Urban banx london 9 by Official Nash Tackle

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Caption. Peace and quiet in the heart of the city

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Fresh from his road trip across Europe, Alan Blair returns to the capital armed with a handful of Sawn-offs and his angling pal, Alfie Russell to try and tempt some knarly old inner city carp 1 2 9

By:

ALAN BLAIR

Photography: OLI DAVIES

NOV 2016

TRIP TO LONDON HAS BEEN LONG OVERDUE,

1. With the light fading we tried for a quick bite free-lining in the pool 2. Big Brother is watching

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not just bearing in mind we have visited some less popular, populated and iconic destinations but also because I don’t get to go fishing with Alfie enough. A double whammy if you like; not only was I going to fish in the capital I was getting to do it with Alfie too. It’s kind of an obvious one really and I haven’t got any excuses as to why we haven’t already come fishing in the city as I do visit quite a lot. Anyway, the time finally arrived but like all of these trips it wasn’t simply a case of deciding I was going to head off into London and do some fishing. There were months of chatting with various people, watching some videos on YouTube, looking at social media and planning with Alfie; long conversations on the phone and via e-mail about possible venues and ideas. There were some I wanted to visit, some Alfie had fished and then some that neither of us really knew a lot about. We had just heard whispers of carp being there.

A NIGHT UNDER THE CAMERAS

So between us we formulated a plan. Obviously this wasn’t just fishing so we had to bring people like Oli and Carl in on the conversation as they were going to film it and immediately reality kicked in when we were proposing to hit 20-odd venues in two days. That was just never going to be possible so we had a bit of a rethink and we whittled it down to just a handful of venues. Some people might wonder why we don’t just go to one place, but the point of this is the adventure, the mission, the scenery and going to see different types of watercourses from tiny ponds to massive river systems, and not boring them out. It is all about trying to get a quick bite and trying to bring some variety into the whole thing. It would be all too easy to go to the Heath for 48hrs or to go and sit on the Thames for 48hrs but that’s not really a reflection of what myself or Alfie likes doing and it isn’t really the concept of Urban Banx anyway. On top of that, if you are stuck at one particular venue and it doesn’t fish well over the course of the session and you don’t have other options then it can be a wasted venture. To have alternative venues and have done prior research is so important. When it comes to this particular session and indeed any similar adventure we make the effort to get pins dropped on maps and street names and postcodes so if we rock up somewhere and it is busy or not fishing we can head off somewhere else.

So we had a rough plan, which to be fair we did pretty much stick to. It started with me picking Alfie up on a Tuesday evening. I should have known better really. Even though I had been speaking to him right up until two-hours before picking him up, and I had in my head that everything was fine and he was all organised and knows what we are doing, to turn up to pick him up and find that he wasn’t in shouldn’t have come as a great surprise! He had been off fishing for the afternoon at a local pond catching carp no bigger than the palm of his hand, having a lovely time oblivious that there is us stressing in the heat wanting to get going. He wasn’t contactable on his phone and there is no answer at the door… We still love you Alfie! Anyway, eventually he rocks up and of course he has nothing organised, and then asks me a question that to this day still leaves me in shock! “Are we night fishing?” What sort of question is that? Of course we are night fishing, you have seen the plan, you helped me construct it over these last few weeks! So we eventually managed to get a bedchair out of him, and to be fair he doesn’t normally use one! He usually stays awake all night catching carp or sleeps on his mat! We eventually managed to bundle Alfie and a very small pile of fishing tackle into the van and headed further into London. It wasn’t the best time to be travelling but the traffic wasn’t too bad. Before we knew it we had arrived in Bow. Now Bow to me, having grown up listening to urban music is the urban music capital of England. It’s where a lot of big grime artists have come from. Music is also a massive part of my life so it was a bit of a pilgrimage. Anyway, despite its gangsta links, Bow was actually quite peaceful. We parked in a housing estate

on the edge of the river Lea and jumped out for a look. This particular spot Alfie had fished in the past, catching quite a few fish during short sessions last autumn. We had a really good look round for about half an hour but we didn’t see anything. Don’t get me wrong, the spots looked great and the area looked amazing but we didn’t actually see any carp. It was a case of carrying on the search, so we walked a little bit further, half a mile or so across some common land and arrived at the end of the river Lea, where it meets the tidal section. It’s a really interesting spot: a weirpool of sorts, with huge mechanical tidal barriers and a massive lock to allow boat traffic through. There was a large control tower, but although a window was open there was nobody home. It was all accessible via unlocked gates and there were no ‘No fishing’ signs visible. We had a good look around and it wasn’t long before we spotted some fish in the clear water below the lock, the tide being out. We saw one carp, then a small group, and watched inquisitively as they swum into the pool and mooched around. There was nothing massive, but we looked at each other and

