329 February 2018

Chilly reflects on challenges and bucket lists

- The F Word -

Are single baits the answer during winter?

THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST

INSIDE

SIMON CROW

S H A R E S S O M E G R E AT FISHING ON THE MIGHTY RAINBOW LAKE

Darrell Peck

C A N ’ T B E AT T H E LURE OF AN EMPTY B AY E S W A T E R

Dave Lane

L O O K S AT T H E B E S T APPROACH FOR THE TIME OF YEAR

Greg Ellis recalls his time on the notorious pit

CRAZY WORLD of THE NORTH MET PIT

WIN FEB – 2018 Issue

329 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

JULIAN CUNDIFF TIM PAISLEY KRISTOF CUDERMAN AND MUCH MORE...

£4.75

DY NA M I T E B A I T S £800 COMPLEX-T TO BE WON

Issue 329 Fe b r u a r y

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Contents 26 A trip of Two Halves Crowy visits the mighty Rainbow Lake in France and shares some great fishing with Oli Davies.

- Simon Crow

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Competition We’ve got £800 worth of Dynamite Baits Complex-T up for grabs this month.

- Dynamite Baits

Editor-in-Chief Tim Paisley e: editor@carpworld.co.uk

Design Andy Day e: andrewdaydesign@outlook.com

Advertising Director Bev Clifford e: bev@carpworld.co.uk t: 07811 108785

Distribution Seymour Distribution

Advertising Sales Manager Richard Newman e: richard@carpworld.co.uk

Published by: Carp Fishing News Limited Sandholme Grange Newport East Yorkshire HU15 2QG e: info@carpworld.co.uk t: 01430 440624

Printed by Acorn Web Offset

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Carpworld 329 February 2018 not to be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publisher Carp Fishing News Ltd the views of our contributors do not necessarily represent the views of Carpworld, or those of any carp fishing news employee

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08 Editorial

66 Baitworld

111 F-Word

With Carpworld under new leadership Tim is back to welcome you to the latest edition. And we hope you like your new look Carpworld!

There’s plenty new in the world of bait, and in this month’s feature we look at Nashbait’s Strawberry Crush, Dynamite Baits’ Complex-T pellets and the DT Baits Berry Bubble range, plus much more.

Slow going with the cold weather in winter months? Paul Forward is convinced the answer lies in using single baits.

- Tim Paisley

12 From the Bivvy A few little highlights from the world of carp fishing this month. If you’ve got something to share email us at editor@carpworld.co.uk - Carpworld

16 A Man for All Seasons Dave Lane begins a series of articles on how to approach your fishing, based on the time of year.

- Dave Lane

26 A trip of two halves Crowy visits the mighty Rainbow Lake in France and shares some great fishing with Oli Davies.

- Carpworld

A week’s fishing at Etang 5 in France, with his good friend Emir Caro, ended with a new PB for Kristof.

- Kristof Cuderman

- Carpworld

80 Someday

128 Hidden Gems

It’s no good sat on your bum hoping that Lady Luck will one day take a shine to you. If you really want something in life, whatever that may be, you’ve got to make it happen – nobody else will do it for you. It’s about being positive and having the belief and setting realistic targets.

Paul Mallinson recalls his campaign on a North Lincolnshire pit containing just two carp, one of which is one of the oldest in the country.

- Ian Chillcott

88 Competition

40 The Notorious Pit!

We’ve got £800 worth of Dynamite Baits Complex-T up for grabs this month.

- Greg Ellis

51 Think Tank We are now in the depths of winter – it’s dark for over 14-hours a day, it’s cold and it can be hard to find the motivation to go out chasing carp. What motivates this month’s anglers to still get out there in the middle of winter?

- Carpworld

58 Pecky’s Progress Darrell becomes a dad but the lure of a quiet Bayeswater, and with fish showing, is an addiction he simply can’t resist.

- Darrell Peck

121 Tackleworld This month we look at rods from Banana Rods and Kodex, bankware in the shape of the Korda Singlez, some clothing from Vass, OTBT, Wofte and Military 1st – plus we check out some luggage from Fox and JRC.

72 It All Came Good in the End

- Simon Crow

In his desire to experience the buzz of catching a 50lb-plus UK carp once more, Greg Ellis puts the dangers to one side and steps into the crazy world that is the North Met Pit.

- Paul Forward

- Dynamite Baits

137 Echoes All the latest catch reports from around the globe – don’t forget to send us yours via www.carpworldmagazine.com - Carpworld

144 The Grey Lady of Lac Serreire

91 Rigworld Mike Kavanagh is back this month and looks at the original D-rig, speaks to James Williams to get his interpretation of the D-rig and looks at some new hooks from King of the Pond.

- Mike Kavanagh

97 Change.... it’s a good thing It’s easy to get stuck in a groove, particularly if it brings success. But never be afraid of change, as Jules outlines in the following.

- Julian Cundiff

106 Ask the Experts Mainline’s panel of experts answer questions on winter fish-holding features, ‘old school’ bait flavours, and if carp pick up our bait without us even knowing.

- Mainline

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- Paul Mallinson

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An April trip to France for Duncan Charman and Chris Petter brought success, when a counterbalanced boilie fooled Lac Serreire’s Grey Lady.

- Duncan Charman

153 Still Carping On Tim tells us what it’s like to spend two week at the mighty Rainbow in some pretty grim weather conditions.

- Tim Paisley

S i m o n C ro w

A trip of two halves

Crowy visits the mighty Rainbow Lake in France and shares some great fishing with Oli Davies.

Right Surveying the water in front of peg 6 on the first day Below View straight down the middle on my side of the swim

Rightly or wrongly I’d gone to the lake with a preconceived idea of how I would tackle things

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I’ve had a week-long trip to the legendary Rainbow Lake in France booked for almost two years. I was counting down the days to going when only a week before the off, Chris Felton, who I was to share the trip with, had an unfortunate car accident.

Thankfully, he only had whiplash but it put paid to his trip as he couldn’t move without pain, so had to sit this one out. I was gutted for him but as with all Rainbow trips it didn’t take me long to get a replacement. Oli Davies from Nash was quick to fill his place, and with this being his first-ever trip to the lake he wasn’t sure what to expect.

Like all of my recent Rainbow excursions, I’d got my place via one of Rob Hales’ bookings. Rob sadly couldn’t make the trip either but we had some good company in the group, including venue stalwarts Dave Treasure and Neil Snowy, who we met up with in the nearby village of Hostens on the Friday night. The four of us were to share similar water, with Dave and Neil in peg 11 and Oli and I in the bordering peg 6. I’d never fished the peg before but I knew it had good autumn form so we were at least going somewhere with a chance of action.

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Arrival When we pulled up to the lake on the Saturday morning we were met with a few solemn faces. It had been fishing moody and, although a few decent fish had been caught, it sounded like it wasn’t being its normal self. The best fish out had come from the usually quiet peg 9 where one angler had caught two 70s on his last morning. Our swim had been slow with only a couple of fish during the week but, with peg 9 not being too far away, we remained optimistic as we knew we weren’t too far away from fish.

At 10.30am we were given the okay to go to our swim from the owner Pascal. We had plenty of water available to us, approximately 10-acres or so, which is a good piece of the mighty venue. The most obvious feature was a long cigar-shaped island splitting pegs 7, 8, 9 and 11. Dividing this from the actual swim was a series of smaller islands on the left and, to the right, we had the channel running down to peg 5, as well as a series of bays which led to the famous Chocolate Box in front of peg 11 – one of the most productive features on the lake.

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GREG ELLIS

The Notorious Pit!

In his desire to experience the buzz of catching a 50lb-plus UK carp once more, Greg Ellis puts the dangers to one side and steps into the crazy world that is the North Met Pit.

After catching Roids from Kingsmead Island lake, I sort of found myself at a lose end. I’d caught it at the beginning of the season and I carried on fishing the Colne Valley pit for some months after, in the search of a few more of its prized possessions. Deep down though, I really knew I wasn’t going to get that same buzz again. The buzz that a 50lb carp gives to a man, the rush, the adrenaline, the feel of total elation – I knew I had to get my hands on another fish that could make me feel that way. It’s most probably down to the fact that Roids was my first ever 50lb fish, that actually made me feel that way on that particular Thursday morning back in April – but hey, how am I to know if I don’t go out and chase the buzz for another one of its kind.

After a plan fell through on another Colne Valley pit due to a bad algae bloom, I decided to turn my attention to the awesome North Met pit. It’s probably the most notorious pit of them all in the Lee Valley and home to the mighty El’s Fish at over 52lb, along with the likes of Baby Basil and Moonscale.

Some truly awesome and old fish were to be had there and, after some research, my mind was set on a full-on assault for the coming autumn and winter months, in a desperate bid to chase that buzz for the final furlong of a great year. Growing up in my town of Corringham, in Essex, and fishing local waters, everyone knew about North Met but very few dared to sign up for it. Whenever you heard the name mentioned, alarm bells would ring and usually it was because of strange goings on over there – or in some cases, death! The place is renowned for throwing up more than its fair share of dead bodies over the years, and its infamous name would keep on growing, even to this day.

Being just on the outskirts of North London, in suburbia, and just a short drive away from junction 25 on the M25, this meant it was a little closer to home compared to my previous waters over the years. The lake itself is an open public park lake run by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, and resides in a town called Cheshunt. After you manage to get over the train track, via the big bridge at the end of Cadmore Lane, you’ll then be greeted with 58-acres of crayfish-infested water. It’s full

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of savage bars, along with snags that are impossible to get to, with bays and islands dotted around all over the place. Couple that with a large out-of-bounds area and a low stock of a hundred carp, then if this place wasn’t demanding enough before I mentioned the stock, it’s just got a whole lot more demanding now. The struggle would most definitely be real and the challenge was on; this is where I would be spending my time in the search of reliving that ultimate buzz.

