Indicators

In the beginning there was floats, these in my opinion when properly set up are the most sensitive form of bite detection. Unfortunatly watching a motionless float for more than a few hours quickly becomes tiring and float fishing isnt always ideal. For ledgering one of the earliest bite idicators was a piece of silver paper on the line between the first 2 rod rings. The main problem with free hanging bobbins is that they can blow sideways and make bites difficult to spot.
I've seen all sorts in the chase for bite detection from pennys rested on reel handles balenced over tin cans and washing up bottle tops as bobbins.
This problem was initially solved by rolling the silver paper into a tube and slotting it onto a rod pushed into the ground to prevent sideways motion. In later years this technique was refined to a plastic tube which slid up and down on a PTFE coated needle and gained the name 'Monkey Climber' and was the be all and all in carp fishing. And thats where I left the game.
When I re entered 12 years on I found things had changed somewhat and instead I was led in a different direction. Thats when the Fox mk2 swingers made it below my optonics. I found the swingers had 2 main advantages 1, they are unaffected by side winds, and 2, with a sliding counter wieght they can be set for a huge range of resistance. The attention to detail is great with a low friction line clip and a resessed drilling for a luminous isotobe. At £15.99 each in my mind they make the most reliable and versatile option on the market.

Farlows

I managed a day off from work in early february and managed a late day session at Farlows. As usual I picked the motorway bank near the entrance gate for ease of getting out once the gates were locked. I set one rod up on a running rig and one as semi-fixed and baited up with shelf life dynamite baits spicey chicken tipped off with plastic sweetcorn for a bit of visual attractant. I PVA bags of pellet groundbait, pellets and tuna Were finally threaded up the hook length. Both rods were chucked into the far side off the channel in front of me though I wasnt particularily confident because of the cold but bright conditions.
Once chucked in I sat back to wait for a run I was reasonably happy wouldnt come but iy was good to be back on the bank again. Within 20 mins the semi fixed lead rig was off! It felt like a decent fish, bearing in mind my pb is currently 13lb, and was played carefully into the bank. There were no real dramas untill I reached for the net only to realise that although it was out of the holdall it hadn't been set up! I eventually managed to spread the arms and mesh and draw the fish right upto the front of the platform, on the 3rd attempt the mesh finally closed around it!
On the bank the scales went around to 16lb 10oz, a new pb which is a coincidence because my previous pb had come early last year from the same water. Unfortunatly my camera lense had some crap on it so the pics didnt come out too well.
A short while later a pair of bream around 3 to 4lb threw themselves onto the other rod.
On a day when according to the balif no one else was doing much I was fairly pleased with myself and packed up around 9pm as the temperature fell again. I returned the next day to the same spot with the same bait and rigs and couldnt buy even a twitch. The only difference being the second day was amorning session when maybe the water still hadnt warmed up.