Carpaholixx Magazine Issue 5 by Carpaholixx Magazine

ISSUE 5 CONTENTS

Editorial News

Videos Features

Learning Zone Notes from the Bivvy

02. Editorial JUly 2012 03. Pimp My Bait - Joe Turnbull shows you how to

make multicoloured baitsWith an abundance of innovative bait products now available to the carp angler, gaining the upper hand is increasingly harder to achieve. Well heres a quick-win-method that will catch you more fish - guaranteed! Joe Turnbull looks at creating effective multicoloured hookbaits. Follow his instructions and you’ll see it is within the scope of many anglers to DIY their own killer baits.

07. The Bouncing Rig - Jim Wilson

The thought process behind the bouncing rig, which is a variation of the hinge rig, came from watching some successful match anglers, using poles for carp fishing. They landed loads and loads of hard-fighting doubles on it, usually employing tiny barbless hooks. Jim explains why...

11. rollining in the deep

Another epic instalment from Birdy.

15. Working The Weed by Paul Moulder

Paul Moulder looks at the tactics required to make the best of any weedy water. The fish love it, but how do we work with it? Read on as Paul has some great tips.

20. The Viper Rig - Another Ian Lewis Winner

Ian Lewis, of Gardner Tackle, takes you through the 10 easy steps to create his devilishly difficult to eject ‘viper’ rig... The main concept behind the Viper rig was to take all of the benefits of the Chod, Withy pool and hinged stiff rig and combine them all into one.

23. Points Of View - Remon de Zeeuw discusses that rare breed - The Female Carp Angler In this month’s Points of View Column, Remon de Zeeuw takes a look at an emerging rare breed: the female carp angler. Are they welcome or not in our testosterone fuelled world?

27. Carp Biology - Lifting The Lid. Part 4 - Spawning by Leon FisherLeon Fisher, Sparsholt College warm water aquaculture lecturer, talks us through the nuts and bolts of assisted carp spawning.

31. JOURNEY MAN PART 3 - This is the penultimate instalment of Dave Magalhaes’ exclusive carp-fishing journal for Carpaholixx. Here he continues his carp tales through the seasons, taking up where he lost The Royal when the hook slipped as he was about to land it. Was this a harbinger of further bad luck for the master of the margins? Read on to find out how he regained his fishing game. 43 Sandhurst lake, Yateley - Swim Guide - Part 1 44. Sandhurst lake, Yateley - Swim Guide - Part 2 45 NIGEL SHARP’S DIARY PART 2 - Nigel continues his

exclusive Carpaholixx diary.

54. Nick Helleur’s pop up rig

July has arrived and so has the weed, big style! It’s also a time when the weedy get complaining! But, should we really be bothered about weed management? Weed growth in the summer is part of the natural cycle of events. Carp crap ergo weeds grow. All part of life’s rich tapestry! I can see the argument for keeping it under control, particularly for commercial fisheries where they need to keep the anglers happy so that they can continue to make a living. But, what is the problem – the weed or the angler? My belief is that using chemical herbicides – regardless of how safe they are – is contrary to nature. Ooh! There, he said it, the argumentative git, so he better finish it. If you want to fish in an apparently pristine water then you may have to put up with its use (note that I read on a blog that effective chemical weed killers are banned in France – I’ve not verified this, but I thought I’d repeat it anyway for arguments sake – and over here fisheries have to be licensed to use chemicals.) But, as far as I am concerned do what Paul Moulder suggests and work with it (see his article in this issue.) For many years, anglers have learnt that a bit of graft to rake the weed from your swim can deliver a lot of benefits. And, feeding a swim so that the fish do the work is even better – I ‘m not going to spell out why. Now for the commercial fisheries, there is pressure to keep their waters clear from the snaggy stuff. Granted too much does cause problems and they have to do something about it. But, what bothers me is they are pandering to the big game hunter attitude of some anglers who just assume that if they’ve coughed up for a day ticket then they better damn well catch something! Perhaps, it’s simply the day and age we live in. Everything has to be convenient in our high tech I want it now society. We generally work hard and so during our leisure time we expect to maximise our enjoyment. However, I find it a bit sad that there are some who can’t work with the environment in which we fish. We could make it easy for everyone. Build large venues free of snagging trees and bushes – hell, why

CARPAHOLIXX Magazine Editorial Office: 3D Angling Ltd, Unit 1E Littlehampton M arina, Littlehampt on, West Sussex BN17 5DS E: sean@3d-angl ing.com W: www.carpaho lixx.com Editor and publis her: Sean Tidy Designer: Sean T idy Illustrator: Mark Smith Carpaholixx.com – sean@3d-angli welcomes articles with photograp before submittinng.com – with a short synopsis hs. Please email the editor font, double line g it to us. Text to be supplied of your article or article idea preferred. Note: spacing. Photographs must be hias an electronic file – 10 pt writing that the it is a condition of acceptance th gh-resolution files – jpg files article or articles at are exclusive to Caauthors are able to state in rpaholixx. © 2013 Carpaholi xx.com ISSN: No part of this pu consent and writt blication may be reproduced in en permission of any form withou t the prior the publisher. Carpaholixx acce this publication. pts no liability for any action article. Subscribe Carpaholixx does not endorsearising from the contents of for products and rs are advised to check manufac opinions expressed in any services advertise tu d / promoted in rers and suppliers claims this publication.

Birdy and Nigel Don’t they make a lovely couple!

bother with vegetation at all, let’s chuck in some plastic ones - and line them with beautifully graded gravel beds. We’ll fish for genetically engineered monsters that virtually pull us into the water when we hook them – oh, and yes they’d be induced in some way to jump on any bait we tossed to them. But, what kind of a fishing experience would that be? So for me, it literally is weed up or put up. Good Luck!

Editor: Sean Tidy

The art of bait making has developed over many years and for me all the experimenting with ingredients and concoctions is where things get interesting. The more you experiment, the more you learn. The more you study single ingredients, then the more you begin to understand the overall picture.

pimp my bait- JOE TURNBULL

With an abundance of innovative bait products now available to the carp angler, gaining the upper hand is increasingly harder to achieve. Well heres a quick-win-method that will catch you more fish guaranteed! Joe Turnbull looks at creating effective multicoloured hookbaits. Follow his instructions and you’ll see it is within the scope of many anglers to DIY their own killer baits.

To make things clearer it is a good idea to look at what we consume as food. We do have a completely different digestion system to that of our much loved targets but what we need in the form of essential nutrients, aminos, vitamins and minerals is quite similar. It’s amazing what you learn not only from scouring food stuff websites, but also from the good old library. A library can be a great source of information and if you can be bothered to go and look for yourself, it’s possible to gain a lot of information that can not only inform you of single ingredient documentation but in doing that you’ll soon learn and gain confidence in formulating a recipe. Many bait companies will have wording printed on bags such as, “confidence in a bag” or “contains all the essential aminos”. Well you can create your own confidence and what’s the point of a bag of bait containing all the essential aminos if you haven’t a clue what one does or which ones are included? And, what difference does it make to the carp, anyway? Over time we can look at these and many other topics to help you understand and raise your confidence levels. I understand that it’s not for everyone and for those that wish to go and purchase something from the shelf, then that’s fine too; horses for courses and all that. However, for those of you that like to be a bit more creative and want to know what works I’ll do my best to try to put that across. I don’t know everything but I love to learn and learn from others; you never stop learning.

OK, so you’ve probably come across the recent boom in multicoloured hook baits, and many of you out there wonder what all the fuss is about? Well to be fair most people, even those that make them haven’t a clue why they’ve made them. Colour, however, is one thing we can look at when trying to find answers as to why we bother. After much searching and studying, I believe that carp do indeed possess colour sensitivity to red, blue and green. I won’t touch on this much more as I’m not a master in it but feel I’ve gained enough knowledge to be able to make some sense of it. Red is probably one of the most popular colours for baits and hook baits used by many, then I guess its brown, followed by the lighter colours especially for winter. Is this purely down to coincidence or just mass usage by people following a trend? Well I believe there’s more to it, and I like to think that we are using something that works for a reason. With this in mind, it almost makes it obvious that we are successful with particular colours because of that reason. Another interesting fact is that many colours have E numbers. Many people completely overlook and forget that these as a single ingredient can

be attractive. Following a conversation with Jay Rider (A Baits) something struck a chord with me. I’d mentioned that I think carp pick up plastic baits purely through investigation as they test everything with their mouths. Jay reminded me that plastics have a chemical scent, which more often than not we can’t detect. There are so many other routes that we can swerve off to follow, so I’ll try to keep on track and get back to the bait colour side of things.

Next come flavourings. There are thousands of flavours and many companies that can supply them. A bit of home work on your local venue will help you decide on the kind of flavours your fish are keen on, be they fishy, fruity or meaty or a mix of all three! A boilie gun and table makes the whole job so much easier and quicker, so if you can grab yourself a small table and cheap boilie gun supplied by Gardner Tackle then even better.

To reiterate, colours have E numbers and E numbers are added usually just to make the product look more attractive but can be derived from natural ingredients and in turn create a response from the attractants they emit.

