Carpworld February 2016

E E FR age 32-

alarms competition worth over £950

p

in

side

PLUS Pa u l F o rwa r d

HIDDEN GEMS

Darrell Peck M i k e K ava n a g h

A warming tale of the monster carp from the Canaries

t i m pa i s l e y

B RITAIN ’ S B I GG E S T CARP - ANG L ING MAGAZINE

carpworldmagazine.com

ISSUE 305 February 2016

ISSUE 305 / February 2016 / MONTHLY £4.75

THIS ISSUE The house of commons Les Bowers’ tale of his frimley adventures Bill cottam’s awesome carping allegedly Dave Levy continues his winter campaign on cleverley Ian Chillcott Answers your questions on boilie size

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Issue 148 February 2016

MONSTER OF THE STORM DANIEL TRINKL BRAVES TRULY WILD WEATHER TO CATCH THE FISH OF A LIFETIME | P150

Carp news and features from around the globe CANARIES CARPING

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P156 Check out La Gomera, which is home to some huge carp

RIVER GIANTS

WORLDWIDE NEWS

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P142 Tony Davies-Patrick takes on the monsters of the waterways of France

P135 Catch up with all the latest captures in Echoes Around the World

CONTENTS

The Carpworld Contents / Issue 305 / February 2016

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ON THE COVER:

Jan Ulak with a magnificent carp caught from a hidden gem of a water in the Canary Islands. Read his story on Page 156.

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Editor’s Comments Following a landmark ruling concerning predation control, is this the turning point for angling? Steve takes a look at what it could mean for our fisheries.

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

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Wraysbury – The Future Is Bright Kev Hewitt The changes made by RK Leisure at Wraysbury have turned the water into one of the most modern day-ticket waters in the country, and Kev Hewitt has experienced the joys of this awe-inspiring venue.

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Pecky’s Progress Darrell Peck Darrell has been fishing on Bayeswater in Essex, and following a few weeks of struggling to catch, it’s finally sprung to life, giving Darrell the opportunity to welcome in the new year in style.

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Triumph On The Top Lake Jason Ingley A trio of 40s in one week is great angling in anyone’s book. Jason has been in amongst the monsters at the Top Lake at Acton Burnell, a stunning lake which, at certain times, is open to all.

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Carping Allegedly Bill Cottam Bill’s back for another humour-filled feature in which he looks at bait quality, whether carp-angling technology has gone too far, and how there’s more to life than carp fishing.

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House Of Commons Les Bowers Following relocation, Les had to find new venues to fish. A chance meeting secured him a Frimley Pit 3 winter ticket, which opened up a whole new world of adventure.

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Chateau Lake Competition How do you and a friend fancy taking all the strain out of travelling to France to enjoy a week’s fishing at Chateau Lake? Sounds good?

Then turn to Page 47 to enter our fantastic competition.

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Rig World featuring Mike Kavanagh Mike says E-S-P’s latest braided hooklink is the best he’s ever used, and with other products from Fox, Korda and Guru, plus an interview with talented Essex angler Ben Connelly, there’s plenty for everyone in this month’s Rig World.

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Fox Competition Fancy a set of the latest Fox alarms? Three readers will each win a three-rod presentation set of Fox’s new MXr+ alarms in this superb £900+ competition.

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The F Word Paul Forward The mild weather at the end of 2015 and into the new year has kept the fish on the feed, and Mr F. has been around to take full advantage, with several good fish coming his way.

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Ask The Experts Ian Chillcott, Adam Clewer and Matt Eaton answer readers’ questions on mixing bait sizes, how to cast long Zig Rigs, and how to wean carp off natural food and on to your bait.

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Think Tank This month, Mark Holmes, Ed Betteridge and Duncan Arrandale look back at 2015 and reveal which new products, tactics or bait have made a difference to their catch rate over the year.

