Ask Matt Hayes, Anglers Net questions from 2002

Dear Matt Hayes,

I always watch your fishing programs and I would like some tactics on catching carp.

Thanks, Mark

Thanks for your support! Your question is a bit too big to answer here. I suggest you get hold of some good books or videos on the subject. Try the Fox Guide to Carp Fishing Videos – they will tell you everything you need top know. You can get them from Fox or from a Fox dealer.

Thanks for watching the shows,

Matt Hayes

Firstly congratulations are in order for the series Wet Nets and Mainstream which are worth the Sky subscription alone. It’s while I’m watching these programmes I see some of the most picturesque stretches of river I have ever seen and would just love to have a days fishing at these venues.If a town or village is mentioned I make a note and I can then find it on the map book. However sometimes venues are not given away on some occasions which can be frustrating. I understand there are thousands of spots nation-wide but can you tell me if there are any books by yourself or anyone else that pin-point venues especially on the River Severn which is closest to me. Having caught my first Barbel at Knowle Sands recently I am itching to try new venues to catch more. Hope you can help me in my search

Thank you for your time. Dale Green

Thanks for the compliments Dale. Most of the spots you are talking about are found by simply turning up to lots of different places. If you want the peace, quiet and tranquility, avoid the middle Severn like the plague. The upper Severn in Wales is controlled by different clubs including Crewe Pioneers, Warrington AA, the Birmingham Anglers Association and, of course, by local clubs and farmers. There is no recent book about the Severn but if you surf the net you will get [people suggesting venues. Give them a try. You will find some fantastic scenery in Wales!

Thanks,

Matt Hayes

I e-mailed you a few weeks ago regarding the music you use on your fishing shows, and to see if you would be interested in hearing a demo of my music?
If there is no chance of getting my music on your shows, could you please e-mail me.

Best Regards, Paul Elder

Paul, you can send examples of your music to Totasl Fishing Productions at the following address:
Total Fishing Productions,
Old Forge Cottage,
Hampton Loade,
Bridgnorth,
Shropshire
WV15 6HD

Thanks,

Matt Hayes

I love all your programs (especially Total Fishing) I watch them every day on sky and I have Fox Guide To Carp Fishing, it’s great and has given me loads of advice to improve my carp fishing. When I have been watching your programs I often really want to be there fishing with you (especially when your carp fishing). It’s my dream to fish with you and to help me try and catch one or more BIG carp, is it possible. If it’s not is it possible to just meet you, is there any shows or anything that you will be at. Your by far my favorite fishing star.

Thanks very much!, Christopher Burgess 15

Thank you for your kind comments regarding my fishing shows. It is thanks to people like you that I get to fish in all of these wonderful places. Please keep on watching the shows!!!. This year I would be attending the Go Fishing Exhibition at the NAC in Birmingham. The show is in late March and you would find me at the Angling Times Stand. I look forward to meeting you there.

All the best,

Matt Hayes

Please can you tell us where to get the sausage sizzle you talked about on the tv recently.

Thank you muchly, Liz

The flavour was made by Action Baits – don’t know where to get it but its one of Trefor West’s.

All the best,

Matt Hayes

I watch all your fishing programmes I think there all good,my favourite part is when you are carp fishing,I am going to start carp fishing soon when the season starts again,thanks for all the tips, I live in Abingdon near OXFORD near linear fisheries and I wanted to know what you thought the best rig and bait to use there. I also like it when you fish for any coarse fish,I think you should start a carp fishing programme about rigs, fisheries, baits, tackle etc. I think you should bring out your own magazine as well as I would buy it every week.

From Kane Thomason

I do not fish at Linear very often these days. Your best bet is to phone Roy Parsons, fisheries officer, on 07785 327708.

Good luck with your fishing,

Matt Hayes

Could you tell me if Matt Hayes has opened a lake in France as we are looking for somewhere new to fish for a week in
April and again in August.

