Practical Carp Fishing
By Graham Marsden and Mark Wintle
Reviewed by Richard Hewitt
- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: The Crowood Press Ltd (22 Oct 2009)
- Pictures: Over 200 in full colour
- ISBN-10: 1847971334
- ISBN-13: 978-1847971333
- RRP: £19.95
I was somewhat surprised to be asked to write a review of this book as I am neither an experienced carp fisherman nor a journalist. However I do recall my first carp some 45 years ago. I was night fishing for tench at a Sussex Mill Pond with my good friend Chris Turnbull.
Tackle consisted of a 7ft fibreglass rod with a swingtip taped to the tip, an Intrepid De Luxe reel and a simple ledger rig with the hook tied directly to the 6lb main line. A size 8 hook and bread flake for bait completed the set up. A hurricane lamp provided illumination. The swingtip straightened and my first carp a beautiful wild common of 3lb 14 oz was landed. At the time this was the catch of the year as far as we were concerned and in fact is mentioned in two of Chris’s books!
Reading Practical Carp Fishing from cover to cover I can see things have moved on somewhat!
The book is designed for coarse anglers who want to take up carp fishing or for those relatively inexperienced carp anglers who want to improve their catches but it is actually difficult to think of anyone with an interest in carp fishing who would not be enthralled by this publication.
With 15 chapters and 192 pages this is a book crammed with good advice and by the time I had read the first 2 chapters I felt I understood Cyprinus carpio a little better. Not so mystical now but ‘How do I catch them’?
That was soon sorted as I moved through chapters on Baits, Tackle, Other Equipment, Terminal Tackle and Rigs, The Method and such things as Hiding the Line an aspect I had never considered before! Later chapters cover areas such as Long Range Methods, Surface Fishing (my favourite!) and Float Fishing, Stalking and Snag Fishing.
But what if I hook one of these monsters? Again well covered with a Chapter on Playing and Landing Carp and Carp Care.
Great advice and I was pleased to see such emphasis on the importance of careful handling of a landed fish. Carp anglers have led the way with such things as unhooking mats and I feel there are lessons to be learned within other sectors of fishing. (I once fly fished for very large char in the Arctic. Huge strong fish up to 20lbs and whilst we practiced catch and release I saw many fish landed, by inexperienced anglers, that were bleeding from injuries caused by the strong and heavy fish flapping on the stony riverbank. Fish of 30 years old unlikely to survive purely due to rough handling. Very upsetting and entirely unnecessary!).
I must confess to only skipping through the section on Winter Carping preferring to read about fishing in France and Spain and then the final chapter on Smarter Carping covering such subjects as the benefits of professional coaching completed the book very well.
The other impressive aspect of the book is that virtually every page has a photograph to illustrate a point and with the writing style this makes this a very easy book to read and an ideal present.
So to summarise I read the entire book and the enthusiasm and experience of the writers together with input from the likes of Ian Gemson made this a book I will not be returning!
I would highly recommend Practical Carp Fishing to anyone who wants to learn about carp fishing or improve their catch rate or simply enjoys a good read.
Recommended retail price of this hard back book is £19.95 but can be purchased from Amazon for a little over £14 or perhaps even less!
