Carpworld December 2013 sample

PAUL FORWARD • STEVE BRIGGS • JERRY HAMMOND • SIMON CROW • TIM PAISLEY

ISSUE 279 DECEMBER 2013

ISSUE 279 / DECEMBER 2013 / MONTHLY £4.50

THE BIG INTERVIEW

MY LIFE IN ANGLING F R A N K WA R W I C K

THE THINKING MAN He reveals his innermost thoughts and ideas on the colour of bait

THE

MAGAZINE

carpworldmagazine.com

BRITAIN’S BIGGEST CARP-ANGLING MAGAZINE

The full story behind B i l l C o t t a m , t h e a n g l e r, and Nutrabaits boss

GLER RLDWIDE AN FOR THE WO

ISSUE 122 December 2013 VE WORLD EXCLUSI

CHANTY MONSTER

REVEALS P174 TOMAS BLAZEK THE CAPTUR E THE FULL STORY OF IC COMMO N OF THIS FANTAST

c ar pwor ld maga z in e. co m

NEWS GLOBAL CARP

PLU S

NISH GOLD D I S C O V E R S PA

of his P160 In the final part conclu des miniser ies Steve Briggs Cassien his recolle ctions of

ers reveals P169 Andy Chamb shing some of the carp-fi has to of fer venues that Spain

Y SPECIA L AT RIBIÈRE • 183 HOLIDA WIN A WEEK’S FISHING TIPS YOUR CHANC E TO IAL BOAT-F ISHING ALSO INSIDE: 159 AFRICA • 194 ESSENT SAFARI IN SOUTH FOCUS • 190 ON 186 CRETEL AKES IN 21/11/2013

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R e a d t h e e x c l u s i ve s t o r y o f To m a s B l a z e k ’s capture of this stunning Lac du Der specimen

L I FTI NG T H E LI D O N T H E WO RLD REC O RD- B REA K I NG H U NGA RI AN SUP ER-WATER

round-u p P151 Our monthl y catche s of some of the best from around the world

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MONSTER COMMON

LEGEND CASSIEN – THE

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Contents

The Carpworld Contents / Issue 279 /

December 2013

63

69

109

78

Ask The Experts Dave Levy, Brad Greening and Darren Belton answer questions from readers on making the most of running rigs, pellet mixes, and what rigs are best for silty waters.

fiably

80lb

behind

O n t he cov e r

Bait World Joe Turnbull How do you fancy making your own bait in bulk? Joe finds out how as he interviews Marco Bottenber, whose company brings mass baitmaking to the home-user.

F E A T U R ES

Days Only Luke Stevenson Last autumn, Luke set out to catch a really special old common from a days-only club water. It was a fish that a couple of his friends had caught in the past, and its place in history made the capture a worthy challenge.

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A young Bill Cottam returns a fish to the Mangrove in the mid-80s. This picture actually graced the front of the first-ever Nutrabaits catalogue.

REGULARS

7

Editors’ Comment What have Steve and Nigel been up to during the past month, and why is Nigel so upset about a rig he was given?

Carpworld’s editors reveal all.

10

Gazette All the news from around the carp-scene to keep you up to date with what’s going on.

37

Rig World Mike Kavanagh This month Mike shows us a rig that no right-thinking angler would ever use! On a plus note, he’s also interviewed Jim Chisnall, one of Essex’s finest anglers.

49

Think Tank Top anglers reveal what products they’ve been involved in developing this year, and how the work they’ve done has affected their angling.

Historic Carp Waters Chris Ball Croxby Pool is a Lincolnshire water that will forever be associated with a gentleman with the grand-sounding name of Otto Overbeck.

Lifting The Lid On The World Record Venue Steve Weir and Dave Moore Here’s the story of a venue that could potentially change carp fishing forever! Euro Aqua may be overseas, but the story behind it should to be read by everyone.

Big Interview Bill Cottam Carpworld’s Nigel Banks interviews one of the legends of the bait world, Rotherham’s very own bait baron, Bill Cottam. What’s behind the man whose company, Nutrabaits, was one of the original carp bait companies.

The Thinker Frank Warwick Frank’s mind is so full of carpy thoughts that it seemed a real shame not to let him speak his mind… so here it is, a feature full of the thoughts from a wandering mind, with everything from bait colours to how sound travels.

16

Diary Of A Carpaholic Simon Crow Simon’s having a break from UK fishing, and it’s a chilledout Crowy who treks off to Rainbow for a catch-up with friends and the chance to do a little overseas carping.

F Word Paul Forward Paul’s been out braving the elements again this month, and it was a good job he did because he caught several lovely carp. It’s a brave man who fishes in the teeth of a gale, but someone’s got to do it!

My Year So Far – Part 2 Jerry Hammond Everyone loves seeking out new venues, and Jerry brings us right up to date with his fishing on an exclusive, beautiful lake as he tries to outwit some of its elusive residents.

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The Potteries Park Lake Richie Latham Tackling a busy water in a public park may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but needs must if this is where your target fish swims!

We join Richie as he looks back over the time he spent at Westport Lake in Stoke.

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F: facebook.com/CarpworldMagazine / t: @CarpworldMag

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Ribière Competition Do you fancy battling carp to 80lb+ on one of the best venues in France? This is what’s on offer in our competition to win a week’s angling at Domaine de la Ribière.

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Still Carping On Tim Paisley You can’t keep a good man down!

Tim investigates such diverse subjects as new book releases and collecting books, to Jim’s recent Let Us Talk feature and fishing in snags! tACKLe WoRLD

Chateau Lake Competition While you’re sitting at home over Christmas, why not spend a few minutes entering our competition to win a week at Chateau Lake? All you’ve got to do is spot the marker float – easy, eh?

CheCK oUt oUR sUBs oF F eR on PAGe 34

PAGe

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Tackle World There’s a bumper crop of tackle to look at this month, with special features on gear from Cygnet, Trakker’s new clothing, Penn big pit reels, Wychwood sleeping bags, Nite watches, Taska’s huge range of luggage, Prologic’s remote alarms, SONIK’s impressive new rods and reels, Fox barrows, and plenty more.

In InteRnAtIonAL CARPeR This month we’ve got the largest International Carper ever, as we bring you a special overseas holiday

UP FoR GRABs

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SONIK Sports Competition How do you fancy winning a set of SONIK’s new rods, complete with their new freespool reels? Read all about the rods and reels then enter our competition to win some.

supplement alongside all the regular features. Not only can you browse through details of some of the finest holiday venues around, you could also win holidays and check out some venues in detail. Don’t think that’s it though, because we bring you the final part of Steve Briggs’ adventures on Cassien, a guide to Spanish carping from Andy Chambers, and the search for Moby Dick, the

IT’S HOLIDAY TIME!

20-year hunt for a very special fish at the mighty Lac du Der (Chantecoq to you and me!). Finally, don’t miss all the catch reports from around the world in Echoes Around The World.

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Holiday Special Are you thinking of travelling abroad for a fishing holiday? Want to know the best place and what you need? It’s all in our 12-page holiday special supplement – and there are even holidays to be won!

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FEATURE

the very least giving the white baits a go.

It’s worth remembering that once you get below a certain depth in water, and this applies to deep lakes and reservoirs as well as the oceans, everything appears as black.

The only exceptions to that come from bioluminescence, which creatures emit for various reasons, such as the lure on an anglerfish’s tentacles that it uses to attract prey. This was in my mind when I pushed for the glow-in-the-dark plastic corn from Enterprise in the early days. One thing’s for sure, it’s not going to put the fish off if you tip a boilie with one! Apparently the glow-in-the-dark corn has also been found to be excellent in daylight conditions, so perhaps there’s more going on there than we realise.

With the popularity of Zig Rig fishing, I think it’s fairly common knowledge that black items create the best silhouette when viewed from below, as a carp sees them as it looks up through the water. Don’t forget, this is the best choice in the dark also, because black creates a silhouette that stands out well against the night sky.

Interestingly enough, it’s been proven that it takes a carp around two hours to make the adjustment from daylight vision to its most effective night-time

Percentages of Colour Visibility Underwater Colour 10ft 20ft 30ft Red 6.5% 0.4% 0.25% Orange 50% 25% 12% Yellow 73% 53% 40% Green 88% 78% 69%

ABOVE A 31lb common that, yet again, fell to a white bait in deep water. Did ultraviolet light help it work?

LEFT Which

colour is going to show up best?

It depends if you’re fishing against a dark lakebed or against the sky with a Zig Rig.

vision. It’s a transition period, so I wonder if they are less likely to spot baits then? It’s a bit the same for we humans; we adjust our eyesight to darkness over a period of half an hour or so. You know this yourself because any sudden torchlight ruins your night vision and sets you back another half hour until your eyes get used to the lower light levels again.

Light penetration through water and the amount of particles in suspension makes a big difference in how various colours in the spectrum show up at various depths. It’s all about how colours are reflected efficiently. Lots of research has been done looking into light reflection in water, and how various colours in the spectrum reflect light from the sun.

Here are some of the research findings:

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F r a n kly S p e a kin g FRA NK WA R W I C K

Looking at this table it’s no wonder red baits seem unpopular; they would become almost invisible, even in shallow water. This is backed up by sales analysis from the bait companies on hookbait colour sales.

Just to prove a point, I remember that I had a fantastic attractor in the red pop-ups I made, but it never took off, so we did the same attractor package in yellow and it caught like crazy.

From those findings it would appear that both free offerings and highly visual hookbaits might well be far more successful in all depths of water, if used in green, but we view things through human eyes and there is very little doubt that we are all subconsciously attracted to warm colours, such as the old favourite, yellow.

The old familiar story of humans thinking that carp see things like we see them, and having similar preference, isn’t going to change, so I can’t see green freebies and hookbaits becoming popular any time soon.

