Thursday, September 09, 2010

Hall of Fame

Carp-Talk is pleased to announce a new prestigious award in carp fishing - The Carp-Talk Carp Fishing Hall of Fame. Over the coming years we will announce new inductees into the Carp Fishing Hall of Fame on a regular yearly basis.

March-2010

Peter Thomas

Long-time angling pal of Richard Walker (himself a Hall of Fame inductee) and, though Dick was some six years older, they were inseparable angling companions. By the age of 14 Pete had caught a carp of 14½lb – an achievement few adult anglers at that time had equalled – and he went on to catch carp over the magic 20lb mark at a time when carp of that size were very thin on the ground.

For a number of years Pete was works manager of a firm of manufacturing chemists, but later he became a well-known and highly respected travelling agent for tackle giant Hardy’s.

Pete was invariably seen with his black Labrador dog Ross, who was constantly at his side, sitting patiently by his master on a carp-fishing trip.

Peter fished for many different species of fish but is best remembered for his carp fishing exploits. In June 1952 he landed the second largest carp caught at the time – the 28lb 10oz mirror seen here. And of course it was Peter Thomas who was at Dick Walker’s side on that fateful morning in September 1952 when he summoned up all his strength and wielded the landing net to engulf Dick’s 44lb record breaker.

Donald Leney

Though not strictly a carp angler, Donald Leney had a profound effect on shaping the course of carp fishing in this country through his company The Surrey Trout Farm and the supply of carp to individuals, clubs and associations the length and breadth of the country.

Starting in the fish business during the 1920s Donald oversaw the importation of hundreds of thousands of small Dutch-bred carp during the next 30 years. Subsequently some of these carp become the stuff of legends in Donald Leney-stocked waters such as Redmire Pool, Billing Aquadrome, Savay, Hemingford Grey, the Electricity Cut at Peterborough, etc.

After Chris Yates landed his 51½lb record carp from Redmire Pool in 1980, he struck up a friendship with Donald and, living close by at the time, would visit him for "high tea" as he called it. Chris still fishes with the gift from Donald of his four-inch-wide drum Allcock Aerial centrepin dating from before World War II; and the 13 copy invoice books cataloguing much of his business in carp were left in Donald’s will to Chris Yates after he passed away in October 1987.

Lee Jackson

One of the all-time carp fishing heroes, Lee Jackson has fished for carp for many years and has written extensively on the subject – his book Carp Clinic, is one of the most popular carp books ever.

Lee made his hobby his job in 1990 when he joined Dartford-based fishing tackle shop The Tackle Box, which he calls “the best carp shop in the world”.

At the start of the 1983 season Lee became one of only a few captors (at the time) of a carp weighing more than 40lb. The beast came from a Colne Valley water and weighed 40¼lb. However, it’s the sheer number of carp he has landed over the years, with the Kent carp stocks bearing the brunt of his attention!

Lee was also an early successful winter carp fisherman, capturing carp with snow on the ground when most were at home just reading about them. Then there were his love affairs with several very large carp over the years. The pursuit of one at the time almost took over his life, but like all of the good guys Lee got there in the end, capturing the famous School Pool mirror named She.

Of course Carp-Talk readers will need little reminding that Lee Jackson eventually caught a new British Record carp when he landed Two Tone the big mirror from Conningbrook at 61lb 7oz in August 2002, as seen here.

Peter Springgate

Often referred to as "Sir Pete" this angler is regarded by many as very near the top of the tree for his captures, often from remarkably difficult lakes and gravel pits. That said, Pete is equally at home on smaller waters and in the early 1980s managed a remarkable run of big fish from the hallowed Redmire Pool.

Early places he fished included the Yeoveney gravel pit where in 1978 he banked the largest brace ever at the time with mirrors of 36½lb and 38½lb. He was also successful at the nearby Longfield and is perhaps best known for his captures from another nearby fishery – Wraysbury No. 1 Lake. Pete fished Wraysbury at a time when it still had the "impossible" tag and eventually landed the record-to-be Mary when it weighed 45lb 6oz and later at 51½lb. Also on Peter’s CV is Yateley’s Heather the Leather and Bazil, and the biggie from Sonning Eye way before they became famous fish.

