Total Outdoors Review - Fluorocarbon Fishing Line

I was given the chance to review an amazing new product on release from Total Outdoors and was amazed by this new fishing line, it's strength and it's advantages it had over other lines on sale. Now i have been given another chance to review an even stronger version, the Carp Force 15 lb Fluorocarbon Fishing Line. A Line perfect as a main line for all types of venues. Not having to worry about "back-leads" as the line can't be seen by the fish when it is running through the swim therefore not spooking any weary fish. The line is so thin you are able to get almost 3 times the amount of line on a spool than you could from another type of line the same strength. Not only does this help for when fishing at distance but also allows smoother and further casting. I have now filled 2 Bait Runners with the line and this is what i shall be using for the whole season this year and will be able to see exactly how it performs over time. To read to original review follow this link: http://fishingadventureswales.weebly.com/product-review---fluorocarbon-line.html

Local Lake Wins Anglers Mail Award

This is our local Fishery in Cardiff, South Wales.

I couldn't agree more, they deserve the award it's an amazing place.

Well laid out, On site tackle shop with good prices and a huge selection, just being expanded at the moment. They have a number of lakes to choose from to suit everyone from the novice angler, match angler to carp specialist, they have a lake to suit you. I have been up there a few times and plan to visit a lot more in the new season. You are guaranteed to catch and have a great day out.

New Product Review

With the weather keeping us off the banks and only the bravest going out to try and catch themselves a winter wopper it gives us a chance to organize our tackle and take a look at some great new product releases that came out in the new year. We are fortunate to be working with a great company known as Total Outdoors, a company that supplies all sorts of fishing equipment. They have released a great new product known as "CarpForce Fluorocarbon Fishing Line" i was fortunate to test this line out on some different applications and see what it performed like. Take a look at our product reviews to see what i though of the line.

http://fishingadventureswales.weebly.com/product-review---fluorocarbon-line.html

Carp Fishing - Hendre Lake, Cardiff 2013

Carp Fishing @ Hendre Lake - Cardiff, Wales 1st January 2013

Finally got set-up and fishing
after 45 mins.

With a break in the weather i managed to find the energy to get my gear packed and off to the lake i went. Was a very cold start to the day with temperatures around 5 or 6 degrees at the best and 10 to 20 miles per hour winds blowing across the water. There was no sign of movement anywhere and no fish topping or splashing around in the margins. This didn't put me off at all, in fact i found myself trying that extra bit harder to get my swim going and the fish feeding.

All my gear on one fishing trolley.
 Really heavy to move

I spent the first half hour "spodding up" an area about the size of half a tennis court hoping to encourage the fish to feed even though the temperature was so low nothing seemed to move, anywhere! I was using Dynamite Baits Particle Mix alone with a few extra tiger nuts added to the mix. I was using White Chocolate and Coconut Pop-Up's as a main hook bait so i put in a bit of the Chocolate and Coconut Hook Dip/Glug into the spod mix as well just to give it that bit of extra attractant. I then put my two rods out and set them up on the alarms and waited for a bite. It wasn't long before i started to get line bites and beeps from my indicators showing me that i must have got the fish to start to feed as they must have been searching around for the food and Knocking my lines. The next thing i knew the left hand rod flew into action and ripped off. It was funny as i struck into what ever had taken the bait it felt like there was nothing there. I first thought the fish must have dropped the bait and gone so i reeled the line in to re-bait and get it back out as soon as i can. As i got the line almost fully in i saw skimming across the top of the water a bream, the little greedy thing had taken the big boilie and would not let go. So it ended up that the first fish i banked of the year was a small bream.

3 rods set-up. 1 on Feeder and
 the other 2 on pop up Boilies

A small greedy Bream, hapy to catch it
even though it wasn't the targeted species

This was a good sign as the fish must have been feeding like i thought so i rushed to get my rod back into the water. I then decided to put a 3rd rod out on a feeder and try just at the front of the reeds bed to see if there were any fish hiding away. Using Dynamite Baits Method Feeder mixed with their Rich Brown Crumb ground Bait mix and a Garlic sausage pop up as the hook bait. Now when i placed this bait in front of the reeds i made a school boy error not thinking about playing the fish and getting caught up in the reeds. As it was an hour passed and suddenly the rod ripped off. When i say it ripped off, i mean the run was so big it was about a minuet before it actually stopped running and ended up at the other side of the large lake. When i struck into the fish i could tell it was a good size and was putting up a great fight. I managed to play the fish to about 5 meters from the bank and i thought it was finally getting tired. As i reached down for my net the fish dropped its head and dived and made a break for it. I quickly reacted and played it using the drag but i was a couple of second too late as it managed to find the reeds and snags. The line went dead and there was no way i was pulling it out. I loosened the line off so it was completely slack hoping the fish would think it was all over and would come out of its hiding hole. After 5 minuets i realized it wasn't having none of it and tried again to recover it from the reeds but "SNAP" and the fish was gone, and so was my 15 lb breaking strain hook length. As you can imagine i wasn't in the best of moods after that. It was a freezing cold day and i worked hard to get the fish to feed and ended up loosing what turned out to be my only run of the day. The baits had produced the goods it was just the fisherman who couldn't land the fish. Well at least i managed a small bream so it wasn't a blank day, but hey, that's how it goes, I'll get them next time.....

My chair just about fitted into my day Bivi.
 At least i can get out of the cold wind!

3 Rod Set-up waiting for the bites!