Terry Hearn's Big Interview - CW247

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“I still love carp fishing just as much as ever!”

T H E B I G I N T E RV I E W • PA R T O N E

T ER RY H E A R N WORDS : JIM FOSTER

Jim Foster travels to CEMEX Angling’s Chertsey Fishery to interview former British record holder and one of the all-time great modern carp-catchers, Terry Hearn. His aim? To get Terry to talk about aspects of his angling that haven’t before been covered in any carp magazine.

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Terry Hearn talking to Jim Foster The Big Interview

I

pulled up at the CEMEX Chertsey Fishery entrance, put the car’s handbrake on, and fired off a text message to a certain Mr Terry Hearn, just to let him know I’d arrived. As I waited for him to come and let me in, I pondered some of the questions I would ask and wondered what he’d be like to interview. Although I’d met Terry, or Tel, as he prefers to be called, on a few occasions, I’d never actually interviewed him until now. How would we get along? Would he be forthcoming when answering the questions I wanted to put to him?

How hospitable would he be? I was a little apprehensive!

I didn’t have to wait long before an estate car pulled up on the other side of the barbed wire-festooned gate. The driver’s door opened and out stepped a man clad in green E-S-P gear. Terry looked up, smiled, and then positively bounded up to the gate, half running, half walking. He greeted me warmly, a mischievous glint in his eye as he smiled, shook my hand as if I was a long-lost mate, and told me to follow him down the lane to the nearby car park. Once the cars were parked and I had changed into some more appropriate attire (it was the beginning of March, but we may as well have been in the Arctic) we tramped down the muddy bank to his swim.

“I’m fishing on the motorway

bank,” Terry said as we walked.

“It’s noisy because we’re right underneath the hard shoulder of the M3. Have you got a voice recorder?” I said I had. “Do you reckon it will be alright with the noise of the traffic?” I told him not to worry – it would be fine.

Before long we were in his swim, a decent-looking pitch that offered a large amount of water to the centre of the 8-acre pit. “I got down late last night, set up on the opposite bank, and then moved again this morning,” said Terry. “A bitter northeasterly got up in the middle of the night, so rather than fishing into it I thought I’d best get off the back of it.” I asked him if he’d caught anything recently. “Yeah, a couple of commons last week, the first two fish I’ve had from here this year as it goes. I saw a fish show at dawn one morning and that was the spot I had them from. That’s often how it goes at this time of the year – nothing for ages then the action all happens at once. I’ve not said anything to anyone else yet though, so best keep it quiet mate!”

I smiled and asked if it was okay to say he’d caught a couple in the interview. “Yeah mate! By the time the mag comes out, it won’t really matter, I’m sure there’ll have been plenty of fish out by then.”

And with that he sat down, put the kettle on, and invited me to join him under his Armadillo. I switched on the recorder and we got talking…

Chertsey. Looking at this lovely view you wouldn’t think the motorway was literally a few feet away!

ABOVE

Chertsey, fishing on the hard shoulder…

BELOW

A fine Chertsey common from last spring.

PREVIOUS PAGE

Jim Foster: I drive past this lake at least twice a week on the M3. I’ve often wondered whether there are any carp in here, but haven’t seen any anglers before now. How long have you been angling on Chertsey?

Terry Hearn: On and off since April last year.

I fished it up until June, and then left to go elsewhere, but I returned in the autumn for another good go. The weather through the first half of the winter was awful and so I’ve only recently started fishing here again.

Is there a particular fish in here that you’re after?

Yep, one good mirror, and as this lake is only 20 or so minutes from home, it’s ideal for me. When I first started on here the fish was a scraper-40, a nice long carp, and the lake was really quiet, so I thought ‘that will do for me’. It’s getting a little bigger now, up to mid-40s, so people are starting to show more of an interest, and I think CEMEX will probably fill up the syndicate this season. It’s certainly getting busier here, and I’ve got to admit that it would be nice to winkle him out before the new tickets start.

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The Big Interview

Do you think people are showing an interest because you’re angling here?

Terry Hearn talking to Jim Foster

Well, I guess writing about it, or talking about it like I am now, might have had some sort of influence. When I started there were a lot of tickets that hadn’t been sold; they couldn’t fill the syndicate. The other day one of my mates got in and he was number 35 on the waiting list only a couple of weeks before, so yeah, unfortunately I think it’s going to get a whole lot busier once the new tickets start in April.

So where did the big mirror in here come from?

