Well there goes another year!! I think it is safe to say that 2012 has been the end of the world!! Well ok… not quite, but I think there are times in my fishing that it seems to have been going that way! We would all agree if questioned that this last year has been somewhat slow on the angling front, for whatever reason we have personally I think that the weather really has played a massive part in our trips to the bank and to the success we have had while we have been there!

I know personally that my fishing has been limited, some through the sheer scale of work I have undertaken this year, some through the attention of my new lady friend and mainly because when I have looked out of the window at the point the golden opportunity to go out has finally arrived and seen it absolutely tipping it down with rain/blowing a hoolie/already dark/flooded/under a foot of snow etc..  Feel free to delete as applicable in that instance…

When I look back at what I heard in the shop this year it is that lakes have been fishing harder than they ever have.. I ask the question is this weather or angling pressure?  Personally I think it is a mixture of both.  Take the former, this year we have seen weather like I have never previously experienced, January provided mildish weather, well certainly mild for the time of year, followed by sudden freezing conditions and a foot of snow through February. March saw us sitting in t shirts and upper 20 degree weather and then Noah was required to build another ark when we got hit with 40 days of rain….. and it seems to have continued being up and down ever since! I always liken fish to myself and how I feel when the weather is so changeable.. Personally not knowing what to expect in the coming 24 hours usually leaves me feeling a bit topsy turvy, if its hot I don’t want to eat, if its cold then I suffice with whatever is close!

Now looking at the latter.. Angling Pressure has been something that is increasing year by year, I often find myself being asked for somewhere where people can just go to get a bend in the rod! When I ask why I usually receive a response about either not having had the chance to go fishing, or on the other hand not being able to catch from their normal waters.. It is a true fact that the popularity of our sport, and in particular the growing participation in carp angling and the essex area go hand in hand with making it harder to go and actually catch fish… Why is that, well simply because fish become wary, they have seen everything, had all and sundry thrown at them from a variety of different anglers all using what is “in essence” then same tactics!

Of course there are still waters out there that require us to use nothing more than a fag butt to physically be able to catch a fish, usually waters that are so overstocked that the competition for food becomes farcical.  Is this ever going to get better?? Well that is something that only time will tell!

What to do next? Well simply I have taken up sea fishing! Why I hear you ask?? Well in a conversation about where can we go and get a few takes to provide us some winter fun, the easiest and simplest solution become the sea! And I have been having a whale of a time, it is something I have never turned my hand to before but finally have recaptured  my buzz for angling! Why… well I have done some soul searching and I actually think it is quite simple.. With Carp anglers we have all become fixated with the idea of catching bigger, better and more than we have ever caught before, it is true that although it doesn’t apply to all it certainly applies to the majority.. When I look back to my childhood I remember catching my first Perch, My first Roach, My first Gudgeon and the mystery of what was gonna be on the end of the hook when I reeled in give me a buzz that I have missed for a while now! I am lucky that I have caught some big carp and each one has given me a buzz for a few minutes… Now when I go sea fishing I get the buzz I had as a kid, I get that excitement in my belly before the trip and then the sheer curiosity of what’s gonna happen, what am I gonna catch, followed by the “what the hell is that!” when you do finally catch something!  I have missed that!  I even cast my first salmon rod this year!! Never thought I would do that!

I think the key will all angling and everything we do in angling is to keep it fresh! Keep it exciting! If you do then you will gain far more enjoyment out of it for years to come!

Sometimes it seems quite daunting!

Well its that time of year again, the ground is white and the temperatures have hit freezing.  Its also blatently obvious that a majority of carp fisherman have hung up their rods for the year and are enjoying Saturday night tv with the missus.  So I guess the question is why??

There is a popular myth that basically a lot of people believe it is impossible to catch fish at this time of year. And in some instances they might be right, for example, if the lake is completely frozen over when you arrive then there is a good chance your not even going to be able to cast in.  In which case turn around go home and plan a night out at the boozer!

However, if you arrive and it is cold but not frozen, although it may look bleak you are still in with a chance.  At this time of year although the fish don’t appear active they still need to feed.  They will probably be farming the last of the natural larder of bloodworm, snails and nymphs by now and preparing for the long haul of winter.  This really is your opportunity to enjoy the rewards of a good winter bait.

