Talking Carp Magazine - Issue 9

page 5 -An Askance View Of Carping by Crackoffpage 12 -Hidden Gems of Bayeswater . . by Scott Geezer Grantpage 18 - My Carping Summer of Madness by Andy Hydenpage 27 - Rigs, Bits and Tackle by Dan Winterpage 37 - A Foreign Affair by Rich Austinpage 47 -Living the Dream by Keith Moorspage 57 - Its Only Natural by Simon Pomeroypage 65 - Rig Tying Made Simple by Stuart Mellorspage 71 - Return To Murphys Lake by Gary Maypage 77 - Autumn, the Years Last, Loveliest Smile by Danny Smithpage 84 - Xmas Wish List by Brian Dixonpage 88 - China Lakes Reviewpage 93 - Disabled Angling Award

Welcome to another edition of Talking Carp... the magazine written bythe angler, for the angler.Autumn is well and truly upon us now. The leaves are starting to fall intothe lakes and the surrounding bushes, lilies and reeds start to disappearas quickly as they came.... and that means one thing ... its pop upseason!! Stiff hinge rigs, chods, multi rigs, and the Ronnie rig all comeinto their own now at this time of year as we try and present our baitsabove the settling mulch that is gathering on our lake beds. So, beforecasting out your chosen hooklink and bait, just take a moment to lookaround your pegs... are you surrounded by trees? Are they looking bare?Where have all those leaves gone??It’s also that time of year when the carp tend to go on their winter feed...it’s no coincidence when you consider all the free food that’s falling intothe lakes right now as we have just discussed... so fish accordingly, thinkabout how you present your bait and how much you feed to get them inyour peg and keep them there...This month we have some thought provoking writings to really get youthinking as the long dark nights draw in!! these writings will blow thecobwebs away and get the grey matter ticking over….Make sure you check out Crackoffs piece on how changing your view onyour own fishing can make a difference.Dan Winter turns his rig thinking upside down…. Stiff rigs over weed??Oh, yes he does…We welcome Simon Pomeroy who brings a completely different, anddare I say very successful, view on carp bait and feeding habits.Anyway, I will continue with that anoth-er time... for now, have a great month! Wewish you all good luck and tight lines tothose fishing and keep those catch reportsand articles coming in, and watch out forsome big announcements in the comingweeks.All the best, Team Talking Carp.Email [email protected]

THE BEST ALARMS?CTHREYASNSTWAERL’SCLEAR gardnertackle.co.uk

An askance view of carping. Part 2 Keep It Simple Stupid by Crackoff

Keep It Simple when Lenny gaining anStupid Middleton started understanding of rig using the hair rig for mechanics. At the carp, (and you’ll notice same time, I spentBy now I’m hoping I don’t say invented, many a school day because it was already some 17 miles awaythat you can see that a concept used for from my school, satthe purpose of these perch) he shattered studying at the Londonarticles is to help you the idea that carp School ofre-evaluate your views was uncatchable, and biochemistry, sneakingon your fishing. The some sort of megaway we all look at into the Kings College intelligent species on the Strand, andour fishing, needs to that was the previous using their extensivechange. We aren’t view. My view of carp library in an attempt tofishing for anyone else, is that there is no such understand thewe are only thing as a riggy carp, requirements neededfishing for ourselves, just cautious ones. As to fulfil and attract carpand to try and fish for Izaak Walton taught in a boilie mix.others benefit is “study to be quiet”.pointless. There are And that is how I now The 80’s were a hugetoo many views, and think of carp fishing, step forward as far astoo many that are let them know you’re carp fishing went. Thewilling to pull us back. there and you willMy first article was understanding of ourbased around how struggle, stay hidden, target’s needs, and and you will be how to get the hook toothers perceive our rewarded. behave exactly howPB’s and how that can Way back in the mid to we wanted it to, and atcause a late 80’s, many people exactly the right time,preconceived view of spent a huge amount both gave us massiveus as fishermen. This of time trying to steps forward in ournext article looks at create the next Hair chosen pastime. It washow we can take a Rig. I was one of those a time of learning forstep forward and start intrepid fellows, and an awful awful lot ofgetting away from the spent many a nighthype that surrounds fishing an all new carp anglers around atcarp fishing. Way back contraption, and that time, and though my time was spent

seeking answers, and sure I would successfully on themto all intents and never have had if I were good, but thepurposes, getting the hadn’t been playing time spent makinganswers I wanted, I about and trying stupid them began to grind.can honestly say it was things, but the simple Work, family, friendstime well wasted. truth is I now fish a rig and relaxation all takeYes, I learnt how to that is basically a rig time, and somethingunderstand rig me- that is 30 years old must give, and fourchanics, the funda- in design. 95% if not hours a week makingmentals that get a more of my fishing, is bait recently became ahook to react how I spent casting out the quick online purchasewant it to, and see and humble Hair Rig, as of a respectable foodunderstand how on its day, I know it bait. I still get a bitsomeone else’s rig will hook just as many bored sometimes andworks. My time at the carp as any other rig decide to change baitcollege gave me a I have worked with. I from one season to thereasonable under- have had carp from next, but being lucky instanding of how well known “Riggy” that fishing certainCarbohydrates, Fats, waters on it, and carp waters in certain areasProteins, etc are all from not so well known areas through myused by the body of hard waters on it, so angling life has madeliving creatures, and why would I go and me some greatalso gave me a fair change it? contacts in fishing,understanding of Years of making bait means that a fewthings that would make and catching quite phone calls and I cana carpinvestigate a bait. Butlet’s leap forward 30years and see whereI am now with regardsmy fishing, and howthis knowledge has gotme where I am.Years of playing withrigs, have caught me afair few carp. Some I’m

usually get onto an area or spot that it though I won’t go intosomething a bit doesn’t want to feed it on this piece, justdifferent reasonably on is only going to give know that confidencequickly. limited success. If that is one of the biggestAt the end of the day, spot is somewhere the factors in success.the biggest thing I’ve carp feels threatened, It doesn’t mean youlearnt over 40 years or cautious around, use the best bait youof carp fishing is that then you are already can buy, nor do youboth rigs and bait, are onto a loser. need to use the mostonly there to do a job. The last thing I’ll say technical rig there is.Neither has to be on bait and rigs, is that Simplicity has a wayperfect, but they both no matter what type of keeping you doinghave to be good of water you fish, big the things that matter,enough, and that’s or small, easy or hard, and that is putting thewhere I like to be. By you should always use rig in front of feedingleaving out the effort what you have fish. . Once you knowand time of thinking up confidence in. your bait will catcha new wonder rig, or Understand why your carp, and your rig willsifting throughvarious company bait and rigs work, do the same, it leaveswebsites looking for because with you completely openthe new wonder understanding, comes to fishing how youingredient for a bait, I confidence, and should. . Moving whencan release that timefor either actualfishing, or more oftenthan not, just watchingthe water I amconcentrating on. Thismakes the chancesof catching far bettersimply as I can startto see where I needto cast that rig with itsbait on. Relying on abait to pull a carp into

