Many years ago a mate who knew I was into fishing gave me a white sealable bucket and it was just the right size for my hemp and corn that I used for barbel fishing on the river. One bright moonlit night I walked back about a quarter of a mile to the car to stock up on provisions. It was so bright, I could clearly see the bucket which wasn't good as the club that controlled the stretch didn't allow night fishing. I painted the bucket green and then "realtreed" some brown branches on it! Didn't catch me any more fish but I was a bit more confident of not being spotted.😀

I had my garage broken into several years ago and had my fishing bag and electric drill pinched.. The insurance company I was with wanted to replace my avon scales with little sampsons! Cant remember who they were but they were cheap. Luckily my bag was dumped and as I had my name and phone number on the inside flap, someone called me and I got it all back minus the £20 I kept in there. The drill was rusty anyway and it was about time I replaced it and kept it indoors.

My mate had his garage raided by pro's who silenced his alarm and he lost about £8K worth of stuff. He was with Lloyd's and said they were brilliant. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

Ordered a rucksack and it never turned up. After about 5 days after the advised delivery date I phoned up and waited for at least 30 minutes before finally talking to a nice lady in Bangalore. It was resolved but wasn't over impressed with their service although they did say it was probably a courier error as it wasn't scanned out.

Linky Poo

I use one of these. I also bought it as it it doubles up as my bivvy light.

I had another panel light that fits on the hotshoe of my camera but even on full power, it was taking about a second to exposure the shot on ISO 400. I now use the NGT on a bank stick about 6 foot away and at an angle of 45 degrees to set up the shot in the dark and it does give a more even light.

I know some people use the panel light as their only source of light but after taking a series of test shots, I'll stick with the pop up flash as the primary light and the panel light as the additional.

Very well put. I went through the stage of thinking that fishing was the be all and end all but realised that I was using it as an excuse to dodge my responsibilities as a husband and father.

At the time I had a job that involved long hours on shift but as soon as they were over, I'd blow the off-time on fishing.

It really came home to me when I went into my eldest son's bedroom one day and spotted a silver medal for finishing second in the area Rugby school cup. I didn't even know!

I enjoy my fishing but tend to fit it around life rather than it taking over. When I'm sat at home with the missus watching some cr*p on the telly, I might be there but in my mind I'm not!

I started to reread the Syndicate series the other day (for the third time!) Don't think about it, get the rest, you won't regret it!

As mentioned, if you make up bags in advance with oily pellets, they will take an age to break down.

I tend to use PVA mesh bags hooked on and did some tests a while back in a bucket and even freshly made ones with a groundbait mixture could take up to 5 minutes to properly break down. Someone on here mentioned Carp Craze a while back and they did break down within about 30 seconds.

When I hear about people double bagging because they are fishing over 10 foot of water, it always makes me laugh, they are probably delaying their next bite for an hour!

In reply to Post #1
The birds seem to know that a bait boat is an easy meal and make a beeline for it at some of the waters I fish! Unfortunately I have to resort to zig-zagging it out to deter them.

In reply to Post #1
I had a family of mice make a nest in my old bedchair and they made a right mess of it. I've got my current one hung up on ladder racks. I put some pipe insulation foam over the horizontal metal bars that support the roof and store some rods over two of them. I have several metal storage racks that keep all my stuff off the floor. I've also added a small wardrobe pole that keeps my coat, trouser, fleece and winter suit well aired.

If you bend over to do something and your upper clothes ride up, your skin gets exposed to the elements and you lose a lot of heat. A bib and brace keeps everything in check and prevents it from happening. You are also benefiting from a double layer of thick insulation from the waist to the chest if you are wearing a winter suit.