MARCUS HOWARTH showed how effective maggots can be for big carp in the colder months when silver fish activity dies down with fours specimens on the grubs.
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Wimborne, Dorset-based Marcus fished a 48 hour session on a Berkshire club water and had The Brute at 43 lb 12 oz, a 32 lb 6 oz common and others of 25 lb 15 oz and 29 lb 8 oz.
The 29-year-old tackle shop employee said: “I was fishing 50 yards to a silt gully and fed maggots plus 5 kg of crumbed up Sticky Baits Manilla boilies.
“I used a size 6 Atomic Chodda hook with a 25 lb Amnesia hooklink with a balanced maggot rig.”
This is a short version of the story that appeared in Angler’s Mail printed magazine. Get the magazine every week for top tips, big news, best products, and venues that are in form.
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MICK HENDERSON couldn’t get any closer to the 40 lb barrier when he matted this stunning common of 39 lb 15 oz.
The 45-year-old warehouseman from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, added others of 28 lb and 26 lb in the three night trip to a Lincolnshire pit.
All three fell to Nash Baits’ new Key Cray fishing to a silty smooth area at 120 yards and he got through 8 kg of freebies in the trip.
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COREY HASSELL decided to cut back on loose feed in the colder weather as many others at Baden Hall’s Quarry Pool in Staffordshire and it paid off with this 36 lb 1 oz cracker.
The 21-year-old packing operator Macclesfield, Cheshire, spread 50 boilies over two rods at the far bank then used PVA bags with Sticky Baits Manilla bag mix with added water snails and pellets and tempted the first fish out for over a week.
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RUPERT STACY had a 48 hour social at Willinghurst’s Christmas Tree Lake in Surrey and nabbed this 33 lb 2 oz common on his first day.
The 22-year-old graduate marine biologist from Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, used a Sticky Baits Manilla boilie a rod length out from an overhanging marginal tree.
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TOP club Pride of Derby AA have some great carp fishing and John Coupe visited one of their stillwaters for this prime 33 lb 4 oz common.
The 65-year-old salesman from Sheffield used two glugged Sticky Baits Manilla boilies over 1 kg of freebies.
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DES MADDOCKS came down with a violent stomach bug on a trip to a local lake and was trying not to throw up when hooked into this 38 lb 8 oz mirror at dawn.
Eastleigh, Hampshire-based Des, a 27-year-old support worker, had only put out one rod to a prebaited area using Sticky Baits Manilla boilies.
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JONNY FLETCHER plotted his peg as he knew a string cold wind was about to hit Greenacres Fishery in Cambridgeshire and he got it right with this fine 34 lb 2 oz mirror.
The 29-year-old builder from nearby Peterborough used Sticky Baits Manilla boilies.
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CONNOR BOVINGDON is having a good season on his local River Thames and his latest trip produced this stunning 32 lb.8 oz mirror.
The 20-year-old duct fitter from Ascot, Berkshire, legered Sticky Baits Krill boilies.
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GAVIN FRANKLIN was chuffed with this 31 lb 7 oz common carp from a secret pit. The 39-year-old from Northamptonshire used a 3 Foot Twitch Redemption pop-up that he is field testing.
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KARL ‘BERTIE’ BAXTER can only fish once a month at Fryerning Fisheries Main Lake in Essex but is in the form of his life and his latest trip produced this 38 lb 6 oz mirror called the Stripe plus four others 30s.
The 42-year-old brick layer from Ipswich, Suffolk, used Mainline Activ-8 boilies and fed regularly, using 7 kg of freebies.
ANGLER'S MAIL takes carp fishing seriously. And our big carp galleries are backed by TAG (The Angling Group) who have top carp fishing brands Taska, Nutrabaits and Kryston.
MARCUS HOWARTH showed how effective maggots can be for big carp in the colder months when silver fish activity dies down with fours specimens on the grubs.
Wimborne, Dorset-based Marcus fished a 48 hour session on a Berkshire club water and had The Brute at 43 lb 12 oz, a 32 lb 6 oz common and others of 25 lb 15 oz and 29 lb 8 oz.
