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First one of the year for me. Only small one at 17.04lb but most welcome. Rod was only in the water for 5 mins.

I caught this Yorkshire beauty at 6.30 this morning, a heavily baited spot with SLk doing the trick…

all set up for an overnighter! 😁😁

one from two nights ago

Just got back from a great 3 night social at Trent View, 2 nights in the Bay pegs 6/7, last night in the Hut Swim. The first day was a slow steady set up including cook/social tent - the full works lol and enjoying some good bbq. As evening drew near an unexpected weather front moved in and that spelled the end of our chilled vibe and the start of a run of frantic action. It rained all night and the action never stopped - I got zero sleep but by midday we finished up with 15 fish, 11 for me - I was truly knackered but buzzing we had both caught. We spent the rest of the day wowing at the results so far, prepping and hoping for a repeat the following night. Whilst I lost a fish to a hook pull early evening - that was the last of the action - the fish left the bay soon after not to return and we actually got some sleep but by morning we were disappointed that the second night was a bust - but hopeful that a change of scene would restart our little run. The last day in the main bowl started with confidence with a big S/W wind smashing in - we were on fish again and over all rods but as the temps dropped they backed off us and did the off. Overall a great trip, fab venue, will be back for sure! Somehow I have no pics of the first 4 of my fish and the quality of the remaining pics of mine were so bad that I ended up sacking the cameraman completely and doing self takes, fortunately the last few fish were the best. 🤣👍

Now that the pain killers have kicked in and the sciatica has calmed down a gentle day session on a club water was my Church this Sunday. Ended up with two on the ever reliable maggot rig on this boilie and pellet dominated water. A cold start to the day but by the afternoon warm and clear sky’s. It killed the fishing but helped with the chilling out part of the session. 😬😎🎣

Havnt been on here in a while , busy with life i guess but did manage this Common on the weekend , absolutely made up with this fish .

Well the exclusive lake we had booked at woolpack ,has started spawning 🙈. As we were here, we ended up on one of the syndicate lakes instead of a refund, so only just got the rods out & sorted. 🤞

One from another season. Dogs learned when to watch the water.

Finally I get to join in on a catch report again its been a while, not the biggest but a bite and it went like a train, 18lber to kick off 2022 for me though I will take that, I even tried to smile (best of a bad bunch really but self takes can be stressful )

rod and mean looking dog pic.

Not big but significant - first session on a new syndicate and first bite, 11.8lb common.

It finished with Mate on 11 n lost 1, Me on 3,....lost a good en to a small snag down side, seen show doing a roll, and we both knew it was 1 of the bigger ones in here....that's 4 lost...Lads had 1 n 9 million silvers n perch.

Bit late with this one it’s been a busy few days (and my sciatica has kicked off big time)😢 Did a 3day social with 6 mates at Merrington Tuesday-Friday and tbh the conditions last wk was rubbish. High pressure bright days overnight frosts N/E Winds tbh we couldn’t have had it any less carpy 🤣🤣. Coming out 6th out of 7 didn’t help my cause but I ended up in an ok swim so all wasn’t lost. The complex switched right off tbh and with zigs banned I knew I’d have to be fishing neat and tidy to pinch a bite. Ended up with this 24lber that was caught to a single dumbbell krill wafter with a bit of washed out pink pop up to give the bait some focus with no freebies on a combi rig and was more than happy with my prize. Unfortunately 3 lads blanked and mine was one of only 5 fish to grace the bank again disappointing but as said the conditions was rubbish. Tbh I’d of fancied my chances on zigs and think I’d of had a few if I had the chance to use em !!! Very frustrating 🤣🤣🤣So it was hometime Friday but given I had a few kilo of pellet and boilies made up a quick grovelling call to the Mrs and the promise of a nice dinner at her favourite pub I got the green light to do a quick night on a local club water only 15mins away with a mate (I had to get rid of the left over bait…….. well that’s my excuse)🤣🤣🤣 so rigs was changed and our chosen venue was a smaller mixed stock snaggy old water….. That holds around a dozen cats up to 50lb. The carp don’t go big in Spring Pool so I opted to fish snowman style 24mm oily bottom baits and 20mm squid n scopex pop up over a couple of kilo of krill and pellet over each rod and was rewarded an hr into dark with this moggy munching 20lb+ All in all a good week at least we had good social weather even tho the fishing wasn’t the best. Came home Saturday morning and sorted my kit out and did the gardens only for Sciatica to kick off big time so it looks like I won’t be on the bank for a few weeks now 😢😢😢 Tight lines,chaps and thanks for reading. 😬😎🎣