If i take for example the DT cold water Green Beast, here is a flavour that has proven a winner no matter how cold it gets, the reason for it is that it has all the nutrients, fats and carbs that a fish needs to live on, but at the same time breaks down easily in the cold water.  The breakdown time of a bait in winter is crucial and because of this fishmeals are pretty much a no no for this time of year.  Its basically due to the oil contents of the bait.  What makes a good bait in summer is exactly the reason it makes a bad bait in winter.

By introducing a good winter bait, whether it be a top quality bait like DT’s cold

Not the greatest pic due to the conditions but a cracking fish from under the ice!

water or a birdfood bait you increase the fish’s appetites.  Look at it from a human perspective, would you go without eating for a few months while everything around you that you were used to eating suddenly disappears?  I didn’t think so.

I personally have fished in conditions down to about minus 10 and even with the lake freezing up around me I have still caught 3 fish to 3 rods in a night.  Its all down to a little bit of watercraft, deeper water is going to hold a lot more warmth than the shallow margins.  Take a bit of time with a marker float and work out where these deeper columns are. Also when the lake is freezing over don’t be too tempted to hide away in your bivvy, keep an eye open as there will often be an area of water that takes longer to freeze than others.  Here is a sign that there is still some weed or a patch of naturals that are active and are keeping the water disturbed or warmer.  If you can get a bait out to it then there is a good chance of picking up fish.  Admittedly you might have to smash the ice to land it but there is nothing more rewarding than an icy picture!

So get your warm clothes out, find the overwrap for your bivvy, make sure you have plenty of tea kit, keep your kettle topped up overnight so you can have a cup first thing in the morning and go catch some fish!!!

Dawn, the perfect time of day to catch them out!

One of the things I am commonly asked for hints and tips to help people catch carp.  Often crazy questions like what bait works best and what rig should I be using?  I find these questions a sure fire sign of people not really thinking about their angling or are so tied up in what they think they should be doing that they are not reading the signs when they are at the lake.

I could quite easily sell people a ton of bait by saying if you use this you will catch, or tie this rig and chuck it out into the lake and you will catch but inevitably you won’t.  The thing I try and get people to realise is that when it comes down to it each and every swim in every lake and river reacts differently.  Sometimes a bait placed on a gravel spot may be an absolute certainty, other times it can be a complete no go for carp.  Understanding the difference in these spots and how to fish them is often what provides the difference between catching and not.  Again, although bait is necessary it is often taken too far as being the “problem” if they are not catching.

Lets look at boilies for instance.  When Carp Fishing you want a good quality boilie providing the essential make up of a carps diet, this being Fat, Carbohydrate and Protein, if you sit back and look at what is available to us on the shelves and out of the freezers it can be pretty difficult to buy a bad quality bait.  Now while this has been said it is also what some of the top anglers do to their bait that gives them the edge in the right circumstances.  Boilies glugged in boilie dips, salmon oil, or even cured in salt are just some of the tricks used by the top guys to do the business.  Other ways of looking at things are high attract baits are often used better in a small baiting plan where as low attract for large beds of bait.

A 30lber caught in france on a chod cast at showing fish

It is a mine field at times and I hear almost every day, yeah but if I was at the bank for as long as them guys then I would catch those fish.  However, I have seen many anglers spend long periods of time at lakes and still not really catch anything.  It is often these people who need to spend a bit of time with the marker float and a little bit of time looking at the rigs they use.  All to often people get into a rut of fishing one type of rig for all their fishing, which can often be their downfall.   It is things like this that can cost the angler the catch.  For instance, a pop up on a gravel spot probably won’t get you many takes, whereas a pop up fished on a chod rig cast to showing fish can buy you a lot more bites.

After a very long 6 days of blanking I found the fish and caught this lovely 37 on a chod

Trying to get an understanding of what to do in certain circumstances can be a complete battle ground as everyone has different opinions.  It is getting hold of the right material that will help YOU come to YOUR own opinion on what YOU should be doing.  What works for one will not always work for the other, another theory that has been proved over and over again.  One of the best resources I have found to help me come to my own conclusions was the Underwater Series by Korda.  The boys at Korda have developed the underwater filming series to show us what happens when fish are in the area.  Although they offer you their opinions on why things happen it really opens people’s eyes as to what really goes on that we don’t see..

Now go out and find them!!