The 29-year-old tackle shop employee said: “I was fishing 50 yards to a silt gully and fed maggots plus 5 kg of crumbed up Sticky Baits Manilla boilies.
“I used a size 6 Atomic Chodda hook with a 25 lb Amnesia hooklink with a balanced maggot rig.”
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DANNY MARTIN had struggled for eight nights on a local syndicate so decided on change to day ticket Farlows Lake in Buckinghamshire and had mirrors of 34 lb 10 oz and 26 lb 8 oz in 72 hours.
The 20-year-old salesman from Loughton, Essex, fished at 104 yards to the back of a gravel bar in a 12 foot silty gully using Sticky Baits 16 mm shelf-life Manilla.
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STEVE POTTS tempted 11 carp in two overnighters at a local pit including Dumpy at 32 lb 8 oz, a 33 lb common and a mirror of 30 lb 10 oz.
Sedgley, West Midlands-based Steve, 28, who works for Angling Direct at Willenhall, sales assistant, fished at 170 yards to a silt patch on a Sticky Bait shelf-life Manilla boilies over maggots.
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FIREFIGHTER Marc Cavaciuti had a great trip to the Essex Manor when he tempted this mirror called The Pearly Lin at 37 lb 7 oz plus others of 42 lb 6 oz and 32 lb 4 oz.
The 32-year-old from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, used a 12 mm pink Sticky Baits Signiture pop-ups tipped with five maggots in PVA bags of Krilled grubs and bloodworm pellets.
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MARK ROBINSON tackled a tricky northern water and banked this corking 31 lb mirror. He was trialing a new test bait from Nutrabaits which is due out in the spring.
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ROB PLESTED had a productive trip to a Cambridgeshire syndicate topped by this lovely 33 lb 7 oz mirror. Local Rob added others of 30 lb 4 oz and 20 lb 2 oz on legered boilies.
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BEN TIPNEY set himself a target of a day ticket 40 this year and managed it with this 41 lb 6 oz mirror from Oxlease Lake at Oxfordshire’s Linear Fisheries.
The 33-year-old training consultant from Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, also had a 28 lb 6 oz mirror and mid double common in 34 hours on a Sticky Baits White Krill pop-up tipped with maggots on an adapted version of the multi-rig.
A TACKLE shop narrowly escaped destruction when a crashing vehicle stopped inches from its front window after badly damaging the house next door.
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Shop owner’s son Richard Taylor went to open up Medway Tackle in Tonbridge, Kent, at 8 am last Saturday and was amazed to find the car on the front forecourt and the area taped off by the police.
Owner Sharon Taylor explained: “It was quite a shock and a really close shave for us as a few inches more and it would have smashed into our window display and we might have had to cease trading.
“As it is we have a side entrance to the shop so we were able to open as usual although we did have a number of calls from people asking as they had seen the pictures on the local TV news.
“Apparently the crash happened at about 1.30 in the morning when a youngster, who must have been speeding, lost control of the vehicle going round a bend and it smashed through a garden wall which contained a built in old Victorian letter box.
“It then hit the front of the family house next door, taking off the gas meter from the wall, and stopped just short of us.
“There were letters everywhere and the front of the house looks like a building site, with a big crack up the wall.
“It was certainly quite a talking point for our customers,” she added.
CAUGHT A BIG FISH? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could star in the brilliant Angler’s Mail magazine and win great prizes.
THE season’s best roach has come out to a dedicated specimen hunter following a tough two-year campaign.
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The giant 3 lb 11 oz roach came from noted carp syndicate Highbridge Fisheries in Bridgham, Norfolk, where a 4 lb 1 oz specimen was matted two years ago.
Captor Dan Woolcott, from Biggin Hill, Kent, smashed his old roach PB of 2 lb 11 oz from Scotland’s Lochnaw Fishery.
Dan explained: “It is an unusual water being a large clay bedded hollow of 6.5 acres up to 35 feet deep used by the farm for irrigation purposes, so the water level fluctuates enormously.
