In reply to Post #425
What neither of us knew was that Bill had other plans for the pre-dig fishmeal for he and Lee Walton were putting together the early trial versions of Trigga. Trigga was eventually launched in the spring of 2001 and it soon became Nutrabaits' top seller. It followed the increasingly popular tendency towards totally natural ingredients and attractors and the base mix contained no artificial ingredients. Key to its success was in my opinion the same blend of hydrolysed marine meals that Bill had sent me to try out on the Big Fish Mix. In addition Trigga contained low fat organic marine proteins, milk and whey proteins and the key secret (yes, truly) ingredient Trigga Powder. The latter had been touted to Bill buy a guy who worked in the cat food industry. The powder was added to tinned feeds to make them more attractive and at the same time easier to digest Knowing a good thing when he saw one Bill bit the guy's hand off but not before gaining an assurance that the Powder would not be touted to any other bait firm. At the time of the launch nobody, and I mean NOBODY, knew what the Powder was or where it came from. This well guarded secret lasted about 18 months before the beans were spilled! In the meanwhile we had a field day.
There's a funny story behind the development of Trigga prior to its release. When I was first given the bait for field testing it came in ready rolled frozen form. I had no idea what the base mix consisted of or what liquid attractors were included. I was simply sent 20kg of 15mm baits and told to get on with it! Little did I know but all the other Nutrabaits field testers had been treated the same way but each one of them had a different version of the bait. As luck would have it I was sent a batch of bait that didn't work too well. Thinking that all the testers were experiencing similar results I got in touch with Bill and told him I thought the bait was rubbish! A few weeks later Bill told me what he'd been doing. Each of the testers had received a batch of the bait, each one containing a different level of pre-dig and Trigga powder. When the results came in (both good and bad) Bill was able to refine the base mix with the optimum levels of each ingredient. The next batch he sent me took me to another dimension on Tanners!
I have long had a passion for paste baits, always being aware that they are short term as small fry will readily attack and paste be it a freebie or a hookbait. If you can live with this and accept that you have to rebait frequently then there is no better bait than a nice amino-oozing fish meal paste. I used both the Stage 2 BFM and Trigga in paste form to great effect on Tanners, and while messing about with them one day I came up with an idea for mounting a double paste bait on the hair. This is it:
The stocking mesh-wrapped baits were mounted cross wise through a small bait band...I guess I had inadvertently invented the Bollox Rig some dozen years or so before it became more widely used at Rainbow Lake!
What neither of us knew was that Bill had other plans for the pre-dig fishmeal for he and Lee Walton were putting together the early trial versions of Trigga. Trigga was eventually launched in the spring of 2001 and it soon became Nutrabaits' top seller. It followed the increasingly popular tendency towards totally natural ingredients and attractors and the base mix contained no artificial ingredients. Key to its success was in my opinion the same blend of hydrolysed marine meals that Bill had sent me to try out on the Big Fish Mix. In addition Trigga contained low fat organic marine proteins, milk and whey proteins and the key secret (yes, truly) ingredient Trigga Powder. The latter had been touted to Bill buy a guy who worked in the cat food industry. The powder was added to tinned feeds to make them more attractive and at the same time easier to digest Knowing a good thing when he saw one Bill bit the guy's hand off but not before gaining an assurance that the Powder would not be touted to any other bait firm. At the time of the launch nobody, and I mean NOBODY, knew what the Powder was or where it came from. This well guarded secret lasted about 18 months before the beans were spilled! In the meanwhile we had a field day.
There's a funny story behind the development of Trigga prior to its release. When I was first given the bait for field testing it came in ready rolled frozen form. I had no idea what the base mix consisted of or what liquid attractors were included. I was simply sent 20kg of 15mm baits and told to get on with it! Little did I know but all the other Nutrabaits field testers had been treated the same way but each one of them had a different version of the bait. As luck would have it I was sent a batch of bait that didn't work too well. Thinking that all the testers were experiencing similar results I got in touch with Bill and told him I thought the bait was rubbish! A few weeks later Bill told me what he'd been doing. Each of the testers had received a batch of the bait, each one containing a different level of pre-dig and Trigga powder. When the results came in (both good and bad) Bill was able to refine the base mix with the optimum levels of each ingredient. The next batch he sent me took me to another dimension on Tanners!
I have long had a passion for paste baits, always being aware that they are short term as small fry will readily attack and paste be it a freebie or a hookbait. If you can live with this and accept that you have to rebait frequently then there is no better bait than a nice amino-oozing fish meal paste. I used both the Stage 2 BFM and Trigga in paste form to great effect on Tanners, and while messing about with them one day I came up with an idea for mounting a double paste bait on the hair. This is it:
The stocking mesh-wrapped baits were mounted cross wise through a small bait band...I guess I had inadvertently invented the Bollox Rig some dozen years or so before it became more widely used at Rainbow Lake!
In reply to Post #426
Some of my fondest SW memories are of the Carp Society meetings we held all over the area. When the Society was formed in 1981 I knew nothing about it. Then by chance I dropped into Tackle Up, a tackle shop in Ash Vale, and saw on the counter a small pile of Carp Fisher magazines, the first such mag published by the Carp Society. The magazine - the one with Mike Wilson with an amazing Savay mirror on the cover - drew me in an held me in awe. What a carp, what a photo! I got talking to the shop owner, Colin Chandler, who was taking new members on behalf of the Society. I signed up straight away. My number was 1066 (significant or otherwise? I have often asked myself that!).
So began a long association with the CS and at the first meeting Tim Paisley asked Tat and I to be the Regional Organisers for the Devon and Cornwall branch. I had started a tentative (pen) friendship with Tim when I wrote to him about bait. Tim's expansive letter drew me deep into the carp bait world, though to date I am still to figure out much of it! However, my connection with Tim, who was the Society's first Secretary, opened doors and getting hold of top flight speakers for our meetings was a piece of cake (I suspect Tim did a lot of arm twisting on our behalf!). You can read more about my naive forays into the bait world in my Haith's Baits Blogs:
Link 1...
Link 2...
So it was the we held our very first regional meeting at the Exeter Court Hotel on the A38 at the foot of Haldon Hill. Tim was once of the speakers, Ritchie the other. Rod was supposed to come down too but in the end he couldn't make it. Ritchie more than made up for Rod's absence. Anyone who has been fortunate to hear one of Ritchie's talks will know what I mean!
And that was just the first of many. In order to attract the very best speakers we decided to hold our meetings a little closer to what many might call civilisation so we moved venues to The Shrubbery Hotel, Ilminster (now a Best Western).
Being that bit closer to the Home Counties meant that we could attract the cream of the top anglers for the area and over the years our guest list read like a Who's Who of carp fishing. We had Tim, Ritchie, Andy Little, Bob Baker, Albert Romp, Chris Yates, Bob James, Clive and Malc, Rod (eventually!), Mike Wilson and many other famous names.
We always tried to do that little bit more for the guests and attendees. We offered good hotel rooms meals, a buffet or two, space to bivvy up if required (it often was!). Thus we always managed to get great attendances for our meeting and we treated our guests like royalty. Another thing: we noticed that many of the regions up country had loads more members than little old Devon and Cornwall and their meetings attracted many members and non-members alike, often well into the hundreds strong. Invariably the meetings held in these highly populated regions took place in the evenings, often in midweek. Me and Tat knew this would not work for us as both members and speakers would have a long trips each end of the meeting. We therefore decided to hold ours on a Saturday afternoon and evening, usually laying on a meal at half time, and a decent raffle at the whistle. This was Tat's brainwave and as a result we always had full houses and eventually the demand was such that we had to restrict numbers, the meetings being ticket-only affairs.
Some of my fondest SW memories are of the Carp Society meetings we held all over the area. When the Society was formed in 1981 I knew nothing about it. Then by chance I dropped into Tackle Up, a tackle shop in Ash Vale, and saw on the counter a small pile of Carp Fisher magazines, the first such mag published by the Carp Society. The magazine - the one with Mike Wilson with an amazing Savay mirror on the cover - drew me in an held me in awe. What a carp, what a photo! I got talking to the shop owner, Colin Chandler, who was taking new members on behalf of the Society. I signed up straight away. My number was 1066 (significant or otherwise? I have often asked myself that!).
So began a long association with the CS and at the first meeting Tim Paisley asked Tat and I to be the Regional Organisers for the Devon and Cornwall branch. I had started a tentative (pen) friendship with Tim when I wrote to him about bait. Tim's expansive letter drew me deep into the carp bait world, though to date I am still to figure out much of it! However, my connection with Tim, who was the Society's first Secretary, opened doors and getting hold of top flight speakers for our meetings was a piece of cake (I suspect Tim did a lot of arm twisting on our behalf!). You can read more about my naive forays into the bait world in my Haith's Baits Blogs:
Link 1...
Link 2...
So it was the we held our very first regional meeting at the Exeter Court Hotel on the A38 at the foot of Haldon Hill. Tim was once of the speakers, Ritchie the other. Rod was supposed to come down too but in the end he couldn't make it. Ritchie more than made up for Rod's absence. Anyone who has been fortunate to hear one of Ritchie's talks will know what I mean!
And that was just the first of many. In order to attract the very best speakers we decided to hold our meetings a little closer to what many might call civilisation so we moved venues to The Shrubbery Hotel, Ilminster (now a Best Western).