So to begin the process, take one small egg and crack it into a large bowl. Next take the colour of your choice and add around ¼ of a teaspoon (no more). After this take the flavour of your choice and add no more than 2ml, grab a fork and whisk the whole lot up. You’ll notice the colour start to bleed into the egg and before long you should have a coloured, scented liquid. After this, add in small amounts of your chosen base mix while mixing until you get a pliable paste that doesn’t stick to your hands - it will happen, just be patient. Once done, wash everything down and repeat all the steps again until you have three small amounts of coloured mixtures. Next take a pan of water and heat it to boiling point. By the time you feed the paste into the gun the water should be boiling. Get the three parts of paste and lay them alongside each other to create one large sausage (see pics). Feed the whole lot into the gun and squeeze the paste out onto the table. You will notice that the colours have merged into each other only slightly but once you roll them through on the table they will bleed into each other thoroughly. The more you roll them, the more they will mix, so if you want a more separate colour roll them very gently pushing through only once or twice.

This month I’m going to show you how to go about making your own multi-coloured hook baits and why they may be better than you first thought. Again this isn’t the be all and end all of bait making, but it should help in creating an opportunity as I believe as do most top match anglers - that a change of hook bait can often pay huge dividends and subsequently get you bites. We’ll start off with the basics as you will need some of the things to make the whole job a lot easier. Once you’ve bought certain items they will last you for many years, including some of the ingredients. Let’s begin with the ingredients... First you need a range of colours or powdered dyes, many of which are used within the food industry so are very safe. Shops that specialise in cake making can supply many colours which are suitable, although these can be bought from a few of the major bait companies. CC Moore and Mainline do a good range of colours, so choose a few, or if you can afford it, get as many as you can as you can always mix and match too. The next thing is a base mix. Again many of the top companies supply ready-made hook bait base mixes and if you’re looking to make pop-ups, Mainline, Richworth, Nutrabaits and a few other companies are good sources. I like to use the all of the popup mixes as they are equally as good as each other, although I tend to swerve toward Mainline. A single tub of Polaris pop-up mix will make you plenty, for example.

Once you have a few rolled, place them on a plate dusted with a small amount of basemix. This will stop the rolls from sticking to the plate and each other. When you have your required amount, boil roughly 15 to 20 baits at a time to ensure even cooking and to prevent changing the water temperature. Boil each batch for two minutes maximum and carefully remove them from the water. Allow them to dry on a towel, preferably near or on a window sill or somewhere with plenty of air. Give them a shake after 10 minutes, to make sure they are dry all over. You now have your very own multi-coloured hookers. Good luck and see you next month!

pimp my bait- JOE TURNBULL

THE BOUNCING RIG - JIM WILSON A bit of a strange title I know, but I’m going to explain and reveal my thoughts about adding a degree of flexibility to my rigs, but probably not in the manner that we’re all used to or accustomed to. I’m talking about adding elasticity to your hooklength, which gives the fish another problem to deal with when trying to rid our hook, if we’re lucky enough for them to have inspected our lovely morsel of a hook bait in the first place. The thought process behind this rig came from watching some successful match anglers, using poles for carp fishing. They landed loads and loads of hard-fighting doubles on it, usually employing tiny barbless hooks. They received very very few hook pulls. This got me thinking about how their hook holds must be so secure. The most common practise amongst most of the anglers catching these fish consistently was the use of elastic at the end of their top sections. The theory was that it buffered between their rigs and the carbon of the pole, meaning there was a degree of flexibility, therefore decreasing the chances of hook pulls. It was this, along with watching fish feeding at close quarters, which lead me onto my bungee-type

experimentations. I witnessed the behaviour once fish were hooked on different lead arrangements and with different weights of leads. It was clear that there could be a way of making my rigs better and I believed that it was through some elasticity. After a degree of trial and error, I settled on an arrangement that without question has put extra carp on the bank for me, especially in situations when bites have been hard to come by. The elasticity of the rig works on the basis of loading the pressure onto the hook hold, gradually, as a fish tries to rid itself of the hook. This “loading” of the pressure means that there is never any slack from the point of the hook bait being sampled, to the point of the lead being ejected. By this stage, the fish has normally started to feel the pressure on the main line or clutch at the rod end. I use these stretchy presentations with drop-off inline leads and heavy ones at that – say 4oz or even larger. This makes the rig ideal for lowering onto marginal spots or dropping from a boat. However, I have also used the rig in solid PVA bags, as heavy drop off inline leads and casting aren’t the greatest combination I’ve ever used. The boom section is

THE BOUNCING RIG - JIM WILSON

I now use this, in the main, as a variant of a hingedstiff rig, utilising it as a pop-up rig (although using this as a straight through bottom bait rig is also incredibly effective). It has proved incredibly effective when targeting big carp. Like I said, I’m a huge advocate of pop-ups because I feel that they improve the chances of a secure hook hold so they work in tangent. The mechanics of the rig is fairly simple, and although it may seem complicated to tie up, it’s actually quite straightforward, just like any hinge rig. The boom consists of two component parts - the hook section is your typical, curved stiff rig/chod rig hook section made from Mouthtrap. This is kept nice and low, making it a little more natural. The curve is very important as it sits up like a claw ready to catch hold in the bottom lip and creates very effective hook holds. The boom section, however, is what really sets this rig apart and using the products I do; Korda’s 18lb Supernatural Braid and Thinking Anglers Silicone Tubing, which is really durable and stretchy (essential for this rig), it allows the “loading” aspect of the rig to work to its full effect.

THE BOUNCING RIG - JIM WILSON

quite supple and still offers a really good presentation when cast in combination with a solid bag.

I have used this presentation with both fluoro and food hook baits, on varying types of venues, receiving success on both. The lead size is down to personal choice and the circumstances, but wherever possible I use big, heavy, square pear inlines from 4oz to 5oz with drop-off systems. I basically run my leadcore around the outside of the inline, trapping with a tail rubber. The swivel sits loosely inside the lead. The heavy inline lead means that once the hook bait has been

was getting “done” as opposed to just little liners and therefore changed to this stretchy rig.

sampled, the fish tightens the link against the weight of the lead, which allows the hook point to find a good hold quickly. The elasticity of the boom then starts to take effect and “loads” the pressure on the hook, in turn, pulling the hook point home further than on a rig without the This has a second positive in that when the fish shakes their head, as they do on most cases when first hooked, the stretch means that there is no slack in the link to allow the hook to work out before the lead is successfully ejected from the rig. It really came into its own on a deep clay pit I was fishing. I was seeing all the signs over my spots of feeding fish but was only experiencing the odd bleep and lift on the bobbin. I was convinced that I

Although it still works with a lead clip, the swivel of the lead adds extra movement, which can detract from the effect slightly, so I thoroughly recommend an inline.

It instantly started to convert single beeps into vicious takes and suggested to me that I’d well and truly got one over on the carp. The hook holds were superb and most captures had me reaching for my forceps to recover my Choddy hooks from an inch or so back in the carps bottom lip - a more secure hook hold you would struggle to find.

Give a stretchy hinge rig a go and I’m sure the results will convince you to add it to your rig box. jim willson

Summers here and so is the inevitable explosion of weed. Locating carp in the summer is a relatively easy thing to do, because where there’s weed there’s food, but hooking and then landing them can be a tricky affair. Planning your attack is vital if you are going to hunt down and catch these unpredictable, slippery, creatures. Weed presents many problems to the angler – you need to find clear spots, it limits presentation, causes you to lose fish, etc. But, with a lot of thought you can stack the odds in your favour.

everything that a carp needs: weed, snags to hide in, and varying depths, allowing the fish to move through the water column to find a comfortable level.

ROLLING IN THE DEEP - BIRDY

The life of a consultant can be gruelling at times; the constant pressure to catch fish, the numerous carp shows that have to be attended with the endless rig tying and in some cases autograph signings! But for Carpaholixx contributor Birdy it’s all part and parcel of the 21st century carp fishing merry-go-round. Carp fishing is not a chore for Birdy, his passion for cyprinus carpio and all things related runs deep. Rolling in the deep delves into the private world of this dedicated carp hunter. Observation and application are hugely important if you want to stay one step ahead of carp and carp anglers alike. Birdy explains why.

Observation is essential and my favoured approach is to use a dinghy/boat (where allowed) to scan the lake for carp and their feeding spots/areas. Clear spots in an otherwise weeded area are generally accepted as being a feeding area and so a good place to put your hookbait. I generally use a marker float to find these areas, but using a boat makes life a whole lot easier, and can reveal a whole lot more. Once you have located some likely looking areas (if you look hard enough you will find them) you can start to introduce a food source which at this time of the year is generally boilies and, hopefully, gauge the carp’s reaction accordingly. I invariably start as if I was fishing for bites, by this I mean keeping bait application to a minimum, which allows the carp to gain confidence and start to feed on the available, but limited food source – keeping them keen. My aim is to latch on to a group of fish that contains some larger specimens and continue to feed them in order to gain their confidence. This method can take weeks to produce results, but I will not wet a line until the big ones are bowling the smaller fish out of their way to eat the free offerings.

