Carpworld Magazine October 2015

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ISSUE 301 OCTOBER 2015

ISSUE 301 / OCTOBER 2015 / MONTHLY £4.50

Simply

AWESOME

BRITAIN’S BIGGEST CARP-ANGLING MAGAZINE

Baz Lloyd reveals the full story behind the impressive capture of this stunning beast

ALSO INSIDE TIM PAISLEY

SHAUN HARRISON

ED BETTERIDGE

ADAM CLEWER

NICK BURRAGE

MATT EATON

JON McALLISTER

PAUL FORWARD

LEE BIRCH

CHRIS BALL

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STUFF OF DREAMS

Darrell Peck tackles the mighty Orient

COMPETITION

Win a pair of Banana rods worth £840

TOP LAKE SUCCESS

New author Dave Levy’s year so far

THE LATEST NEWS AND CAPTURES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

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A N G L E R

Issue 144 October 2015

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ECHOES

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W O R L D W I D E

As temperatures soar, the action hots up on Parco del Brenta

P145 All the news and catches from around the globe

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F O R

CASTLES AND KINGS

P165 Our man in France returns to an old haunt

CALIFORNIA CARPING

P173 Adam Clewer has a stunning American adventure

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CONTENTS

The Carpworld Contents / Issue 301 / October 2015

29

Bait World featuring Joe Turnbull Joe interviews Craig Mortimer, who discusses baiting tactics, plus he investigates how to get the best from using single hookbaits. There’s also a look at Beechwood Baits and its owner Gavin Astley, who is also our Talking Bait guest.

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35 ON THE COVER:

Baz Lloyd with a cracker of a fish from Stoneacres. Read all about its capture on Page 46.

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Editor’s Comments It’s been another busy month for our editor, and here’s what he’s been up to as he prepares another edition of Carpworld.

A Perfect Day Keith Jenkins In this short story by Keith, an angler visits his favourite lake for a short session. He thought it would be a perfect way to spend the day, but sometimes life can be cruel.

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Gazette All the news and views from around the world of carping, to keep you up to date with what’s going on.

Somewhere Special Lee Brooks When Lee found a mature lake fringed with lilies and overhanging trees in the Midlands, he decided he just had to fish the water. It was a difficult proposition, but in the finest tradition of a dedicated angler, he who dares wins!

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Autumn Harvest Lee Birch Lee has been having a run of excellent results from Cambridgeshire’s The Folly, but after a short break, he finds that things have changed upon his return, and he needs to think outside the box to get some action.

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Long-Session Planning Ed Betteridge If you’re only used to short sessions, but are planning to spend more than a couple of days on the bank, you’ll need to prepare carefully, both in terms of tackle and mindset.

This is where Ed can help.

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Double Top Baz Lloyd There are some waters where catching even a single fish is a milestone, and Stoneacres is one such venue. But a year after landing Bitemark at 49lb 1oz, Baz Lloyd hit double top when he banked Kev’s Linear, the second-biggest fish in the lake.

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My Year So Far Dave Levy Dave’s been busy finalising his new book, so time on the bank has been limited. When he has been out he’s managed to bag a few though, and here’s his review of what has been a very busy year so far.

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Back In The Day Scott Rodgers After reading the adventures of the pioneers who fished the Colne Valley pits, Scott decided that even though the travelling from his home in the Midlands would be tedious, the lure of the Colne Valley was too much to resist.

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Black & White Our guest this month is Jason Trought, who, as one of the team behind DNA Baits, has been involved in carp angling for many years, both behind and in front of the rods.

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Rig World featuring Mike Kavanagh With a handy new rig-making tray from Nash, Drop Off Lead Plugs & Pins from Fox, the latest leadcore from Gardner, plus part two of Mike’s Rig & Tackle Talk with Dan Gilbert from Essex, it’s another busy Rig World this month.

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Think Tank This month our panel of guests look at long-range casting, how it’s become more specialised and developed over the years, and the tips and tricks used to gain those few extra yards.

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The F Word Paul Forward Paul’s feature this month is from the banks of the Orient, where he’s fishing with Darrell Peck.

However, before making the journey to France, he was out and about fishing on home turf, with some success..

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Pecky’s Progress Darrell Peck Darrell has embarked on what is no doubt going to be a fantastic adventure. He’s undertaking a massive session on Forêt d’Orient, one of France’s huge reservoirs, a water he’s had a desire to visit for several years.

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Historic Carp Waters Chris Ball Chris concludes the story about a historic Surrey water which has seen more than its fair share of angling excitement over the years – the famous Frensham Little Pond.