Being that bit closer to the Home Counties meant that we could attract the cream of the top anglers for the area and over the years our guest list read like a Who's Who of carp fishing. We had Tim, Ritchie, Andy Little, Bob Baker, Albert Romp, Chris Yates, Bob James, Clive and Malc, Rod (eventually!), Mike Wilson and many other famous names.
We always tried to do that little bit more for the guests and attendees. We offered good hotel rooms meals, a buffet or two, space to bivvy up if required (it often was!). Thus we always managed to get great attendances for our meeting and we treated our guests like royalty. Another thing: we noticed that many of the regions up country had loads more members than little old Devon and Cornwall and their meetings attracted many members and non-members alike, often well into the hundreds strong. Invariably the meetings held in these highly populated regions took place in the evenings, often in midweek. Me and Tat knew this would not work for us as both members and speakers would have a long trips each end of the meeting. We therefore decided to hold ours on a Saturday afternoon and evening, usually laying on a meal at half time, and a decent raffle at the whistle. This was Tat's brainwave and as a result we always had full houses and eventually the demand was such that we had to restrict numbers, the meetings being ticket-only affairs.
In reply to Post #427
We had great fun at The Shrubbery and many members stayed overnight. The beer ran freely, as did the G &Ts, the humour, the carpy tales and the good natured joshing. Those meetings were always a good laugh, as I am sure anyone who attended one will agree.
The Carp Society was a wonderful vibrant, enthusiastic organisation at the time and this can-do attitude lead eventually to it purchasing outright Horseshoe Lake. Sadly the repercussion of the purchase put the Society in a somewhat vulnerable position and a committee purge meant that all the stalwarts that had formed and supported it from Day One were out on the street and a team of what I called 'city slickers' took over. In time it became clear that the 'new' Carp Society as constructed by the replacement committee was in it for one thing only: Money!
Gradually the regional organisation fell apart. Regions lost membership and the CS didn't seem to care any more. All they wanted to do was protect their nest eggs, the Sandown Show and Horseshoe Lake, while at the same time stripping the CS of any assets they could get their hands on. With the regional structure ripped up Tat and I could no longer be the Regional Organisers for the Devon & Cornwall region so we stepped down. We hated what the Society had become and felt totally adrift from the new structure. We handed over the region's Society funds, which were considerable as we always made a small profit on the meetings, little knowing that the funds would be swallowed up by 'jollies' and 'members' expense'!
It took legal action that went as far as the High Court to prise the sticky fingers of the 'city slickers' away from the Society but eventually they were ousted with the CS's remaining assets still intact. Once again Tim Paisley and his team of Society die-hards from the old days restructured the CS and kept its finances secure. With Tim once again at the helm of the Carp Society (it was, in effect, his baby) we again felt able to try to resurrect the region and by chance found a willing and able host in John and Wanda's Clawford Vineyard. This is how our Society meetings usually ended up!
We had great fun at The Shrubbery and many members stayed overnight. The beer ran freely, as did the G &Ts, the humour, the carpy tales and the good natured joshing. Those meetings were always a good laugh, as I am sure anyone who attended one will agree.
The Carp Society was a wonderful vibrant, enthusiastic organisation at the time and this can-do attitude lead eventually to it purchasing outright Horseshoe Lake. Sadly the repercussion of the purchase put the Society in a somewhat vulnerable position and a committee purge meant that all the stalwarts that had formed and supported it from Day One were out on the street and a team of what I called 'city slickers' took over. In time it became clear that the 'new' Carp Society as constructed by the replacement committee was in it for one thing only: Money!
Gradually the regional organisation fell apart. Regions lost membership and the CS didn't seem to care any more. All they wanted to do was protect their nest eggs, the Sandown Show and Horseshoe Lake, while at the same time stripping the CS of any assets they could get their hands on. With the regional structure ripped up Tat and I could no longer be the Regional Organisers for the Devon & Cornwall region so we stepped down. We hated what the Society had become and felt totally adrift from the new structure. We handed over the region's Society funds, which were considerable as we always made a small profit on the meetings, little knowing that the funds would be swallowed up by 'jollies' and 'members' expense'!
It took legal action that went as far as the High Court to prise the sticky fingers of the 'city slickers' away from the Society but eventually they were ousted with the CS's remaining assets still intact. Once again Tim Paisley and his team of Society die-hards from the old days restructured the CS and kept its finances secure. With Tim once again at the helm of the Carp Society (it was, in effect, his baby) we again felt able to try to resurrect the region and by chance found a willing and able host in John and Wanda's Clawford Vineyard. This is how our Society meetings usually ended up!
In reply to Post #428
It all started one weekend when Tat and I were supposedly fishing but got side tracked in the bar. We got talking to John about the Carp Society and reminiscing about our previous meetings under the old regime back in the good old days. I told him we were looking for a venue on the Devon/Cornwall border where we could hold meetings. "Why not have them here?" John asked. "We could do dinners, breakfasts, rooms for those that wanted and there's plenty of bivvy room outside."
In fact it had everything we could possibly wish for so I got cracking on doing a bit of advertising trying to drum up support. I no longer had my list of CS members but a troll around the tackle shops in the two counties son spread the word so once again we were back at it organising some of the best regional meeting anywhere in the country (he said modestly).
By now John had formed a carp syndicate on Clawford which covered the fishing on three lakes, JR's, Major John's and Tanners. The syndicate was called the Five Cs (Clawford's Crafty Carpers Carp Club), a slight dig, perhaps, at another nearby syndicate? Membership was restricted to Devon and Cornwall residents only and I soon managed to part fill it with my friends from Roche AC, Steve, Nige, Lee and Ali, to whom it became a home from home. I imagine the bar/restaurant had a fair part to play in their decision to join!
Many an evening was spent in jovial competition in the game of Spoof. This is lethal and can turn out pretty expensive and intoxicating! The rules, for those that don't know the game, are simple yet complex to the uninitiated.
Each player - there came be as many as want to play - holds in his closed fist up to three coins. One coin, two, three or even no coins at all. Players take it in turn to guess the total number of coins held hidden in the closed fists by the group. For instance, if ten are playing that means there could be a maximum of thirty coins so player 1 might call "twenty". Player 2 might call "seventeen". Player 3 "twenty-six" and so on. Gradually each player makes his choice. (It is best to be the last of the ten to call as that gives you some idea of who is holding what, also bearing in mind what you yourself are holding and who you think is bluffing.) When all ten have called the players open their fists to reveal what they are holding. The winner is the guy or girl that guesses the correct total who then drops out of the game and the next round commences. Now the nine remaining players start again, the first caller being the player to the left of the first round winner...are you following me...?
Here a late night group, some of whom should be fishing, is Spoofing for the last round (which it seldom was!). From left to right, Harry (H), John the boss, Wanda the real boss, Nigel and a mystery player whose fist is all we see of him. I suspect it is Steve. I have already won a call so I am out and thus am doing the pic.
After each round the winner drops out until only two players are left. These two play off against each other until there is a final winner. (This is the best round of all as the two can only be holding a maximum of six or a minimum of none.) The winner drops out leaving the group looser - the last one standing, if you like - to buy the next round!
Now as you can see, Spoof is very much a bluffer's paradise and many a happy Saturday night was spent fishing Spoofing in the bar at Clawford. Often holiday visitors would join in and if I remember rightly this group were from Wales. I think the lass on the right has the hump as she has had to buy the last round! As you can see the Cornios, Steve, Nige and me, are already out. We cheat!
Still, all's well that end well and even if you loose you send up smiling as you'll be as pissed as a pudding, especially if it's a large group of players.
It all started one weekend when Tat and I were supposedly fishing but got side tracked in the bar. We got talking to John about the Carp Society and reminiscing about our previous meetings under the old regime back in the good old days. I told him we were looking for a venue on the Devon/Cornwall border where we could hold meetings. "Why not have them here?" John asked. "We could do dinners, breakfasts, rooms for those that wanted and there's plenty of bivvy room outside."
In fact it had everything we could possibly wish for so I got cracking on doing a bit of advertising trying to drum up support. I no longer had my list of CS members but a troll around the tackle shops in the two counties son spread the word so once again we were back at it organising some of the best regional meeting anywhere in the country (he said modestly).
By now John had formed a carp syndicate on Clawford which covered the fishing on three lakes, JR's, Major John's and Tanners. The syndicate was called the Five Cs (Clawford's Crafty Carpers Carp Club), a slight dig, perhaps, at another nearby syndicate? Membership was restricted to Devon and Cornwall residents only and I soon managed to part fill it with my friends from Roche AC, Steve, Nige, Lee and Ali, to whom it became a home from home. I imagine the bar/restaurant had a fair part to play in their decision to join!
Many an evening was spent in jovial competition in the game of Spoof. This is lethal and can turn out pretty expensive and intoxicating! The rules, for those that don't know the game, are simple yet complex to the uninitiated.
Each player - there came be as many as want to play - holds in his closed fist up to three coins. One coin, two, three or even no coins at all. Players take it in turn to guess the total number of coins held hidden in the closed fists by the group. For instance, if ten are playing that means there could be a maximum of thirty coins so player 1 might call "twenty". Player 2 might call "seventeen". Player 3 "twenty-six" and so on. Gradually each player makes his choice. (It is best to be the last of the ten to call as that gives you some idea of who is holding what, also bearing in mind what you yourself are holding and who you think is bluffing.) When all ten have called the players open their fists to reveal what they are holding. The winner is the guy or girl that guesses the correct total who then drops out of the game and the next round commences. Now the nine remaining players start again, the first caller being the player to the left of the first round winner...are you following me...?