effectiveness too will see a far better easily by unscrupulous result than if you sit “experts” sponsored by trying to tie the latest companies to peddle wonder rig. We are led their wares. If after 40 to believe that if we years of carping, I can don’t fish these rigs,needed, needn’t mean tie an effective rig, with we won’t catch, and ifchanging rigs, I guess a hook, some hooklink we aren’t on this newI could fish half a and a swivel, a rig that bait, the carp won’tdozen swims in a half I will happily fish in any even come to dinner.a dozen waters, and water I have fished so It’s rubbish. A goodother than a minor far, and some have bait, and a good rig,hooklength change, been real in the right place willI’d be just as confident headbangers,in any of those swims then surely thewith just my basic rigs. need for allThe only exceptions these little ex-would be heavy silt or tras is minimal.silk weed, pretty much Yet every weekeverything else I would in the anglingbe 100% happy fishing press is anotherover. Heavy silt or silk twist on a rig,weed are dependent another added cost, catch more than theon the depths of either, and best bait and a wonderand if only light, longer another unnecessarily rig, in the wrong place.hooklinks could again confusing addition to Well, enough of myfix the issues. try and remember. All meanderings intoI think the super rigs these rigs, baits, and madness. Tight linesbrought out in the must have bits of guys, and see you onangling press do have tackle filling the young the bank sometime.their place in carp or novice mind withfishing, but at the fluff. But I’ll say it now,Crackoffthat young and novice and concentrate on thesame time, I also feel get rid of all this clutteranglers get dragged main target, theinto believing the actual fishing, and you





Hidden gems of Bayeswater Syndicate Lake byScott “Geezer” Grant

Finally, after a few of me and to say I was combo...years of being on the excited was an Once all the rods werewaiting list I got a call understatement! sorted the house wasfrom Gary Bayes to After a quick walk set up and the kettlesay my ticket was around I decided to went on. Steve Buggavailable, and do I fish swim 4 which the head bailiff camewant it? Well after a had done a few fish around and welot of deliberating all throughout the winter. chatted and drank teaof 2 minutes I said of The weather was cold for over an hour.course I want it. with a north easterly Steve knows his stuffFrom the moment wind; the only positive and what’s happeningGary first got the lake sign was the pressure over both theI took an interest. I which was 1010. Zigs syndicate and day tknew in years to come are deadly at this time icket lakes. Youthe place would be of year and I knew a couldn’t wish to meet aspecial. The fish that few fish had come out nicer bloke and willhe stocked in there to them, so I decided advise anyone.which were doubles to fish 3 rods on zigs It wasn’t long beforeare now proper units! at different depths and the night startedThe fish I have been the other rod a bright in and drawing in andkeeping a close eye on pop up with a few baitsover the past couple scattered around it.of years are real stun- Zig fishing is an art inners: The Tiger fish, itself, it can be athe Caribbean Queen deadly tactic… onceand the Coconut you locate the depth atCommon, but to name which the fish area few. These fish are sitting at.on everyone’s radar The zigs were fishedand you can see why. at 4, 5 and 6 foot all inMy ticket started on 10ft water. I usedthe 1st April but due to different coloured foammy shifts I couldn’t get and combinations ondown there until the each rod until I got13th. a take, then all zigsI had 2 nights ahead would be fished to that

May and I turned up at the lake on a Sunday evening around 18:00. It was quite busy but most of the anglers were doing overnighters and going to work in the morning.my bed was calling after only a few As I watched the waterme. As I laid there with seconds the line went the fish were in frontjust the radio on all slack!!! When I reeled of swim 4 in numbers.sorts was the rod in my hook link There was an anglergoing through my had been cut half way in 4 so I decided to gohead. Mainly what up! in swim 8 opposite ashappens when one of I was gutted but the this would give me themy rods goes off. only fish that could best view in the earlyI drifted off to sleep have done that is a morning andquite late and was pike. I wasted no time hopefully the fish willawoken in the morning and tied a new hook show themselves.with the sound of coots link and cast it out to Throughout the nightgoing mental. I sat and the same area hoping the fish were activewatched the water for the next fish that takes but my rods remainedany signs of activity it will be a stunning motionless. First lightwith a coffee in hand. carp. Needless to say I was up and sureAll of a sudden I had nothing else happened enough the fish starteda single bleep on my and after a quiet day to show in front of 4.right hand rod, my and night it was time I wasted no time andarsehole was twitch- to pack up and head started packing up anding like you wouldn’t home. My next getting my gear aroundbelieve, I was bolt up- session also drew a to 4. The angler wasright just watching the blank in a different gone by 07:00 and Irod tip, then my alarm swim and it wasn’t until started setting up verybeeped again and the my third session that excited.rod tip knocked I lifted it all seemed to come I kept the noise to athe rod and felt together. minimum and didn’tsomething on the end It was the middle of cast the rods out until

late morning. high teens. at that. The fish put upI had made notes frommy previous trips so Monday came and a great fight and afterI knew exactly howmany wraps and went and when I woke 5 or so minutes I slidlandmark to cast eachrod to. The bait for on Tuesday morning the net under athis trip was the ever the lake was covered cracking fully scaled.faithful Nut Job pop upfished over a in fog, I couldn’t even Bailiff Mark Twin wasscattering of freebies.The weather wasn’t see the island. Fish fishing in peg 2 andtoo bad with daytimetemperatures of 16 had seen me playingdegrees but the N/Ewind did have a bit of the fish and made hisa bite coming straightinto me, but way around to me.according to theweather app the wind With thewas due to changetomorrow to a nice camera, weigh slingS/SW which meantdaytime temperatures and everything elsewould also be in the sorted I lifted the fish from her home and safely put her in my unhooking mat. As I unfolded the net I was were crashing but I blown away, the fish couldn’t see where. was in immaculate There were a couple of condition, a real gem anglers on who turned Mark recognised the up last night but I didn’t fish immediately and know if anything had said “well done mate”, been out. Within the on the scales the fish hour the fog started to went 32lb but to be lift and a beautiful lake honest the weight was started to emerge. totally irrelevant, just As I laid watching the catching a fish from water my middle rod here is an burst into life, a one achievement in itself. toner!!! Mark obliged with the I jumped up lifted the camera and took some rod and was playing cracking photos. . With my first Bayeswater the fish returned the carp and an angry one rod was rebaited

and cast to the same fish moved down to my Bayeswater is aarea and a few right, but with anglers special place with topfreebies dispatched. I already in them swims anglers fishing therewas due to leave later I didn’t have the option and I cannot wait tothat day but now I just to move again. get back there.wanted to stay. I Be safe if you’re out onmanaged to blag a day I sat it out for another the bank andoff work and that was night but to no avail, remember it’s onlyme sorted. so come the next fishingUnfortunately, nothing morning I packed up All the bestelse happened that and drove home “Geezer”day and the wind grinning like areally got up and the Cheshire Cat.