Out of interest, I well remember around 1996 making up black free offerings when I was fishing Redesmere, and these proved to be outstanding. The same went for black hookbaits. Despite us thinking that silt is jet black it very rarely is, usually it’s various shades of grey, with not so much of it being dark grey. This was confirmed by my old mate Rob Hughes when we had a long conversation about his very interesting underwater findings and tests. So, in effect, over most kinds of substrates on the bottom, and of course weed and gravel, black is going to stand out like a sore thumb.

To give your bait a substantial boost it may well be worth dying it black.

As well as that, at the moment there

ABOVE LEFT I’ve always liked two-tone baits and that’s why my hookbaits tend to be brightly coloured as well.

ABOVE The swim in the match where I timed the bites.

INSET Mix and match, but what’s the best colour? Is it better to make baits stand out, or do you prefer a more subtle colour?

are a number of companies producing black baits that seem to be doing well.

I also had some blinding results on food baits that came out green because of some of my ingredient inclusions, such as spirulina and Japanese seaweed powder. Liquid kelp, which I used to get from Nutrabaits, also helps achieve this effect.

One of the main reasons I chose to make double- and tri-colour hookbaits was to give a range of visual options to catch the carp’s eye in various light and water clarity conditions. I mean, why not do this and open up your chances?

I was recently reading some research about carp behaviour that tied in nicely with my findings over the years relating to relationships that fish have. It has been well proven that carp can instantly recognise other fish that they know, and, much like humans, they have preferred travelling companions that they spend time with. A carp’s instinct is to travel in groups (safety in numbers) when they are smaller, mostly to avoid predation, but as they get older/larger, their regular companions

come in ones or twos, again, like humans and a lot of mammals.

The findings showed that the older, usually bigger, carp will only join bigger groups as a last resort, and if there is no other option of travelling with a familiar small group.

This is nothing new, but it does explain why some anglers who like chasing down groups of carp in shoals might have the numbers, but have to wade through loads of carp until they eventually contact the bigger fish.

I think the small groups of bigger, perhaps older, carp will often move in last, after the main big groups of younger fish have been in ripping up the bottom to see what all the fuss was about, and to also let them test out the potentially dangerous situation.

Some eminent researchers have surmised that a carp’s sense of smell, in comparison to ours, is, at the very least, 1,000 times stronger. Can you imagine that? This is, of course, true of salmon, where it is believed Decem ber 2 013 C a r pwor l d 57

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FEATURE

Luke Stevenson

D AY S O N LY Last autumn, Luke Stevenson set out to catch a really special old common from a days-only club water which was steeped in history. It was a fish that a couple of his friends had caught in the past, at weights up to 44lb. In recent years its weight had dropped slightly, but its condition and history still remained, and made it a suitable goal.

I

’d heard little snippets about the fish and its captures over the years; most of the stories were from my mate Rob, who knew the lake and, indeed, the common, very well. Rob had fished the lake a fair bit over the years, and with great success too. I knew the fish liked its boilies and this was in the forefront of my mind, as I took 5 kilos of 18mm Pro-Fish out of the freezer for my first evening session.

I had arranged to meet my mate Joe at the lake on Friday after work for a quick evening session. It was more for a recce than anything else, because we had planned to fish both the Saturday and Sunday that weekend. We both had that ‘new lake buzz’ as we excitedly wandered around the lake. We finished up standing in two swims next to each other, both with really good form for producing the

big ’un. I went in a swim known as The Tench and Joe went into one called The Hot Spot. Both faced out onto open water, with big weedbeds either side of them and a band of weed in front.

After leading about with a bare lead, I found two spots with which I was happy. The left-hand rod was positioned on a fairly small hard spot next to a weedbed, in about 9ft of water. The right-hand rod was fished on a firm clay area in open water, in probably 12ft of water. My rigs were kept simple; I used Helicopter Rigs, 8ins of N-Trap Soft, Size 6 wide gapes with a rig ring, and an 18mm Pro-Fish bottom bait, which was drilled out and corked in order to balance it out. I was well happy with the area, despite not seeing anything by that point, and decided there and then that due to a strict prebaiting rule,

whilst fishing I would spread a decent amount of bait over each rod with the catapult, and then try to get back in the same swim over the weekend.

Something of a downer was put on our plans after chatting to one of the regulars, who informed us that the big ’un had been out twice in the previous nine days. I decided to think positive; if it had been out twice, it could always do a third, because after all, the weight was 37lb both times, way below what it had been in the past. Perhaps it was really on the feed. In all honesty, I was looking at the long game and now was as good a time as any to start.

At about 9.00 p.m., while Joe and I stood between the two swims chatting, I received a bite on the left-hand rod.

It was the rod placed alongside the weedbed, and after playing it in the

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D a y s O n ly L uke S tevens o n

“Bait was introduced using a catapult, which creates the ideal spread at relatively close quarters�

darkness with Joe giggling to himself by my side, he slipped the net under a good common. Neither of us could believe it, I had fired out 4 kilos of boilies just a couple of hours before. We weighed and photographed the fish as soon as possible, a mint common of 27lb 8oz, a fish that was later identified as Red Belly; one of the real old and special ones, which had been up to 35lb in years gone by.