A large part of my angling now is based on what I have seen on these films along with a little bit of common sense and taking the time to locate fish.  Another thing where people go so horribly wrong and another thing that I see people do all the time is turn at the lake, pull there car up behind the swim of choice and then set up camp for the weekend.  Now as far as that goes they are potentially as far away from the fish as they could be and have minimized their chances to a bare minimum by doing so.  And yet still so many people say but I like fishing there, it is a nice social swim.  If you are really serious about catching carp then get off your arse and have a good look round first, find the fish and stay mobile, be a bit stealthy and you will probably catch more.

Carp bait is generally now termed as boilies and although there are still many baits out there that can be used as carp baits it is very rare to find a carp angler without a bag of boilies stashed in their bags.  The main reason for this choice of bait is that it holds the 3 most important things in a carp’s diet, fat, carbohydrate and protein.  The last of which is one of the most key ingredients.  Although there are plenty of things that consist of a high protein it is what has the most usable proteins for the fish.  Bait manufacturers now use high quality ingredients to ensure that the baits produced have these usable proteins that enable the fish to digest the bait effectively whilst enabling them to retain what they need to grow big quickly!

There are many many different bait companies on the market and to be honest it is very difficult to buy a badly made carp bait in the shops.  Another important thing in the market as deemed by anglers is the flavour of the bait.  In my opinion although this is pleasing to the anglers it may not make much of a difference to carp.  It is my belief that the carp do not detect the actual smell of a bait but the pH level changes that the flavours make when placed in water.  I think this is one of the reasons that some baits work really well in one water but why it doesn’t seem as effective on others.  Although not scientifically proven in my chats with bait manufacturers it seems that I may have a point.

Whilst buying baits from manufacturers through shops is a very popular and easy option some people opt for the approach of homemade baits.  The art of rolling you own carp bait is one that takes a little while to perfect but can give you the edge as it is you who decides what goes in it.  I recently fished a lake that I took a cold water mix carp bait to which was very high in citric flavouring.  If I had done my homework properly I would have found out prior to my trip that citric flavours had never been well received.

What I did find out in my session is that there was a large quantity of fishmeal boilies that did work really well at this lake.  When I researched them I found that all of them included Green Lipped Mussel extract.  I took this information and using the DT Pukka Fish Mix mix which already has this ingredient proceeded to make my own baits that used the Pukka Fish Base, Oily Chicken flavouring with added GLM powder and salmon oil.  The next session was explosive and after a 5 day blank on my first session the next produced 3 fish overnight.

Without the option of homemade bait making I could have used other off the shelf baits but felt I had a better edge using my own ingredients specific to the lake I was fishing.

There are also different options that are available when you buy carp bait at a shop, for example, shelf life or freezer bait.  Freezer bait is the main option for most carp anglers as it is the most pure form of bait, I say this as to make a shelf life boilie you have to add a preservative which taints the flavour and makes the bait harder.  Despite this it is a good option for people who fish rarely or are going on longer sessions where freezer bait will turn and go mouldy.

There are good shelf life alternatives out on the market now that hold the flavour and remain soft even over time being left to the elements.  The new range of DT baits to work alongside the freezer range being one of the best on the markets with years of research going into finding the key ingredients to make this possible.  Infact I know several die hard freezer bait fans that have started to keep this in there bag as a good alternative incase they fish a lake that like a certain bait.

To sum up then, when it comes to carp baits it is clear that boilies are the way to a carp’s stomach, and with a little bit of homework and some creativity you can maximise bait potential with some creative homemade bait.  But do not ignore the power of a manufacturer bait.  These guys are paid to do this and they do it well! Yes they may cost a bit more than making your own in the long run but it works!! And most companies have the field testing results to prove it!

Interestingly I wrote this article quite some time back and looking back my views have not really changed.  I have still had some successes on homemade baits where I have struggled on the standard shop brought baits, but during the course of this time I have also moved onto DT NBlend as my preferred bait.  Now the uniqueness of this bait is that it is primarily made from a mixed nut base with certain oils that compliment the bait.  This bait along with the cold water mix that I have previously mentioned is exceptional because of the milk proteins used.