Thanks,

Garry

No, I have not opened a lake in France though I beleive that Winton’s fishery in Sussex has just opened a new lake which sounds superb.

Matt

My name is Mike Heneghan, I am retired USAF, and American living in the UK. I watch Total Fishing all the time. Today I watched the program, and you made a remark when fishing for large cat fish in France. You asked your host if the French Cat Fish was the largest cat fish in the world, and he said yes. Then you said well, at least that is something that the Yanks don’t have.

Total Fishing is the only UK fishing program where you have not had a program fishing anywhere in the US. I know you are partial to Tobago and Cuba, Matt, and I envy you on that one. But why don’t you give the Largemouth Bass a try in the US, especially in the southern states. We have other large species like the Muskie and Great Northern Pike in the Canadian border states. The only fish I wish we did have would be the Baramundi. Now, that is a fish. It would be neat if you could meet up with one of our fishing gurus like Bill Dance, Hank Parker, or Rowlin Martin to do some serious Largemouth Bass fishing.

Since, the Black Bass or the Smallmouth Bass is not available in this country, and no one knows why, I think your UK viewers would like to see what catching a bass is really like. After all Carp is not the total world in fishing.

I’ll never forget what you mentioned on one of your programs about a great American lure for UK Pike, the Heddon Lucky 13, but have never been able to find one.

Would like to hear from you

Thanks,

Mike Heneghan, USAF (Ret)

Mike,

Thanks for your e-mail. We did some fishing in Florida for Total Fishing but it was quite a while ago.

More recently, I have fished in the US for Largemouth (in Arizona), but we did not have much time and I would dearly love to do some more. Incidentally, my new series for Discovery, Buena Vista Fishing Club, has a couple of largemouth bass sequences in it. I love fishing and touring in the US. I would dearly love to do more – especially for the muskies in the Northern states. The only limitation is getting the right contacts and finding the time to go.

Re: the Lucky Thirteen. Since I made that remark, my lure fishing expertise has come on a little bit and I can certainly think of better all-round pike-catching lures. Having said this, the lucky Thirteen is still a classic and one of the great surface baits. You should be able to get one from Harris Angling in the UK.

Thanks for watching the shows and taking the trouble to get in touch.

All the Best,

Matt Hayes

Regards,

Colin

A couple of points to make here. Firstly, we have just put the finishing touches on a new show, Buena Vista Fishing Club. It is a ten-part series filmed in Cuba which sees me travel across the whole country in an old Lada with a fishing rod for company. The programmes show what a great place to fish Cuba really is.

To go with the series, we have just finished producing a huge website about fishing in Cuba with advice about everything from tackle to general travel tips. All of the Cuban fishing locations are listed with honest ratings about the sport, the guides, the seasons, equipment and accommodation. Phone numbers for the booking agent are also listed. To get to the site, click here.

My company, Total Fishing Limited, deals with Cuba travel. We can be reached on 01746 780907. We will give advice on fishing in Cuba.

Tight lines,

Matt

The question I would like to ask you is where are those lakes you and Max Cottis fished in the Fox videos? Also do you do any guided trips as I am interested? Once again keep up the great work and all the best.

Cheers,

Craig Black

We filmed a lot of the Fox tapes at Cliff Fox’s syndicate lake in Essex. I don’t think that there are any vacancies at the moment, though.

Yes, I do a limited number of guided trips through Total Fishing Adventures. You can contact them on totalfishing@totalfishing.net

Matt Hayes

Recently I fished a stretch of the Thames having been told it held Pike, some rather large, I was fortunate and caught.

My question is Do pike stay in the same location or have I sent it on its way, as I would like to land her again to record the true weight?

Little bites Big fish,

Ken Gregory

Pike are territorial to some extent but they also move around according to the time of year, the presence of bait fish and spawning urges. The big pike will almost certainly be females and they will head to the spawning areas any time from mid-February to mid-March. After that, some of the fish will be mobile, taking up positions that offer them the best shot at nomadic bait schools while others, and this fish may well be one of them, will take residence in the prime lies where cover and food is always guaranteed.

