Pete Springate's Guns

If it is a Dinton original it will be the second one in a week to break 50 after Tripple Row was caught ounces over by long-term member, ‘Hutch’😎👍👏

I hear that this fish was a possible Dinton escapee from the floods around 2007. No idea if its true but I reckon Simon at Dinton could possibly trace it back if he had a mind to. It wouldn’t look out of place amongst the White Swan stock, thats for sure!

Big bottle of Clearspring brand, double strength Tamari sauce to glug freebies and a pot of Baitroom Tiger & Toffee wafters.

In terms of license checks, twice for me in well over 40 years on the bank. Last time was around 20 years ago on a Cheshire club water. I was on a hush hush midlands syndicate a few years ago when 2 EA employees walked towards me and stopped for a chat. I asked if they wanted to see my rod licences. They didn’t bother, just wanted to check the state of some trees on the adjoing dam; a quick glance and they were off, ‘inspection’ complete. Nice work if you can get it.....

I’m of the same opinion and broadly of the same generation. I’ve fished since before I can actually remember; my old man started taking me as a 4 year old. We fished on a local club water for just about anything that came along but occasionally Dad would break out his old MKIV and target the Carp population. There were lots of kids my age on the same water doing exactly the same. By the age of 11 I was targetting Carp with my 9ft solid glass spinning rod, Mitchell CAP and fairy liquid top indicators...... At the time I was most definitely in the minority and the majority were general coarse anglers and ‘match’ types. I was always quite proud to tell people I was a Carp angler-it was a sub culture with very little exposure and next to no commercial value. How things have changed! Now I’m almost embarassed to call myself a Carp specialist because of the atmospere and associations with commercial tie-ups, and desperate wannabes. A long time friend of mine has all but ‘retired’ from fishing for the same reasons. He is a fantastic, gifted angler who, if he chose to, would be a ‘household name’; I know a couple and have fished alongside a few. Sad really. I’ve gone a little off topic here and no longer fish locally but I occasionally drive past the old club waters and rarely see kids or even general coarse anglers, just bivvies and barrows.

Agreed. Back when I used to make my own bait I used Krill in the basemix at a rate of 1kg in 12kg of dry mix. I accidentally doubled the amount when mixing and the whole lot floated!🤣

I do fanny around occasionally but for the majority of the time my go to rig is uncoated, supple braid, knotless knotted through to the hair which gives plenty of separation and movement (was original Kryston but now on the old ESP Sinklink) of around 8”, longish shrink tube line aligner to a sharpened beak point hook (loving the ESP cryogens). Preference is for a balanced bottom bait, Tiger, Brazil or snowman if using boilie hookbaits. If I can still reach the distance, I’ll always have a pva mesh bag/stringer attached. Its not really changed since the early ‘90’s and has caught all my bigest fish from silty Cheshire & Shropshire meres, to estate lakes in Warwickshire and Herefordshire and gravel pits in Northamptonshire and Berkshire. Occasionaly, I’ll go on single flouro pop ups/wafters and I’ll use a coated braid but hook and line aligner are the same, just add an appropriate sized shot.

When is a nut, not a nut?! That’s got the old grey matter working!👏🤪

77 on White. Its happens regularly.

I’m probably in the ‘remove their dangly bits brigade’! This has been reinforced this morning when a guy arrived opposite at first light and proceeded to spod for 2 hours.....Its ok for him, he’s down for another 3 nights, he does this every week in the same swim, usually midweek hence I was somewhat surprised and disapointed to see him today. Complete lack of respect for others; the lake is hard, pressured and swims are tight. Cock.

Yes B.C. I tend to agree with you......I really debated whether to re-do it or not (as an aside, I ruled out a move since; a) I’d not seen anything particular to move on and b) its a v.tricky water and a quiet night is not unusual). My default position is to recast but I am beginning to question myself, hence the post. I’m aware that Rainbow anglers often leave baits in position for several days at a time in what is a very pressured environment. As a counter point, I’ve often received a take quite quickly after a recast when I’ve thought I should have had action. Its a proper head scratcher at times, this fishing lark😬🤣

Thought this might be an interesting topic for discussion. I’m writing this on the bank and considering why and when to recast. The specific situation is one I’m sure we face on a regular basis. Got down yesterday evening and found myself in a swim I’ve fished a few times and caught from a couple of different spots. Left hand rod spot still clear and good drop so baited over it with the Spomb. Right hand spot had weeded over so opted for solid bag in the rapidly decreasing light levels with a view to finding a new spot today. It was a quiet night, odd fish heard but no action and no liners. Always leave the rods till midday since I’ve had fish as late as 11.30 am in this swim. New spot found and baited for right hand rod by 3pm. The question is.......should I recast the left hand rod? I was totally confident in its position, the ‘drop’, presentation and bait. I left it till 5pm and did recast it to the exact same spot. On retrieval it was perfect. So why not leave it, less disturbance might be an advantage?

I’ve had mixed experiences with GT HD myself. I was using the 15lb early on this season and found it to be a lovely casting line that behaved well on the spool. But I discovered that it was prone to abrasion damage in weed and I suffered a couple of unexplained casting crack offs. Since switched to Korda Carp line in 15lb, think its .40 in diameter and a decent all rounder; been told by a couple of guys in the trade that it comes from the same factory as GR60 though I can’t confirm it. For chucking I like the Gardner Light Blend in 10lb with a 50lb Powerpro braided leader and leads up to 4.5oz. Very impressed👍

I have no lack of confidence in corn/maize/plastic, just wanted to canvass opinions on preparation really.

Haha-glad you appreciate it😎 TBH I was/am a bit of a Springate fanboy. Like many of my age was captivated by the pictures of his Yeoveney brace and then of course his exploits at Wraysbury. Could never understand how a hoover repair/carp angler got in such good shape. Hence the ‘guns’ reference for those who are not familiar with the photos💪