all set up for a 2 nighter. Water level is well down! About 8-10ft I reckon!

Was on the bank about 10pm last night...mate has had 3 already.

Young Max learning how to be a carp dog with veteran George - much to learn but he looks the part - much fun had.

New water - chilled vibes!

A blank from oxlease but my mate had a 19lb Common a long fish what yonny would call a cricket bat fish, he also had a 25lb Mirror so made up for him…. I learnt the need to cover all bases and eventualities. I knew the swim I was going to fish a little bay to my left only I access to it and it was a 151/2 wrap cast to under the trees, feed them by hand and cast close to them. Well I fed them by hand cast to them and that was that lol. I should have realised after a day that they were there just to chill and hang out, should have had a plan B taken a marker rod find a spot in open water bit of spod and fish that…. But what a sight I had up close to carp in gin clear water over a clean sand gravel bottom, hours of just looking at them lol Apologies for the quality of the pics

Saute potatoes, with onion, mushroom, baby corn and a rare rump steak for tonight.

Last wk on a little social with a few mates 😬😎🎣

These arrived today, they seem a lot smaller now I've held them, I do like them though,

well that was an event, first night out with fred of course he slipped his harness and went for a swim, nearly made it to the island in the middle before i had to use my terrier voice he turned and came back, had his coat on as well real strong and keen swimmer, shocked him a bit when he seen i was still on the bank and not swimming with him. anther dog came in the bivvy he was ok with that. not bad considering there was a group of lads a few pegs down breaking wood and having a fire. just watching them no barking. i had two out a common around 12 lb and slightly bigger mirror.

Omg glad I got here when i did rammed now but I managed to get a decent swim probably my first choice tbh, (old faithful) what made it even better, within minutes of pulting out some bait I started seeing patches of fizzing in the area,3 shows and a few small rolls and stuff I had to wait to get my middle rod out til I thought they had moved off, then a bit later I did, good job because within half hour it had ripped off stripping line like it really wanted to get away , and I didn't want that as the pads are back up to the surface now, but I held on gave as little as I could and eventually after taking out both my other rods I netted it, 18lb mirror nice to be in a swim with a chance again, I'd sorted all the rods out again for about 10 mins I went to a fancy wafter combi rig with an 18mm wafter struck into a lifting bobbin but catching a 6oz rudd and it blunting the hook meant I went back to a Ronnie, so it's a ronnie on all 3 one match the hatch one tangee peach and one KLS, KLS 1 other pop ups 0 I'm being greedy I want another one now come on the carps 🙏 Good luck ouch and anyone else out 🤞

Good luck on the overnighter mate, I’m off out on an overnighter tonight too. Straight from work

Right I've got the car loaded finish work at 2 straight to the lake for an overnighter, think I may have overdone the bait tipped a 5kg bag of bio dumbells into a bucket added a few scoops of pellet, my main baiting tools are a hand of god bait spoon on a net handle, throwing stick, catapult or airbomb, left the toy boat at home again, just got to hope they don't decide to spawn today now, and hope it isn't too busy but at some point they will be getting a feed 😂 It's been too long since I've caught one so come on the carps let me join in on a catch report for once 🙏🙏🙏

Well my 2 nighter is over, 9 fish came out, including 3 30s, but none by me! Blankety blank I’m afraid! Bumped one off on the strike after a savage drop back at 3am which kited under the middle rod, setting that one off… I struck the wrong rod at first… nightmare. Still, good to be out!