Now I guess the easiest comparison that I can make on this is that a milk protein is used to help bulk up, in the same way that body builders use protein to bulk up, now imagine its christmas (a sorry for anyone that causes a nightmare for).  What happens as almost an inevitability over the christmas period? We put on weight, why? well for most of us being surrounded by chocolate is a good cause, chocolate is primarily milk based and therefor causes us to bulk up, mix that in with a lack of movement and energy and hey presto. Now take that scenario and apply it to fishing.  So see how using a bait in milk protein becomes essential to help fish maintain weight through the winter.  Now put winter aside and just consider the bulking up effect of the body builder again and see how with exercise this can increase our sustain for exercise and you have the essence of why fish like milk proteins all year.  It gives them energy, fats, amino’s and acids that compliment there digestive system. Where as I still don’t think it is right all year round it is certainly a bait that will work all year!

We all caught fish that week but had to work hard for it which to my mind proves that changes in the weather do have a definite impact on the way fish feed – all part of improving my carping education (this was also demonstrated on later trip’s out to Murphys lake which I’ll cover in a later blog)

Hoops called me up one evening late December 2009 and we talked about a guy who’d asked if he fancied coming out to Riba Roja on the river Ebro to try the fishing. Knowing Pete’s distaste for anything with whiskers (i.e. catfish) I was surprised that he even considered it. Turns out that the River Ebro holds more than overgrown tadpoles and they are eminently catchable if you go at the right time.

This saw Pete and me jumping on a flight out of Stansted on a cold January morning in 2010 to head out to Reus with the usual end tackle and clothing for a four day ‘taster’ session. Nick met us at the airport and we headed off to the supermarket to pick up some food and drinks for sustenance before heading out early in the morning. We then drove over the bridge across the Ebro and Nick pointed out where we’d be fishing in the morning – couldn’t see too much in the dark if I’m really honest!

The following morning was an early start and a quick ‘makeshift’ breakfast of fried hot dogs, fried ham and an egg (the Spanish version of sausage, bacon and eggs!) and we’re off… The trip down to the water’s edge can only be described as ‘interesting’! A narrow lane runs down the side of the river bank and some serious manoeuvring (including reversing along a stretch just about wide enough for the car as the lane was too tight to be able to turn the car!) was necessary to get us water side.

This is the first time we’ve seen the river in daylight and at this point there’s some serious intakes of breath and concerns about whether we’ll catch anything here – it’s massive! The point at which we’re fishing has a hydro-electric dam about 500m upstream, the stretch is at a guess about 400m wide and the next downstream dam is 10km away…! Three of the turbines are open on the upstream dam and the water is tearing through like somebodies pulled the plug on a giant bath!

We’re supposed to be fishing the slack water just inside the main flow and Nick assures us that he’s already had a good number of fish so they are definitely there to be had.In an earlier blog, I mentioned just scaling up your tackle for foreign waters but this was ridiculous – how on earth could we expect to hold a bait in that flow? The answer was 5oz leads with a pretty standard hair rig (heavier hooklink as expected) and double Cold Water Green Beast 15mm boilies tipped with a corn hair stop as we were fishing over a pretty heavy spread of mixed particles. A good chuck of 60m or so was the edge of the flow so just as the sun was crawling over the top of the mountains, two rods each were thrown into the unknown…

It was less than an hour before a squealing Optonic indicated a full blooded run, which resulted in a beautiful pale common gracing the bottom of the landing net, and pushing the scales round to the 17lb mark.

Snags - 1 , Espana - 0

This set the tone for the remainder of the session with both Pete and I taking fish on each of the four days we were there, albeit some of them we had to work hard for with no activity till late in the day despite signs of showing fish. Hoops even took a beast of a 30lb fish from a longer cast out into the main flow. A magnificent effort considering the size and power of the fish and the current that was pushing through the swim.

Hoops tames an Ebro beast !

One of the things we did learn during that week was to be innovative…. Because of the flow through the swim, round or square pear leads were an absolute waste of time, the only thing that we could hold bottom with was a 5oz flat pear and due to the numerous snags you’d expect in a river, stocks started to run low fairly quickly. The answer – bash the life out of a square pear between two rocks until it becomes a flat pear! Not something I’d recommend on your local Carp lake but needs must sometimes!

So would I return to the Ebro?- definitely. This was a totally new experience river fishing for carp, and what a river to fish. The catfish won’t bother you if you go at the right time of year and there aren’t many places I know that you can fish at the end of January for top quality common carp that fight like fury. If you’re considering a trip abroad, it’s worth thinking further than just France although we do seem to keep returning to a certain Murphy’s lake….

