by Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe;
A lot of people ask me how I got into carp fishing, how long I’ve been fishing & why do I seem to catch carp on a regular basis?
Where do I start?
Well it was five years ago when I met my partner, he had just come back from working at Dream Lakes in France, and never stopped talking about it.
I finally gave in and said I would go fishing with him to see what all the hype was about, but we lived in the lakes (Cumbria) where there was not many carp around so I went on a 3 day trip down to Suffolk with him where he let me use one of his rods. I had a coupl
e of smaller fish out that trip and much to my own amazement I was hooked.
That year I went on my first French trip to Abbey lakes, where I landed my first 30lb carp. What a week fishing and sun bathing a perfect combination if you ask me.
That week I saw my first Mercedes bait boat, yes you heard me right!
There where a group of four lads fishing the other side of the lake and every day they used to drive around the lake at speed at least 15 times. I told them to slow down and so did the other carpers but no joy.
At the end of the week we all loaded up ready to go back home when the car shot past us again and was parked up in the next swim. The lad got out and started to talk to his mate. Five minutes later the car started to roll into the lake and the driver ran over to us shouting help can you pull it out? At that stage the car was in the middle of the lake and going down fast, until all you could see was the boot then it was gone. On one hand I have to say it couldn’t have happened to a better person but on the other hand it just shows how irresponsible some people are when it comes to fishing in France. Later that year we heard that the car had been taken out of the lake and hadn’t caused too much disruption.
Why do I seem to catch carp on a regular basis?
I will start with bait (Quest Bait) what more can I say?
I think it’s responsible for helping me to catch the majority of fish over the past few years. The first bait I started to use was fruity trifle, which I’ve had many a good fish on. I was the only one using it when we went to Margot in France for a week, from the first day to the last the fish kept on coming out. All the lads wanted to know what I was using, I never told them until the end of the week when I collected the takings for biggest carp and biggest non-carp – what a week!
From there I have never looked back I think if you have confidence in the bait you’re using then you will have good results. When you get hold of a good bait stay on it! I see a lot of carper’s keep changing their bait like the weather.
Why?
You will always find a tub of Fruity Trifle pop ups with a bag of bottom bait, which I have ready in the freezer, with me in my bait bag on any length of session.
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