30 YEARS OF
THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST
SEP – 2018 Issue
336 £4.75 IN THIS ISSUE: ALBERT ROMP IAN CHILLCOTT TERRY HEARN MYLES GIBSON KEVIN CLIFFORD CARPWORLD 1
MARTIN CLARKE PAUL FORWARD ED BETTERIDGE JIM WILSON LEWIS READ JULIAN CUNDIFF LOZ EAST
ROB HUGHES DAVE LANE ADAM PENNING DARRELL PECK CHRIS BALL TIM PAISLEY KEVIN NASH
30
YEARS OF THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST
So if I were to give one piece of advice it would be simply this. Always keep an open mind and be willing to learn. But above all enjoy yourself, and as the man once said, “Don’t forget to smell the flowers along the way”. – from Rod Hutchinson’s Carp Book
CARPWORLD
18
Hutchy Back Along the Way
R
od has been so much a part of Carpworld over the years that I was going to get together with him to tape some material for this 30th birthday issue of Carpworld. Then, tragically, he fell ill, was taken into hospital and died suddenly the week before I had a trip across to Louth planned to see him. His passing was a shock to everyone, and has left a void for family, friends and the world of carp fishing which can never be filled by one man. He was charismatic, influential, larger than life, and has left behind such a body of work that to do him justice in print is impossible. He was a talented, inventive, perceptive, intelligent carp-fishing pioneer, and I hope his writing will be accorded the place in history that it deserves. His writing was inspirational, and in this issue, and next month, we’ll revisit some of his work in his own words to illustrate his remarkable angling mind, and his extraordinary sense of humour. Public figures, actors, film stars and writers live forever in the public psyche, and awareness, because their aura and their body of work never go away. Sadly, we’ve lost Rod Hutchinson but his presence will always be with us through his achievements, and his writings, which I have become very familiar with over the years through working with him on interviews, features and books, and publishing his last three major titles. My first involvement with Rod on books was in 1982 with The Carp Strikes Back, which I proofed and helped collate. I have two strong memories of that book. One is sitting on Rod’s spacious livingroom floor at Marsh Chapel creating order from Rod’s disorganization, and compiling the files for each chapter. The second is that he didn’t have a title for the book until late in the day. He wanted a play on a film title, and I’m pretty sure it was daughter Emma who came up with The Empire Strikes Back as the film title Rod wanted to reflect. By the time Carp Now and Then was nearing its final stages in the late 80s Rod’s domestic circumstances had changed and he was with Annie, and living in Union Street, Louth. I recall going across with Mary to do the final proof reading, which means there is an anomaly here. According to the lead pages Carp Now and Then was published in 1988, the year Carpworld was launched. As Mary and I didn’t get together until 1989 that publication date must be incorrect. It must have been published in 1989. There was a period in the early 90s during which Rod was wrapped up in his business, and his annual magazine, Carpscene. I wrote for Carpscene, but I’m not sure I saw a lot of Rod in the early 90s. I think we were just ships that passed in the night for a few years, a course we were both well capable of sailing down! Eventually we got our act back together for the Hutchinson Tapes, which ran for two and a half years in Carpworld, compiled in Rod’s latest – and final – spacious living room,
Part One: Rod and his writing
CARPWORLD
19
30
YEARS OF THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST
THE KEVIN NASH INTERVIEW Interview by Beverley Clifford and Rupert Whiteman Typesetting by Tom Gibson
PART 1
We ventured down to that hotbed of carp angling, Essex, and in particular to Nash HQ, earlier in the year, to ask Kevin some questions, based around his time within the industry over the past 30 years...
