Ezine July 2016

IS S U E 2 4 • S U

M M E R 2 0 16 FEATURING:

#PARK LIFE

ALAN BLAIR JULIAN CUNDIFF STEVE BRIGGS

Alfie Russell’s capital carp tips

Check out Alan Blair’s essential guide

TIE THE MULTI RIG MAKE SUPER SOAKED BOILIES BOLT MACHINES STEP BY STEP

94

PAGE

BEST FLOATER TIPS EVER!

RED HOT SUMMER INSTRUCTION

BUMPER SUMMER ISSUE

H20MG!

PVA you can count on

NEW FROM NASH, a complete range of the most advanced PVA products yet.

Two styles of anti-ladder Webcast mesh, great value refills, four sizes of Fast Melt bags and two diameters of high grip tape. Whether you’re compressing sticks or tying off bags we’ve got you covered. It’s PVA but made better.

nashtackle.co.uk

ARTICLE TITLE

CONTENTS

NASH E-ZINE • ISSUE 24 • SUMMER 2016

6 - 13 #PARK LIFE - ALFIE RUSSELL

Being a carp angling addict and living smack bang in the middle of London doesn’t make life easy. Catching carp in the capital is all about the Park Life.

16 - 25 ALAN BLAIR’S TOP FLOATER TIPS

Struggling to get it together on the top this summer? Check out Alan Blair’s essential guide to the best surface tips ever.

27 - 29 TYING A BOLT MACHINE RIG

The only floater controller end tackle you need to catch carp this summer.

32 - 37 JACK AND LEWIS - WRAYSBURY

6

16

32

40

58

74

78

86

Nash backed duo Jack Meyer and Lewis Swift head to the iconic Wraysbury.

38 - 39 KNOWHOW - THE MULTI RIG Learn to tie today’s best go anywhere pop up rig.

40 - 47 TESTING TIMES – GARY BAYES

Ever wondered what goes into developing Nashbait products? Get the lowdown on the brutal Nashbait field testing regime.

48 - 51 JUST CHILLIN'

Whether you’re trying to keep maggots cool or get a decent brew after a hot day we check out the options for chilled storage this year.

52 - 57 JULIAN'S Q&A

The carp world’s number one instructor is here to solve your problems..

58 - 73 A WORLD OF CARP

Share Steve Briggs’ recollections from three decades in search of foreign giants.

74 - 76 SUPER SOAKERS

Catch more and catch more quickly, Jason Massay reveals a great boilie shortcut that brings more takes when your rod hours are limited. Soak it all up!

78 - 84 UNCOVERED - OLI DAVIES

The man behind so many of the aspirational images in Nash adverts, articles and media and a pretty fine angler into the bargain… it’s The Olicle!

86 - 88 GAME CHANGERS - FLAKE

Kevin Nash delves into the development of Nashbait’s Flake - one of best ever bait edges on the bottom is now as simple as opening a bag.

90 - 93 SMART CARPING - THE OPPORTUNIST

Summer is the time to make every minute count. Loz Smart shows you how.

Editor: Colin Davidson Design: BRAVEDOG Web: Kevin Tucker and Colin Davidson Photography: Oli Davies, Tom Forman and Dan Yeomans

www.nashtackle.co.uk With thanks to: Nash Consultants & The Nash Tackle HQ Team.

facebook.com/officialnashtackle facebook.com/kevinnashcarpangler @officialnashtackle @officialnashtackle

NASH E-ZINE SPRING 2016

Get MORE from Nash!

MARCH

4

Check out the recent winners on the Official Nashbait Instagram page.

Upload, share and win!

APRIL

WINNER

WINNER

MAX KEUSCHNIGG, 34lb mirror

ROB McGLOIN, 30lb fully scaled, 32lb 8oz mirror

4G Squid

Citruz pop up over The Key

Prize:

Prize:

15mm & 20mm 4G Squid Cultured Hookbaits 15mm & 20mm TG Active Cultured Hookbaits

Every item in the new PVA range – Webcast Mesh, Webcast Ultra Weave, Refills, Fast Melt Bags & Fast Melt Tape

MAY

JUNE

WINNER

WINNER

MICHAEL NEUMAYR, 60lb 2oz common

VIC MANEY, 32lb 8oz mirror

on The Key Stabilised

Citruz pop up over a scattering of Cappuccino boilies

Prize:

Prize:

The Key Stabilised 1 kg 10mm, 1 kg 15mm, 1 kg 20mm

Bug Life Mix plus 6 packs of Zig Bugs

www.nashtackle.co.uk

EDITOR'S WELCOME

Colin Davidson

FROM THE EDITOR

Fewer clicks, more to learn and easier to find, that’s the Nash Summer E Zine we’ve got for you. You can now find us on Facebook so you can access the best in carp instruction instantly. Click the E Zine tab and you’ll find expert advice from Kevin Nash, Alan Blair, Steve Briggs, Oli Davies and more. Read it, learn from it and more importantly share it!

F

orget rain at Wimbledon, and crashing out in the football Summer is all about carp being at their busiest and at their most catchable. There’s nothing like being able to see what you're fishing for, and only needing a pair of shorts, a T-shirt the bare minimum tackle and a couple of hours to go and catch a few.

Alan Blair’s greatest floater tips make essential reading and give an insight why Alan is considered one of the best surface anglers in the business. The way he goes about it challenges the way so many of us fish. He doesn’t treat carp like delicate little flowers who need to be talked sweetly into getting caught, instead he absolutely attacks them and inevitably smashes them to pieces – he just won’t take no for an answer. Read it, if ever something will change your fishing it’s Alan’s floater tips.

We’ve sent our match aces Jack and Lewis off to explore the new look Wraysbury and as usual the boys came up trumps, bagged in style and even saw one of the famous Wraysbury giants on the bank – check it out. For those who wish they had the time for that sort of sport, there’s Smart Carping showing you how a Sawn-Off in the boot and a few hours before or after work can still get you in on the action without having to bivvy up at all.

If you’re struggling with rigs head straight to Nash Knowhow and check out the

step by step on the Multi Rig. It’s one of the most common rig queries we get at shows, open days and on the bank. If you need one rig to rely on for pop up fishing this is it – and there’s plenty of the Nash team who have got this on their rods right now, don’t plan to take it off and continue to catch loads on it everywhere they go. The Multi Rig really has got it all, it won’t tangle, lets you change your hooks instantly, and it spins, turns and bites back for solid hookholds every time.

Steve Briggs shares some brilliant memories from his decades carping around the world, we’ve got bones, barbecues, afternoon vodka, elephants and more. It’s a fascinating insight into Steve’s world and might just get you looking further from home than France for your next carp holiday. Then there’s Kevin Nash himself on Flake and how it offers a vital edge on tricky venues, brilliant advice from Julian solving your problems and a revealing look at the man behind so many of the Nash images that help define the brand, the products and the people involved – renowned photographer and videographer Oli Davies in Uncovered.

Enjoy the issue, enjoy your summer and keep uploading those catch reports to the Nash website to let us know how you’ve been getting on!

"Alan Blair’s greatest floater tips make essential reading and give an insight why Alan is considered one of the best surface anglers in the business."

Colin Davidson

www.nashtackle.co.uk

5

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

H THE V ATC ID W

EO

• WATCH T H IDEO • WAT EV

THE VIDEO • CH

#Park Life

Being a carp angling addict and living smack bang in the middle of London doesn’t make life easy. Catching carp in the capital is all about the Park Life.

6

www.nashtackle.co.uk

#PARK LIFE

A

cross the country there are thousands of lakes, rivers and canals that offer amazing fishing - but in the city? Living in Camden there aren’t exactly lots of options for carp fisheries, or at least that’s what you’d think. I’ve been lucky to have some amazing venues on my doorstep at Hampstead Heath Park. At over 400 acres and with 30 lakes and ponds it’s one of the important areas of green in the middle of the capital, and it’s where I cut my teeth learning to catch carp. I don’t drive but in two minutes I can walk from my front door to fish for real old character carp that go to 30 lb and more.

The Heath dates back hundreds of years, but where the carp came from I’ve no idea. What I do know is that with no restocking programmes or active management programme on the lakes they contain lovely old English carp that have been there for decades and have seen

it all – they are real prizes to catch. I saw a photo of one carp caught from Hampstead at 8 lb in 1984, 30 years later it is still alive and well and being caught, and I’ve had it from 28 to 34 lb.

Of the lakes on the Heath there are six with carp in them that you can fish, and all of them contain 30s, even if it is just one. They are also all small, all under two acres. It’s free fishing, you just need a valid rod license and then you can get a permit from the park office.

My favourite is called the Vale of Health pond, it’s very old and there are historical records of a pond there since the late 1700s.

Unlike some of the other ponds on Hampstead Heath which are murky and full of crayfish, Vale of Health is gin clear, weedy and shallow. It contains around 35-40 carp, and catching any of them is a good day because they have had decades of angling pressure.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

7

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

Use Your Loaf I realised very quickly that the park lakes aren’t the richest environments, the only food that is available in any quantity is bread. No matter where a park lake or public place is, if it has any water there will always be bird life and that attracts people coming to feed the birds. Hundreds if not thousands of loaves of bread are thrown into these waters day in day out, and I know that the ducks don't get it all.

Early mornings and late evenings you can watch the carp come in and feed on the bread that the ducks have left behind. Being fished for, the carp aren’t ravenous and fighting the birds for it, but they certainly know where to get a free bit of breakfast or dinner when they are hungry. It’s often when the park quietens down you see the carp out and about like this rather than lying up in snags and sanctuary areas.

I always take bread with me, it’s such a massive part of their diet and has been for so many years. I’ve caught a lot of park carp stalking with bread, both on the surface and also slow sinking, always just freelining. But I also use liquidised bread in small mesh bags just fishing for a quick bite. Titbit fishing with pieces of balanced corn or small white pop ups over a bag of bread works well, and I’ve used flavours to make the bread stand out a bit more, Scopex No. 1 is a favourite.

8

www.nashtackle.co.uk

“…you you th chewi chicke

u get people telling hey catch carp on ing gum or popcorn en from KFC.”

#PARK LIFE

Going Walkabout

Public Enemy?

Lots of time looking around rather than lots of time fishing is one of the biggest benefits of living close to the park lakes.

Being a public park you do get some nutty people about at all times of day and night there’s 24 hour access to Hampstead.

Part of walking around is that it allows me to prebait and that is the easiest way to keep the fishing hours down but put the chances up of getting a bite or two. If I take the dog for a walk in the evening then I can bait a spot a few times before fishing, and normally if you bait up the carp are going to get the food, there’s only normally an odd goose or a pair of swans.

The best tactic is avoidance, which is why I fish early and late and during the week, avoiding the busy times, but it’s still a pretty civilised area so there’s no worries fishing it on your own.

Prebaiting also means I can avoid the busy times and just fish short, effective sessions for five or six hours at the times when the park is quiet and I’ve prepared spots to give me the best chance. Generally I’ll always fish midweek and prefer early mornings and evenings so everywhere is quieter. There is angling pressure on the lakes over the weekend but not much gets caught for the time and effort put in, often during the week it can just be me.

Some of the oddest people are actually anglers themselves, you get people telling you they catch the carp on chewing gum or popcorn chicken from KFC. I tried the chicken but found it floats.

If you catch a fish you do tend to get a crowd but there’s never any problems with anti-anglers, I find people are just normally interested in what you’re doing and tend to be surprised how big the fish is. Passers by aren’t all bad – I use them to take my catch pictures!

www.nashtackle.co.uk

9

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

Alfie’s Essential Guide to Park Lakes

1

Take bread – ALWAYS. Park lake carp anywhere in the world get fed bread almost every day. Floating or sinking bread freelined in a Bread Bomb is deadly.

2

3

Prebaiting makes such a difference, regular feeding of good food in the same spots for several days often brings a very quick chance when you drop the rigs in.

4

5

A pouchful of small pellets is the perfect one carp trap. It’s subtle, fills a swim with smell and taste but only leaves the hook bait over the top as the obvious food.

6

10 www.nashtackle.co.uk

Never forget your polarising glasses, park lake carp are very good at hiding away in weed or under any sort of cover they can find.

