kevtaylor

Yes if you get considerably higher temps after a period of sustained cold that's good. What you really want is for low pressure storms and milder temps to go with that - bingo! Good luck

I'm no boat expert but I'd be thinking whats the biggest boat I can use and get from venue to venue, safety first! Good luck

Thought so - thanks for confirming and good luck 👍

Do you have to do a year on 7/8 to get on 5/6 eventually?

Here's my final entry - caught in Oct during a pretty tough week in Italy. I love the look of this fish and it came 30 mins after the most gut wrenching loss ever, so I went from devastated to elated on the next cast. Happy days! 😎

Ditto all of that - well said mate.

I like your way of thinking and if these otters were not illegally hand reared then maybe inner city areas would be safer for the fish, however these damn creatures are not scared of humans and have been known to take koi from gardens in housing estates. They are on busy day ticket lakes in daylight, they have no fear of us. IMO nowhere is safe for long, they have done lakes near me that are nowhere near a water course, on paper I would have said no way will they have otters!!!

Bad times mate 👎

Yes mines otter fenced and the price is going up, that's not the reason I'm not renewing though, I may go back on next year. Me and my mate have been talking about how it's going to go for a couple of years and it was obvious, supply and demand, safe stock = charge what you want!

Yes mate swims 16 and 17 again 👍 Can't afford the syndi whilst saving for this trip but no regrets, there's always day tickets, canals and rivers - should be interesting 😎

14 hours is a typical session, preferred would be 36 hours, although I do like one night it is usually enough for me.

I'm off to Italy for a week in May, no plans after that whatsoever as I've dropped my Syndi ticket. Day tickets and multi species look on the cards for this year.

I was snag fishing locked up in Italy with these butt rests - no issue whatsoever, although I expected the rods to be pulled in they never moved.

This is another favourite of mine that changed my overnighter from nightmare to dreamland. I pulled up at my syndicate lake on the Saturday afternoon a bit early around 3pm but was gutted to find the fullest car park ever! No real surprise as it was May bank holiday if I remember right. Rather than look for one of the two remaining swims I decided to drive on to Bluebell for a look round before giving up for home. 30 mins later I'm in the shop asking for the numbers on Kingy and Swan, to my amazement I hear Kingy is fairly quiet by usual standards. I take the gamble - pay up and go for a walk bucket in hand. Approaching the first corner I can't see anyone on the far bank - central. I speed up not daring to believe the situation, glance up again and I'm right - my 2 favourite swims are free - result! 😊 The right of the 2 swims looks bang on for the conditions - right on the back of the wind - on the line where the chop starts. Down goes the bucket and I'm off for the barrow - semi running, yet trying to look carpy as you do. I had a lead about and found what I was looking for - clean and smooth as glass - just off the end of one of the bars. So little resistence that I stumbled backwards - that's the one! I put half a bucket of 3ml pellets and boilie crumb out and a few whole baits - tight with the spomb. 2 rods on that and a 3rd 2 rods lengths off the spot. I settle down cook dinner and chill - feeling strangely confident. At around 11pm I have the first take - a massive drop back, I'm on it fast and after a lot of fast reeling connect with a chunk that plays hardball. After a good battle out in the waders I net what is a monumental fish for me personally, a very rarely caught kingy 40+ common from the venue that had seemed impossible and awe inspiring when I had first visited some years before. At that time I felt so far away from the guys on there - so a real milestone. I had 2 more drop backs after that and missed both - those fish are so cute it's a brilliant water.

Very difficult this coz there are a few that come close for various reasons. This is a fish later named Arnie by friends that came from a Notts day only club water, it turned out to be the biggest and one I had only seen once in 3-4 years. I love this capture soley due to the effort involved and the small amount of time available due to family commitments, but a 2am start until 11am one Saturday morning and several moves eventually put me onto the big fish group after spotting the most elusive ghosty, again only my second sighting. 30 mins fishing with 2 rods in the margin saw 2 takes - the first being a gut wrenching loss - then to my amazement a 2nd take, plodding battle and unknown to me Italian blood line whacker! Get in 😊