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Ask The Experts John Kneebone, Greg Ellis and Matt Eaton answer questions from readers on using PVA in winter, the importance of locating your quarry, and how your choice of pod or banksticks can affect bite indication.

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

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Baitology Giveaway We’ve got 200kg of bait to give away, and there’s also a sample for you to check out on the cover of this month’s mag.

Want to bag some for yourself ?

Turn to Page 104 to find out how.

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Reverse Targets Lee Wagner After a very hectic schedule, Lee found the time to revisit the Horton Complex, and after the Junior Carp Camp he attended was a resounding success, his personal fishing carried on in the same vein.

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Banana Rods Competition How would you like to win a pair of luxury hand-built carp rods worth £840? That’s the prize on offer in this superb competition.

IN INTERNATIONAL CARPER After several weeks of fishing the River Lot, Tony Davies-Patrick sets out to try a lake he visited many years ago, although it was a new water he finally settled on. Following an uneventful trip to Italy, Sean Harrison travels back there to try his luck again, with some spectacular results, in spite of the scorching temperatures. California may not be the first destination which springs to mind to go carp fishing, but judging by the results Adam Clewer had, it’s certainly one that’s well worth checking out. Finally, we bring you all the latest and greatest carp captures from around the globe in Echoes Around The World, and there’s also a look at a lovely holiday venue called Petit Pretre.

Don’t forget

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Tackle World This month we take a look at new reels from SONIK and Shimano, bankware from Chub, luggage from JRC, and a whole plethora of goodies from Fox. There’s also bite indication from Cygnet, a bed from Wychwood, and a mix of bits and bobs, including PVA from Avid Carp, and lead clips and tail rubbers from Nash.

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Still Carping On Tim Paisley For someone who’s (supposedly) retired from writing, Tim still has plenty to say for himself, and this month is no exception. He looks back over recent fishing expeditions, both at home and abroad, and reveals how much he has learned from them.

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Issue 144 October 2015

ITALIAN

JOB

P154

As temperatures soar, the action hots up on Parco del Brenta

ECHOES

CASTLES AND KINGS

CALIFORNIA CARPING

P145 All the news and catches from around the globe

P165 Our man in France returns to an old haunt

P173 Adam Clewer has a stunning American adventure

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Pick up your copy of Carpworld from all major stockists

our amazing Berkley subscription on page 120-121 Octo ber 2015 Car pwo r ld 5

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DOUBLE TOP B

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Stoneacres is a notoriously difficult venue, where the prizes are definitely hard won, but a year after landing Bitemark at 49lb 1oz, Baz Lloyd hit double top when he banked Kev’s Linear, the second-biggest fish in the lake.

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LEFT The glass bottom enables you to see clearly, deep beneath the lake’s surface.

RIGHT Boat work is crucial to success on a lake like Stoneacres.

It allows you to see their world as they do.

n 16th April at around 1.00 a.m., after a long drive from home, I arrived at Stoneacres. As always, I was buzzing, and couldn’t wait to get fishing for some of the mighty carp which inhabit the lake.

After a couple of laps of the pond, I’d seen and heard nothing, so at around 3.00 a.m. I made the decision to get my head down for a few hours. I slept in a swim called Café Bay until first light, which is an awesome swim to watch from and one that picks up a northeasterly wind. This area is a favourite of mine, and I had been keeping an eye on the weather all week leading up to my session; I knew that a northeasterly was due the following day, so I decided to stay put and get fishing. This gave me time to go out in the boat and get a few rods rocking before, hopefully, the carp arrived on the new wind.

Setting up in advance of the carp’s arrival is always a good idea, and I was

hoping that the fish would find their way towards the bay, where my traps would be set and waiting. The Stoney carp are renowned for being very tricky to outwit, and setting up on them is not the way to go about catching them. Predicting their next move and ensuring that you’re set up and rocking, with the traps set in advance, can often get you the bites.

By late afternoon I had three rods in position, all of which had balanced tiger nuts attached to them. Carp love a tiger, and once balanced with a small piece of cork, they find them much harder to eject without getting hooked. The rigs were fished over three handfuls of blended tigers, which the carp go crazy for, and it’s a tactic that you don’t see people using too often. It always pays to be a little different to the norm, and if you can combine that with something they like to eat, you’re on to a winner.

One of the rods was placed out to my right, on a small silt spot at around

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FEATURE

60 yards’ range. The area was about the size of a bin lid, and was a spot that I had caught from the previous year. On inspection, it was clear that it had been fed on recently, and this filled me with confidence. The other two rods were placed a rod-length apart at 50 yards’ range, straight out in front of me and just short of a gravel strip which had good form for producing bites. I sat back with a brew, feeling confident of a chance, if only the fish would follow the new wind, which would soon be arriving. Before long I was in the bag and the alarm was set for 5.00 a.m., ready for first light.

