One of my waters is about an acre, another one is about sixty acres. But a lot of peoples standards they'd say that sixty acres isn't that big, but it feels bit enough for me!

What I've found is that they can actually be a lot trickier to locate on the small water at times. I'm sure they know when anglers are about. Where as on the big water even I have managed to find them. That might not seem like it matters much, but I have poor colour vision, red green, black brown. So a brown fish in green water is invisible to me unless it's moving, so disturbing water or causing bubbles or moving reeds etc. If it's stationary or moving far enough under the surface or the water I'd coloured then it's pretty much game over for me.

So you'd think I'd find a big water much more daunting but in actual fact I don't think anglers spook them as much. There's way more “safe” areas, more bank cover, more snags, more area of water at range. So they are less spooky and give themselves away more.

My best mates take it for granted now. When we walk a water I've lost count of the amount of conversations that start “you won't be able to see this you blind c@@t but there's three fish out there”

I also can't really see marker floats. So I don't really use one anymore.

Great lark this carp angling

In reply to Post #1
Hi James
Ok, I'll give this a go,
My favourite waters would be dyje 5, Lehman, lipno, Ballaton and the amazing Mara. All 2000 acres plus
Get a boat with sonar, understanding the underwater topography is a huge advantage.
Do not pay any attention to previous captures, in my opinion there are two types of carp on these lakes. The "homey lonely" fish that tend to hang out in one particular area and generally are the ones that get a name. There are large schools of unknown nomadic fish that are the real prize
Braid.... quite frankly it's just a must
Leads, for me the greater the distance the more weight the better, but its worth paying attention to the type of lead. Imo a gripper lead holds it's own better than a lead twice it's size.
Bait, I got brutalized on here a couple of years ago for suggesting 200 kilos of particle for a week on sumbar, the guy apparently had his best 2 weeks ever.
I'm aware I may pissed of a few with this, but knowledge is value
Hope it helps
Best
Jon

In reply to Post #17
My favourite waters would be dyje 5, Lehman, lipno, Ballaton and the amazing Mara. All 2000 acres plus

And all you need is one fish to show itself, open up the outboard and get on it