My Carping Summer of Madnessby Andy “Hauling ” Hyden

My Carping Using 2 types of hook have 16 fish... a greatSummer of the Fox Armapoint session. The next SSC and ESP Krygen. session I did was onMadness I like a curve shank Fisherwick again but hook it seems to nail this time I went on them every time and my winter peg which II started my spring into the hooks being ultra had a great campaignsummer campaign sharp very rarely get on here on this peg .Ifishing my local hook pulls. After fished one rod onto thewater Fisherwick lakes baiting up my treeline which is onlyin Lichfield. It’s a areas that I know about feet deep baited3.5-acre lake with produce fish of the it up usingloads of features and past it didn’t take long Naturesbaits Alphavarious depths. I before I started to get but this time usingstarted off my in amongst the fish Naturesbaits Alphasession on the trout and over the next wafters and White Icebank which is couple of sessions the wafters which was anshallower fishing to a catch rate started totree line and reeds it get better and better. instant hit and in thedidn’t takes long for The carp seemed to following 48 hrs endingthe carp to start and be getting on the feed up having 13 carp andget on to the feed more and still using 1 catfish all off the treebaiting up using my faithful rigs and my line.Naturesbaits Alpha Naturesbaits Alpha I 2 weeks later I didboilies which has been started to hit the bigger another 48-hr sessiongoing in here for a fish and the odd on same peg with mycouple of seasons now grassie. Then the cats right hand rod fishingand using a c started to make anombination of 3 rigs; appearance!! My firstthe blow back rig and cat out of here wasthe kd rig… basic rigs 47lb 10 oz, the fightcompared to some of was unbelievable itthe rigs anglers use took me 40 mins tobut they work for me get it in. The headso I don’t need to on it was huge. Thatcomplicate things. session continued to

signs of a carp boshing out over one of my spots I baited then fizzing started so I put a couple of handfuls of Alpha over my spot and casted out with a White Ice wafters on. I hadn’t even put the bobbin on when my rod ripsto the treeline, my off. It felt a nice fish, walk around the lake and after playing it formiddle rod 2 rods to see if any signs of 10mins it decided tolengths out in front fish showing ,I decided give up as soon ason me and my left to fish the trout bank got it I the landing nethand rod about 3 rods again this time I was it was a decent 20lb+lengths out. All 3 rods sticking to one and when I weighed it,on different hook baits method all three rods it was 24lb 10 oz… aover a bed of Alpha. on a blow back rig with nice start to theThis session I intended Naturesbaits White Ice proceedings. Ito swap things about wafters on over a bed rested same rod outusing a combination of Alpha, the first thing and putting a couple ofof hook baits trying to 1 did what put a few handfuls over the topsee what the fish pre- hands full of just picked my secondferred but things didn’t Alpha and try to get rod up to cast out mygo to plan didn’t matter the fish in my swim first rod rips of againwas hook baits I used and give them a free certainly a few fish inI was catching on all feed . After setting up I area I landed that onerods that session and I put a few more hands another 20lb+!!! Aended up having 16 on each spot and just fantastic start I recastcarp so it looked like I watched the lake for my first rod and put mywas going to have to about a hr rods still second rod onto thecome back next week up against my brolly edge of my first rodto see what I could just sat and watched just went to pick up mydo. So the following the lake after about third rod when secondFri I arrived I had a 20 mins I saw my first

rod rips off…. this felt end of March until end get at Fisherwick forlike a catfish straightaway as it kept to the of summer my surface 4.30 in thebottom and gavepowerful runs but after rods come with me. morning and they30 mins I finally got itto the surface and it There is nothing like instantly takingwas indeed a catfishweighing in at 33lb getting carp competing floaters. I use the fox4oz. Not surprisingly itwhen quiet for a for pellets off the bubble float becausecouple of hoursso time to have a top… that first they are self-hookingbrew. I try and keepeverything simple and slurping sound of the and when you see thatmy style of fishing isbait little and often and season when carp pair of lips come upmy rigs are verybasic. I find no need to taking of the surface and take your hookover complicate thingssometimes you must sends chills through bait and a big swirl andswop and changethings especially if my body I absolute your line rips off in mycarp are beingcagey. If they are up love it and I have had opinion there isin the layers oris see them on some fantastic results. nothing better,thesurface then Sometimes in the sum- sometimes I have tomy floatingpellets come mer I just come for work hard at it for aout for myfavourite type the day only with my couple of hrs to getof fishing onthe surface, I surface rods and pel- them taking confidentcan’t wait from lets. My biggest of the but when they are it is surface is 26lb 10 Oz fantastic. which was a My summer carping beautiful common, I madness is nearly over have also had a mirror with 100 carp caught 26lb 10 Oz of the and a few cats and as surface, sometimes I it ends and descends into autumn and into winter, I did my last session on Fisherwick a week ago.