Get out of bed early and fish when the public haven’t got up or at the end of the day when they have gone home. The carp are much more catchable when it is quiet.

Travel light and move around, if there’s no action or you aren’t on carp then get moving and look somewhere else.

#PARK LIFE

www.nashtackle.co.uk

11

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

“So in the sling she went, and an absolute mental coincidence it was the same fish we’d been talking about"

Micro Marvels The advent of the Scope range made a huge difference to my fishing, not just for the park lakes but everywhere. Given that most of my fishing is done getting around on public transport and on foot rather than in a car or using a barrow the smaller pack down is the difference between getting about with fishing kit being practical and almost impossible.

I use the Sawn-Offs a lot, or nine foot Scopes and because the park 12 www.nashtackle.co.uk

lakes are all small there’s no need for longer rods anyway – in fact I can get in lots of spots with the shorter Scopes that other people just can’t fish.

A couple of rods, net, a Scope flat mat attached to the Assault Pack, and rigs ready to go with light leads means I can travel easily and be fishing within minutes of leaving my front door. No barrows, cook kit, nothing unnecessary just the tools needed to catch the carp.

#PARK LIFE

The Coincidence Common After fishing Hampstead Heath on and off for the last five or six years, I've had nearly every single known fish in the lakes dotted around the park. Still having an annual close season I generally spend the magical June 15th into the 16th over there. Last summer I decided to fish opening night with my cousin and got there a day earlier to trickle some bait into a couple of spots, setting up as it got dark ready to cast out bang on midnight.

It didn't take long before one of my rods ripped off, the sound of the fizzing clutch could be heard over the buzzer, and my cousin slipped the net under a beautiful 28lb common. Shortly after he had a take and after a slow ponderous battle I netted the lake’s biggest mirror for him - Lips at over 36lb. It was an amazing opening night and come first light we were both up redoing the rods. The crayfish meant that regular rig checks were paramount to make sure the baits where still intact and rigs were fishing effectively.

We got talking about the lake’s stock, and he showed me a picture of a corking 31lb common he'd had off the top the year before. Neither of us recognised it from any prior captures and it was a real peach, long and lean with a roach red tail and amazing under slung mouth.

Shortly after the rod I'd cast to a small bush blistered off. I hit into it, and the fish flat rodded me taking about 40 yards into deep water. My cousin said imagine it was that common… and when it eventually came to the surface, it was! So in the sling she went, and an absolute mental coincidence it was the same fish we’d been talking about. The scales just tipped over 30lb by a few ounces and it goes to show that even after so many anglers come and go for so many years and so many people spend time looking and watching in such small park lakes, there are always one or two that manage to avoid capture, and sometimes for years – amazing creatures! www.nashtackle.co.uk

13

14 www.nashtackle.co.uk

www.nashtackle.co.uk

15

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

ALAN BLAIR’S BEST FLOATER TIPS EVER! Struggling to get it together on the top this summer? Too many refusals and not enough takes? Check out Alan Blair’s essential guide to the best surface tips ever.

16 www.nashtackle.co.uk

ALAN BLAIR - TOP TIPS

www.nashtackle.co.uk

17

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

GET THEM FEEDING. Understand they need a bit of confidence and you need to be fishing for carp that are prepared to take free offerings. But that doesn’t mean feeding for three hours, you can blow chances by over feeding only for carp to drift off.

It might only need two minutes to get some feeding going on, and then they are catchable. Get the party started but be quick to capitalize.

FISH IN THE EDGE You might begin at 30, 60, even 90 yards but the end game should always be in the edge with carp slurping floaters along the bank in front of you.

You can pick the fish you want, there’s no disturbance, no casting, plus you don’t miss so many because you see it all so clearly. I start the day with the wind on my back, but finish with it blowing into my face where the carp gather.

RISER PELLET is the most deadly bait I’ve ever used – get some and learn to fish with it. Be careful feeding too much, it’s good food and you can overdo it if there aren’t a lot of carp about. Once you put it in you can’t take it out remember, but when you have got a lot of carp to fish for they will eat it almost as quickly as you can throw it at them. Feed lightly to begin with.

18 www.nashtackle.co.uk

ALAN BLAIR - TOP TIPS

TARGET

Use floater fishing as an opportunity to target a particular fish. People often have a target carp in mind that is their ultimate prize.

Being selective is not impossible on the bottom but it’s difficult. On the top you can see what you are fishing for and can choose which carp you present a hookbait to.

‘They don’t take floaters here…’ is rubbish. I’m yet to visit a country or fishery where if conditions are in your favour carp won’t take a surface bait. It might take patience but it’s there to be done. A lake in Austria I visited where floaters ‘didn’t work’ I filled in with Riser Pellet and we had every single fish in the lake taking surface baits. Chloe had the biggest one at 37 lb and all the other anglers packed up and went home!

MATCH THE HOOKBAIT Do everything in your power to match the hookbait to whatever you are feeding. A trimmed down pop up or plastic bait is much less effective than presenting what you are feeding and they are eating. I love an Enterprise Mixer but choose long life hookbaits only when I am fishing for one chance in a day or need to leave zigged baits out for a couple of hours. Always opt to match the freebies, either a banded Slicker Pellet or a Hookable Floater.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

19

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

TIMING. Early mornings are as good as evenings, and by early I mean 3.30 to 6.30am. Everyone associates floater with summer daytimes and bright sunshine but on a warm muggy morning you can have the biggest hits of all. The carp seem a little bit more clumsy in their feeding after a bit of down time overnight and fisheries are a lot quieter. You can be in and out and catch loads before anyone else arrives

OVER DEPTH ZIGS have become a massive part of my armoury.

Fishing with a single rod on the top you have to be watching the hookbait all the time, and really on it but with zigs you can fish multiple rods and as soon as those rods are sat on alarms both hands are free and you can watch the carp and control the feeding situation much more effectively. It’s exciting watching the water erupt then hearing the alarm, and zigs are much better for multiple catches.

TRY A SLOW SINKING BAIT underneath the free offerings, especially in the middle of the day when feeding has slowed down.

Cast it out, let it fall, and if nothing takes it reel it in again and repeat. The movement of a pellet falling through the water is a very natural thing. It’s happening all the time and carp never get caught on the baits that are sinking.

20 www.nashtackle.co.uk

ALAN BLAIR - TOP TIPS

RANGE On larger waters there are big hits to be had fishing at range. The same as on pits like Rockford where you can outfish everyone else if you can cast bottom rigs that bit further, on bigger venues carp are more confident on floaters at distance.

Horseshoe and Drayton are typical examples. Get the Spomb rod out and fish a fixed zig or the biggest bolt machine.

• WATCH T H IDEO • WAT EV

H THE V ATC ID W

EO

THE VIDEO • CH

PVA BAGS are totally under used on the surface, but carp home in on them exactly the same way they do on the bottom. I make loads of pre tied Webcast bags of Riser Pellet and Slicker Floaters the night before a floater trip.

They add weight for casting, allowing you to freeline up to 25 or 30 yards. Slip a bag over the hook, get it out there and quite often they are the first baits to be taken.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

21

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

CREATE A SLICK on the surface by mixing any oil based splash on your pellets. If it’s choppy carp aren’t so confident taking floating baits but if you create a flat slick they will be much happier feeding in it. The slick also helps you see the controller and hookbait more clearly, and allows you to see how many carp are around and feeding. Don’t forget a slick also adds taste and smell but no food to the swim.

PICK UP LINE For conventional floater fishing with a controller or freelining l use a 12 foot rod, it’s a bum really because ALL my other rods are 9 foot Scopes but surface fishing is the one occasion where the extra length helps pick line up quickly.

The line needs to be well greased too, with mucilin or a silicone spray. Zig Flo is good but it needs help to float all day, try to mend the line at 40 yards, it’s twice as quick if the line is greased!

BREAD BOMBS When Bread Bomb fishing you can get away with bigger hooks because of the size of the bait, but a 4 or 2 Twister is a big bit of shiny metal so try Tippexing the exposed parts of the hook except for the point. You get more takes because in good light carp see and recognise hooks on floating baits – even more obvious if you put them alongside a piece of white bread.

22 www.nashtackle.co.uk

ALAN BLAIR - TOP TIPS

• WATCH T H IDEO • WAT EV

H THE V ATC ID W

EO

THE VIDEO • CH

GET THE FLY ROD OUT For many it means a small investment, but learn to place a fly line accurately on the surface.

Carp don’t spook on a fly line the same way they do controllers. With practice you can pick the fly line up in an instant, turn your body slightly and put it back down somewhere else in the swim, absolutely silently.

It’s unconventional but a huge edge.

Try twitching and moving the hook bait. It’s such a simple trick but noone does it. Give the handle half a turn and pull the hookbait along the surface. It can induce a very aggressive reaction, like a predator.

You can do the same with over depth zigs but be warned the rod might be pulled out your hands before you get it back in the rests!

Never be shy of casting the hookbait directly in front of and at carp, even if they are meant to be difficult fish. Sometimes they take it immediately, sometimes it might take as many as 30-40 casts to get one fish to take. I will follow a fish and keep casting at it until I’ve caught it or I can’t see it any more.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

23

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

INTO DARK If you have a 24 hour session and you spend a couple of hours feeding Riser and Slicker then you know where you need to be fishing that night – where the feeding activity is on the floaters!

Unless something drastic happens the carp aren’t going to change where they want to be, and you’ve seen where they are from the slurping going on.

Don’t stop because it gets dark. Keep feeding and fishing until you get thrown off or the gates are closing even if you can’t see any more. Carp can feed even harder after dark as long as you’ve started the fun and games before it gets dark. Even if you can’t see a controller any more, stick the overdepth zigs out and keep feeding with a Spomb rod on the clip.

24 www.nashtackle.co.uk

ALAN BLAIR - TOP TIPS

GO AND ENJOY IT! Surface fishing is the best form of angling ever – nothing will ever beat it for excitement. It teaches you more about carp than fishing on the bottom ever will, allows you to see and engage with the carp you are trying to catch and allows you to fish shorter sessions for better results and leave all the unnecessary kit at home.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

25

Sur-Face Floating Polarised Sunglasses Available with Amber or Grey lenses

Micro-Pak Folding Polarising Sunglasses Available with Amber or Grey lenses

Time spent watching carp is the quickest route to catching more.

What you don’t see can’t help you. Nash sunglasses use high quality TAC polarized lenses to cut down reflected glare, allowing you to see deeper into water for vital behaviour and feeding clues.

26 www.nashtackle.co.uk

SMART CARPING

SMART CARPING

TYING A BOLT MACHINE RIG It’s the only floater controller end tackle you need to catch carp anywhere this summer. Here’s how you tie it…

www.nashtackle.co.uk

27

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

TYING A BOLT MACHINE RIG

1

A softer action rod and a smaller fixed spool like a BP-6 is the perfect combination on the surface. You’ll need a good responsive clutch and good line lay. Load up with 10 or 12 lb NXT Zig Flo mainline.

2

5

6

A Fang Uni size 8 or 10 tied the other end and a Hookable Floater is a great start on almost any venue. The red strawberry oil versions help you see the hookbait more clearly so you can strike rather than wait for the float to be towed.

28 www.nashtackle.co.uk

Bolt Machines are available in 7, 15 and 30 grams. It’s wise to carry all three sizes so you can present a bait no matter how close or far the carp are confidently feeding.

The body of the Bolt Machine can be slid down the tube, detached from the line and replaced with a smaller or larger body if you need extra casting distance to follow feeding fish further out or more finesse for close work.

SMART CARPING

3

Thread the mainline through the stiff tube of the Bolt Machine and tie on a Uni Swivel with a Grinner or Palomar knot. Pull the swivel back into the rubber insert of the Bolt Machine to semi-fix the float.

4

7

8

A choice of black or high viz orange insert foams on the top of the float allows you to improve the visibility of your end tackle depending upon the lighting. You can also dip and soak the foams in liquid attractors like the Slicker Juices.

Tie a 7-8 foot length of lower breaking strain Zig Flo to the swivel for the hooklength. Thread a Slim Hooklink Sleeve over the swivel as a boom to reduce chances of the link wrapping back around the float when casting.

