Carpworld April 2016

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fr a ISSUE 307 / April 2016 / MONTHLY £4.75

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ISSUE 307 April 2016

THE BIG INTERVIEW

EMBRYO B RIT A I N ’ S BIGGEST C A R P - A N GLI N G M A G A Z I N E

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exclusive first look at the new shimano XTD reel

MY LEGACY TO FISHING DANN Y FAIRBRASS

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THIS ISSUE Mark Holmes reveals his secret liquid bait edges

Bill cottam takes a lighter look at our world

matT eaton on the pleasure of simply fishing

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Issue 150 April 2016

A WINTER AT

EDEN

SWIM MAPPER Fox’s fantastic new angling app

TONY PROVES WHY WATERCRAFT IS AN ESSENTIAL SKILL | P158

Carp news and features from around the globe ON THE CREST OF A WAVE

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P171 Max Nollert goes afloat to achieve success

BACK TO THE CANAL

ECHOES AROUND THE WORLD

21/03/2016 18:27

P166 Raf goes back to the place where it all started

P151 All the latest news and captures from around the globe

Contents

The Carpworld Contents / Issue 307 / April 2016

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Pleasure And The Pain – Part Two Mark Holmes Following on from a season of good result in 2014, Mark Holmes continues the story of his time on Deepings syndicate in Lincolnshire in 2015.

There were certainly some highs, but not before the frustrations of the lows.

ON THE COVER:

On the cover: Danny Fairbrass holding one of the stunning fish caught from Embryo’s Cawcutts Lake. Read more on page 40.

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Editor’s Comments Steve takes a look at the Carpin’ On show 2016, with a big thanks to everyone involved in this year’s event, which saw massive visitor numbers and some stunning talks and slide shows, as well as the very popular interactive Rig & Bait Clinic.

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Gazette All the news and views from around the carpangling scene to keep you up to date with what’s going on, including the release of the new Nash DVD featuring Euro Banx 2.

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A Game Of Edges – Part Two Kris ‘Betty’ Ollington After a stunning start to his year on Wellington Country Park, Kris was left wondering if it could get any better. Read the final part of his tremendous story, and how he finished off his season in real style.

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Pecky’s Progress Darrell Peck ‘On a roll’ is the description of how well Darrell is doing on Northey Park at the moment.

Here he gives a tip on a new presentation which has made a difference to his catches.

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The Big Interview Tim Paisley Tim Paisley and Steve Broad talk to Danny Fairbrass of Korda/Embryo and Matt Pettitt of Embryo

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Ashmead Diaries Mark Walsingham With the countryside changing before his eyes, Mark enjoys the last of the winter on the beautiful Somerset Levels, revelling in the knowledge that Mother Nature is about to weave her magic across the landscape.

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Rig World featuring Mike Kavanagh This month Mike looks at the updated Wide Gape Hooks and new Z-Link from King Of The Pond, Sink Skin coated braid from Gardner Tackle, new Hook Ring Swivels from Thinking Anglers, and yet more true innovation from the guys at Rig Marole.

They have a special knack of producing unique hooklink and leader materials which set them apart from every other company, in this case, the groundbreaking 100% lead-free LinkteQ leader.

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Ask The Experts This month, Greg Ellis, Ian Chillcott, and Adam Clewer solve your carpy problems, and you have the chance to win a fantastic prize if your question is used.

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Enjoying The Ride Matt Eaton Discussing the weather is a national pastime, but have you ever considered how the weather, and in particular, rain, affects your angling? Dave explains the science behind fishing in an ever-changing climate.

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A Break From The Norm Iain Macmillan It’s time for a change for Iain Macmillan. He stepped away from his normal waters and spent a very enjoyable winter on a small venue near his home.

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The F Word Paul Forward It’s been another cracking month for Paul, with a good number of carp finding their way into the bottom of his net, especially when you consider that February has been the coldest month of an otherwise unusually mild winter.

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Bait World featuring Joe Turnbull This month, Joe takes a look a CC Moore’s Pacific Tuna, Pandan, and there’s a Quick-Fire Quibble with the prolific Craig Mortimer. Plus there are Bait Specials from DNA, RG Baits, Nash, Baitology, and Essential Baits.