I decided to back! As soon as Igo toFisherwick to got the better of ittry and get acouple of the or what I thought Ibigger fish inthere, I was was it proved mesupposed toget their on wrong. I knew thisFri night after work butI didn’t finish early so had to be a goodI went early hours ofSaturday morning so one for here theythis session was onlygoing to be just over are not massive24hrs because I hadto be gone for 10 am lengths out where I in here biggest isSunday morning. Iarrived and one of my had a few carp from just under 30lbfavourite pegs was on other sessions and mirror but their areempty so after barrow some beautiful com-in my stuff to my peg my middle rod waswhich is the big point half a rod length to the mons just under 27lbI’ve put 2kg of Alpha right of baited spot and which don’t come out14 mm boilies in on my third rod was on often ,so after 20 mins2 spots, I set up my 1.5 rod lengths to the I started to get nervousbrolly set my rods up right of my swim not hoping that I didn’tand only fished boilie far from the edge of get a hook pull then itthis time… no wafters deep hole which goes come to the surface. Ior pop up just 18mm to nearly 30 ft, it wasn’t knew when I seen it IAlpha on a blow back was hooked into onerig. Once I had set up long before my leftI put a few more baits hand rod went off... it of the big commonsout then I put my left and I was buzzing,hand rod just in front was aof me about 3 rods mid-double, so I recast but getting more and it back out and with 20 more nervous but it mins it rips off again, was getting closer af- this time playing the ter another 5 mins it carp was completed kept coming up taking different? The move- gasps of air so I knew it wouldn’t long just ment was slow but powerful, I was hoping hoping the hook didn’t it was one of the big pull then it was in the girls so I was playing it net. The feeling I got for about 10 mins but when it slipped into the as I got some line back net you anglers know the carp was taking it that feeling.

I unhooked the kettle on to sit their they are 10lb or 50lbcommon in my and think about what ,my fishing isn’t aboutcradle and put into my I had just had and my the size of carp, it’sfloatation sling and put left-hand rod goes about being out onit back into the water again this time it was a the bank enjoying thefor 10mins to 18lb 4 mirror, another scenery relaxing afterrecuperate because it beautiful carp. Once a hard weeks workwas a fantastic fight. I again I cast back out andwas standing in then it went quiet for a hopefully bagging aanticipation waiting to few hrs so I few carp . This yearfind out big it was .so rebaited my spot with so far Fisherwick hasafter 10 mins or so it alpha over the next been kind to me overwas time to get the day and night till sun 190 carp a fewbeauty out and weigh morning I ended up recaptures but ait 27lb 2oz my having 13 carp. 4 carp fantastic season so far and capped of mybiggest uk com- over 20lb mark a 20lb spring and summer 6 Oz a 21lb 6 Oz a season with a new ukmon and new 23lb 6oz and anew pb common of 27lb 2oz pb common so let’sUK pb!! I was the other 9 carp was bring on autumn and mid to high teens ,I winter and see whatoverwhelmed with joy know by today’s stand- the future brings. I justafter having a lot of ards these are not the love to be on the banktime on here through biggest fish out their fishing.the winter and into but I don’t have thespring and summer time to travel around Andy.and finally I was due to work so I haverewarded with one to limit to close toof the big girls. I put where I livethe beauty back into to fish butthe lake making sure when youshe was fully ready to catch ago back then into the beautifuldarkness she swam fish itaway but my session doesn’twasn’t over. I cast matter ifback out to the samespot, just putting the





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Rigs, Bits and Tackle by Dan Winter

Rigs, Bits and article even though it’s But what if I told you a small edge of mine. that in a lot of yourTackle Stiff rigs on weed? fishing situations, you Now I’m not for a can rely on a stiff rigWell it certainly hasn’t second thinking I’m the to lay better on weedtaken me long to start only person that does than a supple one?getting involved with this and I imaginetalking about end The thought occurredtackle and rigs. It some of you may do to me a few seasons the same as me. back. I wasseems the customary Normally the rule of struggling to find a rigthing to talk about in thumb goes, soft on to make my own, amagazines and I think weed or stiff on clear rig I found confidencewe’ve seen and heard or hard areas. The with. I looked at someevery single way to principle being that stiff of the best rigs aroundfish every single rig materials sit up and that have consistentlyin every situation. In obvious in weed, and caught fishfact, you wouldn’t be the softer materials everywhere. Two offar from the truth if lay themselves better the rigs I mentionedyou thought that some to sitting on the weed already, the humblemagazines simply take nice and ‘Chod rig’ and thethe same article from inconspicuously. The superb ‘Hinge stiff’years previous, threw reverse applies to alongside with thesome new pictures on harder spots where ‘Withy pool’ areit, changed the a rig doesn’t need to probably some of thewording slightly and take on every contour most notorious carpreprinted the same and can lay flat. It also catching rigs we know.article. pays to haveThis month however something that is more But why?I want to talk to you likely to self-set ratherabout something that than tangle, which is Well to be honest Igoes a little against the easier to do on clear think everyone has angrain. In fact, it was a hard areas than infriend I was opinion on what rig weed, apart from with does what, but for me,fishing with recently a chod rig and perhaps the key is to thethat prompted me to a hinge stiff rig if you’re stiffness of the rig.throw this in my fishing it correctly. They can all be sucked

in, but on ejection it’s the hook inside the job. The only problema different story. These mouth primed and I had was with hookrigs virtually have to be ready to prick the holds. They were tooblown out in the same inside of the mouth wild and even thoughdirection they entered. and set the hook I was hooking a lot ofThat’s quite difficult home. I used this to fish, I was droppingeven for the great effect with a them just assneakiest and mono boom that sat easily. Most of the timesmartest of carp. Of nicely on the bottom I would lose them incourse, they use the but maintained enough close where thelead as well to shake stiffness to reset itself. angle of the rod inthese rigs out, but I The rig worked like a relation to the fishbelieve if you’re fishing charm and while most would increase, pullingthese 3 rigs effectively, the other successful the hook out. It doesn’tthis still troubles them. anglers were take a rocket scientistSo, for me my ‘go picking up 1 or 2 fish to work out somethinganywhere’ rig had to in the mornings or the needed to change. So,either be stiff, or have day, I was getting my I changed over to thea short stiff link they bites through the night more commonly usedcould suck in easily when others weren’t IQ D-rig. I changedthat would be difficult whilst fishing shorter the hook pattern andto blow back out. sessions. This was a went over to the simplyTo the tackle box certain tell tail sign that amazing H20 fluoro-I went and what I the rig was doing its carbon hooklink frommade was effectivelya bottom bait hingestiff rig, removing thecurve, keeping it deadstraight, andchanging the ‘D’ onthe hook for a KD stylebraided hair. Thisenabled the bait tomove freely and awayfrom the hook, whilethe short stiff link kept