Here a late night group, some of whom should be fishing, is Spoofing for the last round (which it seldom was!). From left to right, Harry (H), John the boss, Wanda the real boss, Nigel and a mystery player whose fist is all we see of him. I suspect it is Steve. I have already won a call so I am out and thus am doing the pic.
After each round the winner drops out until only two players are left. These two play off against each other until there is a final winner. (This is the best round of all as the two can only be holding a maximum of six or a minimum of none.) The winner drops out leaving the group looser - the last one standing, if you like - to buy the next round!
Now as you can see, Spoof is very much a bluffer's paradise and many a happy Saturday night was spent fishing Spoofing in the bar at Clawford. Often holiday visitors would join in and if I remember rightly this group were from Wales. I think the lass on the right has the hump as she has had to buy the last round! As you can see the Cornios, Steve, Nige and me, are already out. We cheat!
Still, all's well that end well and even if you loose you send up smiling as you'll be as pissed as a pudding, especially if it's a large group of players.
In reply to Post #429
I don't think we could have found a better venue for the meetings. Clawford had everything including free carp fishing; yes, John even agreed to open the carp lakes to Carp Society members who attended the meetings and quite a few guys and gals took him up on the offer. In addition there was B&B accommodation and bivvy space on the lawn in front of the farm house for those who wanted to stay over and indulge! Add to that the comfort of the lounge and the splendid bar and restaurant and you could say that the venue had everything! This is the lawn in front of the farm house...bivvy space galore. We held some terrific meetings there and they only stopped because John fell gravely ill.
Some of the best speakers of the day were kind enough to come and do shows for us, donating raffle prizes, signing autographs and the like. All they asked was a bed for the night and to be well fed and watered...Well, John made sure of that! Here Nige gets the round in!
Tim and Mary loved the West Country and would always respond with a happy, "yes" when asked to come down to us to do a show. This is Tim with the guy he called 'The Devon Tench Angler' a title award to our great mate Pete Amey. For a few years Devon man Pete worked in Kent. He was a brickie by trade and he was a bloody hard worker. He'd go where the money was best and that wasn't Devon or Cornwall back in the day. While living and working up country Pete joined Halls (Leisure Sport) and was for a while a bailiff on Darenth. There he had a fearsome reputation as a guy who would stand no nonsense (he represented Britain in the 1960 Olympics as a wrestler so if he said jump you said how high!).
He was also a formidable catcher of specimen tench, though whether this was by accident or design was never made clear! On the right of the shot of Tim and his dad is Pete Amey Junior, an accomplished angler who takes after his Dad. By strange quirk of fate both Petes caught huge Devon carp from the same venue within a week of each other. Dad caught 'Smirk' the well known ELS mirror at 51lb while Junior caught another ELS monster at 44lb! He also had a trial for West Ham but he didn't quite make it! (Lucky escape there, Peter mate!)
Pete Amey was a lifelong Nutrabaits user and in fact he was cherished by the company, as he was the fist guy to buy a job lot of Hi Nu Val and all three Addits, the company's first commercial products. Bill never forgot that and always kept a kindly eye out for Pete over the thirty odd years that he used Nutrabaits. I've got a pic of Pete with a lovely mid thirty from Kent somewhere but at the moment I am buggered if I can find it. Tim did a couple of seasons on Darenth in the early 80s and got to know Pete very well. In fact, it was through Pete that Tim got to meet the Darenth crew that would later take on the testing of the fledgling HERNV (Hi Nu Val) and the amino acids and other powders (the Addit range) that would soon feature on the bait scene. Here's Tim and Pete at a Clawford show.
And this is Tim, trying to explain the complexities of his HERNV bait to a confused attendee at one of the shows. A bemused John Ray looks on.
Surrey all rounder Bill Rushmer and his wife Ginny were frequent visitors to Clawford and Bill came down a couple of times to do a show for us. He was a fascinating speaker and they were both terrific anglers. Ginny in particular could charm them out of Major John's while Bill himself practised quick fire match fishing on JR's Lake.
I don't think we could have found a better venue for the meetings. Clawford had everything including free carp fishing; yes, John even agreed to open the carp lakes to Carp Society members who attended the meetings and quite a few guys and gals took him up on the offer. In addition there was B&B accommodation and bivvy space on the lawn in front of the farm house for those who wanted to stay over and indulge! Add to that the comfort of the lounge and the splendid bar and restaurant and you could say that the venue had everything! This is the lawn in front of the farm house...bivvy space galore. We held some terrific meetings there and they only stopped because John fell gravely ill.
Some of the best speakers of the day were kind enough to come and do shows for us, donating raffle prizes, signing autographs and the like. All they asked was a bed for the night and to be well fed and watered...Well, John made sure of that! Here Nige gets the round in!
Tim and Mary loved the West Country and would always respond with a happy, "yes" when asked to come down to us to do a show. This is Tim with the guy he called 'The Devon Tench Angler' a title award to our great mate Pete Amey. For a few years Devon man Pete worked in Kent. He was a brickie by trade and he was a bloody hard worker. He'd go where the money was best and that wasn't Devon or Cornwall back in the day. While living and working up country Pete joined Halls (Leisure Sport) and was for a while a bailiff on Darenth. There he had a fearsome reputation as a guy who would stand no nonsense (he represented Britain in the 1960 Olympics as a wrestler so if he said jump you said how high!).
He was also a formidable catcher of specimen tench, though whether this was by accident or design was never made clear! On the right of the shot of Tim and his dad is Pete Amey Junior, an accomplished angler who takes after his Dad. By strange quirk of fate both Petes caught huge Devon carp from the same venue within a week of each other. Dad caught 'Smirk' the well known ELS mirror at 51lb while Junior caught another ELS monster at 44lb! He also had a trial for West Ham but he didn't quite make it! (Lucky escape there, Peter mate!)
Pete Amey was a lifelong Nutrabaits user and in fact he was cherished by the company, as he was the fist guy to buy a job lot of Hi Nu Val and all three Addits, the company's first commercial products. Bill never forgot that and always kept a kindly eye out for Pete over the thirty odd years that he used Nutrabaits. I've got a pic of Pete with a lovely mid thirty from Kent somewhere but at the moment I am buggered if I can find it. Tim did a couple of seasons on Darenth in the early 80s and got to know Pete very well. In fact, it was through Pete that Tim got to meet the Darenth crew that would later take on the testing of the fledgling HERNV (Hi Nu Val) and the amino acids and other powders (the Addit range) that would soon feature on the bait scene. Here's Tim and Pete at a Clawford show.
And this is Tim, trying to explain the complexities of his HERNV bait to a confused attendee at one of the shows. A bemused John Ray looks on.
Surrey all rounder Bill Rushmer and his wife Ginny were frequent visitors to Clawford and Bill came down a couple of times to do a show for us. He was a fascinating speaker and they were both terrific anglers. Ginny in particular could charm them out of Major John's while Bill himself practised quick fire match fishing on JR's Lake.
In reply to Post #430
Marcus Watts is a very significant figure on the SW carp scene. Once a tackle dealer in Wadebridge, Marcus made a big name for himself by catching many of our region's finest carp, among them the then College record of 34lb.
So great a reputation did Marcus acquire that anglers flocked to his shop to buy his baits. One in particular, which was called the Reservoir Special was rightly feted as one of the best fishmeal baits in the country, and to be fair, it did catch everywhere. Small wonder that he was head-hunted by Dynamite Baits who tasked him with the development of their boiled bait range. Thus the Reservoir Special became The Source...Nuff said!
Marcus was also a regular at Carp Society events, often attending Conference and regional meetings on behalf of Dynamite, usually in the company of one of the big names of our sport such as Terry Hearne or Frank Warwick (seen here). Marcus is the very tall geezer at the back.
Also in picture are two of the nicest people in Cornish carping, Lee and Alison Critcher. They are behind Frank left and right of his bonce! I could write reams about these two. Lee a gentle giant of a man and his missus a lovely lass with a heart of gold. She was a Development Manager for a regional business expansion and development organisation back in the 90s and she worked at developing small businesses in the St Austell area. As such she helped me refurbish my office from the creaking old set up I had at the time to a brand new all- singing all- dancing office suite; new PC, new scanner, new printer, new just about everything, and all as a low cost interest-free grant. Bless you, lass! She was always smiling and was a capable and happy member of the Clawford Syndicate, as was Lee. They both knew how to catch a carp or two as well!
As did her old man...
I did a couple of shows myself but only as a support act, once to Frank and a second time to Bill Cottam. Bill was always great fun. His northern sense of humour kept us in stitches. Bill seems to have nurtured his talent for telling funny stories and he once contributed occasional pieces for Carpworld called 'Carping Allegedly' If you haven't seen them I suggest you look online. There are one or two archived pieces to be found, including one that details Bill's extraordinary talents for biscuit eating, in which he gives us a list of his all-time top ten Favourite Biscuits...only Bill Cottam...!
A truly gifted angler, Bill would not only make us laugh but also make us think. He has always used his own Uber Method, keeping things simple and using the best bait money could buy (Trigga). The Graviers Scar Fish and the Saussaie common are just two of his worthy trophies, however, I think I can claim the fame for sparking the big fella's flame for large continental carp. I took him to Boffins Pool in March 1996 as Bill had set his sights on catching the long forty pound common that Tat had caught the previous year. He accomplished this fairly rapidly, though sadly at a tad under the forty pound mark. Not to worry, said Bill. Mission accomplished. So it was that Bill caught his first French biggie. I taught him all I knew on that trip...
