In reply to Post #71
100% right.
The waters I grew up fishing from 71 onwards were pretty well stocked with carp, but very few people would set their stall specifically for them. Quite a few would concentrate on float fishing for roach , tench, etc. and have a second rod out for carp that they might catch one or two carp on a season.
People looked at my dad and I as being rather odd to only have a rod, or two out for the carp.
I was given the hair rig pretty early, through someone I met going to work with my dad on Saturdays and it was utterly unbelievable the difference it made. Catches went through the roof.
I remember showing it to one of the nice old boys who fished one rod for silvers and one for carp. Within a couple of weeks we'd ditched the float rod and was happily catching more carp a session than he had in a season previously.
Sometimes I wish that the hair rig had never been though of.

In reply to Post #1
I've drained my lake and removed around 8000 tons of silt this year, as you can imagine, the changes are massive.
I've allowed five of last year's members to have access and they're taking loads of photos and videos.
They're also helping me with the massive amount of work around the margins and raised features, for which hugely appreciative.😎

In reply to Post #4
I always say that it's fishing, but it's not angling.

In reply to Post #44
😂😂😂

In reply to Post #9
I did camo tape my first one, but when I bought the longer version I didn't bother. It's like the Jan Porter of rakes 😂

Because quality pins last more than one lifetime the market for new expensive reels must be pretty small, so it's no surprise they're taking this route.

In reply to Post #1
Clippers means two things to me. That fantastic sound the carp used to make when feeding in the margins at night 😎 and the rods built by Going Bros in Southend.
As a youngster I couldn't afford any alarms, let alone a Heron. A school/fishing mate had just the one.
Twitcher hitting was the norm until I was given the hair rig in 1980.
No idea on the "parallel bars"?
As a kid, after reading A Quest for Carp, I made some blobbed hooks using Aberdeen pattern sea hooks and a blob of Araldite. They worked really well with big pieces of Kitekat paste.
We used to buy Au Lion Dor hooks individually from the local toy/tackle shop.
I remember one of my dad's friends having a tub of Phillips Hi Pro. He'd had it so long that he struggled to break a piece off and then buried his hook in it 😂
Silver paper hitting the butt ring has woken me many I time I nodded off whilst sitting on my seat box. When it was windy I'd have it running up one of the knitting needles my nan had given me.
Simple times and great memories ❤️

In reply to Post #1
For cleaning off margin spots I have a telescopic rake handle by Wolf Garten.
You can fit a variety of different tools to it, I have three different types of rake heads, a pruning saw and loper attachment.
Way quieter than throwing a rake in on a rope, which I also have (homemade back to back rake heads).
If the area you're raking is silty, in my experience you are better of to use the lightest possible rake, to only clean or turn over the very top layer of silt, if you go to deep and into anaerobic silt it can kill the spot for a good while (weeks).

In reply to Post #1
Leave a long tag end on the lead end of the stick/bag and wrap it around the lead swivel and front of the clip and tie a single overhand knot. This is my preferred method when casting, or even just swinging out large bags of maggots etc.

Over the years I doubt that any other company has come close to Nash when it comes to marketing new ideas to the UK.
Decent sacks, weigh slings and unhooking mats.
The mattress cover for the old sun loungers.
Rod slings and rod holdalls for assembled rods.
Their Artic sleeping bags were a revelation to me.
Oval and then Profile brollies.
Bolt beads and later the lead clip.
The Titan was the first freestanding bivvy, a total game changer on the gravel pits I was fishing.
Undoubtedly the first 'sleep system'.
The Bushwhacker baiting pole.
Scope/Dwarf rods.
I know I'll have missed others.
The Dellareed Optonic was an absolute revelation, as was the Delkim vibration sensing alarms.
The Fox Adjusta-Level chairs and bedchairs were fantastic at the time.
The Gardener rod pod was another revelation for those fishing gravel pits.
The Petzel head torch. I remember getting laughed at for using both the Gardener pod and the Petzel head torch.