I’ve not heard of it before, but then, I don’t read much of the angling press these days!

It’s quite mad, that story. There are plenty of original fish left in here, mainly small commons, with one or two better ones up to 36lb, but the big mirror came from the big lake on the other side of the motorway, which is on the Thorpe Park complex. There’s a channel, which goes under the motorway, that connects this lake to that one, and it must have swum through that. It’s only a shallow channel, so I’m guessing it was probably flooded when the fish came through in 2007 or 2008. Either way, it arrived here totally naturally, and seeing as that fish managed to get in, it’s quite likely that CEMEX would have lost some of their own fish in the opposite direction at the same time. There’s not the number of carp in here that there used to be, that’s for sure.

When was the last time it was caught?

Last November at 45lb+, so it’s growing pretty quick. It would have been nice to have winkled it out last spring when the lake was still quiet, but it wasn’t to be. I’ve seen it loads and have been lucky enough to catch nearly all the fish in here now, bar the biggest one. I’ve managed the second-biggest twice, but the big one is certainly making me work at it. Oh, and there’s a lovely scaly mirror of around 30lb which I haven’t caught either.

Why do you think you haven’t had it? Usually you’re quite good at targeting the bigger ones.

If things go to plan I may end up having another dabble over at Dinton. A good mirror from last summer.

ABOVE

Chertsey’s secondbiggest at 36lb.

BELOW

It’s luck mate – that’s it. When I started fishing here the big mirror had literally only just been caught. In my first two or three weeks’ fishing I’d had a fair few fish, so I think that if it hadn’t already been caught, I may well have managed to winkle it out fairly early on. Then there was one trip in May when I came very close. I’d had several takes and felt closer and closer to getting the bite that mattered – and then matey opposite me caught her. I’d had it feeding on my spots in the edge earlier in the evening, and so I’d come real close. Anyway, I pulled off soon after that and went to Dinton and one or two other places, before returning to Chertsey in the autumn. By then though, it was a different ball game – it had turned rock-hard. There’d been a lot of angling pressure by then, and I managed just two small commons all autumn.

pretty hard to get into in the first place, so I don’t want to give them up. Take Dinton – it’s an expensive ticket, but it took me 10 years to get in, so I’m not going to drop it now, if you know what I mean?

Yes, totally. Listen, Tel, I have one question that I’m sure you’ve been asked before, but I am still interested to hear the answer. You seem to have a knack of catching the biggest fish in any lake fairly quickly. How do you manage that?

Well, occasionally that happens, but not always. It hasn’t happened for me that way on Chertsey! One place it did happen was when I caught the Fat Lady from St. Ives Lagoon.

She was my first take. I caught her in May, but then you have to realise that I blanked all through the previous autumn, when I did around 30 nights for nothing.

Then I went back in the spring and fished through April with no action at all, before then going on to bank her in May. So although it was my first take, I wouldn’t say I caught her quickly.

“Take Dinton – it’s an expensive ticket, but it took me 10 years to get in, so I’m not going to drop it now”

How long are you going to give it?

Until you catch it?

I think this fish is going to keep growing, and as a result the lake is likely to get a lot busier. Whereas last year I fished the spring and then disappeared for the summer, this year I am just going to carry on. If it gets caught then obviously I’ll go elsewhere for a bit. I’ve still got a Dinton ticket so I might have a go on there before the end of March, when it shuts down for the close season, and then possibly again when it opens in June. It depends what happens here, really.

How many tickets do you have these days? Do you keep many on the go?

I’ve probably got half a dozen at the mo – a couple in the Colne Valley among them – all places that are

What about that Test Valley fish?

You had that out fairly quickly, didn’t you?

Not really. It was my 47th fish from that lake. I started in April and caught the big ’un in June, but it was still my 47th carp. Actually, if I go through ’em (Tel’s big-carp captures), I’ve fished a lot more places where I’ve really had to work my way through the fish to get to the big one. Most people who caught Chad Pool’s Black Eye managed it within their first few captures from the lake; for me it was my 40th fish.

Chertsey probably has 25-30 carp in it, and I’ve managed 24 so far.

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Terry Hearn talking to Jim Foster The Big Interview

So you’re due the big one then?

Maybe, but you could always say that.

Yes, indeed! Changing subjects a bit, I’ve met your dad a couple of times and he’s an absolute gent – a top, top man. Was it your dad who got you into your fishing?

get fairly close to your targets, and so there’s always an element of stealth involved. I’d say 30-40yds, possibly 50 if you’re damn good on a windless day. You hear people say they shoot stuff from 70-80yds with an air rifle– don’t take any notice of them!

