In Pursuit Of The Largest

By Terry Hearn

This was the first instalment of the angling life of a young Terry Hearn. By the time Terry wrote this book he’d already accomplished so much, catching seven different 40lb+ carp from six of the country’s hardest waters and in 1997 he landed a British record mirror Mary at 55lb 13oz. In the book he gives an in depth account of the various waters he’s visited and conquered. In Pursuit Of The Largest will inspire all that read it. This exceptionally well illustrated, 320-page hardback book is now available from the Carp-Talk Shop for £21.95 plus £2.95 p&p.

Burghfield Match Lake - Temporarily closed
CEMEX Angling has had to close its Burghfield Match Lake due to the detection of low-rate Koi Herpes Virus Disease (KHV), which is a highly-contagious virus with high mortality. The presence of KHV was confirmed by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) following sampling and analysis. CEFAS has confirmed that as no official stocking has taken place at the site for the past three years, a likely source of the infection is an illegal introduction of pet fish from a member of the public.
CEMEX Angling is working closely with CEFAS and the Environment Agency to reduce any impact on the surrounding area and fisheries, which do remain open. While there are a series of lakes at Burghfield, all part of the flood plain, the Match Lake is the lowest of the series, which means that the problem should not be spread by water movement to any of the other lakes. Even so, the Match Lake is being closely monitored to ensure that the maximum bio-security is maintained. The lake has also been fenced off to stop unauthorised access.

Weird Creatures - Frankenstein Fish

Everyone interested in nature and angling can look forward to a treat with the forthcoming programme ‘Frankenstein Fish’ in the popular new Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures series.

Leading nature programme presenter Nick (well known for many programmes including the Really Wild Show) fronts a fascinating new series currently airing on Channel 5 at 8pm each Friday. Nick has chosen a diverse set of weird creatures and has travelled the world to collect some amazing footage.

The episode to be aired on Friday 9th November is called The Frankenstein Fish. Nick investigates the fascinating wels catfish in his engaging style. Though not an angler himself the programme features Nick along with his father, who is an angler, travelling to track down catfish in the UK and in Spain and the programme does include some angling.

The film company producing the series contacted Simon Clarke of Catfish-Pro (also secretary of the Catfish Conservation Group) for assistance in the task to find somewhere suitable to film catfish under water. Simon was able to assist in setting up a filming location at well-known fishery Withy Pool in Bedfordshire. The lake is the home of the official British record catfish, and was made famous by previous owner Kevin Maddocks.

Orient 70 for Andy Chambers

Whilst recently fishing at the notoriously difficult Lac d’Orient, France, Andy Chambers landed a mirror weighing 73lb. This is Andy’s second mirror in excess of 70lb from the 10,000-acre venue. The full story and exclusive pictures of Andy’s awesome capture appears in this week’s Carp-Talk, issue 687.

Welcome to issue 19 of Carp-Talk Xtra. And once again we’ve managed to bring you all the latest news in the world of carp fishing and lots of useful carp fishing information straight to your desktop. Last week I failed to mention the Rob Maylin books that have just been reprinted. The carp angling trilogy covers several years of Rob’s angling life, on the banks of some of the best known circuit waters in the country. If you’ve never had the opportunity to read either Fox Pool, Bazil’s Bush or Tiger Bay when they were first released, I highly recommend you get your hands on them this time around, truly legendry books.

The weather for the coming week is forecast to be very high pressure which means we can expect clear skies, resulting in reasonably warm days but very cold nights. This is not to say, it’s not worth going fishing this week: in fact I’ll be trying to make the most of the coming weeks before they really shut up shop for the winter months.

I hope you enjoy this week’s instalment of Carp-Talk Xtra and no doubt we’ll see you again next week for another feature packed edition.

Ben Wales

Unfortunately Adam has not managed to get out fishing during the last two weeks. He’s currently got his arse firmly stuck to the mattress, dreaming of plump winter carp (he claims he got flu). We suspect he’s just keeping warm and is perhaps preparing for hibernation!

Well, my fishing has taken a bit of a knock at the moment; I’m laid in bed at home with flu as I write this. I was meant to be on Fairview on Sunday night but I just felt too ill and had to cancel it. I wish I was out on the bank because as I look out of my window it doesn’t look bad at all – I just hope C Scale doesn’t get caught before I can get back out there. If I feel up to it I’ll be doing a couple of overnighters next week so let’s hope things go to plan.

