Whats the weather like near you?

[Stubby]

8 minutes ago, Big J said:

From what I hear, the weather is very local in Devon on account of the hills. West or south of Dartmoor and you get wet. We're going to be in the rain shadow of Dartmoor, so hopefully will remain a little drier. The climate data for Cullompton suggest about 15-20% less precipitation than here near Edinburgh and an average of 4 more dry days a month. And an annual temperature that is 3-4c warmer.

You are going to " clean up " in the low impact sector of forestry Big J !  

[Big J]

1 minute ago, Stubby said:

You are going to " clean up " in the low impact sector of forestry Big J !  

I spent a while dotting around fisheries at the weekend in Devon and I think I'll find a lot of work there on site maintenance, peg reinstatement, winching trees out of lakes, timber extraction and the like. So many of these sites have tiny little paths that wind around the lakes, which are inaccessible to larger machines. And if I get a bit of free fishing out of it, excellent! 

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, Big J said:

I spent a while dotting around fisheries at the weekend in Devon and I think I'll find a lot of work there on site maintenance, peg reinstatement, winching trees out of lakes, timber extraction and the like. So many of these sites have tiny little paths that wind around the lakes, which are inaccessible to larger machines. And if I get a bit of free fishing out of it, excellent! 

Sorted mate ! . As recall you are a pike man ?

[Big J]

9 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Sorted mate ! . As recall you are a pike man ?

Everything really. Enjoying stalking carp at the moment, but looking forward to mixed River coarse fishing too ?

 

Fish much yourself?

[Stubby]

38 minutes ago, Big J said:

Everything really. Enjoying stalking carp at the moment, but looking forward to mixed River coarse fishing too ?

 

Fish much yourself?

Wreck fishing in the Solent was my thing .  Cod , Ling , Conger etc . Still got all my boat gear but not been for years . When I was a nipper we used to catch Perch from the gravel pits with a little spinner and Carp in the canal with a floating bread crust .

[Alex O]

Wreck fishing in the Solent was my thing .  Cod , Ling , Conger etc . Still got all my boat gear but not been for years . When I was a nipper we used to catch Perch from the gravel pits with a little spinner and Carp in the canal with a floating bread crust .

On a nice sunny day they will still take bread or dog biscuit off the top, amazing watching them take and using light gear to play them [emoji41]

[Big J]

One of the fisheries I popped into on Friday was chock full of 3-8lb carp with quite a few bonus doubles. I took a couple of kilos of 4mm expander pellets with me and just fed the fish. By the end of the bucket, I must have had 80 fish wolfing down the pellets infront of me, and catching them would have been verging on unsportingly easy!

[Alex O]

I only like the small private/ farm lakes where the fish haven’t been hammered or mutated by fn idiots ripping there faces off, and get more of a fight with an 8lb than a 15lb from a commercial lake

[Big J]

18 minutes ago, Alex O said:

I only like the small private/ farm lakes where the fish haven’t been hammered or mutated by fn idiots ripping there faces off, and get more of a fight with an 8lb than a 15lb from a commercial lake

I do quite agree. Having been starved of coarse fishing in Scotland for many years, the sight of so many carp feeding so vigorously was quite impressive. 

 

There is a town in the Harz Mountains in Germany called Clausthal-Zellerfeld that in it's distant history undertook a lot of mining. They used reservoirs as part of the process and there are 37 of these long redundant lakes around the town. All fairly small, from a few acres to perhaps 30. Loads of wild carp in them, averaging low to mid double and the ticket is £8 a day to fish all 37 lakes. I've yet to fish it, but having holidayed there, I'm desperate to go back with a rod and line. Saw fish to low twenties cruising. Incredible setting too, with these alpine lakes lying within deep forest.

[Big J]

As an example: