WIN
MHR MKII BROLLY WORTH £200! THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST
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JIM WILSON
DEC – 2018
ALONG THE WAY
Issue
339
JIM RETURNS TO THE F O L D W I T H TA L E S O F A L A R G E B O AT I N G L A K E AND THE HORSE
£4.75
BACK TO BLACK
PECK VS THE ORIENT
B A C K I N T H E D AY
W E C AT C H U P W I T H M Y L E S G I B S O N A F T E R
D A R R E L L I S B A C K W I T H T H E C U L M I N AT I O N O F
C H R I S B A L L R E C O U N TS T H E S TO RY O F O N E O F
YET ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SPELL ON DINTON
THIS YEAR’S FOREIGN EXCURSIONS TO THE
T H E S O U T H ’ S B E S T- K N O W N C A R P F R O M T H E 8 0 S
D U R I N G L A T E S U M M E R A N D E A R LY A U T U M N
FRENCH BIG-FISH MECCA
AND 90S, LONGFIELD’S ‘THE LADY’
ALSO: TIM PAISLEY STEVE BRIGGS IAIN MACMILLAN DAVE LANE PAUL FORWARD IAN CHILLCOTT LOZ EAST
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Along the way After a lengthy sabbatical, we welcome Jim Wilson back into the fold. He starts back with tales from a large venue that on/off he has been pitting his wits against over the past couple of seasons - Jim Wilson -
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Carp Diary
On familiar ground – and towards greener pastures...
Having had a bit of a sabbatical on the boating water earlier in the year, Myles turns his attention back to Dinton and, in particular, the two largest linears that swim in Black Swan Lake Myles Gibson
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Once I had caught the big mirror from the boating lake, I could have stayed on for a few of the other fish in there, but I decided it was time to get back on Dinton in search of those linears. I had one night of my current session left and armed with plenty of bait, I made the trip down there for what little time I had left. It was a blisteringly hot day and, on my walk, I found quite a few fish in one of the bays. There was a lot of weed in there, right up to the surface, and I could make out a few large shapes milling around and sunning themselves. As I strained for a better look at which fish there were, one of them was clearly one of the big linears. I dropped a bottle in the swim and made my way back to the van to get the gear. I quickly assembled the rods and lowered them in close, attaching a PVA foam nugget on each, to protect the hook and make sure the rigs were fishing. I broke up a couple of boilies and dotted them around each rod and sat back and hoped for the best. The night melted away into nothing and by dawn the chance felt like it had gone. I threw everything on the barrow and went off to get the boat and some bait. I put the marker rod, blocks, bait and boat on the barrow and set off to do some prep work. Taking notes from my little ‘spot book’ I wrapped up to some of the features I had logged. When the lead landed on a few it went down with a bang – there wasn’t any drag from thick weed. I knew therefore that the spots were almost certain to have silkweed on them, so I gave each likelylooking area a good hit of particles, pellets and boilies in the hope that feeding fish would clean them off. With all the work done, I was eager to get back the following trip. I was back fishing the lake I had put most of my effort in for the past few seasons and, on a high from the boating pit, I felt like my angling was going well and I was making all the right decisions. On my arrival the following week, I stepped out of the van and was greeted with some intense heat. I got back in the swim that I thought that they would be in and checked the spots that I had baited. As the lead dropped through the water, it hit the lake bed with a solid thump. I tightened up the rod tip and was met with a no resistance, just a nice, smooth glide – result! The fish had been on it, clearly, so it was a case of getting some rigs out there. I popped the float up on the spot and went out in the boat and baited with 5kg of bait, casting a rig either side of it. I flicked the other one close in, and the traps were set. The trip was a success, seeing me bank six fish – the biggest being a 32lb common. They were all stunning carp, real character fish and all had clearly enjoyed a good clear-out during spawning. I felt as though the prebaiting had definitely worked, but the key was how quiet and neglected the area was. I baited the spot once more, with
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ast autumn a long session to the Orient wasn’t really viable, what with Natalie ready to burst while expecting our twins. This year, however, I have tried to focus my longer stints here for no other reason than I had felt like I really needed to sample some more of it. Looking back over my previous sessions, particularly the infamous 2015 autumn ‘van fire’ one, I am probably more proud of these captures than any others in my fishing life. The photos taken at the end, made it easy to forget the mammoth blank that took place beforehand, not to mention the immense determination it took to get to that point in the first place. Make no mistake, the Orient is extremely demanding, both physically and mentally, and to