Morning soon came, and as soon as I opened my eyes – bosh! One lumped out at around 100 yards’ range. Then it happened again, and again. They went nuts for around 2 hours, all in one area, and I saw no less than 100 shows. Then, just like that, it all went quiet. I thought I’d missed my chance but I waited it out, and at 2.00 p.m. I saw a common stick its head out in the area of my right-hand rod.

At 3.00 p.m. the rod was away, and after a short battle, a mint 28lb 3oz common was sulking within the

confines of my landing net. I got the rod repositioned straight away, and then took the boat out to the area where I had seen them going nuts earlier that morning. Upon arrival it was clear where my other two rods needed to be repositioned. The water was clouded up and a 6ft-long silt strip had been smashed down to the gravel. I lowered an H-block on the spot and boated back to the bank to see if the block was in the right area. It was absolutely bang on, right in the area of all the shows.

The two rods were quickly reeled in and then positioned at either end of the newly-formed gravel strip. I placed the rigs just short of the gravel, into the silt where it met with the gravel.

The traps were set and my confidence was sky-high – they just had to turn back up the following morning.

I awoke at first light and cast my eyes towards the spot. Boom! They were certainly back, and around 10 minutes later the rod fished to the right-hand side of the gravel spot was away. It kited immediately, travelling left and across the bay. I was joined by a friend, Brooker, who had seen the shows and just knew it

TOP LEFT

Observation is key, and if you’re out in the boat or sitting in the bivvy watching, then the trees are the only place to be.

An aquascope is an essential item of kit for the big pit boat fisherman.

TOP RIGHT

Baz used finely crushed tigers to trip up the carp during his session - something different and a tactic that’s underused by most anglers.

ABOVE LEFT

ABOVE RIGHT

The Stoneacre fish are hard to outwit. Baz used fluorocarbon leads and large blobs of putty to ensure that his line was hidden from view.

was going to happen for me, so he made his way round. I asked him to loosen the clutches on the remaining two rods, in case the fish picked up one of the lines.

As he did so, I turned round to see line on the rod fished on the left of the gravel spot ping out of the clip. Double takes are relatively unheard of on a lake like Stoneacres, so this certainly got my heart racing. I asked him to leave the rod on the rest and just cup the spool for me.

After a few more lunges, the first fish was in the net. I quickly secured it and took hold of the other rod. As soon as I lifted I knew it was a better one, and it absolutely ripped line from the reel.

The fish was kiting from left to right and going ballistic in the process. All the way in I had an idea of which fish I was connected to, because it was known for giving a good scrap and never giving up.

After a 30-minute battle, all of which I caught on film, my thoughts were confirmed, and the lake’s second-biggest carp, Kev’s Linear, kissed the spreader block. “Get innnnn!” I screamed.

I secured both carp in retaining slings while I got things sorted for the photos.

Stoneacre regular, and a good friend of

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FEATURE

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BACK DAY S

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The thought of travelling 125 miles each way just for a day’s fishing may not appeal to many, but the lure of the Colne Valley was too much to resist for Scott, who had set his sights on catching a Savay carp.

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aving been brought up reading the tales of Hutchy, Andy Little and Rob Maylin in the ’80s, it’s little wonder that I wanted to have a crack at what I think is the lake of the century – Savay. It was always going to be a massive task for someone working in butchery retail and living in the Midlands. With 2 days off a week, which are split (often Wednesdays and Sundays), travelling 125 miles each way for a day session was surely madness. However, just to catch one of these creatures was something I desired, no, craved, and I sure as hell had to have a go.

I remember my first trip down to the Colne Valley. I’d got a coarse-fishing handbook with a detailed map of every lake, giving the controlling clubs and their secretaries: North Waltonians, The Cons, Harefield, and many others, including the one I dreamed of catching from, Savay – all were there on the printed page. My first trip down was with a good friend, Andy, in the close season around 1987-1988, and we’d gone down armed with the book to guide us. We went straight to Savay, and parked at the pub just down the road. We didn’t know what to expect; we marched straight through the gates (which had been left open), had

LEFT Settled in on the Canal Bank, with great expectations.

RIGHT Lazing on a sunny afternoon.

34lb 3oz from the Road Bank. The grin says it all.

BELOW

a walk up the canal bank to the Gate Swim, and we were in awe at its beauty.

I’m pretty sure the gate was also left ajar on the Colne side, but we didn’t venture through. I was conscious that we weren’t members and we didn’t want to be classed as trespassers, but if people leave gates open… At least we didn’t climb over any gates to gain access.