agreed, “This will do, we have found a few, let’s try and catch them!” We headed back to the motor for the gear and got back as quickly as we could. The light was fading fast and Alfie and I both being as bad as each other, instead of getting pitched up for the night, out came the Sawn-offs and we started by flinging bits of bread and bunches of maggots all over the place, trying to get one of the fish we could see to take a bait. Strangely they were just not interested. I don’t think we spooked them particularly. We both definitely presented baits close enough to them for them to show some sort of interest. The closest I came was actually to two of the bigger fish in the group, lowering bread down into water that was only 2ft deep, and the two leaders of the pack almost kissed the bread with their gill plates as they passed by either side and carried on swimming. They showed absolutely no interest whatsoever. I tried in the deeper water of the pool and on one particular cast my bread drifted out of sight and as I was twitching it slowly back up, not really trying to entice a bite but bring it back slowly so as not to lose the bread from

“ALFIE AND I BOTH BEING AS BAD AS EACH OTHER, INSTEAD OF GETTING PITCHED UP FOR THE NIGHT, OUT CAME THE SAWN-OFFS AND WE STARTED BY FLINGING BITS OF BREAD AND BUNCHES OF MAGGOTS ALL OVER THE PLACE.”

NOV 2016

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3 3. At low tide the flow was gentle 4. A large lock lay the other side of the tower 5. One section had no ladder access to the water so we brought our own 6. That peace was interrupted by the river water being released and wiping us out

the hook, a fish followed it up. I couldn’t really see at the time what it was but it was definitely a fish. I made another cast and got a take straight away. I couldn’t see what it was but the hookbait was engulfed and I struck to set the hook… Anyway, of course it was a bream, and that’s when the fun and games started. It was one thing hooking this fish but another thing altogether landing it. We had done a recce of the spot beforehand and although it was a high, sheer drop down to the water there were ladders that made it accessible for landing fish! It wasn’t easy though and I’m scared of heights anyway, probably the only fear I have in life. Anyway I managed to climb over the railings and lower myself down this ladder above the surging river below. Oli passed me a net down and hanging precariously I eventually I stuck the net under what was a big tidal river bream. I had a photo with it because I love anything different and exciting. A much as people say bream fishing is boring, that was definitely the most exciting bream I had ever caught! With darkness falling we got the rods out. The tide was out but due to rise up to high tide around 1am. We got the rigs into position while we could still see the baits going down and ensure we had NOV 2016

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perfect presentation. We both kept it really simple with nice heavy leads and short hooklinks and a combination of Key Cray and Citruz hookbaits, fishing these in solid bags or with little PVA Sticks. With all the rods out we could still see fish in the area by the light of the street lamps, so we hadn’t spooked them with our presence and I went to sleep that evening very confident that one of us would get a take. We didn’t get to bed until after 11 and we were woken not long after by the tidal barrier being opened and the water that had been held back surging through, complete with weed and other assorted debris. Any rods positioned on that side of the pool were immediately taken out, and after a couple of unsuccessful at-

tempts to reposition them they were left out until morning. It was complete wipe-out, you could have put 20oz of lead on and still not been able to hold bottom with the crap coming through in the strong current. However, we did have a rod each round in the lock channel out of the flow and with Alfie having caught from there previously we went back to sleep still thinking we had a chance. Morning arrived without further event and we were both up bright and early. The tide had receded and the river was exactly the same as when we went to sleep. There were still a couple of carp in the area, and the rigs that were not wiped out we could see were fishing perfectly still. My Stick had dissolved and you could see the Citruz Stick mix around my hookbait. Alfie’s solid bag was all still there, and the first time that we looked over there were three carp within just a few feet of our rigs, but still we hadn’t had a pick up. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the bait and rigs, I just don’t think those fish were in the mood

“IT WAS COMPLETE WIPE-OUT, YOU COULD HAVE PUT 20OZ OF LEAD ON AND STILL NOT BEEN ABLE TO HOLD BOTTOM WITH THE CRAP COMING THROUGH IN THE STRONG CURRENT.”

for feeding there at that time. That was to be proven later on in the session… BACK ON THE ROAD

With plenty more spots to visit rather than waste any more time there on fish that were not up for feeding we packed up and set about the rest of our day. Next, we headed over to Shadwell Basin. This is probably one of the better-known urban carp fishing spots in the centre of London. There have been a few videos on YouTube and other blogs detailing it. We were really hoping that this venue would be an opportunity to get some bites. It is well stocked with a large number of small carp in there so fingers crossed it would allow us to get a bend in the rod. It was also going to be an opportunity to meet up with Dubstep DJ and producer NOV 2016

