At last Ben’s managed to put one on the bank and what a stunner! We’ll leave Ben to elaborate on his moment of glory.

Over the last two weeks I’ve been really busy with one thing and another. The week before last I started to introduce a bit of bait on a couple of local waters that I might spend a bit of time on during this coming winter. On Wednesday the 17th of October I attended the Preston Innovations trade show down near Telford; the day was very interesting with new products on display from Korum and Sonu Baits. Later that day I drove up to the HDAA Brandesburton complex. I’d remembered the years I’d spent up there in the past and at this time of year the carp used to always turn up in a particular area. With this in mind I already had a peg in mind that I wanted to fish. On arrival at the lake I saw the peg I fancied was free so carted my gear down there promptly as I thought I had about an hour max before it got dark. There was an angler on the opposite bank to my right but assumed this would pose no problem as I would only be fishing twenty yards out. How wrong I was - the lad started to shout across the lake and in fairness he had a point, I should have known better and should have asked where he was fishing to. Lesson learned!

Last year I was using a couple of fishmeal boilies fished alongside a bit of hemp and was getting amongst them quite regularly. So this time around I took no hesitation in sticking a couple of my Nutrabaits Trigga Ice boilies out to my old spots, close to a weed bed and putting a couple of spod’s of hemp over the top. An hour later the

Twenty two acres of weed - home to several large Yorkshire carp and there’s only one angler on the bank

carp started going absolutely mental throwing themselves all over the place. I’d seen this a few times before on this lake but it is quite unusual and my good friend Rob Baker who had brought a curry down was getting very excited about the activities of the carp. I think he was even more surprised than I was when I rang him the next morning to inform him I’d had nothing. I did manage to catch the poor commentary of the England v Russia game on the radio, another disappointing result. We’re now dependant upon other results once again.

The following evening I decided to give a friend a call to see if he fancied a night on a small pond close to home. He was up for an overnighter so I once again found myself setting up in the hours of darkness. I keep retuning to the lake because it holds a loverly 28lb fully scaled mirror but other than that it only really holds a few low-doubles. Anyway I decided to approach the fishing lightly, just a couple of small PVA bags of pellets and a single hookbait placed next to marginal trees and I settled down, putting the world to right for the next few hours. The night passed quietly apart from a couple of tench and all too soon it was time to go to work again. Friday and Saturday night I spent some quality time with my son. We sat excitedly watching the rugby final, but unfortunately it just was not to be.

On Sunday I made my way down to Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, for the Tackle & Gun’s show. The show was excellent, with some very interesting new items on display for many of the leading tackle manufacturers. Upon my return from the show I watched Lewis Hamilton make his attempt to become the world’s first rookie formula one champion. I felt sorry for him as he tried his best to make his way through the field.

Monday evening I introduced some more bait into my target winter waters. Then on Wednesday night I made the long walk up to peg 11 on Tilery Lake. I’d foolishly left my barrow at home and almost two hours later I severely regretted that fact. Three trips for all the gear totals over four and a half miles.

To then set up and get the marker rod out in the dark proved just too much and some time after 11pm  I simply collapsed on my bed and within a few minutes I was fast asleep. Early the next morning I packed the gear away and it was not until the Friday afternoon that I made my return. I had a little more time on my hands so was able to choose my spots a little more carefully. I opted for three spots all well spaced out. All three areas I chose were in roughly 10 feet of water and all close to dying weedbeds. I opted to bait a little lighter than I have on previous sessions this year, although I still used over six kilos between the three rods. Also the bait I was using this time was different to what I’ve been using throughout the year. This time opting for Nutrabaits BFM Pineapple & N-Butyric Acid boilies which I’d had rolled by Rotherham based company Rollin’ Baits. Anyway, Friday night was uneventful; I’d seen nothing and things were not looking promising. Later that afternoon whilst I was listening to Chelsea thrash Man City I received a single bleep on my right hand rod. I looked at it and said to myself, as you do “Go on then” and moments later as Chelsea put their sixth in the net the same rod started to pull round. The fight was pretty uneventful; pulling the fish from one weedbed after another, there was quite a build up of weed on the line. I had to put the rod down twice to remove weed from the tip ring and a big ball that had gathered 15 feet up the line from the fish. It didn’t take me long to gather a great big ball of weed and what looked like a carp was in the landing net. Upon inspection I was overwhelmed as I had caught another one of the amazing Tilery carp I desired. On the scales it went 34lb 5oz. I was elated!

I’ve been using an Angling Technics Micro Cat bait boat this season to aid presentation amongst the weed. Unfortunately after depositing my rig and another two kilos of bait, something went very wrong. It was now dark and as the two white LED’s neared, without warning they disappeared! After 15 minutes I came to the conclusion the batteries must have ran out, so walked up the bank awaiting the vessel drifting in. As I scanned the water with the torch I saw a tiny bit of shiny blackness bobbing about, then as it came closer I could see two LED’s flashing away under the water. I was my boat! With only an inch showing above the water’s surface I began to panic. Anyway I managed to recover it and once I’d drained off all the water I decided I’d test the boat. Surprisingly everything worked fine but I’ll be sending it away for a full service just to make sure it’s in full working order.

The last night was uneventful and as I had a pool tournament to attend all day Sunday I was packed away nice and early. The pool went well, I managed to reach the semis and put myself out by stupidly potting both the final black and the white. Never mind perhaps you can only have so much luck in any 24-hour period.

I see plenty of you are also out catching a few as we’ve had some incredible captures reported to Carp-Talk recently. Keep them coming and remember it’s not too late to make a last ditch effort to catch your quarry before the winter sets in.