Since retiring from the Hoover Company Pete has in recent years fished in the Colne Valley, taking many fish to over 40lb, and some very big tench, too. However, it is the picture of that Yeoveney brace (seen here) on the back cover of Carp Fever, Kevin Maddock’s massively popular book of the early 1980s, that sticks in many people’s minds. A truly remarkable carp angler.

November 2009

Gerald Berth-Jones

As far back as the late 1940s Gerry Berth-Jones was besotted with carp. However, unlike many serious carp anglers, his wife May was as keen (and as successful) as her husband.

This husband-and-wife team, stirred by BB's Confessions of a Carp Fisher and The Fisherman's Bedside Book, found an ideal carp water in Wadhurst Lake, Sussex. This water held a tremendous head of so-called 'wildies' up to 10lb in weight. Both May and Gerry landed many up to 9lb, which provided an excellent grounding in many aspects of catching carp with some consistency.

In Gerry’s early life he was an expert professional tool-maker, and this background meant he manufactured the most beautiful and functional items of tackle when specialist anglers were obliged to make most of their own tackle. In particular Gerry's bite alarms were considered by his contemporaries as works of art, and it's easy to imagine that everything he touched or took an interest in was done well, very well.

He gained admission to the famed Carp Catchers' Club in late 1953 after enjoying an outstanding year in carp fishing, banking a number of good fish including his first double-figure carp from the famous Mapperley Reservoir. Then in August he visited Boyers Sand Pit at Dagenham and his margin fished breadpaste bait was picked up by a glorious 23lb 10oz mirror. It was the only recorded 20-pounder of 1953.

Gerry and May also become forever connected with that wonderful old carp water Cheshunt Reservoir in North London where they were members for many years.

Gerry Savage

One of the first emerging carp fishing stars in the county of Kent was without doubt Gerry Savage. His carp fishing exploits stretched back to the early 1960s, and by the mid 1960s he had accounted for fish of 26lb and 26½lb, two of the biggest reported from Kent.

Fishing carp-rich waters when few others had yet succumbed to 'carp fever', Gerry ran amok and his total of double-figure carp soared to a ridiculous level throughout the summer months – on a national scale he was right up there with the best of them. However, catching carp in the warmer weather simply wasn't enough for Gerry and soon he started to take an interest in trying for them through the winter months.

In the mid 1960s he had landed a few winter carp on sausage and catfood paste baits, but in November 1967 Gerry teamed up with HNV guru Fred Wilton and never looked back. The basic ingredients of Fred’s revolutionary bait of 1967 was 5oz wheatgerm, 3oz Phillips Yeast Mixture, 1½oz Pomenteg Groundbait and ½oz Farlene Baby Food. To this a rich supply of protein and vitamin B complex was added and six whisked eggs (again, Fred’s idea of using eggs instead of water). The resulting rolled balls of paste were then boiled to make what we now know as boilies.

The pair started their winter campaign in late November and began catching from the off. A few weeks later Fred and Gerry arrived at Sutton to find the lake completely frozen over. After breaking the ice in a snowstorm they began fishing, Gerry soon received a bite and a true cold-water carp of 7¼lb was netted. It was another snow scene photo that was to become a most iconic image; that of Gerry Savage in the snow with a nice double-figure carp. That one picture became a catalyst for many to dust down their carp rods and try for a winter carp.

For many years Gerry broadcasted on Radio Medway, initially as a sports reporter, but then hosting his own Good Fishing programme, which often featured plenty of carp fishing. In later years he moved to Cornwall and became involved in a angling holiday complex. He died in 2004.

Len Middleton

Though a successful circuit carp angler of the late 1970s and early 1980s with tremendous catches of big carp, Lenny Middleton will of course be forever linked with the hair rig which he developed in conjunction with Kevin Maddocks.