“It seems completely featureless but I have been fortunate to be present when the level was low enough to see the bottom and I was able to photograph it and map the few features.
“There is one small shoal of only about eight to ten large roach which are estimated at 20-25 years old and I’ve been after one of these beauties for several years now, mainly fishing in the autumn.
“On this session I fished to a couple of one foot ledges where I baited up with a mix of hemp, dead maggots and sweetcorn topped with a touch of Scopex flavouring.
“Over this I fished a single grain of sweetcorn directly on a size 12 wide gape hook and a helicopter style rig with 5 lb fluorocarbon hooklink and 6 lb main line.
“I came planning to fish for the weekend, but had the roach after about seven hours so decided that, as I had finally achieved my objective of a PB 3 lb plus fish, I would pack up and go home to Kent to celebrate with a few beers.
“My next target is a 4 lb perch from the more local River Mole,” added the 30-year-old surveyor.
Positive ID from roach expert
Fish ID expert Dr Mark Everard has confirmed that it is almost certainly a roach.
Mark explained: “As a scientist I cannot definitively confirm without being able to examine the dorsal and anal fin spines and rays.
“However the 42 lateral line scales (albeit two missing), orientation of dorsal and ventral fins up the scale column and overbite, all check out for those parts. It looks pretty roachy to me – a lovely fish,” he concluded.
This is just a short version of the full story that appeared in Angler’s Mail printed magazine. Get the magazine every week for top tips, big news, best products, and venues that are in form.
CAUGHT A BIG FISH? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could star in the magazine and win great prizes.
HI-TECH military technology is coming to fishing with a new gadget to help anglers catch more fish at night - and many carp anglers are sure to be interested.
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Night Cast has just been launched at £540 that allows anglers to scan the water no matter how dark it is.
The night vision monitor is primarily aimed at carp anglers but all specimen anglers could see the benefits if they are into after dark fishing.
Inventor Tom Glacken said: “It can be tripod mounted so scanning a lake at night is very easy but leaves hands free to cast or put bait in.
“It does not produce any visible light so does not disturb other anglers or give away where you are fishing to.
“I designed it whilst fishing a syndicate which is very snaggy with most fishing done to far bank overhangs which even when you’re clipped up was problematic.
“We have done a lot of testing and found that when people are clipped up at night the majority of the time they are not landing the cast where they think they are.”
Like fishing in the day – but at night
Tom told Angler’s Mail: “I use it for many things now and basically continue how I fish during the day at night. I can still see to put bait in by any method.
“You can scan at night to see where fish are topping and the unit also has 20x optical zoom so you can focus in on areas.
“You can also use it for summer surface fishing at night which can be incredibly good, and most anglers pack up when it goes dark but the fish are feeding most confidently.
“At this time of year it is dark for ages. You wouldn’t shut your eyes for 14 hours in the day time. And this allows you to fish those winter hours with daylight vision.
“Only last week I saw a fish top in an area I wasn’t expecting them to be, cast to it and had a 27 lb fully-scaled mirror,” added Essex-based Tom, who will be showing the product at the Brentwood and Carpin’-On shows in the new year.
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Angler’s Mail carp columnist Jamie Londors has been out using and catching with the aid of Night Cast.
Night Cast comes with a mains charger and storage case, has an overall size of 185 x 185 x 125mm and the controls on it have been designed with night fishing in mind with large easy grip dials make it easy to set-up wearing gloves or with wet hands.
Angler’s Mail carp columnist Jamie Londors has used the device and thinks it is very useful.
Jamie revealed: “Using it is easy. I find it to be a big edge to be turning up in the dark and being able to get my rigs into position and bait over the top with no hassle.
“ I can then go to sleep at night with my confidence sky high knowing that I am fishing as good as I would be in day light.
“With long nights it is a winner for me because there will be people that don’t go fishing because it is dark but with this product it is like turning up in daylight,” added Jamie.
CAUGHT A BIG FISH? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could star in the brilliant weekly Angler’s Mail magazine and win great prizes.