We wandered back down to the North Bay, then decided to have a look at the Cottage Bay. Basically, we just followed the contours of the lake. The Road Bank looked a lot more comfortable, if ever we went down to fish that is, and we found a number of carp by the islands.

We gently introduced several pouchfuls of mix and they were soon feeding hard, with their heads rising out of the water and downing them like they were going out of fashion. We were like two kids in a sweet shop, and we were thrilled by what we were seeing. All these carp were feeding off the top. It wasn’t long before we were hailed by a loud shout.

We had been spotted from one of the islands, where it seemed a work party had commenced. Time for a sharp exit!

We had a quick look around Harrow and then set off back home, inspired by the carp of the Colne Valley. I did a few day trips the following season, thinking that maybe I was out of my

depth, before I met an angler who I only knew as Brian, who told me about his adventures on the lakes. Brian was, without doubt, a gifted angler, and he’s still very enthusiastic. If you ever needed inspiration, someone like Brian would get you climbing Everest!

I remember fishing the Point with Andy, some time in November in the early-’90s I guess, and the late Bruce Ashby was in The Boards fishing the Cottage Bay. I recall he’d had a 40 that week, The Beast, and, as ever, Bruce was a great conversationalist. Anyway, he popped round and the three of us talked for hours. He was surprised that we’d come all the way down from the Midlands for a day’s fishing. Old Bruce was gobsmacked as I recalled one of our lakes ‘up north’ which we fished; it was 8-9 acres in size and had six carp in it!

“We wouldn’t fish a lake like that down here, oh, no. Six carp in a lake, we’d leave that well alone.

Why would you fish it?” he asked.

This showed the difference in fish stocks when comparing the Midlands to the Colne Valley, indeed, the south in general. It was like chalk and cheese.

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FEATURE

D A R R E L L

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PECKY’S PROGRESS It isn’t often that an angler with so many achievements gets to fulfil a dream. In this case, Darrell undertakes a massive session on one of France’s huge reservoirs, Forêt d’Orient, an ambition he’s had for a few years now. This is the first instalment of what is no doubt going to be a fantastic adventure, so read on.

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ell, here goes nothing.

It’s Monday 7th September and I’m currently feeling stranded on the Three Tree Island right out in the middle of the mighty Forêt d’Orient, and I’m going to attempt to write this diary piece on my phone. The laptop is at Gigantica, and I can’t warrant burning out another battery just to do the 4km round trip back to the van. Before I get round to how I ended up marooned, I’ll rewind a little. I mentioned in my last piece that it’s been a lifelong ambition to do a giant session on one of the huge public waters in France, and I’ve probably picked the most difficult. I did fancy Chanty, but the fact that all the night zones were prebooked put me off a little, although I’m already thinking I might regret not heading there to just fish the day zones.

The planning that went into this trip was like nothing I’ve known, and the logistics frightened the life out of me. Very quickly I realised that 20-odd years’ experience stands for very little at this level. I scraped together the bare minimum required, and I mean bare minimum. I have two boats, one a 3.2m Fox inflatable with a solid floor, which Lewis Porter did me a deal on, and a smaller 2.3m cheapie that I will use purely to tow the bigger boat when transporting the tackle, either when moving swims or getting back to the van. I bought four 115ah leisure batteries and I could probably do with at least 10, but at 90 quid a pop I just couldn’t stomach it. Tackle-wise, Daiwa sorted me out some Windcast Z LDs, and I managed to cram 500m of 15lb Sub braid on them, which enables me to fish at what I consider extreme range.

The long-wheel base Caddy I own was packed 2 days before my Sunday crossing, and I’ve never known it so full. Inside was 200 kilos of boilies,

RIGHT My two boats loaded and ready to go.

100 kilos of tigers, two boats, spares – you name it, the suspension was at its limit. So much for travelling light!

I arrived at Gigantica on Sunday lunchtime and offloaded most of the bait. I had a brief catch-up with some of the guys from Korda; it was the annual jolly, which I was gutted to have missed.

It was well over 30 degrees, and although I thought it a bad idea to attempt to look round in the heat of the day, I was soon heading to the Orient, full of excitement.

I got to Mesnil and hopped out of the van behind the legendary Bivvy City area, and to my surprise, no one was there. I thought it was odd, considering I was led to believe it’s one of the better areas.

