A quick one

I was talking this evening to my old friend Mick Lomas. For those of you you have never heard of him, he is one of the most successful all round specimen anglers in the Sheffield area. He told me of his PB bream of 10lbs 14 oz he took from a local gravel pit recently.

During his little campaign for these bream, he decided to do a bit of carp fishing to pass the time. Not bivvying up for days with boilies you understand, but the sort of carp fishing I often do, when an opportunity presents itself

A few days ago the carp in this pit were all on the surface, but that did not deter most of the "true carp men". They kept on as true traditionalist with boilies and bolt rigs at distance, fast asleep - catching nothing.

Mick rigged one of his Avon rods, 10 lb line,, 4 hook and baited with a bit of "........."

Withing 10 seconds of casting in, he hooked a good carp just under 20 lbs and landed it in the heat of the day.

This did not go un-noticed and after hearing the splashes, several young kids who where sleeping in their bivvies awoke and walked along the bank to ask Mick what bait he had caught it on.

Mick told them it was a special bait he was field testing for a well known Rotherham bait firm. He was put under a great deal of pressure to tell them what it was, as several of them had been on the water for a number of days without a pull and that they were getting bored.

Mick eventually relented and told them it was a bit of Warburtons Special.

I am told that a certain Rotherham Bait manufacturer was bombarded with emails and phone calls asking what a "Warburtons Special" was.

The moral of the story is, why is it at that the vast majority of carp anglers are far more interested in what the bait is, rather that how the bait was fished?

I have done this trick myself on a number of occasions.

Perhaps me and Mick are getting a bit too old!

I've always wished I'd find myself in a similar situation but unfortuately never have !!!!!!

Stay awake and keep your eyes open mate.

Wear camo clothes and crawl on your stomach... )

Ron,
I have also done this. High protein natural particles. Maggots to us simple souls.

Was it not Chris Yates who some years ago "emptied" Redmire Pool using floating magotts?
And this was following a period where virtually nothing was caught for many weeks on the infamous boilie.

It never ceases to amaze me that the younger generation still believe that the successful alternative to watercraft, thought and experience . . . . . is some magic new "super" bait!

Seemingly, some things never change.

but dont forget that maggots blew, as did sweetcorn (nothing was caught on it for many years at redmire). like any bait, theres a time and a place for it

peter - who's the younger generation? people have always been chasing the "magic bait" or "magic rig" - remember that sweetcorn and the hair rig was "hush hush" once - and just as many "older" people ask bait questions. dont you mean "inexperienced" rather than "younger"

"Sweetcorn" - secret??

You must be joking Dave!

There have been more carp caught during the past 100 years on sweetcorn I'll bet than any other bait I can think of. I was using it in quantity for tench in Ireland in 1965.

I caught thousands of carp in SA during the 60s and 70s using the stuff. In most cases we didn't use it from a can but obtained ordinary corn on the cob and simmered it for a while to make it soft.

Hush hush bait? - never! For the last 100 years it must be one of the most effective baits ever used for carp.

And don't get me on the hair rig being some wonderful invention of a thinking angler - I was using it in 1967!

Come to that, some sea anglers were using it in the 30s

Reda Kevin Clifford's Book, "A History of Carp Fishing"

Kevin, quite correctly, exposes the so called innovations of English Carp Anglers, although some of the dates are incorrect. Even the boilie goes back over 150 years.

And the concept of the bolt rig for carp was being used to good effect in the 50s.

I see you are back to full form again Ron?

yes ron, but someone had to be the first to use it you plonker.
we all know that your one of the best, most innovative anglers of the millenium

"I caught thousands of carp in SA during the 60s and 70s "
"And don't get me on the hair rig being some wonderful invention of a thinking angler - I was using it in 1967!"

your so great

ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Blimey I agree with Frothey.

These methods were not invented by myself. I saw them used and tried them out.

I'm not a particularly good innovator.

And of course there had to be a first angler to use these methods for carp.

But it certainly was not an English carp angler in the 70s as some anglers I have read seem to make out.