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coin a phrase from a Dutch guy I met there ‘it’s not for pussies’. Having said all that, it is home to extraordinary beasts that have rarely seen the bank, having grown entirely naturally, in an environment that seems to produce the perfect examples of how I like my carp to look. If you’re a regular reader you might remember on my first visit this year in May I caught a 64lb (29kg) mirror. It was a great start so early in the session but I was soon put firmly back in my place with a confidence crushing seven-night blank. In total I fished 10-11 nights during that trip and it was only in the final 48-hours that I managed to turn it around, albeit with four small commons. Through the summer I have mostly been ‘work fishing’ for Korda and by doing as much as I could throughout this period I have managed to keep my calendar
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Darrell Peck
Pecky’s Progress Following on from a fortnight-long session we covered in last month’s issue, Darrell is back with the culmination of this year’s foreign excursions to the French big-fish mecca, Lac d’Orient. At just under 6,200-acres in size, it’s not for the fainthearted...
entirely empty through September and October. A few years ago I might have dreamed of fishing this entire autumn period, but with age, experience, and now two young kids to contend with, this is beyond even me these days. I am sure there are a few people out there that dig the fantasy of a really long session on somewhere like the Orient, but in reality, the mental resilience required is beyond most. I don’t say that to big myself up, because fishing is a personal exploit, but just to try and get across that it is sheer grit that is required most to succeed here. My plan for this autumn was for two sessions, one in September and one in October – 10 to 14 days each, with 10 to 14 days between them. The prep for such sessions is insane and power is the name of the game. In the old days I read about loons rowing and rocking up for these long stints
with three leisure batteries, but that’s certainly not for me. I never want to be under-gunned and as a result I have spent a small fortune, not only on boats and engines but batteries, chargers and generators. I was as ready as I have ever been to take on this giant again, I just had to go and do it! For my first session I wanted to try an area I had not fished before and as luck would have it I was tipped off nobody was there. I was in the garden/garage/van sorting my kit out when Trevor Cooke sent me a text saying he’d dropped in at the lake for a recce. He’d driven there just so he could familiarize himself before a long October session – that’s the kind of dedication I spoke of earlier! We exchanged a few messages and without any prompting, he mentioned this particular area was devoid of anglers. Suddenly, standing
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ABOVE
The tail end of 2015 saw my most memorable session ever... for all the right/ wrong reasons
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A Man for All Seasons
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As we get set to enter the lean times, Dave looks back at the last couple of years, identifying exactly what he has done to ensure he still keeps on catching, even once the temperatures have plummeted... Dave Lane
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The Balaton
Experience
In keeping with much of Steve’s fishing in recent months, he has turned his attention to another venue that he has been keeping tabs on for a number of years. This venue would require some serious planning ahead, as it is definitely not your ordinary fare, covering almost 150,000 acres in total! Steve Briggs
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Next Month
In the January issue Dan Cleary – Goslawice Gold Dan decides to travel further afield than most, visiting a Polish venue that is cropping up more and more in conversations of late. Mark Walsingham – Redmire Restoration In what I am sure will be an eagerly awaited feature of the magazine over the next 12 months, Mark returns with the second part of his series detailing the hopeful return of Redmire to former glories. Adam Clewer – The Mystery of Time Before disappearing to pastures new across the pond, Adam discusses his theories on the movements of time, or lack of, while we partake in our beloved pastime.
On sale: Friday 21st December 2018 | Subscribe now to have next month’s issue delivered to your door! www.gifts4anglers.co.uk
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