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Return To Cleverley Dave Levy We join Dave, who’s had an outstanding time on the Top Lake at Cleverley, for another helping of his adventures on this enigmatic venue. Did the lessons learned over the previous season pay dividends this time round?

Looking at his pictures, he was definitely doing something right.

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Bait World featuring Joe Turnbull With a review of some exciting new boilie pellets from Baitology, an in-depth look at bait hardness with the lads at RG Baits, and a whole range of goodies to savour, there’s plenty to keep you interested in this month’s Bait World.

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Historic Carp Waters Chris Ball After being formed by brine extraction, the Flashes in Cheshire became popular angling venues, and some contained big carp, none more so than the famous Crabmill Flash.

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Tackle World Five pages of all that’s great in the world of tackle, with a look at rods from Harrison and Banana Rods, some great budget reels, and assorted products from all the big names in tackle.

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Keep ’Em Feeding Greg Myles In winter, keeping the carp interested in feeding is vitally important. Following the capture of his bestever winter carp, Greg explains how his tactical baiting approach paid off.

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Dan Smith Over the years, Dan marvelled at the pictures and stories from the famous Ashmead venue, and he finally got the chance to fish this stunning wetland venue. Here’s his story.

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A Float From The Flames Keith Jenkins When he came across a feather that seemed to glow with an iridescent beauty, Guy knew that if he made it into one of his hand-crafted floats, it would catch him something very special indeed.

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Still Carping On Tim Paisley Tim pays tribute to the late Peter Mohan, a man who was instrumental in creating the modern carp scene. Sadly, the charismatic Duncan Kay has also passed away; one of the carp world’s true pioneers. Tim also looks at the present state of play in The Carp Society saga.

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What I Did Last Summer Issue 148 February 2016

MONSTER OF THE STORM DANIEL TRINKL BRAVES TRULY WILD WEATHER TO CATCH THE FISH OF A LIFETIME | P150

CANARIES CARPING

RIVER GIANTS

WORLDWIDE NEWS

P156 Check out La Gomera, which is home to some huge carp

P142 Tony Davies-Patrick takes on the monsters of the waterways of France

P135 Catch up with all the latest captures in Echoes Around the World

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IN INTERNATIONAL CARPER It may be winter but there are some cracking big-carp captures to report in our regular look at all the catch results from around the globe in Echoes From Around The World.

Tony Davies-Patrick is always tackling exciting new venues, and this month he samples the delights of the French river system, where he tackles big fish and even bigger ships! David Trinkl may be a young gun but he’s a capable angler, and after braving a fearsome storm, he bagged himself the fish of a lifetime. Finally, warm up with a trip to the island of La Gomera, where, in amongst the sun-baked landscape, is a lake that holds some hidden gems.

DON’T FORGET

OUR AMAZING NASH SUBS OFFER ON PAGE 73

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PICK UP YOUR COPY OF CARPWORLD FROM ALL MAJOR STOCKISTS

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FEATURE

D A R R E L L

P E C K

PECKY’S PROGRESS After several weeks of not producing, Bayeswater finally sprung to life, giving Darrell and his friends the opportunity to reap the rewards of a new-year feeding spell.

I

have just read Tim’s piece in last month’s magazine, and I really don’t want to carry this on any further.

Just thinking about it gives me nothing but negative vibes. At my age, I guess I should have known better than to voice an opinion about the fishing to which I aspire. In the future I will stick to the carp fishing, only write what is politically correct, and avoid getting into debates with veteran wordsmiths like Mr Paisley.

For the record, let it be known that I have nothing but admiration for Tim; he’s an inspiration to all. He’s a man twice my age who still gets out there doing what he loves, in pursuit of whatever he

wants, and that’s a goal for all of us.

Back to the fishing. In the December issue of Carpworld, I mentioned that I had just started dabbling on Gary Bayes’ syndicate, Bayeswater. If you read that piece, you’ll remember that it’s a small, relatively young irrigation water in Essex that already holds a good head of big fish. I suggested there could be a handful of 40-pounders in there at the right time, and it’s looking like there could be as many as 10, give or take a few ounces. That’s some stock for a 7-8 acre lake which was only stocked with relatively small fish less than 15 years ago.