A MEGA 104 pages makes the Angler’s Mail festive special the biggest and best for all coarse anglers.
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This traditional special is one you won’t want to miss, and covering a fortnight represents top value at £2.99.
The free pullout is Gear of the Year – Angler’s Mail’s own pick of the best tackle seen by the Mail experts during the past 12 months.
Get up to date….
Fish of the Week – including huge barbel for Wanderer
RIP Tony Miles – tribute to big fish legend
Record restocking for venues
Mail man’s impressive giant
AM’s Images of the Year
Winner of Greatest Living Match Angler announced
Your Great Catches & Big Carp Gallery
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WIN a Deeper Sonar Pro+ by entering the comp inside the bumper Angler’s Mail magazine.
Enjoy these specials…
Steve Collett meets his hero Dave Coster
Lure Attacks takes a close look at perch
Specialists Tips of the Year
John Bailey’s 2016 Awards
Books of the Year
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Find out which lures to use for perch… and when! And WIN Salmo Lures like this one too – there’s a great competition inside this mega issue of Angler’s Mail magazine.
Tuck into the regulars…
Angling Answers
The Knowledge
Secret Lives
Carp Crew
On The Bank
Match Squad
Letters & Memory Lane
The Informant
PLUS Where To Fish This Festive Period – by the Mail’s trusted experts!
FREE INSIDE…the Angler’s Mail Gear of the Year pullout. Our selections of the very best kit released during 2016…
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A subscription to Angler’s Mail print magazine makes a great Christmas gift – click HEREto subscribe at a great price!
GARDNER TACKLE’S Lewis Read had a hard weekend manning their stand at the busy Carp Society Winter Show but made the effort to do overnighters afterwards and had this 54 lb 4 oz mirror.
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Carp Society show regular Lewis has matted an astonishing ten carp over 48 lb since January 1 this year, but was particularly pleased with the PB from Berkshire wonder water Wellington Country Park.
The 45-year-old from Kingston, South West London, explained how he scored straight after the annual event at Surrey’s Sandown Racecourse.
“Some people get more intelligent than others – others go fishing on nights during shows even if it means packing up ridiculously early to attend said events. Now and again the madness is fruitful!
“ I did Saturday night in a snaggy corner swim called Animal Farm, as the forecast was that it would be the best night of the week so felt utterly compelled, and it was pretty pointless – but a nice way to chill out between show days.”
Manic day at Carp Society show
“After a manic day manning the Gardner stand at the Carp Society show on Sunday I got away after pack up and decided I’d sneak in yet another night,” continued Lewis.
“After a couple of scant recent sightings over the last couple of weeks – and working on a ‘where hasn’t been fished recently’ basis I decided to do my first ever night in a quiet corner on the back of the easterly in The Stump Swim.
“ I knew about where I wanted the hookbaits to land so after priming 3 Ronnie Rigs with size 4 Covert Dark Mugga Hooks, 25 lb Silt Ultra Skin, 2 oz Gardner Bolt Bombs and 3 ft CamFlex Leadfree leaders with a 12mm Carp Company Caviar and Cranberry washed out pink pop-up.
“Each had a two bait ‘bit stringer’ attached and each rod hit the spots I wanted first cast… lovely! And that is vital in my opinion.
“I started getting the odd single bleep on one of the rods, a great tell tale that they are about when using fluorocarbon main line.
Twitchy winter bite
“It wasn’t long when the RHR bobbin pulled up an inch then lifted again tight to the clip, a typical twitchy winter bite.
“ I picked the rod up and a big fish erupted just to the right of the spot and started steadily peeling off line as I clumsily tried to get in the chesties.
“The fish then did a series of long and short surging runs all over the place down that end of the lake – that I countered with gentle pressure.
“In truth at least one of these runs would have been avoidable had I remembered to set the net up which was at the back of the swim on the barrow. What a dope! But it went in easily enough,” he concluded. CAUGHT A BIG FISH? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could star in the magazine.
GARETH SHELDON caught the biggest non-trout water pike of the season at 32 lb 10 oz after his dad Ian agreed to share the runs on his rods at day ticket Horcott Lakes in Gloucestershire.