Carry some mucilin or some silicone floatant spray and before each session and at intervals during longer trips make sure you treat both the reel line and the hooklink to ensure they float well. This ensures the line can be mended more easily and improves presentation.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

29

N L PE L O A TO Ten 50s, 20 different 40s and open to all

BOOK ONLINE NOW!

CHURCH LAKE £500 PER ANGLER (MONDAY - FRIDAY) OR £3,000 TO EXCLUSIVELY BOOK FOR UP TO SIX ANGLERS COPSE LAKE £500 PER ANGLER (MONDAY - FRIDAY) OR £1,500 TO EXCLUSIVELY BOOK FOR UP TO THREE ANGLERS

nashlakes.com

C�r� T�c�e� T�i�l

Z�G

B�G�

Deadly zig hookbaits that imitate a carp’s natural food. Tied to Fang hooks, and available in micro barbed and barbless. Present Bugs on the surface, mid water, or on the bottom – lethal whatever the depth. Three per pack.

The Floater Hookbaits will be catching more carp this coming spring and summer than we dare guess - essential if you are fishing Slicker Floaters or Riser Pellet.

nashtackle.co.uk

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

JACK AND LEWIS TACKLE…

WRAYSBURY Nash backed duo Jack Meyer and Lewis Swift head to the iconic Wraysbury, home of the former British record carp Mary. It’s all change up there, but is it for the better?

32 www.nashtackle.co.uk

JACK AND LEWIS TACKLE... WRAYSBURY

W

raysbury has gone from one fishery extreme to another since being bought out by RK Leisure in 2012.

Once one of the greatest big carp challenges in the UK containing the ultimate prize, Wraysbury was low stock, lawless at times and the preserve of just a few dozen committed carpers who valued the pit’s famous carp as some of the most highly regarded history fish of all.

With new ownership has come big change, Wraysbury notably being divided into two separate venues from the original 120 acre pit. There has been huge investment too, the site ring fenced at a cost of £100,000, a new clubhouse built on site and £500K of access road laid. Where carp were once measured in the dozens, hundreds have now been stocked to develop a fishery where catching is not a season’s work, it’s a realistic proposition.

Opinions have been plentiful about the redevelopment programme, what is not in doubt is the potential for Wraysbury to become an open access carp fishery that in future others will be judged by. What would Jack and Lewis make of it?

JACK AND LEWIS MEET JACKO’S

HOW’S that for timing… 24-year-old Ben Stock from Portsmouth weighing and photographing one of the jewels of the neighbouring North Lake as Jack and Lewis arrive - one of the Wraysbury originals Jacko’s Common at a magnificent 43 lb 10 oz. A history carp through and through!

www.nashtackle.co.uk

33

THE SESSION

1

After a walk around we’ve picked swims just down from the new clubhouse where the sailing club used to be with the famous Dredger Bay to our left and an island in front at 40-60 yards. Leading around we find extensive weed but also fishable gravel and clay so it’s straight on with the job of getting some feed in to try and create some interest.

5

All the rods are marked with Spot On liquid and the number of wraps noted to get us back on the spots.

We always use Spot On Stix whether we are fishing competitively or not. Knowing that you are fishing over your feed, and presenting baits effectively is essential on a weedy water where a few yards the wrong way could mean you will catch nothing.

9

Late afternoon and it’s time to get busy ahead of the possible feeding period after dark. People remark about the spare rods in our swims - already clipped, with hookbaits balanced or solid bags tied up ready to go maximise the time we are fishing. If there’s only one hour the carp are going to feed on your spot, you don’t want to waste 15 minutes re-rigging.

34 www.nashtackle.co.uk

2

We’re approaching the venue exactly as we would any match venue and are Spombing out an initial carpet to try and get the party started. Micro Pellet Mix and Slicker Hemp form the backbone of our mixes with a good helping of corn, 10 and 15mm boilies giving us options for hookbaits and also to prevent carp becoming completely preoccupied on small food items.

6

Action comes unexpectedly in the middle of the day as Jack’s right hand rod rips off shortly after a recast and we’re playing the first carp of the session. It’s always exciting playing carp in gin clear water and on a new venue. So much money has been invested in the venue since it changed hands that all the swims are now purpose built with sleepers, chippings and gravel.

10

We’re both fans of solid bags and are using Fast Melt Bags filled with Micro and Small Pellet Mix. A short link with a 10mm boilie and a piece of plastic corn snowman style is a common choice inside a bag, but if you aren’t getting bites then you need to try a different hookbait. Sometimes just a 10mm boilie or the corn on its own will outfish the cocktail.

3

Word from the bailiffs is that the area we are in tends to fish better at night, with few daytime takes in recent weeks. Baiting a swim initially and then giving it a few hours before fishing is never a bad idea, allowing carp to build confidence and improving chances for later. So the bait goes out and we head off to have a look around the rest of the pit.

7

Two minutes in the right place is better than ten hours in the wrong spot. Jack cast a naked chod with a white Citruz pop up as far as he could towards showing fish and shortly afterwards nailed a small mirror. A very slow sinking pop up gave the best chance possible that it was fishing effectively no matter where it landed.

11

There’s no more action through the afternoon but we’re still regularly recasting. So many times we’ve had bags on spots for a couple of hours, cast a fresh one out and then had it rattle off in minutes. If you’ve seen fish showing and not had a take, try a fresh bag. If you’ve had any unexplained indication but not hooked anything get a fresh bag out. It brings extra takes!

4

We’ve found carp but not in any places where we’re able to make a stalking opportunity or pick up a bonus fish. There are a lot of fish sunning themselves in one of the sanctuary areas, great to see but it suggests the bailiffs might be right and our best chances will come later.

8

RK Leisure have stocked several hundred carp in Wraysbury South Lake, and in the clear water they have already taken on lovely colours and some are already outperforming the North Lake stock for growth rates. They have come from Wraysbury veteran Simon Scott’s VS Fisheries with others from Priory Fisheries. There are still also half a dozen originals in the South Side including Redmire strain commons.

12

By evening the water in front us has changed noticeably, the only fish we were seeing were 200 yards away during the day where we couldn’t reach them. As the breeze dies off the activity gets closer and fish show over Jack’s bait off the island in front of him. We even have a couple of carp unexpectedly roll right under our rod tips down the marginal shelf.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

35

14

13

The night time bonanza continues. Each time a carp is landed Jack tops up the swim with another ten Spombs of his mix. With the winning tactic being the Fast Melt bags and pellet, a spare rod is clipped up and ready to go with a loaded bag every time a carp is netted. Once a bag is back out on the spot, he re-rigs the rod that has just produced the carp with a fresh solid bag of pellets.

15

16

The night was less hectic but still busy for Lewis.

Another morning take over the baited area brings the tally to four and two lost over the corn and 4G Squid. In both swims the carp are having to be steered through weedbeds between the island and the rods, making in-line leads or weed safety clips the best choice to reduce the chances of losses.

17

18

Action begins at dusk, with regular takes from fish from low to mid-doubles. Both Jack’s rods on solid bags are catching, but the bag with a 10mm yellow Citruz pop up is noticeably catching better than the Key and corn combination so both bags are switched to it. You always have to be watching out for these little trends.

The Citruz and pellet combination continues to make inroads into the Wraysbury carp and by morning we’ve had no sleep. Jack has bagged around a dozen doubles, the majority from the shorter 40 yards island spot but with three fish also coming to the naked chod at around 120 yards in a gap in heavy weed. By 8am the action comes to an end.

Interpreting the carp’s reaction has helped refine our approach. We always start with all three rods on different tactics, a hinged stiff rig, a solid bag and a small cobweb bag with a pop up for example. Citruz pop ups have been outcatching the other hookbaits, with solid or small cobweb bags of pellet mix. Gradually most of the rods have been changed to suit.

36 www.nashtackle.co.uk

The final fish of somewhere between 15 and 20 carp on the bank between us and we’ve had a great 24 hours on the South Lake. No sleep, alarms sounding constantly and a procession of fish that are great looking, keen to grow and very catchable. Add in the carrot of some of those big old Wraysbury originals that live in here and you can only guess how popular the venue will become.

THE VENUE WRAYSBURY NORTH LAKE

WRAYSBURY SOUTH LAKE

HOME of the remaining Wraysbury originals including the famous King of the Fungus Mirrors.

LARGER at 75 acres and including the Finger Bays, Dredger Bay and Mary’s Point. Open for limited fishing whilst still being developed.

• • • • •

45 pegs 45 acres 500 carp including 10 40s Mirrors to 48 lb Commons to 44 lb

• • • • •

10 secure, fenced pegs 75 acres 300-400 carp Mirrors to 39 lb Commons to 43 lb

VERDICT “There’s every chance these pits will be the best day ticket waters in the country within five years. To get an idea of the investment and scale of the development you need fish Wraysbury yourself. It’s all secure, you get dropped at your swim in a camo buggy, there’s a huge new clubhouse with facilities and the fishing is brilliant already and only going to get better with the restocking programme.”

Jack and Lewis MORE INFORMATION AT www.rkleisure.com

www.nashtackle.co.uk

37

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

NASH KNOWHOW

How to tie…. the Multi Rig The Multi Rig is today’s go anywhere pop up presentation.

Extremely versatile and offering brilliant hooking mechanics the D loop of the Multi Rig allows the upright hooking section to spin aggressively, searching to take hold as soon as the hookbait is lifted off bottom. Hook holds also tend to be absolutely rock solid in the middle of the bottom lip, meaning very few losses.

One of the biggest plus points to the Multi Rig is its practicality, the link remains the same but the hook can be changed quickly without changing the rig. If big hits of fish are anticipated, or ‘bite-time’ is a short window, a new super sharp hook can be threaded on with no snipping, threading or looping of fresh links or rummaging around rig boards. You’re ready to fish again in seconds.

When, why and where?

Components:

Pop-up rig

You will need

• Great for single baits or over boilie free offerings • Excellent anti-tangle properties for long casting • Use over any type of lake bed

• Combilink 25lb • Chod Twister hook • 1mm Silicone • Medium Diffusion Camo Clinger • 3mm Rig Ring

38 www.nashtackle.co.uk

NASH KNOWHOW

1

Tie an overhand loop at one end of the hooklink with the coating left on. The longer the loop the more the hookbait will be popped up. Minimum loop length is just longer than the hook itself.

3

2

Pass the loop through the eye of a Chod Twister hook from the underside. Then pass the point of the hook through the loop so that the hook is now attached to the loop.

4

Moisten the silicone and pass over the loop knot and onto the eye. This helps hold the hooklink in place.

5

6

Pass the hookpoint back through the loop to secure the hook back in position.

7

8

Pass a small section of 1mm Silicone Tubing onto the hooklink.

Pass the loop back down over the hook point and slide a metal rig ring over the parallel strands of the overhand loop. A relatively large 3mm rig ring gives greater free movement in the finished rig.

Pass the hookpoint through the micro-hole at the flat end of the Clinger and push round the shank of the hook to form the enlarged D loop.

Strip a small section of coating back below the loop knot. This increases the movement and improves hooking. Add Cling-On putty to balance the pop-up. Tie or thread a bait on to the rig ring and you’re ready to go.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

39

40 www.nashtackle.co.uk

GARY BAYES - TESTING TIMES

Testing Times Ever wondered what work really goes into the magic in the Nashbait bags behind the scenes? It’s a field testing regime that’s as brutal as it is lengthy – Gary Bayes explains.

Where does a new bait idea come from?

How does the work start with a new additive then?

The recipes are down to me, and often trialling a new bait is the result of being sent something new from our suppliers or having found something new by investigating an area I’m interested in. It might be a new fishmeal, extract or feed enhancer and might have come from the human food trade or the animal feed market.

If we know it hasn’t been used in the bait trade before then we’ll look carefully at what it might offer. I tend to do a lot of my bait thinking when I’m sitting down eating, so there’s 15 minutes where I’m wondering what might happen if I mix this with that or what effect an additive has on something else.