Towards the end of a busy 2015,

I was lacking in enthusiasm, and the long nights, the lack of activity, and the monstrous amount of angling I’d done that year was behind it. If I am honest, I was really looking forward to Christmas and hanging the rods up for a bit.

Bayeswater had been kind to me during early November, with three bites falling to my rods in a few hours, and in the next 7 days there were another nine bites to other members. Since then though, it has been bleak, to say the least, and 6 weeks have passed without a bite to anybody.

It wasn’t for the want of trying on my behalf, I can tell you. I’d been racking up 2- and 3-night sessions most weeks.

The thing is, I don’t really know anything about the going areas, and without actual sightings, I have been left fishing totally blind, which is the downside to starting on a water late in the year. Fishing blind wouldn’t be so bad if I was in tune with

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P e c ky ’ s P ro g ress Da rrell Peck

it, but for an inexperienced Bayeswater angler, it has been really hard. I’ve been up and looking at dawn, but apart from the mincers – shows that were probably roach, tench or pike, but could have been a subtle carp – I had seen just one definite sighting over this period. In the autumn and early winter, the activity can often come in the dark, but I have wandered about at all hours and haven’t seen anything concrete. So why not just give up?

The main reason I have soldiered on through this 6-week barren spell is because of the disgustingly good weather we had throughout December. It was consistently into double figures, with 12° days being regular, and for December that’s off the scale, right? Although it’s been grim on the fishing front, it has been rather sociable. My friend, Phil, was

LEFT Watching the winter sun set over Bayeswater.

I can’t believe how good the weather has been.

TOP Phil with buzzing with this mirror of 33lb under his belt.

ABOVE Yet another mirror for Phil.

This one came in at 33lb.

also fishing throughout this period, grafting as a plasterer during the day, then arriving in the evening to corrupt me with Kronenbourg 1664 and lamb doner kebabs. They taste good at the time, but they don’t half make the morning difficult, with a timely toilet run the second you open your eyes! Over the years, Phil and I have fished between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve, and on occasion it’s been kind. A few ago I caught the two biggest fish from a tricky estate lake, and as recent as last year, we caught a few at Linear Fisheries’ Oxlease.

And this year was no different. We arranged to meet at Bayeswater on the 27th and the weather looked nothing short of astonishing. On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, the temperature reached a mind-boggling 15°, with night-time temperatures around 12-14°. Even though it had been fishing poorly, we both thought there was every chance it could do one post-Christmas.

Rumour was that a few others were due down for this post-Christmas social, and with that in mind, I was keen to get myself located promptly and accordingly.

I arrived an hour before first light, and after bucketing Swim 2, I wandered about, hoping to see something before anyone else arrived. I didn’t, but Peg 2 was as good a shout as any with no sightings to go on. The plan was that once set up and the others had arrived, because of the disturbance, there was every chance that some fish might push out to the safety of the island, where I would already have 20 Spombs of maggots dispatched over two rods. By the time I was set, I had neighbours on either side. Phil was to my left (Peg 1) and Jason Sapford to my right (Peg 3), and another angler had also set up in Peg 5, which fishes into the open water on the other side of the island.

The rods were in and the social began.

Baileys coffees and 1664 flowed, and by 10.00 p.m. I was more than fit for bed.

I’d not been in there long when my left rod of the two, which I had positioned 3ft apart on the island margin, started bleeping. I was on it quickly, but to my amazement, nothing was on the end. I was just thinking that I’d possibly been a little hasty in picking it up, when the one remaining rod started to bleep. I was met with slack line which was quickly retrieved, until I met with a weighty resistance. That’s when the penny finally dropped. This fish had obviously dropped back from the island margin and passed under my other line, which led to me picking up the wrong rod because it registered on that alarm first. If that wasn’t drama enough, the hooked fish then clotheslined Phil’s right-hand Zig rod and we were all tangled up. I shouted to Phil, who was still awake, and once he F ebru ary 2 016 C a r pwor l d 25

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FEATURE

DAVE LEVY

RETURN TO CLEVERLEY

After an outstanding time on the Top Lake, Dave decided to return for another crack at this enigmatic venue, and hoped that his previous winter’s success would help.