This is by no means guaranteed to just produce the larger fish, but is as selective as you can possibly get. The lake that I am currently fishing contains some absolutely huge, uncaught, carp so the extra effort put in is well worth it. I would substitute just one of these uncaught monsters for all of last season’s fish! With all this on my mind, this year I’m going commando, but keeping my pants on. It’s “Birdy vs Carp”; I am a carp hunter not a carp angler! My first choice of swim on the Mets, this year, is known as the Royal Box. It has everything that a carp needs: weed, snags to hide in, and varying depths, allowing the fish to move through the water column to find a comfortable level. I have been introducing bait into the area for a couple of weeks prior to fishing and I can already see that the fish are getting their heads down. >>>> I can now put my plan into action and start to crack part 2 of the code! Now that I have gained the carp’s confidence, it’s time to introduce a hookbait. After a short while, however, it became apparent that I needed to make adjustments and a bit of experimentation was required. Having looked at the lakebed, I decided to extend the “Mets Rig” hook-link to around 14 inches long (this only had moderate success as you will find out later), because there is a lot of bottom debris remaining from the previous winter. It’s worth mentioning at this point that I will always use a lead drop-off system when fishing in heavy weed. This little tactic will dramatically improve your chances of landing a fish – you have been warned. My preferred choice of drop-off component are Rigmarole’s FreeFall lead clips.These are particularly effective at dumping the lead during a take. Me and Nigel Harris sharing a tender moment together! My plan of attack was to fish my baited areas from 9pm to 9am, which allowed me to move around during the day, trying to seek out opportunist bites. I always try to maximise my time on the bank, preferring to track down my quarry during daylight hours. I did manage to nick a few, and on one

ROLLING IN THE DEEP - BIRDY particular roaming-day I managed to stalk a nice 31lb common. From my vantage point in the trees, or from my boat, I have watched countless fish cruise in and out of the swim sampling my bait as they go - the reaction to bait differs from fish to fish and the carp truly is a fussy eater - this just blows me away! Targeting specific fish can be difficult, but not impossible and I have set my sights on three in particular. There is no record of these fish ever having graced an angler’s net before, which makes them all the more desirable. My target fish don’t seem too difficult to find, but they are normally buried deep inside the many weed beds dotted around the lake – and far out of the reach of my rods. There are two large commons and a massive mirror. The two commons are known as ‘Toolbox’ and the ‘German-Shepherd’. The mirror, known as the ‘Unit’ - due to it’s size – is built like a brick shit house! Large carp need to eat a lot of food and these are no exception – they can devour >>>> large quantities of bait in one sitting, but only from the comfort of their watery bolt holes. The time spent watching them feed was invaluable. Interestingly, I could see that the two commons seemed to be feeding at about 10 inches or so above the lake bed, almost like a vacuum cleaner. Small baits and bottom debris would fly up into their mouth’s only to be spat back out just as fast.

To catch these fish, I needed to increase the length of the Mets Rig to 2 feet or so and critically balance the hookbait, so that it was the first thing to leave the lakebed. This would give me a better chance of getting the hookbait into the carp’s mouth quickly and then, hopefully, locating the hook into it’s fleshy gums! The rig alterations proved to be a big success, as I managed to hook and land a further 22 carp during my session. Nineteen of these were common carp – definitely food for thought, eh! As yet, I have not managed to catch any of my target fish, but the icing on the cake was seeing my rig rising off the bottom so effectively that the small amount of freebies were left firmly in place – and this made me smile from ear to ear. This is definitely a tactic that I will use elsewhere. If I hadn’t witnessed it for myself, I would have not believed it possible. You can alter or enhance your terminal set-up as much as you like, but, unless you are prepared to spend the time studying your quarry, you will never realise your true potential – seeing really is believing. On this note it’s another farewell until next time, and fingers crossed the fish will get bigger! BIRDY

Paul looks at the tactics required to make the best of any weed stricken water. The fish love it, but how do we work with it? Read on as Paul has some great tips. Summer is at long last with us and about time to. Hopefully you’ve all had a good spring with plenty of fish gracing your nets. The weed in my local lakes is really starting to take hold, and this sometimes brings with it a fear of how to fish under such conditions. So, for this issue I thought I’d go through a few things on how I approach the weedy waters that I fish. Location doesn’t seem to be too much of a problem to the carp. With the weed up and you spending lots of time walking around your venue, you will no doubt find them basking in the sun among the weed beds, looking uncatchable at times. I know plenty of anglers that will cast a big PVA bag straight into the weed and catch, but this approach doesn’t seem to work for me. Maybe it’s a confidence thing and I much prefer to get a spot going and then fish in it. This takes a little more work, but, as always, it’s well worth the effort. Some areas will be shallow and by climbing trees and getting above the fish, you’ll not only be able to get a

WORKING WITH WEED - PAUL MOULDER

better look at the carp, you should also be able to see any obvious clear spots that the carp or maybe the ducks have made while feeding. Other areas will not be so obvious, and having a feel around with just a lead on some braided line will give you a good idea of what the weed is like in front of you. As with all my fishing, preparation is the key. I try to spend as much time as I possibly can, watching the carp and trying to learn their behaviour. If you spend long enough, you’ll notice feeding times and patrol routes that the fish like to use between the beds of weed, and this will make all the difference when selecting an area to fish to. There will be times however, when there are no obvious spots to fish to and you might have to start the process off yourself. There’s a couple of ways doing this and this will all depend on a few factors: how thick the weed is, the stock of fish in the lake and how much they are feeding in the area. The easiest way of creating clear spots is by baiting heavily over several weeks and letting the fish clear it for you. I always find this the easy option, as not only are the carp clearing an area for your bait presentation, their confidence will increase over

time, making them easier to catch. “There will be times however, when there are no obvious spots to fish to and you might have to start the process off yourself ” I usually begin with lots of small food items such as hemp, corn, maples, chopped tigernuts (if allowed), and a mixture of various 3 to 10mm pellets. I feed these with a generous helping of crumbed Kudos and Yellow Peril boilies to give the carp a good taste >>>> of my hookbaits that I plan to fish with. If the stock of fish in the lake is high and the carp feed well, it shouldn’t take them to long to clear a nice couple of spots. Just be patient; visit the lake often and bait your spots on a regular basis. If the carp are really having it, then increase your baiting, but also be prepared to reduce it, if you find lots of food items still left on your spots. Your own observations will tell you when it’s ready to fish and no doubt reap the rewards from all the hard work you’ve put in. There are times, however, when you might have to help the weed clearing process along a little to prime a spot ready for fishing.

Several companies now produce such a product, though I’ve only used the rakes from Angling Intelligence and what a great bit of kit they are. Not only are they a good for helping clear spots, I also use them for clearing tiny channels to the spots, so I can get my line down as much as possible. I knew from previous years where I’d like to position my hookbaits, so, I had a little cast around with just a 3oz lead on some braided mainline to get a mental picture of how thick the weed was in the area. Once I was happy with where I wanted to start making a spot, I clipped the rod up and checked that when I flicked it back out it would land on the same spot. I then replaced the lead for one of my weed rakes and after a few cast, the weed was beginning to clear. If you keep it clipped up and cast accurately at the same spot it shouldn’t take too long to clear a hole in the weed. At this point you are now in control of how much or big you want to clear the weed. With the carp being cautious in an area like this, I prefer to leave a little weed, then, drop just a couple of small handfuls of bait on it and see how the carp react over the coming days / weeks. This is totally different than the first option, but a great alternative for catching wary carp. Before I go onto to the tackle and rigs for fishing weedy lakes, there is one more rake that I might use. This is a much larger rake used for hand throwing in from the bank. Sometimes when the weed gets too bad, swims can become un-fishable with the amount of thick weed present. So with a bit of grafting and plenty of thrashing about, a huge area of weed can be removed in next to no time. With the spot now primed and ready to fish, strong tackle is a must. Personally I would rather over gun my tackle than not, there’s no point getting a bite with no chance of landing it. I opt for a minimum of 15lb mono but I will use 18 or 20lb if I feel the need too. A sinking braided mainline is also a good option and in really heavy conditions this is what I opt for as

WORKING WITH WEED - PAUL MOULDER

One such area on my syndicate is a small margin swim, which has a big set of lily pads at a distance of no more than 15 yards out. It’s a swim that the carp are always cautious in, and because of this never feed on big beds of bait, although it’s been tried for several years without any success. So, with the weed growing strong and fast, I’ve had to opt for clearing a spot with the help of a weed rake.

I like to get away from the stretch factor that you get with most mono filaments. Rig choice will depend on the spot and just how much weed is on it, this will dictate whether I opt for a pop-up or bottom bait presentation. For bottom bait rigs, I opt for a size 6 or 7 Fox Long Shank hook depending on hookbait size. I have so much confidence in this hook pattern and have never had one open out on me, even in the weediest of conditions. If there is still a bit of weed or chod on the bottom, which I think will hinder the presentation then I will opt for a popup presentation, using the Chodda hooks from Atomic. These again will be used in sizes 6 or 7 and these are also very strong hooks. As for the rest of the rig, the lead has to discharge (drop-off) and the best way I know was shown how to do this was by a good friend, Steve Fantauzzi at Thinking Anglers. I won’t go into detail, as I know Mark Mann showed this setup in last month’s issue. It’s a great setup and one that I use for all my weed fishing. The only thing that I will alter is the length of my leader material or leadcore – the smaller the spot, the shorter the leader.

Now that the spot is primed for fishing itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to keep trickling the bait onto it. Not only will this ensure that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kept clean, the carp will also learn that there will always be a free meal available.

I hope that some of my weed fishing tactics work well for you over the summer months. As with most things in life, you get out what you put in. PAUL MOULDER

Ian Lewis takes you through the 10 easy steps to create his devilishly difficult to eject â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;viperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rig... The main concept behind the Viper rig was to take all of the benefits of the Chod, Withy pool and hinged stiff rig and combine them all into one. The beauty of this rig is that it can be presented over Chod, silt, sand, gravel and even weed if attached accordingly to the leader, and is successful whether fished over a spread of boilies or as a single hookbait. The Viper rig is the only rig that I know that has flipped, turned and taken hold every single time during trials. It has awsome anti-tangle and anti-eject properties - the two most important features of any rig. When the carp are cute get riggy with it and get on the VIPER...

