often have specific areas they hole up in winter, year after year. It could be silt beds, near gravel bars, natural foods like bloodworm beds, or even next to snags, decaying lily pads or rushes. It is most definitely not always the deepest water, I have seen them in rush beds with only just around 3feet of water above them. They were only visible if you got into the water right next to them, you couldn't see them from any swim, although you could cast to the edge of the rush bed, and catch. In winter I rarely fish with any particles, maybe some very over wet soaked Vitalin as groundbait and nearly all boilie as my feed, although sweetcorn can produce a fish or two. I also reduce my stringers; instead of 5-30 bait stringers, I go to only 1 or 2 (14mm) boilies on a stringer with a single hookbait. One rod nearly always has a hi-viz or hi-attract pop-up as the bait, and I recast this regularly, trying various spots and various baits. The obvious bright yellow Pineapple (in its various forms from different manufacturers) works sometimes, as do others, Monster Squid, Scopex, Plum or my own version pop-up Garlic and Megaspice, which I describe in the Bait Making section. I really don't know what it is, but that mix produces a lot of fish as an individual pop-up, or as part of a food bait mix. Even in winter, the food bait will often work. I have described in the past a session I had years ago on Thwaite. For the first two days the high attract pop-ups produced, then for the rest of the week all takes came to the food bait I had been feeding sparingly since the first day of the trip after no other prebaiting through the year. On Earith back all those years ago I found a swim that produced fish every trip, although because I was catching other people did start fishing it. A little digging around with the marker rod, I found a swim with similar topography at the other end of the island. I went on to catch from here as well. My pre-baiting on here was as I left every week after a two day trip. I put a kilogramme of boilies in as I was leaving. Every take came on my good source bait. Despite trying a few times, the high attract baits did not give a fish. I wish I had known about the Garlic Spice mix then! NOT all takes will come during the day. As much as fish may be caught during daylight, I found some fish still fed at night. I have caught a lot of fish at night, even in winter. My biggest common at the time, from Earith, was caught at around 1am in February. Saying that though, my best winter session 4 fish, over 4 days, just after a thaw, every fish came during daylight. The only reason I fished at night was the distance from home. Earith Winter February 25lb common:

I soaked it for 30 mins and placed it in a plastic cereal container, Ive put new line on hundreds of times but never had this issue. There is a small washer under the spool on both reels. Maybe ill try adding another one.

Sorry Yonny there was no criticism intended of this friendly, experienced and often well informed forum. Perhaps I should have used the term “general consensus in carp fishing” instead. The logic being applied in the raw maize discussion seems to be:- although there is no direct evidence, one can imagine a situation in which expanding maize can harm a fish therefor it is better to err on the side of caution and not use it. To which I say, if that logic holds up, then that logic should be applied consistently. You asked for an example so I suggest the use of salt. Carp cannot exist without salt, so the argument goes that extra salt in bait or in the environment helps to replace that needed by the carp and is therefore attractive to them and beneficial to their health. I can find no evidence of carp in a normal lake suffering from lack of salt. Of course it has to be the right kind of salt and Himalyan rock salt seems to be de rigueur for carp fishing. However, there is plenty of evidence of too much salt being toxic to most forms of life. It is easy to imagine that too much salt can cause harm to a fish but how much is too much? Therefore, using the logic we have already established, we should avoid the use of salt completely.

Example please buddy? The same logic is applied to all particle baits. Then we have boiled baits which unlike particles are highly digestible (assuming you're using a half decent one), and pellet which break-down in minutes. Naturals such as maggot and worm are digestible, only the skins pass through.

Thanks mate - giving Rutland a go - proper noddy business!

I don’t think anyone could knock you for promoting your living,mate. 😂😂😂

don't know what I like more the pike or the bacon and eggs haha nice fish pal

This time of year I'd happily use either tbh buddy.