There was a competition on Fairview over the weekend and although I wasn’t able to get down myself I just want to say a big well done to Rich Robinson who managed to bag himself a cracking 25lb common. That’s a real result for Rich because in the past six or seven weeks there have only been three or four fish caught from the lake. Why is the lake fishing so hard? There’s something like 100 carp in three acres of water so it shouldn’t really be a difficult venue. I’ve blanked my last six overnighters and the fish activity has really dropped off. I was seeing plenty of showing fish and general movement but in my last couple of trips I’ve only seen four fish. This seems to be a common trend around the area at the moment too – everywhere is fishing exceptionally slow. What are the reasons for this? Why don’t we see the  

Rich Robinson's cracking Fairview 25-pounder, I can't wait to get back down myself.

big pre-winter feeds that we used to? I think there are a few factors that play a part in this: the very strange weather we have had his year must be playing a part, the fish probably don’t realise it’s almost winter. The other day it was 18 degrees in the day and still double-figure temperatures at night. Figures like those combined with the reduced hours of daylight must leave the carp a bit confused. I think another reason why the fish don’t feel the need to have a big feed is the quantity and quality of bait that goes in to most venues throughout the summer. Perhaps they don’t have the same nutritional needs as winter approaches due to the amounts of nutrients they consume through the warmer months? If anyone has any opinions on things like this I would love to hear them so drop me a line at carper@btconnect.com.

One other reason I can come up with as to why Fairview is fishing so slow is the fact that it’s surrounded by trees and an awful lot of dead leaves and general debris end up in the lake. Maybe this is having an effect on the fish, who knows? I certainly don’t!

I’ll keep persevering though and I’m sure a fish will turn up in my net at some point. When things slow down and the nights become long and cold it’s very easy to think about hanging up the rods until spring. I hope you guys keep at it though because when you catch in winter it means so much more, it’s like you’ve really earned it. There’s always a chance of catching when you have a bait in the water so get out there and keep trying, I know I will be.

Adam Snowden

BSA Integrated Sonar Control

Blue Sky Angling is proud to unveil their new sonar and operating controls. This latest handset has been designed to work with all Lakestar and Pocket Rocket boats but can also be used with all other boats. The handset has a large in-built LCD screen that will display all sonar information. The best news though is that the handsets and

boat packages will be far cheaper than buying both units separately. This is because BSA has integrated the sonar display into the handset which obviously reduces manufacturing costs. All the units are manufactured in the UK. For further information on this or any other product from Blue Sky Angling visit their web site at www.blueskyangling.co.uk

North Western Rods

Once regarded as the best rod builders in the land they built up quite a cult following. Unfortunately over the last ten years North Western have almost vanished, but thanks to a guy called Carl Gee they are set to return with a vengeance. They are to release a range of rods known as CSG Custom Built. The range will cover all disciplines of specimen angling with test curves ranging from 1½lb to 5lb.

Digital Reuben Heaton Scales

The majority of us like to weigh our catch

with the greatest of accuracy and Reuben

Heaton scales have long been recognised as the ultimate in accuracy. Their most popular scales are the Specimen Hunter range which are of the traditional spring balance variety. However Reuben Heaton are to release a range of digital scales - the range will incorporate both 66lb and 135lb versions both measuring in 1oz divisions. They will also have the facility to store/record weights.

An Evening with Maylin and Chilly

Following on from the great success of last year’s ‘Evening with Jim Shelley’, Colin Hunt, Steve Hill and the Crazy Carp Tackle Shop, are pleased to announce that on November 22nd, the original bounty hunter Rob Maylin and Ian ‘Chilly’ Chillcott will be doing a double bill slide show. The venue will once again be Somerdale, Keynsham, Bristol. There will be only 300 tickets on sale for the evening so bear in mind that last year’s show sold out very fast, and many people who turned up on the evening hoping to pay on the door, unfortunately had to be turned away...
The night will see stands from various companies, including up and coming carp bait company Baitworks, particle experts Bristol Bait Supplies and, of course, a stand with quality discounted tackle from Crazy Carp Tackle Shop. Another main attraction will be the raffle on the evening. Tickets are on sale through Crazy Carp Tackle Shop, please order on-line or call the shop on 0117 9359135.