Marcus Watts is a very significant figure on the SW carp scene. Once a tackle dealer in Wadebridge, Marcus made a big name for himself by catching many of our region's finest carp, among them the then College record of 34lb.
So great a reputation did Marcus acquire that anglers flocked to his shop to buy his baits. One in particular, which was called the Reservoir Special was rightly feted as one of the best fishmeal baits in the country, and to be fair, it did catch everywhere. Small wonder that he was head-hunted by Dynamite Baits who tasked him with the development of their boiled bait range. Thus the Reservoir Special became The Source...Nuff said!
Marcus was also a regular at Carp Society events, often attending Conference and regional meetings on behalf of Dynamite, usually in the company of one of the big names of our sport such as Terry Hearne or Frank Warwick (seen here). Marcus is the very tall geezer at the back.
Also in picture are two of the nicest people in Cornish carping, Lee and Alison Critcher. They are behind Frank left and right of his bonce! I could write reams about these two. Lee a gentle giant of a man and his missus a lovely lass with a heart of gold. She was a Development Manager for a regional business expansion and development organisation back in the 90s and she worked at developing small businesses in the St Austell area. As such she helped me refurbish my office from the creaking old set up I had at the time to a brand new all- singing all- dancing office suite; new PC, new scanner, new printer, new just about everything, and all as a low cost interest-free grant. Bless you, lass! She was always smiling and was a capable and happy member of the Clawford Syndicate, as was Lee. They both knew how to catch a carp or two as well!
As did her old man...
I did a couple of shows myself but only as a support act, once to Frank and a second time to Bill Cottam. Bill was always great fun. His northern sense of humour kept us in stitches. Bill seems to have nurtured his talent for telling funny stories and he once contributed occasional pieces for Carpworld called 'Carping Allegedly' If you haven't seen them I suggest you look online. There are one or two archived pieces to be found, including one that details Bill's extraordinary talents for biscuit eating, in which he gives us a list of his all-time top ten Favourite Biscuits...only Bill Cottam...!
A truly gifted angler, Bill would not only make us laugh but also make us think. He has always used his own Uber Method, keeping things simple and using the best bait money could buy (Trigga). The Graviers Scar Fish and the Saussaie common are just two of his worthy trophies, however, I think I can claim the fame for sparking the big fella's flame for large continental carp. I took him to Boffins Pool in March 1996 as Bill had set his sights on catching the long forty pound common that Tat had caught the previous year. He accomplished this fairly rapidly, though sadly at a tad under the forty pound mark. Not to worry, said Bill. Mission accomplished. So it was that Bill caught his first French biggie. I taught him all I knew on that trip...
In reply to Post #431
...including how to spot Hyakutake's Comet, which filled the night sky over SW France for a brief few hours during our visit. Bill was in his pit that evening and as I knew that the glorious cosmic visitor was due that night I was up and waiting for it to appear. It was fantastic, like a long zip fastener blasting though the Cosmos.
"Bill!" I shouted. "Come out and see this. It's amazing!."
What is...?" asked Bill. I told him about the comet's trail that filled the sky.
"Yeah, OK,," he said. "I'll catch it a bit later!"
I didn't have the heart to tell him that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see one of the greatest Cosmic spectacles of his or anyone else's life, that would not return for another 70,000 years! Oh well...!
Now if that had been Chilts it would have been a different story. He, like me, takes great pleasure in star-watching.
This is Bill's first French target fish, a fish that set him on his path to legendary glory...or so he says!
Bill, just in case you don't know, is a fanatical supporter of Sheffield Wednesday FC and he can bore for England on the subject. Nige is equally fanatical about Nottingham Forest. In consequence whenever the two meet on a football Saturday, money will change hands depending on the result. On this occasion, when Bill came down to do a slide show, Forest won and Bill handed over the tenner through gritted teeth!
As I mentioned just now, Pete Amey will always be close to the heart of Nutrabaits...
...including how to spot Hyakutake's Comet, which filled the night sky over SW France for a brief few hours during our visit. Bill was in his pit that evening and as I knew that the glorious cosmic visitor was due that night I was up and waiting for it to appear. It was fantastic, like a long zip fastener blasting though the Cosmos.
"Bill!" I shouted. "Come out and see this. It's amazing!."
What is...?" asked Bill. I told him about the comet's trail that filled the sky.
"Yeah, OK,," he said. "I'll catch it a bit later!"
I didn't have the heart to tell him that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see one of the greatest Cosmic spectacles of his or anyone else's life, that would not return for another 70,000 years! Oh well...!
Now if that had been Chilts it would have been a different story. He, like me, takes great pleasure in star-watching.
This is Bill's first French target fish, a fish that set him on his path to legendary glory...or so he says!
Bill, just in case you don't know, is a fanatical supporter of Sheffield Wednesday FC and he can bore for England on the subject. Nige is equally fanatical about Nottingham Forest. In consequence whenever the two meet on a football Saturday, money will change hands depending on the result. On this occasion, when Bill came down to do a slide show, Forest won and Bill handed over the tenner through gritted teeth!
As I mentioned just now, Pete Amey will always be close to the heart of Nutrabaits...
In reply to Post #432
Having described the social side of the Clawford years in (probably) more detail that is strictly necessary in a carp fishing blog you may well be asking yourself, do they ever go fishing? Well, yes, we did a bit here and there and enjoyed ourselves enormously. The 5Cs was a great group of people and there was literally zero competition, no big egos. We shared knowledge, and bait and rigs and beers. It was some of the best fishing of my life. Here are a few happy memories.
Terry Taylor plays a Tanners Lake fish while his daughter stands by with the net. Young Sam (in the cap), a fellow syndicate member watches proceedings.
Here's the result...
Talking of Sam, he was no slouch with a carp rod either.
My mate Nige Britton could catch carp from a raindrop and Clawford was just one of the lakes all over the UK an Europe where he showed his skills to great effect. Having retired and moved to a cottage overlooking the R. Lot in France, no doubt those cunning river carp are also now getting the Nige treatment. Here's the guy with a Clawford biggie.
Steve Churchill, along with Nige and a few other like-minded anglers in Roche AC such as Big Kev, Colin and yours truly were entirely responsible for turning the Club around, creating a brilliant carp-friendly club that attracted membership to such an extent that we had to close the books. A subsequent committee under the leadership of the legendary Gert Louster, and his fellow Cornish carpers, took things on a step further, cementing the Club's finances and setting it on a secure footing that made Roche the envy of the south west carp scene. Sadly the Club today is a far cry from those halcyon days...
...but enough of that. On a brighter note, Steve was another RAC stalwart that found the atmosphere and the carp at Clawford greatly to his liking.
Harry (H) was always a great laugh and when the going got tough he got going. He is another very good angler but of course, being the Fishery Manager at Clawford gave him a huge advantage (only joking, H!) but he too could catch carp from a puddle. In fact I became the Tanners Lake's official photographer as far as H's carp were concerned; I spent more time taking pix of his fish than he did of mine, that's for sure.
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There were some right good carp in Tanners back in the day and this common was the first to go over the thirty pound mark. Others followed and for a while Tanners was the 'must have' ticket in the two counties. With so many of the syndicate on good baits - Prems, BFM, the Reservoir Special and Trigga in the main - it was small wonder that the fish put on the pounds.
Having described the social side of the Clawford years in (probably) more detail that is strictly necessary in a carp fishing blog you may well be asking yourself, do they ever go fishing? Well, yes, we did a bit here and there and enjoyed ourselves enormously. The 5Cs was a great group of people and there was literally zero competition, no big egos. We shared knowledge, and bait and rigs and beers. It was some of the best fishing of my life. Here are a few happy memories.
Terry Taylor plays a Tanners Lake fish while his daughter stands by with the net. Young Sam (in the cap), a fellow syndicate member watches proceedings.
Here's the result...
Talking of Sam, he was no slouch with a carp rod either.
My mate Nige Britton could catch carp from a raindrop and Clawford was just one of the lakes all over the UK an Europe where he showed his skills to great effect. Having retired and moved to a cottage overlooking the R. Lot in France, no doubt those cunning river carp are also now getting the Nige treatment. Here's the guy with a Clawford biggie.
Steve Churchill, along with Nige and a few other like-minded anglers in Roche AC such as Big Kev, Colin and yours truly were entirely responsible for turning the Club around, creating a brilliant carp-friendly club that attracted membership to such an extent that we had to close the books. A subsequent committee under the leadership of the legendary Gert Louster, and his fellow Cornish carpers, took things on a step further, cementing the Club's finances and setting it on a secure footing that made Roche the envy of the south west carp scene. Sadly the Club today is a far cry from those halcyon days...
...but enough of that. On a brighter note, Steve was another RAC stalwart that found the atmosphere and the carp at Clawford greatly to his liking.
Harry (H) was always a great laugh and when the going got tough he got going. He is another very good angler but of course, being the Fishery Manager at Clawford gave him a huge advantage (only joking, H!) but he too could catch carp from a puddle. In fact I became the Tanners Lake's official photographer as far as H's carp were concerned; I spent more time taking pix of his fish than he did of mine, that's for sure.
