From the late 70’s until the mid 80’s much of my angling time during the summer months was spent in pursuit of big carp, and it was then I first encountered competition from other anglers. In fact it would be fair to say that if it hadn’t been for other anglers on the waters all after the same fish then they would have been far easier to catch. Savouring all the information available on the then budding carp scene and absorbing the writings of such successful carp anglers as Hutchinson and Maddocks, I soon came to the conclusion that it was important to develop my own label to the baits I was using. Of course this was having first sorted out on what, where and when the fish would comfortably feed.
I think it was Kevin Nash, who at the time I was fishing a small hard pit for one big carp first introduced me to coloured particles. He along with several other anglers were fishing chickpeas, the only difference with Kevin’s was they were bright purple. He, on the quiet, kept the bait going in and not long afterwards caught the fish we were all after. Soon everyone else was using purple chicks but failing to catch the big fish. So after leaving the water alone for a month or so I began a long, little and often baiting campaign myself, this time with tic beans dyed black. My reason for choosing black was simple; no one else had tried it or to my knowledge even considered it. Often whilst baiting bream and tench would be seen in the swim, and so confident that they were attracted by the regular introductions I was sure the big carp would be feeding on them too.
Three weeks passed, conditions looked perfect and on the Friday evening three journeys from the car to the swim saw everything in position for a weekend stay. A few bait samples were introduced along the margins beside the large bistort bed where the big fish often patrolled, and where for the past twenty days my black tic beans had lain waiting its attention. Bivvy up, bed chair and bag laid out and the kettle on, by now it was some two hours after my arrival. The last thing to do was to put the rods out, so after a cuppa a black tic was threaded onto the hair of the first rod and the tackle swung out the five yards into the margin swim. Sinking the rod top to the bottom in the shallow water and tightening the line, it was very nearly pulled from my grasp! A huge bow wave went out from where the bait had been and I was firmly attached and doing battle with the big fish my sights had been set on.
Five or six minutes later the fish rolled over in the net, a couple more minutes were spent weighing it at 34lbs 10ozs and a further four or five photographing and admiring it before slipping it gently back. Job done in less than a quarter of an hour, we all abandoned the lake that night for other waters, or in my case the local pub to celebrate a new PB!
Knowing the water, the fish and the calibre of the other anglers fishing there well, I had little doubt that doing something different like presenting a bait the big carp had never seen before and accepted as safe food played a big part in its capture. Before passing away, probably of old age a few seasons later, this particular carp was to grow on to become the first Essex 40, and to my knowledge was only caught twice more following my encounter with it.
Thereafter I enjoyed considerable success with the carp from the lakes fished around East Anglia, mainly due to the approach I adopted of doing things differently to everyone else. High on the list here was bait colouring and flavour, which on many occasions meant neither was added to the bait. By the time the mid 80’s arrived carp fishing had lost most of its magic for me; sure they were getting bigger, but also too common and very trendy. The modern carp scene frankly left me somewhat cold towards it, and the challenge had all but gone. Techniques, tackle and bait had become so sophisticated, waters overstocked, and success became dependent on the number of rods hours put in. Time to move onto something else much more challenging, and that something for me was tench, big ones.
Fortunately my regular fishing partner, Len Head, was of the same opinion, and he being one of the best tench anglers to have fished, soon saw the pair of us enjoying much success on the local pits and reservoirs. The previous six or seven years’ carp fishing had served us well, and the things we had learnt when adapted to tench and often used in conjunction with more traditional methods, saw the downfall of many big ones as well as large numbers of lesser sized fish. Moving from one water to another conquering them as we went continually threw up new problems to be solved, something I have always enjoyed about the sport. Rarely did we ever find two tench waters the same, and rarely did any one method or bait ever last for more than a month or so before the tench, especially the biggies, showed a distinct preference for something else.
A couple of seasons or so ago saw us open our account on a mature but small Essex gravel pit more renowned for its large common carp than anything else. How we arrived there was just by a chance conversation with one of its regular carpers in a tackle shop one day, when he revealed the presence of "nuisance " tench that on occasion took his bait. Most of them were over 7lbs he thought, but he’d never weighed them. However his mate just the previous year had bothered, and recorded fish of 9lbs 7ozs and 10lbs 3ozs. Serious fish indeed especially for my part of the country.