Tight lines,

Ben Wales

A net full of weed and somewhere underneath it all lays a magnificent prize.

This 34lb stunner justifies all the effort and hard work Ben’s been putting in.

Rob Maylin’s

Fox Pool, Tiger Bay and Bazil’s Bush

Finally, this highly-desired series of book has been reprinted in its full original format. Tiger Bay was the first in the series, then came Fox Pool and finally Bazil’s Bush. All three books are an accurate  and entertaining  account of Rob’s fishing and thoughts whilst out on the bank. Taking you through his developments of rigs, baits and techniques. This is an opportunity not to be missed as the original books are highly desired and considered to be collectors items. All three books are available now from the Carp-Talk shop. The hardback books are priced £22.95 plus £2.75 postage and packaging.

Osprey End Tackle

The lads behind those incredibly popular Kryptonite bobbins are to launch a range of end tackle. All the products have been designed by anglers who come from an engineering background. The items that are getting talked about are their tubing and lead clips. Both these products have been made from a unique polymer that has incredible clarity. We should hopefully have some samples in the office before the end of November and as soon as we have we’ll make sure you’re the first to see them - or maybe you wont!

RICHWORTH LINEAR FISHERIES

Oxlease Lake Press Release

Since the July floods Oxlease Lake has fished very poorly and has shown no sign of improving. Over the last month anglers have been advised to fish the other waters at the Linear Complex until Oxlease improved in form.. Unfortunately that improvement still hasn’t occurred. Accordingly Richworth Linear Fisheries regret to announce that as of Wednesday October 24th 2007 Oxlease Lake will be closed until the spring of 2008.

To view the full press release click here.

EA Pineapple

It has been recognised that

combining Nutrabaits Pineapple

Nutrafruit with N-Butyric Acid provides an amazingly potent attractor. Over the last few years loads of anglers have had remarkable results using the powerful combination particularly during the winter months. Well Nutrabaits have now introduced an EA (Ethyl Alcohol) based version. An EA base ensures the flavour has far greater water solubility, which is especially useful during the winter months. EA Pineapple is the latest addition to the Nutrafruits range, all of which come in 100ml bottles. Bill Cottam assures us that throughout this winter all baits sold from either Nutrabaits or Rollin Baits containing the Pineapple Nutrafruit flavour will be made using the EA version. You can rest assured that you will be using the best bait at the right time of year. www.nutrabaits.net

Generosity - Giving something back

Happy Halloween and welcome to another super informative edition of Carp-Talk Xtra. You’ll find no ghouls or goblins here just the latest information regarding the world of carp fishing. I’ve no gripe to air this week instead I’d really like to commend all those anglers out there who have given up their time to help others, particularly those who have helped to raise money for one charity or another. It’s really nice to see that through our beloved sport we can make a valid contribution to help the lives of those less fortunate then ourselves. It’s now almost every other week that somewhere around the country half-a-dozen anglers are giving up their valuable time attending some fish-in or talk. So what does this have to do with you? Well without you it would be impossible to raise any funds. These events need your support so if you’re not going to be spending much time on the bank this coming winter why not pass the time by attending a few talks. There should be one or two fairly close to you and most of these events are run to benefit a charity or a group of young people. If there is not one close to you, why not try organizing one yourself – you can do it. Winter talks seem  to be making a real comeback in recent years and so they should. I cannot think of a better way of spending a super chilled December night than in the company of like minded others discussing what we do best.

Those talks are some weeks off yet and the forecast at present is for more mild weather. This really is a great time to be out on the bank. The carp are still feeding, there’s far less angling pressure and they are piling on the pounds to see them  through the winter months. Let’s not forget those amazing autumn colours - wow they look awesome! There is no time like the present to get out there and if you do catch yourself a carp or two then send us some pictures through: we’d love to see what you’ve been up to. Enjoy issue 18 and I’ll see you again next week.

Tight lines,

Ben Wales

Century FG Rod

As promised we have some exclusive

pictures of Century’s latest rod. Known

as the FG, the rod has a real modern understated look and feel to it. The matt finish really shows off the rods woven carbon cloth, and the discreet graphics only further enhance the rods looks. More importantly though how does the rod perform? Well Ben Wales took the rod to a large local lake to put it through its paces and had this to say about it: “The rod performed excellently. I started off with a 3½oz lead and comfortably achieved 135yards. I then stepped up the lead size in half oz divisions until reaching 5oz. The largest distance I recorded was 175yards, that was using a 4oz lead and 15lb line. I’m not sure what I liked most about the rod: its stunning custom built looks or its all round performance. The through action of the rod makes it ideal for accurately

An Evening With Bill Cottam

Here’s one for the northern anglers out there. South Yorkshire Police Angling Club has organised an evening with Nutrabaits boss Bill Cottam, which will be taking place on Wednesday 14th November. The venue is Club 39, 1-2 Queensgate, Doncaster (opposite the Waterdale Bus Station entrance). Doors open at 7pm, admission is £5 and all are welcome. Besides Bill’s slide show and talk, all visitors will

casting baits anywhere from the margin to over 100 yards. Yet the soft tip means playing hard fighting carp under the rod tip is a real pleasure with no worries of the hook pulling.” You can expect to see the rod in the tackle shops before the end of the year and apparently it’s expected to retail for around £170. At that price and with the usual Century quality - expect to see them everywhere soon...

www.century.gb.com

receive a free gift on the door. Wickersley Angling Centre are providing a tackle stand and will be donating 10% of their takings and there will also be a multi-prize raffle taking place. The event has been organised in aid of Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, and further details can be obtained by calling John Preen on 0114 287 6330 or 07731 778277.