Fishing Republic Theseus Carp Cradle and Weigh Sling Review....

Hello and and welcome to this product review of the Theseus Carp Cradle and Carp weigh sling currently on sale from Fishing Republic.   These products where sent to me a few weeks ago for me to use and review on the blog.  After extensive period of use across many different types of fishing please find the review below of both products and a review video i have posted on the blogs you tube channel.

Youtube video review:

Theseus Carp Cradle and Carp Sling Review..

Product info:
Name: Theseus Carp Cradle
Dimensions: 115cm long x 55cm Wide x 26cm high
Link to Product: THESEUS CARP CRADLE LINK
Price: £25.00


Product Info:
Name: Theseus Carp Sling
Dimensions: 125cm Long x 60cm Deep x 45cm Wide
Link to product: THESEUS CARP SLING LINK
Price £25.00


Review

The Carp Cradle -

When the carp cradle first dropped on my doorstep and i opened it up i was genuinely shocked at two aspects of this product from the outset, one was how light the carp cradle was and two i was really impressed with how neatly it was all packed away.  My expectations all week had been for a large heavy and quite bulky product.

The actual cradle comes in two parts, a padded base and then the cradle with a mesh bottom and both fold in half and are held securely in place by two straps at either end which wrap completely round both produces when placed side by side to hold them securely.  I will go more into this feature later as this i found hugely beneficial when transporting both products together.

The water i chose to put this item through its paces was a local pool with a good head of small carp and a few bigger originals into double figures.  This pool i had fished for the past few years and i had used a small cheap unhooking mat during that time and i had found it really difficult from a blogging point of view to "process" the carp from catching them to unhooking them and then keeping them under control on a slippery mat with no side. at times it certainly made for a frustrating experience.

"From a Blogging point of View the Cradle has been a God send"

The biggest compliment i can pay this product is how it has revolutionised my experience on the bank fishing for carp and blogging.  The fact the fish can be placed inside this padded cradle and i feel confident the fish can come to no harm encased inside its sides.  The fish has plenty of space to move and the well padded bottom and sides ensure no damage to the fish.  As a blogger it makes the process of unhooking the fish and holding it up for a photo a very smooth process.

As regular blog readers will know i am not a angler who is going to catch a 20 to 30lb carp any time soon but i wanted to also show how this sling can be used in other ways and with that i went down the road of using it as a piece of apparatus that has its uses in match fishing.  On a recent session on Cheshire Fishery i knew i was in for a decent net of carp so i brought the cradle along for the final net shots to show the catch.

"My fishing might not see me put a 6olb carp in the cradle so i filled it with 60lb of carp"

Again from a blogging point of view this kit came up trumps again for me.  Many times when i have large nets and a good days fishing i can find dealing with the net at the end very hard work and the true scale of how good a session i have had can be hard to capture.  On this session i had over 60lb of carp and the cradle and the sling made light but quick work of the final nets.

The matt had more than enough room to fit all the carp and its high sides and fish friendly material ensured no damage to the carp when i took this quick photo.  This certainly could have benefits for those anglers looking for good shots at the end of their commercial fishing sessions.

The final good point i found with this kit was the material it was made from.  We all get it in the ear when our kit comes home smelling of fishing but this material meant a quick trip to the hose in the garden when i got home and it was easily cleaned and did dry quite quickly.

The Carp Sling -

This piece of kit i feel completes the package and I do feel to get the most out of them you do require them both.  The sling fits perfectly into the cradle so when i had a fish i knew i wanted to weigh the sling sat nicely over the edges of the cradle and the recess in the middle was created for the carp to sit in the middle.

The material inside the sling felt of a high quality and the mixture of mesh and material with holes in ensured the water drained quickly when you wanted to weight the fish and also the holes and mesh meant that water could completely fill the sling and allow a flow of water through the sling when it was submerged with the fish in the margin.

"With Plenty of Holes and mesh it allowed for the free movement of water through the sling for resting the fish"

A complete wrap round zip ensured the fish could not escape and although i never night fish so did not ever need the rest a fish in the sling for any amount of time to get pictures i did testing and the floatation tops on the sling ensured the sling held in place.  A huge amount of space in the compartment to hold any size fish you are likely to encounter i tested the sling with weights up to 60lb and straps coped with it easily.