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Carping Allegedly Bill Cottam The Rotherham bait baron takes another wry look at everything carpy, including the NAS show, Simon Crow’s hero status, and The Big Fish Off.

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Brocard Competition Brocard is a popular venue in northern France, and rightly so. It’s off the beaten track, which makes it a lovely place to visit, and you could be going for a week’s holiday for the cost of a text if you win our competition.

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

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Moving On Lee Birch In his final year of The Folly syndicate, Phat Fish consultant Lee Birch planned to catch some of his remaining target fish in this special little venue.

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Think Tank Rob Hughes, Lewis Read, Adam Clewer, and Oli Davies answer the question: With Zigs being so popular right now when is the right time to use them and how do they go about it?

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Tackle World This month there are nine pages of the very latest tackle, including Shimano’s new Ultegra XTD reel, the JRC Bloxx Compact, the Swim Mapper App from Fox, Cygnet’s new baiting pole, Banana Rods, SONIK’s S6 Rods, and much more.

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Still Carping On Tim Paisley Tim talks about a new Fish With The Stars event, those who are sadly no longer with us, and the PAG.

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TICKLE THEIR TASTE BUDS!

BANOFFEE

Issue 150 April 2016

A WINTER AT

EDEN

Washed out yellow and white corn

TONY PROVES WHY WATERCRAFT IS AN ESSENTIAL SKILL | P158

ON THE CREST OF A WAVE

BACK TO THE CANAL

ECHOES AROUND THE WORLD

P171 Max Nollert goes afloat to achieve success

P166 Raf goes back to the place where it all started

P151 All the latest news and captures from around the globe

L O O K I N G F O R A CA R P I N G H O L I DAY ? C H E C K O U T O U R H O L I D AY D I R E C T O RY P 1 6 4 149_InterCover_CW307.indd 1

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IN INTERNATIONAL CARPER We have the biggest and best round-up of big-carp captures from around the globe in Echoes Around The World, including reports from Gigantica, Lake Chira, the River Ebro, and Rainbow, to name but a few. This month, our man on a mission, Tony Davies-Patrick, returns to an old haunt in the shape of Eden Pool in northern France, where he proves that watercraft is not a forgotten skill.

Raf Swinnen takes a trip back in time to revisit where it all began for him, when he returns to the canals he fished in his youth. Finally, we have the charismatic Max Nollert from Imperial Baits, undertaking yet another breathtaking adventure

NEW

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CANDYFLOSS AND BETALIN

Pink and blue corn

COCONUT CREAM Washed out beige and white corn

WASHED OUT UNFLAVOURED POPUP CORN AND 15MM BOILIES

NEW FOR 2016

Don’t forget

THE UK’S FAVOURITE IMITATION BAIT

Our amazing rg baits subs offer on page 90

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Used by Frank Warwick

Pick up your copy of Carpworld from all major stockists

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FEATURE

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turned up to the lake on the Sunday morning, as I’d booked a few days’ holiday, and good fortune shone on me once again. I just so happened to speak to Chris Pye (the head bailiff ) in the car park, and he told me that the Little Lake was to reopen at 6.00 the following morning. I was desperate to be the first back on there, so I decided to fish a swim called Boathouse for the night, as it was quite close to the Little Lake. I didn’t want to commit too much to this area because I was focused on making sure I was packed up and in there at first light. I awoke at 3.30 to torrential rain and thunder. It was hammering down, and the forecast didn’t look great either; I actually debated whether I should stay put. Then I came to my senses, put my jacket on, and got everything packed away to make sure I was ready. I pushed the barrow into the swim just before 6.00, when members are allowed on. I’m glad I did, because despite being soaked to the skin, I saw four fish roll in 5 minutes.

This was it! I was rubbing my hands together in anticipation, and the time when I could finally get the rods in the water couldn’t come quick enough.

Shortly after 6.00, all three of the rods were out, followed by 200 Activ-8 boilies which were spread over the three rods. It got to 11.00 o’clock and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t had a bite; it just had to happen soon. Little did I know what was about to transpire.