THE VIPER RIG - LEARNING ZONE

THE VIPER RIG

Using a 5 turn blood knot attach a 4” piece of 15lb Gardner Disruption hooklink to a Gardner Covert Mugga continental hook (use a size of your choice). Moisten, tighten and trim the Gardner 15lb Disruption

Pass the Gardner Supa shrink down the hooklink until it’s level with the barb of the hook.

Attach a Gardner size 12 ring swivel using a 5 turn blood knot (make sure that you are left with a 2” hooklink). Moisten and tighten the knot. Trim the tag end.

Cut 2” of Gardner Covert Supa shrink-tube NOTE: This measurement must be accurate.

Bunch up the Gardner Supa shrink tube, exposing enough Disruption to tie on a swivel.

Slide the shrink tube down towards the ring swivel and pass it over the knot

Steam and mould the shrink tube so that the eye of the swivel is level with the point of the hook.

Place the steamed/formed shrink tube in a cup of coldwater and allow to cool and set.

(1)...Add a Gardner Oval ring, Latex band and hook stop (place hook stop level with barb) to the Mugga hook. (2)... Attach a Mistral Super buoyant pop-up on to a Gardner latex band and add a hair stop.

ga5 swivel usin at g in r e th ruption to of 8 loop ardner Dis ie a figure T G f .. o ). (2 m . o o ly along trim -7â&#x20AC;? b putty even ghten and ig ti r , f (1)...Tie a 6 n o s te b is o lo y to go. knot m small b d your read n a p o turn blood and then place 2 to 3 lo e nd -Ring to th the other e Gardner Q a water! h c a tt A lts just add (3)... . su m re o o st b e e b th For

REMON DE ZEEUW

What is Carp fishing? To some people it’s a hobby, a pastime, a sport. Well, to me it’s simply a way of life. Carp anglers are selfish by nature, and I’m sure that I do not need to remind you of that! We spend countless hours by the water in search of “just one more” carp – leaving the wife at home to do all the dirty work. Well what’s wrong with that? If my wife had enjoyed living under canvas, getting smothered in carp slime and washing her hands in lake water then I would have taken her along with me. But, she didn’t – so I left her at home! (I think you know where this heading, ed).

WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN - REMON DE ZEEUW

In this month’s Column, Remon de Zeeuw takes a look at an emerging rare breed: the female carp angler. Are they welcome or not in our testosterone fuelled world?

When we finally return home, our minds are never far away from carp fishing, especially when there is bait to be made, rigs to tie and information to gather. It’s not surprising that a lot of carp anglers are single, divorced or both. Carp fishing played it’s part in my divorce, which I embraced. I purposefully took full advantage of my new found freedom. For some anglers this might sound like music to their ears. The single life with no one standing in their way and lots of carp to catch, but the novelty soon wears off when you are out there doing it day-in, day-out. Your life can seem fulfilled, but empty at the same time. I have always shown great interest in the fairer sex - the fishing I would not want to miss out on, but a little love and someone who understands my way of life wouldn’t be a bad thing. In the eyes of some people this might seem like mission impossible. A woman who likes carp fishing? Pull the other one, it’s got a bite alarm on it! Well, I was proven wrong when a young girl called Anouk walked into my life. Anouk was a lot younger than me, but she possessed everything that a man could want; (apart from the obvious!) she was pretty, had a great personality and above all an understanding of what makes a man tick. Soon after our first meeting, she told me that she used to fish on the rivers with her uncle catching roach, bream and tench. Fishing had always held a fascination for her.

Not surprisingly I asked her for a date – down at my local lake! Our first session together was eventful and we even caught several fish too! Anouk was well and truly hooked – our lives would never be the same again. A good friend of mine offered to build her some rods and from that moment on she was a permanent fixture in what was a man’s world. In fact, at times, there has been a bit of a role reversal going on; I have stayed at home and Anouk has gone fishing! Be careful what you wish for as they say. We attended many trade shows and gradually built up Anouk’s carp gear, bit-by-bit. For the first time in my life, I was with a woman that motivated me to pursue my dream. Together, we travelled all over Europe; the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom to name but a few, fishing some difficult venues in the process. In fact our last trip to Italy was meant to be a non-fishing affair, but we took all of our gear on Anouk’s insistence! My god, I love this girl. Carp fishing has long been a men-only thing; it’s where we men go to find and ultimately believe in ourselves (it gives us our mojo), or to simply find inner peace. Angling is indeed a last bastion of freedom for us. Female carp anglers look at carp fishing from much the same perspective as we do. Take a look at our good Belgian friend Lily Moonen, holder of the Benelux ladies record. Lily has her own water, the largest carp tackle shop in Belgium, and is the only woman in the Nash team! In short, a woman who has more than earned her carp scales. Anouk is in the ascendancy – she catches a lot of beautiful carp and is also capable of problem solving, so much so that she has recently been invited into the Rigmarole field test team. She has become a very capable angler in her own right. What could be nicer than to share and enjoy everything in life with

your loved ones. I think that the sport would benefit tremendously from more female carp anglers and the bankside would certainly be an even nicer place to be. I personally cannot see this situation changing, but there are always exceptions to the rule. For me; well, I hope that my partner in crime continues to enjoy her fishing and that I can continue to pursue not only the very largest of carp, but happiness too. I think I’m in heaven! Remon de Zeeuw

WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN - REMON DE ZEEUW

CARP BI 27

LIFTING THE LID PART 4. Spawning

carp biology - leon fisher

IOLOGY By Leon Fisher

Leon Fisher, Sparsholt College warm water aquaculture The spawning ritual is simple; the female carp lays her lecturer, talks us through the nuts and bolts of assisted eggs which are then fetilised by the attendant male carp. All the fertilised eggs will then gather in the carp spawning. medium and provided they are not eaten by a variety Many of us, who have been lucky enough to witness of predators, will hatch out. carp spawning in fisheries up and down the country, will have noticed them thrashing in and out of The newly hatched fry will use the medium as cover. marginal plants and being blissfully unaware of our However as you might expect the survival rates for carp presence for probably the only time in the year, but fry in the wild are very low, especially when compared I am sure there are quite a few of you who will have to those reared in aquaculture situations. This can be wondered just what is going on below the water-line. attributed to a number of factors; predation, bacteria Well this month I will attempt to take you through and fungi being the most common. So how does the the murky world of carp spawning and how an egg carp farmer improve on the natural process and why of around 0.5mm in size can eventually turn into the are the survival rates so much better, to understand this we will examine the assisted process used by carp giants we see swimming around in our lakes today. farmers. With the odd weather patterns that we have been experiencing recently, spawning has been a bit hit- But before we examine this process it is important to and-miss. Carp will only spawn once they have been understand why manipulation of carp spawning is presented with the ideal conditions: correct water important. I will put it into simple terms; if you allow temperature (usually between 16 and 22oC.), day- your stock to spawn naturally, you become far more length and the presence of sexually mature fish of dependent on the weather, whereas by being able both sexes. There are also environmental conditions to spawn fish, essentially when you want, to be considered too, such as, the presence of a suitable you can utilise the full summer growing spawining medium; i.e. weed.

season, allowing your fish the chance to become bigger - quicker! OK! now that we have cleared that one up..! the first step is to select your broodstock, now this can be done by looking at a number of factors including the relative growth rates, shape, scale patterns, strain and even bloodline. Once you have your broodstock you will learn over time which fish produce good quality eggs consistently, these fish are like gold dust, they are after all, the fish that a business will stake it’s reputation on.

milt. This is done by gently massaging the belly in a slow squeezing motion towards the vent. The milt is then collected in a petri dish (figure 2), set aside, and kept somewhere cool and dry.