Again as a package the sling slides in between the base of the cradle and the cradle to make the package easy to carp and transport to the bank.  I like to be mobile when fishing and these two going together so easily made it easy to move around swims and never felt like i was over burdened and not wanting to move with a view of the gear being a problem.

Final thoughts

All in all two products that really surprised me, i am not going to lie it presented some real challenges to incorporate it into my fishing but with a little thought and imagination i found products that dovetailed nicely and will certainly be a piece of kit that will feature in many more of my photos and sessions for both carp and pike.  Being a blogger i saw huge benefits in me dealing with fish on the bank and having more control of the fish when on the Matt, the camera set pics where obtained or video pieces recorded in quick time.  One bloggers life made a lot easier, now to catch a carp to fill them both :-)

Check out the video review for more info.

Cheshire Particle, Bailiff Role and Some Pond Fishing :-)

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope find you all well and your nets wet.  Two blogs in short succession it finally feels like i am getting stuck into this routine and finding the time to fit it all in.  I am on top of the extra additional duties and sticking to my promise to be more proactive in my fishing this year.

Recent trips out on the bank have seen me bump into loads of people who read the blog, like buses you don't have many people mention it then all of a sudden you get people coming over for a chat everywhere you go.  I love this side of the blog and if you do ever see me on the bank please do come over and have a chat its great to hear your fishing stories.

The past two weekends has seen me targeting carp for a product review i have got coming up for a carp sling and it was great to bump into a regular blog reader on the bank and share a moment that saw him catch his first ever chub! A keen predator angler it was good to hear his stories from the same canal we fish, share some of my hot spots i have come across for perch and then sat back and waited for a run whilst watching his roach swim get stalked by a small jack pike.  We spend all winter chasing them on dedicated gear and how typical if fishing when you set up a roach rod and leave the pike gear at home, mr esox then finds you.  Who would be a fishermen eh?

I can honestly say i am loving my fishing at the moment and in that i mean all aspects of it.  The challenge of the fishing, different challenges with the writing and then the extreme challenge that is the youtube channel.  Challenge is good in any part of life not just fishing it keeps you on your toes and makes the journey one to remember.

Cheshire Particle...

Cheshire Particle is a North West bait company run by Mark.  Working from home to produce his own blends and mixes of particles he, in a short space of time, has gained a reputation for producing quality baits.  The 2016 sponsor of the wales carp fishing is a testament to the hard work put in by mark and his team of anglers.

link to cheshire particle: https://cheshireparticle.com/

The range of products on offer is fantastic ranging from parti-mixes, pellets, nut mixes to his new range of snail boilies and of course his particle mixes with hemp tares and maize, it is a range where anyone can find a bait that fits into their fishing.  I always like it when i come across anglers with an obvious passion for their sport and products and even more so when they are local, long term blog readers will remember me working with Beechwood baits a few years ago.

Of course this blog does stray into the world of carp fishing from time to time but when i was asked to work with Cheshire Particle i wanted to of course use items that compliment my fishing and dovetail nicely into my methods and ideas.  The stand out was of course hemp seed and i was also very interested in the hemp oil the company produced and the different ways i could incorporate that into my fishing.  A review of these two products will bin the coming blogs but here is a little taste of what this hemp and hemp oil can be used to catch.

Lymm Anglers Bailiff Role...

The world of fishing can be at times a world of gripes and discontent, certainly if you frequent facebook groups a lot you will certainly be open to this world.  I, at times, have also been guilty of having a lot to say on certain subjects but offering little in the way of a solution to the problem but like i said earlier 2017 i made a resolution to be more positive and more proactive in my angling,  April is fast approaching and i think i have been true to that word.

In the past 2 years i have seen the banks of my local canal, the bridge water, (Northern One) become a place i dont like, a place where you worry about its long term future and the effects certain types of behavior are having on the water.  In the past two years i have seen the pike fishing be reduced to a shadow of its former self and increasingly in that time i was catching pike with large sea hooks in their mouths and trailing tackle where the angler had been snapped on really light lines with no traces.