And you eat pigeons, don’t you?

Yes. He’s been a massive influence on my life with the whole outdoor thing – shooting, fishing, rabbiting, falconry, and even collecting edible wild mushrooms – I’ve done it all with dad.

Yeah mate! It’s my favourite meal.

My stepmum laughs about that. She told me recently, “We’re having lamb later, but your dad fancies pigeon.

Up to you, what do you want?” And every time I want a pigeon!

Has that kind of outdoors education benefited your fishing?

How do you cook it?

I think so. Whether you’re fishing, or out shooting pigeons and rabbits, the more you’re outdoors, the more you’re in tune with it all. With us anglers it’s about watercraft, but when dad’s out shooting it’s all about fieldcraft. He can go out to a field, build a hide from natural materials that are lying around, and he’ll know the direction the pigeons will be flying in from. Depending on the wind, he’ll know what tree they’re going to land in, and I kid you not, quite often the exact branch! He did a bit on building hides in a DVD just recently, mainly about pigeon shooting, and it was really interesting to watch – seeing him build a hide out of branches and stuff. It made a great change from watching a carp-fishing DVD. He knows his stuff, and those kinds of skills and instincts are very easily related to fishing.

You shoot a bit too, don’t you?

Yeah, like dad, with an air rifle, not a shotgun or anything. You have to

That’s the thing – a lot of people, they’re not really trying these things on their own. People tend to breast and then cook pigeon in a horrible sauce of some description, red wine or something. You can’t beat a nice, plump well-roasted pigeon with your Sunday roast. You need to be able to break its wings and legs easily, so it needs to be quite crispy, and then you just tuck into it with a bit of pepper and salt. Naturally you eat it with your hands, not with knives and forks. People are missing out mate.

Could you imagine someone picking up a whole roast pigeon with their hands in a restaurant? No chance.

But it’s great! Another favourite is shellfish, but again, if you ordered

A good catch of edible boletus and parasol mushrooms from last autumn. They were awesome fried for breakfast with plenty of pepper and salt. Please don’t pick wild ‘shrooms’ unless you know what’s what. Even 1% doubt means leaving them be.

ABOVE

I’m not the only one making DVDs!

BELOW

BOTTOM Dad with his friend Stacey (in front), returning a Thames monster of over 35lb, his first carp from the river!

it in a restaurant it’d probably all be peeled, deshelled, and then soaked in some horrible garlic sauce or something – yuck! There’s not much I like more than a big shellfish dinner – crab claws, prawns, winkles, etc., but to enjoy it properly means doing the work yourself and getting in a mess. I love it!

A lot of people won’t like the idea of eating pigeon because they’ll see them in their back garden all the time…

It’s what you’re used to. I was brought up with it as a kid; I’ve tried to get my mates to try pigeon, but they won’t. I love rabbit too. It’s difficult to beat a good rabbit stew on a winter’s evening. Dad had ferrets up until a few years ago and we used to go ferreting when I was a lot younger. He used to put nets up outside the rabbit holes before putting the ferrets down. Sometimes, though, there were more holes than nets, so when I was particularly young he’d put me outside one of the spare holes with a stick and tell me to whack the rabbits when they bolted – obviously there was no chance of that, but I can still remember trying.

So you’ve been angling since you were how old?

When I started going fishing I was so young my dad used to tie me to a bankstick with a length of rope to stop me wandering too far. Mind you, mum says she was night fishing with dad on the Thames whilst she was carrying me!

You’ve been brought up around the Thames, then?

Totally.

We’ll talk about that a bit more in due course, because carping in the lower Thames is massively interesting to me at the moment.

Before that though, how old were you when you caught your first carp?

Twelve – on a lake in Dorset. Funnily enough, my dad was looking through an old drawer in his house the other day and he came across the same packet of hooks I was using when I caught my first carp. It was a little packet of fine-wired, goldcoloured hooks.

Sweetcorn hooks!

Yes! Yes! Sweetcorn hooks! They were so fine in the wire you could bend them with barely any pressure. As soon as dad showed me them, I remembered that first carp, a 6lb common. I was pole fishing at the time, catching tiddlers, and dad came down to visit me. He broke up some bread and threw it in this weedbed.

“Keep your eyes on that,” he said, “the old tench might start taking it.”