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The 21-year-old tyre fitter from nearby Fairford added 14 others to mid doubles with Ian, using legered lamprey at the £10 a day water.
Horcott Lakes fishery manager Lee Pollard said: “Ian was very pleased for Gaz but has now made him think twice about giving runs away! He’s been after a 30 all his life and not had one.
“This is a venue record. The 22 acre pit holds a good head of pike average being mid-high doubles with quite a few 20s. The lake has lots of silver fish especially big rudd so probably filling up on those.
“Its also a good venue for big perch to just over 4 lb in the past along with plenty of three-pounders,” added Lee.
Venue latest: www.horcottlakes.yolasite.com
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THE season’s biggest pike was landed at 39 lb 8 oz by Andy Flint - whose mother’s funeral was the following day.
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Pike fan Andy Flint had arranged the trip last January from his mother Thelma’s house but forgot about it when it came to the funeral arrangements.
But Norwich, Norfolk-based Andy decided a bit of angling therapy would help him deal with the loss so went ahead with the long trip to prolific big predator water Chew Valley Lake in Somerset, and was rewarded with a PB esox going 39 lb 8 oz.
The 50-year-old Angling Direct shop manager said: “I don’t usually publicise my catches but the fish was extra special as it will always remind me of mum and I’m convinced she was looking down on me and brought me luck.
“It has been a very difficult spell and even the fishing had its problems but there was a fantastic outcome at the end of our second day as I had the fish just as I was packing up.
Huge pike catch will ‘remind me of mum’
Andy continued: “I was fishing from the bank 80 yards out using a bait boat with a smelt in about 14 feet of water. I had a problem getting it to drop, but persevered rather than retrieving it – lucky I did as the boat ran out of battery immediately after.
“We believe it is the same fish that came out two years ago at 42 lb and it did feel quite empty so goodness knows what it will weigh come when the pike fishing re-opens there in February.
“The fish will always mean more to me because of the circumstances surrounding the capture and it will always remind me of mum,” he added.
CAUGHT A BIG FISH? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could star in the brilliant weekly magazine and win great prizes.
GREATEST VENUES TO FISH IN 2017 are revealed in the first Angler’s Mail magazine of the new year… find out which venues in your region have been hand-picked by our experts.
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Dick Clegg OBE reveals his all-time ‘best of the best’ England team, exclusively for Angler’s Mail magazine. He’s as honest and forthright as ever. It’s a must-read!
There’s a new mini series with the legend Chris Yates. And Dave Coster sets out to share a wide range of his knowledge with you too!
This week’s Angler’s Mail magazine is full of essential reading:
Matt Hayes questions major rod licence decision
The Big One heads 2017 events
Sad death of ace young carp angler
Brexit’s effects on the angling trades so far
Your Great Catches
Match Squad – this week, Lee Kerry
Steve Collett targets a Severn hotspot
Secret Lives with Dr Ian Welch
Carp Crew – 7 ways to do better in 2017 and running a fishery
Letters, Memory Lane , The Informant & more!
JANUARY SUBS SALE! A subscription to Angler’s Mail print magazine at a great price – click HEREto subscribe and SAVE!
IN ONE of the most controversial British Record Fish Committee meeting of recent times, two of the biggest claims - for record carp and trout - were rejected on the grounds they were regarded as cultivated fish!
And the rainbow trout record claim of 34 lb 12 oz from Glasgow’s Micky Mitchell was rejected also on the grounds that it should be regarded as a cultivated fish – despite him catching it on maggots in the wild and having a policeman witness it.
The committee concluded that the carp had been deliberately grown to around the record weight in a stock pond before being released into the Avenue Lake where it was caught shortly after.
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The record trout that wasn’t accepted as a record.
British Record Fish Committee views
BRFC secretary Nick Simmonds of the Angling Trust said: “The fish was regarded as artificially grown to record size, before being released into the fishery and as such wasn’t considered as a valid claim on the record which isn’t for cultivated fish.
