Catch Reports
It seems as though all our prayers had been answered as by the start of December there had hardly been a frost, and the weather had remained unseasonably mild. Due to work and family commitments it was hard to get the rods out for a couple of weeks, but with the conditions remaining so good [...]
I was busy doing a training course for my job all week up at Thatcham and every day saw me passing Horton on the lovely M25, so that was me sorted for an overnighter for Friday, especially as the moon phase was bang on for big carp! Friday came and the car was loaded - [...]
I’d always wanted to fish this particular the water, a venue that I was going to call home for the next 12 months. The lake was by far the largest water I’d ever fished on, roughly being around 43 acres in size, and with depths up to 60 feet it was also going to be [...]
I left you last time just as we moved into October and with a few fish to almost 30lb under my belt things were looking good for a autumn campaign on my local club water. Suddenly and without warning though I found myself paralysed and carted off to the local Accident and Emergency ward strapped [...]
This year I have been concentrating on a low stock, 55 acre gravel pit near where I live. I had some success during the summer and early autumn culminating in 3 fish, including a new PB leather of 45lb, and 3 fish lost as well. All year it was the autumn I was really looking [...]
The Horse is a fish I had been after for a few seasons now and it was really starting to get to me so I decided to fish November just for that one fish! After a bit of information digging from mates that had caught it before, it became clear that there was one area [...]
After a successful end to the last river season, that culminated in the capture of my personal best Barbel of 16.12lb, I have once again been out and about having a go for the larger fish that live in the river - sadly to no avail yet, but all in good time. As I had [...]
After a week of unseasonal warm weather throughout France I attended a friendly 48 hour fishing competition. The rules for the event were simple: 1 angler in each swim, 3 rods each and a draw to select your swim. Interesting... Before proceedings kicked off I spent some time walking around the venue, looking and locating [...]
Summer had really flown by for me, and before I knew it the days were becoming much shorter and the leaves were steadily falling from the trees. However the feeling of doom towards the imminent arrival of winter was offset by the promise of some autumn big carp action beforehand. I had just completed 3 [...]
I had been planning a trip to Horton Church Lake for a few days, and had booked off the Friday so I could get there after work on the Thursday giving me two nights fishing, as I had to be home early Saturday. Arriving at the lake at 7pm on the Thursday it was quite [...]
I pulled up in the carp park and the excitement of fishing a brand new water was almost too much to bear! The owner was not around yet to collect my ticket, but as it was only 7am they were probably still tucked in bed. That’s what you get for being keen I suppose! Oh [...]
As we’re now firmly headed into autumn, and the winter is fast approaching I’ve once again started using my old faithful balanced pop up rig that has served me so well in previous years. This rig is a real gem from this time of year onwards, as the water temperatures drop off and I have [...]
The third week of September was written in red in my dairy, because that was a week of fishing booked at the holy grail of carp fishing - RAINBOW LAKE. We left on Friday morning, and after a drive of 930 km I parked my car in front of the clubhouse at Rainbow. As it [...]
I started the year off baiting a particular area of the lake, historically a part of the lake that fishes well in the spring. This plan worked pretty well, producing 6 fish on the bank and dropping just one. Pretty soon I got into a routine of baiting up on a Wednesday and Friday with [...]
Dan Chart cons himself into catching a 40! This time last year I couldn't put a foot wrong; turning up at my syndicate lake, always expecting a bite and generally getting one! How much can change in a year. The weed had never really died from last year, which was amazing when you consider how [...]
I have not managed to get out fishing as much as I would have liked this year but when I have I have been very lucky. Some may say jammy! I was having a discussion with work colleagues about possible areas of river to go and have a bit of a trot for some roach. [...]
There are times when we all sit fishing for carp with an element of doubt as to whether we are in the right areas, or the weather conditions are as we would like them, or even as to whether the fish are “on the munch” or not? There are also times for me personally when [...]
This season I’ve been putting all my time and effort in to a syndicate lake in the Avon valley near Ringwood, a lake known as the Roach Pit and run by CEMEX Angling. This lake is a 20 acre gravel pit with an amazing stock of big stunning carp, containing between 60 and 70 fish [...]
With the school holidays almost over I could finally return to some kind of normality, my angling over the last few weeks had been mainly kept to a couple of local waters where at least the family could spend time with me and enjoy the sights and sounds of the outside world. To be honest [...]
It had been 9 months since Wayne Rees and I had won the 2010 British Carp Angling Championships, and the time had come round for us to compete in Semi Final 1 of the 2011 event at Barston Lakes near Solihull. All of the BCAC qualifying rounds were complete and the semi final line ups [...]