The taste test is the first thing, always. I’ve tasted ingredients and additives for years, ever since I first picked a loaf up. If something is vile to us it’s possibly vile to fish, although there are some very unpleasant tastes they do like. If something is very hot I don’t like that myself but there are hot additives that the carp like. I’ve learned over the years the carp’s tastes but it’s not always pleasant. The worst thing I’ve put in my mouth would probably be a whey extract that very nearly made me sick. It reminded me of something rotten, and sort of tasted how a rotting dead animal smells. And that was rubbish in a bait anyway. I tasted a snail powder which was meant to be straightforward dried snails and that was evil but carp liked it and it now goes in the TG Active amongst other things. There are some nice additives though, full fat whey powder is lovely, tiger nut meal is nice and we have a mixed cereal that goes into the groundbaits that is scrumptuous.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

41

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016 sent bait out to someone who catches very little and suddenly they catch an awful lot.

First batches typically are 120 kilos of boilies and go out to 20-30 testers home and abroad although I prefer testing in the UK because it’s easier to get the feedback.

Dave Jordison and his friends give us invaluable feedback and have done for years and years. We also test a bait amongst ourselves at work, Lee at the factory is very good at nailing down what is and isn’t working.

More bites is the answer, if someone is fishing a lake and doing OK with a fish every other night and suddenly they start getting two or three takes or have a hit then you take notice. A mate of mine had nine bites on a test bait and couldn’t fish the next night because he’d had no sleep.

After you’ve eaten it what then?

My fish in my pond at home are also very important testers because they have seen such a variety of food, and probably more bait additives than any other carp anywhere for the last ten years. For a liquid I’ll put a couple of drops into a direct return into the pond so it is being diluted. If they rush to investigate there’s obviously something worth looking at more closely. But you need to know your fish as well, some of them are greedier than others so it’s the more reserved fish I’ll watch and if they get excited then I’m a little more excited.

Next comes testing on the stock pond at my fishery because they are constantly fed bait too and if they come on to it quicker and respond well there’s something to be taken from that. Then I’ve got my own day ticket lake, and they are very good indicators, my fish are moody and special, evil things some people say… if they like something that’s good news too.

Who does the testing behind rods then?

Is it a big team?

To begin with in the early days it was just me, I’d try a new recipe, fish with it myself and because I worked every day and fished every night I’d get feedback pretty quickly.

You need a good web of people to help test effectively though, ability doesn’t matter it’s the level of feedback.

You need some good anglers on it but the measure of a good bait it that it catches more for people of all sorts of different ability. There have been occasions when I’ve

42 www.nashtackle.co.uk

One good result can be misleading, it has to be a strong pattern. Testing the TG Active Steve Sinclair had takes on it every month of the year, often when other people weren’t catching. He’s a very good angler, but he saw the difference in the bait and knew it was working for him, he wasn’t hoping to catch one carp he was expecting to catch two or three.

A friend on a no publicity venue had a seven fish hit in the winter also on the TG, when there hadn’t been a fish out for two months before and the only ones out for the next month were also to him. That is a good indicator that you’ve hit on something special.

You need to keep an eye on the anglers as well, so the lads who go fishing with hemp, corn and pellets on busy fisheries will be great for testing liquids, glugs and raw ingredients but can give you a distorted picture of a boilie’s performance because it’s such a small part of how they are fishing and catching. The real test of a boilie is from committed boilie anglers on boilie orientated venues.

A 48 lb common on a test bait for Mick Henderson

GARY BAYES - TESTING TIMES clinical control of cooking times and temperatures so that can make a massive difference to some ingredients and combinations. There might be variations in flavour levels, even volumes of key ingredients like Robin Red so they might not look or smell similar even if the backbone of the bait is the same.

We get good feedback on liquids and glugs by sending them to the busy, match carp style anglers

We can’t sell a reasonably good bait, it has to be the best possible. I wouldn’t buy a car in kit form, anglers spend a lot of money on tackle, tickets and bait and they need to know the best chance we can give them of catching is in the bag for them.

To get to a finished product we take two to three years, 4G Squid had 20 years work before it, the Liver and Garlic was a quick one, similar to Cappuccino but with two new ingredients and it worked from the start and didn’t need a lot of refining. At the other end of the scale The Key is an accumulation of 50 years of knowledge and that’s just from Keith!

How long from first test mix to finished product?

It used to take me a lot longer to develop a bait than it does now, obviously you do learn over the years. I can knock a reasonable bait up straight away but the fine tuning to work out the best attractors takes time and it can be frustrating. Sometimes you think you’ve made a bait better and it isn’t so good which is annoying. It’s normally a minimum of a couple of seasons and at any one time we’ll have dozens of baits out on test. It’s a long process getting from good to great bait.

Typically there might be five or six different versions of one bait out at any one time. Our new machinery allows

Fine control of temperature and cooking time with new state of the art machinery means another variable to consider and its effect on a trial recipe

www.nashtackle.co.uk

43

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

CHECK & TEST KEY C CULTURED HOOKBAIT DEVELOPMENT Testing isn’t all about bags of hush hush boilie recipes being sent out to field testers. There’s a lot of messy, time consuming and complicated work to ensure the quality of all the Nashbait product line up.

Amongst the most difficult of the products to get right, Cultured Hookbaits have a balanced core boilie with a unique culture skin layered over them repeatedly in 15 separate applications. With the differences in ingredient make up, attractor density and composition of the living coating for a new Cultured Hookbait recipe they need to be very carefully developed to behave exactly right.

1

The test batch of paste for the inner core balanced baits is mixed up in Gary’s research room. It’s a mix of Airball pop up mix and the base mix for the finalised Key C boilies.

2

Once the paste is mixed to the correct consistency it’s made into boilies using a bait gun and small rolling table.

3

4

5

6

They are then left to dry for a couple of days exactly as the core baits are for Key, 4G and TG Cultured baits sold at the moment.

44 www.nashtackle.co.uk

The experimental formula Key C culture skin mix containing a unique marine ingredient is dusted around the core baits to start layering the skin.

The baits are boiled in a small deep fat frier filled with water, replicating the cooking time taken when full production begins.

Too many of these baits are over buoyant rather than balanced, meaning a tweak is needed to the base mix and Gary will repeat and retest until they are right. By the time you read this they will be finalised.

GARY BAYES - TESTING TIMES How subtle can the changes be that make a good bait great?

At the lower end we might put 3 parts per million of a mineral supplement in a bait and you can see the difference in results.

The Key had a high level of black pepper essential oil but when I reduced it the bait actually caught better, it’s a very complicated bait and it has all got to work together. Some simple ingredients can be over done if you’re not careful. In the TG there’s a chai spice which to us has hardly any taste or smell compared with the other spices, but including it gave the bait a boost, and then boosting the level even higher completed the bait.

You might also increase something from 1 to 3 per cent to make that massive difference in bait performance but then find beyond a certain level it makes no further significant improvement. All these variations have to be tested.

I had two versions of the Fen Mix, a dark one with 1.5% of red blood cells and one without. The dark bait just didn’t work on some waters, but caught very well on others. The blood cells totally changed the strength of the flavours, you wouldn’t even believe they were the same bait.

We’ve got two different Amber Chocolate type baits out at the moment, one of them has a few trace elements that go into food industry chocolate flavours and you find them in the chocolate we eat, and that has made a huge step from a reasonably good bait to becoming awesome. People are catching like mad on it.

It’s that sort of industrial chemistry type of work that needs a very strong brain and time to really analyse what is going on. Keith Sykes is invaluable in that respect, leaving me more time for the hands on stuff.

Is the flavour or attractor profile as difficult as the base mix?

The flavours can be time consuming. Blending 2 or 3 flavours together makes a bait last longer but makes it harder to arrive at the best levels. Dropping the equivalent of 1ml of one can make a bait brilliant, just because of the different interaction between them.

Scopex Squid was like that, Amber Chocolate and the Instant Action Cappuccino were like that too.

We’ve identified a lot of the common chemical ingredients that appear in the better attractors so we use those to blend and produce our own liquids in house which gives us enormous control and much more potential to produce winning combinations.

When we switched from a commercially available tutti to an in house blend suddenly we had an avalanche of catch reports, we use the same tutti these days in Tangerine Dream, a brilliant flavour.

Remember we need to be able to sell bait as well so producing a brilliant bait that smells like a baboon’s armpit won’t be commercially viable because people won’t buy it. Keith put me on to a hush hush flavour called Skatole that comes in flake form that has produced some serious big fish but it’s a proper minger, if you spilled it in your car you wouldn’t be able to sell it very easily put it that way.

3 parts per million can make a difference to the performance of the bait that comes out the mixer

www.nashtackle.co.uk

45

“We can’t sell a reasonably good bait, it has to be the best possible.”

46 www.nashtackle.co.uk

GARY BAYES - TESTING TIMES The 4G Squid attractors were an interesting field testing exercise weren’t they?

4G Squid uses the same combination of Scopex, Red Liver Oil and sweetener that was in Scopex Squid, because it’s so good. But milking the field testers years previously had shown how much better it was at catching the big fish.

I’m fascinated by all that - if you want a big fish you want a big fish bait. The biggest carp there is will eat a piece of sweetcorn but in a lake full of stockies you still want to catch the originals, and you need a bait for the bigger, older fish and that is entirely possible over the course of a season rather than a few weekends. Scopex Squid and now 4G Squid are the classic examples, The Key is the same it picks up the bigger fish.

On a French lake I fished Ann recorded it meticulously, the average on Scopex Squid was 36 lb, but Monster Pursuit just over 30 lb. On a syndicate I fished in the UK every single 25 lb plus fish was on Scopex Squid, but the Fen Mix caught the most. There’s definitely something in it – and that is why we spend so much time testing because the more feedback you get the better the bait you can produce.

Worst additive you’ve been sent?

We were sent a sample liquid that smelled of squid and it turned out it was a health and safety nightmare, marked as extremely dangerous to the environment and I had to pay to have it disposed of!

TANK TACTICS Nashbait consultant Dr. Keith Sykes whose work has been fundamental in the development of The Key, Cultured Hookbaits and Citruz amongst many other products is a pivotal part of the Nashbait testing programme, using both experienced tank carp and a hand picked group of testers – The A Team.

“The one thing we have kept a guarded secret is the way we tank test everything before it even goes into a bait. It goes back to work from the very early 80s, and before you can even formulate a bait you need to know the attractors are actually attractive to fish. It sounds so obvious but a lot of bait makers use off the shelf flavours and attractors that might smell good to us but the carp don’t rate at all. A great example was when we first looked at some of the synthetic flavours, I recall having seven commercially available maple flavours that were all quite similar yet to some there was zero response.”

It’s not simple work, and there have to be careful controls to make the work meaningful: “The ideal scenario is your attractor profile is put into a tank or pond system that it isn’t in a round bait format, we don’t want an association with an animate object. First we’re looking for a response, fins erect, stopping moving interspersed with excited movement, increased water flow over the gills, all those indicators.”

From there successful attractors are included into trial bait that goes out to The A Team for hard testing on venues as varied as runs waters to cripplingly tough syndicates.

Anything promising you’ve been trying recently?

There’s an interesting liquid I’ve been using and it just seems to trigger all fish to feed, in three nights I caught every species out my syndicate lake, carp, perch and pike all on chods and rudd on bits of foam dipped in it.

I had to take it off in the end, they just went mad on it.

Then I went to Northey Park and caught three rudd on it there – no-one catches rudd on carp baits there. It’s early days but it has some promise for sure.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

47

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

JUST CHILLIN’ TIRED of scrounging fresh milk or wondering how many days your quality bait is going to be good for when high summer temperatures turn into the enemy? Whether you’re trying to keep maggots cool or get a decent brew after a hot day we check out the options for chilled storage this year – there’s something for everyone. We could have suggested them to keep your beers cool while you watched football behind the rods, but we got knocked out a bit quick for that….

48 www.nashtackle.co.uk

JUST CHILLIN'

Polar Cool & Polar Mega Cool Bag The undisputed kings of the chill bags, the Polar Cool and Mega Cool Bags are based around 27mm foam and hollow fill with a metallic cold retention lining and insulating hood.

1

L Test HARDWARE SPECIA

7

1

COLD BALLS MOBILE FRIDGES

WHAT FOR?

HOW BIG?