“We have however included it in our list of ‘Top 50’ specimens of each species reported in the media and recorded on our website. There is little prospect that we will ever have a cultivated carp record though.
“The committee used to run a list of best cultivated game fish but we stopped this in 2014 as we didn’t want to be seen to be encouraging the cultivation of fish to ever bigger sizes,” he concluded.
Fishery owner Rob Hales’ views
Fishery owner Rob Hales told Angler’s Mail: “To be honest the decision wasn’t totally unexpected although personally I think the Committee is naive and behind the times.
“What counts as a naturally grown fish in the modern era when anglers are piling in pellets and boilies on commercial fisheries and syndicate waters and owners also feed up the fish?
“You can’t force a fish to feed, and they put on weight differently. I bought a few fish in the 40 lb range to grow on and this was the only one to really pack on the weight.
“We have bred from the fish and will be taking out the fry which are now around 10 oz in February.
“Although it is disappointing to not be granted the record, all the publicity has been great for business and our fish sales have rocketed,” he exclaimed.
Former record carp title holder Lee Jackson observed: “It is an understandable decision but at the end of the day it’s the biggest carp ever caught on rod and line and deserves that recognition.”
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THE Angling Trust have revealed they are making thousands of patrols with their voluntary bailiffs scheme – to help out the Environment Agency who have been hit with major cutbacks.
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As we reported last week, Angler’s Mail has found out the Environment Agency their bailiffs made just 62,000 licence checks for the 2015-16 season, a sharp decline of 8,000 from 2013-14.
And for the same period, there were 1,900 prosecutions down by 900 two years before.
A hugely popular Angler’s Mail survey saw hundreds of anglers report that they either never or hardly ever had their rod licence checked.
Governing body The Trust have revealed they are now going into phase two of their Voluntary Bailiffs Service. They will be training their people up to be given the full powers of official bailiffs, making them akin to Police special constables.
Started in 2012 as a pilot in one area and managed, the VBS has since been rolled out to cover the whole country, and 329 bailiffs are now in operation supporting vital EA work.
“Most exciting development in angling history”
Trust national enforcement service manager Dilip Sakar explained: “This is the most exciting development in angling history and represents the way forward in tackling licence evasion.
“The National Intelligence Model underpins all policing today – this means that our limited resources can be deployed to hotspot locations at peak times, following analysis of information received from the public.
“We don’t actually check licences but report suspicious activity to the EA and occasionally the police.
“Since we became fully operational from last spring we have undertaken 2,892 patrols taking 4,403 hours, and reported 51 incidents to the EA and 12 to the police.
“We are also rolling out phase two of the programme in which a number of the existing VBs receive further training so they can be given the full powers of official bailiffs, making them akin to special constables.
“We are aiming to increase our total of bailiffs to 500 by this spring, bringing us level with countries like Holland, but a long way behind Poland which has 5,000.”
“We take illegal fishing very seriously”
Adrian Saunders, senior advisor for incidents and compliance at the Environment Agency, said: “We take illegal fishing very seriously. We are constantly cracking down on evasion to make sure that all anglers have a valid rod licence.
“Our approach is targeted and intelligence-led which means we concentrate on the criminal hotspots.
“Just because a law abiding angler hasn’t had their licence checked it doesn’t mean we’re not out there,” he added.
A number of induction training programmes for new VBs are being held early this year, so anyone interested in joining the service should contact: Karen.sarkar@anglingtrust.net
GOT A NEWS STORY OR CAUGHT A BIG FISH? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could appear in the brilliant weekly magazine.
ONE of Britain’s best loved and also most successful club bailiffs, Del Smith, sadly passed away just before Christmas.
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Del Smith, who caught three British records at his beloved Horton Church Lake in Berkshire, lost a battling fight against cancer.
Also affectionately known as Delboy, Del worked under the now defunct RMC/CEMEX Angling before RK Leisure took over many of their waters.
Daughter Melanie Hill told Angler’s Mail: “It is with sadness to announce that my father Del, lost his fight to cancer.
