lidoman

yes used the wychwood stuff all last year and very impressed. It must melt fast as I had two fish on the same rod within minutes of each other and the second cast after the first fish had only been in the water about 2 minutes....i had only just put my backlead on...and it ripped off.Wychwood PVA

I'm not too sure if they do lose that much in winter...its probably water specific, but I have caught fish in april/march that do not look as though they have been starved all winter, quite the opposite. They definitely feed up during oct/nov for winter but due to them being relatively metabolically inactive they may not need all of their fat reserves to see them through winter. Conversly last year I caught a lot of singles during Jan/Feb from a heavily stocked water that looked empty. Thus I concluded that the weight loss thing is probably determined by the stocking density and abundance of food in the water in the run up to winter. Heavily stocked waters will probably see fish that are hungry come Jan whereas richer more sparsely stocked waters will probably still contain fat carp in Jan....thats if you are lucky enough to catch em

lived in Nottingham for a while and heard stories of the trent carp and read the stories in the press. the biggest to my knowledge was a ghost common of a whopping 49lb!!!!!!!!! This was caught from behind the attenborough gravel pits I think but not 100% sure. I got told by match men that there were some monsters around this area and down towards Beeston both above and below the weir. Hope this helps

why do some ignorant t**ts call the fishery this? Have you fished it then margins? No probably not. It has probably got this derogatory name due to the fact that it offers the average angler in the midlands the chance of catching an otherwise unattainable fish of 35lb plus.....why is this bad? What are your views on waters such as cuttle mill and the Riddings? I have said it before and I will continue to say it what is the problem of having a few trips to a water such as the monument to angle for big fish(oh and by the way I don't think the fish is from france...but it is foreign) its a damn site cheaper than a trip across the channel. If you think the only people that fish there are mongs i think you would be gravely mistaken, and they're not all "instant carpers" either. As for the statistics then there are probably more fish caught per day from your average club runs water than the monument, so it is not as easy as the 300 fish in 9 acres would have you believe. Yes that fish is my PB and I will claim it as such but I am not averse to fishing low stocked venues where watercraft, bait application and observation are key skills. Granted on a water such as the monument you draw a peg and thats down to luck(this has just changed and you can now choose where to fish) but you still need to work your peg just like a skilled match man would. If you do think its an easy water go and have a bash and blank with the majority. If you live down south?.... then you cannot deride northern or midlands anglers for wanting fish such a lake as 30's are a bit thin on the ground you know. Its a NOVELTY water so take it for what it is you never know you might enjoy it if you fished it? Before I caught that fish my PB was 23lb. I said to a mate just in passing on my local water that If I did catch a 40 from the monument I would still happily work at catching a 20 from my local water. And that I successfully did and am still working on catching more

41lb 8oz monster from the monument, its my picture on here

yes carp are on the menu it seems....along with any other coarse fish that some immigrants can get there hands on by any means possible. A few years ago i heard reports of asians catching good sized barbel from the severn and taking them for the table. However recently in stoke there has been a spate of such occurrences involving eastern european immigrants. Apparently they have been fishing using very crude methods for large carp and taking them for the table in some of the more urban waters. At first I took this story with a pinch of salt. One night I was leaving my local lake(Another urban water) and noticed that the unfamiliar faces who were float fishing with very basic gear, floats like lighthouses, were speaking in a foreign tongue. I noted this and did think of approaching them for their permits but in the end I thought that should I see them again I would approach them. A few nights later I arrived fully laden for a night session for the carp. Just as I was surveying the swim for signs of fish out from the bushes pops one of the foreigners from the previous night, along with a nice roach of about 10 ounces still wriggling about in a plastic bag!!!!!!!!! I had a few words with the non english speaking offender and took the roach away from him and released back inot the lake. He in all fairness did not protest as I think he understood that this was not the done thing in this country. The worrying thing about the whole incident is that there is a hell of alot of immigrants in this country now whom I assume take the same attitude as my ill informed friend. How many of them have got away with it I wonder?????

poor analogy i should have used the analogy of a smoker, alcoholic or drug user......drug addict probably being more apt. How many overweight heroin addicts do you see....not many they are usually malnourished and unhealthy. Surely there must certain natural substances that may be addictive to fish or more specifically carp.....as for human fast foods being highly nutritious. They provide us with proteins, fats and carbohydrates but usually in the wrong proportions and form. saturated fats and refined sugars, neither of which are nutritionally sound.

yes interesting theory newt, you may well be right the fish just love the taste of them but they are not nutritionally satisfying......kind of like carp burgers!!!!!

My best bag of roach is one fish!!!! It was the first ever fish I caught and to me it looked massive...my dad said it was at least a pound....a decent roach even today. It was caught from a park lake that is now closed to fishing(flaming bird sanctuary ) and it was renowned for quality roach. I have been hooked ever since that day 24 years ago...so if it wasn't for roach there would be one less angling nut on this forum!!!

Yeh I reckon they are a particle peter and a bloody expensive one at that Carp love the old maggots though, particularly if you are lucky enough to fish a water with few nuisance fish in.

50lb sea fishing mono it is then for shockleaders Budgie!!!!! As I'm only using them for spodding....incidentally I have done a bit of spodding to about 50yards without any shockleaders....and luckily had no problems....and I'm talking a big fox spod not a stubby one.....a bit naughty I know but we didn't have any leader material. The spodding did the job though resulting in me catching a PB 41lb 8oz mirror!!!!

Nice result that a couple of winter chub. Are there many barbel in the avon then now? If so what stretches and who runs them....any day tickets? Cheers

Don't know about Derby mate but just along the road is Beeston weir on the trent. Its day ticket and only a short walk from the car chub,barbel and the odd carp is on the cards. Fish the pegs just downstreamof the weir to the first bend.....i only fished it a few times but had barbel and chub out.....the carp are supposed to be in the slack water over from the first bend. hope this helps.....oh and you can pay on the bank.

Check this out mate http://www.careyscarplake.co.uk/

Yes I have fished it Dave LOL I was just wondering if anyone has had any of the supposed bigger fish that are in there as I have fished it quite a few times and only had a handful of doubles, but the bailiff reckons there is loads in there.....not seen em myself....nor has anyone fishing near to me every time I've been. There's a lot of smaller fish in there 6-8lb and it can provide good sport if you are struggling somewhere else. There is definitely a few bigger ones in but I think its a bit of lottery with all the little scrappers.