Fishing

Great first carp! I'm not exactly an expert, but would say it's about 7lb. Got reluctantly roped into taking my lad fishing a few years ago. I quickly got totally "hooked" [excuse the pun] on carp fishing too. He lost interest after a few blank sessions (that's yoof for you) so now I've lost my excuse/permission from the missus for days on the bank. :(

Well done! You can have a 9lb guesstimate from me. Size may matter sometimes, but in fishing it is overrated and frequently lied about. Time to buy scales and a weigh sling.

EB: I smiled at your misfortunes, so it served me right when a main pole of my bivvy broke on Friday. At least I didn't quite blank, but now I've said that I will tomorrow.

I'll certainly take a 9lb internet guesstimate, first time using cage feeders too which was fun.

Thanks everyone for the collective advice over the last few weeks 🙏

Gloomy predictions of a blank were unfounded, first (hopefully not last) of the day at 17-6.

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Nice!

well done @jambon also - Imma say 7lbs for that common - the little commons always fight like absolute nutters!!

... and it didn't stop fighting out of the water too, right scrappy little thing. Cheers buddy, chuffed to finally catch a carp. Next time I'll ditch my quiver tip for that lake, think I need all the rod strength I can get. Love how the line instantly screamed off compared to my last few bream experiences 😆

@ColinTheBald great stuff, looks like a lovely fish.

Apologies for the bad photos, turns out reeling in carp and trying to bag them up on your own is harder than I thought. But hey, I've had some success today.

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Got round to ordering a new rod.

Bit flash in some eyes...... having a small tweedy game shop build me up a 4 piece 9' 6" 6/7wt with extra lined rings on a Harrison carbon blank. And they had no issues about going near salt water....unlike a dealer at the game fishing show at the London design center earlier this year who briskly took the rod out of my hands when i mentioned "salt water" :)
Having a longer removeable fighting butt added too and Blue whippings. Might have it in a month's time.
My rod builder is called James.

A nicer experience than randomly clicking on a website for a mass produced item from a sweat shop factory with a big brand name on it :)

Made a 12 foot beach rod from a blank once - really satisfying although setting your whippings properly takes a lot of time - araldite might have come into the equation.
Lasted for years though - similar feeling to building your own bike from the tubes up, but on a much smaller scale.

Did go looking at blanks and build up parts, surprisingly cheap unless you go for a high end Brands own made blank.

Not that hard to build up....... except getting the rings in perfect position and neat whippings :)

Not fishing but just back from Scotland and watching salmon fishers from the comfort of the hotel's bay window. Taking rod next time.

From starting fishing in June this year it's now getting wintery enough for me to think a bivvy is needed, cowering under my commuter's umbrella isn't something I want to do any more. Having a shelter makes me think I could now go night fishing, but don't have any bite alarms.. You can see where this is going... do decent/budget bite alarms exist?

It rather depends what you think of as 'budget'. Nash Siren S5 are decent cheapies which can be had for£20 each on Fleabay. If it helps, I use Sonik SKS which come with a receiver and a snazzy bivvy light for £104 for a set of 3, they are excellent. The receiver is a wireless device which beeps and shows you which rod has a bite at 50m plus from the rods, this allows you to have a quiet pee in the bushes, get a bite, wee down your leg and then miss the bite after running to your rods and falling over in nettles.

Whippings are just a matter of practice, if you restore antique cane rods you get a LOT of practice.....

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Really helpful thanks. I personally enjoy watching the rods so they might not get much use for day fishing but good to know they're not as expensive as I thought, will check out the Soniks. After your thoughts on carp rods my Fox Warrior should be at the local tackle shop this coming weekend, very exciting.

I am always by my rods, however, alarms do allow you to constantly scan the water for signs of fish or to watch the rich textures of nature unfold around you. For the average angler, they allow snoring, reading, visiting the angler 100 yards away, or an Internet personal moment.

Well put, sounds like I'll find them useful most of the time in that case.

This will make you laugh, just discovered Terry Hearn. Really enjoying his ESP videos on YouTube, he's a great storyteller.

Terry Hearn is also a brilliant angler with a simple but sensible approach and his videos avoid the unnecessary 'technical' bullshit and product placement. Give the 'The Challenge' series with Mark Pitchers a look, it is frequently informative, silly and amusing.

Terry is brilliant!

Check out the recent videos from Sticky Baits. The Nick Helleur video is superb, incredible story telling and quite emotional really

https://youtu.be/P-5FrqrfvVw

+1 for Nick Helleur. Mind you, much as I am impressed by the full-time anglers, I could never do it myself, even the 'standard' 5 day session would be way too long for me. This is why I would never make it as a professional cyclist or angler, apart from being a bit shit at both.

Thanks for this, great watch.

Thanks for this, great watch.

NP. The one with Chris Yates and Martin Bowler also well worth a watch

@EB, will add that to my watch later list too. Cheers

The weather on Sunday was glorious, no bites to speak of but very satisfying tying my own hair rigs with braid for the first time. The local commercial was busy but only heard of a 4lb pike being caught. Presumably carping slows down quite a bit over the winter months?

Presumably carping slows down quite a bit over the winter months?

It all depends - depth of water and availability of food - and weather - all play a factor. I've caught in middle of winter on huge low stock gravel pits and then blanked on commercial/smaller venues where a bite should be almost guaranteed, so you never really know.

Its accepted wisdom that winter feeding spells can be quite short and carp as crepuscular creatures tend to feed at sunrise and sunset, although again you can catch middle of the day if they are feeding and active.

Little and often baiting, and pre-baiting known winter spots is best advice - some people favour smaller hooks and smaller baits in winter too - the rest is time spent on the bank and being lucky

I do love how much there is to learn, fishing's certainly not something that can be mastered in one season is it. Great advice and will probably continue being an optimist casting the odd method feeder over the winter. I guess less people on the bank is nice too. Kind of disappointed it didn't rain yesterday as would have been a good excuse for the new bivvy.