Fish started clooping at the bread soon after 20

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“It’s fine prebaiting a swim that’s rarely fished; you take your chances and all that, but to bait a popular swim and expect nobody else to drop in there isn’t just risky, it’s selfish”

Bread is a much-underrated bait. Going back many years when I was fishing the Bushy Park lakes and the Thames, if we could actually see the carp then that’s what we used to do – fish a slow-sinking piece of flake. It still works just as well today. A couple of years back I was on Dinton, fishing in this swim that was pretty much solid with weed, and I was looking for a clear spot to present a rig in. I couldn’t get a decent presentation anywhere, so in the end I moved out of the swim, even though there were lots of carp in there. Then I remember Simon the bailiff turning up. He got a rod out of his van, put some bread-flake on and had a 32-pounder within five minutes! I just remember shaking my head and laughing, because I used to do that exact same thing all the time when I was younger. So yeah, never underestimate bread.

You don’t strike me as the kind of bloke who’d put his name to something that wasn’t right.

Thanks! It’s nice to be able to go to my freezer and just pick out the baits I want to use straightaway.

And you’re using Savoury Spice at the moment?

Today I’m using fluoro cork ball pop-up hookbaits with the Savoury Spice attractors, which, incidentally, includes the all-time classic, MegaSpice flavour. I’m using singles with no freebies at all. It’s Monday today and I am guessing these swims were fished over the weekend, so the chances are that some bait went in before I got here. I could tell that because there have been tufties diving out there and seagulls hanging about and bothering them.

Today, would it be fair to say you’re more of a boilie angler?

Yeah, boilies and tiger nuts do me for the majority of my carp fishing, plus maybe a little pellet and hemp for fishing in the edge.

And you’re still a consultant for Dynamite?

Not knowing what anglers before you have put into the lake can massively influence your chances. How do you deal with that kind of thing?

Yes. Slightly awkward question: there are some cynical people out there who think you get paid by Dynamite, but don’t actually use Dynamite baits.

That’s crazy, isn’t it? At the end of the day, I’ve put some of those baits together. Why on earth would I put together a bait that I don’t want to use myself ?

If anything, I’m spoilt for choice – The Source, the

Of course I use the bait!

BELOW

That’s one reason I go out of my way to try to find quieter lakes mate.

That way it’s you against the carp, instead of you against the actions of other anglers. It’s fine prebaiting a swim that’s rarely fished; you take

Yes! So how did you deal with angling on massively pressured lakes like Yateley’s Car Park Lake?

You’ve done very well on some really busy circuit waters.

It was easier for me back then because I didn’t write so much. Plus I think there was more etiquette in those days – certainly on the Yateley complex at any rate. It wasn’t as if I was secretive, but you generally got left to it.

Terry Hearn talking to Jim Foster

Red Fish, the Chocolate Malt, the Savoury Spice and so on – they are all great baits and they all use top-quality ingredients. Not only that, whether I want ten millers, fifteens, eighteens or 20s, I get them, no problem.

My dad used to catch carp like that in the 1960s, using honey-soaked bread crust a few inches off the bottom, like an early-day pop-up.

your chances and all that, but to bait a popular swim and expect nobody else to drop in there isn’t just risky, it’s selfish. Sometimes you won’t even know a swim has had a load of bait whacked into it. It makes me laugh.

Whenever I have someone say to me, “Oh man, I baited up in here yesterday!” My response is always, “Well, I would have much rather you hadn’t.” Know what I mean?

The Big Interview

he’d gone, and I thought they must be tench; I didn’t know any different, until I hooked this incredibly powerful thing on a floating crust anchored to the bottom by a tiny lead. It was like a Zig Rig, except we always used to call them ‘suspendeds’ for years before ever hearing the term ‘Zig Rig’.

I remember the season when little John Coxhead took the Car Park Lake apart. It seemed to me that people would just let him get on with his thing.

That’s it. You still get places like that today, where people don’t want to be seen to be copying you and are happier doing their own thing. Not always though. There was one lake I fished a few years ago, where I sussed out a way of getting a bait onto this area that you couldn’t otherwise fish. I used to drop my rig into a floating Tupperware container, cast it down the margin, walk out onto a jetty, and then simply pick it out before lowering the rig in with a PVA loop on a spare rod. It was like a bicycle drinks container thing – I could just about hurl it, with the rig inside, 20yds or so down the margin to the jetty.