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Cle v e r le y Ca mpaign Da vy L evy

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“The first night was warm, and an old friend came to visit, in the shape of a 30lb fullyscaled mirror first thing in the morning”

t had been over a year since I’d last fished the Top Lake, and after having a really good summer catching some lovely carp, including a lovely upper-40, I was on a high. My first session back was mid-October, so not the winter, but it gave me a good run at getting the Top Lake carp on to my bait before the real cold arrived. Even though I’d done well when I’d fished there the previous winter using the Hybrid, it had been well used, so I decided not to overthink the bait situation. I would use Mainline Cell instead, as I knew this bait had very good all-year-round form.

The first night was warm, and an old friend came to visit, in the shape of a 30lb fully-scaled mirror first thing in the morning. My rigs were much the same as last winter, the only change being that I’d upped the hook size from a Size 8 Wide Gape to a Size 6, simply because I believed I wouldn’t have to refine the end tackle if they were on the bait during the colder months. The carp would be too preoccupied by the regular food source to notice, not like when they are only picking around a single hookbait or PVA bags. If there is only one food item, there is more chance of them

LEFT Proper winter, and still feeding hard.

ABOVE My first fish when I went back, the friendly fully-scaled.

RIGHT As it got colder they kept feeding, as this 32lb 12oz fish proved.

being hooked, but feeding them like I was doing made them drop their guard.

This allowed me to use stronger tackle, with more chance of landing a carp.

I didn’t get down to fish the next week, but I did drive down there after working nights to find the lake empty. I quickly spread 4 kilos of Cell over the deep-water area at 16 wraps. I was there a few days after baiting up, and I felt really confident that they would have cleared the bait. In normal circumstances I would walk round the lake, but there were two other anglers walking about, so I wasted no time and dropped some gear into the baited swim. I

was soon set up, and with two rods rigged and clipped to the deep-water spot, I cast the third out on a single bright hookbait, with the intention of casting to any showing fish. I put another few kilos of Cell over the two deep-water rods and sat watching the lake until about midnight.

The morning came and brought with it the sinking feeling of a blank. At 7.00 a.m. I was on my second cuppa when the left-hand deep-water rod’s bobbin pulled up tight. I quickly picked up the rod and bent into a carp, and it wasn’t long until she was plodding up and down in front of me. As F ebru ary 2016 C a r pwor l d 81

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K e e p ’ E m F e e d ing Greg My les

KEEP ‘EM

FEEDING G R E G

M Y L E S

Greg reveals why tactical baiting keeps the carp feeding and results in his biggest-ever winter carp.

W

e have all seen it. When the cold weather finally arrives and winter begins, the number of anglers on the bank starts to decrease. This is the time of year that I really enjoy, and by keeping motivated and putting in the effort, the rewards are there to be had. The reduction of anglers means less lines in the water, the favoured swims become available more often, and with that, the lake starts to see minimal amounts of bait. As you know, in the colder months, the lake’s natural larder, such as bloodworm and shrimps, also reduces, which means that the fish either choose to search out what little food there is, or they conserve their energy by holding up dormant somewhere in the lake.

I have always stood by the theory that carp are just like every other animal; they need to eat on a regular basis in order to

survive. It may take hours, or even a day or two for them to work up an appetite, but give them a highly nutritional meal and they will find it hard to resist a mouthful, whatever the weather. I believe that the trick to a successful winter campaign is to keep the fish searching out your chosen bait. I approach this by giving the fish a food-based bait, and for me, this is a boilie – but not just any boilie. It has to be one that offers the fish three things: firstly, it has to be nutritional, which means that when the fish consumes the bait, it gives them all the goodness they require. Secondly, it has to be digestible. I want the fish to be able to pass the bait through their gut and excrete it with ease. Thirdly, and finally, I want the bait to be palatable.