DJ Hatcha. We found some parking, which is something to bear in mind for all urban fishing. It is one thing not paying expensive day ticket prices but certainly in places like London you are going to incur parking charges. As soon as we laid eyes on the water, we had that sinking feeling. It was pea green with a serious algae bloom. Almost immediately we were intercepted by one of the locals who turned out to be the chairman of the club that runs the fishing on there. He lived in one of the flats opposite and obviously cared deeply about the water. He was actually meeting someone from the EA there that morning with regards to stocking it with some smaller fish to encourage junior fishing. He told us it wasn’t fishing well because of the algae bloom, but we decided we would give it a couple of hours as I was due to meet a guy called Terry there. Now Terry, AKA

DJ Hatcha, is one of the pioneers and biggest names in the Dubstep scene, and he is also a mad keen carp angler. We have been in touch over the years through social media and it was a great opportunity to finally meet up with him in his home city. He lives locally and was going to come down for a chat. We got the rods out quickly, and in typical urban fashion, a couple of families turned up and jumped straight in for a swim! They were soon joined by other swimmers and sunbathers, and a group of early morning drunk Poles! Soon after, a load of kids turned up and started sailing. Swimmers, boats, drunks, and all before lunchtime… that’s the beauty of urban angling! I had really refined my approach knowing that there were quite a few small fish; I wanted a bite! I went in with light running leads with a bit of Cling-On putty up the line and 8lb hooklinks

7. First stop of the day 8. As usual, we were sharing the water with swimmers, sunbathers and drunks 9. Hatcha and I had a good chat on camera 10. I scaled down my setup hoping to sneak a bite quickly

11. Our interview was interrupted by a bite! 12. No monster, but we weren’t complaining to be off the mark 13. A beautiful mirror from the very centre of London

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14. Back on the tidal for a second night 15. The moon rose and so did the tide 16. A change of

and size 10 hooks coupled with soft rods. On one rod I fished a tiny whittled down white pop-up with a small liquidised bread Stick, and on the other two rods I fished a simple MagAligner – one fake and a couple of real maggots on a size 10 hook with a couple of handfuls of maggots around it. A lot of people might be reading this thinking, ‘I don’t want to get pestered by those’ but I wanted to catch something and if you really want to catch you usually can if you refine your tackle accordingly. Hatcha turned up and we got on really well. I loved hearing his stories about the music industry, and also about his angling. As we were chatting he dropped a couple of interesting analogies between fishing and music. How he would turn up at a rave playing in front of 20,000 people and couldn’t put a foot wrong. Whatever he dropped, no matter if he messed

up a mix, the crowd would just carry on going mental. Sometimes fishing is like that, you turn up at the lake and they are boshing out and no matter what you throw at them, rig or bait, you just catch them. However, on the flip side he told us about other gigs where the crowd are melts, really not up for dancing and raving. He could drop all the bangers but for little reaction, until out of the blue one track hits the spot and they do all have a little skank before

going back to non-reaction again. Fishing can also be like that: the fish not up for it until you find that one tactic to winkle out a bite. A great analogy I thought. Anyway, blow me down, during our little interview one of the rods only ripped off and I was lucky enough to catch a pristine little Shadwell Basin common. It really lifted the mood having done a blank night. We had gone somewhere where to be fair, if I wasn’t meeting Hatcha, we

“FISHING CAN ALSO BE LIKE THAT: THE FISH NOT UP FOR IT UNTIL YOU FIND THAT ONE TACTIC TO WINKLE OUT A BITE.”

was this sickle tailed common 19. The locals couldn’t resist a look and a picture 20. Chaos.

Why I do it! 21. Netting and release at low tide is not straightforward!

“IT FOUGHT LIKE MAD BUT HE WAS SOON SAT IN THE NET, A STUNNING DARK MIRROR FROM THE CENTRE OF LONDON.” would have moved straight on without wetting a line but with perseverance and refining the tactics we managed to winkle one out. With the parking running out we said our goodbyes, arranging to meet again for a proper fishing session, and maybe a night out! AT L A S T, S O M E A C T I O N !