The capacity and performance makes the Mega Cool the only choice for a long session and perfect for trips to more distant fisheries from home or holidays abroad where there are no freezer facilities. The smaller Polar Cool is the pick for the weekender who likes to put a bit in.

Polar Mega Cool: 26 kilos of boilies Polar Cool: 7 kilos of boilies

ICE COOL - IT'S THE CHAMP! In their Hardware Comparison feature Carpology voted the Polar Cool Bag the winner in their head to head cool bag tests. Only 10% of the ice in the Polar Cool melted in 36 hours, and 72 hours after that 60% of the ice still remained. That’s what you call a cool bag!

Carp food chillers

tested against this

summer’s sun

O LO GY TESTED

KEEPING COLD FOR LONGER STEP 1

The milk turns, a hot sun don’t mix.

Fresh produce and suntan lotion and your butter looks like the bacon sweats, developing small boiled food starts your beautifully rolled food poisoningyou overcome these white dots. To help 11 cooler bags month we’ve tested : 82kgs!). inducing issues, this and 82kgs of ice (seriously using a thermometer 12, 24 at three intervals: filled each them taking To test the bags, we 36hrs. Along with its capacity, and ure, we one up with ice to the inner temperat This how much of the regardless of its size. the same also judged three means each bag has had melted at these space if you ice there’s the amount of free air time points. Right, a test as here’s now science, like, making it as fair the bags facts and possible. We judged how the bags fared… testing over a 36hr period,

HOW WE TESTED

To ensure your bait stays frozen and fresh for as long as possible, fill up old 2lt drinking bottles with juice, freeze and place them in the base of the bait/ box. Once they’ve thawed, you can then drink the liquid inside!

pound bags as this ensures there’s less air between the baits, meaning it’ll stay frozen for longer.

STEP 2

When packing your g bag, keep everythin as tight as possible, with the bait itself packed into one-

www.nashtackle.co.uk

STEP 3

To ensure your bait bag/cooler box remains cold for the duration of your stay on the bank, put of down a base layer foam. This will help retain the cold inner temperature, keeping your bait in tiptop condition for longer.

49

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

Session Food Bag

Cool / Bait Bag

It’s the complete food storage, cooking and eating system – all in one bag.

One of the smaller cool bag options but really practical thanks to the twin easy access compartments and popular when kit needs to be stripped down.

WHAT FOR?

HOW BIG?

Doesn’t just use the metallic cold retention lining to keep your food or bait chilled, it also stores your eating hardware. Supplied with a luxury black plate plus black stainless knife, fork, dessert spoon and teaspoon and a washable drawstring bag to keep your used plate and utensils when you’re finished.

Plenty of room for 10-15 kilos of boilies in the main compartment, although more commonly used just for food. Holds a weekend’s worth no matter how big your appetite. Two additional zipped end pockets increase capacity for sauce bottles, salt and pepper or nibbles.

50 www.nashtackle.co.uk

WHAT FOR?

HOW BIG?

It’s as useful for keeping bait fresh as food – use it however works for you. If keeping boilies chilled use the smaller pocket for pop ups, dips catapults and paste.

When carrying food you can carry cookwear, gas bottles and stove in the smaller compartment.

Holds up to 5-6kg of boilies or enough bacon and sausages to fill a sandwich toaster for you and all your mates all weekend.

The split insulated and standard compartments mean you don’t waste any of your cold storage on unnecessary food or bait products.

JUST CHILLIN'

Overnighter Grub Bag

Bait Mate

The middle man of the cool bag range, with the proven Nash metallic cold retention lining. You’ll still have frozen bait in the morning and beyond!

A cool bag that carries hookbaits, boilies, catapults and bits - everything to get fishing without unpacking a rucksack. Simple and brilliant!

WHAT FOR?

HOW BIG?

WHAT FOR?

HOW BIG?

Preferred by those who want to just throw their food or bait in and get going for a night after work rather than have to stuff it in or leave things behind. Handy mesh external pocket to twin zipped internal mesh pockets.

Internal capacity equivalent to 9 kg of boilies or several bags of bait plus enough food for 24 hours.

A zipped full width external pocket increases capacity holding your plate, kettle and cutlery.

Popular amongst all the Nash team, this is the one you’ll find Alan Blair carrying stuffed with floaters, Bolt Machines, hookbaits and liquids for a short session, and it’s just as useful packed with pellets, PVA and bait for a summer barbel session or an evening after carp on a ticket fishery.

Swallows a five kilo bucket inside the insulated main compartment or multiple bags of boilies and pellets.

Four additional zipped pockets for terminal tackle, needle, rig bits and more. There’s even a handy elastic retainer to secure your catapult.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

51

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

Q&A am sure softened Q Ipellet around a feeder

will work on my syndicate but everyone tells me this is a small fish tactic?

DAVE BARMBY, EAST HORSLEY Maggots catch a lot of roach and bream but does that make them a small fish tactic?? Many of the biggest carp in this country fall to maggots all year round.

Softened pellet is considered by some a small fish tactic because in its earliest years it was developed and used by

match anglers on prolific waters. Carp anglers eventually cottoned on and lo and behold it caught small, medium and huge carp! The first time I ever used the tactic was in 1998 at Catch 22 in Norfolk when the ONLY way to catch those carp was a lump of pellet paste moulded around a lead and hurled somewhere out there. It genuinely amazed me but the carp loved it - ALL the carp. Frank Warwick has used it to amazing effect on big fish waters home and abroad and if it’s good enough for Frank it’s good enough for me... and you?

If your water responds to pellets then it’s

almost certain the approach will work.

At Horseshoe Lake it was incredible because of the huge amount of spodding of pellets that went on and if it’s a water as prolific as Chestnut, Drayton or Brasenose for the carp will compete for food and there’s nothing more obvious and exciting than a ball of softened pellet if you are a hungry carp.

But what if your water doesn’t fall into this category? The only way to find out how well it might work is to try it, like fishing Zigs and Floaters where they ‘don’t work’.

Pellet paste bagged up on Catch 22 – a throwback picture with the late and much missed Kevin Green

52 www.nashtackle.co.uk

Julian Cundiff

" The first time I ever used the tactic was in 1998 at Catch 22 in Norfolk when the ONLY way to catch those carp was a lump of pellet paste moulded around a lead and hurled somewhere out there."

Q&A WITH JULIAN CUNDIFF

Ingredients for a simple but brilliant Method Mix are half a bag of Small Pellet Mix, a handful of corn and the same of Flake to match your boilie choice.

Mix the pellets, corn and flake together first in a round bowl or bucket. Slowly add small amounts of water and work the bait around the bowl to mix it thoroughly.

Once you can give the mix a gentle squeeze and it holds together well in your hand it’s ready to go. If it crumbles back to pellets readily add a touch more water.

With the rig baited, take a handful of soft pellet, put the in-line lead in the middle of it and use both hands to squeeze it together so you form a rugby ball shape.

Gently push the hookbait into the edge of the paste ball or very lightly nick the hook point into the edge of the ball to prevent any chance of tangles.

The same softened pellet mix can be made into regular balls in seconds using the Ball Makers and catapulted or sling shotted into your swim.

1

3

5

2

4

6

www.nashtackle.co.uk

53

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016 can I make sure my Q How frozen boilies stay fresh for

I’ve been through the whole spectrum of bait from using readymades exclusively to taking HNV baits to a venue each week in a vacuum flask back in the late 1980s to keep them frozen. Here’s a few tips to stay fresh in summer temperatures.

a four day session that I have got planned. I am worried they could go off and not catch?

PAUL MEADE, BANBURY

Do they make your chosen bait in shelf life? If you’re a Key, 4G Squid or TG Active user you’ve no worries. I'd take 50% frozen for first two days and then 50% shelf life for the final two days.

Does the fishery have a freezer? Many do and if you contact them in advance you might be able to either beg or book some space.

Do you know anyone living close to the lake? Could they bring you some top up bait (and a bacon sandwich too maybe....?)

Take 50% frozen bait and coat the rest in the liquid bait soak of your choice. The liquid not only stops them going off but boosts their attraction level too.

Take all frozen bait and store it in a Nash Polar Cool bag. In a Carpology test just 10% of the ice inside melted in 36 hours. Just don’t keep opening and closing the bag!

Air dry your baits in advance.

Spread them over the base of cardboard boxes somewhere rodent free and let them harden for a week.

Stored in air dry bags they will last four days easily.

1

4

2

5

3

6

JULES’ TOP TIP To make the Polar Cool and Polar Mega Cool bags even more effective, once they are filled with bait put the entire bag sealed shut in the freezer for 24 hours before your session. It extends the period the contents will stay frozen even further.

54 www.nashtackle.co.uk

Q&A WITH JULIAN CUNDIFF get really manic Q Ifeeding activity on Riser

Wait until they are feeding so hard that they are behaving like pirahnas

Pellet but always feel I should catch more. What am I doing wrong?

WAYNE MARRIOT, SWANSEA Without watching you in action it’s difficult to be absolutely sure BUT having struggled myself and watched others have issues I think I can make an educated guess.

I always think of Riser Pellets as floating hemp, a great carp attractor but a nightmare to catch over if the carp get preoccupied on it. The answer is in two parts, supplementing the feed and not being over anxious to cast out!

Riser Pellet is pretty instant so I get plenty Spombed or catapulted out where I think the carp may be. If they are anywhere near the surface layers you will soon find out summer and winter alike. When one or two are taking add more Riser.

Even if it spooks them they will soon be back. As the carp become more confident then instead of just adding more Risers start to add in some larger 11mm Slicker Pellets. I tend to use 70% Riser to 30% Slicker.

The carp love these too and being larger they are far easier to use as hookbaits. Keep adding Risers and Slickers but do NOT cast out until the carp are really competing for the feed. You want them on the surface ploughing up and down competing with each other almost like mini sharks in a feeding frenzy. Then and ONLY then should you cast out. I use the largest Bolt Machine I have with an eight foot hooklength and overcast and slowly wind the rig into the feeding zone. Action should be pretty immediate and when you do get hook one get more pellets out there as soon as it is in the net.

Mix up Riser with one third Slicker Pellets to prevent preoccupation

Action should come in seconds if you have fed correctly

" Be prepared to try a variety of hookbaits – I love the Floater Zig Bugs that Nash do that mimic Risers and Slickers. All you need to do is tie to the hooklength and it’s as good as carp in the net"

The key is to keep them feeding and not let them go off the boil. Once they are really on those Risers and Slickers you can play carp through carp and they will still feed. Be prepared to try a variety of hookbaits – I love the Floater Zig Bugs that Nash do that mimic Risers and Slickers. All you need to do is tie to the hooklength and it’s as good as carp in the net.

Try a variety of hookbaits, one is often much more effective than the others over Riser

www.nashtackle.co.uk

55

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

people say use Q Some different size and shape leads for different rigs but I've noticed some famous carpers use the same ones all the time. Why?

My usual starting point – 2 oz on a clip – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!

SIMON LEFROY, ELY I guess I am one of those guys Simon... Like any successful carp angler I have starting points and with leads providing I can reach the spot my standard lead size and shape is a 2 ounce Flat Pear. With this I can cast up to 80 yards and feel the lead through the water to accurately interpret the nature of the lakebed.

That is massively important to me as I have to know what I am landing on to know what kind of presentation I need to use. Years of experience have taught me that it works for me. With super sharp Twister or Fang X hooks and an overshotted pop up or heavy bottom bait I know that once that hooklength tightens up a 2 oz lead will do the trick. It’s not like where we were ten years ago when you needed a large lead to pull most hooks in to the barb. Hooks are so much sharper straight out the packet today.

Occasionally I use a lighter lead at close range or a larger lead at long range or an In-Line Flat Pear for PVA bags or Pellet Paste setups but in all honesty Simon I know what works as MY starting point. If what works for you keeps working that’s YOUR starting point so stick with it.

I make my Multi Q Should Rig slow sinking or overshot it when fishing over your mush recipe?