Carpworld: What is the first ever Carpworld cover image that you can remember? Did it have any significance, or inspire you in any way? Kevin Nash: I think it was issue number one. I’ve got an aged memory now but if I recall, wasn’t it the one with Rod Hutchinson in the mist at Cassien? I wouldn’t say that it inspired me but, wow, it was the first edition of this new magazine with great content. I’m gutted that I never kept it as I hear they’re very hard to get hold of now! CW: Yeah, I don’t think there are too many of them! KN No, they certainly have a value I think. Not sure if people know, but in the beginning Carpworld was bi-monthly wasn’t it? CW: Yes. KN: Do you know why it went monthly? CW: I don’t off the top of my head, it was a little before my time. KN: It went monthly because Rob Maylin brought his magazine, Big Carp, out. Tim Paisley, as soon as he found out, said to Mary, we’re going monthly and that was his response. CW: Good ol’ Tim, always likes a challenge! What was the first ever article that you wrote for Carpworld and what was it about? KN: I’ve no recollection, but I spoke to Julian and apparently in issue one, I think maybe in issue two and three, you had extracts from my rig book back then. What date was the first issue? CW: So it’d be 30 years this year, with the first issue being August 1988. KN: That would’ve included the rig book I brought out at the time called The Advanced Rig Book. I have actually written four different rig books.
CARPWORLD
62
30
YEARS OF THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST
a man for all seasons
September – a month to pull out all the stops, both indoors and out!
Loosely tying in with our anniversary theme, Dave explains how this month is without doubt his most favourite time of the season, and has been for the best part of 30 years! Dave Lane89
CARPWORLD
LEFT
S
The amazing Shoulders, from Horton Church lake
unday 23rd of September is the autumnal equinox, which literally means equal day and night. I am not overly sure why this affects the carp the way it does but, for someone who puts very little faith in all the lunar and celestial stuff, I do still believe that it has a huge impact on feeding fish. In fact, to be totally honest, I think that the entire month of September is a magical time and by far my favourite month of the year. If I had to pick three months that figured at the top of a catching chart, then they would be May, September and October – with February coming a close fourth. I have so many memories wrapped up in this time of the year, dating back a long, long way indeed. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, when I used to fish with my mate, Keith Jenkins, all the time, we had to pull out all of the stops to get as much bank time as possible. For some reason all our better results used to come in the middle of this month but, unfortunately, the twelfth was my girlfriend’s birthday and the fourteenth was Keith’s daughter’s birthday, so we needed some serious juggling, as missing just one session would be a crime against carp-angling. This was back in the days of Harefield and Pit Four, and continued onto Horton where I eventually landed my obsession, Shoulders, at a new PB of 44lb. Amazingly I had only just landed my previous best the day beforehand, The Parrot, at 43lb – further confirmation for me that September was not to be missed under any circumstances. I wouldn’t even like to guess how many personal bests I have beaten in September, or how many major target fish have ended up in the bottom of my net. I love this month so much, nothing stands in my way to stop me getting
on the bank as often as possible. There are often other circumstances in September that further enhance the feeding mood of the fish and one of these is the likelihood of the first big low pressure systems of the year – the ones that sweep in from the south and rip off the warm blanket of summer, exposing the cool, fresh mornings and dew-filled evenings of autumn. Days when the trees bend double and the leaves finally give up their tenuous hold and go scuttling across the surface; days like these are custom-made for carp fishing and the fish usually respond by leaping and rolling on the surface, sending plumes of bubbles back up as they plough into the bottom to feed. I remember one specific year that was a lot like this one really – a long hot summer, too much algae and weed, and the fish trapped in a cycle of lethargy that no bait could break. I had been fishing on the St. Ives complex, mainly on the big Meadows and Fjords section and, like everyone, I had been struggling even to find fish in the thick green and stinking waters of summer. For some reason that I can’t actually remember now, I had suddenly decided to swap lakes and have a few trips over the road at The Lagoon, another of the lakes on my ticket. I started off well with the second biggest fish in the lake at the end of August, but it was a few weeks later when everything really came together. I had been carefully watching the weather and tracking a huge south-westerly wind system that was working its way towards us and gathering momentum as it did so. The weatherman gave me an estimated time of arrival and I was halfway along the M25 when the first signs of it turned up, whipping the embankment bushes and trees, and my excitement grew and grew, until I eventually turned off into Meadow Lane and bumped down the track to the lake.