Rig Marole, and I was area covered in weed, weed. Sometimes youset. No fish dropped, what you’ll see is the can get away with aeven more runs, and a stiffness short but sweet 6 inchgood season. working in your favour. hooklink andBut that wasn’t all I The strands of weed other times you shouldwas doing…. hold the rig perfectly look towards fishing 14One of the best on top with the hook inches to 18 inches ifplaces to pick runs up roughly lying flat. need be, but it will layhas always been close Obviously take into flat.to, or in weed. I would consideration the Another advantage isput a hefty bet on a lot depth of weed and the hook lay. If you getof you fishing weedy type of weed. This it right, it should lay thewaters where simply won’t work in 6ft of hook down on top offinding a drop is like Canadian for instance. the weedgold dust. This means But the majority of low making it nice andthat 99% of the time lying weed you’ll get easy to be picked up.you’re probably fishing the same effect, If you find your hookover choddy bottom especially on blanket sinking in a centimetreand you’re looking weed. Throw a few or 2, change your baitstraight away to tie up freebies over the top for one ever so slightlya chod or a hinge and and watch them lay on more buoyant and takeset your rig hovering top of the weed and your time. The idea isabove the low-lying your rig will mimic this to mimic the freeweed. perfectly. offerings that areI took a different Like most of you I had going to lie on top ofapproach after sussing the same image of my the weed, making yoursomething out about lead going in the weed hook linkweed and stiff rigs that and a big loop of fluoro completely invisiblemany may have extruding out to any carp, and yournoticed but may not making the rig sit hook bait identical tohave tried. upside down or in those around it. YouTie yourself up a stiff mid-air and generally must remember thatrig, set it up with a very badly. To fish do most theirwafter or neutrally counter this all you feeding in weed andbuoyant bait, drop it have to do is lengthen are perfectly used toin the margin over an the hook link to suit the picking food items off

the weed and this is in temperature isn’t media. Now I don’tno way a struggle for too low. It might just own a set, I haven’tany fish. change your fishing. seen a set, or knowThe problem with anyone with a set ofusing something soft is Angling and these bite alarms, andtwo-fold. The hooklink technology I think it’s a cryingwill fall between the shame. In fact, I’m soweed as fish travel impressed with theseabove and wave There is one piece of that I’m consideringaction rocks the braid kit we all use as buying these myself!between the strands modern day carpand out of site. Good anglers that I think Current top of thefor camouflage but it most of us would be range bite alarms fromcan also pull the hook lost without. Our bite Fox, Delkim, ATT anddown with it. Also, the alarms! I know a lot Nash, constantlyhook has a very good of you were probably divide opinion andchance of grabbing thinking about your offer different strengthsthe weed, restricting it Ridge Monkey that and weaknesses. Theyfrom entering a carp’s you’ve taken more are however slaking onmouth. Sean Harrison pictures of than actual the technology front.wrote a very good fish, but no. I’ve beenarticle years ago about looking at a new Let’s look at what theyusing barbless hooks company making what do…in weed to stop this look to be anhappening and awesome bit of kit, and They have a roller orincreasing your run include technology that vibration sensor,rate. wouldn’t be lost in your settings for tone,Give it a try and give home or work place. sensitivity and volume.me some feedback New Direction Tackle They have afrom your next (ND) is not the receiver, and if you’resession. Coming into newest thing out, but lucky they can eventhe late autumn and they are relatively detect if a burglar isfish are very much unknown in this trying to steal your setharvesting the last bits country, or at least up. Clever stuff. But Iof life left in the weed they would be if it can spend £30 on awhile the water wasn’t for social phone with more

technology than what alarms. But its receiver infrared burglar alarmis currently housed is where I think some that goes onto anyin our bite alarms. So of the coolest features bank stick and will dowhy does a decent set are. a better job of alertingof 3 bite alarms and It has an actual you of people cominga receiver cost up to screen! Yes, a screen! in your swim way£500? Where you can before anyone gets properly see what’s close to your rods orTake a look at what happening instead of bivvy.ND is doing with their working to f It doesn’t stop there!new K9 bite alarm and lashing lights andit’ll make you wonder single beeps. It has a They even have anwhy everyone else function that checks app you can downloadhasn’t done something the range so you can to any smartphone thatsimilar. see when you’re will turn your mobileThey come with the starting to move too into another controllernormal customary bite far out of reach. It for your bite alarmsalarm features. Roller also has a ‘low power’ should your batterieswheel, volume, mode, where you can run out or you breaksensitivity, a night light, reduce its usage to your receiver.receiver etc. They also give you longer battery Here comes the bestcome with several life. You can also use it feature of them all. Theextra features. to change the price!Illuminated snag ears, sensitivity, tone, A 2-rod set up withilluminated roller, volume and night receiver, box and themultiple LED colours light, all without illuminated snag ears,for you to chop and leaving the comfort only costs £150! Achange however you of your bivvy. On the 3-rod set up is £190see fit on the day. Also, display, it even shows and they do a 4 roda mute button that you the date, time, and 5 rod set uplasts 30 seconds while signal strength and reaching only £270 toyou set your bobbins. battery life. Everything set up 5 rods! And theyThese are just a few wrapped up into an don’t look at all out ofof their handy features easy to use interface place either if you thinkthat come standard with menu. You can you’re going to geton the new K9 bite even buy a separate some cheap nasty

imitation bite alarms movement on the line glowing report is somewith a few features your bite alarm might negativity. Looking atthrown in to paper over miss. Clever stuff aye! the reviews online itthe cracks. There are however two seems thisBut there is one pricey drawbacks. One being amazing gadgetry forpiece of kit they do, but the weight. They use a such a cheap priceI’m dying to get hold of battery to does come with a fewthem and I’m power the bobbin, and problems. The sayingextremely impressed not a small battery ‘you get what you payas a man that invents you’d find in the back for’ does certainlyproducts. of a watch. No, a much apply here. TheThe bobbins are bigger battery, which plastics are cheap andinsane. They have unfortunately adds people havecarried out the same weight, which reduces complained of waterfeatures into their sensitivity. The other getting in and killingbobbins to perfectly drawback is the price. their alarms. Buttonscompliment the set up. A 3-rod set up will set falling off also seemedThey are different to you back £75. You to be fairly common,anything you’ve seen. certainly get the and battery life isUsing a central arm quality for the money, reduced to only athat pivots under the but will it be as couple of sessions.bite alarm, similar to effective as or better Not ideal from ana swinger. It passes than current industry angling perspective.through the centre of standard bobbins? But my question stillthe bobbin and allows remains… why aren’tit to move freely side to I’m not sold as of yet. the big boys followingside. What you get is a They are however a suit? The technologybobbin that will move simple accessory and is there, it’s clearly notup and down, side to not important to the expensive tech toside to pick up subtle set up. But if they do produce, and some oftwitches on the line. sound up your street, the features areThis is complimented they will fit on any bite extremely useful.with a vibration alert alarm on the market. Hopefully with newfeature which makes companies like NDthe bobbin light up Unfortunately though, coming out to showupon any small to finish this seemingly everyone what’s

possible in fishing, wemay see vastimprovements aroundthe corner.Visit them online onwww.newdirectiontack-le.co.uk if you want tolook for yourself andgive them the onceover.I’m off to Holme FennNext month so withany luck ill have anawesome article foryou with somestunning fish on filmpossibly. I’m alsotaking the new RodHutchinson rods I’vebeen using and will bereviewing them for youin the next article.‘Gone Fishing’Daniel Winter