Anyway, with my new-found edge I started catching very well off that area, then a few days later, whilst actually fishing the spot, I stumbled across someone a couple of swims up trying to get to the same area as me with a margarine container! So that’s the sort of thing you’re up against – I couldn’t do it.

Going back to Dynamite, I’d like to talk about the angling consultancies you hold, because you are probably the most loyal of any carp-angling consultant in the history of the sport. You joined Dynamite nine years ago, right?

Yes. Originally I was using Nash bait, but it wasn’t what I’d call a consultancy. Kev sorted me out free bait, whereas Dynamite actually pay me to put together and endorse their ranges of bait. When I started with Dynamite they didn’t really produce boilies, they just had 21

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Terry Hearn talking to Jim Foster The Big Interview

pellets, groundbaits and lots of different particles in tins and jars.

They’d recently started making Frank Warwick’s fluoro pop-ups though, and they were interested in getting into a range of freezer baits; Pete Chandler (of Dynamite) was on to me for quite a long time before I agreed to come on board, and it’s turned out to be a great move.

To start with I wasn’t really sure about it, but they made up a couple of sample baits, one brown one and one grey one, using some of Rod Hutchinson’s faithful attractors – and I was quite happy with them.

I thought, ‘These are good baits.’

One I really liked, so I tweaked it even further, adding Robin Red plus a couple of other bits and bobs, and we ended up with The Source, Dynamite’s first range of bottom/ food bait boilies. I’m really happy with it – it’s still the biggest seller to this day.

It’s not just Dynamite you’re loyal to, but also E-S-P. Why are you so loyal, when other carp-angling consultants seem to jump from ship to ship quite regularly?

To be honest mate, I’d be gutted to lose the Dynamite thing, mainly because I don’t want to lose the baits I’ve currently got and developed with them, plus I feel I’ve built up something special with them over the past nine years. I can honestly get anything I want from Dynamite, absolutely everything that I need – 10mm baits, 18mm baits, ready-prepared maize, hemp, tigers, floaters, groundbaits, pellets, etc. – and I’m not just a carp angler remember; during the winter months I’m an all-rounder, so if I want to concentrate on barbel fishing for a few weeks I can still get the right bait for the job. It’s the complete package, something I’d probably struggle to find anywhere else.

“I’ve never been driven by money; I’m driven by good living and, being single, with only my own bum to keep, has no doubt helped me in making the right decisions” I think you’ll be alright. I doubt Dynamite will get rid of you! And then there’s your association with E-S-P and Mr Peter Drennan…

The consultancy that started it all off, isn’t it? Peter is great; he asks so little of me, because he doesn’t want to get in the way of my fishing. I’ve been with Drennan/E-S-P for 14 years now. I think it would be fair to say I was the first carp angler who was lucky enough to receive a paid consultancy/sponsorship deal – I was certainly amongst the very first.

Nowadays there’s a lot more of us (sponsored carp anglers), and yes mate, it does surprise me when I see other anglers chopping and changing companies so regularly. If I really, really felt, for whatever reason, I had to leave then maybe I would, like any job I suppose, but not for the sake of money, that’s for sure. I can assure you that I’ve been approached and offered numerous deals in the past, which promised to be more financially beneficial, but I’m wise enough to realise that’s probably in the short term. I’ve never been driven by money; I’m driven by good living and, being single, with only my own bum to keep, has no doubt helped me in making the right decisions.

Pete assured me from the very start that our agreement had the potential to be a long-term thing. It was down to me, and I’d have to do something seriously wrong, or stop going fishing altogether, for him to consider letting me go. Obviously that’s not going to happen, and you know what, as with Dynamite, the longer I’m with them, the stronger and more special the arrangement feels.

Being taken on by E-S-P must have been a big turning point in your career.

Massive. I used to be a postman but lost that job because I was so into my fishing. I had a bit of money saved up though, so I decided to have a few months fishing before I got a job again. That turned into 18 months of fishing, as it does, and covered much of my time on Yateley. But when I started on Wraysbury, I was on the very last of my funds and was preparing to get a job again, but as luck would have it, I ended up catching the British record. Soon after that I got a letter from Drennan International asking me if I’d like to go for lunch with Peter Drennan and Adam Penning. In all fairness, I think it was Adam who suggested me to Peter as a consultant for E-S-P, so I am thankful to him for that. I went up for the interview and everything went well.