The female fish is then stripped of her eggs using the same process, but due to the higher volume, they are collected in a mixing bowl instead (preferably not a boilie mixing bowl though!). Once the fish feels empty, you should perform a gentle shake of the fish to help remove the last of the eggs, this is called the “Seagrave shuffle” after former Sparsholt lecturer Right then here we go... The fish should be kept Chris Seagrave. It is highly important to remove all of separate in terms of sex, and in low stocking densities. the eggs from the fish, as any left behind may begin to When the water temperature reaches the magical rot and could cause the fish to perish. 18oC we can begin the whole process, although it is mostly conducted at 23 oC as this will accelerate the Now that the eggs and milt have been collected it is time to fertilise and make baby carp! Approximatley process somewhat. 1ml of the milt is mixed into1ltr of eggs. It is worth At this point you can inspect your female fish and select mentioning that the eggs must be kept dry and away the ones which appear to have a soft belly and a red and from water (before mixing), as the micropyle, which swollen vent. From here you need to anaesthetise your is the little hole that the sperm will enter by, closes up fish, this is done with the aid of a chemical solution on contact water. mixed into a treatment bath. You need to make sure that you watch your fish very carefully at this stage as It’s now time to add the fertilising solution. The there is a fine line between anesthetising a fish and solution is made up of 40grams of salt and 30grams of euthanasing it! Once the fish is calm and relaxed (and Urea, which is mixed together in 10 litres of water. The still breathing!) it is weighed - prior to administering milt, egg and fertiliser mix are then stirred for twenty the preliminary injection. Injecting carp in this way minutes, during which time the eggs will begin to is called the ‘Hypophysation-Technique’ and for this swell up. farmers can either use Carp Pituitary Extract (CPE) or the synthetic hormone Ovaprim, although the Once the twenty minutes is up the mix is gently latter has licensing issues concerned with its use. drained and fresh solution is added. The mix is then Twelve hours later a second injection is performed; stirred for a further one and a half hours (traditionally this is called the decisive injection. The amount of this should be done with a Herons feather!). At the hormone or CPE that is administered is dependent on end of this cylce and just before you hand is about to drop off!!, Tannin is added to the solution which the weight of the fish. helps to prevent the eggs from clumping together. Twelve hours after the decisive injection has taken Alternatives to Tannin have been experimented with, place the fish should be ready to spawn, although although differing results have been experienced. One it is very important to understand that this is by no of the more unusal ideas was to use Pineapple juice! means an exact science. Some fish can take much longer to give up their precious eggs, but others can Tannin breaks down the sticky coating which surprise you and release their eggs all over the tank in surrounds the eggs, but it should only be intoduced no time at all! Male fish are given only one injection to the mix for around twenty seconds, because if left and this should be administered twelve hours or so any longer it can damage the eggs. The Tannin is then prior to the planned ovulation of the females; again washed off by rinsing the eggs in water - the eggs are the dosage is based on the weight of the fish. Once the now ready to be transferred into what are known as male has been anaesthetised it is then stripped of it’s ‘Zugar’ jars to incubate.

Once in the Zugar jars, the eggs are gently agitated by upwelling water through the jars. It will take approximately seventy two hours for the eggs to hatch

carp biology - leon fisher Fig 1:A dissected female carp showing the packed ovaries.

out (at a temperature of 23oC). Manipulating the flow of water causes the eggs to hatch simultaneously. Of course they can be left to hatch naturally, which is probably a safer option. The newly hatched Carpfry will then group together before swimming up and into an adjacent tank system. Twenty four hours later the first feed is administered, this can be done with live feed or Artemia, which is a Brine-Shrimp found in many of the great salt lakes across the globe. Alternatively many farmers still use a hardboiled egg grated into a very fine dust for the first feeds. Well thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all for this month folks! - next month we will take a look at how the newly formed Carp-fry grow and adapt, and the selective breeding process required to produce all of the different strains we dangle for, until then tight lines. Leon Fisher

TALES OF A JOURNEY MAN - DAVE MAGALHAES This is the penultimate instalment of Dave Magalhaes’ exclusive carp-fishing journal for Carpaholixx. Here he continues his carp tales through the seasons, taking up where he lost The Royal when the hook slipped as he was about to land it. Was this a harbinger of further bad luck for the master of the margins? Read on to find out how he regained his fishing game.

original common of 23lb. It really was a slog, and I was grateful when the close season came round. Little did I know that the loss of The Royal would be the start of a couple of hard years in fishing for me.

The following week, I headed back over to Silvermere for one more try. Although I’d caught most of the stock the previous summer, the big common was yet The never-ending summer has finally come to a to grace the inside of my net. During my summer halt and it is safe to say that the freezing winter walking around and sitting up trees, I repeatedly saw temperatures have finally taken hold. In this part of the fish resting in the same spot. With the area being my carp-fishing saga, I’ll pick up where I finished quite shallow and with a history of the fish occupying in the previous article, where I’d just lost The Royal it towards the back end, I already knew where I was 40 pounder at my feet. (If you missed it, have a read heading. of Tales of a Journeyman - Dave Magalhaes. Part 2 Park Life.) The next day I moped around the house, With a couple of rods in hand and a rucksack loaded repeatedly going over and over the previous nights with all the essentials, I took a slow walk around. When events. Rather than becoming too disheartened by the I arrived at the little bay, I knew that there were a few loss of that great fish, I decided I’d go all out to try to fish in the area. It’s difficult to explain how I knew the settle the score by the end of the season. fish were there, as there were no signs of tail patterns, I couldn’t see any fish and nothing had shown, but it Over the next two months, I fished every spare was just alive. moment I had. As I was attending university, I was able to make a little extra time for fishing. Some weeks Without wasting anytime, I under armed two rigs out. I’d squeeze in three and sometimes even four night It’s funny how sometimes you just click with a venue, sessions. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I and of all the places I’ve fished, this was one that took do remember that at the time I hated it. For much of a liking to me. the time the conditions were awful and I knew that in reality I would not get a bite. I remember seeing one An hour or so later, as I was sat with a friend drinking fish show over those two months and that was towards tea, I heard a buzzer one-tone. The right hand rod that the end of February. was fishing the spot where I’d seen the common was away. As I reeled the fish in, I knew what it was, and Then on the very last day of the season, after hearing when my friend slipped the net under a fish go over in the night and re-casting, I caught an him, he confirmed my thoughts: ”It’s

I would find Lumpy every morning tucked in right at the back of a snag in only a couple of feet of water. At some point in the late morning, it would come waddling out and swim down the margin before settling into the back of another snag halfway up At the beginning of April, I got myself a ticket for the the Kennel bank. This presented the best chance of a Crayfish Pool. It was a lovely little lake that I’d really getting a bite as the fish would normally feed on and wanted to fish from the days of wandering around off until the evening. it and pestering Alan Welch. As soon as my ticket dropped through the letterbox, I grabbed the gear and By regularly trickling bait onto a spot off the snag, it wasn’t long before the water was glowing from the headed straight over to the lake. feeding activity. Being wise old fish though, getting There was one other angler at the lake and I spent them to pick up the hookbait was proving difficult! Breamy mate!” he said. At 25lb 02oz, it was a little down in weight, but it did not matter to me. After taking the photographs and having a couple of celebratory brews, I headed home.

most of the day just walking and looking around as it was one of the first warm days of the year. I was lucky enough to see most of the lake’s stock that day, including Scar, the big mirror carp. Many of the fish were just drifting in and out of the numerous snags and, although it wasn’t possible to fish for them, it was just nice to be able to watch them.

After a few trips without a bite and watching Lumpy repeatedly clear me out, I became frustrated. On one particular morning, I resorted to tying a medusa rig that was over a foot long and fished it running rig style. I took the time to make sure all the leadcore was covered with silt and gravel. Once everything had settled, I walked around to the snag to spook him out. True to form, Lump waddled down the margin before dipping down to feed.

Just as I was leaving, I decided to have one last look in the corner nearest to the Carpark. Looking down from the high bank, I could just make out a carp under an overhanging bush. I got out of immediate view and Frustrated and a little angry, I urged it with every made myself comfortable to watch the fish for a little mouthful to take the hookbait. Finally, it lifted slowly off the bottom, before casually waddling off towards while. It was instantly recognisable as Lumpy. the snag. As it did so, the bobbin crept up and the Lumpy would waddle out from under the bush, drop alarm let out a series of beeps. down and feed on a tiny spot for a few minutes before waddling back under the bush for a while. Grabbing a rod, I carefully lowered a rig onto the spot. Just as it touched down, Lumpy swam over and immediately started grubbing around. Within a few seconds, it came up with the rig hanging out of its mouth, but it hadn’t moved the lead. With the rod still in my hand and a little unsure what to do, I half-heartedly struck to the side. Lumpy immediately headed for the deeper water, then on a tight line kited towards the bush. With the rod at full compression, the tip suddenly sprang back; I was gutted.

I was on it in a flash, quickly sinking the tip and pulling hard in the opposite direction. Like the last time, with the rod at full compression, the tip sprang back again. To make it worse, I lost a mid-20lb common later that afternoon.

On my next visit, I managed to catch a good fish taking mixers out in the middle. At first, I thought it was Long as he’d already shown a liking for the mixers, but after shuffling up a fallen tree with a friend, we could clearly see it was Scar. By the time I cast out, he was wolfing down mixers at a fast rate. To cut a long After the loss of the fish, I became obsessed with the story short, two swans moved in, Scar swam off, and place and visited it on my way to and from university. that was the last time I saw him. He was certainly a bit more elusive than the others and more of a middle-ofThe thing with the Crayfish Pool was that most of the the-pond fish. Not long after, I lost another fish before fish were quite easy to find -except for Scar the big calling it a day and moved on to Tolpits. mirror carp. Lumpy and Long had a regular routine and I felt it was only a matter of time before they both Tolpits was different. It was the first time I’d fished somewhere where I felt I didn’t belong. I seemed to get slipped up. on with everyone I met and the lake should have really suited me, but it was so busy and there were a few big names fishing it, and everyone watched what you were doing. I guess if I’m honest, I felt out of my depth and

TALES OF A JOURNEY MAN - DAVE MAGALHAES

didn’t enjoy it. That year I flitted between several lakes, including Tolpits, Linch Hill, Richmond Park, Bushy Park, Vinnetrow, Runcton and Swan Valley. Although I caught a few fish, I never really settled on anywhere and just bounced from lake to lake. Swan Valley was the lake I enjoyed the most, as the fish did everything you wanted them to. Being a dayticket at the time, it could get busy. On one trip in late September, I was walking around an area known as the Back Bay when I spotted a set of shoulders just lifting out of the water. It was getting dark and, although I did manage to get this fish to take mixers, the light soon went. I plotted up for the night, which passed by quietly. The following morning as soon as the sun crept up above the trees, that distinctive dark back gently pushed out of the water once more. Quickly scurrying up a tree, I was able to get a good look at the fish. It was one that I’d seen Rob Maylin holding in a copy of Big Carp called Nokia. Once back in the swim, I fired a few bags of mixers out to the middle. Within a few minutes, the fish was circling the hole in the weed beneath the freebies. Eventually his head poked out and he took a mixer. I left him to it for a little while, and by the time I cast out, he was taking every mixer in his path. Tweaking the controller back ever so slightly, my hookbait was pulled into the hole and directly in his path. I became anxious, as he got closer and closer. Then there was a swirl and suddenly my controller was sliding across the surface.