With one rod still in position, I fired a couple more kilos of 18mms over the two spots, probably ruining my chances for the next 45 minutes, but surely enhancing my chances for the next day.

I was desperate to get back in the same swim the following morning, however, there was a rule that made this a little harder than usual. The rules state that no one can enter the car park before

5.45 a.m. or be on the lake before 6.00 a.m., so with this is mind, I planned to arrive at the entrance to the car park for 4.45 a.m., just to be sure that I would be first through the gate at 5.45 a.m.

As I walked on to the lake at 6.00 a.m. it was just starting to get light, which gave me a 10-minute window, during which I could shatter the tranquil dawn by catapulting kilos of bait between the spots, before the dreaded bait-robbing seagulls were about. It felt like really crude fishing, to be honest, but nobody else was using a lot of bait, so I couldn’t help but feel confident doing it; besides, there are loads of tench in the lake and I was sure they would be getting their fill. With fresh rigs and baits on, both rods were flicked out to the marks and I got into

the bag to watch the dawn break.

Later that day another bite occurred, on the left-hand rod again, this time resulting in a double-figure common, one of the fish that had no doubt grown-on since the year the older carp spawned successfully. The rest of the day slowly faded away, with nothing of note happening after the small common slipped up. I was happy with the fact that I had caught one because it meant there had definitely been carp in the area.

The same process was repeated on the Sunday morning and, again, I put a big hit of bait out in the morning. Just like before, later that morning I landed a mid-double common. I decided to introduce another load of bait after returning the fish; they clearly liked their grub. Not a lot else was

ABOVE LEFT Luke loves the Helicopter Rig and it was exactly that which he chose to use whilst in pursuit of his target.

The large bait helps the Helicopter RIg work correctly and you can see the separation.

ABOVE

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FEATURE

SIMO N CROW DI A RY

OF

A

C A R PA H O L I C

Fresh from the capture of some cracking UK fish from Woldview, it’s a chilledout Crowy who treks of f to Rainbow for a catch-up with friends and the chance to do a little overseas carping.

W

ith two of my UK target fish in the bag for 2013, it was lovely starting my overseas carping trips in the autumn.

Although I never put myself under any pressure to catch carp, it always feels nice to be heading overseas with a clear mind, because whenever I’ve got my head into a UK water I don’t like to leave it until I’ve finished there. When I caught Floppy Tail from Woldview in the middle of September it came at exactly the right time. I’d fished hard for it over the previous month and needed a bit of time off to recharge my batteries. The overnighters really take it out of you, and even a carp addict like me needs time away from the

ABOVE: Some

of the scenes were incredible when the storms started brewing on the horizon.

right: My

first decent fish was this 51lb common.

bank to get the head sorted if I’ve been fishing hard for any length of time.

I had a good two weeks of rest building up to my next fishing excursion, which was a seven-day trip to the legendary Rainbow Lake in France.

I always find time to fish overseas at least a couple of times a year and I was really looking forward to it. My heart has always been into the foreign fishing more than the UK scene, for a number of reasons. Firstly, I love the adventure of being in a foreign land, and secondly – and this relates to something I saw Rob Hughes post on Facebook recently – because there is most definitely a different camaraderie in fishing some of the well-known overseas big-fish waters. There is always a community

of different nations at waters such as Rainbow Lake, Raduta, Cassien, etc., something which isn’t as commonplace with English fishing. Everyone always gets on with each other and is genuinely happy for the successes of others, whereas in the UK there can be times when cliques spoil it for the rest, turning the fishing into a competition and slag fest.

Don’t get me wrong, not all waters in the UK are like that because I’ve fished some great syndicates during the last year which have been really enjoyable to be at, but that kind of experience is definitely more prevalent at home than it is overseas, which certainly makes the fishing better in a foreign land.

For this trip I was accompanied by some really good lads. I was to drive

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D ia r y o f a Ca r pa holic S i m on Crow

Chillin’

ABOVE: Steve’s

side of the swim was littered with small islands.

RIgHT: It

looked a bit ropy from afar, but the Titan two-man was rock-solid.

down to the lake with my old mucker Steve Briggs, where we would meet up with Rob Hales, Dave Treasure, Neil Snowy and his mate, Adrian Reeves.

Most of them need no introduction to long-time carpers, each with their own long list of carping achievements.

Snowy was the youngest of the clan, and is someone I’ve known since I was 18 when I worked at a sports centre in Penkridge, near Cannock. I used to teach him sport during the summer holidays when he was about 9 or 10, and when I found out he was into his fishing, I took him for a guest trip to my then syndicate at Wergs Hall near Wolverhampton. I’d not seen Snowy for many, many years, and it was lovely to hear him tell me that our trip to Wergs in 1989 was what triggered his now love of carp fishing.

