Carpworld 344 May 2019

LOZ EAST

ED BETTERIDGE

DISCOVERING DAY TICKETS - FARLOWS LAKE

THE FORGOTTEN LAKE

THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST

M AY – 2019

inside

Issue

344

DAVE LEVY

£4.99

X MIKE KAVANAGH

RIGTALK

WIN COP NED

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riti ‘Nut BY

TIM

PA I

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ROB BECKETT

B E R NA R D S I S S O N S

D AV E L A N E

P L AY I N G T H E P E R C E N T A G E S

A N I N T E RV I E W W I T H B R I A N S KOY L E S

A T R I P D O W N M E M O R Y L A N E A T W R AY S B U R Y 1

ALSO: TIM PAISLEY IAIN MACMILLAN JULIAN CUNDIFF JOE TURNBULL MATT EATON JASON TROUGHT IAN CHILLCOTT PAUL FORWARD

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08/04/2019 16:43:40

A Trip Down Memory Lane

This month sees Dave recollect tales from the three seasons he spent fishing on Wraysbury One, during a time when it truly was at the pinnacle of carp fishing in this country. If you have read his first book, you’ll know some of what’s coming next...

Dave Lane CARPWORLD

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O BELOW

Famous landmarks

f everywhere I have ever fished, Wraysbury One holds the greatest memories for me, the most pivotal of all my carp fishing adventures. There is no doubt that I had already learnt a lot about the art before I set foot on those historic banks, but, you would have been a fool to arrive unprepared, it was legendary and daunting in equal measure, both exciting and frightening in its vastness and wild abandonment. Following my successes on Horton, I felt on top of the world, ready to tackle anything, but, I still remember, quite vividly, the mental knockback I received when I first set foot on Wraysbury.

That first visit was to the Dredger Bay area and the weather was horrendous, with a huge swell tossing the moored boats about in the south lake, while white-capped waves rolled at my feet, briefly exposing various abandoned mopeds and shopping trollies in the margins as they sucked back out like beachside breakers.

My resolve was being tested but I felt foolish giving up before I had even started, and so I returned a week or so later and tried to get to grips with opposite side of the lake, the Douglas Lane area, but, to be honest, neither the weather, nor the view, was much rosier. After crossing the Douglas Lane car park, passed an old, burned out car, and

standing at the edge of the wave line on the shore I was seriously worried. There in the margins was a dead seagull, an old oil drum, bobbing in the swell, and various pieces of broken boat and chunks of buoyancy foam from the hulls of long dead craft.

I set off regardless, head-down into the wind and with not a clue where I would end up. It seemed that every corner I turned would only expose yet more water, it was everywhere, and it was all part of the same lake, wild, unkempt and yet somehow, against all odds, beautiful.

My third visit was, fortunately, in more pleasant climes and together with my old mate, Phil Thompson, we strolled in the sunshine and even saw a couple of carp, cruising at range across the still surface. The lake was like a different place entirely and with the added advantage of new shoots on the trees and the sounds of birdsong trying it’s best to rival the planes screaming by overhead, I started to fall in love with it, enchanted by its mystery and the potential to lose myself within its boundaries; quite literally at times.

This was back in the days of the old ‘closed season’ and we came to spend most of that spring at Wraysbury, walking huge circuits, getting to know every nook and cranny, including the best spots to stop and buy ice creams or cold beers along

e

CARPWORLD

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08/04/2019 16:44:17

Effort equals reward

Rob Beckett summarises playing the numbers game with this in-depth look at just how to get the best results from the low-stocked pits he prefers to target...

Rob Beckett CARPWORLD

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B ABOVE

Watch any areas of likely activity with the use of a decent pair of binoculars

LEFT

Getting up and down trees will allow you to keep tabs on the fish as they come closer in

RIGHT TOP

Utilising braided main line allows you to accurately fish the ‘spots within the spots’

RIGHT MIDDLE

Once everything is done as best as possible, you can sit back in confidence, knowing it is likely to pay dividends

RIGHT BOTTOM & INSET

Keep an eye on any hatches, the carp will also be gorging themselves on the free, natural larder, if only from below

LEFT

Rob checks for fresh weed growth in the spring

Rob Beckett.indd 28

ig carp fishing, for me, is all about percentages.

The more you can stack in your favour, the better the chances are of you catching the fish that you want. Especially on the larger, lowerstocked pits, if you put the effort in you will be rewarded for it.

Locating fish is the most important thing, but, also, pinning down areas that you think they will, or have seen them visit, can be just as helpful. Finding these areas and then identifying spots within them are vital. If the fish arrive in a bay on a warm day, what is their route out and what spots are they actually visiting? A lot of my fishing is based on where the fish are feeding, not where they are chilling out. Finding a group of carp lazing in a weed bed is great, but where are they going to be doing their feeding?