CALLUM WICKES, ST ALBANS When I use the Multi Rig I always overshot it whether I am fishing over

56 www.nashtackle.co.uk

Keeping the lead the same allows me to read the lake bed it lands on whether I am after big carp or small

mush, a spread of boilies or as a single bait. Having spent almost ten years fine tuning it and watching carp feeding I am convinced that overshotting helps and critical balancing can work against you. When carp feed they create plenty of water movement and a pop up that is not anchored will wobble and waft about very unnaturally which can spook

carp and create problems even when the carp wants the hookbait. Try getting a ping pong ball in your mouth in the bath and it’s the same principle! When you overshot it you are anchoring it down so it spins on the putty counterweight grabbing the carp’s bottom lip no matter which direction the fish approaches the bait from. This pivot point really trips up

Q&A WITH JULIAN CUNDIFF

" When you overshot it you are anchoring it down so it spins on the putty counterweight grabbing the carp’s bottom lip no matter which direction the fish approaches the bait from" carp. I tend to use around 50% more weight than is needed to critically balance it. Not so heavy that the carp will twig it’s a dangerous item but heavy enough to trip the carp up. Once you know how much putty you need Callum it’s easy and at the end of the session save it for next time in a pot. This saves you time and of course money!

can I stop tangles Q How when casting Zigs? I've seen people casting the rig out of a bucket but I worry about catching the hookpoint.

AARON WHITELEY,GLOUCESTER When I started using Zigs over six feet long it worried me too but tangles with long links are easy enough to prevent.

The first and easiest option is to get yourself a Nash Zig Float which allows

you to use short hooklengths but the buoyancy of the float allows you to feed the hookbait up into position. Once your float hits the surface you wind it down

to the level you want. However if you don't want to go down that avenue then use the good old PVA foam nugget. You only need one over the hookpoint and it will protect the point on the cast. When you cast watch the rig in flight and as the lead hits the surface put your finger on the spool and this slight check will push the lead slightly forwards and keep the hookbait and the mainline well apart.

Because the hookbait is a large white blob you will see it hit the surface away from the splash of the lead and you’ll be 100% confident you’re fishing effectively.

JULES’ TOP TIP From Spring onwards I always have a bait bucket containing half bags of Risers and Slickers, Bolt Machines, a Zig Pouch, hookbaits and catapult. As soon as I get to a swim I Spomb or catapult out floaters to see if any carp are about. Whilst I am getting my bottom fishing rods ready summer and winter alike I have had carp taking from areas I never suspected contained carp. It’s like having a third eye! The floater bucket trick will catch you a lot of bonus carp. Even if you can't catch them off the top it will prove that they are there, and give you some very good clues where to cast to.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

57

A WORLD OF CARP STEVE BRIGGS

He’s the man who’s notched up more air miles and hours on the road than any other carper of his generation. Share Steve Briggs’ recollections from three decades in search of foreign giants.

It’s hard to believe it was 30 years ago I first set out to catch a carp in a foreign country, back in days when the ‘world’ of carp was a much smaller place than it is now.

Since then I’ve been lucky enough to fish more strange and interesting places than most people ever will. I’ve carp fished in 20 different countries, catching carp from 19 of them. I blanked in Italy but plan to put that right this year!

I’ve met some wonderful people experienced different cultures and have memories that will stay with me forever. Not to mention catching some thumping great carp along the way too.

58 www.nashtackle.co.uk

www.nashtackle.co.uk

59

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016 PARIS

FRANCE AND LAKE CASSIEN I’ve fished stacks of waters all over France but it all started back in 1986 at Cassien.

I had just got my driving license and getting to Cassien was a huge adventure, it was actually the first time I had ever been out of the country!

Summertime at Cassien is great – but not without its dangers!

It’s hard to convey the whole feeling of driving abroad back then as it was all new, there were no commercial waters owned by Brits for holiday carp breaks and Cassien was the only lake I knew of in the entire country. I caught fish up to 43 lb that trip which was my first 40 but it wasn’t just about the fish. The scenery, the space, the freedom all made it special and I knew I’d be back. In fact even today I’m still going back and I’ve yet to find anywhere that makes me feel the same way. I’ve had my highs and lows there – but mainly highs.

I remember the winter trips most fondly as Joan and I spent 18 Christmases on the banks of Cassien before the night fishing was stopped and I did manage a

Arriving at Cassien for the first time in 1986.

“Joan and I spent 18 Christmases on the banks of Cassien before the night fishing was stopped.” few Christmas Day carp along the way.

The weather down there at that time of year is one of extremes. If it was overcast and wet the night time temperatures stayed up but it could rain solidly for two weeks. The trips I remember most were gorgeous during the day, T-shirts and 20 degrees in December but then when the sun went down the temperature plummeted like you were walking into a fridge. But it didn’t seem to matter if it was minus ten overnight there were still bites to be had, amazing fishing.

It wasn’t all fun of course, one time when we were moving swims the boat sprang a leak completely soaking all of our gear and clothes then that same night

60 www.nashtackle.co.uk

A WORLD OF CARP - STEVE BRIGGS

The December trips were my favourite and often best for the big fish too.

the local fire brigade did a night training exercise on the lake and completely wiped out all of my rods with their boats, stripping most of the spools bare. Added to not catching a fish in over two weeks it would definitely go down as my lowest point. But I always say that if I could relive any of my life so far I would go back to those early years at Cassien. That one lake opened up a whole new way of life to me and I never looked back. All I knew at the time were the lakes in the Darenth Valley which were muddy and rat infested small lakes and suddenly I realised there were venues where you could find space and freedom as well as big carp where you could expect 100 acres to yourself rather than 100 yards.

Moving swims was all part of the fishing on Cassien.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

61

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

ROMANIA BUCHAREST

In the late 90s suddenly the buzz was all about Romania, in particular centred around lake Raduta-Sarulesti. Its discovery had a massive impact on the carp world, the first water we knew that held numbers of huge commons and of course it was soon to smash the longstanding world carp record too.

My first trip was in 1998 and it was the first time I’d flown anywhere in my life. I guess Romania had more of a visual and cultural impact than any other place I’ve ever visited – it was like going back in time 100 years.

It was a country of extremes, as Robert Raduta’s plush hotel demonstrated against the backdrop of poor villages.

The lake had a number of gypsy villages around it and to them we were like a circus turning up in town with our bleeping alarms, flashing lights, beds and tents – the locals were fascinated by my binoculars and would spend ages playing with them. Perhaps what really brought

Snags like I’d never seen before!

“…we used to catch picture frames and bicycle wheels - the houses, orchards and walls were all still there.” their whole way of life in to perspective was when I tried to give them some money just before leaving – they actually had no idea what money was! They simply lived off the land and by bartering and that was the end of it.

Romania was like going back in time

62 www.nashtackle.co.uk

Lake Raduta was big and sprawling at 2500 acres and always had a unique, dusty atmosphere to it, but it was an incredibly exciting venue to fish. I had my disaster trips, which included cows trampling and breaking my rods and getting invaded by hundreds of mice.

We went one October and the lake was surrounded by fields of maize and in September they cut the maize and ploughed the fields. The banks were bare

A WORLD OF CARP - STEVE BRIGGS

30 kilos of them out and that definitely helped catching more big carp and fewer grassies.

except for a few little green tents. There was nowhere else for the thousands of mice to go. I got bitten on my finger actually inside my sleeping bag they were in every bag, every corner. I even took some Romanian mice home by accident.

But the fishing could be amazing and I enjoyed several trips to that great lake and caught some lovely carp along the way including my first 50 lb common.

The stock was quite heavy and there were trips where I had 100 fish in two weeks, but there had been 21 tons of grass carp stocked to control the weed and they could be a nightmare.

We couldn’t take bait in the early days because of our luggage allowance which meant fishing maize. Later, when we were able to get boilies delivered I’d put

The plush hotel was in stark contrast to everything else around.

It was a unique environment to fish, there was everything down there under the water. Years previously the villagers had been given 48 hours notice it would be flooded, we used to catch picture frames and bicycle wheels - the houses, orchards and stone walls were all still there. There was a graveyard which extended on to the bank, so you were literally amongst headstones and human bones, it freaked quite a few people out.

Sadly the fishing on Raduta all really came to an end in 2004 when there was a massive fish kill, wiping out most of the originals.

My first 50 lb common

www.nashtackle.co.uk

63

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

JOHANNESBURG

SOUTH AFRICA South Africa was always a place I’d dreamed of visiting since I was a kid.

It was the animals that fascinated me though and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would end up going to fish for carp! But around the turn of the century a trip was organized mainly by Simon Crow and a group of us jetted off to see what it was all about.

The venue was the Klaserie Dam and what made it really exciting was that the area we could fish had only just been opened up and was part of a nature reserve full of wildlife including monkeys, baboons, porcupines, monitor lizards, honey badgers – we were even visited by a leopard and her cub one night! It was a fantastically atmospheric place to be and perhaps what sticks in my mind are the evenings around the campfire.

We would all meet up in the camp for dinner and that’s when the African bush came to life. The sound of the tiny tree frogs was deafening, while up in the trees we would see the huge, bulging eyes of

The wildlife was incredible

“… in the distance there was the clear and definite sound of lions roaring.”

I never dreamt I’d end up fishing in South Africa

bush babies, and in the distance there was the clear but definite sound of lions roaring.

The lake held lots of fantastic carp, which we mainly caught at night. We were supplied with boilies out there but there were lots of channel catfish, you’d put three rods out and you’d get three catfish. They were from 10 to 25 lb so not huge but a nuisance. The answer was tiger nuts, and plenty of them.

They used to soak and cook a sack at a time over the camp fire for us. They were surprisingly English looking carp out there, just a bit paler because of the murky water but other than that very familiar looking.

64 www.nashtackle.co.uk

A WORLD OF CARP - STEVE BRIGGS

I caught fish most days at Klaserie Dam, tiger nuts worked really well

I remember one night having to step over a python to get in the boat to go out and play a carp. Most nights I caught carp, sometimes several and I even managed to catch a South African 50 at 54 lb 8 oz. I did return a while later but there was no way that it could live up to that memorable trip, in fact we all said that we wouldn’t go back to Klaserie Dam as we’d all had such a fantastic time that there was no way we could better it and we would rather remember it as it was the first time.

Leopard prints just outside the bivvy door!

www.nashtackle.co.uk

65

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016 WARSAW

POLAND Often people’s first reaction when you talk about Poland is to wonder how many carp are living there as most know that carp are a national dish.

There is however very much a growing movement for catch and release – as there has been in most countries.

Polish people are very friendly and I don’t feel strange being there at all, if anything the people have always gone out of their way to make me very welcome. Yes they do like a drink or three and vodka is often on the menu but they also like get-togethers and most trips involve either a barbeque or some sort of small party and it all goes towards making the trips more memorable. You just get lured into it, especially when there’s an afternoon social, it’s rude not to. It’s very good vodka called Bison Grass with a stem of this grass in it so it has a green tinge. I’ve made so many new friends in Poland that trips every year have become a regular thing.

The occasional party is inevitable over there

66 www.nashtackle.co.uk

There are some fantastic waters in Poland

“…they do like a drink or three and vodka is often on the menu.”

The quality of the fishing in Poland is first class and I’ve caught some cracking fish to over 55 lb, but if there’s one lake and one trip that stands out it would be my first trip to Lubneiwice Lake near Poznan in the west. I was told about a lake stocked almost 25 years previously but never fished by carp anglers. It was well guarded by forest rangers and we had to get permission from the local Mayor to fish there. At over 400 acres with all sorts of bays and arms and very weedy it looked like a very tough task – and there might not even have been any carp left in there!

A WORLD OF CARP - STEVE BRIGGS One of my all-time favourite captures

I saw zero sign of carp for the first few days and moved to another section, again full of weed so I just fished the margins where there were a few clear spots. I saw nothing, heard nothing but 4am the next morning the alarm screamed and I had no idea what was on the other end. It turned out to be a dark, wild-looking mirror of 33 lb – almost certainly never caught before and it was one of the most exciting moments of my fishing life.

There are some fantastic waters in Poland

www.nashtackle.co.uk

67

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016 BERLIN

GERMANY Sunset in Bavaria I’ve fished across Germany from pike fishing in the Baltic Sea to the north to carp fishing right down in the southern parts of Bavaria. Germany is home to some lovely carp, often very dark and sometimes very big! The waters vary greatly. There are large numbers of public lakes and lesser numbers of carp anglers than you might think. Inside information is a huge help in just finding and then gaining access to waters and I’ve made friends with plenty of German anglers over the years.