My first session was the last weekend of August and as I pulled up down Cadmore Lane that Friday night and set about loading the barrow, I had already etched a plan on the drive down – as you do. Although this was my first session I knew the layout well enough, as I’ve walked the banks many of times as I admired the anglers who were brave enough doing battle on the ghetto pit. I proceeded to push my barrow towards the bridge, before quickly turning back to double check my vehicle was locked. I then prayed that no harm would come to it

over the course of the weekend, as I left it sitting there in some sort of industrial estate which looked prime for a spot of late night thieving by the local youths. I did battle with the bridge and finally got on to the lake before heading straight to an area that had two swims controlling a large amount of the open water – the Left Boatyard and the Right Boatyard.

Having heard a lot about the place I knew the fish I wanted favoured a few swims on the opposite bank. The only problem with that was the fact that everyone knew that too. This is where my style of angling came in to play and that’s the bait and wait sort of method. If that particular fish gets caught from those swims but nobody really fishes opposite then surely it would get caught from the other side if I started fishing it and introduced a lot of bait. This method works well if it’s done properly and that’s exactly how I planned to do it.

The Left Boatyard seemed more suited to me and it seemed to control a lot more water than its neighbour, so

The place is renowned for throwing up more than its fair share of dead bodies over the years...

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Darrel l Peck

Pecky’s Progress Darrell becomes a dad but the lure of a quiet Bayeswater, and with fish showing, is an addiction he simply can’t resist.

If you are a regular reader you’ll remember I dropped the newborn babies excuse as to why I didn’t have much to write about last month... Well, that wasn’t exactly true!

The real reason I asked to write about some older stuff was to buy me some time over at Bayeswater! The previous year the lake had shut up shop from October and didn’t produce a take until the last day in February. The important difference from that year compared to this was there wasn’t an algae bloom, meaning that the extensive weed was providing cover and food late into the year. When I arrived back last autumn the lake hadn’t done a take in five weeks and within 24-hours I felt I was flogging a dead horse.

Nobody had caught a fish throughout the month of October and I doubted I had the formula to change that. The year previous to this though, the autumn of 2015, was the first I had fished Bayes and the thing I remember most was the normally weedy lake was completely weed free. I was told that there had been a major algae bloom in the summer that had caused a total weed wipe out. Now that year a few of us had some good results in November and like a wise old owl I’d not forgot this.

The going method that I’d come up with that year had been maggots. Just a full PVA sock cast towards some activity. On returning this September I knew the lakebed was once again desert-like and that maggots hadn’t been used yet. Armed with this tactic I caught four 30s on consecutive trips from peg 3 and another 30 (a repeat capture of Black Leaf) from swim 2 in October – all of which I have previously written about.

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Information is without doubt a primary weapon when deciding on where you fish...”

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IAN CHILCOTt

SOMEDAY

“Well, I’m here to tell you now each and every mother’s son, You better learn it fast, you better learn it young, ‘cause someday never comes” MAIN The sun rises on a thrilling new adventure

Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1972

BELOW ‘Someday’ never comes.. does it?

...they fed me all the dreams I would ever need and I applied for a Horton ticket

It was a few days before Christmas 1995, and Lynn and I were sat in the living room of our Army married quarters opening the latest delivery of Christmas cards. I lifted a rather large envelope, wondering what the hell was inside. Remarkably, it was a homemade effort and I must say, looked rather impressive. Once opened, I gazed at the outside and couldn’t help but laugh, it summed up the sender a treat! I had been fishing a water which formed part of the moat, for want of a better word, that surrounded the Aldershot Garrison for defensive and security reasons. For many years it had been a refuge for servicemen, who could fish it in their incredibly limited downtime. Unfortunately, as far as I was concerned, the Army then opened it up for civilian use and, very quickly, the syndicate places were filled. I was furious, so furious in fact that I became the head bailiff – probably the worst decision I ever made, to be honest, and as soon as I was able, dropped the poisoned chalice! My rather dubious annoyance at letting civvies into the club was very quickly curbed, however, when one cold and overcast evening in December 1994, I met the rather ‘overdressed’ Keith Jenkins.

To all intents and purposes, we were polar opposites! I was all about carp fishing in a rather covert and quiet way, whereas Keith liked a light on with some rock music playing in the background, whilst sipping a glass or two of the finest red wine. You would never have thought we’d get on, but we did and, after meeting his friend (and now mine), Dave Lane at the same water, my thirst for bigger, and harder to catch carp, began reaching a level

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Next Month

In the March issue

Ian Chillcott After the most harrowing few months for Ian and wife Lynn, there can be only one option for the immediate future... carp fishing, and lots of it!

Loz East The first in his new day-ticket series sees Loz visit Butterley Reservoir in some hard winter conditions.

Julian Cundiff The 70% game – why do some anglers seem to catch more carp than others?

Darrell Peck Away from big carp blanking at Bayeswater, Darrell manages to save the day on a local day-ticket water.

On sale: Friday 16th February 2018 | Subscribe now to have next month’s issue delivered to your door! www.gifts4anglers.co.uk

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