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Hopefully start a project with a mate that will see fishing local to me again , after everything local to me was wiped out by otters . Probably end up as a little syndi. Got to be dug first though! Good luck all for the season ahead & look forward to seeing the catches start rolling in 😎

Another slightly better photo.

Will be a pretty uniformed bottom, But There will be the odd thing to to take note of I'm sure , 😉 the spot within the spot 😁 Cheers guys .... started clearing the ground the last couple of days .

Was out today it was a bit muddy but great to get out.

Done a total of about 130 hours over the last couple of weeks and yesterday afternoon was the 1st show I have seen so goes to show how important it is to be in the right area. Last night was the 1st time I've felt confident in that time. Nothing worse than spending hours watching and seeing absolutely nothing.

Didn't weigh it but I'd guess low 20. I finally saw a fish show just before dark yesterday so put the rod on it and hey presto.

Happy New year all 🍻

Well tomorrow im fishing an open comp , a Sea fishing comp , wish me luck 🤞

A couple of hours with a bit of cane today... no joy but didn't really expect it with the frost...

Out on a club plum pudding match on Sunday but out carping next week...

I need it...getting withdrawals now.

Hello Elmo , Happy Christmas . An Apeman C550 Dash Camera and a MacBook Pro ( 2nd hand , but well cared for ) . 😁

Either side of 15

Good luck 👍

I was sorting a cupboard out and found some old pics. One made me chuckle as if I'd not had the picture no one would believe it. It's not super imposed as one mate reckoned. The pigeon was a racing pigeon that landed in front of my mates bivvy and was obviously very tame. My mate took it home in the end and it flew off the next day. Anyone else got pics of things you didn't expect to see on the bank?

Sounds like they can be set up sensitive enough that a polish guy snoring two pegs down could set them off.

Depends on the rig/hookbait for me. For pop ups I agree with this school of thought, the rig is already cocked and prime ready for hooking, the imbalance of a small bait and big hook will improve mechanics. For bottom baits I think you need balance i.e. the hookbait needs to be matched to hook size.

Yep, got it in 10 lb. Still waiting for the red letter day on zigs to come though. I plan to perserver with them!!

You should of gone to your local carpet shop and asked for some of the cardboard tubes, they give them to you free and they are just the job for posting rods, I've used them loads of times with no problems at all. I am a tight northerner though. 😂😂

Well I did pull the trigger, and the new one arrives on Monday. Already have the skull cap (from the V2) which fits, just undecided whether to go for the optional mozzie mesh or the full infill panel. I'll make that decision nearer holiday time. Mozzie mesh is £49.99, the infill panel is £30.00 more. I have sold both my V2 and my Quest bivvy as the 100T is basically going to become my "Jack of all trades". With the prices I got for them, it's only cost me about £40.00 for the "upgrade" I'll have no qualms about using it for a week down in France..... as I mentioned above, I have been more than happy with the internal dimensions of my V2, and feel confident that I'll be able to fit a weeks gear into it. I do tend to fish light. The increased headroom will be welcome, as will the rear vents. Haven't been out much lately what with work and the weather, but looking forward to giving this a proper test before too long. I found this German video on YouTube which is much more informative than the UK one posted by Trakker. If you can understand the lingo, great. If you can't, just watch with the volume off. It's very informative......

I tried sweetcorn goo for a while when they first came out. No luck. My preffered dip is Betalin, lovely sweet flavouring. done me a few fish, had my only fish out the car park on it, so I'm fairly confident it works. I agree with the above comments, not much point in glugging freebies, it's the hook ait I want to make more attractive. Seems logical, that's why I've applied it to my fishing.

Long term planning then, Phil. Makes sense. When are we going fishing together? It's been too long, mate. Ian.

Welcome to the forum 😎

Thanks @elmoputney I mainly used 15mm pineapple boilies on the the bottom. Never tried pop ups on there will deffo give them a try. Again thanks so much. Took a walk round colwick this morning to try see some showing but no joy. Going to keep taking trips and talking to the Angler’s on there 🤞🤞

Don't get me wrong, amongst the "known" anglers he's still very much at or near the top.

I don't glug baits if I am prebaiting. I want the bait to stand on its own. I found glugged baits, when prebaiting, even in natural liquids like liquid liver, molasses, or liquid yeast were sometimes left over the 'natural' bait. I'm not sure 'find the bait' is quite right, especially after fishing large reservoirs where it can take the carp a couple of days to move into the area. All of my fish have come to baits out of the bag. Same with prebaiting on Earith, even though I knew about glugged baits, every fish came on a plain straight ordinary boilie, and I did try both high attract pop-ups and glugged baits. However I do think a glugged bait can create a feeding trigger or inquisitive take if the carp find one 'on its own'. My largest or personal best river carp of 28lb did take a bait soaked in Nutrabaits Bait Soak Complex, which was I think a mix of Multimino, Nutramino. The session was only 2 1/2hours long. I was using a soaked bait over pellets to try to get a feeding or pick up reaction. From that bait soak I did start playing with natural liquids, occasional natural flavours and glycerine. Liquid Yeast and Liver with glycerine worked best, but even with glycerine as a preservative had a shelf life.