As we always do, we’d decided to meet up the night before at a small guest house about half an hour away from the lake. This is always a great time to sit down and have a catch-up with the lads. I didn’t know Adrian before this trip and my first introduction to him was when he wandered into one of the rooms and didn’t see the glass door that was between him and me!

It was hard not to laugh watching him face-butt it at walking speed. If that wasn’t funny enough, I closed the door behind him as we laughed it off, only to then see Dave Treasure do exactly the same thing moments later!

After a night chilling we were up early to make our way to the lake.

By all accounts it had just started to turn on with quite a few 50s being banked. It had been fishing quite slowly during the summer – which is normal in the hot temperatures – and one of the main reasons why the earlyautumn slots are so sought after.

I was paired up with Briggsy in Peg 21, which neither of us had fished before, although we had heard a lot about it.

The right-hand side was the best side to be on by all accounts, so with it being my turn to have first pick, that’s exactly where I headed. It looked an interesting swim, with absolutely masses of features out in front. Steve’s side on the left had the bulk of these because it was covered in small islands and channels. Even with another 10 rods at his disposal he would have struggled to fish everywhere that looked worth investigating. On my side it was a lot simpler, with a small island to my right and then a big bay out in front some 200yds away. There were small carp showing every couple of minutes or so in the bay and I’d already been told by a few of the lads that it was pastie city if I fished right into the back of it. The tactic was to fish short and close to the finger islands that bordered the left side of its opening.

My side was on a platform swim, which needed hook screws to fix down the bivvy. Having brought my two-man Titan with me it took some messing around to get it into place, but eventually I had it up and secure. It had taken a good half hour Decem ber 2013 Ca r p wor l d 87

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BAITWORLD

well nozzle sizes to produce boilies and dumbbells of different sizes.

BY EW ULL I RV RNB TE IN E TU JO

JT: How did you go about sourcing the parts?

Most parts of the machines are produced by us, although the electrical parts and the motors we buy in from expert and professional partners who only deliver quality products to us. We cannot afford to have it any other way, and despite some extra costs to us, we’d rather pay out for a quality-made product than receive complaints.

“The thing JT: How many I liked about machines have this bait was that you supplied since in trying to be a beginning trading? little more unusual, MB: Over the they’ve used two past five years we grades of tiger have sold over 1,000 nut meal” machines worldwide, from simple machines for the consumer market, to complete professional production lines with a capacity of 500kg per hour. It really is quite incredible to think that our machines are being used all over the world, creating boilies for millions of people.

MB:

T H I S M O N T H : M arc o B otte n b e r g of B oilie De si g n

Marco Bottenberg is probably a name that many English anglers won’t have heard of because he is based in Holland, but he runs a very successful boilie-making machine company that supplies machines all over Europe and the Uk. After running his business for around 15 years he knows a thing or two when it comes to machinery that can pump out an incredible amount of bait in a short space of time. I caught up with Macro via telephone and had a very interesting conversation.

JT: Could you tell me

JT: Who designed the first

how it all started?

boilie-making machine?

About 30 years ago I started as an entrepreneur in the metal and engineering business, and in 1995 I started my own boilie factory where we produced large quantities of boilies for wholesalers and retailers alike.

However, over the years, there became more and more carp anglers who wanted to produce their own carp baits, so the demand for boilie machinery grew bigger and bigger. To meet this demand and to supply anglers with my own baits at first, I started the Boilie Design company and also produced boilie machines for market. the consumer market.

MB:

MB:

After much research and a lot of experimentation, we finally produced a boilie machine consisting of a roller and a scale. But, in contrast to the traditional machines, ours are often equipped with two rollers. A big advantage of that is that the rollers and scales are removable and can be replaced easily and quickly with a different diameter (choice of 10 different diameters) that are available optionally. This now makes the machine so much more user-friendly as the individual can easily add or remove rollers in different sizes, as

JT: What are the rollers made from, and do they wear down?

Do you want dumbbells? It’s all possible with the Boilie Design kit.

ABOVE RIGHT

Marco sells equipment suitable for home or business use.

BELOW

The rollers and scales are made of a special plastic material, which ensures that they last for many years without wearing down. Also, because of the softness of the dough it doesn’t really have much wear and tear on the roller itself. Another good thing about the special PTFE plastic we use is that because there is minimal friction between the dough and the roller, the dough doesn’t stick to it, ensuring a smooth process every time.

MB:

JT: Are new parts easily available in the Uk?

Yes, parts are easily available by ordering via phone or email, or you can order direct from the website, and because we make most of the parts ourselves, we keep a lot of them in stock. Ordered parts can be delivered quickly and we ship worldwide, so there’s no problem regarding parts.

MB:

JT: How much boilie paste can one machine take at a time?

MB:

That really depends on how

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QUICK -F IRE

QUIBBL E

M I K E

K A V A N A G H

Many of you know that Mike is Carpworld’s resident rig man and has been an avid carper for many years. He’s caught some truly stunning fish over the years and I was keen to hear his thoughts on bait instead of rigs for a change.

JT: When choosing a new boilie,

JT: Have you any special

what do you look for?

winter liquids?