I was so skint at the time that Peter gave me an advance on my money, which meant I could buy a new car straightaway. He really helped me out, and from there on in I did a lot more writing, slide shows, talks, etc., and it’s all worked out brilliantly. Not many people do the slide shows any more, but back in my first few years I used to do lots of them every winter. Richard Stangroom used to organise them through The Carp Society, and I’ve got loads of good memories going to all the different regions up and down the country with Rich, along with friends like Jamie Smith and Steve Mogford, who regularly came along for the fun. They were the good old days, that’s for sure.

Do you make a decent living out of being a full-time carp angler?

I’m more than happy and I don’t ever want for anything, put it that way mate. I own a nice house in the country – I’m very, very lucky indeed.

Everything is going well. I eat well, I don’t drink – but the one bad thing I’ve done a lot of is smoke.

Honestly mate, I’m very happy with life, but the smoking stresses me out a lot, and whenever I do it I ask myself, ‘What on earth are you doing?’

That’s not good.

“Do you mind if I say you’ve caught a couple during the interview…”

BELOW

Jim, you’ve been through it, smoking and that, so you’ll know what it’s like and how difficult it is to give up, especially as a carp angler. I once remember working with Ian Heaps, the wellknown matchman. We were on a stand at one of the fishing shows, both of us ‘enjoying’ a ‘nice’ smoke, when suddenly a passer by stopped dead in his tracks, looked me sternly in the eye, and said, “You’ve got far too much time on your hands to be a smoker!” Once he’d moved on, Ian said, “Wow, what was his problem?” but I knew exactly what that guy meant, and 10 years on it’s sunk in even more so.

I loved Tim Paisley’s leader about smoking the other month – it was spot-on. And when I read about Ellis Brazier almost dying from a heart attack, it really shocked me. Anyway, guess what mate, now I’m using these electronic cigarettes that give off a safe vapour rather than smoke – they look the same, and believe me, feel the same – better if I’m honest! You can get different e-cig juices with different levels of nicotine, or no nicotine at all if you want, and the flavours the liquids come in are great. I’m using regular Golden Virginia flavour at the moment, but for my evening ‘smoke’ I’ve got Apple Pie flavour, which is awesome!

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The Big Interview Terry Hearn talking to Jim Foster

Tel’s edit note: I’m not sure if there’s room, but I’m going to take the opportunity to add a little more about this because three weeks in I’m megaimpressed and really happy with my e-cig. Seriously now, anyone who wants to give up smoking should get one of these straightaway. There’s absolutely no excuse to smoke an analogue anymore (slang for a real cigarette – ho ho!). The e-cig I’m using is called the ‘Joye Tornado’ or the ‘Joye Ego’, and you’ll easily find them online. Straight up, for smokers wishing to stop it’s the best invention since sliced bread, and it’s totally harmless. Plenty of people go on wearing patches and chewing nicotine gum indefinitely after stopping smoking. If you do a little research on nicotine you’ll see that it’s not that which kills a smoker, it’s the burning of tobacco, which creates all the tars and other nasty things associated with smoking. Nicotine in low doses is a stimulant, not so different to a cup of coffee. Please don’t get me wrong here. I’m in no way recommending that anyone starts smoking – in this day and age you’re a blooming idiot if you do, but if you’re already a smoker who’s desperate to give up, then I really can’t recommend e-cigs enough.

A regular smoker will struggle to replace a smoke with a patch or gum, it’s just not doing it, and if you spend a lot of time on the bank you’re sure to find it even harder. The e-cig replaces smoking with something that gives exactly the same satisfaction, but you’re not killing yourself anymore, plus you don’t stink of stale smoke and you’re not harming those around you. Indeed, you’re allowed to use it wherever you want; on the bus, on the train, in the pub, etc. because it’s not, and will never be, covered under the smoking ban. And yes, you can still get up to watch the dawn break with a nice ‘smoke’. (For me, the worst time to go without has always been first thing in the morning.) Like I say, it’s not real smoke, it’s vapour, like what comes out of a kettle, totally harmless. In fact, I even read somewhere how it may even help to break up all the years of gunk build up in a smokers’ lungs.

I’m positive that in the not too distant future the vast majority of people who smoke will be using one of these things instead, and in years to come I can even see tobacco becoming a thing of the past, maybe a bit like tobacco snuff is today. Have you ever seen anyone sniffing snuff ? Probably not, yet many years ago it used to be quite popular. How bizarre! No doubt that’s what people will eventually think about the idea of inhaling smoke into their lungs.