“He was a true scholar of carp fishing and appeared on the front cover of the Angler’s Mail in 1979 and I don’t know how many more times he appeared in various additions.
“He held three British records and was well respected by his colleagues and friends at RK Leisure and Horton Church Lake.
“Del started fishing at the age of 15 when his uncle took him fishing and he only stopped fishing when he started the fight against cancer.
“He passed away quietly in his sleep, wearing his ‘Hookers’ t-shirt, a true fisherman until the end!
“Del will be sadly missed by his family, friends and colleagues. Horton Church lake will not be the same without him,” added Melanie.
Memories of Del Smith
Former RMC Angling boss and close pal Ian Welch said: “I first met Del when I joined what was then Leisure Sport Angling back in the late 1980s during the draining of the infamous Fox Pool fishery and the transfer of those famous old carp to their new home in Horton.
“Del was then one of LSA’s ‘Projects Team’, a rag tag band of ne’er do wells and volunteers who undertook the netting and fish transfer operations in the days before we became a professional outfit!
“A true all-rounder who was equally at home trotting for the barbel on Fishers Green as he was stalking big carp – one nickname was Stalker Del – we soon became firm friends and I was quick to make him my right hand man running firstly the Horton Fishery, and then overseeing the whole Kingsmead complex, where he was later to make his home.
“A quiet, unassuming man with a marvellous sense of humour, Del was one of the few anglers who truly understood what made fish tick and he was always happy to impart his knowledge to others.
“We shared many ‘interesting’ fish adventures together and put the angling world to rights over many a bottle of port. Like everyone who had him as part of their life, angling or otherwise, I shall miss him,” concluded Ian.
CAUGHT A BIG FISH? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could star in the magazine and win great prizes.
THE second ever Environment Agency Annual Fisheries Report has been released – and there’s some good news for angling.
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Environment Agency rod licence sales were finally up for the 2015-16 season, rising by 4,155 to 1,210,201 sold, giving £21 million income.
This is the first sales increase since 2009-10 when rod licences peaked at 1.4 million and there’s been a steady decline since.
And there was substantial rise in coarse stockings with 452,220 fish stocked from the Environment Agency’s Calverton Fish Farm last year, up from 336,218 stocked the year before.
But it wasn’t all good news with fish rescues down ten-fold, with just 80,000 rescued from pollution incident last year.
Some £8.75 million was invested in fisheries and angling programmes with a further £2.7 million given out in partner investments.
A big chunk of the £2.7 million goes to the Angling Trust on development and promotion of angling and the expansion of the voluntary bailiff service.
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“We invest rod licence income”
Sarah Chare, Environment Agency head of fisheries, revealed: “We invest rod licence income into angling and fisheries improvement funding programmes and where opportunities are available we seek match funding with partners
“For every £1 of rod licence income invested into these programmes an additional £2.25 of funding from other sources is generated.
“In 2015 there were 15 Family Fishing events organised by the Angling Trust attended by 10,095 and Get Hooked on Fishing events attracted a further 10,000. National Fishing Month also introduced more than 14,000 new people to angling,” she added.
GOT A NEWS STORY OR CAUGHT A BIG FISH? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could star in the brilliant weekly print magazine.
BAIT inventor Leighton McDonnell put together a new ‘Tring Butchers Faggot Paste’ and it worked instantly with this 7 lb 6 oz chub from the Great Ouse.
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Tring, Hertfordshire-based Leighton said: “I have been experimenting with a unique Umami paste bait encapsulated by faggots and sold by my local butchers as they have a very special smell and taste.
“I tried Brains frozen faggots with onion sauce but they proved too salty. The chub came first cast, but I never struck, as it hooked itself and was very cute as it simply behaved like a crayfish (long slow draws of the quiver) so I decided to wind in and found it hooked.”
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DAVE FARMER has been having a good run and topped a good campaign with this fine 46 lb 12 oz mirror – his 20th 40 lb carp caught here in the UK.
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The latest 40 lb carp – all 46 lb 12 oz of it – fell to an Individual Baits TNT Steamies boilies over hemp and sweetcorn on an overnight session.