Mk: Generally, one that I know I can depend

Mk: Yes, some alcoholic liquids which,

on and which has stood the test of time.

in order to remain special, have to

Something from Mainline is my choice.I

remain secret! Other than those I do use

think there’s a good chance of a bite.

Mainline dips, with my current favourite being the new Hybrid. I tend to coat a

fast the dough is filled into the machine. The machine can roll one main sausage at a time and with a standard machine you can easily produce 30kg in an hour. If, however, you have our complete professional production line you can produce up to 500kg per hour, no problem.

JT: Do you change boilie type

fresh supply of bait in dip and freeze

in the winter months?

it, and then repeat the process.

Mk: I try to avoid baits with a high fat content

so that I feel comfortable that any carp tempted

JT: Do you use particles, such

by my bait will be able to digest it easily,

as sweetcorn and maize?

particularly in cold-water temperatures when

Mk: I use both, sweetcorn mainly in the

the carp’s metabolism begins to slow down.

winter and sugared maize flavoured with banana (brilliant combination) in spring.

JT: How about naturals, such JT: Do the machines work with

as worms or maggots?

JT: Is hook-to-bait ratio kept to

any mix of ingredients?

Mk: I have used both in the past and caught

the norm, or something else?

MB: Yes, we’ve used many different

on, or over, them; in fact, using a worm on

Mk: With straightforward pop-ups I use a

mixes, including rougher, higher-fibre mixes, but it does depend somewhat on the mix as to how much smoother the machines run, i.e. the smoother the mix, the easier it runs. Obviously, if you have a heavy, dense mix containing particles it will always find it more difficult, but it will generally cope with anything.

My top tip is to always pass through a test batch before creating a whole mix with many expensive ingredients.

top of dead maggots, but that was some time

biggish hook, like a Size 7 Fang X with a

ago. For a few trips one winter I also used an

14mm bait because the presentation is static

imitation worm fed through a punched hole

with the hookbait unseen below. I’d use

in a boilie and then dipped. I didn’t catch on

the same size hook with a 20mm bottom

it that winter, but then I didn’t catch on boilies

bait but with a short Hair, and for a wafter-

either, despite catching from other waters on

type hookbait I’d use a 10 under a 14mm

them. I should

because of its close proximity. In each case

have caught on

I want the bait to be the centre of attention.

JT: Can the machines roll dumbbells?

The making of dumbbells is very easy; make the diameter of the sausage a few millimetres smaller than the roller and scale and the dumbbells come out.

the worm/boilie combination;

JT: What’s your best

perhaps

winter bait tactic?

I’ll give it

Mk: Fishing with three types of the

another go!

predipped boilies, which is currently, Cell, New Grange and Hybrid over a small

MB:

JT: Do you have anything else

JT: Have you tried groundbaits

quantity of my hemp mix or over boilie

for the colder months?

halves (made easy now thanks to the

Mk: I have, in small quantities. My

Korda Kutter), or both. But in some cases

groundbait generally consists of a special

a single, highly-attractive pop-up soaked

hemp mixture with added boilie crumb.

in some of that alcohol on my secret list!

in the pipeline for the future?

We always look critically at our products and are always looking for improvement points. We will have new developments in the future, so keep an eye on us.

MB:

boiliedesign.com INSET ABOVE Mike’s crafty hookbait with plastic worm.

RIGHT Mike with a lovely recent capture.

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C

A

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PArt 3

throUgh the YeArS S t e v e

I n t h e fi n a l p a r t o f h i s l o o k a t ov e r 2 5 y e a r s o f fi s h i n g C a s s i e n , S t e v e r e v e a l s w hy t h e l a ke a n d i t s r e s i d e n t c a r p h a v e p l a y e d s u c h a m a s s i v e p a r t i n h i s l i f e ov e r t h e y e a r s .

I

f you’ve read the first two parts of this feature then you will see that there have been quite a few changes to the fishing at Cassien over the years, and I’ve had to change my outlook on my approach in order to keep catching.

The simple fact is, things are constantly changing there – not so much the lake itself because, apart from being busier and areas being more worn, the lake doesn’t look much different to how it appeared when I first went there all those years ago. But subtle changes are going on all the time, with water levels and fish movements, etc.

It’s what makes the fishing more interesting and it always keeps you thinking. There have been bigger changes that have taken place, such as the prohibiting of night fishing in the summer months. When that rule was first brought in, back in 2000, it signalled the start of some prolific fishing during the daytime. It was good because most anglers were just staying away but, as ever, it doesn’t take long for people to latch on to a good thing and the summertime day fishing started to become more popular. With it becoming busier it obviously wasn’t going to be quite as easy as before. For a start, I wasn’t able to bait swims in advance because there

wasn’t any guarantee that I would be able to get into them in subsequent days and, in reality, there weren’t so many areas being left alone for any periods of time.