So, how come I’ve not seen these electric cigarettes before then? The answer to that is simple – the powers that be have got far too much to lose, especially the tobacco companies. They’d much rather carry on dishing out poison to the nation and have already made efforts to control the sale of e-cigs. They aren’t going to be able to control it like they have tobacco, and that means the days of the government earning loads from every packet of baccy sold, under the pretence of ‘putting people off smoking’, are coming to an end. Incidentally, how much your habit costs shouldn’t really have any bearing on whether you give up or not, but I can tell you now that you’ll spend a fraction on the juice for these e-cigs compared to what you may already be spending on baccy and skins, or horrible stinking

Electric cigarettes and liquids. Saved by technology!

ABOVE

“Thousands of anglers enjoy a smoke, especially longstay carp anglers. If I can encourage just one or two people to give up tobacco then it’s got to be worth it”

tailor-mades (even if I was completely out of baccy I could never smoke those chemical-laden things). The real cost saving though, is with your health, and for me that’s the only reason I’ve ever wanted to give up smoking. Just Google ‘electric cigarette’ and see what comes up. Read as much about them as you can, just to put your mind at rest that they are indeed safe. Ask your doctor for his opinion on them if you want, but I guarantee it’ll all be positive. At the moment it’s very much Internet-based, but despite that, you’ll be surprised how big it’s become in a relatively short period of time, and how many different makes and companies there are selling them. It’s amazing, but there’s absolutely no hardship whatsoever giving up tobacco with these things. Read that last bit again so that it sinks in – no hardship!

Analogues will start to taste like sulphur, and after no time at all you realise that the e-cig isn’t just a 100% healthier alternative, it actually tastes so much better as well. You’ll love it, and if you’re anything like me you’ll suddenly feel overjoyed at the thought of not killing yourself any more. At the end of the day, trying one is the only way to believe, so do yourself a favour by ordering one today.

I’m sorry to have drifted so far from the subject of fishing for a bit, especially to some of the non-smokers who are probably reading this with very little understanding, no doubt shaking their heads in disgust.

Anyway, I think it’s really important.

Someone had to say it, so I guess it might as well be me. Thousands of anglers enjoy a smoke, especially longstay carp anglers. If I can encourage just one or two people to give up tobacco then it’s got to be worth it.

The hard part about giving up smoking for me was the fact that it filled time when fishing. It was nice to have a roll-up as I was lying on

the bedchair, watching the water.

Smoking became synonymous with carp fishing.

Exactly. For me it was like, I’d put the kettle on, make a cup of tea, and roll a smoke. It’s like a ritual.

If I couldn’t have my smoke whilst watching the sun rise over a mistcovered lake, I’d feel like there was something missing. Now I have an electronic one! Your mind gets to associate smoking with routine and normality, and that’s what’s difficult to get over, especially when you’ve been at it for nearly 17 years.

Anyway, enough of that mate; saved by technology, time to move on in life with a smile!

You need to want to enough, that’s the real key. Do you ever find it hard to motivate yourself to go carp fishing?

No. I still love carp fishing just as much as ever. The only difference is, these days I try to find quiet lakes if I can. I’m not happy fishing busy lakes, plus choosing quieter venues gives me a less stressful time when I’m away from the lake, as well as whilst I’m actually fishing. What I mean is this – if I am approaching the end of a trip and I suss something out, like I find some fish or something, then there’s always the worry that someone will drop in there before I can get back. As my mate Nigel recently said, there does seem to be a lot of anglers about nowadays who search for ‘warm teabags’, instead of tuning into their own watercraft and tracking down the carp. Quiet lakes are ideal for me, but keeping them that way isn’t easy.

Are you thinking four or five venues ahead, in terms of where you want to be in the coming years? Do you have your name on many syndicate waiting lists?

I used to be like that. I don’t 23

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Terry Hearn talking to Jim Foster The Big Interview

know about four or five lakes ahead though, one or two maybe! I still keep a folder with cuttings of fish that might be future targets. I might see a good fish in one of the angling mags and think it might be worth going for in the future.

How many UK 50s have you had?

Six, with just as many known 50-pounders caught under that weight. Thought I’d add that in because I’ve got to be honest and say it’s a question I really dislike.

People seem so obsessed with weight nowadays. Does that mean that Heather the Leather, the Causeway Fish, the Pet, Choco, the Kingsmead fish, the Burghfield common, and the Lenwade mirror, etc. didn’t count, because they weren’t quite as heavy as they’d been in the past? Obviously it’s nice to catch them whilst they’re plump, but at the end of the day it’s all about the fish mate, not the weight.

