Ramblings of a Carp Angler – Plastic Baits

Paul Cooper discusses issues around the safety of plastic artificial baits… I first came across Plastic baits when I was fishing on the Mangrove with Shaun Harrison. Shaun was knocking the stuffing out of the carp, catching on every trip that he made on a fairly challenging lake. During mid-season he let me into his secret! […]

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Keep Ringing the Changes – Winter Carp Fishing

Jimmy Greaves famously said “Football is a funny old game” and those words could so well have been pointed towards carp angling.  Winter carping in particular can be a prime example for throwing up unpredictable outcomes during those long dark winter months. I love my winter angling, always have. I have tried to analyse this […]

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Angler’s Questions Answered at Boux Lake

Paul Cooper was recently contacted with a few questions posed by an angler heading out to Boux this year. Boux is a 12 acre water with a reputation for top class carp fishing since the 1980’s. However, it is best to go prepared to this lake and the Q&A below is definitely worth a read… Hi Paul Apologies […]

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9 Things You Need From a Winter Boilie

Another of our resurrected winter carping posts, today’s is 9 top tips on choosing your cold weather carp fishing bait.  1. Easily digested – the quicker it’s digested the sooner the carp need to eat again. 2. Low flavour level (that will surprise some!) – if I am presenting baits where I know the carp to be […]

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Inflight at Lillypool

An aerial flight over Lillypool, designed to give you a real taster of the venue’s layout and lake features. Lillypool is a 4 acre carp lake, 2.5 hours from Caen ferry with an impressive head of mirrors and commons to 51lb. For more information on Lillypool follow the link – French Carp Fishing

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Forties and a Fifty Stocked at Brie

The Bacheliers have been busy draining stock lakes all winter for a range of specimen. In the process they have held a number of carp from 30-60lbs in a stock lake to be re-homed within their carp fishing lakes this January. It’s Brie‘s turn today to receive some stunning target fish including 3 x forties, 1 […]

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How-To… The Coiled, Unleaded Rig

Coiling your hook link may sound bizarre, but there is method in the madness as Martin Locke details a setup he’s used to catch carp in excess of 60lb. Here’s a rig that, for want of a better phrase, flies in the face of convention. With almost all rigs being designed to lay straight and […]

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How-To… Supple Hair Fluorocarbon Rig

My next rig is one that Neil Spooner from Korda showed me at the Northern Angling Show, I told him that I need a rig to use at Bradshaw Fishery as an alternative to the D-Rig, since all braid is banned there rigs such as the D-Rig can’t be used. He told me this is […]

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Winter Carp Campaign at Villefond – Part 2

In this video series Mark details his 2013 winter carp fishing campaign at Lac Du Villefond. Find out the tactics employed on this mature big fish water right from the person that knows it best. If you missed part 1, you can watch it here. For more information on Villefond follow the link – Carp Fishing in […]

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Ramblings of a Carp Angler – Hair Rigs

 My thoughts on the hair rig, running leads, semi-fixed rigs and slack lines… The hair rig This rig was a revelation for specimen fishing.  Kevin Maddox and Len Middleton first came up with the idea of presenting a bait leaving the hook free to prick into the lip of a fish. Here we had a new […]

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Fresh Water Predators – Pike

I ended November on a real high with the capture of my monster Perch, so I decided to switch my attention to Pike sooner than I had originally planned. With Christmas getting ever closer and two very excited kids at home getting time on the bank through December was never going to be easy, but I […]

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