Whoops got sent this picture from my good lady earlier 😂 30 quid though not too bad for all this I didn't think 😂

The social - job one complete - cookhouse/sitting room - you'd have thought we were in France for a week not up the road for 3 nights 🤣

Spent the morning helping at our bigger club lake, and squeezed in a quick fish this evening. The second of two fish, in a couple of hours! First was 7.5 pounds at about 19:30. This one just scraped a double about an hour later. Bits box for soze is just under 10 inches long. Both on naked chods with Handcraft hookbaits pink squid wafters.

I'm positive I had fish feeding over my bait this week, in fact this morning, but I felt because it was over birdfood and Vitalin they weren't picking up boilies, so with previous sessions in mind I had ordered some treats for them for hookbaits. The massive flat patch is where one of my baits was, but a snowman hookbait, 15mm pop-up over an 18mm bottom bait, not a bleep. I'm pretty positive it was carp clearing the smaller food items.

Rod n dog shot in one, planning to get to the island, there had been a swan bullying the gease he was watching that, then as i was spombing the swan came over and pecked the staging for a dropped bait, fred flew at it and snapped the catches on his coat, it's just a cheap on from BM, he stopped on the very edge of the platform and saw the swan off. so i popped his harness over his coat and went to sort the spomb rod out, just seen a blue flash fly into the lake and start heading for the island where the swan went. shocked him a bit due to how heavy the coat got. he did make to the island just, the swim back was a struggle and yes i would of went in if need be.

Well, back home now from the woolpack. mates and doing another night , but I had to get home ... off to Scotland on a family holiday in the morning. Ended up with 9 takes & 8 tench 🙈 biggest was probably 8lb ish . But a blank on the carp front !

he does like a kipp when out.

Rules are rules when it comes to fisheries. You accept them or you don't fish imo. If you have no paper license you'd make sure to take your phone if the rules are you need to show the license surely? Just turn it off if you don't want calls. This makes no sense to me at all mate. If the fishery requires you have a license why not just show it to them? Awkward sod 🤣

Tip 1 You must use only cold water as to replicate the water temperature of the lake at this time of year, so you must, and I can’t emphasise this to much BE very quick in testing pva solid bags in the bath as you will freeze your 🥶 🌰 🌰 Tip 2 When testing pva bags in the bath I recommend the use of barbless hooks … just in case for the obvious reasons 😏 Tip 3 The use of oils when testing pva bags in the bath is also strongly NOT recommended as in a blink of an eye you could be impaled on one of the taps … or if unlucky both taps 🤔 Heres a pic of a bag in a kitchen bowl with 2 and 4mm pellets and a bit of ground bait with a small wafter with half a syringe of sticky baits cloudy krill liquid

And no, I’m not banned. Just never have much time to post. I still read through where I can, keeping up with monitoring swearing etc.

Another from the river Lot.......

Almost a sunset

Breakfast, Iv pushed the boat out and gone for the extra one…

I can give you an add to this: Start off with a basic hair rig and adapt and play with it. I mention the perfect hooking point, middle of the bottom lip. If you are losing fish to hook hookpulls during the fight at the start, are hooking them at the very front of the mouth, the hair is not long enough. When the basic hair rig stops catching move onto the next development, the sliding or extending hair, or add a line aligner. As @yonny says, a bottom bait rig, and a pop-up rig it really is that simple. I don't fish zigs, so I can't comment on their effectiveness. How effective your rig is can be changed by what and how you feed. A rig with a short hair can be good for fishing over particles or groundbait, yet over boilies may be very ineffective. A rig with a long hair may be great for boilies, yet awful for fishing over particles; the long haired bait may be blown in and out with no hooking, or alternatively cause bite-offs.