I remember spending a week at a fishery in Essex, sleeping on an old camp bed under a canvas brolly with a tarpaulin clothes pegged around the edges as a bivvy. Between three of us we took some sixty-odd Tench that week, but they all paled into insignificance against the two Common Carp that graced the landing nets. Nothing big in comparison to current stocks, but that big, dark back rolling in the water was enough to create a sharp intake of breath and a prayer to the Carp gods…..”Please don’t let the hook pull, please don’t let the hook pull……..!”

As we grow older mortgages, marriages and careers come along which all restrict our time on the bank, and I was no different from anybody else. All of the fishing tackle dwindled away to friends, boot sales and local jumble sales, and cars, bars and women were a more interesting distraction (and more expensive!)

Then about eight years ago, my son started to talk about “Going fishing with me mate”, and the door of opportunity opened again. About the same time I ended up working alongside a certain Mr Peter Hooper (if you don’t know who he is then get to down to Snags Tackle in Colchester for a cuppa and a chat!) who also had reinvigorated his interest in Carp fishing.

So, in pure ignorance of the money pit I was looking into, I bought my first set of Carp fishing tackle. Straight off of eBay, unbranded kit which lasted all of about 3 months. The clutch died on the reels, the end ring fell of the rod, all in all a pretty poor decision in buying fishing tackle! So, after many discussions with Mr Hooper , he pointed me towards some better quality tackle with the understanding that you really do ‘get what you pay for’ (bear in mind this was before he owned Snags).

Happy with my selection of some better quality fishing tackle made up of Nash Outlaw XS rods and a set of Shimano 5000RE limited edition reels, I was out for some proper Carp fishing. A good friend and neighbour came out of the closet as an ex-match fisherman and many weekends were spent on the bank with mixed results – anything from a total blank to a couple of dozen fish depending on weather, time, location and so on. Nights sitting waiting for that twitch from the bite alarm followed by a one-tone screamer took up more and more of my time with lots of promises to ‘she who must be obeyed’ that the decorating would definitely get done next weekend.

Even the worst weather failed to dampen my enthusiasm. I’ve been out on short sessions with Pete when the rain came down in stair rods and the thunder was enough to shake the entire lake, fished a lake in Swansea with a hurricane blowing and a whirlwind touching down in a neighbouring village, and woken on many mornings to a lake of glass and every blade of grass frozen solid.

Then somebody made the suggestion of trying French Carp fishing……

A cracking 36lb Lac Cavagnac Mirror…

So, somebody made the suggestion of trying French Carp fishing. Where do we go? Which lake’s best? What time of year is best? What’s the best way to travel – fly or drive? What fishing tackle do we need? All questions very relevant to a French fishing virgin…!

We came to the conclusion in 2008 that venturing out to France for a session in a warmer climate was a fantastic idea. So, after much deliberation and thrashing through all the glossy Carp magazines looking at the various adverts, and some very drawn out debates over cups of tea in the Snags shop, we settled on a trip to Kevin Nash’s Lac Cavagnac. Sadly Hoops couldn’t be with us on this one so it was left to Stuart Maskell and myself to fly the Snags flag.

So that was the destination agreed, and a great start on what fishing tackle to take – the package provides everything but end tackle and sleeping bags! This still left the question of end tackle and tactics, and with due consideration for the resort rules, we were advised to use Gardner GR80 15lb line and Sufix Camfusion 25lb hooklink. Leads were a minimum of 4oz to provide as much hooking assistance as possible. The original plan was to scale up the usual UK tactics slightly and go with a size 8 or so Gamakatsu G-Point Super – this was blown right out of the water (excuse the pun!) when the on-site guys produced a pack of size 4 Nash hooks and advised that should be the absolute minimum!

So before we actually flew out, we’d agreed on a preferred order of swims depending on how far through the order we ended up for choice of swims (agreed through drawing cards – lowest first, highest last). Miracle upon miracles, we ended up second and chose our preferred swim – The Field.
Setting up on the platform, there were 6 banks of lily pads all offering the potential for excellent carp fishing, so with a 4oz lead and a mighty heave I managed to drop a bait to the edge of a patch half way across the lake. A quiet night ensued with nothing but a few beers and some sleep!

Following day, David spent some time with us and explained that to fish the swim properly, we needed to fish the far bank some 150 yards away! At this point the real point of having the row boat became apparent… None of this casting lark but boat your bait out to where you want to fish which in some cases was through two sets of lily pads to reach a third set!