I wandered up towards the dam wall, or the barrage as the French call it, and my eyes were immediately drawn to a set of rings about halfway down. I quickened my pace in that direction, keeping my eyes fixed on the position, and very quickly I saw three or four more sets appear. I never actually saw any of them as they happened, just the rings. In this area there was a huge gathering of birdlife – seagulls, coots and grebes – hundreds of them. Half an hour passed without anything else occurring, plus there was a topless sunbather close to where I was looking, which made me feel like a pervert, so off I went to have a scout about. The next area I looked at was

on the opposite bank, and to get to it on foot, I had to cross a jam-packed beach. Once off the beach and onto the mud, the old withered stumps, where I crave a picture of me holding a carp, appeared. I could see the water level had dropped because there was 100m of dried weed stretched out to the water’s edge from the trees behind.

This point was the last legal night zone before the dam wall, and an area I had liked the look of from the map. From there I had a little look at some of the other night zones, but it was a rushed look because I couldn’t stop thinking about the rings I’d seen up from Bivvy City. No one else was carp fishing the lake, which did feel a little ominous, although I knew I was early, but surely someone else was as keen or as stupid as me. Obviously not. In the end I decided to set up in Bivvy City on the strength of the disturbances I’d seen.

That evening I planned to get out in the boat to check the area with the echo sounder, but by the time I had carried all the gear to the water’s edge I was knackered. I thought there no rush, so after I’d set up I just got my head down. Early the next morning I walked up to the same area where I’d spotted the rings the previous evening, but I only saw a few tench roll

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I mentioned in my last piece that it’s been a lifelong ambition to do a giant session on one of the huge public waters in France, and I’ve probably picked the most difficult

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COLUMNIST

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S t ill Ca r p in g On T im Pa is ley

TOP The line-up of the famous specimen group

including he late Bruce Ashby, Pete Springate, Roy Johnson and Bob James.

The James Gang on stage during the Dick Walker Memorial Conference.

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“A writer is someone for whom writing is harder than it is for other people.”

Thomas Mann LEFT A colourful dawn during the August 2015 Linear MNDA event.

To Begin Before the Beginning

My tongue-in-cheek lead-in to my look back at 299 issues of Carpworld in the 300th issue was somehow construed as a rant. Wrong! For the most part, my rants are now restricted to conversations with my pillow when I go to bed (occasional), complaints directed towards the blind and deaf drivers who now people our roads (frequent), and uncooperative carp (habitual). The fact that editor Broady was the first to read the piece and did get it (the intro amused him greatly) was a reassurance, but in case there is anyone out there who construed the opening as a rant, I can assure them that it definitely wasn’t. It was a difficult piece to write, and the lead-in was me easing my way into it, having fun with words, and developing a train of thought. Sometimes you have to come at a difficult piece of writing from a tangent, as happened on this occasion.

If the humour of the start missed the mark for some of you, then so be it.

Broady and I liked it! Let’s move on.

Someone once commented that August is a difficult month for carp fishing.

It’s probably true, but it doesn’t stop us going, and imagining that the next time it will be different. For me, this August wasn’t different. Like so much of my carp fishing, it fell into the ‘enjoyable but frustrating’ category, and wasn’t without its merits. I was sitting on the banks of Gigantica, suffering from a justified feeling of ineptitude that strange water always arouses in me, when a thought occurred

to me, a thought which was reinforced during another period of ineptitude during the MNDA fund-raiser at Linear some time later. I’ll come back to the thought later, because it may not be without some significance.

Gigantica is a strange water. It’s one of those places where the carp always give you encouragement. They often put on a show, and some days positively flaunt themselves, but when I’m there they have a very strong inclination not to get caught (not just for me), an inclination I fail to overcome with an air of inevitability. I always think it’s going to be different, and it may well be so when I go back for more punishment in October, but I’m not holding my breath.

I commented to someone recently that when it has taken you 13 years to catch a new personal best, you’re not exactly sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for the next one to come along.

If Gigantica is a difficult water which feels like an easy water, Linear’s Brasenose One is, I believe, considered an easy water – which I manage to make look like a difficult one. Every time I go to Linear, I promise myself a return trip for a ‘serious’ session, although the older I get, the less serious all my sessions seem to become. There was a time when catching carp mattered, but give or take the odd burst of frustration, it just doesn’t seem to matter that much anymore. One of the reasons for the trip to Linear was for the prize Septem Octo ber 20 15 C a r pwor l d 135 165

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By Dave Levy Fallen Kings is the story of Dave Levy’s angling so far, and takes its title from the mirror and common carp under the king carp strain. It follows Dave from being a small boy who dreams of catching fish, angling in streams, to growing up to become a wellrespected carp angler fishing some of the well-known big-fish waters in the country.

What is most extraordinary about Dave’s story is the fact that he’s achieved his ambition of catching big carp while balancing everyday life that most of us face.

£30

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11/09/2015 14:08