In a lot of Lenny's fishing during the late 1970s, side-hooking had proved effective, but then twitches would start. The hook protruding from the bait was a partial answer, but it turned out not to be the ultimate answer. Tank experiments with carp were tried and then one day with sweetcorn tied to the hook with a piece hair from the head of Kevin Maddocks’ then wife Brenda – eureka! The tank carp, which were showing considerable fear of a hooklink material attached to a hook and bait, sucked in the hair rig bait and hook and then had difficulty ejecting it. But would it work with pressured carp in a proper carp fishing situation? Lenny took it to Darenth, nervously casting out a hair rig set-up. "I'll give it three quarters of an hour," was his thought as he cast out the revolutionary rig. He had a screaming run before the allotted time was up and the hair rig was born.

Virtually overnight, catching carp in most waters became a much easier proposition. However, in those secretive days there was a definite time lag before the knowledge of what a very small, select group of anglers were catching on leaked out. Details of the hair rig didn’t become public until the simultaneous publication of Lenny’s article in Coarse Angler magazine and Kevin Maddock’s book Carp Fever in November 1981

Once news of the hair rig was out, the world of carp fishing went rig mad. Anything was possible, and anglers who had been afraid to experiment suddenly started coming up with all sorts of weird and wonderful inventions. Much of the rig thinking of the last 30 years was born at or around this time. We have a lot to thank Len Middleton for.

Rob Maylin

In the 1980s and 1990s one of the most colourful characters on the carp scene was Rob Maylin. His high-profile catches throughout this period were given a further boost by his much loved and highly acclaimed books Tiger Bay, Fox Pool and Bazil's Bush, which turned into classics, not to mention the start of his Big Carp magazine in 1991.

Rob’s background in match angling gave him an excellent foundation in fishing and when he turned his attention to carp fishing, he became hugely successful. Early on he fished at Arlesey Lake, Waveney Valley Lakes, Stanstead Abbotts and many other lakes before the pull of the Colne Valley pits lured him with the promise of huge carp, and lots of them! His catches at Springwood, Harefield and Savay in the mid 1980s became legendary. All this was heightened by the fact that Rob adopted the Rod Hutchinson approach to his fishing: 'smelling the roses' along the way... Tales of wild nights in the Horse & Barge pub and local Indian restaurants abounded – not that that made any difference to his catches; they were simply outrageous!

After the Valley came the challenge of Longfield near Heathrow Airport, or as Rob and others referred to it, 'Fox Pool'. This demanding water provided him with great catches as he delved deeper into baits and rigs. Also of note was his epic floater catch of three thirties off the top in as many days at Longfield.

Then the Yateley complex drew him and his catching ways continued. He banked the famous North Lake mirror called Bazil at 45lb 6oz in September 1993 along with many of the whackers from the Car Park Lake, some off the top again.

In the last few years Rob has rewritten the record books with truly awesome catches of carp on maggots, especially in winter. He popularised the mag-aligner rig devised to get the most out of using maggots and PVA, plus the all-important Enterprise hard plastic maggot as part of the hooking arrangement. Just recently he has released another book One Last Cast, which explains his catches on the mag-aligner rig in great detail.

March 2009

Dick Kingsley-Kefford

A vet by profession and angler by persuasion, Dick Kefford was a kindly, quiet, self-effacing character who was softly spoken. A member of the highly influential Carp Catchers’ Club of the early 1950s, Dick Kefford was instrumental in Richard Walker gaining access to the fishing at Redmire Pool in the early summer of 1952 and accompanied him on DW’s second visit to the water in July.

Dick Kefford became interested in catching carp from before the Second World War and in late 1951 he corresponded with both 'B.B.' and Dick Walker about carp and fishing for them. He was also prolific writer on carp fishing in magazines throughout the 50s and 60s. The most famous of which were his yearly ‘round-ups’ of big carp catches written under the nom de plume of 'K.K.'

He also stocked carp into a number of his own waters near to his Wickham Market, Suffolk, home. He was an ardent observer and lover of wildlife, and a dedicated conservationist. Though he caught many carp over the years, he banked no spectacularly large specimens, and if he had Dick would have more than probably kept the capture to himself. Dick Kefford passed away in 1990s.