That day all was quiet without a fish to be seen so it was a case of eat some dinner, get showered and plans for a few beers before bed time with the expectation that it would all kick off over night. So having freshened up, I’m strolling happily back to the swim only to be greeted by “You won’t believe this but….” Expecting a tale of the one that got away it was then followed by ‘Look at the size of this bugger…” only to be shown the largest slab of a Common Carp I had ever seen at that time! You’ve all heard the phrase ‘You could put a saddle on that’ from a certain Matt Hayes, but now I understood that emotion completely! Bear in mind that at that time the biggest I’d caught was probably a mid-double, this fish weighed in at 27lb and a few ounces – oh and just to add insult to injury it was on one of my rods….! The fish was duly captured on camera and returned to fight another day, and an air of hopeful expectation hung around the swim for bigger and better during the night – this is what we came for!!!!

To cut a long story short, many fish were had that week (26 fish between the two of us) and for about 4 days or so I was top rod with a monster (to me!) Mirror Carp of 36lb. That one even ended up with me in the lake up to my chest amongst the lily pads for the sake of a good photo!

A cracking 36lb Lac Cavagnac Mirror…

We both came home with new personal bests after that week’s fishing, and Stu came back with a new nickname of ‘Poacher’ after managing three fish off of my rods (you have no idea how frustrating it is to hear your bite alarm squealing when you’re 80 yards away in a row boat!)

So to all French Carping Virgins out there, give it a go. Keep it simple and strong (if you’ve got a working UK rig then just scale up with a larger hook, heavier hook link, heavier mainline). If you need any advice, come down and have a cuppa with Hoops and I’m sure he’ll talk you through the way we’ve fished various French lakes and a completely different approach to fishing the Ebro which I’ll come on to shortly…..

Whatever your plans are for the coming year I guess we all have in our mind what we want to get out of fishing, they say that you get out what you put in after all!   From a personal note I have a growing vengeance to serve with Snake Pit in deepest darkest essex!   This water has somewhat been dominating my fishing brain for many seasons now.  I think it was back in 2005 I first stumbled across this pit, I was still a little red around the gills in my angling life when I first looked around it and was quite happy catching anything that happened to come my way! A few nights in the first year were dedicated to fishing for anything that would come my way, I remember feeling that I had done particularly well that spring landing nearly 400 tench including some absolute monsters!

During 2006 I became good friends with some of the regulars who frequented the lake and learned what was hidden in the depths of this magical pit, although there are not many fish in terms of carp stocks there were a few special ones! I was then given some of the history of this amazing lake, learning how the snake got it s name, the original snake pit common (I now have a picture hanging in my shop of this amazing common glistening in all its glory), then Dippy the wandering mirror! It was clear to me that the potential of this lake was far beyond the realms of anything I had ever dealt with before.

Suddenly and quite out of the blue, I felt as if I wanted to start hunting down some of these magnificent creatures to put in my lowly photo album, and so at this time I found myself becoming slowly obsessed with Carp Fishing!

Now my experience took a strange and unexpected start, I believe it was august 2006 when I arrived armed to the gunnels with everything I thought I needed.. well until my good friend for many years Jonny Mann showed me the error of my ways and advised me on rigs and bait.  So with my new rigs and a kilo of Mainline Fusion given to me by Jon I set myself up in the bay and proceeded to introduce 2 rods into the marginal reeds. I never, really and truthfully, expected a great deal that night.  I recall being woken by Jonny advising me that I would be required as photographer in the morning as he had one of the lake residents known as Baby Dippy in the sack! Excited by  by this news I settled back down into my bedchair and stared at the bobbins waiting for something to happen.  I guess I drifted off to sleep as out of the blue my little fox MX alarm squealed like a banshee! Before I knew what was happening I was stood holding the rod playing something that felt a bit bigger than the tench I had grown accustomed to!  Before long my heart started dropping back down my throat and into its correct location, as I flicked the headtorch on a golden common sat staring back up at me from the security of my landing net! I was ecstatic!  The size felt irrelevant it was the feeling that I had tricked one of the wiliest carp ever into taking my bait.  On the scales it went 15lb, something that was later revealed to me as being possibly the smallest carp in the lake! Well we all have to start somewhere!

