On receiving some new Hazelnut boilies from CS Baits I decided to get on the bank to try them out. I could only manage a morning session due to other commitments. It was a Saturday morning so I thought I should get up early to make sure I got a chance at a good swim. I arrived at the lake at 7:00am and unfortunately the rest of the world had beaten me to it. It was the busiest I’d ever seen it. After a trip round the lake I found a tight, overgrown spot and fish were showing out in front. I wasted no time in getting set up and had all three rods in by 8:00am. There was a lot of carp showing in front of me but after speaking to a few of the guys, nothing much had been caught.

I decided to fish at short range fishing all three rods close together between 30 and 50 yards. Worried about spooking the fish, I chose not to bait heavily, just using small PVA bags of pellet and crushed boilies with a few boilies over the top with the throwing stick. I fished 2 rods on the new Hazelnut and 1 on the trusty Squid, Octopus and Scopex. My rigs were simple as I hate to overcomplicate them, just fishing curve shank hooks to uncoated braid with a fairly long hair. This was attached to a running rig with an inline lead. After about an hour and a half the fish started moving in over my baited areas but seemed to be hanging in the upper layers rather than feeding. There was a big fish close to the surface over my right rod and I hoped that it would get its head down on the bait.

Another hour passed and the wind picked up, encouraging the fish to move down in the water and I started to see fizzing over my right rod. Great news and 5 minutes later I had a slow rise on the indicator. Not wanting to miss it I struck as the indicator was falling back. The hook had set and right from the off I could tell I was in to something big thinking it was one of the resident catfish. It then stopped dead and hugged the bottom for a moment and I thought I was snagged before it made a huge run out to the island. Once I'd slowed it down I started to turn it and gain some line. By this time I was nearly up to my waist having waded out past the snags to the left and right of me. A good 10 minute fight pursued before I saw the fish come to the surface. From the glimpse of her head and shoulders I could tell she was big. I slipped the net underneath her and got her to the mat as soon as I could, weighed her and went to fetch the guy in the next swim to verify the weight and take the photos. Clocking up at 33lb 9oz, I'd caught Helen, the biggest carp in the lake.

We've had some unbelievable success on the Sqid, Octopus and Scopex boilies. So far since May I've had 8 20's and a 30 on them. Rik's had some really good fish too, the best being a stunning 25lb 7oz mirror. Rik and I have just started a baiting campaign on our other syndicate water where the carp are much larger, some of them running to over 40lbs. So stay tuned for future episodes of our Pure Carp YouTube channel to see how we get on.

What is your earliest memory of fishing and did you instantly get the “Fishing Bug?”

My Dad and I use to bait the Bethnal green canal with bread and cornflakes balls, And then we would go back a couple of days later and catch all sorts of stuff, So I was hooked from as early as 5-6 years old.

What is your most memorable moment in your fishing career?

I have many memorable moments, but I suppose it’s every time I break my PB. You’re not in competition with anyone and the feeling you get is un-explainable…I love it…

What about your worst moment?

I don’t really have one I love everything about it, But if it was to be something, Then It would be hearing of people mistreating fish or really bad carp care, There is know excuse in my eyes. I’m very passionate about fish care…

What is your favorite rig and why?

It’s got to be the Hinge rig, It just nails everything, All my big fish and PBs have more or less fell to this rig. Plus I love to tie it, it looks awesome and the mechanics of it spot on…

What do you do to pass the time on the bank during the quieter moments?

I watch the water. If you’re doing something else you could miss that one sign of fish. I’ve been told I’m quite anal with my fishing, Whether I’m fishing in the world championships or fishing an overnighter I fish hard… I only fish one way and that’s to the max…

If you had to pick one fishery in the UK to spend the rest of your fishing career on, which one would it be and why?

Well it would be Fen Drayton, need I say anymore, its mysteries are awesome. Its what’s missing from fishing ‘A little mystery and surprise’ very overwhelming…

Which fisherman would you most like to do a session with?

Well I’ve photographed and spent time with Terry Hearn on the bank, and the man is a legend, And very inspiring. His passion for whatever fish he is fishing for is always the same, but if I had the chance it would have to be Nigel Sharp, because how he can map the bottom of a lake and be spot on, What a gift…

You’re a consultant for Gardner Tackle, how did this come about?

Well I was a consultant for Mainline and ATT already, And I used the Gardner products any how, So I was approached by Lewis Read and we had a chat and I showed him my fishing over the last 3 years and he thought I would have something to offer Gardner on a media level, Through my catches. How could I say no, There products suit my fishing no end…

Congratulations with the success of the ATTs alarms, we love them. Do you have any more developments in the pipeline?

Yes of course, we have a major plan, We are a young company with clever guys at the wheel. You will just have to wait and see

Being the M.D. for ATT you must be really busy. Do you still get to spend much time on the bank?

Busy is not the word my feet do not touch the ground most days, But yeh If the weather is bang on I like to do up to 4 overnighters a week on various nights and then off to work in the morning. Its very hard work but the rewards are immense.

With regards to the case for the ATTx v2 receiver, we know it’s waterproof, we’ve seen it float. The burning question is, are you going to do it in camo?

Hahaha camo. There are reasons why the cube is clear, that’s so you can see your lights easily and you can leave it out laying around in the open. If it was camo you would never find it, plus most anglers who like camo can duck tape it like the rest of there kit…We don’t want to think of everything.

Do you have any fishing related ambitions yet to achieve?

Yeh of course, PBs and there are certain fish I want to catch but that’s a whole new story that I hope to experience.

You can check out att products by visiting ATT Tackle

We caught up with Paul from Chapel Baits to give us a few lessons about bait and rigs.