Sorry to know about your losses guys. Hope the best for you and your family 🙏

Nice, remember to squeeze the last bit of air out after filling, they stay warmer longer. ☺️

What I would like to do on one of the lakes you describe is to put out what you concider to be your best bait alongside some raw maize. If I saw with my own eyes that the best bait had gone and the raw maize left then I would be convinced. As you say, I am on waters that are hardly touched by other anglers so I argue that (for me) it is better to spend 25p per kilo than £10 per kilo on bait. I can then afford to prebait as much as I want without breaking the bank and that seems to work for me.

I looked into it very closely buddy but never did it. They're essentially fancy composters. We do have a composter which is absolutely loaded with worms but the mrs won't let me nick them lol.

I was walking to the canteen this morning at work and I spotted some lovely mole hills 😁 Seeing how the lake is now fully booked Sunday I may just just try it, will take a bucket and spade to work tomorrow 😁

I like my soniks Wasnt there a snide version of those someone highlighted the other day?

Umm , it's Guy Fawkes , Elmo , I would hide your fishing gear from your incandescent Wife . 😳

Will have to see how they hold up for now, I always found them quite warm but if I get cold I will consider the upgrade, will just have to go with the layers and the hot water bottle and hope it's not too bad 😢

No good elmo. I used to have that stuff many years ago. It is poor, with a very thin micro fleece base. It will not keep you warm in winter. It's not possible for it to. I am talking about quality thermal gear, different level to that stuff. Fleece and micro-fleece is intended to prevent loss of heat from your body. It does a job but when the temp really gets down you wont stand a chance. Proper insulating gear actually takes the heat in your body and holds it in the insulation. It effectively warms up and acts like a radiator. Ergo it's actually more effective with minimal clothing underneath which can prevent transfer of heat from body to insulation. It's worth spending decent money on winter togs and bag. They are a complete game changer. It removes the need for hot water bottles which run out and set you shivering, and heaters which are dangerous. Check out Snugpak for togs. It's not cheap but compared to other brands as effective it costs nothing.

Mitchell 400's hit 60 70 yards without trouble (clutches set light (runner stylee) tweed hat not engaged

I think it's cool to not be cool these days, 😎

The yellows filter the brighter colours on the spectrum of light during dawn and dusk but at night there is no light to filter. You'd be even more blind Elmo. They are great for dawn and dusk though.

with pike being a predatory fish do they produce anticoagulant ??? if they do that's why your cuts bleed more

They help in low light , quite well actually , not sure they would be much use in the dark though

There's a few that have done me well mate. Fishy Peach, Condensed Milk, Devils Dung/Cheese, obviously the Pineapple/Butyric, and I use the none flavoured ones for suspending alternative hookbaits too. But the one that's consistently caught me the rare/special fish is the Strawberry Scopex. There was a very rare double row lin I had a couple of years ago on them, it hadn't been out for 3 years. A pal of mine was trying to target it so I put him onto the Strawberry Scopex and guess what - he caught it. I am of the opinion that buoyancy/performance and colour are actually more important in a pop up than flavour, but there is no doubt that Strawberry Scopex has something about it. I've had a few rare'n's on them.

After baiting all week in the mornings before work, I headed back to the spot Saturday morning before daylight. I only had time for another 4 hour session, but I caught six carp. The catfish worried me until atter the sun was up so all my carp were caught in a relatively short period of time. A snowman with Mainline New Grange and Mainline popup were the combo that worked, again with packbait method feeder. Still no big carp, I'm thinking there may be some big ones but 7-8 lbs seem to be the common size for this water. Indeed I caught my smallest ever, about 10 inches long. Work and home remodeling has been busy for a while, as soon as I get time I'll start another cycle of making bait/baiting and fishing. This session was definetely great as far as numbers of fish... then again, we've had a major drought, and this session was following a few days of overdue rain that raised the river by a foot. The water had been slow & dark, maybe the fresh current caused the fish to feed, or maybe a combo of that and dumping several pounds of bait per day for a week.

It's a lovely 'photo , I look forward to more , maybe with a fish ? . 😁

Somebody has too..."Knowledge is Power" 😁

That’s the one and only me holding a carp looking all serious look,Mufty. Was a bit of a micky take on another group....... normal service was has resumed 😉😬