All hell broke loose at 11.30 a.m. The middle rod was away, and after a quick battle, a gorgeous 35lb mirror was in the net. The rod was put back out, and within 10 minutes it was away again!

It was another mirror, which weighed in at 39lb 2oz, and as I held the fish up for the photos, the right-hand rod was away. This one was a fish known as Black Spot, and weighed in at exactly 34lb. It was carnage in the swim, and the frenetic action had only just started. That one was followed literally minutes later by a 26lb scaly mirror. I was frantically trying to get some more bait in the water when I heard the clutch of a reel screaming. I had turned the alarm head off because I was slackening the line off after recasting, and it had gone off within minutes.

This fish went berserk, and it pulled me down the slope towards the front of the swim. I really had to show it the butt, otherwise there was a real chance of it doing me in the snags. It did all it could to try to shed the hook, but the tackle held firm under maximum pressure and

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A G a me O f E dg e s – P a r t T wo K r i s ‘Betty ’ Olling to n

I slowly started to win the fight. A few minutes later, after several long runs down the margins, the fish was done.

A behemoth of a mirror lay on its side and I guided it over the net. It was a fish I recognised immediately as the Ulcer Fish. There was no doubt at all that it was well over 50, but even in the context of fish of that scale, it looked huge. Luckily, I had some good friends on hand to help weigh and photograph this magnificent fish, and we settled on a weight of 55lb 8oz; a true monster. That wasn’t the end of the action though, and by the end of that session I ended up having three more fish, including two more 30s and a cheeky mid-double. Without doubt, it was a session I will never ever forget.

Over the next month, I didn’t really do much angling. I had a 5-night session booked in for early August, so with that in mind, I wanted to keep the missus happy, so I spent some quality time at home to build up some brownie points.

The August session arrived, but the forecast was awful, with high air pressure, no wind, and warm conditions. Not at all what I was hoping for, but it was booked in with work, so the van was packed and off to the lake we went. It had been fishing reasonably well, so I was optimistic of a fish or two, but over the next 3 days and nights I ended up fishing in four different swims. I just couldn’t track them down, and even when I did, it didn’t happen for me. I decided to cut the session short, so I packed up and headed home. I unloaded the van, got changed, and went out for some lunch with my sister and mum, but while I was sitting there, I wondered what I was doing. My

ABOVE The Ulcer Fish at 55lb 8oz, a true monster.

I was over the moon with this 50lb+ common.

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to the island, so two rods were blasted girlfriend and daughter were still on long, out to the island, and the other was holiday, and I still had time booked off fished down to my right, on the entrance work. I stuffed the lunch down as quickly to an alcove on the lake’s other island. A as possible, went home, reloaded the kilo of Mainline’s finest (Activ-8) was put van, and made my way back to the pit. out over each rod, and I was once again I ended up in a swim called The Hole happy and full of renewed confidence. in the Bush, which is an open-water The following night passed without swim. It’s smack bang in the middle of any activity, and conditions were the lake, with a large island in front of totally different; a big low had blown, it, about 140 yards out. I had fished this swim a couple of times previously, accompanied by a southwesterly, so I had an idea where the and everything looked hookbaits needed to be prime. I was sitting positioned. I’d seen in the swim next “I recognised it a couple of fish door (Grassy), immediately, not the show very tight chatting away, biggest in the lake, but when my leftmost definitely the hand rod went best-looking, a into meltdown. stunning high-30lb In my panic to scaly mirror called get to the rods, The Pretty Sutton” I nearly took my mate’s bivvy with me!

As I lifted into the fish, it boiled on the surface right under a willow on the island, so I had to take it back a long way, and after a 15-minute battle, it was finally ready for the net. I recognised it immediately, not the biggest in the lake, but most definitely the best-looking, a stunning high-30lb scaly mirror called The Pretty Sutton. I was buzzing, and it was most definitely worth all the effort of driving back and setting up again.

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FEATURE

Danny Fairbrass The

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Matt Pettitt

TALKING TO TIM PAISLEY AND STEVE BROAD

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first interviewed Danny in Carpworld 285, June 2014, about what we then referred to as the Danny Fairbrass Project. The project is now known as Embryo, and Matt Pettitt is the guy

who runs it with, and for, Danny. Broady and I recently caught up with Danny and Matt to find out how the scheme is working out.

