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Rod was in for no longer than half an hour. 43lb

25 LB common or just a tad under 12 kilo as the Lithuanian fella who took the pic called it, That's the hardest i have worked for a fish in a long time, the weed on the lake was ridiculous that horrid candy floss stuff, just had the urge to fish a more difficult water than Swan. Had the marker rod out found a clearish area about 50 yards out, but there was still a carpet of floss on the bottom, it was a case of trying to get a rig to sit on it put one rod out didn't get a solid donk from the led but i left it. put the other rod out and got a lovely solid reading back from the lead, donk. I was happy, all day thursday came and went nothing, knew I needed to change something, so i peeled out a foot or two of line and clipped up, really didn't want to move it as was on a tiny patch of something hard, i'd say gravel. Brought it in changed the bait for a bigger popup and threaded two foam packing nuggets along the hook length like a stick and put one on the hook, now i just had to put the rod back where it was. cast out the lead fell through the water and donk, right on the spot and it was a very small spot. Settles in for the evening, nothing not even a bleep, got rudely awoken this morning at 7am by two guys stood behind my bivvy having a loud sweary moan about the amount of weed on the water. I settled back on the bed a tad gutted nothing had picked up my bait in the night, just nodding back off and the alarm and baitrunner just started a long loud run, my alarms were still on night time volume, old school Fox MX, modern alarms don't have a patch on the sound a old Fox makes love the tone of a Fox. After picking the rod up and switching the baitrunner off I felt what I knew was a good fish it stayed out the weed long enough for me to get a handle on things then it made it to a large patch of canadian weed I just managed to guid into what i knew was the end of the weed bed keeping it out of the middle of the mass of weed. It tried to stay there so i gave it a minuit see what it wanted to do, it wanted to get into the middle, it was do or cry time, applying as much pressure as I dare i slowly brought it in, it fought all the way to the bank picking up as much weed as possible, now the tricky part, netting it, to my surprise I managed to slip the net under the fish first time and leave the mass of weed on the outside of the net further up the line. Cleared the weed from my line and lifted the net out to the mat, hadn't the hook come out in the net, scary stuff. My best fish of the year. Sorry about the poor light in the picture, i blame the lithuanian lad, lol.

Out tonight for a rare 24...... fingers crossed

Personally...today is too warm i think for Day bites...🙏🙏🎣🎣🤞🤞

Best of luck muft 🎣 Picked up my bait for my trip today 😁

@crusian I've used it in 20 for weed and 12 for casting, both perform really well. It's the green I use but thats because I didn't know you could get it in brown!

MOST rigs are an alteration of a basic braided knot less knot rig learn that and you can adapt it to make most of the rigs out there to using different materials hooks etc

How strange , I find it quite pleasant , not enough to put me off fishing and it only seems to smell whilst its wet .

Hopefully these pics will turn out - Gripz size 4 - smaller than others, but very curved in the point.

what ever you do don't sell up I sold all my gear a few years ago lasted a year before I replaced it all and it was not a cheap thing buying all my gear again now cant get enough carp fishing just wish I caught more but we all do 😁

Dog sitting to for a week...he will be on with me all this week.

Bit of a chop on today looking good for a bite. 🤞

"Forgive the mess" …..I think not ….you'll never catch looking like that 😂🤣🎣

You can't wear them in bed , Highy ! .

Ooops!!

It was a bad en 1st thing but started to brighten up...wind was howling to... I was next door.

Big hooks all the way. I use a minimum size 6 with 4s being my fave. I drop to 8s in winter normally if I switch to a more commercial water. For me I would rather potentially hook less fish but know when I do hook a fish the hook can cope with whatever may happen during the figh (snags, weed, etc) Reasons being: 1 - the larger gape between shank and point means more flesh is gripped so much less chance of losing fish 2 - easier to balance pop ups using less putty or shot so neater rigs 3 - stronger hooks as wire is always thicker than smaller sizes I will also disagree with the whole small fish dont pick up big hooks. I have personally caught 2lb bream & tench on size 4s popped up 2 inches off the deck.

Yes. There is a reason they're so popular, they're very, very good.

Is this so no one catches you wearing them? 😂

its a wonder us carp fishermen are not like body builders all the gear we carry to the lake 😂

I did, of course, mean the loop for attaching the boilie. Sorry I didn't make that more obvious. But as I say, the ESP stuff is a mess, even using a "braid friendly" baiting needle. I have the loop as large as I can, bearing in mind I'm only using 14mm baits but still no good. I shall carry on using it, but limit it's use to rigs where I don't need a boilie loop.