WINTER WOULDN’T BE WINTER WITHOUTSNOWBALL - OCTOBER 2016PRODUCED USING #gamechanger bankbug.co.uk100% ORIGINAL LICENCED PRODUCTS

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A Foreign Affair by Rich Austin

A Foreign Affair by Rich AustinI am going to start this month’s article with one word...WOW!Ok, over the next few paragraphs the reason for the ‘WOW’ will becomeclearer and you will understand that in all fairness a ‘WOW’ really wasn’tenough of an expression.I have been fishing over in France for quite a few years now and everytime I have made the journey across the channel I have had a greattime, in all the times I have ventured over I have luckily or skillfully, Iprefer the latter, blanked only on two occasions, once in very coldconditions, where out of 6 anglers only 1 fish was caught, and then thetotal opposite, extreme heat with the water levels right down, and asummer temperature that went through the roof, not ideal for the fish,and certainly not ideal for me as I much prefer fishing in the coolermonths - because I am happier on the bank when its colder, and alsoout of the heat of the mid-day sun I believe the fish feed harder, unlessobviously you have got them going on the top which is a wholedifferent style of fishing altogether. I have been to what we call runswaters over in France, which turn out to be very enjoyable, and a busyholiday, catching high teens and twenties through the week on aregular basis with the chance of a thirty or forty pounder gracing yournet, and then there’s the other end of the spectrum… lakes that havevery few teens and twenties on offer, but cater for the bigger fish anglerwho are after thirties forties & the chance of a big girl, and then there’sthe specialised waters, lakes that are known as hard waters, that theaverage weight of a resident is a thirty/forty pounder with a good handfulof fifties and sixties and then you’re getting to the jewel of the crown withlakes that have inhabitants of seventies, eighties, nineties & amazingspecimen fish and true wonders of the carp world. Nobody likes to go toFrance or anywhere else for that matter and blank so we have to weighup the pros and cons of each trip and what you want from it. One thingthat makes me very angry is the ignorance of some people when theysay “France is easier than the UK or your French fish don’t count”.

Are you serious? Jog on! what a truly ignorant point of view and they areusually from the people who have never fished abroad before,whether it’s jealousy or just plain ignorance who knows but you are veryvery wrong. There are easy waters just like the UK, there are also somevery rock hard waters just like the UK and to be perfectly honest I thinkthat France is now in general a lot harder than UK en mass, as the lakesin France are hammered 365 days a year full to the brim with anglersand masses of bait going in to the water so think about it in those terms.The lake I’ve just come back from was 15 acres with 300 fish, somewould say that’s a good head of fish, and in general I would agree, 20fish per acre, now let’s add in another parameter, this lake goes to 24ftdeep, so now that’s 20 fish per surface acre but you now have to go24ft deep also in that acre now imagine 20 fish in that acre 24ft deepsquare, and that is if every fish in the lake is in their acre quota whichwe all know they are not, lets add in another factor, the air pressure washigh… 1030’s! OUCH, a huge effect on the water and feeding habits,now let’s add in the weather, in the day time we had cold easterlies butwith sunshine that pushed the daytime temperature up to 18/19 deg andat night the temps plummeted to 4 deg... now you add all that intogether and tell me that wasn’t hard fishing. My French fishingpartner and very good friend Terry Clayton was at one end of the lake inhis shorts in the daytime, and at the other end of the lake where the sunmade a daily appearance for one hour the guys were in their winterthermal suits all day because of the easterlies, it was a crazy scenario.When we arrived at Lac Des Lesmont now owned by ex-PremiershipFootballer Lee Bowyer I could see it was a special place and also knewby looking at the water that I had my work cut out this week, not onlythrough all the research that I have done, but also the top name anglerfriends of mine that have fished here, and some of whom have blankedfor the week so I had to be on my A game that was for sure. We met thebailiff Louis who was a great host as was his misses Rachel,making us feel very welcome and always on hand for information andhelp if we needed it in our party of 6. He walked us round the lake andstraight away once passed Peg 1 which we had agreed to take out ofthe draw to open up the water for everybody we could see fish fizzingquite heavily up the top end of the lake (the cold end) Pegs 11, 10, 9, 8,

7, 6 all had lots of fish movement in front of them and my initial thoughtsof wanting Peg 4 was wavering and I was looking for reasons to changemy mind as I could see fish feeding, and crashing cleaning their gillrakes. The thing that was worrying me was that they were all in a linefrom Peg 11 to Peg 8 then a little spread out and I knew there was a siltgully there so I got it in my head that they seemed to be pre occupiedwith naturals, bloodworm etc. There was sporadic weed in the lake soI knew there wouldn’t be lots of snails etc but a lot of silt so bloodwormwere definitely on the menu, anyway we continued around the lake andgot back to the communal area, where we had a nice bacon roll andcuppa Rosie waiting for us which was a nice touch as we all chose todrive and survive and not take the food package as there weresupermarkets 10mins away. I prefer bankside cooking anyway, as itbreaks up your day and is an excuse to push the boat out and get thesteaks in the Ridgemonkey ha-ha. Our group consisted of a father andson, and 2 pairs of good friends, Stan and Kev and Terry and myself,well Terry had visited Lesmont before and had in his mind the swim hewanted which was one he had not fished before, I wanted swim 4because of all the snags, it definitely is the snaggiest peg on the lakeand right in the corner also so it was definitely a gamble right up theother end to the fish we had seen feeding, on discussion with theothers, they wanted to double up in swims 5 & 6, and 9 & 10, it was justa matter of who was going in each, Terry and myself didn’t want to pairup as we wanted to cover more water at the other end of the lake (andhe snores like a bear so I would’ve made my excuses anyway)!!! Thetwo pairs flipped a coin for the two doubles and father and son Paul andDave got the high pegs with Stan and Kev in the low double. I stuck tomy guns with my gamble of Peg 4 and Terry went around the other sideof the bend to Peg 3 (of which he decided to vacate 2 days later in toPeg 2)I got all my gear sorted in the peg and was just looking constantly at thewater for signs of fish, of which there were none forthcoming had I madethe right choice it was a struggle for the first couple of hours not to beatmyself up a little and a tiny percent thought I’d made the wrong choiceafter seeing so many feeding up the top end, but I do love my snagfishing, and the challenge for me on that type of fishing is more than