Right Dan, we’re here to talk about Embryo, with the guy who runs it for you, Matt Pettitt. We talked about your Embryo scheme when I interviewed you at Walthamstow.

Where do you think you are with the scheme, and how do you think it’s going overall?

I think it’s really, really gaining momentum now. It was a slow start because negotiations with landowners to take a lease on a lake, or buy a lake, go on for ever, and all credit to Matt

for his patience with those people, because he’s the one doing the work.

We have four venues now, but there are a lot more bubbling under. You have to have 20 irons in the fire to have one or two come to fruition. We’re building relationships with big landowners, and we feel that if they like what we do with one or two waters, it will give us the option for more as time goes on. We’re spreading the net as wide as we possibly can, so from over Oxford way, right up north to Yorkshire, we’re

ABOVE Tim, Matt Pettitt, and Dan sat round the table.

making progress. I’d like to make some progress in the southeast, but to be honest, that’s the hardest part of the country for getting tip-offs, because everyone is so involved down there; every bit of blue has someone running it. I feel we are getting a good reputation with landowners, which always helps. If you have one lease and you’re a good tenant, that helps you get a second lease, and so on. So, after a lot of patient work by Matt at the start, it seems to be gaining momentum.

You have three waters up and running, and one about to start running. Matt’s been explaining the membership figures, so on what basis are the Embryo waters run? Presumably you receive an income from the waters.

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T h e B ig I n t e r v ie w W it h D a n n y F a ir br ass & M att Pettit t

They are all run on a syndicate basis. I put the money in to pay for the fence, for the swims to be developed if it’s not already a fishery, for the car park, and for the fish to go in there, and over a period of time the income that comes from ticket sales will eventually repay my investment. Whether that actually happens in my lifetime is another thing, because we are taking on more waters. Take the water in Yorkshire, for example. Set-up costs for that were of the order of £80,000, and in the first year we had an income of £7,500.

And you also lost fish in the first year.

We lost fish in the first couple of weeks – 14 to otters in the first couple of weeks, and that was with an otter fence professionally installed. What

happened was that the ground was soft, the otters forced their way under the fence skirt in the soft ground, and it was during the only few days the syndicate manager hadn’t walked the water. When we turned up to put more fish in, he said, “There are carcasses everywhere. Don’t put any fish in yet.” Matt and Colin had to walk round the lake all night, looking for holes and making sure the otters didn’t get back in again. After that the whole 1,800-metre perimeter fence had to be pinned down again so they couldn’t get in. Now the grass has grown through it. and it’s secure.

Matt: With the ground being soft, we actually trenched the surround. We dug it all out, pinned the skirt underground, and re-covered it in at a 45° angle.

You mentioned the introduction of fish to your waters. Some of the waters you are taking on are virgin waters with no stock in them. Where are the fish coming from for these?

Fish are coming from three main sources at the moment. Firstly, from Simon Scott and Viv Shears at VS Fisheries. Simon is a consultant of ours, and a good friend of mine.

He’s advised me regarding Gigantica in France, and how to develop it as a fishery. His knowledge is on a scientific level, certainly on a different level to mine. He produces fantasticlooking fish. With a batch of fish, he can tell you that there will be 25% zip linears, 25% scaly mirrors, 25% with no scales on, and so on.

He can be that selective because of the way he fertilizes the eggs.

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FEATURE

A BREAK FROM THE

IAIN MACMILLAN

It was time for a change for Iain Macmillan.

He stepped away from his normal waters and spent a very enjoyable winter on a small venue near his home.

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ost of my angling over the last 14 years has revolved around busy day ticket lakes or competitive syndicate waters, where, to be honest, you compete more against the anglers as opposed to the fish. This isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but I’ve never really had much choice. That’s the way it is when you chase big known carp around the circuit. In a way it has made me a more adaptable angler over the years, but on the flip side, it can become tedious at times, especially when you don’t pick a swim based on watercraft and sightings.

It’s more about where you can slot in until a more fancied swim becomes available.

