Southampton based carp connoisseur David Meek has been stacking them up like breeze blocks this year, not least on his latest session on a southern stillwater where the action was so frenetic that he barely had time to finish his lunch… ‘I arrived in the afternoon, finding that the swim I would have liked to have fished was taken. I know that you should never know what swim you want […]

Carl Udry from Thatcham kindly sent us a link to this photo of him which appeared in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday (Carl is wearing the ESP bucket hat). The keen carp angler was fortunate enough to be at Trent Bridge a couple of weeks ago to witness Stuart Broad (pictured below with Carl) destroy the Australian batting in the fourth test and ultimately help reclaim the Ashes. Thanks Carl, lovely […]

We visited Stu Lennox at the Blue Pool near Reading to film his PVA bag edge which helps account for loads of carp wherever he goes. You might think PVA bags have been done to death in the media, but Stu’s technique is a bit different to the run of the mill. The way Stu constructs the bag, plus the bait ingredients he includes and why he uses them makes […]

Dave Robinson has been catching some stunning fish from a large venue in the Lea Valley. Here he brings us up to date with happenings since the start of the season: ‘June 16th finally came round and I received my ticket for a large boating lake in the Lea Valley. I had waited years for my chance and it had finally come. I had always been interested in lots of […]

Marcus Howarth has been in touch with news of his annual trip in search of Belgian warlocks. After a slow start it turned out to be a productive trip: ‘For me, Gaz and Elmo the wait was over, we were on our way to lands afar. We arrived in the early hours of the morning and had a good walk around, it was good to be back. This trip was […]

Kev Hewitt continues his Top Tips series, this time focusing on location in high summer. ‘The summer is finally in full flow and that big ball of fire up above beaming through the layers of rippled water makes location a whole lot easier than in the colder months. Fish can be found easier by close observation but their lethargic nature means that finding fish simply is not enough to guarantee […]

Southampton based hauler David Meek has been having a consistent run this summer, catching some lovely carp along the way. In his own unique style Dave brings us right up to date with news of his latest trip earlier this week: ‘I’m enjoying myself at the moment, and the change in venue has been just what I needed. Getting the chance to catch some lovely looking carp. However I have […]

Martin Bowler has just started filming a new DVD on Little Horseshoe lake near South Cerney – and the trip culminated in some tremendous action for the cameras. Martin said ‘ I had 14 runs landing 11 which I think amounts to a quarter of the stock so I got lucky!’ Martin was testing prototypes of a new ESP Beaked Point pattern – with no complaints. He commented that on […]

With us already well into the river season I thought it was about time I did a tip or two on river carping. One question I’m often asked is, “Where should I start?”. I know some of the larger rivers can seem a bit daunting at first, but the good thing is they’re normally very quiet with little in the way of angling pressure. The carp act quite naturally and […]

Underground big carp slayer Joe Forrester has given us the nod on an alternative leader knot for attaching leadcore to the mainline, here’s the lowdown from Joe: ‘I came across this knot by chance a few years ago. I was unhappy with the strength of a standard needle knot, when tying my leaders on to my rods I’d often have to tie numerous knots to get one that I was […]