Tony Welch Articles
Carp angling today is a million miles away from what it was when I started fishing. The digital age and social media just two of the reasons it’s the beast that it is. Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining, I like today's scene as much as I liked the early days of my [...]
Short sessions to some anglers may be something like 30 odd hours on the bank. That sort of time for me these days would be heavenly! At present I manage a very quick night three times a month, literally heading for the lake at 8pm and finding my way home by 10:30am the following [...]
Much of the time carp angling is focused on so called target fish in the lakes and rivers we fish. They consume all thoughts of the chasing angler in his or her quest to bank usually the largest carp in the venue! Of course when fishing for a particular carp it would naturally consume [...]
With the daylight hours rapidly increasing combined with the warmth of the sun, fish activity will be increasing on all lakes. Spring can be hit and miss for carp angling due to the weather and the time it takes the sunlight to penetrate and individual lakes to warm up. I've had some brilliant sessions [...]
With winter here and temperatures dropping rapidly, many anglers will be looking at their tactics and thinking about cold water baits and fining down their rigs ready for those tricky cold water carp. So, with thoughts of a winter jet black mirror in the folds of my landing net I thought I’d write a short [...]
I haven’t done any carp match fishing since I won a local match 2001, however when I was made aware of a pairs event at Upper Tamar Lake, I quite fancied having another go! Southwest Lakes Trust (SWLT) have been holding some match fishing events in recent years at Upper Tamar. These events are professionally [...]
It was last knockings as usual, around 7.30pm and I decided to get in a quick over night session before work the following day. I’ve been struggling of late and the with a weather forecast of thunder and lightning I thought to myself ‘If you can’t catch anything tonight, you never will!’ With this in [...]
I usually apply my trade on the big Cornish reservoirs, so Anglers Paradise situated in Devon, a holiday complex made up of a number of small waters is not a venue you would usually expect to find me. However, after doing a show at the complex several years ago, I fancied going back and having [...]
I nearly always write technical pieces, the 'how to' type articles. However, this time I thought I'd write about a quick over night session I did recently and the recapture of one of the South West's favourite carp some two decades after my first encounter with it. Background The carp in question is known as [...]
I thought I would tell you all about a couple of rigs that have served me well of late. I've not caught any unknown monsters on them however; they have been really consistent for me. One is a pop up rig and the other a bottom bait rig. As I type this piece from the [...]
I love all types of carp angling, the sport is so diverse, but I especially like the lakes that are generally over-looked because they are low stocked, with an unknown quantity of carp and difficult to fish due to topography and lake bed make up; for example weed and deep silt! Also getting to swims [...]
I can count on one hand the amount of times I go fishing for carp off the top in a season. Here in the south west opportunities are limited for larger fish due to the size of most of the reservoirs where they live. Trying to surface fish for a handful of carp that live [...]
I left you last time at the start of what I thought was a new adventure on a new syndicate. Having looked into it further and having spent some time on the lake it became apparent that the fish just weren't in there. I also found out the place had been hammered by otters and [...]
I enjoy reading the monthly articles by my Gardner and Mainline team colleagues but I've decided to do something a bit different. I decided I'm not only going to talk about fishing in my 'updater' series, I'll be talking about other things too. There are so many 'how to' type pieces out there! So, I'm [...]
I've never really done any solid bag fishing. It always seemed too fiddley for me, and as far as I could see would only be a tactic employed by anglers fishing in weedy conditions or areas of heavy bottom debris. In and around where I live there are few weedy waters and therefore it's a [...]
Several years ago I was sat up a tree watching carp feeding on the Cell boilies that I was flicking into the lake one at a time. It was very relaxing just sat there swaying backwards and forwards in the branches in the light breeze on a warm sunny spring day. I watched as these [...]