I’m only messing about mate. I was on the blackwater for my second time yesterday. Not too far from Maldon. I don’t actually know my way around there too much. I may of even been guesting but I didn’t see any signs

Could be worse least i wasn't eastern europeaned most of has been on the banks for a few weeks now, they had a weed boat due to how chokka it was/still is. lot of the regulars are saying they have never seen that much weed on mallard last years summer and the good sun we had this year really helped the weed. I'm a Hi Karti man A S N A rubbing alcohol

Stumble out of the bivvy, trip over, knock yourself out and fall into the lake? I can do that when sober, add alcohol and weed and it is curtains.

Look down the second hand route , and buy at least at 50% 0f retail on your budget , their are plenty of mint excellent bargains if you have time to wait .

I’ve got the green but likely I’ll get a Brown if I’m happy with it and mix them together

All the Chestnut teams will be out soon they fill sacks up near me and sell them on must be some money in it. between them and the locals that have a few the squirrels must be starving by mid-winter. they use a stick to turn the leaves over, must of grabbed a few dog truffles in the past.

thanks guys..no worries on that one keeping the budget down hopefully without going to cheap..always enjoy any time by the water

It was proper muddy today.

Hopefully i get at least 1 tomorrow.

That sounds awesome mate. I've spotted satellites before whilst fishing. V confusing at first trying to work out what they are.

I am starting to agree with that comment I think,tonight will be simple rig tying, I was listening to the Nash tackle podcast last night and mark voosen said we tend to overcomplicate rigs and length is one of the more important things he said the longer the rig the more pick ups but the shorter it is more runs (Its just finding the sweet spot in the middle that does the best of both )

Well done mate 👍🎣

Quick question, when experiencing these drop backs, where you striking immediately, or reeling down until you took up any slack before striking? If it was a take and the fish was moving towards you then immediately striking will just cause you to strike up the slack and not set the hook properly. I always reel down and "catch the lead up" before striking. If it's liners, then depending on severity, depends on whether I reposition it or not, if I feel the lead has in any way moved, I'll redo it. or else braid and a 8oz uptiding grip lead will sort them out... (Or maybe not try that one! Lol!)

Great if you like sweaty nads.... otherwise found mine okay (Ron Thompson)

Mate of mine who came to Beauregard with us this year copied these instructions and made some up. He was well chuffed with them and caught a 50lb Common utilising them (not that the poles had anything to do with actually catching the fish lol!). Just shows you what an inventive mind and a bit of time can do.....

anything will bend under enough pressure remember uri geller he used to bend spoons 😂😂

A couple of quid.... 3 quid..... I don't think an extra 100 pennies makes mush of a difference. I am not trying to disagree or anything buddy but I think any business charging 3 quid a day for kids and/or adults doesn't deserves to be called rip-off merchants. In this day and age 3 quid for a day out is pretty good if you ask me.

I agree it is very cheap for an adult but in this part of the UK kids are usually free or a couple of quid, that was my point. 👍

Be careful in what you read/see. Much better to watch an independent review😉

In fairness all my gear is bought with weight in mind so I'm as guilty as anyone there.

Yeah maybe I overloaded it though so it is my fault at the end of the day just need to learn to streamline better and get a bigger wheel cos that really is too small, I will ask my friend to weld a strut brace on the handles when I can get it done that will help no end

Newest purchase? A JRC Quad 2G xxl bivvy with over wrap. It's enormous! Love it cos I can stand fully upright in it. Bring on my next trip to France...…... Ian.

Mi e forr the day...

Exactly what ive put on 👍👍

Good luck and enjoy mate. 👍 👍

Well IMO I wouldn't advertise the venue with that horrible looking Carp , Smufter's Daughter's linear - now that's what I want to catch ! .

if I was you id send delkim an email they respond pretty quick but them you will get the answer you are looking for

Comedy of errors or what?? Aggressive take, hooked into a nice fish, made straight for the pads. Steve the bailiff kindly boated out and freed it, I got the net under it and lifted it out. Unhooked it and layed it on the weigh sling. Lifted it up to get the net out from under it so I could weigh it, it suddenly found a second wind, and ended up diving into the lake. Feel like giving up today!!! 😖😖😖