musicmick1973

have the same problem as Anderoo, first day back on shift and not a lot of holidays left, have my birthday of next week, hope its dry want to try the river crane again, just got in a couple of hours ago, first time on a river for about 5 years, due to getting led astray by my mate into carping , it has taken over, it was really soggy and muddy and chucking it through, finally got to use my quiver tip rod, needed fairly large weights, even though it is a small river. a big lump of L,Meat on a size 8, caught a pb chub only a baby at 1lb 4oz, but got to start some where. well out of pratice missed bites all over the place. but great fun forgot what I have been missing. was going to go carping as I normally have a good day on my birthday, but if its dry will be going down the river instead, only problem is its always raining on my days off.

still catching on 2 and 3 year old frozen bollies, mainline active 8 and fusion, both good baits, lost the smell a bit but just use the dip and they work fine.

just got back from yearly trip to DAWLISH IN DEVON, not allowed nuts or bollies, found it best to keep it simple, fished bread, l.meat, halibut pellet, all on float, feeding 6mm hallibut pellets, landed plenty of carp and bream, also lost loads, hook pulls and getting smashed twice, always find it best to keep it simple, had my 23lb 12oz on float fished bread last year, although I do use bollies when at home in middlesex.

mine has to be a set of handcuffs, still in the leather sheath, put up one hell of a fight in the Thames at Kingston in the winter flow, took a good 20+ minutes to get them in, still out in the shed.

nice fish caught my first and only 20 last year, was bouncing of the walls for days, just got in from my latest trip only caught 2 small ones today, about 6 and 4lbs, but at last my mate has caught his 20lber at dead on 20lb. he to is on a high, enjoy as you now have to try nd go bigger.

didn't get out over Easter because of work, just done 7 days on the run while full of cold, managed to get out today first day off, went to lizard lakes in west drayton middlesex, thought I might catch 1 or 2, but ended up having my best day ever, first carp a common went 13lb 4 oz, next one baby mirror about 8lb, after that came a 14lb 12 oz common, then a 15lb 4oz common, next was another 8lb mirror, then came my first pb common which went 17lb, then came my second pb common which went 17lb 12oz, then came the last one a 10lb common, just a shame a 20 didnt come along that would have made my day, all were caught on fusion boillie, the small ones were all caught on a semi fixed rig, while the big ones were on a running rig.which was amazing because most of the carp were on the top, all mine were caught off the bottom.

I to am an occasional carper, when not using meat or bread, I have in the last 2 years started using bolies, I have been using the mainline frozen baits, mainly active8 and fusion sometimes maple 8, I have had some for upto 18 months and still caught fish on them, they are re frozen as soon as I get home, and have been fine. they are catching some nice carp into double figures.

has got some very nice fish in their 3 lakes, but would suggest you get there very early as it soon fills up, we got there about 9.00 and first lake by carpark was full, not sure how it is fishing at the moment as this was around June July time.

very good dvd, in the same or similar vain to Passion for angling, has a bit in there saying they were making more of them, But i got my copy of the dvd direct from Hugh, some 2 or 3 years ago, He sent me a letter after I bought a copy of PFA OFF of him, but no sign of any others.

my best day would have to be august last year, had just been put out of work, had my holiday book down in Dawlish, have been going there for the last 7 years, had not caught a carp there for 3 years, so during the week I had bream to 3lb and 2x carp to 10lb, so to last day, a day in which i could not believe my luck, got up and had a look around the lake, went in had breaky, then went for another walk up the lake, found some big carp, but was going out so put a young lad on to them, went out won £32.00 after only putting 50p in, so left, then found a £10 that i lost the day i left work. Went back to base found the young lad fighting his biggest fish a 14lb carp. As his net had broke I decided to go out and have a go so went down with him, there were loads of kids mucking around including this lad so I went down the other end had the usual bream, I then notice the lads had gone, so as i was going to pack up, something had told me to go back down and give it a try, so went down with my waggler set up, with a whole slice of bead on the hook, and through it into the sluice area where all the carp had been, 2 mins later the float sailed away, took 20 mins to get the fish in, just cept going around in circles and stuck to the bottom, the lad came back got the net ready in the water, but fish went under the net, thought i was going to lose it, grabbed the net out of the water, left it out until the fish finally came to the top and was netted, I was totally shocked when i see the size of it, knew straight away it was a personal best, had about 10 people all watching so glad i didn't lose it, so when I weighed it and it went 23lb 12oz of beautiful mirror carp, at last the 20 I had been after for 7 years, later that afternoon I had a offer of a job, also that night went out again still on a high, late at night just as it was getting dark went down in a corner where i had the OTHER 2 CARP EARLY that week, fished into dark through bread on the top, had slurping all around me, but missed 2 more, but that didn't matter I had my luck that day was on a high for ages after, but as yet still havent found a job,

2 different times come to mind, first WAS FEB 2000 when having not fished for pike for over 10 years, and never catching on anything but lures, went with my mate using sprats, had my biggest fish and first double 10 1/2lb still my biggest. next was on my 40 birthday the same year, when i finally beat my best carp, fishing with sweetcorn was after anything I could get on a cold March day, caught a 10lb common which raised pb from 4lb, more amazing was that the fish went through some lilys, when i got it in the net the hook was almost straight, so not sure how it was landed.

I do know that Hugh Miles, the maker of A passion for angling, is at present making a new series with Martin bowler, along the same lines, which he hopes to get shown on BBC2 as the original was, just hope that it is as good as the original. He was also making another one with Chris Yates, Caught in time, the diaries of Chris Yates, bought a copy of the first one off him, on dvd some 2 or 3 years ago. called Summer days, showed that they were making some others, but seen no sign of them.

I have one of these rods, was passed to me by my dad back in the 70's, have had many nice fish on mine, mine must be about 50+ years old as I am 45, and think it may have been my grand fathers, before mt fathers. would like to know more about it myself, mine is 11ft long, 3 piece lost the plugs that go in the ferules though.

well done took me till my 40th birthday before i got my first double, a common of 10lb had a good year that year, as I also beat that one with a 16 1/2lb common off the surface, which was back in the year 2000, took until this August to beat that with a 23lb 12oz mirror, on a simple bait of bread fished on the bottom. which has been my one and only 20 to date. still on a high, so enjoy the moment, as it is a great feeling as you catch bigger fish, although it may take timebefore the next one.