I use Manilla Pop Ups and Wafters, every other day a give them a few squirts of Manilla Bait Spray. Now I've started to use Stix Mix and this made up of Manilla 2mm Pellets, Manilla Powder all mixed in Manilla Cloudy Liquid...fished with a boosted Manilla Wafter. When I start to Spod this year (Spod Mix already bought) I will be adding Manilla Pellets, Boilies and the Cloudy Liquid also. (Think I love Manilla??)

Ffs that's another one on the list then 😁 Actually I quite like the BMG square chod hook at present though, straight point and the gape is nice and wide

That was a good thread

Cheshire, so its pretty much the same driving time!

Some of the things so called named anglers get up is unbelievable to say the least .

same!

I’d say a vast majority of lakes are freshwater. Definition being 0ppt. Freshwater Fish have a naturally high salt concentration in their body. The salt wants to transfer over to the weaker solution, that being freshwater as it has no salt in it. Freshwater fish tend to lose salt and absorb water. This is why they have efficient kidneys which can excrete water very quickly. Sources of salt for freshwater fish are mainly reabsorbing it from their urea before it’s excreted, clay & food items. I would assume that it is not necessarily sodium chloride that is required, more so just sodium in general to maintain the sodium:potassium balance required for osmosis.

basically there around midway there was a plateau which pretty much eradicated any significant undertow as it was a few feet raised. Amazing debris trap and prolific fishing on the base of either side after a strong wind in the respective direction. You are right about opposite sides, I just assumed it as common knowledge. A SW wind would blow toward the 'bottom' end of the pit, undertow travelling toward the 'top end' before hitting the plateau and losing steam and vice versa for a NE wind.

Good angling mufty 🙂👍

I bought a cheap one and once you have used it a few times you know why it was cheap mine bends a bit and I don't really like it I think it may be the same as the go outdoors one , personally I would look for a 2nd hand carp porter or similar as it will probably last a lot longer if it's in good nick I had a mk2 before and it was much better

Well after much drama over the Christmas period with courier the bivvy arrived!! Very happy with it and it's very spacious! Did a practice run with it in the back garden haha Any tips on getting the material tight all round? Maybe it's because the grass was very wet but whenever I pulled the pegs tight they pulled out of the ground.

That's a good point. When I cleaned the tank the lead weight I used was covered with a gloopy mess. I wonder what would happen to a bag of sweetcorn? Lots of stuff to investigate and so little time.

there is also that fact that anglers rarely use a saturated solutions (did I see undissolved salt in the glass before it was added to the pva bag?) also that the premise of carp liking salt is down to the fact that nutrients in the floor of the lake bed can make the pH different in that area, so even a small amount would trigger a slight pH imbalance and possibly entice a carp to feed... for me, it's a moot point however, as I for one don't use salt in my carping, the fact that salt is used as a preservative in boilies is enough for me, (addendum....) I don't think carpers should be adding salt to baits in large volumes, as I too have concerns over it's use, but let's not confuse the fact that it can work, my concern stems from people seeing it on youtube or some such video and emulating it on a grander scale thinking "Oh well a bit more won't hurt" the media need to emphasise the possible dangers from the outset before advocating the use of a possible poison

Well done!

I've done it every summer /winter so far...but this year the line I've used in summer will be put on backwards onto my spare spools....the line that is at the bottom of the spool that hasn't seen daylight.

Thanks , Elmo . My Wife's unexpectedly going away for a night or 2 , so tomorrow I can go out to play ! . 🎣

I prefer a 3 turn blood knot, tightened up with pulling tools, never had a slip. The guy doing a demo at the show when I started used a simple look knot!! It's quite a stiff material, so the usual 5 turns isn't necessary.

A copy of Still searching by Terry Hearn Ridge monkey Perspective bucket Ridge monkey toaster A pair of distance sticks a bottle of propolis

The Ultimate 2.25 lb rods I got about 15 years ago were part of a cheap kit and probably not intended to work too hard (the reels didn't last). All fiberglass (not a shred of graphite) and because of our 1 rod rule I used the same rod most of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if it tested at 1.75 lb or less now, but for the close river swims where I never have to cast more than 10 to 25 yds I still like to use it. I suspect graphite rods aren't going to soften up to the same degree.

Tel on Sheepwalk Enjoy.

They will only soften with use so unless your hauling carp every week throughout the year they will be fine Ian. Even then I think they only soften slightly let’s be honest if you hook a big cat your going to get the run around unless your using your spod rod and even then it’s in the lap of the gods 😂😂😬

Best wishes one and all!!

Merry Christmas and happy New Year everyone.

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