In reply to Post #11
That's it. It's been annoying me for a couple of weeks now.

Quite a few of us Ledbury lads fished Eastnor when it was on the day ticket, but only one (from memory) joined the syndicate. He stayed on there longer than I did too.

I also first saw Ian Poole there, who I later got to know much better at Horseshoe.

In reply to Post #4
Does Adrian still run the fishing for Watermark?

I am off work next week and may pop up there for a look around. I can tell the wife we are off to Dobbies near Cirencester and then drop looking at the lake to her on the way back. So far my hints about returning have been met with a slightly frosty reception.

In reply to Post #8
Quite a few of the fish back then had parrot mouths due to the lilies. I think it was the sub I caught - it had a bulge on the one side. It was a PB, but the old fella who sold the day tickets took the pics and I don't think both me and the fish were in any of them.

If I was closer I think I would apply for a ticket. I had some great times on there, and met some "interesting" people. Did you ever meet Tony & Ivan the Dudley bin men? They were an absolute riot - more so Tony. I think Ivan only came along to make sure Tony didn't kill himself.

Andy from Tewkesbury was a syndicate member. He invented the indicators that ran off alarms and lit up when you got a run. He sold the patent to Fox.

I think I had moved on to Horseshoe by the time the events really took off, and spent the next 12 years (maybe more) on there.

In reply to Post #6
Even though I no longer live 2 miles from the lake, Ian still gives my Dad updates on the lake and was still running it as of late last year.

I cut my teeth here and was where I caught my first ever double from the lake. There were only about 4 twenties back then, but I never caught one. Well I did, but it was February and way down in weight at seventeen and a half.

I am racking my brain trying to remember the name of the elderly gentleman who used to sell the day tickets before it went syndicate. He lived a few doors away from Ian and used to bring down apple pie his wife had made for the regulars.

My dislike of Davina McCall stems from her having the lake closed when she got married at the castle.

In reply to Post #35
A further factor is that lightning converts available oxygen to ozone which not only lowers oxygen levels but is detrimental to bacteria in itself.

In reply to Post #15
Handy, off to Gillhams next year.

Was supposed to be June this year.

In reply to Post #31
Does anyone know the longevity of the various options before they go soft and lose performance. I had the 12.5' 3.5lb Ballistas, but after 2 years of chucking out method feeders they definitely lost quite a bit. I replaced them with FMJ's and after having them a few years managed to pick up an unused second hand example and was surprised how much stiffness they had lost as well. I haven't bought any new rods for over 20 years so modern rods may last longer.

I am seriously considering replacing the FMJ's with something, but just don't have a clue about rods these days.

In reply to Post #2
A lot more houses than when I last fished there. Some things don't change though - I see setting up your rods in the water is still the best way to make sure they are still there in the morning.

I would have thought the Simmo stockies would be bigger than that now. They were upper doubles around 10 years ago (unless there has been another introduction).

In reply to Post #11
That would be me.

In reply to Post #11
I would say that the issue is too much bending at the waist before the line is released. I have seen this before where the body sort of collapses in the cast, and it affects the release point. Any competent caster should be able to look at your technique and advise where you are going wrong, but the pro coaches make their living doing this, so are a very good option.

The correct rod for you will also make a difference. If you aren't compressing the rod you will lose the feel required to release the line at the correct point.

My wife was consistently casting 95yds and she is 5 foot 1 (I daren't forget the 1, although she would say 2 ) and 8 stone. I couldn't cast her rods as they were softer than I was used to and I was hitting them way too hard. I had completed my casting action before the lead had even moved. I needed to adapt to be able to cast them as they had a totally different feel.