In other words, the fish must like the taste and gain satisfaction from eating the bait over and over again.

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FEATURE

I set up for the first night in the point.

HOMEWORK This swim occupies a large amount of water, I never underestimate the benefits of and it enabled me to see a lot of the lake. I doing my homework. I like to find out decided to keep things to a minimum due as much about the lake as possible, and I to the amount of angling pressure the lake am particularly interested in establishing was seeing that night. Three pop-up rigs the areas that the carp frequently visit comprising White 365 pop-ups were cast throughout the colder months. I like to to likely areas, all with a couple of handfuls familiarise myself with my chosen water of boilie crumb Spombed over the top. The by having a look around the place and air was mild that night, so after a copious getting to know the look of each swim. amount of tea, I was able to stay awake into On my return home, I go about my the early hours, listening for the sounds of research. Social media is a powerful tool, showing fish giving away their location. and there is no better way of finding out My first night helped from which swim me to work out where your target fish is “THE EMPTY LAKE ALLOWED quite a few fish were frequently caught ME TO MAP OUT THE LAKE’S held up, and after than by looking at the DEPTH, USING THE MARKER hearing four shows backdrop of previous ROD IN LIKELY AREAS” in a particular area of capture photos. Once I have familiarised myself with the different the lake, I knew I was on to something. To add to my confidence, I was woken just swims, I use Google Earth to identify the prominent features of the lake, highlighting before daybreak by a take on my middle rod. After a short battle, I was greeted the areas that the fish could inhabit. by a common. Though it was possibly In October 2015, I obtained a winter one of the smallest fish in the lake, I was ticket for a fairly tricky syndicate venue happy with the result. I was off the mark that I had been keeping an eye on for some on my first night and, most importantly, time. The colder months offered me the the fish had taken a liking to my approach perfect opportunity to start a campaign and bait. My confidence was high. on there. The idea was to introduce my bait throughout late autumn and winter, so that by springtime the fish would see LOCATION AND PREPARATION this particular bait as a safe food source.

The weekend passed without any further My first night on the place was a real action. As anglers left on the Sunday eye-opener. I arrived on the Friday around morning and the lake became empty, I midday, for the opening weekend that knew that the most important part of my the winter ticket holders were able to fish. fishing was about to take place. An hour I was shocked to find that the lake was or two of preparation before I left gave quiet, and after a quick look around, I me a great head start for when I returned was able to get in a swim that I knew had for my next session. The empty lake held good form through past winters. allowed me to map out the lake’s depth, It was a good job I made the decision using the marker rod in likely areas. early, as during the next half-hour the Firstly, I found the depth of the area in remaining 12 swims were soon occupied. which I had located the showing fish the

night before. I found a silty gully in 13ft of water, 2ft deeper than the rest of the lakebed around it, and it had a plateau at one side and a bar at the other, both with around 2ft of water on the top of them.

The second and third swims that took my fancy both featured snaggy areas; they were fairly sheltered from the wind and caught the winter sun as it rose. The swims had depths between 7 and 10ft in front of the snags, and this was somewhere the carp could sit in the snags basking in the winter sun through the day, and also drop down in the deeper depths in the night, when the air temperatures chilled the upper layers of water. This made them ideal locations on which to concentrate my efforts.

GIVING SOMETHING BACK

An aerial view of the lake.

ABOVE LEFT

ABOVE RIGHT The common from the first night’s fishing.

Doing my homework on the place.

BELOW

I call the next part of my fishing, ‘giving something back’. I introduce some, if not all, my remaining bait into the areas of the lake where I think the fish will visit.