Carp fishing is as simple or as difficult as you want to make it & most of us make it much harder for ourselves than what it actually is. There are no miracle baits or magical rigs that will catch every fish in the country. By keeping things simple & watching the water you should be able to catch your quarry.

What flavoured bait works the best?
I get asked this question hundreds of times each month. The answer is, I think, mainly down to the angler’s personal choice & what they have the most confidence in. Baits that are placed in the right spot are far more important than worrying about ‘is the strawberry in this bait strong enough?’ A fish can sense high quality baits by all the complex food signals given off & what valuable nutrients it will gain from them. All the baits we produce are designed to be high in protein, have as low an oil content as we can have (we do not add oils to the baits to aid rolling) give off a decent attractor leakage & be very easily digestible along with a high quality food content. Saying that though there is always an exception to the rule as there are also thousands of fish caught every year by a piece of fake plastic corn or a single, over flavoured hi-viz pop-up!!!!

Another example is this statement I have been hearing for quite a while now and I am sure you have heard a similar thing; ‘don’t use fishmeal baits during the winter, only fruit flavoured birdseed baits will work.’ After talking to dozens of anglers about this posing question, the answer I keep constantly getting is that ‘the oils in fishmeal bait’s congeal in the cold water & will lock in the attractors inside’. To an extent this is true but it depends on what ingredients are used & in what quantities. I know of many anglers who use fishmeal baits very successfully throughout the winter with some very good & consistent catch results.

What bait to use & when?
This depends on your own preferences. With that I very simply mean that you use the bait that you have confidence in, one that you have caught plenty of fish with & stick to it! If you have started to fish a new water, walk around the lake & talk to the other anglers that are there to see if you can get an idea about what are the going baits, rigs etc. You may be able to quickly build up a picture of what most of the other anglers are doing. When I find out what’s the ‘in thing’ on that water I will tend to use a different type of bait & rig. If most of the anglers tend to be using a certain type of fruity bait & their rig is an 8” blow back rig with shrink tubing everywhere, so then why not change to strong fishmeal baits on a 12” simple rig? I was walking round a new water recently where, after chatting to 4 other anglers bivvied up together for a bit of a social told me that ‘unless you use The Cell, you won’t catch anything here mate’. So I went back soon after that conversation & took some bait’s from our Greedy Pig range called ‘Crusty’ with me. This bait is packed full of shrimp & krill powders (plus a few other goodies) on a fishmeal base mix with a strong pungent crustacean aroma & went on to haul out quite a few fish!

Which rig do I use & when?
The type of rig to use mainly depends on the lake bed you are fishing over. If you are presenting baits on a clear gravel bottom then a chod rig, stiff coated braid rig or a plain & simple supple knotless knot rig may well offer the best presentations. If your fishing in silt then a supply hook link longer than the depth of silt is best along with a couple of p.v.a. nuggets around the hook so it settles slowly on top of the silt. Fishing in weed is one of my favourite methods and I go about this in one of 3 ways,

1. the method – this is where you load up a specifically designed feeder with a ground bait mix, a vitalin mix or simply with scalded pellets. Start by packing them tightly in the centre and making the mix less compacted as you work your way out to about the size of an apple. Use a short hook link which you bury inside the mix.
2. p.v.a. bag – this is where you put your lead, hook link & hook bait inside a p.v.a. bag filled with pellets, crushed boilies or any type of bag mix you may prefer to use. It crashes through the weed & leaves a nice pile of bait on the lake bed where, hopefully, the lead & rig are hidden under all your free offerings.
3. long hook links – I have used hook links as long as 72” (yes that’s right a massive 6 foot long) when I have been targeting some fish in the past with great results. You attach a p.v.a. stocking filled with several p.v.a. nuggets to the hook baited with critically balanced plastic corn & cast out into the weed. It is very important to use a lead clip system with the tail rubber very lightly pressed on so it will release with the lightest of pressure. The lead will crash to the lake bed whilst the hook remains high up in the water due to the added buoyancy of the p.v.a. When it melts, the baited hook very slowly sinks & rests on the top of the weed. Then simply spod a sloppy mix including corn, hemp, small pellets & particles over the top of your hook bait. It’s a devastating method to use & my favourite of all 3 weedy methods.

This should give you a little more of an understanding & start to answer to some of your questions. I have tried to give my own ideas on what bait, what rig & when is the best time to use them based on my own personal fishing experiences. I hope that you are able to take something away from this & it helps you to put more of your chosen quarry on the bank.

Now, most of you reading this will have come across this debate in one way or another and I can only express my opinions on Leadcore.

Without doubt it certainly has its uses, mainly pinning the leadcore leader to the lake bed to improve presentation of your hooklink, but the question we're asking is "is it safe?"

I used to be an avid fan of leadcore thinking it was a magic bit of tackle that every angler should have in thier armory but then education set in and because I used to fish a semi fixed rig with Korda Safezone Lead Clips I started asking myself a few questions, one of which was "if the clip fails to release and the line teathers will the clip slide over the sliced loop?" Now I know this should hardly ever happen, but better to be safe than sorry right? and even if it did slip over the Carp will be left trailing leadcore behind it! I've also heard lots of storys about kinking and even to the extreme of people gluing lead clips to the leadcore creating a death rig.

Now I don't know anyone who would purposely create a death rig (although I'm sure there are a few) but there should be no excuse, the internet has a wealth of education on carp fishing and rigs! So, a lack of education? or just pure ignorance?

I have now replaced leadcore for Nash Camo Diffusion leaders. These will sit snug to the bed, sink at a reasonable rate and will blend in with pretty much any lake bed be it silt, gravel or clay.

If you do choose to use Leadcore, please use it with the care of the Carp in mind and ask yourself questions about the safety. Try and think of all the scenarios that could potentially happen.

Tight Lines!