There were some right good carp in Tanners back in the day and this common was the first to go over the thirty pound mark. Others followed and for a while Tanners was the 'must have' ticket in the two counties. With so many of the syndicate on good baits - Prems, BFM, the Reservoir Special and Trigga in the main - it was small wonder that the fish put on the pounds.
In reply to Post #433
Alongside the joking and banter there was some serious work carried out by the Syndicate. When Tanners was first dug the designer thought it might be a good idea to create a feature on the lake bed between the islands so a circle of breeze blocks was laid and then filled in with gravel. We called it the Magic Roundabout. In theory this was a great idea but in practice it was a pain in the jacksie. We lost fish on the sharp edges of the blocks and the gravel sank without trance into the mud of the lake. It became such a hazard that we decided it must come out. It was tiring and very muddy work!
Tanners was a bleak and dire place in the depths of winter when all the vegetation had died back and the banks were a sea of mud. However, good company and the prospect of an evening beer kept the spirits up. Here me and Nige have a discussion about who drank my pint last night!
This is the lake in the bleak mid-winter.
It could be a real frost trap too.
Compare that with the good old summertime.
Koi snatching was something of a competitive sport when things were slow, cold and tough. An evening or two on a betalight float and sweetcorn would bring steady fun action with the kois, which averaged about 5lb. Pretty as a picture they were too.
Tat and I have some very happy memories of our Clawford days. With the change of ownership from private into corporate hands one wonders what the future will hold. Certainly there are still some big carp in the lakes and as long as the 'suits' understand what they have got then the potential for great carp fishing is there. If the offspring of the originals is anything to go by there will be some lovely carp in there to target.
So it's so long to Clawford and John & Wanda and all the crew. Have a happy retirement.
Here are a few parting shots. H goes in for one!
I'll get the Emperor lake pix scanned soon and we'll head to the South Hams for more reminiscences.
Alongside the joking and banter there was some serious work carried out by the Syndicate. When Tanners was first dug the designer thought it might be a good idea to create a feature on the lake bed between the islands so a circle of breeze blocks was laid and then filled in with gravel. We called it the Magic Roundabout. In theory this was a great idea but in practice it was a pain in the jacksie. We lost fish on the sharp edges of the blocks and the gravel sank without trance into the mud of the lake. It became such a hazard that we decided it must come out. It was tiring and very muddy work!
Tanners was a bleak and dire place in the depths of winter when all the vegetation had died back and the banks were a sea of mud. However, good company and the prospect of an evening beer kept the spirits up. Here me and Nige have a discussion about who drank my pint last night!
This is the lake in the bleak mid-winter.
It could be a real frost trap too.
Compare that with the good old summertime.
Koi snatching was something of a competitive sport when things were slow, cold and tough. An evening or two on a betalight float and sweetcorn would bring steady fun action with the kois, which averaged about 5lb. Pretty as a picture they were too.
Tat and I have some very happy memories of our Clawford days. With the change of ownership from private into corporate hands one wonders what the future will hold. Certainly there are still some big carp in the lakes and as long as the 'suits' understand what they have got then the potential for great carp fishing is there. If the offspring of the originals is anything to go by there will be some lovely carp in there to target.
So it's so long to Clawford and John & Wanda and all the crew. Have a happy retirement.
Here are a few parting shots. H goes in for one!
I'll get the Emperor lake pix scanned soon and we'll head to the South Hams for more reminiscences.
In reply to Post #434
Sarulesti 2003
OK, I know I was going to talk about my couple of years on the Emperor Lake Syndicate (ELS) but that can wait for a while, as instead I want to revisit the two trips I made to the famous Romanian lake at Sarulesti. This is a huge lake some 45 miles east of Bucharest, capital of Romania. The country was once part of the Iron Curtain countries, very much under the thumb of the Russian bear and ruled by the hated dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. This man was as feared and despised every bit as much as were Stalin and Hitler, ruling Romania from 1965 until his death in 1989. He became infamous for his lavish lifestyle, and started to build a palace for himself in the 1980s with miles of marble floors and thousands of crystal chandeliers with gold lavished upon the interior while his countrymen starved. He was overthrown in the popular revolution of December 1989 and together with his wife was summarily executed by firing squad on Christmas Day of that year.
Often called 'The Last Stalinist' Ceausescu was cruelty personified but strangely enough the lake at Sarulesti is a direct consequence of his plans for a vast self-sustaining infrastructure. Part of those plans called for the construction of dams along the course of a large tributary of the Danube and these created vast reservoirs that were used for irrigation, fish farming and other commercial fresh water activities. This is just a tiny part of the Sarulesti Lake (Raduta Lake) seen from the dam wall.
And this is a nice common caught in the small Dam Bay (if you call 100 acres small!)
The lake is 1,200 acres in size and was created when the valley was flooded to create one of the five huge lakes that lie along the river's course. The reservoir below Sarulesti is even bigger, being over six miles long and measuring 2,000 acres!
As an historical footnote, the water also flooded several villages on the river bank and the residents were offered no alternative accommodation nor given sufficient time to relocate their monuments, churches and graveyards. Consequently human remains could be seen washed up on the banks.
You can more or less split the lake into distinct, almost separate zones, the canals and the bays. Naturally enough the canals connect the bays, most of which are huge in themselves. They are all huge but one of the largest is Preasna Bay, which is 700 acres. It is named after the village that lies on the western side of the bay and overlooks it. Other bays are the so-called World Cup Bay, Sandulita Bay, the Hotel Bay and Magureni Bay. On my first visit we fished initially in Sandulita and our swim is marked with a red dot. We moved from there to Preasna Bay, again indicated by the red dot. The hotel is marked with a blue dot.
Fish are caught all over the lake and while each bay and channel seems to hold a resident population, they are also pretty nomadic and they wander from one end of the lake to the other is a surprisingly short time. For instance, the fish shown below was initially caught in Preasna Bay and was then recaptured the following day in Magureni Bay, a distance of some four miles. No wonder it was hungry!
Back in the early noughties Raduta was famous for its carp but nowadays there seems to be more emphasis put on the Beluga sturgeon that go to over 300lb. That's not to say that the carp fishing takes a back seat, far from it. The carp fishing has come on it leaps and bounds since the fish kill in 2004 and once again there are several fish in the 60-70 lb bracket.
In addition the predator fishing is as good as ever with some enormous perch, black bass, zander and pike being the prime species. The lake is absolutely crammed with bait fish so it is small wonder that the predator fishing is so good. The zander in particular are great fun.
Sarulesti 2003
OK, I know I was going to talk about my couple of years on the Emperor Lake Syndicate (ELS) but that can wait for a while, as instead I want to revisit the two trips I made to the famous Romanian lake at Sarulesti. This is a huge lake some 45 miles east of Bucharest, capital of Romania. The country was once part of the Iron Curtain countries, very much under the thumb of the Russian bear and ruled by the hated dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. This man was as feared and despised every bit as much as were Stalin and Hitler, ruling Romania from 1965 until his death in 1989. He became infamous for his lavish lifestyle, and started to build a palace for himself in the 1980s with miles of marble floors and thousands of crystal chandeliers with gold lavished upon the interior while his countrymen starved. He was overthrown in the popular revolution of December 1989 and together with his wife was summarily executed by firing squad on Christmas Day of that year.
Often called 'The Last Stalinist' Ceausescu was cruelty personified but strangely enough the lake at Sarulesti is a direct consequence of his plans for a vast self-sustaining infrastructure. Part of those plans called for the construction of dams along the course of a large tributary of the Danube and these created vast reservoirs that were used for irrigation, fish farming and other commercial fresh water activities. This is just a tiny part of the Sarulesti Lake (Raduta Lake) seen from the dam wall.
And this is a nice common caught in the small Dam Bay (if you call 100 acres small!)
The lake is 1,200 acres in size and was created when the valley was flooded to create one of the five huge lakes that lie along the river's course. The reservoir below Sarulesti is even bigger, being over six miles long and measuring 2,000 acres!
As an historical footnote, the water also flooded several villages on the river bank and the residents were offered no alternative accommodation nor given sufficient time to relocate their monuments, churches and graveyards. Consequently human remains could be seen washed up on the banks.
You can more or less split the lake into distinct, almost separate zones, the canals and the bays. Naturally enough the canals connect the bays, most of which are huge in themselves. They are all huge but one of the largest is Preasna Bay, which is 700 acres. It is named after the village that lies on the western side of the bay and overlooks it. Other bays are the so-called World Cup Bay, Sandulita Bay, the Hotel Bay and Magureni Bay. On my first visit we fished initially in Sandulita and our swim is marked with a red dot. We moved from there to Preasna Bay, again indicated by the red dot. The hotel is marked with a blue dot.
Fish are caught all over the lake and while each bay and channel seems to hold a resident population, they are also pretty nomadic and they wander from one end of the lake to the other is a surprisingly short time. For instance, the fish shown below was initially caught in Preasna Bay and was then recaptured the following day in Magureni Bay, a distance of some four miles. No wonder it was hungry!
Back in the early noughties Raduta was famous for its carp but nowadays there seems to be more emphasis put on the Beluga sturgeon that go to over 300lb. That's not to say that the carp fishing takes a back seat, far from it. The carp fishing has come on it leaps and bounds since the fish kill in 2004 and once again there are several fish in the 60-70 lb bracket.
In addition the predator fishing is as good as ever with some enormous perch, black bass, zander and pike being the prime species. The lake is absolutely crammed with bait fish so it is small wonder that the predator fishing is so good. The zander in particular are great fun.