Also, I can think of much smaller fish I have caught that have meant far more to me than some of my biggest. It depends on the lake you’re fishing and the area you live in. If you’re in Yorkshire, a 30-pounder is going to be just as special as a 40pounder in the south. It’s all relative.

I always liked the rather catchy title of one of Jack Hilton’s books; Quest for the Best (a much later follow-on from Quest for Carp). I

think maybe that title, rather than In Pursuit of the Largest, would have summed up what my carp fishing is all about. Then again, that’s why it wasn’t called ‘In Pursuit of the Heaviest’…

You do all your writing yourself, don’t you?

I mean, there is no ghostwriter; it’s all your own work.

Absolutely. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe someone who wishes to earn a living from fishing should be able to write their own material and take their own pictures, maybe even stand up in front of a crowd and do a presentation from time to time. Being able to consistently catch carp should only be a part of it. You know, I never did well at school, but I still taught myself to write, and nowadays photography is just as big a part of my life as the fishing. Some of the anglers appearing in the mags don’t write their own words, they know very little about their cameras other than how to switch on the Auto mode, and they’d run a mile at the suggestion of doing a presentation on their own. On the other hand, there are some sponsored anglers who make up their livelihood in other ways, maybe through doing angling tuitions, which is great. One or two of the anglers out there doing tuitions are truly gifted at teaching others, and that’s something I admire. They’ve found their opening, and good luck to them.

I hear you have another book coming out in the not-too-distant future.

It’s a long way off, but I’m certainly planning one, yes. I’ve already written a few bits and bobs for it. The second book is called Still Searching, but I’ve not yet thought of a name for the third one. Just lately I’ve been doing some writing on the bank using my iPad, which other than my e-cig is the best thing I’ve bought in ages.

The next book will include most of my carp fishing since 2005, except this time there probably won’t be any guest chapters in there. The guest chapters are great, but next time round I’m going to replace them with my all-round fishing, perhaps a chapter on barbel, and a chapter on perching, etc. Obviously, by far the bulk of it will still be about carp fishing, but I think it’s a good idea to cover the all-round fishing as well; I’ve noticed more and more carpers are targeting other species through the colder months. I’d also like to write a lot more on rigs and presentation in my next book, and I plan to have a big chapter covering that.

I often think about writing a book – I have some good stories to tell and have fished with most of the country’s top carpers – but I’m not sure if anyone would be interested in reading it!

Of course they would! You should write it mate, definitely.

It’s all about the fish. A corking 47lb+ Big Pit winter whacker. It was 51lb the previous summer.

BELOW

From my experience, every angler has a different style and different strengths. Your strengths might not be the same as Jim Shelley’s, or Lee Jackson’s, but they might be similar to others, like some of the old school. You’re a bit of an all-rounder, like the senior Dave Ball, who’s an absolute legend on the Thames.

Funny you should mention him: I was with the senior Dave Ball the other night at a Mike Wilson slide show, which was mainly about the baiting pyramid. It was proper old school, really good, with all these large format slides of three or four Savay mirrors up to 30lb+ on Mike’s lap. Today it would be like having three or four 40s on your lap. Ritchie Macdonald even gave a quick talk on his capture of Bazil, which was awesome, and afterwards I had a good chat with Dave Ball about his chub fishing on the Thames. He’s a proper allrounder, a master of all species. Nowadays I enjoy talking about other species of fish with someone like Dave just as much as I do talking about carp.

As for strengths and weaknesses, I’ve always just tried my best to master everything, whether it’s fishing Zigs, bottom baits, pop-ups, stalking, floater fishing, whatever. Maybe fishing as an allrounder helps me along with that. Watercraft is the strongest edge any angler can have though, and it’s the part I get the most satisfaction from. When you’ve worked it all out for yourself, got it right and then managed to pull it off, it’s a buzz that can’t be beaten. Maybe my not-so-great long-range casting skills could be seen as a weakness, but I can easily live with that, and rarely feel the need to cast over 100yds anyway. JF/TH

“It’s nice to catch them whilst they’re plump, but at the end of the day it’s all about the fish, not the weight”

JOIN US NEXT MONTH for part two of this exclusive interview with Terry, where he’ll be covering his recent exploits on the River Thames, talking about his interest in photography, and looking at the equipment he uses.

He also answers a number of Carpworld readers’ questions, so don’t miss out, reserve your copy today!

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