Most of my better German carp have come from a small lake in Bavaria owned

by Jurgen Becker. The carp go to mid 70s and one of my most vivid memories is watching a common of around 75 lb just relaxing under a tree about eight feet from where I stood! Unfortunately it was in an out-of-bounds area... But I have had some great fish from there including mirrors and commons approaching 60lb.

“…large numbers of public lakes and lesser numbers of carp anglers than you might think.”

For sheer enjoyment I have to go back to an unplanned trip to mid country where we stopped off to see our good friend Meik Pyka. Meik is a great guy and just loves fishing and soon had a couple of nights fishing organized on a local park lake, which was a nice surprise as we were only going to stop to say hello and have a quick cup of tea! We had such a good laugh and we both caught plenty of fish during our short stay. It was a good reminder that it’s not always about fishing for the biggest fish but enjoying the company of good people and hearing the alarms sound.

A big common goes back

68 www.nashtackle.co.uk

A WORLD OF CARP - STEVE BRIGGS

Fun on a German park lake with Meik

www.nashtackle.co.uk

69

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

HUNGARY I find Hungary quite a strange place and one that took a while to feel at home with. My first two trips looked fantastic on paper, both to waters that had the promise of big fish, one an old arm of the River Danube, the other was to a huge sprawling lake. However, both trips were very forgettable – in fact looking back I wished I’d never been to either. On both of them I caught carp but I would say that the biggest was around 15 lb, which didn’t really make the long journey particularly worth it. It was actually the local anglers I found most frustrating.

They had spots that they considered ‘theirs’ and even if they hadn’t fished them for a year and even if I was fishing there when they arrived, they would simply set up and fish right on top, or right over me! It wasn’t like they just had the hump because all different people did it wherever I fished. It drove me mad as I just couldn’t fish properly and so it was relegated right to the bottom of places to visit.

BUDAPEST

It’s not for everyone but the biggest carp in the world live here

“…they would simply set up and fish right on top, or right over me!”

I was with Rob Hughes and these guys came and set up 30 yards to our right and took their lines underneath ours to where they wanted to fish. Unreal! They were lovely waters but you couldn’t settle into it.

I first went to Hungary as part of a large group

70 www.nashtackle.co.uk

Eventually I did go back to fish Euro Aqua. Now that lake seems to divide opinion like no other I’ve known but it does hold the biggest carp in the world and I was intrigued. Even there I have to say I had some of the least enjoyable fishing I’ve experienced but the last trip did sort of make up for all of the other let-downs. It wasn’t just because of catching bigger fish (although that certainly helped) but the whole trip just

A WORLD OF CARP - STEVE BRIGGS

went well. I was partnered by Rob Hales who was great company and we spent the week catching carp and having a good laugh while doing it. I guess it will always divide opinions and it will never be high on my list of favourite waters but it was a memorable experience – just to see a carp on the bank that was just short of 100lb is a sight I’ll never forget but I included Hungary just because it’s a country where things have rarely gone right and good memories are in short supply.

It’s just a bit too commercial for me, but the lure of big carp is there so it leaves me a bit conflicted. I want to catch one of those real giants but don’t want to fish there enough to go and do it.

Fish did get caught but I wasn’t impressed with Hungary

It wasn’t all bad in Hungary

www.nashtackle.co.uk

71

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

USA I always had a vision that Americans would be loud and abrasive so when I finally visited the States to fish the St. Lawrence Seaway I was in for a pleasant surprise as they turned out to be some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met.

Of course I could include Canada in this because the St. Lawrence forms the border between the two countries and I’ve fished both sides. But the first time was on the USA side to take part in the World Carp Cup with Tim Paisley in 2005. The whole event left a lasting impression on me – probably helped by the fact that we won! But everyone made us so welcome, even women on tills in the supermarkets were wishing us good luck.

The St. Lawrence itself took my breath away, it is huge – more than a mile wide in places and carp are there in their millions. They are wild fish and although big ones are dotted amongst them, the average size is probably mid 20s. I just found the fishing so exciting and very

WASHINGTON DC

It was love at first sight with the huge St. Lawrence.

“We had to make our own swim in the long grass and had deer and raccoons running around us.” prolific at times. It wasn’t difficult to catch but it made a refreshing change to be able to catch without having to work too hard or indeed wait too long.

We couldn’t have picked a better swim if we’d tried.

72 www.nashtackle.co.uk

I’ve fished some wonderfully scenic spots up and down the river but the swim we had for the WCC is the most memorable.

It took us ages to find our pegged swim and eventually we discovered it in what was normally a nature reserve with no public access. We had to make our own swim in the long grass and had deer and raccoons running around us – and we hardly saw another person, at least until we started catching more carp than anyone else! We both said that if we’d had the whole choice of the river we

A WORLD OF CARP - STEVE BRIGGS

couldn’t have picked a better spot to spend a few days – happy memories.

Without a doubt though it was also the worst place for mosquitoes I’ve ever known in my life. We cleaned out the stores of everything we could find, but I could only get 15 minutes relief from smothering myself in the best stuff available. We were wearing waterproofs to try and keep them off, but then you’d be wet with sweat. We started out with lots of maize, fishing snowmen with pineapple pop ups, then the yellow noticeably started tailing off and bites on the orange tuttis picked up. We finished with 81 fish to 34 lb for a total of over 1500 lb to lift the World Carp Cup trophy – a great trip!

World Carp Cup Winners Happy days!

My first St. Lawrence 30-pounder

www.nashtackle.co.uk

73

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

SUPER SOAKERS Nash consultant JASON MASSAY reveals a great bait shortcut to bring more takes when your rod hours are limited. Soak it all up!

“…the washed out boilie was often the one that got the takes – too many times to be coincidence.”

F

or most people the bait they put into a swim is the bait that comes out of the bag – but not for me. I’ve arrived at a simple but brilliant bait edge that catches loads more than the boilie you leave the tackle shop with.

I’ve always washed boilies out using lake water, to me there’s nothing more natural than food that smells of the lake you are putting it in. I used to be particular about using lake water to prepare my own particles like hemp and pigeon mix too.

So it’s been second nature for years to take a large empty bucket or water container and bring home a gallon of water from the lake.

74 www.nashtackle.co.uk

I only get one night at the weekend to fish, occasionally two so anything I can do to catch fish quickly is a huge help. The theory behind washed out baits is that carp on hard fished waters can tell the difference between freshly introduced baits and those that have been sat on the lake bed for 12 or even 24 hours. Remember, very few baits that are old and soft and washed out of their attractors are the ones that carp get caught on. It’s logical, and I always found that if I fished a washed out bait on one rod and a standard bait out the bag on the other, the washed out boilie was often the one that got

the takes – too many times to be coincidence.

I don’t think it’s all about smell because this year I’ve started adding additional liquids to my boilies as they rehydrate and that has definitely made a difference again.

Whatever the reason my soaked boilies catch me more carp. A boilie that has been dried and rehydrated is at its maximum capacity for liquids, a bit like there’s only so much water you can get a sponge to hold. They can’t absorb the smell of silt or decaying weed from the bottom, and instead of taking water in they can only release attractors for you.

SUPER SOAKERS - JASON MASSAY

During Jason’s first season fishing Farriers last year his soaked boilie approach notched up 11 fish including a personal best 40 lb common, four mid 30s and some solid upper 20s – as well as a 33 lb koi!

www.nashtackle.co.uk

75

SUPER SOAKERS - JASON MASSEY

Julian’s Snotty PVA Solution

Jason air dries 5 kg of 4G Squid boilies at a time.

In the warmer months you can use the shed or the garage, in the colder months the boilies have to come indoors.

The baits are dried for up to 5 days and will become rock hard all the way through, smaller and feel a lot lighter.

24 hours before going fishing the dried baits are put in a bucket and covered with lake water to begin rehydrating.

For each 5kg of boilies Jason has been adding 3 capfuls of 4G Liquid Bait Soak and 2 capfuls of Liquid Betaine from the Ace Cards range.

After 24 hours the baits will be loaded with attractive liquid but still smell of the lake they are being used in. Use them as free offerings only, they will be too soft to stay on the hair.

For a hookbait Jason has caught well on the 4G Squid Snowpots, combining a 15mm bottom bait, and 10mm pop up in yellow, purple or pink. It all gets a dip before casting out.

1

3

5

76 www.nashtackle.co.uk

2

4

6

ZIP, FLIP AND KIP

www.nashtackle.co.uk

77

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

OLI DAVIES UNCOVERED A key part of the Nash DVD production team, the man behind so many of the aspirational images in Nash adverts, articles and media and a pretty fine angler into the bargain… it’s The Olicle!

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

Best known for….

It’s got to be my pictures. I’m not an angler, I wouldn’t get paid to go fishing, that’s a happy by product for me. I get paid to take pictures that make people want to go fishing. In more recent years I’ve been known for Nash videography and also the partnership with Alan Blair in Urban Banx and Euro Banx. I’ve never wanted to be a ‘face’ but if you’re around Alan you can’t help but get noticed!

Personal Bests?

Common 81lb 4oz (France) English common 44lb, Mirror 66lb (France) and UK 49lb 8oz, Barbel 14lb, Bream 15lb, Tench 9lb 8oz, Grayling 1lb 14oz, Roach 2lb2 oz, Chub 6lb 12oz, Perch 4lb 2oz, Catfish 164lb (Spain) and Pike 25lb.

80 www.nashtackle.co.uk

That 81 lb Teillatts common – are you ever likely to beat it?

I’ll never beat that, I meant it when I said that was the fish of a lifetime. When I was a teenager a 30 lb carp was the fish of a lifetime. I watch the video every now and again just to remind myself it was real and it happened. That fish is called the Long Common for a reason, it’s longer than a Globetrotter Euro Carp Cradle which is four feet long. It was a simply enormous fish, too big almost to have out the water.

OLI DAVIE SUNCOVERED

Tell us about Oli and his record company Xenon?

Oh God that was in a previous life… I took a couple of years out to make records, I was brought up an 80s child but grew up in the raving and drum and bass generation with my brother Max who is a couple of years younger and infinitely more talented.

I’m more artistic he’s the engineer and mathematician in the family. It didn’t end up being what we wanted to do, I drifted a bit before picking up a camera and I’m very glad I did.

Max now works on offshore oil rigs and major construction projects and is an acoustic engineer measuring vibration and stuff in industry rather than in the music industry.

Is your photography and videography self taught?

Yes and no. I’ve not got any qualifications and I’ve never studied photography. I’ve only been to the university of life but I have worked with some very good people at David Hall Publishing, Rich Stewart and Jon Bones taught me what a tool I had at my disposal and taught me to be better.

I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionist and I like to try and do things that people haven’t done before, it’s nice to be the first in a new direction. I’ve always been interested in the long exposure shots but I’m not a one trick pony I like a variety of photography.

Sometimes shots are engineered and sometimes it’s capturing a moment - the perfect moment that inspires people to want to be there. I like looking at things,

“I notice detail and those fine details and their relationship with the surroundings is what makes the picture. “

I notice detail and those fine details and their relationship with the surroundings is what makes the picture.

There’s always a special picture, even if it is just one from a day then that’s fine, and often it’s not what you expected it to be.

The last time you used 12 foot rods was…

A long time ago with any regularity. I used them briefly in Czechoslovakia at Lake Bled for the DVD and quickly put them away again. They were just unsuitable, and they are unnecessary and a lot less fun. I prefer shorter rods, even before Scope I was using travel rods and in the summer months I use Sawn-offs in twos or even threes. Shorter is definitely the way forward.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

81

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

One piece of kit Nash can’t have back…

Sawn-offs all the way, I’ve got several but as long as they left me one I’d be happy. I’m usually fishing for a chance of a really big carp so the three-pounder is the weapon of choice, they have such tremendous stopping power.

On my rods you’ll find….

I’ve got a lot of rods… On almost all of them you’ll find a Multi Rig the same as in last year’s DVD. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It’s a Chod Twister size 6 to 20 or 25 lb Combilink and an in-line lead. It’s tangle free and offers reliable hooking potential.

