A Question Of Carp

But this won't be the usual expert carp angler writing what he thinks you want to know, someone who may not really answer those basic questions because they can't help but take so many things for granted. Oh no, our expert will be answering questions shot at him from a real inexperienced, but improving, and deadly keen carp angler.

Who better to bring out the answers you want than someone who is at that stage of their career where they are on the first rungs of learning? Who better to ask the right questions than someone who is dead keen and eager to increase his knowledge?

Stuart with a nice double-figure common

The question master is Stuart Dennis, and the man with the answers is Big Rik.

This is what Stuart has to say:

“Over the coming months I will be working with Rik to uncover some very sought- after secrets that are second nature to the pros but are classed as 'gold-dust' pieces of info to the likes of you and me, and when absorbed and tried, should help notch up our catch rate.

There are no doubt hundreds of questions us novices would like to ask the expert angler on the bankside, but unfortunately we sometimes feel it awkward to do so, due to the fear of feeling embarrassed in that we didn't know the answers in the first place!

After numerous discussions with many successful and respected anglers from all walks of life it has become abundantly clear that our wonderful hobby holds its enthusiastic participants in different class brackets regarding knowledge.

The highly acclaimed fisherman are regarded with total admiration for being able to sit on a venue never before visited by them and pull out oodles and oodles of specimen carp. The ability to concentrate the mind and pull on years and years of watercraft and then apply this knowledge and produce wondrous results time after time, and make the whole exercise look so seemingly easy, can be absolutely breathtaking to watch.

I've been fishing for some 26 years now and the majority of my fishing career has concentrated mostly on the quivertip for specimen tench. Over the last two years my attentions have swayed towards carp and to be totally honest, this truly is another world. Where I could have been classed as a successful specimen hunter using the quiver for tench, I could be classed as a total novice when pursuing carp.

Yes, I have many years of watercraft under my belt, and yes, I'm prepared to do my homework on species and venues, but when it comes to the right rigs for the right swim, tackle, bait and the ability to judge exactly the best ways to confront a virgin venue, then my former experience can sometimes leave me short.

In this new series I hope other like-minded carp angling novices and improvers will also try to bridge the gap between us and the experts and in turn put more fish on the bank.

As these articles run their course, no doubt many questions will arise. So If you're just getting started or just want to get under the skin of the experts, email me and I'll go banging on their doors without a care in the world and include the question you ask, and the answer, in this series."

Email Stuart with your carp fishing questions at stuartdennis@msn.com. Or me, graham@fishingmagic.com, and I'll pass them on to Stuart.

The first article in the series is 'HOW TO TACKLE A NEW VENUE'

Watch out for it on Wednesday!