I’m also not that much of a session

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angler come the colder months. The long nights drive me to despair, and I much prefer to angle for smaller fish on club tickets which are closer to home. This also allows me to fish short day sessions, which still gives me my carp-fishing fix, yet I’m still home for Emmerdale and a warm pit to sleep in!

I’d been aware of a small water not too far from home. A couple of pals fished there, and it sounded exactly what my winter angling had been lacking for years.

So, after a bit of begging and pleading with the guy who runs the syndicate, I was offered a place. The lake is about 5 acres in size and there are 10 members in total. It has a great stock of fish to just over

ABOVE I

sussed one of the banker bite times, and as long as I had the rods in position come sunrise, I was almost guaranteed a bite.

the 30lb mark, so once I got the nod, the cash was handed over quicker than Lewis Hamilton flying off the starting line in a Grand Prix. My first sighting of the lake was in the middle of summer, and Daz met me for a bit of a tour. What a place – not just because it’s in the middle of nowhere, but also the fact that there were carp everywhere. I hadn’t taken any kit with me, but I’m sure I could have nicked a couple off the surface if I had; it looked prime.

Daz then went on to tell me that a few of the members hadn’t even fished it for a few years, which once you do the maths, means I’d got a small lake with a healthy stock which was hardly fished in the summer, let alone the winter, and it was close to home.

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A B re a k F ro m T h e N o r m I a in Ma cm illa n

It was as if Charlie’s golden ticket had landed right on my lap. I informed Daz of my intentions – day sessions in the winter, no session fishing – and he was as happy as Larry. I knew a few of the lads already in the exclusive syndicate, so I could easily keep track of captures, sightings, etc.

I didn’t give the lake much thought after that. I did go up there for an afternoon with Lady Tong for a spot of surface fishing in the late summer, and would you believe it, I never even cast a line. We sat there sipping tea, when out of the blue, another couple of cars rolled over the field. I reckon this was the busiest the lake had been for years, but I knew both members so the need

RIGHT Welcome

to winter. A savage ground frost on my first day session, but I had a bite after only 20 minutes or so.

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WINTER AT EDEN T

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Everything in the garden turned out rosy for Tony, as he showed how the skills of watercraft can turn what seems to be a water devoid of carp into a winter of plenty.

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ctober slipped into November.

Daylight hours waned as the nights lengthened.

Temperatures began to fall in sync with the last fall of autumn leaves. It always fills me with sadness to see the trees drop their foliage as the landscape begins to lose its vibrant cloak of orange and gold.

Five weeks had passed since I’d enjoyed success on the river, and I was getting the urge to fish again, but following a spate of early-November storms, all the big rivers were in flood. This, combined with the cooling temperatures, made me turn my attentions to stillwaters.

I spent some time driving around a few northern lakes, but none gave me the urge to fish them, so I once more turned my attentions to Eden Pool, which is situated near Soissons. I’d not fished there since a session back in late July 2015, when I enjoyed action with many

large carp, but the hope of repeating the same success during winter was a very tall order. I’d already been slapped in the face by the tough conditions and repeated blanks at Eden during the previous winter. In fact, this particular lake was known to lock down each winter, and there had hardly been any caught during the periods between mid-November and March during the past decade, and not a single fish had touched the bank for the past three winters! It was a big gamble to expect this winter to be any different from the last, but I refused to be beaten. My gut feelings were that I could succeed at the Pool as long as I followed my instincts to locate the correct areas where the fish held up, and then proceed to bait up regularly and in larger amounts than I had before.

My failed attempts during the previous winter gave me enough knowledge to

ignore those same regions this time.

There was one big factor that kept entering my mind, and that was why so many of the large carp had piled on incredible weights during such short periods over the summer to autumn period. I knew that it certainly wasn’t enough to gain these weights by anglers’ baits alone. There just wasn’t enough bait going in on a weekly basis to sustain those weight gains, and so it had to be something else. Natural foods were, of course, the key, but the lake had hardly any weed, and although there were some crayfish and swan mussels present, it wasn’t enough to hold the key. At certain periods, especially during early dawns of the previous summer, I’d noticed vast areas of tiny bubbles spread across regions where the carp were no doubt eating through beds of bloodworm.

