Big Carp Magazine issue 200 is out now! It is available from good newsagents, or order your subscription online from
http://www.bigcarpmagazine.co.uk/
Here’s the introduction from the man himself, Rob Maylin, along with a list of articles you can expect to find inside.
The 200th Issue – A Proud Moment!
“A milestone in carp angling literature.” That’s what someone said to me at a recent show, and they were right of course. I could never have imagined at the at of 25 when I began writing my first book that I would be sitting here at the age of 57 writing this small editorial about my own magazine’s effect on carp fishing and carp anglers.
No other magazine has been the springboard to success for so many anglers and tackle companies, that’s for sure.
It is true that this country’s top ten carp anglers all wrote their first ever magazine articles in Big Carp – Terry Hearn, Dave Lane, Jim Shelley, Nigel Sharp, etc, etc. This list is known to everyone, and it’s the same with tackle companies. Why? Because if the readers and writers of Big Carp are using your gear, then you have cracked it! Big Carp has never been a beginner’s magazine, but you can bet your life that the top catcher on any lake you can name will be reading it. Big Carp is real, it’s raw, it’s not about ‘knotless knot’ tying or ‘my version of the chod’. The articles are not adverts in disguise, the writers are not there to promote a product. What it is about is proper anglers, out there ‘doing it’ rain, shine, whatever.
It’s the core of carp fishing and the guys who don’t have to write but want to. So yes, it’s a proud moment for me – 200 issues of the essence of carp fishing and I promise you I have always tried my hardest to produce the best magazine possible each month. This is not as easy as you might think, because this relies on you, the reader, writing about your hard-earned catches and using me to help you tell your story. For this I thank you. Without the articles there would be no magazine each month.
And so when deciding what should go in issue 200, some hard decisions were called for and the support of some old friends, some of whom had not written in Big Carp for a while.
I first wrote to a group of anglers that were in Big Carp at the beginning, the old school, then to some whose lives had been massively changed by Big Carp, and I asked them to write on a theme – ‘Big Carp Now and Then’ – how things had changed since the magazine first came out.
Everyone accepted, so thank you, guys, and the outcome is astonishing. I then approached some companies for competition prizes. Virtually everyone accepted, so in this issue are about fifty competitions, including three holidays, rods, alarms, luggage, bait, clothing, terminal tackle. You name it – you can win it!
It was then a matter of deciding which articles to put in, and I apologise to our regular diary writers and monthly updates, but for the 200th I wanted something different. So I approached several anglers for articles on special venues – Mike Jones on Farriers – the home of monster commons, Tim Jackson on Rockford – the home of monster mirrors and Gaz Jones on Christchurch – the home of the big black beautiful scalies. These three are the cream of UK fishing. I also wanted to get Ben Dowers to write up his last season. I knew he’d had some monsters including the Snake Pit Common. Part one of these four amazing articles appears in this issue and part two will be in issue 201, so don’t miss it, as I promise you they are fantastic pieces.
The Big Carp Rotary Letter is in its third era, with carp angling’s “Mensa members” once again solving our most difficult problems. Era one back in the day featured Hutchinson, Maddocks, Gibbinson, Allcott, Boyko and me. Era two, ten years on, featured Hearn, Lane, Jackson, Clarke and me. And now here we are once again with the country’s ‘Premiere Division A-Team’ of thinkers: Leverett, Betteridge, Lane, Jackson, Clossick, Bartropp, McAllister and me. Fantastic stuff! Every era rewriting the rulebooks… One day these three eras will make an excellent reference book.
All I needed now was a cover story and I knew just the man… The Urban Myth! After years of secrecy, he was finally telling his story, but I knew there was more to tell, and I wanted to get to the man himself and extract it uncut and uncensored. So that’s what I did, and Terry Dempsey’s interview with me will finally put the jigsaw together.
Finally an extract from a new book I am very excited about – Trevor Pritchard’s ‘Casting for Cloopers’. It’s the story of the average ‘carper’ growing up in the Colne Valley with access to some of the most beautiful Leneys in the country at the North Harrow Waltonians and the nearby Bird Lake, with a humorous theme throughout – a must for all types of carp angler.
Now it just goes for me to thank you for buying my humble magazine, to the thousands of subscribers without who none of this would be possible – thanks, guys.
Here’s to the next 200 issues,
Rob Maylin
Exclusive
18 Big Carp – Now and Then
52 Big Carp
Rotary Letter
72 Snow Carp
80 The Bountyhunter Meets The Urban Myth
Rob Maylin chats to Terry Dempsey
98 Some Fishy Recollections
By Ben Dowers
104 Farriers – The Golden Lake
Part 1 by Mike Jones
112 The Best of Rockford
Part 1 by Tim Jackson
118 Christchurch’s Finest
Part 1 by Gaz ‘Scuffy’ Jones
124 Made in England
Advertorial
12 Baitzone
Groundbait Tips
By Tim Childs
Book Extract
74 Casting for ‘Cloopers’
By Trevor Pritchard
News & Reviews
6 Shockleader
What’s happening in the carp scene
10 Tac-Tec
Latest product reviews
• Nash
• Taska
Competitions
Enter ALL 44 competitions throughout this bumper issue of Big Carp and have a chance of winning holidays, clothing, tackle, bait and much, much more. See instructions on page 14 on how to enter, then turn to pages 15, 16, 48, 49, 50, 94, 95, 96, 128, 129 and 130 to see what you can win!