In reply to Post #435
Anyway, back to the story (incidentally this is an expanded repeat of one of my blogs for Haith's).
In all honesty I never had the slightest intention of fishing the lake, not even when the press was being flooded with articles and pictures of huge fish caught in true adventure-style conditions, complete with marauding mice, plague dogs, humans bones and gypsy villages. That's being a bit unkind to the dogs, as they were usually loveable old rogues who only wanted a bit of love shown to them. Once you had befriended any one of the hundreds of dogs you had a friend for the entirety of your stay. This one adopted Philippe and me when we fished close to the village of Sandulita.
Come the early noughties and Sarulesti, to give it its proper name, was well entrenched on the ‘circuit' and not being one for following the crowds to such venues I steered clear. And that's how things would have stayed had I not got caught up in the French carp protection group the UNCM run by Philippe Lagabbe and Eric Deboutrois, both of whom had been to the lake at least once and were raving about it. At the same time I had started writing for a Romanian publication submitting words and pix to the carp editor of the magazine Vlad Pavlovici.
Back in France, Phil had teamed up with a couple of well known carp anglers, Leon Hoogendijk and Xavier Paolozzi and the three of them had started doing trips to Sarulesti. Meanwhile Vlad was on about me going out there to fish the huge lake and maybe do some TV...Hang on a minute, this is me you're talking about; me...Ken Townley. Are you sure?
I remained rather reluctant to go out there until finally Phil twisted my arm. He said that he, Xavier and Leon were taking a group of French guys to the lake for a fortnight's trip and did I want to come? I could fish for free and all he asked was that I make myself available and maybe give a few tips on carp fishing and generally make myself useful. Oh yes...and he'd pay my expenses too! Well a man can only put up so much resistance and so it was that I found myself in the heady company of a group of French carpists drinking cold beers in the lakeside hotel in the red-hot May of 2003. This Robert Raduta's hotel situated on the banks of the lake that is popularly known by his surname, Lake Raduta.
I believe Robert himself was quite well connected and he moved in pretty impressive and exclusive circles. In particular he was apparently an excellent tennis player and coached the Romanian team that included Ilie Nastase.
I flew into Bucharest airport and met up with a few French guys who had just arrived. A battered fleet of minibuses was on hand to take us out to the lake where I met up with the rest of the party, as well as Leon, Xav and Philippe. Here the trio is outlining the areas to be fished, briefing them as the group drew for swims.
Me and Phil ended up right at the top of the lake in a swim beside a rubbish dump - I kid you not - at the mouth of Sandulita Bay. Home for the trip was a huge canvas tent that had been erected for us by a couple of the lake's bailiffs...they could have chosen a bit more of a salubrious spot!
Anyway, back to the story (incidentally this is an expanded repeat of one of my blogs for Haith's).
In all honesty I never had the slightest intention of fishing the lake, not even when the press was being flooded with articles and pictures of huge fish caught in true adventure-style conditions, complete with marauding mice, plague dogs, humans bones and gypsy villages. That's being a bit unkind to the dogs, as they were usually loveable old rogues who only wanted a bit of love shown to them. Once you had befriended any one of the hundreds of dogs you had a friend for the entirety of your stay. This one adopted Philippe and me when we fished close to the village of Sandulita.
Come the early noughties and Sarulesti, to give it its proper name, was well entrenched on the ‘circuit' and not being one for following the crowds to such venues I steered clear. And that's how things would have stayed had I not got caught up in the French carp protection group the UNCM run by Philippe Lagabbe and Eric Deboutrois, both of whom had been to the lake at least once and were raving about it. At the same time I had started writing for a Romanian publication submitting words and pix to the carp editor of the magazine Vlad Pavlovici.
Back in France, Phil had teamed up with a couple of well known carp anglers, Leon Hoogendijk and Xavier Paolozzi and the three of them had started doing trips to Sarulesti. Meanwhile Vlad was on about me going out there to fish the huge lake and maybe do some TV...Hang on a minute, this is me you're talking about; me...Ken Townley. Are you sure?
I remained rather reluctant to go out there until finally Phil twisted my arm. He said that he, Xavier and Leon were taking a group of French guys to the lake for a fortnight's trip and did I want to come? I could fish for free and all he asked was that I make myself available and maybe give a few tips on carp fishing and generally make myself useful. Oh yes...and he'd pay my expenses too! Well a man can only put up so much resistance and so it was that I found myself in the heady company of a group of French carpists drinking cold beers in the lakeside hotel in the red-hot May of 2003. This Robert Raduta's hotel situated on the banks of the lake that is popularly known by his surname, Lake Raduta.
I believe Robert himself was quite well connected and he moved in pretty impressive and exclusive circles. In particular he was apparently an excellent tennis player and coached the Romanian team that included Ilie Nastase.
I flew into Bucharest airport and met up with a few French guys who had just arrived. A battered fleet of minibuses was on hand to take us out to the lake where I met up with the rest of the party, as well as Leon, Xav and Philippe. Here the trio is outlining the areas to be fished, briefing them as the group drew for swims.
Me and Phil ended up right at the top of the lake in a swim beside a rubbish dump - I kid you not - at the mouth of Sandulita Bay. Home for the trip was a huge canvas tent that had been erected for us by a couple of the lake's bailiffs...they could have chosen a bit more of a salubrious spot!
In reply to Post #436
Now while it was supposed to be a 2-week trip a strange set of bizarre circumstances conspired to limit me to just eight days proper fishing. Basically what happened was this. I was working for Fox International at the time and the gear I wanted to use was sent out for me by Fox, as was the Nutrabaits gear Phil and I were going to use. The whole shebang was flown out in three pallet loads by FedEx and was supposed to complete the journey to the hotel by road transport. Romania was adapting slowly to the idea that they would have to abide by the rules and regulations of the EU in less than four years time, Union having announced that together with Bulgaria the country would join in 2007, however, in 2003 corruption was rife in the customs and excise service. Surprise, surprise, my gear was impounded at customs until the relevant 'import duty' was paid, something in the region of $500! I didn't have that amount to hand and anyway, I was buggered if I was going to give in to bribery and corruption.
So I ended up with no rods, reels, end gear, leads, bedchair sleeping bag and worst of all, no bait. Luckily for Phil all his gear had arrived thanks to the company for whom he worked, the tyre company Michelin. They had sent his tackle and bulky items via their own contract with DHL and because they had a few irons in the fire in Romania no such 'duty' was necessary and his gear made it to the hotel without having to cough up the 'duty'.
As for me, well there was nothing for it but to wait until Monday and then go in to try to sort things out at Customs. Meanwhile I slept under a blanket of the floor of the tent while in the village a huge party went on through the Saturday night and into the Sunday. The noise was raucous and continued unabated more or less for the whole weekend. I stuck this out for the Saturday night but come Sunday I was tearing my hair out. Luckily Robert offered me a room in the hotel which meant I could get an early start in retrieving my gear. Phil meanwhile had cadged a bag of Leon's bait off him so at least he could fish. Here an old church dominates the far side of the bay, which dwarfs Phil's rods.
I slept like a log that Sunday night after enjoying a very nice dinner and a few ales as well as a bit of a party with some German hunters who were breaking their stay at the hotel while on a hunting party shooting wild bore. To be honest I think the wine, women and song was more important than the wild bore! If you've ever been to Robert's hotel you may know what I mean!
Monday I telephoned Vlad Pavlovici who worked for the British Council, though he was also a consultant to various tackle companies including Fox, Solar, Nash and Nutrabaits...He had some clout in other words, and this clout extended to him having a quiet word in the necessary ears, as a result of which my gear mysteriously was released with no 'duty' owning. Thanks, Vlad!
Phil fished the weekend to no avail and had decided to move so on Monday morning he arrived at the hotel with much of his gear. The bailiffs (they were more ghillies than bailiffs to be honest) were bringing the rest of his gear by boat. Leon and Xav had not started fishing yet but by Tuesday we were all set up in various swims in the Hotel Bay. My gear had by now arrived thanks in part to Vlad's intervention and perhaps also thanks to a quiet word from Robert, who had even more clout than Vlad. I set up on a point looking down the channel towards World Cup Bay. It was a tasty swim that looked very promising as it covered a huge area of the lake, which I had all to myself.
Thirty six hours into the trip and reports from the various pair of French anglers spread out around the lake began to trickle in. It seems that the two largest bays were providing the action, that is if you could call six fish between twenty anglers 'action'. It was nice and warm in the spring sunshine and the hotel was in easy walking distance...the bar beckoned and as Phil has the breaking strain of a Kit-Kat it didn't take much arm twisting to persuade him that a glass or two would be a great idea. Certainly we weren't missing much as nobody in the Hotel Bay had so much as a sniff. However, it was nice to watch the storks stalking!
...and then getting fed up and flying away!
Now while it was supposed to be a 2-week trip a strange set of bizarre circumstances conspired to limit me to just eight days proper fishing. Basically what happened was this. I was working for Fox International at the time and the gear I wanted to use was sent out for me by Fox, as was the Nutrabaits gear Phil and I were going to use. The whole shebang was flown out in three pallet loads by FedEx and was supposed to complete the journey to the hotel by road transport. Romania was adapting slowly to the idea that they would have to abide by the rules and regulations of the EU in less than four years time, Union having announced that together with Bulgaria the country would join in 2007, however, in 2003 corruption was rife in the customs and excise service. Surprise, surprise, my gear was impounded at customs until the relevant 'import duty' was paid, something in the region of $500! I didn't have that amount to hand and anyway, I was buggered if I was going to give in to bribery and corruption.