Fred Wilton

Fred has carved himself a niche in carp angling history through his bait theories and developments. His research and willingness to experiment resulted in the development of new carp baits based on ground-breaking ingredients designed to fulfil a carp’s nutritional needs. To this resulting mix eggs were added to form an outside skin – these baits later became known as boilies. Many of Fred’s ingredients from way back are still in common use in today’s carp baits and baits for other species, too.

Fred fished extensively for carp in Kent during the 60s and 70s, and his catches and those of his friends who were “on the bait” were to become legendary. The late Gerry Savage teamed up with Fred and the pair of them started fishing for carp during the winter months on Fred’s High Nutritional Value (HNV) baits which proved a great success. Many of Fred’s friends who used the bait went on to become notable carp anglers in their own right. These included Robin Monday, Bob Morris and Derek Stritton. Though Fred these days prefers to chase giant barbel in the Rivers Wye and Severn, he still uses the baits he formulated over 40 years ago.

Kevin Nash

Hugely influential figure in the world of carp fishing through his innovative tackle and baits. Kevin became besotted with carp early on and has the distinction of being the first angler to capture a 40-pounder from his home county of Essex. The many path-finding products associated with Kevin include the Oval brolly, the Profile (an improved Oval with extra protection including longer front ribs and mini sides built-in) and the mighty Titan and later the Titan Viper.

Though it is a little known fact, back in the late 1970s Kevin was also one of the very first to commercially make available a carp sack made from soft industrial nylon.

Kevin Nash has also been at the forefront of rod design and in conjunction with Daiwa during the 90s they came up with the massively successful Amorphous AKN 12H rod. Kevin also pursued Daiwa UK to supply and promote a little known reel from their Japanese range. This turned out to be the Daiwa SS 3000 reel, and the rest as they say is history. These days the Nash brand of tackle and bait is one of the most successful both here in the UK and Europe.

Terry Hearn

By far the youngest carp angler so far to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, Terry Hearn has arguably become the most successful big carp catcher of all time. His string of huge fish for more than a decade, including a record breaker of 55lb 13oz from Wraysbury, besides being the first angler to catch two different English fifties from different waters, has put Terry right at the top of the tree.

A prolific writer and author of two outstanding books In Pursuit of the Largest and Still Searching, Terry’s writing is consumed by a huge army of fans both young and old.

He has made numerous TV and DVD appearances, the latest being ‘Quest for Black Eye’, beside headlining at carp shows and carp anglers’ get-togethers. His animated open style of talking is so infectious to watch, making him one of the best speakers around.

His catches are truly breathtaking with many carp of over 40lb, plus a number of 50-pounders to his credit. His special angling talent has tripped over into other species with him banking big barbel, perch, dace, grayling, etc. along the way.

December 2008

Peter Mohan

Peter started carp fishing in the mid 1940s, but really came to the fore in the 1970s and 1980s. He founded (with the late Eric Hodson) the influential British Carp Study Group in 1969 and a little later in 1974 the successful Carp Anglers’ Association.

We also have Peter Mohan to thank for the very first carp magazines, the BCSG publication The Carp (the No. 3 edition in June 1970 had a printed front and back cover for the first time), and later in March 1975 the more widespread CAA magazine. Both organisations had a lively and successful regional meeting structure in place by the mid 1970s as well as holding the first organised Carp Conferences – again it was Peter Mohan who spearheaded these groundbreaking events in the history of our sport.

Peter was also the controller of a number of carp waters in the west of England and for a time ran the famous Ashlea Pool syndicate where he caught a 30-pounder in 1969.

A prolific writer on all matters carp, Peter also wrote a number of books, Carp for Everyone, Carp- Step by Step, Basic Carp Fishing and Cypry – the Story of a Carp.

As a director of Linear Fisheries, which controls a number famous carp fisheries including Elstow, Peter Mohan is still very much involved in carp fishing today.