I believe a handful of bait applied to a few areas around the lake keeps the fish on the move, searching out their next meal, even in the coldest of weathers. I like to feel assured that when I’m not at

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FEATURE

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WHAT I DID LAST

SUMMER Dan Smith was very excited about the prospect of fishing Ashmead last summer. Over the years, he’d marvelled at the pictures and videos taken of this stunning venue, which is a really unique place. Here is his story.

A

shmead is a restored wetland site of some 14 acres; it’s a maze of little bays and channels all stuffed with weed, and home to some of the finest carp around. I never thought I would get the chance to fish this superb fishery, which is only 30 miles from where I live, as for many years it was run on a syndicate basis. Places on the Ashmead syndicate were highly sought after, and were only offered to people personally recommended. This spring, the owner, Mark Walsingham, decided to open Ashmead as an exclusive day ticket fishery, so when I was offered the chance to fish there, I grabbed it with both hands, and booked two 5-day trips in July and August.

On my first trip, I had the lake booked exclusively for three friends and me. We arrived on a wet, misty Sunday afternoon in July, and the fish were very active and were showing in most areas of the lake.

One particular area, called Five-ways, struck me as being the perfect place to ambush fish moving through the channels between the large weedy bays, where they seemed to be holding up. My good friend Tony also had the same idea, and as he came out before me in the draw, I had to take my second choice of swim, which was the north end of Goat Willow.

This area was the original carp lake at Ashmead before the rest of the site was restored. It is the largest bay, at around 3 acres, and has two central islands, which divide it into two swims. The north side had recently had some of the weed cleared, leaving a couple of nice long strips through

the hornwort where I could fish out towards the islands and get my lines pinned down to the bottom. I decided to bait the whole area fairly heavily from the start, with 5kg of Sticky Baits Krill in mixed sizes 12, 16 and 20mm. Hookbaits were made with The Krill Hookbait Kit to avoid the attentions of the savage rudd. On my second night, this tactic paid off when I landed a nice 24lb common called Misfit, plus another smaller fish.

Two of my friends also caught fish on the same night, and then the next day, high pressure and sunny conditions put an end to the carp’s feeding spell. The next few days were not wasted, however, as I spent most of the daylight hours walking the banks, observing the fish and getting to know this intimate venue.

My second trip was booked 3 weeks later, and I would be fishing alone. It was time to get my serious fishing head on and put all I had learnt into practice.

Weather conditions looked perfect for the trip, probably the best front we’d had all summer, with air pressure staying below 1000mb, big winds, and lots of heavy rain.

Ashmead was fully booked by individual anglers for this week. I came out last in the draw, but luckily, the Five-ways area which I fancied was still free after the other anglers had taken their pick. Like many of the areas on this intimate lake,

A stunning common known as JC’s at 40lb 6oz, an awesome fish and a true character.

Five-ways offers many different options as to where to place your rods. With so many spots screaming out to be fished, it was difficult to decide which ones to target. There is no real swim, so it’s just a case of parting the marginal sedge enough to sneak a rod into place. Down to my left was a huge thick bed of hornwort in an area called the Throne. I decided to place my left rod in a large clearing within this weedbed, and bait the whole area heavily with the Krill. My middle rod was fished out into the main bay, where five carpy-looking channels come off in all directions. I scattered the Krill far and wide, so whichever way carp came through this maze they would pass over my baited area, and I placed my hookbait on a small hard patch in amongst an area of sparse weed. My right-hand rod was placed in a small narrow channel towards

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W h a t I D id La s t S u m mer Da n S m ith

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NEXT MONTH

WIN A FRENCH HOLIDAY AND SPOTTED FIN BAIT

ING LUD C IN

HOUSE of L E S

B OW ERS

PLUS JASON TROUGHT KRIS OLLINGTON T I M PA I S L E Y

C O M M O N S

SIMON CROW

Les Bowers continues his epic tale of his time on Frimley

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S A L E :

F R I D A Y

4 T H

M A R C H

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