CARPWORLD
90
30
YEARS OF THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST
Pecky’s Progress
After his recent success on his better known syndicate water, Darrell opts to spend some time on a much quieter venue that he’s held a ticket for but not fished for some time
S
So, of all the places, I sit here typing this while sitting on a plane destined for Perugia! I probably should have typed this piece during my last session, but the cold beers were more than I could resist during this incredible heatwave and World Cup run. Having had most of May and at least half of June free from any work commitments it’s high time I did some work... I’m flying over to meet the Italian Korda team to learn a bit about their fishing whilst offering up any pointers and advice. A tough job I am sure you will agree, but more about that next month. I’ll pick up from where I left off, which is what I have been up to since the capture of the Coconut Common. The following week I decided to have one last trip to Bayeswater to see if I could catch Buggies mirror. This fish was extremely due, having not been out in over a year and was said to be massive, having been captured during a winter netting. This plan fell at the first hurdle as, after arriving at 4am for this session, they began to spawn almost immediately. Realistically, this was a blessing in disguise as I knew I should have made the effort to make the two hour drive to a snag-infested venue I have a ticket for. So that’s what I did, I turned the van round and off I went. For those of you that haven’t read my previous diaries on this venue I’ll give you a really short brief. The lake is roughly 30-40 acres in size and holds around 80 fish, give or take, I guess. A guess is all it is though, as information is sparse at best and without an otter fence the numbers are continuously reducing. In the main, the stock seems to be mainly long, lean 15-25lb fish, or the ‘otter dodgers’ as I like to refer to them. On top of these though there are potentially a handful of big fish that could be 40s at the right time. I’d had a trip the previous April and a more sustained summer campaign, but I hadn’t fished it since the previous September when the 15-man syndicate had first started. On arrival at around 8am, only Lewis Porter was fishing, and he was in the process of packing up. The first swim I came to is CARPWORLD
40
CARPWORLD
41
Win
ne n e va l l e y K e ttle s Co mpe tito n
NENE VALLEY KETTLES – CARPWORLD ANNIVErSARY GOODIES
COMMEMORATIVE KETTLES AND BANKWARE UP FOR GRABS @NENEVALLEYKETTLES
NENE VALLEY KETTLES
Hand engraved kettles and bankware
If you’re on social media you’ll have probably seen the handywork of Nene Valley Kettles floating around for a number of years, as many anglers have shared their customengraved kettles adorned with their favourite capture. Ben, the man behind the engraving tool, is extremely talented and his ability to draw fish that replicate real life ones is outstanding. The engraving doesn’t stop with just the kettles and he’s been doing spoons, etching glasses and various other items of bankware. He’s also recently done some limited edition hand-drawn stickers. If you’re wanting a custom kettle for yourself or get your hands on some of the limited edition hand-drawn sticker packs make sure you check out the Nene Valley Kettles Facebook and Instagram pages.
THREE PACKAGES TO WIN 1 x Kettle, Spoon and Stickers 1 x Kettle 1 x Kettle
CARPWORLD
72
HOW TO ENTER To be in with a chance of winning one of these super prizes, simply answer the following question:
Question: What is the name of the man behind Nene Valley Kettles? A: Ben Redley B: Ben Redfern C: Ben Ridley ENTER ONLINE Head over to our website www.carpworldmagazine.com to enter The competition is open to UK and European entrants only. The three winners will be selected at random and will be notified within 28 days of the closing date. No cash alternative available.
START DATE: 24/08/2018 END DATE: 18/10/2018
CARPWORLD
73
30
YEARS OF THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST
Next Month In the October issue Julian Cundiff Jules takes a trip down memory lane, with more musings from yesteryear and the days when a curly perm was (almost) socially acceptable. Steve Briggs Steve runs the rule over Lake Balaton in Hungary, with an actionpacked stay from some lakeside accommodation on Europe’s largest natural water. Jamie Bellhouse Jamie recounts a story from his time across the Channel, fishing in comfort at a well-known holiday venue and then taking on a wild river in the same session.
Dave Lane, Kevin Nash Interview - Part 2, Darrell Peck, Ian Chillcott, Tim Paisley, Paul Forward, Loz East, Hutchy Back Along the Way - Part 2
On sale: Friday 21st September 2018 | Subscribe now to have next month’s issue delivered to your door! www.gifts4anglers.co.uk
CARPWORLD
210