So I ended up with no rods, reels, end gear, leads, bedchair sleeping bag and worst of all, no bait. Luckily for Phil all his gear had arrived thanks to the company for whom he worked, the tyre company Michelin. They had sent his tackle and bulky items via their own contract with DHL and because they had a few irons in the fire in Romania no such 'duty' was necessary and his gear made it to the hotel without having to cough up the 'duty'.
As for me, well there was nothing for it but to wait until Monday and then go in to try to sort things out at Customs. Meanwhile I slept under a blanket of the floor of the tent while in the village a huge party went on through the Saturday night and into the Sunday. The noise was raucous and continued unabated more or less for the whole weekend. I stuck this out for the Saturday night but come Sunday I was tearing my hair out. Luckily Robert offered me a room in the hotel which meant I could get an early start in retrieving my gear. Phil meanwhile had cadged a bag of Leon's bait off him so at least he could fish. Here an old church dominates the far side of the bay, which dwarfs Phil's rods.
I slept like a log that Sunday night after enjoying a very nice dinner and a few ales as well as a bit of a party with some German hunters who were breaking their stay at the hotel while on a hunting party shooting wild bore. To be honest I think the wine, women and song was more important than the wild bore! If you've ever been to Robert's hotel you may know what I mean!
Monday I telephoned Vlad Pavlovici who worked for the British Council, though he was also a consultant to various tackle companies including Fox, Solar, Nash and Nutrabaits...He had some clout in other words, and this clout extended to him having a quiet word in the necessary ears, as a result of which my gear mysteriously was released with no 'duty' owning. Thanks, Vlad!
Phil fished the weekend to no avail and had decided to move so on Monday morning he arrived at the hotel with much of his gear. The bailiffs (they were more ghillies than bailiffs to be honest) were bringing the rest of his gear by boat. Leon and Xav had not started fishing yet but by Tuesday we were all set up in various swims in the Hotel Bay. My gear had by now arrived thanks in part to Vlad's intervention and perhaps also thanks to a quiet word from Robert, who had even more clout than Vlad. I set up on a point looking down the channel towards World Cup Bay. It was a tasty swim that looked very promising as it covered a huge area of the lake, which I had all to myself.
Thirty six hours into the trip and reports from the various pair of French anglers spread out around the lake began to trickle in. It seems that the two largest bays were providing the action, that is if you could call six fish between twenty anglers 'action'. It was nice and warm in the spring sunshine and the hotel was in easy walking distance...the bar beckoned and as Phil has the breaking strain of a Kit-Kat it didn't take much arm twisting to persuade him that a glass or two would be a great idea. Certainly we weren't missing much as nobody in the Hotel Bay had so much as a sniff. However, it was nice to watch the storks stalking!
...and then getting fed up and flying away!
In reply to Post #437
So long story short, the signs all seemed to suggest that the fish were grouped up in the bigger bays so after a quick scout around we all decided to head for Water Tower Bay where a few fish had been caught by the rest of the party. Now here we were in our third swim, a beach-like affair not far from the eponymous water tower in the massive bay. There were just three other anglers fishing the bay before Phil, Xav and me arrived so we doubled the number of anglers fishing there. Mind you, in 700 acres you could never call it crowded! That red dot indicates our swim.
After setting up camp in two substantial canvas tents we went out in the boat for a look-see. The bay was 700 acres and the swim itself was about four miles from the base camp at the hotel so we also needed to shop for food and other victuals. The whole lake is more than 1,200 acres in size so you can imagine how essential it was to have access by boat as the roads were non-existent!
With the outboard engine chugging along happily we used the echo sounder to scan the lake bed. The underwater topography looked perfect. From the margins in front of the tents the bottom dropped away quickly to about 25 feet, then shelved gently as we moved out further into the lake. Then about two hundred yards from the swim a large plateau began to show on the sounder, the bottom climbing steeply from thirty feet to about 15 feet in a matter of yards. Further exploration showed that the plateau itself was huge stretching out over an area the size of several tennis courts. It was roughly rectangular in shape and the depth to the top varied between 15-18 feet, the surrounding water being an average of thirty feet deep. The red line shows the distance and rough size of the plateau.
Using a donking rod (a six foot long sea fishing rod carrying a reel loaded with braid with a ten ounce lead on the end) we found that the lake bed on the top of the plateau was pretty solid and by dragging the lead over the lake bed we could feel the distinctive pluck-pluck of mussel beds,
In close, no more than 30-40 yards from the bank, the bottom plunged steeply down in an acute drop-off, falling quickly to about 25-30 feet and half way down the drop-off a narrow ledge some two yards wide seemed to run along its length. Depth to the ledge was also about 15 feet. This looked as if it would be an ideal spot to fish after dark or in big onshore winds when the fish would almost certainly patrol the drop-off. We baited the plateau and the margins with tiger nuts and boilies; lots of boilies; about 10 kg of boilies...!
How much! Well there was method in what may seem at first to be madness. All three of the guys had fished the lake before and they knew full well the size of the shoals that formed in some of the bays and just how much bait these fish could go through. Luckily we had a lot!
So long story short, the signs all seemed to suggest that the fish were grouped up in the bigger bays so after a quick scout around we all decided to head for Water Tower Bay where a few fish had been caught by the rest of the party. Now here we were in our third swim, a beach-like affair not far from the eponymous water tower in the massive bay. There were just three other anglers fishing the bay before Phil, Xav and me arrived so we doubled the number of anglers fishing there. Mind you, in 700 acres you could never call it crowded! That red dot indicates our swim.
After setting up camp in two substantial canvas tents we went out in the boat for a look-see. The bay was 700 acres and the swim itself was about four miles from the base camp at the hotel so we also needed to shop for food and other victuals. The whole lake is more than 1,200 acres in size so you can imagine how essential it was to have access by boat as the roads were non-existent!
With the outboard engine chugging along happily we used the echo sounder to scan the lake bed. The underwater topography looked perfect. From the margins in front of the tents the bottom dropped away quickly to about 25 feet, then shelved gently as we moved out further into the lake. Then about two hundred yards from the swim a large plateau began to show on the sounder, the bottom climbing steeply from thirty feet to about 15 feet in a matter of yards. Further exploration showed that the plateau itself was huge stretching out over an area the size of several tennis courts. It was roughly rectangular in shape and the depth to the top varied between 15-18 feet, the surrounding water being an average of thirty feet deep. The red line shows the distance and rough size of the plateau.
Using a donking rod (a six foot long sea fishing rod carrying a reel loaded with braid with a ten ounce lead on the end) we found that the lake bed on the top of the plateau was pretty solid and by dragging the lead over the lake bed we could feel the distinctive pluck-pluck of mussel beds,
In close, no more than 30-40 yards from the bank, the bottom plunged steeply down in an acute drop-off, falling quickly to about 25-30 feet and half way down the drop-off a narrow ledge some two yards wide seemed to run along its length. Depth to the ledge was also about 15 feet. This looked as if it would be an ideal spot to fish after dark or in big onshore winds when the fish would almost certainly patrol the drop-off. We baited the plateau and the margins with tiger nuts and boilies; lots of boilies; about 10 kg of boilies...!
How much! Well there was method in what may seem at first to be madness. All three of the guys had fished the lake before and they knew full well the size of the shoals that formed in some of the bays and just how much bait these fish could go through. Luckily we had a lot!
In reply to Post #438
Obviously we would need to use the boat to take the baited rods out to the plateau as it was too far for us to cast. We decided to fish two rods each on the top of the plateau and two each on the drop-off. Twelve rods on a feature may sound like too many but remember this was no small tiddly little plateau you might find in a home counties gravel pit, it was a massive one the size of a small field...
...well, that was the plan; what I had not allowed for was the highly competitive nature of my two French companions. Philippe and Xav had already established themselves, sharing a bivvy in the middle of the swim, Philippe's rods to the centre and right, Xav's to the centre and left. This left me precious little room to put my baits on the feature, huge though it was. My bivvy was on the left hand side of the swim, which meant my rods were squeezed out to the extreme left hand side. I was hard pushed to get a bait anywhere on the plateau. In the end I had to resign myself to dropping my baits way off to my left on open ground with no discernible features to be found. Here Philippe sets off in the boat to bait the plateau and drop a hookbait on it.
Bait for the trip was Trigga in both shelf life and fresh, as well as some home mades Big Fish Mix boilies that had been home-rolled prior to the trip. They were heavily loaded with additional Robin Red to compliment the RR already present in the original base mix. The finished baits were then air dried until they were rock-hard.
The boiled baits were backed up with preserved tiger nuts and hempseed from Dynamite Baits, the preserved version one can buy in the large jars. Dynamite had sent out a dozen 2.5kg jars of the nuts along with some of their preserved Frenzied hempseed.
At last we had some semblance of order in the swim, though I cannot say I was to delighted with my tail-end-Charlie position shoved out on the left of the swim. Still at least I had some rods in the water...at last!
The darkness brought a gale force wind from the east...I hate and wind with east in it, all they ever bring me are blanks! Little did I know that my dislike, on this occasion anyway, was ill informed! We sat in Philippe and Xav's tent sharing a brew, the door flap done up tight, the porch flapping in the fierce wind.