Anyway, during our first few sessions we caught some tench, mainly over six pounds but also a couple of big 8’s. From the outset we knew things would be interesting, mainly due to some of the thickest weed growth weed ever encountered. Raking out swims didn’t help much as the tench simply avoided them and much preferred to take up residence amongst the shallower bars and thickest weed fifty yards plus from the banks. It would be fair to say that after a couple of months fishing there it became apparent the carp boys were catching more tench than us. Not willing to be beaten, and when in Rome and all that, we adopted their methods which at that time meant big boilies, 3oz semi-fixed leads and large PVA bags of pellets. The whole shooting match was then launched out into the lake, in the heaviest of weed and rarely reached the bottom.
Very occasionally along would come a big old common, some were over thirty pounds, and hang itself, but the tench did as well. The more bait that was being delivered to the weed beds, the more it encouraged the tench to remain there. Anyway, by joining in on the going method we soon began to catch more tench and carp too. The carp lads tended on the whole to use baits whose colours they believed blended in a bit with the background in the hope that the tench might not find them. We on the other hand made sure our baits were clearly visible for exactly the opposite reasons, and in fact found that mid-red and black were far and away the best colours. Standing on the bank and scanning the water with binoculars in bright conditions, our baits hung up in the weed five feet below the surface in mid water were clearly visible.
Fishing like this we caught plenty of fish, both tench and carp, but none of the really big
tench we expected, the largest to my rods being 8lbs 10ozs. It must be said that this was not our favourite method of fishing, effective yes, but not very sporting, even the big carp found it hard to give a good account of themselves with upwards of twenty pounds of weed hanging around their heads! Often following a take it was just a question of hauling in a big raft of weed only to discover that somewhere hidden amongst it was a large tench totally engulfed and unable to move in the surrounding forest!
We were looking forwards to the late autumn when hopefully the weed would die back enough to make proper fishing possible, but by the end of September a family of six tufted ducks took up residence on the water and drove all of us absolutely potty. In fact fishing suddenly became a miserable experience and eventually impossible. Believe me we tried everything known to man short of a shotgun!
Something else I discovered around this time was how to change the colour of my livebaits. I’m sure this has given me the edge at times when both perch and pike fishing. Due to bye-laws regarding the translocation of live fish for baits and my love of this very effective method, I set up a whole series of 100 gallon tanks with self-contained filters and pumps, each tank being labelled to represent the various waters where I livebaited. During the summer months I would visit these waters to stock up on baits ready for the winter fishing. I must add here that I had permission from the fishery owners and managers to do this. Apart from being a fanatical angler I’m also very keen on breeding and keeping fish, something I have done for more than 20 years, and therefore consider myself not only knowledgeable but also careful.
Anyway, changing the colour of live fish is very easy if you’re prepared to make the effort. For light, bright and silvery looking fish, keep them in a bright white container in a light location. For dark bronzy looking fish the reverse is needed, black container in a darkened area. They should be kept like this for at least three weeks before use and when transported to the fishery, done so in the same or similar colour buckets, where they will be stored throughout the session. I know that some of you will think this is excessive, and a few seasons ago I’d have agreed; however recent experiences have convinced me that the visibility of live baits can put extra fish on the bank. In clear water conditions dark baits work best being more visible, whilst in coloured water the lighter and brighter the bait the better.
Whilst on the subject of bait colouring, a good friend of mine spends most of the season after large barbel. Many of these fish are well known and have made many visits to the landing net. This past year he’s been experimenting with bait colouring on both pastes and meat and tells me that he’s enjoyed considerable success using colours rarely if ever seen by the fish. And judging by the state of his hands I reckon that black must feature quite highly on his list of favourite colours!
Alan Pearce – March, 2001
Alan’s story continues shortly when he tells of some fascinating experiences with different coloured baits when fishing that famous tench water, Sywell Reservoir.