From that point I spent as many waking hours as I could visiting the lake to see what was happening and trying to learn as much as I could.  Everytime I turned up to fish I went with my chest pushed out and a confidence that I knew I could catch them.  Ermm well I did, what transpired was a 12 month slog of turning up to fish and leaving after a fruitless session (in my fairness my sessions were very short and usually amounted to 9 hours total).  Rapidly the confidence subsided and I was left wondering what I was doing.  I read magazine articles, tried different baits and fished known spots both on and off gravel spots… I felt like I tried everything.  Suddenly an opportunity come my way that would see me being able to fish a 9 day uninterrupted session, something I never expected with the commitments I had!  The plans were made, the bait was brought and the time was upon me! Well I say the time was upon me, August threw up another surprise that meant personal commitments other than work would see me fish every night for at least 31 days! I couldn’t let this pass me by so the 9 day campaign was now a whole month where I could be at the lake most of the time (aside from that pesky job)… The month went on getting closer and closer to the 9 day stint but although fish were coming out I was really starting to doubt myself following so many blanks!

A quick rethink saw me change baits from Nash Scopex Squid to Elusive Baits Spicy Fish Mix… By now my 9 days had started, an area was chosen at about 80 yards infront of the point swim, the weed that year was playing havoc with presentation so I spent the first 4 days spodding as much hemp, corn, groundbait and crushed boilie onto the spot as I could afford! (I think I massed about 120kg of particle that week).. On the morning of the 5^th day it was apparent that fish had been visiting the chosen spot, upon casting the marker out to get ready to spod out again I noticed that a 10ft area had been completely cleaned.  I decided to leave the particle approach and spod out 3kg of mixed and chopped boilies and presented 2 rigs on the spot with Spicy Fish Mix.  The following morning a little after 9am my left hand rod rattled off! A quick sprint to the rods and the healthiest bend I had ever seen in one of my rods.. clearly it was a good fish! I felt so nervous and could see eyes fixated on me from all corners of the lake.. don’t come off, pleeeeeeeease don’t come off was all that was going through my head as I played the fish! My nerves were on edge as I could feel the line flicking off the dorsal but then out of the depths a chunky mirror came to the surface before lunging down into the depths again.. I couldn’t stand it, especially now I had seen it was indeed a good fish.   I battled for the final few moments before slipping the net under the fish! Finally, all my hard work paid off! I was over the moon.  I called a friend to do some photo’s and he arrived in about 10 minutes reeling from the shock of my call.  We got the sack out of the water and a quick identification and weigh in saw me with a very clear uk pb for the time of 27lb 12oz and a fish we call Billy!

I came so close to quitting while the going was good but thought hey I might get some more.  I recast both rods on the spot and reintroduced another 3kg of mixed and chopped boilies.  That night I went to sleep with a massive grin on my face and a sense of accomplishment. I didn’t care what happened now! That night I dreamt how mad it would be to break my pb again although that dream was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a screaming alarm! Daylight had just broken and I was stood watching my line cut through the mist like a sharp sword.. It felt weighty! A different fight to anything I had experienced, just slow and plodding along.  I felt like I couldn’t do anything to stop it but bizarrely the fight didn’t last very long.  I remember not having the same feeling as the day previous with the nerves, somehow I knew this fish was mine (I guess that was the confidence building up again).. The net went under the fish and the fish was sorted and slipped straight into the sack.  I thought I would be nice and wait to text my friend asking for his photography skills that morning.  I didn’t wait to long before the excitement got the better of me, suddenly I felt that I may have just broken my pb again.  It felt like an age before he arrived and I was informed that “it better be worth him getting up early for”.. The sack was pulled out and identification was soon made that Baby Dippy was in my hands.. The scales went round to 28lb 8oz! I had done it again! Not only had I caught 2 named fish in 24 hours but they had both been PB’s!

As the fish swum back to the depths I felt as though I had come to terms with my demons! What now, should I start thinking about target fish, should I, should i?? The rigs went back out as they did the previous day and as evening fell my thoughts were all over the place… slowly I watched my bobbin rise to the top where it then laid to rest.. I picked up the rod expecting to find some floating weed on the line. I was quite shocked when something pulled back.  It was one of the strangest fights I can ever recall, certainly to that date but since as well. It kited left, then right, then tore line, then swum towards me, then tore line again.  I began to think I had false hooked a catfish.  Eventually after it had played knit one, pearl one with my other line I landed a chunky common.  One I had seen before called Elvis, one of the lakes characters for sure! At 21lb 2oz it was a new pb common! Madness! Couldn’t believe my luck!