That first night, the Thursday and apparently 'big fish Thursday' according to the French guys, Xav caught a nice common of about 35lb and a grass carp, while Philippe caught two what I would call very decent commons of around 25lb or so. He didn't weight them but then he would not have done so even if they had been double that size. Philippe has never weighed a carp in his life claiming that it demeans them He likens it to you going out on the pull, scoring with a drop-dead gorgeous girl, taking her home, making her breakfast in bed, then as she is leaving you ask her to..."pop-up on these scales for us for a minute would you?"
Mid twenties are apparently considered small for the lake! They looked big enough to me; I would have given a king's ransom for either of those fish at the time. Little did I know what was to come later!
The weather was totally unpredictable, one minute white calm, the next blowing a hoolie. Meanwhile it had become rather lively, to say the least with three foot waves crashing onto the shoreline at our feet, spray flying everywhere. It was like being on the beach at Brighton and I couldn't help thinking that the gale force onshore wind would push the carp in to our bank, even into casting range. That would be nice, as taking the baits out 200+ yards to the plateau was rather wearing, especially if you had to bail out the boat first!
Obviously we would need to use the boat to take the baited rods out to the plateau as it was too far for us to cast. We decided to fish two rods each on the top of the plateau and two each on the drop-off. Twelve rods on a feature may sound like too many but remember this was no small tiddly little plateau you might find in a home counties gravel pit, it was a massive one the size of a small field...
...well, that was the plan; what I had not allowed for was the highly competitive nature of my two French companions. Philippe and Xav had already established themselves, sharing a bivvy in the middle of the swim, Philippe's rods to the centre and right, Xav's to the centre and left. This left me precious little room to put my baits on the feature, huge though it was. My bivvy was on the left hand side of the swim, which meant my rods were squeezed out to the extreme left hand side. I was hard pushed to get a bait anywhere on the plateau. In the end I had to resign myself to dropping my baits way off to my left on open ground with no discernible features to be found. Here Philippe sets off in the boat to bait the plateau and drop a hookbait on it.
Bait for the trip was Trigga in both shelf life and fresh, as well as some home mades Big Fish Mix boilies that had been home-rolled prior to the trip. They were heavily loaded with additional Robin Red to compliment the RR already present in the original base mix. The finished baits were then air dried until they were rock-hard.
The boiled baits were backed up with preserved tiger nuts and hempseed from Dynamite Baits, the preserved version one can buy in the large jars. Dynamite had sent out a dozen 2.5kg jars of the nuts along with some of their preserved Frenzied hempseed.
At last we had some semblance of order in the swim, though I cannot say I was to delighted with my tail-end-Charlie position shoved out on the left of the swim. Still at least I had some rods in the water...at last!
The darkness brought a gale force wind from the east...I hate and wind with east in it, all they ever bring me are blanks! Little did I know that my dislike, on this occasion anyway, was ill informed! We sat in Philippe and Xav's tent sharing a brew, the door flap done up tight, the porch flapping in the fierce wind.
That first night, the Thursday and apparently 'big fish Thursday' according to the French guys, Xav caught a nice common of about 35lb and a grass carp, while Philippe caught two what I would call very decent commons of around 25lb or so. He didn't weight them but then he would not have done so even if they had been double that size. Philippe has never weighed a carp in his life claiming that it demeans them He likens it to you going out on the pull, scoring with a drop-dead gorgeous girl, taking her home, making her breakfast in bed, then as she is leaving you ask her to..."pop-up on these scales for us for a minute would you?"
Mid twenties are apparently considered small for the lake! They looked big enough to me; I would have given a king's ransom for either of those fish at the time. Little did I know what was to come later!
The weather was totally unpredictable, one minute white calm, the next blowing a hoolie. Meanwhile it had become rather lively, to say the least with three foot waves crashing onto the shoreline at our feet, spray flying everywhere. It was like being on the beach at Brighton and I couldn't help thinking that the gale force onshore wind would push the carp in to our bank, even into casting range. That would be nice, as taking the baits out 200+ yards to the plateau was rather wearing, especially if you had to bail out the boat first!
In reply to Post #439
Saturday morning came and the wind blew even harder. It was an onshore wind and the waves marched in serried ranks towards us, the wind blowing the tops off the waves and sending spray flying. Waves were crashing onto the beach and as expected the fish seemed to like the lively weather. With the wind came two exceptional fish. First Philippe latched into a fish on one of his margin rods less than 30 yards from the bank at first light. Here Xav (with the bucket) and Leon, help Philippe get ready for the pix.
The fish picked up his hookbait on the fifteen foot shelf on the drop-off and at such close range it really tore off. It was an incredible fight from an incredible fish. According to Philippe it was one of the originals, a mirror we put at about 20kg or so we guesstimated.
That fish was to result in some of the most spectacular photos I have ever taken and they have been used many times in magazines over the years. The waves and the swell we not conducive to photos of a guy trying to put back a large carp, but I thank the fishing gods that Philippe decided it was worth a try. He found out the hard way that such a task in a rising sea is not easy!
Not to be outdone Xav latched into another amazing looking fish, again from the drop-off at very close range a near fully-scaled mirror, a big round fish with massive 'apple tart'-like scaling. (Incidentally, that is what the French call these big heavily scaled fish, "tarte au pomme" - apple tarts.) It was the most gorgeous fish you could imagine, and the photos don't really do it justice. It weighed just over 35lb.
Two amazing fish in a brief early morning feeding spell from a spot really close to the bank. It seemed amazing that you could catch just a few rod lengths out in such an enormous expanse of water, but Xavier, Leon and Philippe have caught stacks of big Sarulesti fish well within casting range and you would be wrong to imagine that all the fishing is at extreme range, taking the baits out by boat. The conditions helped no end, of course.
In fact it was blowing so strongly that a huge zone of highly coloured water began to form as sand and silt was disturbed from the lake bed an swirled into suspension in the water in front of us. I'd say this disturbed, coloured water reached out some thirty yards into the lake and obviously a lot of natural food was getting swirled around at the same time, drawing in carp to feed in the coloured water.
Surprisingly Xav decided to move across the lake to a swim more or less opposite the cove where we were fishing. Philippe had fished this swim before in very similar conditions and had caught well, strange given that the wind would be behind the angler. I think Xav was feeling a bit cramped fishing as he was between Philippe and myself, but so far I had not had a sniff while he had caught! Odd! Anyway, he packed up and moved his rods which would mean I could now get some rods onto the distant plateau.
Xavier, Leon and Philippe had to pull off the lake for the Saturday evening to say goodbye to some of their French tour anglers who were going home after a week, and to greet others who were arriving for their week. This left the swim entirely to me and I was going to make the most of it! That afternoon I caught my first Romanian carp, a common of 28lb. Nice start and who cares if mid-twenties are considered 'small'.
Saturday morning came and the wind blew even harder. It was an onshore wind and the waves marched in serried ranks towards us, the wind blowing the tops off the waves and sending spray flying. Waves were crashing onto the beach and as expected the fish seemed to like the lively weather. With the wind came two exceptional fish. First Philippe latched into a fish on one of his margin rods less than 30 yards from the bank at first light. Here Xav (with the bucket) and Leon, help Philippe get ready for the pix.
The fish picked up his hookbait on the fifteen foot shelf on the drop-off and at such close range it really tore off. It was an incredible fight from an incredible fish. According to Philippe it was one of the originals, a mirror we put at about 20kg or so we guesstimated.
That fish was to result in some of the most spectacular photos I have ever taken and they have been used many times in magazines over the years. The waves and the swell we not conducive to photos of a guy trying to put back a large carp, but I thank the fishing gods that Philippe decided it was worth a try. He found out the hard way that such a task in a rising sea is not easy!
Not to be outdone Xav latched into another amazing looking fish, again from the drop-off at very close range a near fully-scaled mirror, a big round fish with massive 'apple tart'-like scaling. (Incidentally, that is what the French call these big heavily scaled fish, "tarte au pomme" - apple tarts.) It was the most gorgeous fish you could imagine, and the photos don't really do it justice. It weighed just over 35lb.
Two amazing fish in a brief early morning feeding spell from a spot really close to the bank. It seemed amazing that you could catch just a few rod lengths out in such an enormous expanse of water, but Xavier, Leon and Philippe have caught stacks of big Sarulesti fish well within casting range and you would be wrong to imagine that all the fishing is at extreme range, taking the baits out by boat. The conditions helped no end, of course.
In fact it was blowing so strongly that a huge zone of highly coloured water began to form as sand and silt was disturbed from the lake bed an swirled into suspension in the water in front of us. I'd say this disturbed, coloured water reached out some thirty yards into the lake and obviously a lot of natural food was getting swirled around at the same time, drawing in carp to feed in the coloured water.
Surprisingly Xav decided to move across the lake to a swim more or less opposite the cove where we were fishing. Philippe had fished this swim before in very similar conditions and had caught well, strange given that the wind would be behind the angler. I think Xav was feeling a bit cramped fishing as he was between Philippe and myself, but so far I had not had a sniff while he had caught! Odd! Anyway, he packed up and moved his rods which would mean I could now get some rods onto the distant plateau.
Xavier, Leon and Philippe had to pull off the lake for the Saturday evening to say goodbye to some of their French tour anglers who were going home after a week, and to greet others who were arriving for their week. This left the swim entirely to me and I was going to make the most of it! That afternoon I caught my first Romanian carp, a common of 28lb. Nice start and who cares if mid-twenties are considered 'small'.