Carpworld 342 March 2019

IAN CHILLCOTT

DAVE LANE

I’M STILL STANDING

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST

inside

MAR – 2019

RICHARD HARKER

Issue

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WHITE SWAN AND THE QUEST FOR TRIPLE ROW

£4.75

WIN R E LT E R SH RTH E E PION AP WO & WR 98

£799

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S A LVA T O R E P E R R O N E

T H I N K TA N K

CHRIS BALL

W I N T R Y T A L E S F R O M A C R O A T I A N PA R A D I S E

H O W T H E U K ’ S F I N E S T P R E PA R E F O R S P R I N G

B A C K I N T H E D AY – H O L LY B U S H L A K E S

ALSO: DARRELL PECK DAN KILGOUR

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TIM PAISLEY

GAZ FAREHAM

SIMON KENNY

STEVE RENYARD

DAVE LEVY OZ HOLNESS

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LUCKY 13 Richard Harker

Tales from Dinton

Richard ‘Hutchy’ Harker has been a member of the Dinton Pastures’ White Swan syndicate for a number of years. Here Richard gives us an overview of some of his stand out moments, culminating in the capture of the impeccable Triple Row, one of the country’s finest carp...

M

y first introduction to Dinton Pastures was in the autumn of 1992. At the time, pike matches were being held there, mainly on Black Swan Lake, but occasionally on White Swan also. The matches were run throughout the colder months and acted as a qualifier for the British Pike Angling Championships. The half a dozen rounds at Dinton were always well attended, with plenty of pike being caught. It was also extremely well run, with tea and biscuits too (if you were quick enough!) in the Loddon Room afterwards, together with the presentation and prize giving.

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I was fortunate enough to win a couple of these matches and generally did pretty well at Dinton, qualifying to make the final several times – which was, at the time, held on the Ramsey Sixteen Foot and Forty Foot Drains, in Cambridgeshire. This was the first year I met Simon Bartlam, who was running the matches and we got along straight away. He was very knowledgeable about the venue and the surrounding countryside. Simon was taking over from Derek Brant, who was retiring, as the new park ranger. Derek, who also attended the pike matches, was a great character and was liked by

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everyone and although he has passed on now, is still fondly remembered. Simon had appeared regularly in Carp-Talk at the time, with some cracking fish he had caught from a lake near Ringwood. He had also earned his apprenticeship at the famous Sparsholt College and everyone agreed he was the perfect person to run such a great fishery as Dinton Pastures.

It was during this time that I had made my initial enquiries into fishing the White Swan Lake syndicate. I had read about the big carp the lake held and had seen the success of other anglers, through

the pages of the various carp magazines at the time, and the pictures had mesmerised me. I just had to try to get a place on there! Simon had told me that it was a long, long waiting list – maybe 10 years or more – but I added my name anyway and just hoped that perhaps one or two people would drop their names over time, or give up their tickets, so that maybe my wait would be shortened.

In the meantime I simply held my breath and carried on fishing my regular waters, which included a few local lakes, as well as the odd trip to Oxford, where I fished Linear Fisheries’ Hardwick

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ABOVE

The Chanty at 41lb.

A new PB for me, and on my first overnight session at the venue

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A Trip Down Memory Lane

Horton is a venue that is synonymous, for most of us, with our introduction to the author in the early 90s, as he very quickly set about catching everything that was on offer in its depths, prior to moving on to Wraysbury, Sonning, St Ives, et al and carving his name into the record books Dave Lane

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A

s with a lot of the lakes that I have fished over the years, Horton came about more by accident than good planning. I have never been the sort of person to plan ahead, preferring to leave my life up to fate and just make the most of the hand I get dealt. I find it more exciting that way and it also saves the bother of thinking too hard about the future. I believe it was my mate, Keith Jenkins, who first saw the article in one of the weekly carp papers, an article explaining that Horton was turning into a syndicate and a limited amount of tickets would soon be available.

If I remember correctly, we were about numbers 56 and 57 for a 50-man syndicate but, as is always the way, a few turned down the offer once it became a financial reality and, consequently, we got our tickets the first year it opened. Horton was a strange one for me at the time, not only was it smaller and far more ‘organised’ than the larger and wilder pits I was tending to gravitate towards, but it also had a bit of negative publicity due to its recent stocking. Just up the road from Horton nestled the famous Longfield Lake, scene of many a historic capture and, even more so, many a wild night and outrageous carp angling story or two.

Something happened at Longfield, something that led to the end of the syndicate, the draining of the lake and the removal of the stock for transfer into Horton. The politics, the truth or indeed the rumours surrounding this happening are not mine to relate and, to be honest, bear no relevance to the fishing at Horton or this article.

The first year following the transfer, Horton was fished on a day-ticket basis and many, including myself, thought this was a strange decision and in a way quite unfair on those big and historic carp. I don’t mean that to sound elitist in any way, but we all thought that a fixed syndicate would offer a bit more stability to the situation.

The powers, that were at the time Leisure Sports, obviously agreed and the new syndicate was launched a year later. Prior to the stocking, Horton had been a trout lake and, as such, was quite well maintained and cut back to allow the room needed for fluff chucking. Like a lot of trout venues it was also incredibly clear water with amazing views down through the crystal layers and into the considerable weed growth that adorned the bottom of the lake.

Horton at that time was quite a unique situation; on one hand the stock was already known and revered by everyone but, on the other hand, the lake was a total unknown quantity and the entire syndicate would be formed on the same day with no hierarchy or ‘resident experts’ to create an atmosphere into which you felt as if you were intruding – as is the case with a lot of established syndicates. In fact, I put the whole ‘good vibe’ that Horton had in the early days down to this shared camaraderie and, of course, a great bunch of lads of which many are still firm friends almost 30 years later. In general, Horton

ABOVE

Still firm friends 30 years on – CP BELOW

Keith with Shoulders

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START DATE: 15/2/2019 END DATE: 22/04/2019

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Salvatore is an angler of some repute on the continent – what’s more, he has an eye for a photograph to capture not only the carp he comes across, but, the amazing landscapes he chooses to surround himself with while out there doing what he loves Salvatore Perrone

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Next Month

In the April issue Brian Skoyles Brian wills the warm weather on with a look at some advanced floater fishing tactics...

Echoes This month’s round up of goings on around the globe, featuring a number of scaly fish, as well as a few truly big ones to boot...

Jim Wilson Jim reminisces on an autumn spent wandering down Lincolnshire way...

Also next month...

Loz East, Darrell Peck, Dave Lane, Paul Forward, Ian Chillcott, Oliver Gandzadi, Chris Ball, Tim Paisley ...

On sale: Friday 22nd March 2019 | Subscribe now to have next month’s issue delivered to your door! www.gifts4anglers.co.uk

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