The next stop was only a short hop away, a small canalised section of water which definitely held a carp or two. NOV 2016

rig brought immediate action 17. River warriors 18. The biggest of the bunch

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Armed with just a Sawn-off each, Alfie and I went stalking in the heat of the day. There were a few people sat eating lunch by the water, and there were also carp! The water was clear and weedy and we could see a pair of fish cruising about. As we walked further we found more, around eight in total. The biggest was a common of around 18lb, the others between 5 and 10, but amongst them were a couple of heavily scaled mirrors. Alfie went one way and I went the other, chucking bread and maggots in front of cruising fish. I messed up my first chance, miss-

ing one. One of the stunning mirrors was right in close in the weed supping on some algae and I lowered a hookbait in but pulled it straight back out of its mouth. It didn’t spook, which can happen when you don’t actually prick them. They don’t really realise what has happened I think. I then hooked one and these fish are definitely not fished for because when I hooked it, it came clean out of the water like a marlin and shook the hook almost immediately. A little frustrated I kept chasing them and eventually had another chance at one of the mirrors. Again, it went ballistic, clearing the water acrobatically as I set the hook. It fought like mad but he was soon sat in the net, a stunning dark mirror from the centre of London. To catch such a beautiful carp with the Shard in the background was amazing. With the fish returned and the rest of the carp well and truly spooked we wandered back

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in the direction of the van. As we walked past, a guy in a high vis vest who was sat rolling a cigarette, recognised Alfie and stood up shouting, “Alfie”. As he has done so his phone has gone flying off his lap and straight into the water, disappearing into the silkweed on the bottom. He was obviously furious, probably feeling a bit silly. Rolling his trouser legs up he went in to try and retrieve it. A passing council worker offered his litter picker but he wasn’t having much luck locating it. With a crowd starting to appear I decided to intervene. Off came the joggers and I went in feeling with my feet in the weed. Luckily for him the phone had come to rest on a ledge before the drop-off and I managed to retrieve it. Should it have fallen a few centimetres further it would have been in deeper water and no-one would ever have found it. We bid him farewell and carried on searching for fish.

We stopped off at Canary Wharf and what a place that is. It was far too big a chunk of water to invest too much time on, and although Alfie and I checked out a few of the smaller weedier bays we didn’t see any carp knocking about. We did, however, find a group of carp in another piece of water in the docks. These were all decent fish, the smallest around 25lb and the biggest possibly mid-thirty. Certainly a much better stamp of fish than we were expecting! We spent half an hour dropping slow sinking baits in front of them as they milled around a large weedbed. They were not interested in anything on the surface and neither were they interested in anything falling in front of them. Both of us presented baits in their faces numerous times, but in the middle of the day and with the temperature in the 30’s, the last thing they had on their mind was eating. We left them in peace

rather than hassle them too much with a view to returning sometime soon for a proper go… THE NIGHT SPOT

After grabbing a late lunch, we headed over to Burgess Park to suss it out, as the plan for the final day was to spend some time floater fishing and Zigging there. Rather than waste time in the heat of the day trying to stalk we figured our time would be better spent investigating the park, as neither Alfie or I had fished it before. We found some parking and had a walk around. There were a few anglers on and we had a quick chat with them. It was mega busy with people taking advantage of the summer sun, but it looked like it was prime for a bit of floater rota the following day. After some deliberation we decided that NOV 2016

our best chance of a bite that evening was to head back to the tidal river again. Back in Bow we went to check out the same spot but even though again there were carp knocking about I just had a gut feeling that we would have a repeat performance of the previous night. No matter how perfect the rig and baiting something was telling me we were not going to catch from there. I do wonder if it was one of those areas that they liked spending time in, but not to actually feed. So we carried on searching and downstream, probably less than half a mile away was another really interesting area, where another stream joined the main river where it came round quite a sharp bend. The flow had created a deeper area of water before flowing off under a bridge and shallowing up again. Bearing

in mind that at low tide a lot of the river was just 2ft deep this was around 6ft so it felt like a natural holding area. As far as urban fishing spots go, it was also very pleasant and we could tuck ourselves right out of the way under some big willows, hidden from the towpath of the canal that runs behind. The canal also gave us another option should the river prove unproductive. However, the river did look promising here and seeing a carp swim through sealed the deal and we went and got the gear. Alfie and I got the rods out, spreading them to intercept any passing fish. The evening was quiet, and the tide rose again. Once more we found ourselves wiped out several times and the whole night was a bit of a write-off again. It wasn’t until first light that our fortunes