However, I still wasn’t convinced that

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there could be enough bloodworm to maintain such a large number of 30lb, 40lb and 50lb fish in a 4½-acre lake.

Then, one day at the end of August, I visited the pool during a break from my river fishing, and finally got the answer I was searching for. I had been thinking for a long time that this was the key, but it wasn’t until I actually saw what they were feeding on at close quarters that it clicked. On that day, I had been stealthily walking past a row of large poplar trees, along the northern banks of Eden, looking for signs of carp, when I was stopped in my tracks by a bow wave, followed by a mass of fizzing bubbles, and then a crash as something sent a handful of silver fish scattering in all directions. ‘Pike attack,’ was my first thought, so I continued to walk through the thick canopy of bushes growing near the margins, until I spotted several dark shadows. I was wearing leather sandals so I could tiptoe very slowly without a sound until I was almost on top of the shadows. There, below me, swam a handful of 50lb+ fish and a scattering of 40s! Most of them were semi-dormant, or milling about very slowly at the fringes of the overhanging trees. It was a warm day and they were obviously enjoying the cooler shade offered by the canopy of branches, combined with the relative safety of it being one of the few areas of the lake where it

Frost and ice over Eden.

ABOVE

was very difficult to get a baited rig.

To watch these large fish at such close quarters was fascinating. At times, they were so near to the earthen bank that I could have touched them. I was so engrossed in their activities that I heard the sudden commotion before my eyes actually focused on the spot. Again, a handful of silver fish had leapt out of the water, and I cursed that the pike would disturb the resting carp near my feet, but they just remained where they were, except that a couple moved very slowly towards the recent disturbance.

Suddenly there was another bow wave and a swirl. My eyes were transfixed on a third attack near the surface. It was a carp, and it had just hit into one of the fleeing roach like a bolt from a crossbow!

A few seconds later, another two carp bow-waved right past my feet, and I clearly saw them chasing small shoals of roach and perch, until one of the carp caught one of the large roach inside its cavernous mouth! I’ve watched carp hit live crayfish in the gin-clear waters of the St Lawrence River in North America, and I’d also watched them do the same with roach while diving at other locations worldwide. As far back as the early-1980s, I remember wading out amongst carp which were chasing fry in the shallows of an English lake, and then casting a float-fished boilie directly in their path. Hooking a carp

in those situations is explosive, to say the least! I’ve witnessed carp eating young live tench hiding inside dense Canadian pondweed, and even caught carp on dead baits and spinners.

So, the fact that carp eat other fish was not new to me. However, the sight of these big carp at Eden made me think more about where the shoals of roach would hold up for most of the winter. I know that roach often shoal up very tightly in certain sections of lakes and rivers, and can remain there, hanging in midwater, unmoving, for long periods. It may be hours, or stretch into days, or even weeks. Most often this occurs in deep water, especially during the coldest days of winter. The deepest part of Eden couldn’t be classed as deep compared to most of the giant lakes I often fish, but the 5-7ft trench that spans the central section of this particular lake was still where I imagined that most of the roach would hold up throughout the coldest periods.

Eden Pool has never been netted, so it still has a massive head of roach and perch of all sizes, and they can often spawn successfully three times per year.

The huge head of silver fish provides a natural protein larder for the resident carp population, and I had no doubts that this was the main reason that they tended to pile on the weight. Supplies of extra baits from anglers would, of

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Belgian canal expert Raf Swinnen takes time to reflect on some of his fondest memories of fishing on the canal where he grew up. After moving away from the familiarity of the canal, he found himself venturing back – back to where he belongs.

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emories weigh heavily when I think back to my years of success on the banks of the canal. The desire for nature, tranquility and the locals who I met at the time. My time in the past is unforgettable when I think back to my school time. For 6 long years I cycled to school and back along the long concrete walls, during the heat of summer or in the depths of wintertime, when the north wind almost blew me off my bike. I would start the day early in the morning, at first light, when there was just enough daylight to ride with no hands, and quickly look through my schoolbooks to revise!