We found the Biggun straight away in the out-ofbounds area, so we both set-up in the swims either side of the entrance. Not knowing much about the lake, we didn’t really have much to go on, so were happy just to be close to it. I baited one area heavily and fished one rod on it, and the other one I moved around a bit. The first few days of fishing were very slow, but then for no apparent reason, the fish slowly crept out into the lake. In the afternoon, giving in to my frustration by the lack of action, I skipped a rod in and tied on a zig. It was fished over depth, a method someone had recommended to me to try, as the fish were suckers for a floater. If I’m honest, I totally wasn’t expecting anything to happen, as it was still quite chilly. Twenty minutes later, there was a big swirl and the rod tip pulled around. For the first few moments I was little shocked, but then ran forward and lifted into it. The fish charged around for a little while, before Ash slipped the net under a lovely scaly carp. At around 19lb, it was nice to get the first one under my belt. The following morning I had a 24 pounder that I later found out was a fish called Stocky. One of the senior members I’d spoken to had told me a bit about the lake. He said he used to cycle around in it back in the 1970s before it had filled with water, and that Biggun and Stocky were the first two fish to go in and were moved from the lake next door. The rest, as they say, is history!

Anyway, after catching Stocky, I was buzzing; even more so when after spotting a bit of bubbling over the heavily baited rod, Biggun slowly popped up to the When I struck, the water erupted. I played the carp surface. It did this for two mornings on the trot before hard as the area was quite weedy and I really didn’t I had to pack up and drive back home to get ready for want him to find one of the big weed beds that were work. Typically, the bloke that moved in behind me littered throughout the bay. He plodded about for five spotted Biggun, cast out a single, and then proceeded minutes or so before hitting the surface, as he did so I to reel it in. That’s fishing for you, I guess! got a glimpse of his deep dark flank, before powering down into the water and finding sanctuary in the Over the next few weeks, as the weather got warmer, weed. I tried every trick in the book to get it moving the fish became more and more active and as a result and when I eventually pulled a giant ball of weed into were much easier to catch. If you could get them going the net, Nokia was long gone. on mixers, then catching two or three fish a day was a regular occurrence. Stocky turned out to be a bit The following spring I decided to go all out for the of a pest. I had him again at just over 25lb, before I Nutsey fish. My first visit was right at the beginning of eventually reeled in my lines whenever he turned up April, and was a four-nighter session with my friend on the spots. Ash Bradbury.

One particular spot was being fed on more and more regularly, and it wasn’t long before the big mirror started frequenting it. One afternoon as I sat crouched

TALES OF A JOURNEY MAN - DAVE MAGALHAES

behind some reeds watching the fish feeding at my feet, he did finally drift in and begin feeding. As I watched him carefully moving along the spot I turned around to check that everything was okay with the rod. I looked back to the feeding fish in time to see the water dip before the big mirror shot off to the left with the rod rustling past me with the clutch whizzing away. Applying side tension to the running fish it soon turned and it wasn’t long before it was on a short line in front of me and just powering around in a circle.

a nervous wreck and instead of going up to where I’d been baiting, opted instead to stay where the ferns were thickest. I just tossed out a couple of bags and sat back happy to be out on the bank once more. Martin went further along the bank to cast to showing fish. We chatted eagerly into the early hours drinking cup of tea after cup of tea.

I remember at the time absolutely hating my fishing and forcing myself to do the start on Richmond Park again. For those first few days, I just didn’t want to be there; and, when The Royal was banked a couple of days into the start of the season, I’d just had enough.

To this day, I cannot believe they didn’t see me and I decided there and then that nights weren’t for me, and instead opted to just do the early morning starts. Over the course of five morning trips, I ended up with 18 fish, with eight of them going over 30lb, including a lake record of 35lb 04oz! Although I couldn’t get back before Boxing Day, I made sure to continually bait the same area. Not long after finally returning and getting the rods out on Boxing Day morning, I caught the one fish I wanted to catch the most, the Willow at 32lb 06oz!

Apart from Martin losing a good fish at around midnight, the night passed by quietly. Encouraged by our previous night, I decided to do the next one on my Just as I grabbed hold of the net to drag it forward, the own. It was absolutely pouring down and by the time I hook pulled. I remember being really pissed off at that got set-up, I was soaked through. point and I immediately packed up and headed home. It wasn’t just because of losing that particular fish, it For the first hour or so, I was a nervous wreck and was all the others I lost before it as well. At the time, it I was constantly getting up and checking who was seemed as though every time I hooked a better fish, it about. Eventually though I calmed down and not long would come adrift. after had my first take, which turned out to be an 18lb common carp. Not long after I had a 23lb 14oz mirror To cap it off, I started doing a bit of floater fishing on carp, which I slipped into a sack. Then as I was sat Kingsmead 1, and, although I caught quite a few, I lost under the brolly, I spotted the Parks Police driving loads. Hooking them wasn’t a problem, but with the up towards me. In a panic, I pulled the brolly down fish really putting up a good account for themselves around me and just prayed. Laying on my front, I and with it being so busy, more often than not you could just see them through the gap. They must have had to try to bully them a bit, which would result in a got to within a few yards of me before turning around hook pull. and driving off in the rain.

For the next four months, I just had no interest in going fishing, and if I’m honest, would have been quite happy to never go again I hated it that much. Instead, I spent the summer working and partying! At the beginning of October, a few of my friends had decided to go back to Bushy Park for the rest of the season. Knowing I’d done a bit on the water over the years, they were constantly badgering me for information, and in the end had convinced me to fish it with them. Their stories and enthusiasm had rubbed off on me, and one afternoon I took a drive over to the park and had a walk around. Over the next few days, all I thought about was going fishing. Being busy with work at the time, I opted to regularly bait an area that I felt confident that would produce bites. My first visit ended up being an overnighter with my good friend Martin. Having never done a night at the water before, I was

Due to work and university, I didn’t get much fishing done through the winter, but when the spring came round, I joined my friends once more, this time over on Kingsmead 1. The first trip back was a bit of a grueller and after moving four or five times over the weekend, I finally managed to bank to carp on the last night, both were mirrors weighing in at 23lb 08oz and 28lb 04oz. I couldn’t get back to fish for a couple of weeks after that, but I made sure to pop in to see my friends when I could. On one of my visits, I saw a couple of carp poke their heads out right in the corner of a little bay. Slowly walking around and looking down

into the tap clear water, I could see five carp grubbing about on a tiny sandy patch. Not wanting to spook them, I left them to it and carried on walking up to where my friends were fishing. After a couple of brews and a chat, I left them to it and headed home, but before leaving, I made sure to drop in a good helping of bait.

before a couple of good fish drifted by and dropped down onto the bait. They cleared most of it in a matter of minutes before carrying on their journey up the pond. Scrambling down from the tree, I trickled in a bit more bait before running around to grab my fishing gear. Once back at the swim, I set about getting a rod out. Unfortunately, the baited spot was 20 yards down the margin from the nearest swim and the fish were moving up and down in between. To avoid spooking them, I decided to wade a bank-stick out and clip my line up to it so that the fish wouldn’t see it. Over the next couple of hours, I was a nervous wreck watching the fish repeatedly feed on the spot before they swam off to do a lap of the bay before returning and feeding, and then off they’d go again.

A few nights later, I returned and managed to get the swim I wanted. Over the next three days, it all went a little crazy and I caught 22 fish weighing up to 35lb 02oz, and I lost a further three. Nearly half of them were from the sandy spot down in the corner, which by the time I left had turned into two massive patches. It was certainly one of my favourite weekends of fishing as I caught fish from the edge, off the top and even over a heavily baited area out in the lake. Eventually, I caught a common carp of about 18lb, and then lost a better fish, before the rod bent round and I returned for one more evening floater fishing and I hooked what was clearly a goodun. The fish didn’t caught a dumpy 26 pounder, before a ticket arrived in really do a lot, and as I slowly pumped it towards me, the post for the newly formed Swan Valley syndicate. I slipped on my chest waders and walked out to meet Having lost Nokia a couple of years previously, I it. The first time the fish hit the surface I pushed the couldn’t wait to get back over and have a go for it. net underneath it and scooped it up. It looked like the Nokia, but the scales only read 35lb 04oz. I assumed it My first trip at the beginning of June was a three was a fish called Baby Nokia, but I was wrong. A few nighter. Surprisingly, there was only one other angler months later a friend pointed out that the fish was in on the whole lake. fact the Nokia, just well spawned out. It was clear from the start that a lot of the fish had pushed into the newly joined match lake, and it wasn’t long before I found the big common and two mid30lb mirrors feeding close in under a bush near the car park. Once they’d drifted off, I lowered a rig in, but they did not return. With quite a few fish around, I stayed put for the night.