I think 2004 was the last time I was able to fish with what I call real freedom. As ever, to start with I caught some cracking fish from up on the Third Point in the North Arm, but it was the South Arm which really came up trumps again. I had done two or three days in different swims at the far end of the arm and had varying degrees of success from all spots. But after a slow morning we thought it was time to move on. Normally, to even think of moving swims on Cassien with only the afternoon to fish would be madness, but during the summer things can happen fast and this was one of those times. We headed for the Island Bay, an area which had been good to me in the past. But I didn’t fish it how most people would, by getting out on one of the points and spreading the rods out, instead I went right into the corner and fished the many features just in the near margins, which, to be honest, didn’t see too much pressure.

Fishing spots where the fish thought they were safe was always a key point to being successful, and although I hadn’t caught

S t e ABove A huge fire rages just behind Cassien and the water planes are brought in to combat the flames.

B r i g g S

PArt 3 loads of fish from the Island Bay, there was always the chance of a good one!

Being all close-range stuff, I had the rods out quickly and quietly in around 20 minutes, and I didn’t have to wait long for v e B r i g g S the first action. Maybe 20 minutes had passed when one rod, fishing just 40 metres up to my right, signalled a drop-back.

It wasn’t the screaming run that was the norm, but, sure enough, it soon developed into one and I found myself standing there with line being ripped from the spool.

There was a quite a strong breeze blowing in which made getting out to the fish in the boat a little more difficult, but with the engine on full I was soon catching up with it. To start with, when you get a take it could be from any fish of any size, and it’s only when you really get above it and start to feel the weight and power that you can really start to gauge what you’ve got. The big ones just seem to be able to hold themselves in deep water for longer and this one was doing just that! The power of some of those fish never ceases to amaze me and it’s probably the deep water, combined with the good oxygen levels, that contribute to this. As it came up from the clear, blue depths, I saw a flash of scales and straightaway I had a good idea of which one it was. It was a fish I really wanted to catch, one of the well-known mirrors, called Fleur. Seeing that fish go in the net was the moment of

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Ca s s ie n T h ro u g h t h e Years S teve Br ig g s

the trip for me, it was one of the Cassien characters, and at 51lb 8oz, a decent size too. It actually ended up being the cover fish for my first book, Cassien…and Beyond.

It was the obvious choice and a fish of which I’ve got very fond memories.

We made it back in the winter of 2004 too and, as before, we spent the whole session in the South Arm. We started on the Banana Swim and caught a couple from there up to 42lb. We had intended moving into the swim at the far end of the arm, but were beaten to it by our friend Gary Hillson. Empty swims are there for everyone to fish so there’s nothing wrong with that, but it did mean a change of plans for a while, with the intentions of still moving in there when Gary went home in 10 days’ time.

Not too much happened in between that time, apart from us taking on a lodger in the shape of Pongo, the dog from Pecheur du Lac restaurant. He was obviously bored at the restaurant and moved in with us; he would even swim across the lake when we went to visit friends, or go to the shops.

He was good fun – even if he did stink a bit! Eventually, when Gary went home, we did shoot straight into what had become our favourite winter swim and I soon found out what I’d been missing out on.

My first take was a slow affair with the fish hardly moving anywhere and I really thought it was going to be a little one, so

right Just 20 minutes after moving into the Island Bay I was into a good fish.

I recognised it as the mirror called Fleur – one of the fish I really wanted.

Below

imagine my surprise when a big fat mirror came up to the surface and just seemed to give up! I don’t mind the odd one giving up like that – it makes life easier! At 53lb 12oz it was actually the best one I’d had for a while, but that was just the start of a final week of action where I had 12 fish in the space of seven days. It just shows how important it is to be on the fish rather than waiting for them to come to you.

The following year I was determined not to make the same mistake again, but in the end I made perhaps the biggest mistake I’ve ever made at Cassien, and one that still haunts me a bit to this day. I decided to miss out on the other swims and just head to the Mint Swim from the start, which was what we had named our favourite swim.

But it didn’t start well at all, the water level was lower than it had been for a long time and it was continuing to drop at quite a rate. After five days with no action I started to wonder whether or not the swim was going to come up with the goods that year. Good sessions are won and lost on decisions like that, and with more people due to arrive, I took the decision to move out and fish elsewhere, starting with a night in the North Arm, but quickly moving back to the far end of the South Arm. Gary arrived the next day and moved straight into the Mint Swim and after one night he caught a 49lb mirror. I knew straightaway that I’d been too hasty and that was the start of a really good run of fish for him when most of the lake was really quiet. It culminated in him catching a big common at 55lb, which we called Chardonnay, after celebrating the fish with a few bottles of the stuff. The name just stuck and it’s still called that to this day although the fish never quite looked as good again after being damaged by subsequent anglers. Having to go down and photograph fish day after day when I had been there and moved out, wasn’t the best situation in the world, but then that was my fault I suppose and no one else’s. I did still catch fish into the 40s that year and Joan had a 42lb mirror too, but it remains the worst of all the winter trips for me and I suppose you could say it was a harsh lesson.