Later that evening I had a phone call that saw me have to leave the lake early the following morning, which left me feeling quite disgruntled, but fear not I would be back!! I didn’t realise that my life would throw so many obstacles in the way of stopping me get back there till this year!! But we will continue that in later thoughts!

When I left that lake I felt as though I had earnt those fish through the efforts, thought and frustration that I had been through to get to where I was that day! It gave me an enormous sense of satisfaction and achievement.

So I guess what I’m getting at with this story is whatever you want from angling, persist at it because anything that you go through is part of a learning curve.  The rewards though?? They are there to be had!  Until next time folks.  Tight Lines!!

Hoops

There is a lot of choice in today’s fishing tackle market with many companies offering similar products for the same purpose.  Many of these have been born out of frustration with other companies products design flaws, although many of them work well, anglers always have there own opinions on how things should be.  The end result is that different companies design the same products to act slightly differently.  Thankfully for the average angler this gives us plenty of choice to make our own mind up on which one we like best.

One of the best things about fishing tackle is that I do not know of 2 people who fish exactly the same setup or in exactly the same way, we all do something different in hope to gain that edge over everyone else on the complex they are fishing.

There are several tackle companies that compete for our business in the fishing tackle market, in particular you have Korda, ESP, Fox, JRC, Rig Marole and to be fair many more that would take to long to list.  I want to look mainly at the range of stuff developed by the guys at Korda and ESP.

Korda have been instrumental in the growth of Carp Fishing over the course of the last few years, the advertising that they put behind their products and the effort that goes into testing their products is second to none in my own opinion,  I was chatting to Damo and Danny at a recent trade show looking at the new products that they have just released and I was totally impressed by the passion that these guys have.  They will literally take a part of their angling that they feel isn’t optimum and design a product that will meet their needs.  Unlike many other markets where a manufacturer will create a product to meet demand, Korda create a product to produce demand.  The fishing tackle that they produce is a neat range of equipment that all fits together well and works as it should.

The main competitors to Korda are ESP (Drennan) who with names like Terry Hearn behind them also command a large percentage of the fishing tackle market.  Terry is obviously well known in our little circle of the carping fraternity.  Whenever I read stuff from Terry I never fail to be impressed at the effort that he puts into his angling and has without doubt a very impressive collection of photo’s to back up his knowledge.  ESP products have a very good reputation among the hardcore anglers as being the best on the market, many of us believing things like intermediate sized hooks can make all the difference when neutrally balancing cork pop ups, or when using leadcore making sure it is ESP as it is classed as the best on the market.

With these two companies directly competing for our business the consumer is spoilt for choice when it comes to nicks and nacks for our fishing pleasure.  Many of you will already sit in a particular camp where you feel happier with one companies products, but to those of you who are hardcore fans of one or the other, be aware that developments are constantly changing the face of fishing tackle and I would strongly recommend a trip to your local tackle shop to check out what the other is up to! You may be pleasantly surprised.

Another company that I have been impressed by, mainly for thinking outside the box, is Rig Marole.  These guys seem to have been quite underrated in the fishing tackle trade as far as the general public seem concerned.  I personally have been fishing with their new fluorocarbon over the last month or so and I have not been as impressed with a hooklink for several years, time after time I have seen fish fought successfully through pads, weed, snaggy areas and at long and short distance without a single failure.  The bit that I love the most about the hooklink is the ability to straighten the kinks out without damaging it!  Very impressive and a big thumbs up to the CamH20.  Another one of the products that I have been impressed with, well two in fact is the rig tubing and hydrolink.  Hydrolink has put a nice spin on the traditional coated braid that we have been accustomed to over the last few years, hydrolink reverses the process and has the braid on the outer and a strippable inner, this has proved a real hit with fans of hinged stiff rigs.  The tubing, although a touch expensive, is also a very good idea, when leadcore simply isn’t an option you need to fish with a tubing that serves the purpose of fish safety but also hugs the bottom much much better than standard rig tubing.  This is due to a tungsten inner that weighs more than leadcore helping keep the tubing tight to the bottom reducing the chance of spooking feeding fish.  Oh and I forgot to mention its ridiculously easy to thread!