I like it because it’s a lead system with lots of possibilities. Whether I want the fish up or down in the water when I’m playing it I can choose to drop the lead or not. A lead on a lead clip adds an extra inch to the link effectively so the physics aren’t as appealing as an in-liner. From what I’ve seen the shorter the link the better for carp feeding over small baits.

It’s conventional wisdom but it works.

One tip to get a “You invoke a reaction one way or bite when the chips the other because are down… in and go for a walk. You can catch the bait is so visible Reel them really quickly if you find them. Most of the time we’re not catching because and I’ll take that not in the right place. There’s over indifference.” we’re always a bite to be had somewhere, you just need to find where it is.

Biggest edge in the edge?

There’s no rig that works all the time and in every situation, that’s just a fantasy. The direction a carp approaches from, even the mood that it’s in will affect how likely you are to hook it.

Round boilies in the edge are a big no-no, I see a very different reaction to flake, it’s not that they won’t eat them but there’s something about round balls they don’t like. I use the new particles and carp love those, the Salted Mini Mix and Tiger Nut Slush are my favourites but you don’t need much of them.

82 www.nashtackle.co.uk

OLI DAVIE SUNCOVERED

I used to use a peanut, tiger or pellet on the hair and it was frustrating, you just saw them missing the bait. You’d get a pick up almost accidentally, but if you make a bait visible they change their course to pick it up or avoid it. Now I use a pink pop up and wherever possible put it on the edge of a spot, not in the middle of the feeding. You invoke a reaction one way or the other because the bait is so visible and I’ll take that over indifference.

You get a lot of bigger, greedier fish that way I’ve found - the real magpies!

You quietly get involved with a bit of bait testing for Gary?

A little bit yes. I was involved with the testing of The Key and tried several different versions and caught quite a few nice fish using it. It’s a bait that works everywhere I take it and that is a big thing for me. I’m lucky enough to be able to feed and watch carp in the edge which is useful. I’ve got a bit of a thing going on with some sweet pop ups at the moment which may go somewhere but that’s all I can say at this point…

a lot and it’s nice to have somewhere to come home to. I’ve watched a lot of the fish grow and hand picked and stocked some of the Sutton strain carp that are the most sought after.

Is the Colne Valley past its prime?

Favorite venues and why?

I love the Horton complex where I bailiff and I’ve fished there for over 15 years. I’ve caught a lot of the big fish but there’s a lifetime of fishing there. I do get to travel

No but it is in danger, there are confirmed otter sightings in the valley, the crayfish are plaguing the River Colne and of course there’s the threat of the HS2 project.

It’s not probably as significant as it used to be in terms of big fish relative to the national scene, and nowadays lots of people are more interested in size than pedigree. I’m not a carp snob but I like to fish for nice carp and old carp, and there’s a lot of those in the valley, a lifetime’s worth.

“…I’m not a carp snob but I like to fish for nice carp and old carp, and there’s a lot of those in the valley, a lifetime’s worth. ”

www.nashtackle.co.uk

83

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

opportunity. Every time I go fishing I’m Tell us about Oli happy to put myself in with a chance and “I’m never away I make an opportunity then even if I Davies away from ifdon’t catch I’m still satisfied. from Nash, all roads Nash… lead to Nash one Where to find me...

I’m never away from Nash, all roads lead way or the other” to Nash one way or the other. I’m never Facebook search Oli Davies really not working but I’m lucky my work and leisure time mould together and that’s a good thing. Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day. I like fishing, photography and music and I have a wonderful understanding partner Kat plus two kittens, and they are my world outside fishing. There’s so much to life, relationships are so important.

Remaining ambitions?

There are a couple of carp I’d still like to catch, I’m not a target angler but targets also keep appearing all the time. I’m an opportunist and shoot from the hip and like to take the chance when it is offered.

I’m lucky that my work offers me lots of

84 www.nashtackle.co.uk

Instagram @the_olicle I’ve just had my first anniversary of Instagram, the Olicle thing came about because everyone used to call me that as a teenager, I was an early form of Google - ask the Olicle…!

GAME CHANGERS FLAKE

In it goes.

Out it comes.

Kevin Nash delves into the development of Nashbait’s Flake one of best ever bait edges on the bottom is now as simple as opening a bag.

E

dges aren’t just about finding a new type of carp food or making the best quality boilie, they can be as simple as presenting foods in a way that carp haven’t seen before. Carp have had round balls thrown at them for 40 years so it’s obvious there’s a wariness of

86 www.nashtackle.co.uk

a round food item. But change the format you offer the same food and difference is tremendous.

Back in the 1990s believe it or not very few anglers used PVA bags.

Because they worked out at 50 pence per cast they were a huge advantage that not many had

cottoned to or were prepared to pay for. I found that crumbing my boilies inside them was an even greater edge. Getting on the crumb was a huge step forwards for me and an approach I have used to good effect for over 25 years since.

GAME CHANGERS

PREOCCUPATION The big advantage of crumb is that you have a bed of bait out there that doesn’t scare carp like round balls. It provides a much higher level of water borne attraction and equally importantly takes carp longer to fill up on it which keeps them feeding and rooting around for hours. I think it creates a kind of preoccupation and they have to work so hard to get the morsels their guard drops… and bang, they get nailed unexpectedly. I did a nationwide slide show around this time and made the point that the only round ball I had in my swim was the one on the hook.

I used crumb a lot on Warmwell in the 90s and the effect was amazing. One day I took it down there - this was pre spods remember - and I was making up PVA bags with crumb and stones in them and feeding ten at a time with a catapult. Immediately the fizzing started in the swim. If I didn’t keep throwing bags out the bubbling would stop, but as soon as another ten bags went out I got another take. I had 40 carp that week which was most of the lake’s population.

I remember very vividly one guy shouting over at me ‘What’s Nashy doing? Building a gravel bar?’ It absolutely slaughtered those fish.

TOO MUCH OF A GRIND Today we have devices to crumb our boilies but the amount of crumb produced is a small amount just to fill a stick. It’s just not enough to get the best from the approach.

I feed crumb like others apply round boilies, and may have a kilo or two over each rod. The problem was that I was wearing my fingers out crumbing up five kilos of boilies. So I got Nashbait to invest in a machine to make my crumb, it being logical to produce and sell crumb for the new baits in the range and offer everyone the same edge. In fact the machine we sourced made an even better product than crumb, Flake. It differs because the machine cuts whole 20mm boilies and produces irregular slices of all sizes as well as very finely crumbed boilies at the same time.

TOP TIP “I use balanced hookbaits over the top of flake because that random motion of the free pieces of flake around a feeding carp as they waft them up off bottom and they settle again is a big part of flake’s success. If the hookbait behaves the same way the carp just grab at it.”

Gary Bayes

www.nashtackle.co.uk

87

GAME CHANGERS

GETTING THE BEST FROM FLAKE

1

Flake soaks up the attractive juices Nashbait Particles are cooked in, making it great for spod mixes to keep carp feeding on boilie fragments rather than becoming preoccupied on small seeds.

2

Added to sloppy mixes for Spombing over zigs the lightweight, irregular shaped Flake hangs in the upper layers of the water column for longer.

3

4

5

6

Bait with Flake on venues where birdlife can be a pest. They find it impossible to pick it all up and the smell and taste of your boilies linger on the lake bed as the Flake breaks down.

88 www.nashtackle.co.uk

Try two or three of the larger Flakes from the bag on the hair for a slow sinking, irregular shaped hook bait that matches the feed in the swim better than a round boilie.

Flake sinks slowly to settle over the top of weed and silt for carp to easily find where a heavier, round boilie can easily disappear out of sight.

Add flake both to pellet bag mixes and Method mixes to add the smell and taste of your chosen boilie to the mix.

cutting edge NASHBAIT’S unique Flake is produced from rolled boilies taken through a cutting and milling process to create a blend of irregular 1-2mm flakes and crumb that settles lightly over weed and silt, spreading a stimulating food signal through the swim. Even the smallest quantities encourage intensive and prolonged feeding.

Available in: The Key® Frozen, The Key® Stabilised, TG Active Frozen and Shelf Life, 4G Squid Frozen and Shelf Life.

nashtackle.co.uk www.nashtackle.co.uk

89

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

SMART CARPING

THE OPPORTUNIST Struggling to find time to fit your fishing in around your work and family commitments? Summer is the time to make every minute count.

Loz Smart shows you how.

90 www.nashtackle.co.uk

SMART CARPING

1

Work gets in the way of fishing for everyone. Today’s been full of CAD design, indicator samples and designing POS boards for retailers but summer days are long and if I can get a reasonable get away from Nash HQ I know there’s more than enough time to catch a carp in an evening.

2

3

4

Target venue is a two acre club water containing carp to over 20 lb. It’s perfect for this sort of trip, with carp that love to visit the margins where I can bait spots and wait to see what the response is. A couple of hours when the banks are quiet midweek can be so much more productive than joining the crowds at weekends.

For before or after work sessions my kit is always ready to go, I don’t want to have to drive back home to pick kit up and waste time. A Sawn-Off Utility Skin has a rod, reel, net and a few bits and pieces, add a Scope Flat Mat and a bucket of bait and it’s all in the boot but out of sight.

Convenience is king so I stick to a combination of pellets and boilies. Using shelf-life bait means that the bucket can stay in the car or shed to be grabbed any time I have a couple of hours to spare without having to plan in advance and get boilies out the freezer.

www.nashtackle.co.uk

91

NASH E-ZINE SUMMER 2016

THE OPPORTUNIST

5

Being in the right spot is critical because I haven’t got the time to wait for fish to come to me. The margins are gin clear with several overgrown swims where carp come right in close, even under the boards. One heavy footfall though and that will unsettle them so it’s slow movements and light on my feet approaching each likely spot.

6

9

10

The first few spots are quiet, but I’ve caught a glimpse of a dark shape down the marginal shelf as I check in front of an overhanging bush. Visibility isn’t quite so easy in this spot but it’s all we’ve got to go on. The loops on the end of my Armourlink traces are deliberately enlarged so the ready tied PVA bag can be passed through it and the baited link plus bag attached loop to loop in seconds.

92 www.nashtackle.co.uk

The northerly wind is making it colder than I would like so I’ve not got any sightings of carp to work on. It might be harder today than usual to generate some interest. I’ve baited six possible spots with a scoop full of pellet and boilies, and now whilst carp hopefully are nosing around at least one or two of the areas I’ll get rigged up.

It’s the sort of day where one chance might be all I get, the wind seems to be keeping fish in deeper water. I always catapult a tiny pouch of pellets in or flick a few whole and half boilies in over the spot before the rig is swung into position.

This tends to slightly unsettle fish so they drift away briefly but prevents you spooking them for good by dropping a rig directly on their head. A good tip - remember it!

SMART CARPING

7

With the Sawn-Off ready to fish it’s time to creep around and see if anyone is at home over any of the bait. I love the anticipation of this sort of fishing, you’re never sure what you might find feeding. It’s important to check the spots in the same order you baited them to give the carp the most time to feed and settle. The first spot I baited is the first one checked and so on.

8

11

12

The margins are clear gravel so it was a good drop on the lead, and I’ve put the rig a bit further down the shelf than I would ordinarily. Now it’s a waiting game, and time to keep a very sharp eye on the line from the rod tip where it enters the water. Any slight lifting and falling of the line will tell me there are carp back in over the spot and a take could be imminent.

Making the most of the time available means being organised. I’ve got a matchman’s style maggot tub with a dozen Webcast bags of pellet already tied up and all prethreaded on baited hooklinks ready to be attached to the end tackle. The box stays in with the bait in the bucket until I need it, and the bags will last indefinitely.

Result! The first five minutes was quiet, but a couple of very small movements of the line had me poised.

Seconds later the rod pulled along the floor and the culprit was this lovely upper double common who looks like he might even have a bit of ghost or koi in him. It’s only 90 minutes since I left work and instead of pushing my luck I’m taking what I’ve been offered today and heading home with a bonus carp in the album – brilliant!

www.nashtackle.co.uk

93

ISSUE 24 • SUMMER 2016