Fishing

View from the brolly with obligatory rodtip robin. One good take skillfully completely missed so far. The rods are Wychwood barbel 1.75s, which will land any carp swimming in snag-free waters. Reels are Shimano ST6000RB baitrunners, faultless for around £60 each.

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Keep at it. The only 3 carp I've caught have been on a 1.75TC rod and it was certainly a thrill! If you're targeting barbel, do you have to 'strike', or is that not too important?

I've had carp to mid 20s on these, good fun so long as you don't hurry or panic. I use them mainly for bream and tench at distance, they have just belted feeders out 75 yards, I have one at about 10 yards. The Shimanos are now down to £50 new. Much of modern barbel fishing is done with hair rigs and fixed heavy leads or feeders, no need to strike. If you fish smaller baits direct on the hook you WILL need to strike.

All the fly fishings :)

@ColinTheBald i have a clothes peg rod tip bell on a spring somewhere. Does the Robin chirp when you have a bite :)

Not sure about chirp, maybe burp, the little sod has doubled his body weight on the maggots I've fed him. Just about to pack up, yep, blankety blank!

Hallelujah, the double figure blank is broken. First barbel for me and people are right, they're fiesty. Caught using a maggot feeder with spam as the hook bait.

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Nice barbel, it's good to see what a fish looks like.

The realities of piking the big pit: travel light, move four times, walk two miles, carefully refine tactics, catch bugger all. This place defines 'bleak'.

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Nice barbel, it's good to see what a fish looks like.

This. The upside is I'm yearning for the Spring/Summer when there's more action, or to put it more accurately the time between blanks is slightly shorter.

My holiday allowance at work has reset being the New Year and like everyone else I'm thinking about booking time off. Does anyone have recommendations for fishing in Norfolk? Basically want to rent a cottage for a long weekend where we can fish a lake/river a literal stones throw away.

Quick question when using the line clip... what happens if the line's clipped up and your reel starts melting off, if you're not using a rod pod for example is there a risk the rod could end up in the lake?

Depends. Baitrunner reel? No problem. Normal reel without baitrunner facility? Slacken off the clutch

Hang on, do you mean the clip on the spool? If yes, you must release the line as soon as you have cast. Mark the line just above the reel with a stop knot of fine elastic so you can re-find your distance. Alternatively, look up distance sticks for that 'pro' look like all the kiddies on the videos.

Sorry if that was unclear, yes the clip on the spool and I have a baitrunner reel or whatever Daiwa calls it. Eeek, totally didn't realise I should be releasing the clip once I've got my rod sorted. And there I was thinking I had the basics covered. Thanks!

Talking of kiddies on the videos, I enjoyed this

https://youtu.be/yiGF_ymu4ls

Disliking those two would be like kicking puppies. Thanks for asking about the line clips, I've seen many people who have fished for years make that mistake, a fast run from a decent carp= instant hook pull or breakage. Never think you know much about fishing, the more you learn the more you realise you know sod all. Think of it as 3 dimensional chess against an opponent with a brain the size of a pea, but with fuck off instincts.

3 dimensional chess against an opponent with a brain the size of a pea, but with fuck off instincts.

Now that's t-shirt material. Glad I checked, to be fair probably better to make the mistake when you've just started and aren't catching much. Much appreciated for the info.

Back to the river lea this weekend in search for barbel.

Ah sorry I assumed you meant line clip on the rod

Turns out Amazon Prime has one show worth watching... Enjoying Catching the Impossible with Bernard Cribbins and Martin Bowler.

Today's craft project; now all the permanently rigged carp/pike/tench/boat rods have somewhere to live, not just a tangled mess in the garage.

I want a Blue Peter badge!

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Bravo, that's great.

Is it Spring yet?

I now have 2 decent rods with reels, a bivy, bite alarms and modest angling squad so can't wait for the fish to start moving again. Out tomorrow hunting barbel with maggots and spam so get ready for my blank report.

In the summer I'll be in the lake district near Lake Windermere for a few days, so if anyone knows of any decent carp lakes on the way up I'm all ears.

No.

That was a lazy answer. Yes, on small and/or heavily stocked waters. A resounding no until mid-April on the big pits I fish.

There will be hundreds of carp waters on your way up, anything vaguely liquid has had carp chucked into it in the last 10 years. Pick a likely stopping off area and Google day-ticket fisheries.

Drunken Ebay has just expanded my rod collection to over 40....

Best of barbelling luck!

Okay will surpress my optimism for a few more months. Last weekend the tackle shop guys caught 25 carp on the local lake which probably clouded my judgement. Hooked into a barbel this morning but it got away just as I was reaching for the net, looked about 5lbs. Impressive little brutes.

Over 40 rods is strong, you're among friends it's okay.

This makes me unexpectedly happy.

Bought my first 24hr ticket yesterday. Waking up in the night to the bite alarm sounding was more terrifying than I thought. Didn't catch anything or get a whiff we were close but did enjoy it. Think I'll fish rivers exclusively now until the carp start moving, although I've said that before.

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Seems it was worth giving it a go today

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