Some weeks later and a few days into the start of the traditional season, I headed over to Bushy Park once more. The big mirror known as Single Scale had gone 39lb 12oz in the winter, and was expected to go over 40lb for the first time when it was caught at the start of the season. Having fished the lake on and off for a number of years, and with the place quite close to my heart, I wanted to be the first person to have a 40 After losing one early the following morning, I then pounder out of it. lost another off the top before finally landing a dark 21lb common carp from the surface. The rest of the I headed over to the water early one morning with day was spent fishing either on the surface or with my friend Luke. All the big fish had been out except zigs. Using these methods, I managed to catch three Single, and knowing the place reasonably well, I kept more fish to 17lb. telling him that one of us was going to catch it. During the night, the fish decided to start spawning, so I reeled the rods in and left them to it. First thing in the morning and after some breakfast I took a slow walk around the lake. It was quiet, except for a group of fish in the Back Bay. After trickling some bait on two spots close in, I perched myself up a tall tree at the corner of the bay to watch the water. It wasn’t long

An hour or so after casting out, one of my bobbins pulled up tight before line began to pour off the spool. It fought hard for a good 10 minutes, before Luke did the honours with the net. Without even looking in the net, I looked at him and smiled. ”It’s her isn’t it?“ I asked, knowing that I had caught the fish. With a little chuckle and a shake of the head, he confirmed my thoughts. It was obvious as soon as we lifted her out that she’d had a good spawn. Once up on the scales, Luke read out a weight of 35lb 06oz.

TALES OF A JOURNEY MAN - DAVE MAGALHAES

We returned the following day for another go, and both caught a couple of 30 pounders, with mine being a fish called the Rudder. It was my first carp I caught at the water when I was 17 years old, and with that in mind, I decided to stop for the day. This time, I leave you on a better note, having gone from literally wanting to give it all up, to now having

great confidence in my fishing. In the next piece, the finale of my four parter, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll bring you right up to date on my fishing. Hopefully, the weather over the coming months wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be as harsh as last year, and we can actually get some fishing done this winter. Fingers crossed. Until next time, be lucky! Dave Mag

TALES OF A JOURNEY MAN - DAVE MAGALHAES

VIDEOS SANDHURST LAKE, YATELEY - SWIM GUIDE - PART 1

HERE WE TAKE A WALK AROUND AND A look at the FAMOUS sandhurst LAKE swims.

SANDHURST LAKE, YATELEY - SWIM GUIDE - PART 2

HERE WE TAKE A WALK AROUND AND A look at the FAMOUS sandhurst LAKE swims.

nogel sharp diaries part 2

Due to popular demand we have decided to re- After almost a full circuit and failing to spot any fish, publish Nigel Sharp’s diaries which now include some I stopped to chat with the first of the two anglers who previously unpublished images. was set up in a swim called the “Wides”. He told me that they had only seen one fish and that was out in You might think that this bi-monthly diary will be all the slightly settled water to the right of the “Motorway about how I racked up the Sandhurst residents after Point”. I had seen fish show in that area on a previous getting the hang of how to catch them. If so, I’m sorry walkabout and it seemed like my best choice for my to disappoint you, because I decided to make that my debut session of the year. final session of the winter. Normally I would have made an early start on this type of water, but going After getting all of my kit round to the point, I picked on past form, it doesn’t start to award its prizes until a good area to pitch my bivvy so that could both see early April. This year, things were going to be a little the water and be comfortable; many of you won’t different. know the water so you should note that this a very important thing to do. You need to see the water The first couple of fish came out during the last week because the traffic noise from the neighbouring M4 of February. I don’t really know why this happened, prevents you from hearing the fish. but I suspect that the lack of weed had something to do with the lake’s carp being up and about early. After pitching the bivvy, I fanned out three rods to fish The news of a couple of fish coming out attracted the bright hook baits on chod rigs. If I saw a fish show crowds and so it was time for me to leave. I could simply cast at it and I’d know my rigs were fishing effectively. Surprisingly enough, this all went While I packed away my gear, I received a telephone very well for a change and it was just a simple case call from my sister in-law, Helen; she was going to of trying to keep my eyes on the water for as long as hospital to get some test results. My brother was at possible. work and her other immediate family were unavailable so I agreed to accompany her. The consultant told Over the course of the next 36-hours, the wind blew her that she had a cancerous growth that would need and the carp didn’t show. It wasn’t until dusk on the removing as soon as possible. The news of this sent second evening that I saw a fish poking its head out of a shockwave throughout the family; and, considering the surface. This was good enough for me and I cast a the help I received from Helen with my book writing, fresh scopex pop up in its general direction. At about I made a decision that family came first. 2am, the following morning, the rod received a very quick drop back and, after winding like a madman, I After a few days of getting over the initial shock of bumped out of a fish. This wasn’t the best of starts, but, the diagnosis, Helen decided the best place for her nonetheless, something had come of my effort to cast was at work, as it would take her mind off the doom at a showing carp. and gloom. This was a heroic decision and so with not much else to do I headed of over to the Berkshire The following dawn the lake was flat calm. As I water for a couple of nights fishing. stood watching the surface, I counted at least 12 carp showing themselves. These shows were spread out DAWN BREAKS WITH A VENGEANCE around the central area of the lake. Unfortunately, I I arrived at the lake as dawn broke and was greeted had to pack up later that morning as I had to attend with probably the worst conditions for spotting fish. the Big One fishing show at Farnborough. There was a strong south-westerly blowing along the lake, sending waves crashing into the “Cottage” bank. THREE-CHOD APPROACH I stood on the north bank of the lake in an area known A week later, I arrived at the lake just as dawn broke to as the “Lawns” and spotted a couple of anglers bivvied find a cold westerly wind ruffling its surface. I took a up on the Cottage bank to my right. Without any signs good look around and, after failing to spot any fish, I of carp, it was time for me to decide whether I should opted for the Wides swim on the Cottage bank. I chose find out what the other two anglers had seen or have a the swim because it offered me a good view down the look around myself. I decided on the latter and made length of the lake and it gave me good access to where my way round the lake in an anticlockwise direction. the fish had been showing the week before.

After setting everything up and fanning out three chods, I settled down for the first night of the session.

nogel sharp diaries part 2

To say this was a little frustrating would be an understatement. I carried on in the hope that the fish would wise up.

I had just signed a three-year contract with Nash tackle and taken delivery of my first batch of bait at the weekend show, so I decided to start introducing some of it to the open water swim. Just as the light begun to fail and the blasted bait thieving gulls left the scene, I let rip with my throwing stick and scattered the best part of 2 kg of scopex squids out around two of my rods.

Just as the light failed and the gulls flew off to roost, I scattered a few freebies the hook baits using the throwing stick. Later, Lil Richie arrived for one of his long sessions in the “Slipway” and we sat up chatting about all things carpy. >>>> After he had left, I noticed a few fish dimpling the surface. My confidence grew and the buzz I got from their appearance led to a fitful nights sleep. By the time I woke up, it was about 6.30am. Just as my eyes focused on my rods, my That evening Sam Healy turned up for a chat. As we middle bobbin rose from the ground and held for a sat talking, a few fish began showing in front of the few seconds before the line pinged from the clip and swim to my left. Earlier, I had cast a single hook bait the spool span. Unfortunately, it was a short-lived into the area, so I confidently left it where it was. Later, battle and after about a minute, the hook slipped. I after Sam had left me, the showing fish appeared to be picked myself up thinking that there are worse things backing away from the wind and were heading towards to worry about than loosing a fish. my range rods with bait all around them, which made me feel confident of a take during the night. After recasting the rod, time passed in the same way as the previous morning. It appeared to me by the The following morning, I rose early and scanned the number of fish showing that there was still a good surface for signs of carp. It wasn’t until about 8am that chance of more bites, so I opted to do another night I saw the first fish show and it was a long way off at the in the swim. My night’s efforts, however, were in vain other end of the lake in front of the “first point”. I kept and the next morning it was obvious from the lack of my eyes trained on that bit of water. fish showing that they had moved off, so I stopped for the day. Over the next hour, I saw two small fish show and decided that if another one appeared I’d move closer WEEKEND PRESSURE CAUSES REACTION to the action. No sooner had I decided my course of Over the following weeks, a pattern emerged with action, a dirty great carp jumped clear of the water in weekend pressure from an average of 16 anglers front of a swim called the “Middle Containers”. With pushing the fish out into open water. This was good that, I packed my gear up and pushed my barrow for me because when I turned up in the early part of down to the far end of the lake. the week they would be showing in a condensed area in the open water. This made it easy for me, but, as it When I arrived on the hilly area behind the Container was a lot quieter during the week, the fish seemed to swims, I parked up the barrow and went to fetch my develop a habit of backing off under the pressure that car from the other end of the lake. On my return to I and a few other anglers exerted. The fish reacted by the hill, I set up my bed chair and made a mug of tea spreading out around the lake over the course of my while I waited for another fish to show. sessions; and, come the weekend when they had few places left to hide, one or two of them would slip up. By the time the next fish showed, I’d set up all three of my rods with light leads and fresh hook baits. Within This behaviour became a bit of a running joke between seconds of the rings parting and the gill bubbles the weekend anglers and the full timers. Weekends pinging to the surface, two rigs where cast to the were easy they bantered; and, by the way some of the general area. With two rods settled, I had one rod left lads were catching fish they were making it look easy. I to cast. After another 30 minutes, another fish showed, did think about starting to fish through the weekends roughly where I thought I’d seen the big fish jump myself, but thought better of it, as it upsets weekenders earlier, so I cast the remaining rod in its direction. when a full timer is stitching up swims week in week out. With all three rods covering good areas, I sat it out for the rest of the day hoping a carp might make a To say this was a little frustrating would be an mistake. Unfortunately, nothing happened and day understatement, but I carried on with the hope that turned into dusk. the fish would wise up to the weekend pressure. Eventually, they did settle down and my first fish came after dropping in the Wides on a Sunday after Ross

nogel sharp diaries part 2 had packed up. That bite didn’t come easily as I had to wait the best part of three days for it. When it did, I was just about to start packing up. I would like to say that I had done something a little different but I hadn’t.

meeting to attend at the weekend. I just had to hope that the Brute could hang on for a few days until I could get back.

