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A big Roach that fell to maggot's flavoured with Turmeric.
It just goes to show... Just packing away the last of my tackle when the remaining rod tears off. The result a new personal best Mirror Carp.
Here I am at the Korda Academy at Chillham Mill. A proud moment seeing my two pupils Ben and Jake getting their certificates. Well done guys.
AGE: 43
LOCATION: Monmouthshire
OCCUPATION: Materials Control Team Leader / Angling Coach
I have been very fortunate to have caught a variety of species to a large size.
Current Personal Bests:
Barbel 13.03
Bream 13.06
Carp (UK) 41.15 (Mirror), 38.14(Common)
Catfish 47.11
Chub 8.01
Perch 3.06
Pike 35.06
Roach 3.10
Rudd 3.05
Tench 8.15
Other achievements are 2 Times winner British Carp Angling Championships. Lifetime member of English Carp Heritage Organsisation. Have represented NFA Carp Team England in Russia 2006 & Serbia 2007.
I'm also a qualified angling coach and attend the annual Korda Academy event and enjoy helping the students achieve their graduations.
I also write regularly in various angling magazines and often supplement them with my own photographs.
To be honest I have been lucky enough to catch a large variety of specimen fish of most species. To single out only one capture would be impossible so I'll cherry pick a few of my favourites.
Catching a brace of Roach of 3.10 & 3.05 in consecutive casts followed by 6 fish over 2.12 during 1 nights fishing.
Also catching an 8lb Chub on the float by design was a high. I arrived to find the Dorset Stour in perfect condition after a very cold spell with no one else on the bank I just knew that I'd catch.
After a couple of hours of spraying maggots I decided to have a trot down. Sure enough the float 'thumped' under and after a heavy fight a big chub was landed. At first glance I thought a big six, though my friend Theo was screaming '7' at me. We were both shocked when the scales read over eight though!
Winning the British Carp Angling Championships in 2002 with my partner Bryan Jarrett was great as well. Many anglers that I respected were competing in the final and to have them pass on there congratulations was indeed a great honour.
I would dearly love to win the Drennan Cup though time prevents me from being a serious contender. A Gold medal for the England Carp team would also be a dream comes true.
The main one though would be to continue enjoying fishing clean quality waters with like minded anglers.
Aside from fishing I will continue to develop my coaching and would like to help teach people with learning difficulties.
Also I have a couple of book projects underway and would eventually like to see their fruition.
Rods: For my long range exploits I use 12' Infinity 3.75 Tc, my other set up comprises 12' Infinity Slim Power 3lb Tc.
Reels: Basia 45 reels complement my long range rods, while I use Entoh 4500 on the Slim Power.
Spend as much time as possible trying to locate your quarry. Location is the number one factor and 30 minutes in the right area is worth days angling in the wrong one.
Always ensure that you use a sharp hook. Check the point each and every cast. If in doubt discard and tie on a new one.
Most of my Carp fishing is done on short overnight sessions and has been that way for over 25 years. It is hard work especially when fishing the tougher low stock venues etc. That said when success comes it bears the fruits of all your hard work.
One method I love to catch carp though is either by using Zig rigs or floater fishing. Both methods are very under used on a lot of venues, but both can be devastatingly successful.
I also love trotting for chub during the winter months. Fishing a river in good winter trim is a great experience and catching a big fat chub on the float is about as good as it gets.
I am very keen on photography and particularly enjoy both landscape and Macro (close up). I also have a deep passion for electronic music, and listen to all genres & styles from Gary Numan through to progressive house music and beyond...
My other passion is collecting angling books; I have over 600 with many of them signed by their authors & contributors. Favourites would be Quest for Carp by Jack Hilton and Red Letter Days edited by Peter Rogers.
In my younger days, I used to love Parachuting. Any funds raised would go to charity.
I also used to DJ regularly playing once or twice a week.
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