When it came to 2006, I definitely wasn’t going to slip up again, and we got into the Mint Swim and we stayed there – in fact it would have taken a whole army of people to drag me out of there kicking and screaming! As before, it didn’t start off particularly well, in fact that seemed to be

a feature of that swim at that time of year, but I stayed there and I did start to catch. To be honest, it just felt right to be there and it felt good knowing that fish would be coming along sooner or later.

I think it was December 5th when I had two cracking mirrors in the same morning.

It started with a superb scaly mirror of 48lb 8oz at first light. It really was one of the nicest mirrors that I’d seen for a long time and I sacked it up for a little while until the sun rose a bit higher. While we were waiting for that, one of the other rods went off and on the end was an even bigger mirror of 49lb 4oz. There was no way it was as pretty as the first one, but it did complete a good morning at the lake.

As ever, both of those fish had come from short ranges, but the swim had changed somewhat. The huge weedbeds, which had been like underwater forests and a big feature of the swim before, had now almost gone completely. It might have been natural causes, but I suspect that low-water conditions had a lot to do with it. More water was being drained off every year, either at the dam or at the pumping station in the West Arm, and it was Decem ber 2013 C a r pwor l d 161

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T o M A S

B l A Z e K

MoBY DICK A 20-YEAR JOURNEY TO MY DREAM

C z e c h o s l ova k i a n a n g l e r T h o m a s B l a z e k i s a n e x p e r i e n c e d b i g - wa t e r s p e c i a l i s t e n j o y i n g s u c c e s s o n a va r i e t y o f wa t e r s a c r o s s E u r o p e , b u t l i t t l e d i d h e k n o w w h a t h e wa s g o i n g t o c a t c h w h e n h e t a c k l e d t h e m i g h t L a c d u D e r. R e a d o n .

N

estled in the northeast of France is the beautiful 4,800-hectare Lac du Der, a water that I’d had in my mind for a few years, knowing that sooner rather than later I’d tackle this awe-inspiring water, and that time was now.

The year began on two other lakes in France – a successful spring expedition with my friend Martin (see iBlog update here), when we visited our favourite water in the south of France, Lac de Saint Cassien, somewhere we have fished for more than 10 years. I’d also planned two further trips to another big lake in the northeast, where in the past I had fished from the bank and from the boat. Those two sessions were nowhere near as good as in the previous years; the biggest fish I caught was a mirror of just over 20kg. I caught him from extreme distance, probably close on 1,000m, the closer areas only producing catfish. I was a bit upset and I needed a break from this water, which is a place I’ve fished for several years because I’ve been on the trail of one particularly beautiful fish. Unfortunately, I’ve never hooked him – not yet. It was time for a change of scene and a new challenge to get the mind working and the heart pumping. I will go back later to hunt for the big linear in this beautiful lake!

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M o b y D ic k – A 2 0 - y e a r J o u r n e y t o my D re am To m a s Bla zek

Destination Lac du Der It was new and unknown, dragging me forward with excitement and motivation.

I’m sure you know what this feels like and how it affects you. I started to plan a trip – a big autumn adventure.

I’d chosen my venue, one where I knew

oPPoSITe An old fighter – Scarface.

ABove One of the Lac du Der common carp, which grow very quickly.

With fights that last all night, a good meal is very important to regain your energy.

Below

about a big common – a very big common, and his home is the truly massive Lac du Der. Big fish are usually very territorial and often spend time in the same places at the same time every year.

A place in the night zone where this fish had been caught in previous years had already been booked.

This meant that I had to think carefully about my next move, and where to go. Finally, I settled on a different area in another night zone. I booked it for 20 days! I often go to Europe for 10-day sessions, but it’s not enough time to build up the swim correctly. On these shorter trips you are always too dependent on the weather conditions in that short window of opportunity. A longer trip gives you more possibilities and the chance to build the swim, waiting for the right conditions for big fish to go on the feed. In my experience, carp, and especially big carp, are always aware when boilies and particles are fed into an area, even when they don’t feed for a week due to the weather. But when the conditions are correct they return to the spot quickly

because they remember where the larder is. So I decided that this would be my last expedition for this year and I would spend 20 days on the bank, and try to create a larder to tempt them.

...you could have knocked me over with a feather when Kerry explained that they had counted over 60 carp jumping before 10 o’clock the previous night and they had been catching consistently...

Feeding – I had a Plan I knew that for the duration of my 20-day stay I couldn’t change my swim and actively seek the carp. So by massive feeding, we would attract bream and smaller carp into our fishing area with the hope of experiencing some action. I always count on the fact that carp are curious, and I have to do something positive to draw them into the swim. The plan for our campaign was easy; we had prepared 250kg of dry particles, consisting of rape and wheat, plus 200kg of pickled tiger nuts. We also had 50kg Carptrack Amino pellets, and finally 300kg of the finest Carptrack boilies from Imperial Baits in a variety of flavours, including Monster, Fish, Elite and Elite Strawberry. That adds up to 800kg of feeding potential, which we would definitely need Decem ber 2013 C a r pwor l d 175

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