Those were great times. While cycling, I often thought about the big carp living in this long waterway, and

this was also the year when I caught my first canal carp. During the next 20 years, my interest grew, and without realising it, I found myself obsessed with this water. In my mind, those shores were my home, and if I wasn’t there, I thought I was missing out on something. It was a dream of mine to catch special fish from this water, but sadly it was only a dream. It was a time when weights were not important, and carp names were not on our minds.

Years later, I even bought a house on the banks of the canal. For nearly 60 nights of the year I slept in my bed – the other nights were spent in the garden, where my bivvy was a permanent fixture. Summer and winter, it was a real test for my bivvy. Every day, after I finished work, the first thing I did was

get the fishing rods out, even before doing my housework. My life was all about the importance of the canal and its inhabitants. Of course, this was asking for trouble. Other anglers started asking questions, how such results were possible on a canal where there were hardly any fish. Nothing was further from the truth, and I caught carp which were never seen before and would never be caught again. There were more fish than anyone realised.

It was time-consuming but the results were worth it. I was prebaiting every day, which also cost a lot of money. I couldn’t understand why others went abroad to go fishing; my world was at home, where I knew every boat by name. Sadly, all good things come to an end, even in my house by the

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canal, and my life took a completely different turn. I was tired, and ready for something else. However, I wasn’t ready to completely leave the canal.

It was good for the summer months and a few nights in autumn, but that was all. My interest turned to greater challenges, and a new water caught my attention. An interest in bigger lakes was the new challenge – more boats, more flood, adventure, and even bigger carp, but after some years it wasn’t new anymore and the challenge faded. Deep in my mind, I seemed to be missing something, and my home water was all I could think about. The will was there, but would I still feel at home?

Meanwhile, new anglers had arrived,

ABOVE Evening on the big canal.

Early in the evening, I landed a lovely old mirror carp.

BELOW

and I felt like a stranger in my own home. With doubts racing through my head, I started to wonder if it was still the same as when I left. Wherever I have fished, I have always been associated with the canal, and when you fish somewhere for so long with other fishermen, it’s never long before the old stories are told, which immediately makes me itch to get back to those times. With spring on the way, the desire to move back

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award winning A BOOK ABOUT CARP FISHING

BY ALI HAMIDI 64

TH E CA RP E R’ S E YE ALI HAMIDI

65

A S W I RLY TA L E ALI HAMIDI

ALI HAMIDI

THE CARPER'S EYE - SWIRLY.indd 64-65

2

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TH E CA RP E R’ S E YE ALI HAMIDI

3

TH E O N LY WAY I S E S S E X ALI HAMIDI

ALI HAMIDI

338

TH E CA RP E R’ S E YE ALI HAMIDI

339

L O CA L L E G E N D S DA N I E L J A WA D N YA

DA N I E L J A WA D N YA

Softback 448 pages, £20.00 + P&P

THE CARPER'S EYE - Local Legends.indd 338-339

The Carpers’ High Is it a biography? Is it a technical book? Is it anecdotal and story-based? Quite simply, it’s all these things rolled into one.

With a diverse geographical chapter base, from as far away as Japan, to Paris, Ockendon, and even Turkey, this book brings variety by the spodful as it charts how Ali achieved many of his finest moments and angling highs.

This is a book which was written to inspire the working anglers, something to make you laugh, while also giving a rare glimpse behind the scenes of Ali Hamidi’s working and fishing life. More importantly, it is a book littered with angling edges and technical advice, to help anyone reading

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it put more fish on the bank. It is built around Ali Hamidi’s angling adventures since 2005, a period which saw him join tackle giants Korda, an era when he helped bring Thinking Tackle, Underwater 7 and 8, The Big Fish-Off, and numerous other high-profile angling projects to your TV screens.

It has been over a decade of pressure cooker-carping which has drawn tactical guile, effort and innovation from the author; vital lessons and stories that he wants to pass on.

This book is dedicated to and focused on working anglers.

A richly illustrated 400+ pages which will not only help you

catch more under time constraints, but will also have you laughing, sighing, and relating to much of what you read. Frank, honest, detailed, technical, and varied just about begins to describe the nature of The Carpers’ High.

Available to order at

Carp fishing has never seen anything like this before

www.thecarpstore.com or call 0114 258 0812 A4_AliBookAdRe-Vamp_CW307.indd 1

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