I only really take scales to the river Severn or Trent and then rarely. Whilst my PB for Carp / Tench etc are not huge by a national standard they are very unlikely to be troubled by the fish in any of the waters i currently fish. As i've got older enjoying the venue has become far more important than the size of the fish.

The river is a different animal as you just don't know what the next bite will be. Even then whilst I do matt shot most decent captures i'll only weigh them if they look bigger than average.

In reply to Post #75
And now were up to the point where we innovate to solve problems we created.

My example being the shot on the hook thing. We've messed around and reduced the separation between the hook and the bait that much that everything goes straight in and out without the hook dropping, so we add more and more "invention" to solve the problem when all we needed was to not shorten the hair in the first place.

"But my rig resets if i get a pick up" in my Grandads words, and he caught a good few. "wouldn't you rather just hook it first time"?

In reply to Post #28
Swimming in Bet365 fivers like Scrooge McDuck

In reply to Post #72
Pigpens a Snoopy character mate, given to me when i was a kid on account of the fact i was always covered in mud.

But i deffo believe that the hair made it a user friendly game. In truth lets be honest on many waters of a certain type especially if you go right through to match ponds Carp fishing is about the easiest division of our hobby isnt it?

Being user friendly drove the participation, that drove the provision of waters, that drove industry and innovation.

Without that there would still be blokes out there adapting, thinking and improving what they had at their disposal but it would be nothing like where we are now.

Personally think the most important innovation in Carp fishing was the hair rig. Truth be told were it not for the hair rig the amount of people actively fishing Carp would still be limited to few select groups of eccentrics (think Eel fishing now). There wouldn't have been the demand for the Carp waters that there is, there wouldn't be the mega strains of carp that we have, there wouldn't be the huge industry in place that there is.

Long stay session angling would be limited to the blokes with far away stares and the rest of us would be fishing for tench on the float and getting all excited now and then when we hooked unseen unstoppable monsters.

In reply to Post #51
He always came over as a decent bloke tbh. It was a shame (all be it an entertaining one) when the idiot from Scientific baits used to jump on every thread SAE started or commented on. I do know at least one of the Stoke Anglers lads went through the A Team at Astbury faster than the clap in Atomic Kitten with it.

His bait stuff was always a pretty interesting read tbh.

The fall of Monkeys was a real shame as the Old School thread was massive, which may have in part been some of the issue, it maybe became a little big to worth the hassle for Julian. But when a NW forum suddenly has the likes of Robin Dix putting up previously unseen Yateley photos as well as North West fellas putting their stories up that had been whispered rumours for decades before. I had sat with the now Late Peter Hanley shortly before the forum closed up and taped his story about his capture of She from the school pool and been given the rod he caught it on along with photos that he had never published anywhere. They were to go on there with his permission. It was absolute gold.

A water I fish is essentially a clear margins and a massive weedbed with a few clear spots. Its quite a small lake and the weed isn't thick enough to cause issues with hooked fish.

Decent stock of fish to mid 20's. For a while now its been the in thing to use baiting poles or boats to watch the ipad as you go out and make sure you get everything on one of the clear spots.

The fish then get described as being riggy. The reality is you could fish for them with towrope and a gaff, they are not at all riggy, they just eye the accurate little piles of bait on clear spots with the deepest suspicion. A single or single with a good clumsy scatter of bait either tight to the margin or even better hung up directly in the weed with a light lead are taken with complete abandon.

I think on a water that has never seen a boat or bushwacker they can turn it into seal clubbing season at first if you are the first out of the gate with them, especially on delicate little places that don't tolerate noise or lines too well (small lake syndrome). After that I think the traps just end up looking too similar.

No different to being the first on the water to use the method or solid bags I suppose.

In reply to Post #12
Horrocks or as i know it Rainfords is an amazing looking lake, all bars, islands and channels.

Turners on google maps is what I would know as Blackwater which as i say was a great tench water. Once upon a time i used to go playing on the moss and mither and punish every fella sat on a seat box there.

Pearsons i believe is the flash i reffered to as Sewerage Flash.

Westwood was little and weed choked even then.

It was my playground as a kid, the entire moss and in my teen years i used to walk that way to get over to Poolestock for Rugby.

Even then it was very hush hush, I imagine now its even more so, but i absolutely refuse to believe its not fished anymore

I was obsessed with Rainfords which just FYI when you look on google maps is the entire are of lake that is bordered by railway lines and the canal and not just the little area that says "horrocks flash" For me it was the closest thing I had in my area to the places like Wraysbury i read about with its bays, islands, doglegs etc.

In reply to Post #3
They certainly have lots of lovely waters, but and i'm only guessing. If he is willing to pay a grand a year i would bet he is after slightly quieter lakes than any on that card.

In reply to Post #4
I wouldn't worry about them going stale. I have half pots of the very very original S's which must almost 15 old. I bet if i put them up for sale I could sell them ten times over. They are as good if not better than the day I opened them. Only reason they are left is I "lost them" moving house and they resurfaced when i threw my old filing cabinet away.