My first few trips of the year are recce trips more than anything. If I catch, then great, but I don’t expect to. The main thing I am trying to achieve during these sessions is to gain knowledge on the lake, taking note of any spots in key areas, so that I can drop back on them with ease at a later date.

Finding any bars or deeper areas is great to take note of as well, so that when the fish do start using certain parts of a venue, you have an idea in your head as to what they are doing. If you have no understanding of the topography of the lake bed, when you watch the fish show, you cannot really build a good picture in your mind of what they are doing.

If you are familiar with it however, you can soon work out that they are using a bar to move out of one area, or avoid a plateau when they move in to another zone. This means that should you find some fish in a bay, you know that when they vacate or arrive in the bay, they will use a particular spot as a passing point and you can get them to drop down and feed.

They will often be found in snags or shallow water around the reeds. This is when I like to investigate the area around them, slightly further away from the holding area, so that I can find something prominent I know they will use when they come in and out. The kind of spots I am looking for will be natural feeding areas. Spots that the fish are hitting because of the natural food larder will always be the best ones, as they feel comfortable and safe feeding there.

Fresh weed growth is something else I pay a lot of attention to, as this will also carry lots of natural food and the fish absolutely love it. No matter what the area is that they are feeding on, there will always be a sweet spot within that. This is what I am looking for, the part of the spot that is the cleanest. You can feel and find that just through the drop, it will go down that little bit harder each time and that is where the rig needs to go as there is obviously something there that the fish really like and feel comfortable feeding on.

Identifying these spots gets you more bites, fact. It may take 50-60 casts, but when it goes down with

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CARPWORLD

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08/04/2019 16:49:42

The Forgotten Lake This time last year, Ed decided to take time out from his writing and just spend some time fishing for himself, away from the madding crowds, the only question was where...

Ed Betteridge

T

his last year has been a changeable time for me in terms of media involvement.

I haven’t written an article in a magazine for over 12 months, which feels a bit strange, because I have penned numerous pieces each year for the past 13 years. In fact I have written monthly diary pieces for one magazine or another since 2011, so a year off was a massive change to the routine. The monthly diaries mean I have to catch a fish each month to create interesting content, which is not an easy task on some of the waters that I fish and has put a degree of pressure on my angling. However, having a year off without ‘diary pressure’ and talking about my time in print, I have been more active on social media, which is great at getting a snapshot of my time out to people, but it lacks a depth that a full written story can provide. I have also been choosy on what I have publicised and what I have held back, especially because the main water I have fished has been off the beaten track and allowed me a bit of solitude and space that is hard to find in the modern scene. Therefore, some of the fish in this and subsequent pieces have never graced the pages of a magazine, or a phone screen. In fact some predate phone screens!

CARPWORLD

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The start of April seems to be that time when most tickets activate and terminate, and I didn’t know exactly which path to take. I had already decided to drop my ticket on the Northants water – it had been really kind to me in terms of numbers of fish I had banked, from the low stock of around 45 carp, but it was ultimately ending in failure to catch the one I really wanted, and the fish I had joined for, Tyson! During my four year, on-and-off quest, I had caught pretty much all the other residents, including some of the other A-Team members three or four times over. I had got to a point on there where I had just lost the buzz for the place and I was getting disheartened with all the recaptures. So it was time to move on and resign myself to the fact that my name wasn’t on Tyson’s photo list and it was time to go somewhere that really drove me.

I did fish a couple of sessions in early March as a last hurrah before my ticket ran out though.

After a cold, blank and uninspiring night, I took a walk around the 15 acres to see if I could find a fish or two, most of the walk was fruitless as it was evident the fish were still in winter mode due to the cold conditions. I felt I was merely going through the motions, until I walked into the swim at the bottom of a long, arm-shaped bay and saw a small object break the surface in

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08/04/2019 16:49:43

- Brian Skoyles with Bernard Sissons

Light Bulb Moments

Brian and Bernard sat down recently to discuss some of the standout memories, moments of clarity and thoughts from a lifetime spent on the bank...

ABOVE

A Patshull Park common weighing 29lb 12oz

RIGHT

The Gate Swim at Pascale’s Lake on the Goncourt complex

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08/04/2019 16:46:44

CARPWORLD

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Next Month

In the June issue

Tony Atkins Tony begins the first of a 3-part series Echoes – Steve Briggs Steve’s monthly look at what has been happening around the globe Brian Skoyles Brian interviews the very successful Russ Widgington

On sale: Friday 24th May 2019 | Subscribe now to have next month’s issue delivered to your door! www.gifts4anglers.co.uk

CARPWORLD

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