More and more i was seeing anglers mistreating fish when handling them and after getting chatting to  few anglers an ever increasing number of anglers with no licence.  This year i got chatting to another bailiff and i decided to put my name down to join a team of dedicated bailiffs and as a group we are now completing checks on the canal and in only a short amount of time have i think got a message that the canal is now in safe hands and being well bailiffed.

For me a bailiff role does not just confine to the boundary of checking cards and i want it to become the canal i remember as a kid, i want to see anglers back on the banks fishing the canal,  The lads and dads getting out and about to wet a line and create memories together on the local cut.    To achieve this is going to take time and a lot of effort and hard work.  I will certainly be covering in detail my sessions on there in the form of my youtube videos and on here and if you are local to the Cheshire area come and give this canal a go, you will not be disappointed.

You can acquire a licence here: https://www.lymmanglingclub.com/join-us

On to the Fishing:

Welcome to my...Pond Life...

So with a few product reviews in the past few weeks my fishing for once has been mainly dictated by the blog, not my normal way of doing things but some times it has to be done and carp fishing has been the area i have been spending most of mt time in recently.

As with all aspect of life it is always good to break away and  spend a few hours doing something completely different, an evening on a local small pond with my uncle offered such an opportunity and it was away with the carp rods and out with the maggotts and hemp.

A small secluded pond situated in the ruins of an old monastery it holds a wealth of history and the pond itself is part of that with it being a stock pond for the monks when they inhabited the local area.  How times change now someone taking carp from this pond for the pot would be seen in such a different light.

This pond is also quite sentimental to myself as both me and my dad helped to create the fishing pegs many years ago and s reward we where both granted with a fishing licence for life to fish the pond, a reward we drop in on from time to time, but in all honesty a place i fish quite infrequently.  A place, like the local canal, that holds so many special memories of mine and my dads fishing trips.

So with only a few hours in the evening we decided to give this little pond a go. The margins lined with toads in quite a amorous mood it was one of those typical early spring evenings, a warm breeze and intermittent sun and cloud, i was interested to see how the fishing had changed.

Feeding red maggot via the catty over the top of my light pole float soon saw some roach coming on the drop.  A decent pouch of hemp from the off would guarantee some feed on the bottom when the maggot arrived.  A deep swim for a pond at 10ft i fished a rig full depth with little shot to catch in all the layers as the bait fell.  Roach where soon coming steady on the drop.

As with all truly wild fish that need not our baits to sustain their existence their natural instincts soon kick in and caution outweighs the need to feed.  Changing feed and depths can fool the stranglers but keeping the fish coming can really be a game of cat and mouse.  My uncle was also getting steady bites and had actually landed a few small carp, distant ancestors of the very fish this pond was created for, the history of this place as i have said makes it so special.

A solemn silence soon came over my peg and it all felt very atmospheric as the float sat lazily dancing to the ponds tune as the slight ripple lapped up against the float.  A rhythm soon interrupted by the slightest of line bites, a fish moving on the bottom was the obvious culprit and when the float finally gave in the ever excited angler on the other end of the pole and sunk into to depths i knew little of what was going to be on the other end.

A hard fight seeing the drennan aqua elastic oozing from the end of the pole it was a good while before the fishes identity was certified especially with the severe depth of this pond.  Eventually through the surface came the shimmer of dark olive green and that most iconic of spring fish was slid into the landing net.  A teddy bear eye and a paint brush tail she was by far the fish of the session and a sign spring had finally sprung.

As the session wore on to its end and we reached that most mysterious time in any session, the last hour, the witching hour, a hour when you know those wise old fish are starting their hunt for food and if you get lucky maybe they will slip up and allow you to admire their beauty.

The last hour as the oily sun dropped below the horizon my palm was graced with bars of gold time and time again as some lovely crucian carp moved in over the bed of hemp seed.  A sight that brought those childhood memories flooding straight back.

A session end came in just as fast as the darkness began to fall and a cool mist began to creed over the pond, many say the morning mist is the ghost of anglers past then surely this mist rolling in just had the be the ghosts of the monks moving in to protect their pool through the hours of darkness.

Two nets that held so many memories.

Till next time enjoy you fishing and creating those special memories that will last a lifetime.

Danny