if I were fishing open water. I didn’t have to change much of my tacklefrom what I usually use at home etc as I fish snags predominantly soI just stepped up the hook size to 4’s. I knew by speaking to a goodfriend of mine and the previous owner Andy Stevens who ownsCarpe D’or that there were the usual snag resident fish who alwaysinhabit the area and make an appearance every now and then. So aftermy initial doubts my confidence started to flow again and my mind wasback in the game. I brought 30kg of CC Moore Pacific Tuna & LiveSystem boilies with me and 10KG of CC Moore Trout and BelechanPellets. When I’m fishing in France, I don’t usually start getting itchyfeet until the Tues/Weds and barring anything silly won’t consider amove until the Thursday if I have too, so I was relaxed and prepping mybait, I had chosen 3 spots and was going to fish them religiously buildingbeds of bait which is my normal long stay approach, the water containsbig fish and I want to keep them in the area if and when they decide tomake a feeding appearance. Spot 1 was 40 yards out on a gravel bardropping off to 21-24ft and the bar itself rose to 13ft, I baited the top andthe right side. Spot 2 was a margin snag in front of a tall fir tree in frontof the shower block, the margin there was itself 7-9 feet and I baited thatheavily with around 3kg boilie and 2kg pellet to start with. Spot 3 was amargin snag again a little further to the right in an indent, under awillow and some dead branches I baited that the same as spot 2 insimilar depths.First couple of days the boys at the top end where the fizzing fish werehad a few nice fish to high 40’s and the guys in the first double had a30lber out so there were some fish feeding, Terry nailed a nice 40 afterhis move, and it was just me left to catch, Terry’s swim went silent as didStan and Kev in the first double but Paul and Dave were still pulling out1 or 2 each a day. Tuesday came all so quickly and I started thinkingabout various options and changing this n that, I had in my mind thoughtabout a move on Thursday for a night, but I wanted to persevere withthis swim, Tuesday morning my Spot 2 rod ripped off and what a battlethat ensued it took a couple of moments to get it out the snag with walk-ing back in my swim and dropping the lead helping for sure, it came outand went straight for open water, across my other rod which didn’t hurtas it was so deep it missed the lines, it reminded me of my sea fishing

trips, pumping the fish through the water column, pulling a lump through24ft of water was incredible and my arms were burning when he cameacross the chord. I was over the moon and so glad I didn’t change mytactics, my confidence was right back up there and moving was the lastthing on my mind again. The fish which I call ‘Mr. Pecs’ for obviousreasons weighed in at a healthy 33lb 15oz it was a long mirror ofsuperior power. After the usual rituals of weighing and pics the fish wasreturned and after a new J Precision size 4 hand sharpened Katanahook was attached to my Rigmarole Skinfull I reset the rig back on thespot with its twin 15mm Pacific Tuna boilies. I put another 2kg boilie and2kg pellet back over the spot and topped up spot 1 & 3 at the same time.In the meantime, the crayfish had started becoming a pest soafter a visit up to Gigantica and some new armour it was time to protectsome baits, so I did about 20 or so to tied me over. It was the secondtime I had visited Gigantica for a walk around the first being 3 years agowhen I fished Napoleon Lakes, nothing really changed except they nowfarm and bring on their own fish which was great to see, I caught up withcarping legend Rod Hutchinson and had a brief chat, unfortunately hewas blanking and the week was running away with him.With the boys at the top end still picking off the odd fish it had sloweddown a little and we had a 24hr lull with only 1 fish out between us.Wednesday morning saw me lose a fish from my Spot 2 rod again in thesnag to a hook pull, I think I hit in to it a little early and bullied it too quickas I didnt want to risk losing it hahaha karma hah! after another reset and another 2kg of the faithfull CC Moore going in, I settled down for the night after re- casting spot 1 and spot 3 which still had nothing to report. Terry had a nice upper 20lb common so although slow he

was still picking the odd one off. After cooking up somebankside tucker and washing it down with a cuppa my spot 2 rod tore offagain this time after a pleasant fight I banked a stunning longmirror weighing in at 42lb 12oz which was a new Pb for me beatingmy previous of 41lb 6oz. The evening came and went uneventful in myswim but left to me and the top end had a couple more, themornings were so cold dropping over 10 degrees from the day before, Iset my alarm on my phone for 4am everyday so I could be awake for theearly morning stillness and to see if anything was moving around, I didthrough the week trymoving my Spot 1 rod and fish off the back of weed and gravel etc butnothing was interested what so ever it was strange that so far Id had 2fish banked and one lost to spot 2 and nothing else. It didn’t take longfor the sun to come up and the mist to start rising off the water withanother couple of kilo of bait gone in on my number 2 spot I feltconfident I would have another, and I was hoping for one of the big girlsas nothing over 48lb had been out and for a lake with a nice selectionof 50’s and a couple of 60’s we were all itching that the next take wouldbe a biggun, I wasn’t to be disappointed, SPOT 2 rod AGAIN melted offeven though she was locked up to just under breaking strain it had gonein the snag enough for me to have to take a deep breath and utilise myskills in trying to get it out, and after about 10mins I had movement andthen all of a sudden it powered off out to open water and took line likenobodys business I had to loosen the clutch a little before things startedmelting, diving deeper and deeper and then with a bit of finger pressureI managed to slow it down, and eventually turn it, I started to pump therod and retrieve very slowly the line that had been stripped off, it was abit back and forth for a while through very deep water, I knew it was alump and then you get that sick feeling every time it starts to peel lineoff, please stay on please hook hold, please link etc etc I managed toget the fish to the surface my veins were bursting my arms burning, Iwas shaking - I managed to get in my Vass Waders and get in the waterup to about 3 feet to give myself some space. I was still on my own as Ididn’t call the others as I didn’t want the pressure of being watched withsuch a big fish, I managed to get her across the chord and I’m not goingto lie I did shout out “YES YES YES!!” and slumped down on the

decking for a moment to gather myself. I thought yes a definite new PB.I took the rig out which was nailed perfect centre bottom lip, I still didn’tgrasp what I had in the net to be honest I just thought maybe a fifty asone not been out all week, I knew it was biggest so far though, I got thefish in the retainer and couldn’t get my arms round it, when I lifted it Iknew it was a lump but still didn’t realise who it was, I got my FoxDigitals on the weigh station and zeroed, Kev had arrived and said“F@*$ me boy that’s a biggun” we hoisted her up to the scales theybottomed my Fox’s out at 66lb!!! I rang Terry for his Ruebens and hewound all his rods in bless him, Louis the bailiff arrived and said “You’vegot Masson I’m sure of it”. “Oh” I said “errrrrrm….” I was in shockshaking, the lads took over the weighing for meand she went 69lb 2oz!!! Yeah a new Pb and a fish of aLIFETIME also the biggest fish in the Lake and current Lake Record ofwhich it stands at 69lb 8oz so 6oz short but who cares