Well the Brute did hang on but only for two days. Just as I was pulling up into Nashy’s car park, my phone bleeped as a few text messages came through. The WHITE TIPPED HARBINGER Over the few days, the “Brute” had been showing Brute had come out and it couldn’t have been for a around the middle section of water, and, with the more deserving angler; Lil Richie had caught his long succession of fish that had been out, it was well due. time >>>> dream fish at a colossal weight of 47lb 2oz. When the fish bit, my legs turned to jelly and as I Yes, I’d missed out but I was chuffed that he’d caught played it back from range, I thought: “Is this the one the fish. Anyway, this gave me a dilemma. What we are all waiting for?” After an intense battle, in a should I do for my following week’s angling? Should I strong southwesterly wind, the fish finally burst its carry on or go elsewhere? I decided to carry on. tanks. My heart was in my mouth, as my leadcore leader rose up from the margins. When it did finally GOOD NEWS TRAVELS FAST surface, I could see from the size of it, it wasn’t the The following Tuesday I found myself back at the Brute. Instead, it was “White Tips”, a big carp of 31lb lake and I was surprised to see so many other anglers. 4oz with coloration on the tips of its fins. Having just With what had gone on, I was also surprised to see caught what I’m told was a rare visitor to the bank, the Slipway was empty. Curiosity got the better of me, and knowing the Brute was still out there, I hung on and knowing where Lil Richie had caught the Brute, I decided to do a couple of nights in the swim to see if I for a few more hours until I had to go. could learn something about its capture. Just after I’d caught White Tips, Lil Richie turned up for another session in the Slipway. When I told him The session was a blank, but I was pleased I hadn’t lost that I was packing up, he said I was mad as my fish my momentum and I returned the following week. was known to appear just before the Brute. Maybe he This time it was the Easter bank holiday Monday, and, was right, but there were other things on my mind like Helen coming out of hospital and a consultants

as I drove through the gate, I noticed that the Lawns and Slipway were empty. As I knew that a few of the lads had used the Easter and Royal wedding bank holidays to take a long break and the lake was busy, I grabbed my bucket from the car and claimed the Lawns before taking a look around.

Once that fish was safely on its way, it was time to sort out the mess and get the rods ready for the following night. Having seen a fair few shows that morning; I opted to keep my left-hand rod on the accurately baited spot and fish two chods out in the central section of water. Although I’d just caught on a single bait, I decided that having a couple of nights ahead of me it After a quick circuit, it seemed like the Lawns was my was a good time to get some bait out. Using my trusty best option so I set about setting up my kit. Once all old throwing stick, I scattered a couple of kilos around was ready, I found a nice area for my left-hand rod the area where my chods lay. Throughout the next 48 and after casting a hinge rig to the float, I baited it hours, despite seeing the Brute and several other fish accurately with 40 freebies. I could see mallards show in the area, my bobbins remain motionless. feasting on some of the previous anglers baits in the swim. This led me to cast the other two rods baited Ross on the far bank didn’t seem to be having the with choddies. same problem though and he got a bite each morning. It seemed that he couldn’t put a rod wrong and was The next morning, as I watched the water, Ross fishing making hay while the sun shone on him. the far bank had a take and landed a small common. As soon as he netted it, I thought: “well that’s today’s Just before packing up on the Thursday morning, to bite then but at least there having it.” make way for the bank holiday anglers, my old mate Phil Buckley arrived. While we chatted, it seemed from As the morning passed, there were several shows the shows in front of me he should drop in behind me around my area and one of them looked to be a good when I left. I was quite happy about this, as I knew he fish and it was right over my middle rod. It wasn’t was staying until I could return the following Monday. until later that morning something happened. Then The only thing I had to worry would be if someone my right hand bobbin pulled up tight and, just as the else asked him for the swim. line pinged from the clip, I hit it. Unfortunately, there was nothing on the end, and after thinking about it, it A QUICK RECCE BEFORE THE BIG DAY might have been a trailer. On my way home, I popped in to see how Helen was doing and showed her some video footage of With the rig and bait still perfect I whacked it back the baby geese that had hatched that week to see if it out. Then Ross appeared. Just as I began making him would cheer her up. She was delighted and asked if I a cup of tea my middle rod was away and I took up would take her to see them. I was happy to oblige and battle with a lively carp. Ross gave me a hand with my arranged to take her on the Saturday. waders and I jumped in to try to stop the fish kiting around a staging to my right. The fish turned before At the lake Helen was transfixed with the fluffs, as she it got in to danger and swung round into open water calls them, and I had a chat with Phil to see how he in front of me before heading up the bush line to my was getting on. The fish were still in the area, no one left. When fishing a big fish water there’s always that had asked for the swim after him, and he was going to moment of excitement when you don’t know what’s pack up on the Sunday. This was great news but again on the end. I had to hope nobody was going to ask if they could drop in after him until I could get back on the Sunday As the fish swung hard left and climbed the marginal morning. shelf, I knew it couldn’t be the big’un and just played it back to the net that Billy held. Once it was safely Fortunately, when I arrived the next day, the Lawns scooped up, I could see a stunning and very old looking hadn’t been booked and I was free to move in after mirror lying in the folds of the net. Ross informed Phil. I set up camp and decided to spend the day me it was “Leney”. This to me is what carp fishing all tying rigs and getting everything sorted while resting about - and if I ever stop shaking when I hook a carp the swims. The swim had been fished for nearly two or feel gutted about catching a 26lb mirror because it’s weeks, so it deserved a break. not big enough, it’s time to give up. Just before sunset, I cast a hinge rig back to the accurately baited spot and fired about 50 freebies as tight as I could around the marker. Like the previous session, the other two rods were fished with yellow

nogel sharp diaries part 2 Bright ones on chods was my approach from the start.

scopex pop-ups on chod rigs out in the central section of water. Once those had been cast, I scattered 2 kg around the general area again. Then it was time to kick back and see what the dawn would bring. Unfortunately, for me, during the dawn feed all three of my lines were pulled out of the game by a low 20 stocky trailing a rig after Ross had lost it during the night. Just to rub salt in my wound, while all this was going on, Ross had another take and landed a 28lb common. USE DOWN TIME WISELY The following 24 hours didn’t really go my way either. This was due to a strong easterly wind making it very difficult for me to get my rods out and achieve a confident line lay, so I wasn’t too disappointed about not getting a bite. I used the time to get the remainder my 5 kg of bait out in the lake. Finally, on the second evening, the wind dropped and I got my rods out pukka - and my line well down - and I felt confident of a bite. Sadly, my efforts were in vain. Although my rigs stayed out for the dawn feed, they were once again pulled out the game by another trailer while I had fish showing over me. This time it wasn’t a stocky, it was a big common around mid to upper 30 lbs, trailing like a trailer, so once it had slowed from its initial run, Ross gave me a hand with my waders. With the fish Sam’s rig. kiting right, I didn’t hesitate and got straight into the I was getting the hump and almost felt like packing water. up there and then. But, I pulled myself together and I felt the fish slow down as it hit some weed before after calming down, decided to put on fresh baits and swimming toward me. I managed to gain on it fast recast my rigs and leave them until I had to pack up and asked Ross to pass the net to me. the following day.

Once the fish was on a short line I could feel the line By the time I had finished it was about 10am so I had pinging off its fins and it started zigzagging. I thought the whole day to chill out and give Sam and Ross some that it was a small, spirited fish so I coaxed it up to the stick via text message. Then Helen rang me with some surface. Just as I got most of my leadcore leader above great news; she had been to see her consultant and the surface, I saw a huge erect dorsal fin poking out of she’d been told that they had managed to remove her the water. I knew that this fin belonged to “Pecs”, the second biggest carp in the lake - last out at over 41lb. cancer. Naturally, I was nervous and the fish was far from beaten. It made many powerful runs up and down the margins accompanied by silence from the lads behind me. I just kept thinking please stay on; don’t break my line or bend my hook. Eventually I won the fight; over the net cord went Pecs and a loud cheer came from I walked calmly over to the rod and picked it up. behind me. At 39lb 14oz, she was a little bit down on Immediately the rod took up the curve of battle and her weight since her last capture but she was plenty line started going of the spool. This time it didn’t feel big enough for me. By early afternoon, Sam and Ross had had enough of my texts and decided to gang up on me. As we fought our corners, my middle bobbin smashed into the butt ring, the line cracked from the clip and the spool started to spin.

Next time, I’ll tell you how the hunt for the Brute is progressing. Until then, good fishing. Nige.....

Nick Helleurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pop up rig

nick discusses the proâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and cons of buoyant baits and rigs.

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