A word of warning, though: pike do not handle angling pressure very well and I would consider it unsporting to continually target the same fish just because you know it is in a certain swim. Move on, broaden your angling horizons and revisit the swim in a year or two’s time.

Tight Lines,

Matt

I have been watching all of your shows and I liked the one when you went pole fishing with Mick Brown, catching carp, chub and barbel. I would like to catch a barbel cause I have never caught one and I’ve been fishing since I was 8 years old.

Do you know of any fisheries in Sheffield were I could have a go at catching 1 or 2 barbel?

I am a really big fan of you and I would like to keep in touch with you. I was hoping you could give me a email address where I can keep in touch with you.

Thanks,

Ritchie Spence

Sorry Ritchie, but I can’t give out my e-mail address because I ‘d be so busy answering e-mails that I would never get any work done!

As far as the barbel are concerned, the Ribble has some nice fish as does the Swale and the Nidd and the Derbyshire Dove. If you are new to barbel fishing, the most important thing is to go to a venue where there are plenty of fish.

A trip to the middle Severn between Bridgnorth and Bewdley would be a good bet – you should get to grips with the fishing quite quickly.

Good Luck!

Matt Hayes

Could you please tell me what do you do with all your tackle you try out ? Do you keep them or give them back to the suppliers? And if so, do you give the suppliers a true answer?

I would also like to know about Morritt reels. I have a really old one it’s green (hammerite type of finish) with a front clutch. Also, it has got a brass nameplate but no date and I don’t know its real age. Any info greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

P Parsons
Huddersfield

I don’t know much about old fishing reels but Chris Sandford who writes in Angling Times is an expert. Why not contact him?
As far as my fishing tackle is concerned – yes I really do test the stuff properly. You never hear about the failures because they never get to the production stage. When I have finished using the tackle I usually find a good home for it – my mates are all keen fishermen! I use most of the stuff for a good period of time. I’m not a ‘tackle tart’ and even though I love to use good equipment I try not to clutter the place up with too much stuff.

Matt Hayes

I have been fishing a small brook near Droitwich where I live. There are some very large chub, small jacks, roach and some decent brown trout all situated in a stretch about 2 miles long. The big chub seem to hole up all year round near a road bridge with a few small pike often putting in an appearance. In the summer, both will take a nice piece of free lined bread flake, but now in the winter the chub seem to be ignoring everything I throw at them. I’m now set up for piking using a six shooter rod and multiplier reel using plugs and spinners to target them.

The thing is I have only caught small pike (3lb max) and I’m worried about what size traces and main line I should use for larger pike and how to handle larger fish. Also, what methods would you use to target these large chub and have you got a good cheese paste recipe without the use of artificial flavourings, as I do not want to disrupt the micro environment that this small head of fish live in? I think I am the only person who fishes this free stretch of river as in the summer I have to cut a path through thick nettles to get to this hole so the fish are quite shy.

Yours,

Lee Chance

For all of my pike fishing I use the same set-up: thirty pounds Fox wire with a swivel at one end and a snap link at the other. I twist my own traces and they are 100 percent reliable. Don’t worry about using lighter wire for small pike – just use the thirty and you will get plenty of bites. The only time I use lighter wire is if I am fishing with tiny jigs and lures. The best advice I can give you is to replace the trace if it gets kinked. Kinked traces will snap under sudden pressure.

With the chub I am sure that some pre-baiting will help. You should be able to catch them on bread – use some bread mash as fed and flake or crust on the hook. If you want to use cheesepaste, mix mature cheddar with Danish Blue and some carp anglers base mix. I mix the cheese on a fifty-fifty ratio with Richworth’s 50/50 Gold. You can use eggs or water to add liquid.

Matt Hayes