“THE WATER ERUPTED AS IT WAS SO SHALLOW, THE CLUTCH GOING INTO MELTDOWN AS THE FISH BOLTED.” NOV 2016

changed. I was up at 5:30am, and with the tide receded I could see fish in the shallow silty water out of the main flow. I flicked bread at them and they began taking the odd piece, although the swans were making fishing very difficult. Carl was also up and we discussed how best to catch them. He mentioned that on the tidal river near his house the anglers were using Chod Rigs to catch them and it made absolute sense. The river was very different here to the weir pool upstream. Instead of fishing rock hard gravel it was horrible stodgy mud. I quickly swapped my rigs over and tied on 10mm white Citruz pop-ups. Well, blow me, did I not catch three fish in under an hour! It was epic! You could see them sending up plumes of silt and mud and as they approached the hookbait you knew you were going to get a bite. The water erupted as it was so shallow, the clutch going into meltdown as the fish bolted. Landing them was a challenge with the big drop down to the water, and Alfie had to lean right over with a long handled net while Oli grabbed his legs in order to be able to reach, which made it all the more exciting. They were all character fish too, with scars and wounds that were a legacy of the harsh environment they live in. One of them was a fully scaled, and the other two commons, one with a distinctive sickle tail, and as we

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were photographing them some of the locals came for a look. Everything about it was why I go. It just ticked every urban fishing box for me. All of a sudden the mood was lifted and we were all really positive. We had a slow pack up, the tide flooding back in and calling an end to any more feeding activity from the carp, with them melting away leaving just mullet.

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33. What a way to end 34. Back ya go 35. It was great to fish with Alf, and we vowed to meet up soon for Part 2…

THE FINAL LEG

After a bit of a van sort out in Tesco car park to get organised for the final leg of the mission, we returned to Burgess park, arriving at midday. The previous day the fish had been stacked up on the back of the wind in front of two swims, and luckily for us they were empty. Anyone reading this take note: I still make this mistake time and time again. In my head all the fish were still going to be there, and there were fish in front of us, so out comes the gear and we start fishing. What we should have done is what every angler should do and carry on looking before fishing. There could be potentially far more fish somewhere else. We gave it a while and although there were fish evident it was clearly not going to happen. Anyway, I went for a wander and a few swims further down someone had thrown in a load of tortillas and the carp were coming up and eating them. Although they were not going mad there were certainly more carp down there so Alfie and I decided to move down. I went in with fixed Zigs and a sloppy spod mix that mainly consisted of cheap mashed bread, adding to that some Gyro Bug Mix, Riser Pellet and some liquids. Alfie was fishing a straight Bolt Machine approach. It wasn’t a case that they weren’t hungry, as soon as we started baiting they really got on the feed. It took us a little while, but eventually we got a few fish taking confidently and it wasn’t long

22. Chatting to Del the bailiff with the Shard in the background at Burgess Park 23. After a move, Alfie bagged the first fish off the top 24. Burgess

contains some real jewels like this linear 25. Alfie was using straight floaters 26. While I went for sloppy spod mix, that covered everything! 27. had a

bite on a Zig but lost it 28. With time running out I hooked another on a Zig 29. Two nice park lake commons 30. A spawned out old snake of a common

for Alfie 31. I love it when people stop for a look and show some interest 32. A mint 20-plus common that made the session

before Alfie hooked one, only to lose it. We both missed another chance each on the top and it was another hour before Alfie hooked another one, this time landing a banging zip linear after a mega battle. It was a bit slower on the Zigs but I knew why: I wasn’t fishing them close enough to the surface. I lengthened them and within 10 minutes I had a bite. It felt a decent fish and I couldn’t stop it from kiting right and round a pole out in the lake. It was still attached, as we could see the pole moving. Carl jumped in and swam out the 30 or so yards to where the fish was stuck, managing to free it but in the process the fish also managed to free itself from the hook. Disappointing but at least it wasn’t left tethered to the pole.

“ALFIE AND I HAD A BRACE SHOT TOGETHER WITH TWO AMAZING PARK LAKE COMMONS, A GREAT MOMENT THAT WILL STAY WITH ME.” NOV 2016

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I didn’t have to wait long for another chance, showing how critical it is to get the depth spot on, but that one fell off right at the net. Luckily Alfie was having more success on the top and landed another, a gnarly old snake of a common all spawned out. We carried on feeding, and the fish were taking in spite of a strong wind. Just as time was looking like it was going to run out for me the water erupted as a decent fish hit the Zig. This final take did result in a carp in the net and it was over 20lb too! It really made for an epic ending to what was not even 48hrs fishing in London, a proper whistle stop tour. Alfie and I had a brace shot together with two amazing park lake commons, a great moment that will stay with me. As always, I learnt a lot, questioned my fishing approach, went to some amazing places and clocked some new places. We had only scratched the surface of what London had to offer, and we all agreed that we would return to the capital soon and delve a little deeper, beyond the obvious, in search of more urban carp… ALAN BLAIR