Chris Yates

One of the most celebrated carp anglers of modern times through his fluid and stylish writing prowess, photographic skills and of course his catches. Chris broke Dick Walker’s long-held carp record of 44lb on opening day 16th June 1980 with a Redmire mirror of 51½lb. In fact, he’d nearly broken Walker’s record some seven years earlier with a common of 43lb 13½oz, also at Redmire.

Chris is credited with the discovery of sweetcorn as a bait, having taken a tin to eat while fishing at Redmire in 1972, but only used half the contents. As an experiment with the remainder, he cast out a “hookfull of corn”... the rest is history.

Among the many fine books Chris has written are carp classics such as Casting at the Sun, The Secret Carp, Four Seasons and Shadows and Reflections, besides a long spell writing for the monthly magazine Coarse Fishing, another spell as the first editor of Waterlog magazine, plus dozens of articles for most of the UK angling press. Currently, Chris writes a twice-a-month feature in the Weekend edition of the Saturday Daily Telegraph.

In 1989, he embarked with Bob James and world-renowned wildlife cinematographer Hugh Miles to feature in the definitive Passion for Angling TV series. Chris even went back to Redmire Pool to land a couple of the famous old warriors for the camera.

March 2008

Rod Hutchinson

A quite extraordinary angler and major influence in the sport for the last 35 years through his catches and writings. Rod pioneered the use of particle or mass baits for carp fishing in the early 1970s, he also realised the importance of highly nutritional boiled baits. Rod introduced the general angling public to the ‘Spod’ and ‘Throwing stick’ through his marvellous book, ‘Rod Hutchinson’s Carp Book’ published in 1981.

His exploits at Redmire, various lakes in Kent, Savay and later at Lac De Cassien, France alone has made him one of the most enduring and pathfinding anglers ever to appear on the scene.

In the early 1980’s he started his bait company which is still strong today and more importantly Rod still sells his killer baits such as Scopex and Monster Crab.

Rod Hutchinson easily takes his place in Carp-Talk’s Carp Fishing Hall of Fame and today he is still catching the whackers both home and abroad.

Tim Paisley

Here is someone who changed the face of carp fishing through his massive writing output, his publishing genius and of course his quite amazing world-wide catches.

It was Tim Paisley who went out on a limb in 1988 and brought the world’s first carp only publication, Carpworld, something you could buy in a newsagent in this country. Tim previously had a great grounding in publishing having been a major instigator of the ground-breaking high quality Carp Society magazine, Carp Fisher, which started in 1981.

In the winter of 1993/4 Tim started discussions with Kev Clifford and Chris Ball about the viability of a weekly carp publication. It took months of careful investigation and final commitment by Kevin and Chris before they and Tim jointly launched the world’s first carp weekly magazine, Carp-Talk.

Once the millennium passed Tim became besotted with going to far flung venues around the world in search of monster carp and these passionate journeys ended in May 2001 with a truly massive common from Lake Ratuda weighing 73lb 13oz. This came on top of winning the World Carp Cup twice with Steve Briggs, first time in 2000 and then again in 2005.

Jim Gibbinson

A major influence in the modern pursuit of carp fishing is the remarkable Jim Gibbinson. His writing output alone published through dozens of articles and features in the weekly fishing press and monthly periodicals is staggering and budding carp anglers from the late 1960s to the present day have benefitted from Jim’s wise words. On top of this you have his unprecedented five carp only books spanning over 45 years.

Jim has also been instrumental in the design of carp rods, ringing patterns etc. Rods such as the ‘Clooper’ carp rod, Tri Cast and Eclipse ranges were groundbreaking and hugely successful both at home and abroad.

His first twenty-pounder came in the mid 1960s from Peterborough‘s famous ‘Electricity Cut’ and Jim has been catching worthwhile carp ever since. He was also a major influence in the pursuit of winter carp and his cold water carping successes attracted a great many carp anglers to dust down their carp rods even when snow lay on the ground.

His clear and factual, no nonsense writing style has made him one of the most widely read carp fishing authors ever. A true Carp Fishing Hall of Fame member.

Contact info

Carp Fishing News Ltd
Newport
East Yorkshire
HU15 2QG

Tel 01430 440624
Fax 01430 441319

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