“Wehhhhhhhey!!!!” and that’s where my WOW comes from, I am stillbuzzing now a couple weeks later still not sunk in what I have actuallyhad. I had fed over 10kg of boilie over spot 2 up until Thursday nightand 5kg Belechan and Trout Pellet it was the only spot that produced forme all week, I didn’t have any more fish but I certainly didn’t mind that,I had the biggest fish in the lake, I wound in all my rods, had a shower,went for a social with Terry for a while and tried to reflect on what hadjust happened, it’s hard to describe the emotions and only a carp anglerwould understand, I was shaking quite bad at one stage, I was in shockat another stage, I had a tear in my eye after I settled down, it really is amagical moment in your fishing journey, we all strive to catch a stunneror a Pb and to have a fish of a lifetime well that’s something else, andsomething that I worked very hard for. I persevered when others were allcatching around me, I nearly moved, so all those things, correct baitingstrategy, correct rig choice, bait choice, hook links, they all matter andthey all give you confidence. I think we finished the week with 25 fish- an average for that water in good conditions of which we certainly didnot is about 20 so we rocked it to be honest and Paul and Dave did verywell with Paul busting out another low 60 final knockings. Thank you toall the guys it was a pleasure sharing my special moment with you all,especially my good pal Terry I know it meant a lot to you to see me catchthat fish and that means a lot to me buddy.I’d like to thankCC MOORE Baits & J Precision Hooks for supplying me the best baitand equipment, Rigmarole for the best tubing and hooklink I’ve used andHarefield Tackle for all the other bits I need.Til Next TimeRichBooooooooooooooooooooom



Living the Dream by Keith MoorsChapter Three - All Part of the Dream

Chapter Three - All Part of the DreamBy mid summer 2002 we had been in our new home for 7 months andbeen open for business for four. We were both enjoying the new life butthere were times when we had time to realise just how far away we werefrom our three lovely daughters.I guess every Garden of Eden has a serpent and this would always beours. It seemed that almost every week revealed some more discoveriesand oddities. It seemed that, in the words of the song, there wereproving to be “more questions than answers.”Since owning the lake we had a considerable amount of work to be doneso my fishing had been confirmed to short sessions adjacent towherever I needed to be working or evening stalking sessions after the“bubblers.”This change to my style of fishing, as well as the fact that it is a shallow,estate lake, had resulted in some new problems to overcome.The vast majority of my angling in England was on typical gravel pitsand finding a feature was generally the first part of the jig-saw. Thisfeature could, in theory, hold the carp for the entire session and failure toget into the “going swim” could result in a resounding blank.This was one of the main factors in making us decide to purchase an“estate” type lake. Again, in theory, this kind of uniform depth andtopography, should result in the carp visiting every corner of the lake andthereby giving every one of the anglers an equal chance to catch duringtheir week’s holiday.We had to remember that each angler had just one week to be able towork out how to catch. . It was never going to be like a club or syndicate

lake where you could spend some time working out how and where thefish fed and then start catching later in the season or maybe even nextyear. With a holiday venue the watching and learning had to be done foryou and the advice needed to be thorough enough to enable you to startcatching early on.This was borne out early in our existence but it still became apparentthat the better anglers caught more than the less experienced. Thegood anglers were able to use their watercraft to benefit from the signsof feeding fish. One other small problem was that the carp in our lakehad absolutely no experience of ever having been fished for, let alonehooked, and this fact alone has thrown up some more unexpectedresults.Let me try and paint the relevant picture. The lake is fifteen acres ofwater with a depth ranging from three to eight feet with a bed of clay,sand and silt.When we bought the property the entire 33 acres had been kept entirelyas a nature reserve for the herd of deer and thousands of ducks, plus ahandful of geese. Without any fishery management the fish stocks hadbeen allowed to run riot with the result that there was no weed growthwhatsoever and the water was permanently murky with suspended silt.On top of all this the lake alsocontained the French plague,“poisson-chats. Literallytranslated this just meanscat-fish but is now theaccepted name for theAmerican bull-head catfishwhich some clever bastard imported many moons ago.Basically they have thrived on the French climate and are a majorproblem, eating almost every bait or food item presented for the carp.We removed the floating duck nests early on and a lot of the waterfowldeparted as a result of the anglers being present.Our next target was to start a planting campaign and began by putting inwater lilies and oxygenating sub-surface plants.

At the first opportunity out came my rods and three boilie-baited hooklinks were cast to a baited patch in front of the lodge. I carried on withmy work to the lodge in the knowledge that it would be just a matter oftime before my first ever carp from my own lake rattled the alarms. Dayone ... blank, followed by another on day two. Time for a rethink.I was concerned that the bait may be burying into the silt ... or theyweren’t used to boilies yet ... or I was just bloody useless.The fish continued to bubble in the margins so they were obviouslyfeeding. Feeding Carp I moved swims as I worked around the lake andafter a couple of days a pattern was emerging. As I moved to a new areaI would see large carp roll over yesterday’s baited patch.The following day would see fish feeding heavily over the bait. It had tobe done, a one nighter was planned so that I could fish over an earlierbaited patch. Two rods were baited with boilies and the other withcritically balanced sweet corn. By midnight all three rods were on cornand by dawn they were all in the hedge and I was knackered.In one night I had gone from blanking to hauling fourteen fish to twentyeight pounds.Cracked it ... or so I thought.Isn’t it strange how you can go from feeling totally confident to wonder-ing how the hell you are going to buy the next fish. We knew that we hadthe dreaded poisson chat and as the water temperature rose so did theirfeeding frenzy ... on sweetcorn.Luckily our lake has sluice gates built in to allow it to be drained and wealready knew that this action would be imperative in order to control theunwanted species and to maintain the balance of the biomass of the