Teston, Kent-based Dave explained: “I’ve been waiting for a few weeks for more carpy weather to come in.
“After applying a few Spombs of bait over my chosen spot I positioned my rods. My mate arrived and started chatting.
“Within minutes I saw a good fish roll over my rod. Then I had a liner. My mate missed it of course and he thought I was pulling his leg as only three carp had been out in three weeks.”
Lifting bobbin signals 40 lb carp
“Then my bobbin lifted up pulling into the alarm. I was straight into it and he still seemed in disbelief, and he thought it was a bream.
“But it was then obvious I was attached to a carp and after a few good minutes it was ready for the net!
“Upon lifting it out of the water I instantly recognised it as one of the rarer ones – I was ecstatic. It was a total result,” he said.
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JOE LONGMAN had this stunning heavily-scaled mirror of 32 lb 4 oz in a fine winter haul of carp.
The 25-year-old tackled Lake Christine on Kent’s Cottington Lake and added other mirrors of 33 lb and 31 lb 2 oz plus four 20s and six doubles in a 48-hour stint.
Joe fished 20-30 yards to a bay against an island and to a marginal reedline feeding 30 Sticky Baits Krill boilies per fish.
Harlow, Essex-based Joe said: “Ten fish all came to a rod fished about 30 yards to a bay inbetween two islands. In the day I was fishing tighter to the island to get a bite and on the last day I landed six from fishing a foot or so from the island locked up.”
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THE tiny day ticket Coppermill Stream on North East London’s Walthamstow complex produced this fine 22 lb 4 oz near-leather for gardener Stewart Harvey.
Edmonton-based Stewart, 52, used a Sticky Baits Krill pop-up.
Stewart said: “Others tell me there is a common in the stream that is touching 30, but I was overjoyed with this from such a small stream.”
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THIS fine linear called The Don might have passed the magical 40 lb barrier for the first time ever when Steve Stephenson caught it at 40 lb 8 oz.
Steve offered Mainline Essential Cell boilies over a lightly baited area.
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ANT MUSSON couldn’t have been happier to nab this superb 37 lb 14 oz common from Manton New Lake in Lincolnshire.
Cottingham. East Yorkshire-based Ant used a Sticky Baits Manilla boilie at long range.
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COLIN DELAHAYE had been baiting the River Thames for a few weeks with up to 10 kg of Sticky Baits Manilla boilies per week and the effort paid off as had this common of 20 lb 2 oz plus a mirror of exactly the same weight.
Selsey, The 37-year-old gas engineer, from West Sussex, was on an overnighter and fished a 20mm Manilla topped with fake tiger nut at 75 yards.
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JEFF SMITH thought his Norfolk syndicate would be tough as a carp hadn’t been caught for almost a month but he winkled out this 32 lb 14 oz mirror plus a 1 lb 9 oz roach.
Dereham-based Jeff, 46, used a solid PVA bag filled with Sticky Baits Manilla boilies.
REECE LISLE came close to the Yorkshire carp record when he took this 57 lb 3 oz monster from a day ticket water that he was meant to be pike fishing on!
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Bradford, West Yorkshire-based Reece, who works for Erics Angling, tackled their own venue Willows Lake when his predator fishing took an unexpected twist.
Reece explained: “Although the pike wasn’t playing ball I spotted a few carp showing round the back of the islands so I quickly geared up and put out a couple of faithful stiff hinge rigs with the new Duster Baits Nut-trix high intense pop-up at the business end.
“After just 15 minutes the rod went into meltdown and it was doing the usual big fish motion of short burst and heavy nods. It wasn’t until I dipped the net under this chunk and see how thick set its shoulders were that it started to sink in this was potentially a new PB.
“After moving her safely to the weighing in area it was at that point confirmed when the needle spun round to 57 lb 3 oz. A new UK PB was in the bag absolutely buzzing and a fish known as Lumpy,” he added.
Willows Lake already hold the county record with a fish called Three Scales at 59 lb 8 oz but that has dropped down in weight, coming out at 51 lb on her last capture.
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