Welcome to the OutKast, the podcast from Outlaw Pro, the ultimate angling experience.
So here we are back again in the OutKast podcast studio down here in sunny Billeriki,
Essex and I have got a real treat for you coming up. We have got a very very special guest today,
somebody that's been around the track a fair bit I think it's fair to say and he's got a
brilliant sense of humour. Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome Leon Bartrop. Hello. Hello mate,
thanks for having me. Long time no speak no see. Absolutely we've waved at each other. Yeah at the
shows. At shows but yeah it's been a while since we've been on the bank together mate isn't it?
Is it, it's got to be when we've done Extreme Carp wasn't it? How many years ago is that? Right well
there's going to be lots of people listening to this that probably weren't even born then.
Extreme Carp was a TV program that we ran on Sky for three years I think 2005, 6 and 7 but I think
it was 2006. So that's 17 years ago. 17 years. I'll tell you what mate you're looking good.
We haven't aged at all. I don't feel it inside. Well that's one of the nice things about being an
angler isn't it, we don't age. No we don't. We're out in the sun, we're out in the pressure here
aren't we? Yeah absolutely. Lots of oxygen. Absolutely so yeah fair play. 17 years back in
the saddle again. Under the spotlight let's have a chat about your fishing. Where are you fishing
at the moment? What do you do? Last couple of years I've been up in the Cambridgeshire area
right at St Ives and then at the Walled Pack and it just suits my type of fishing. You've got
fishing there over 50 years old and the most important thing apart from those really old
historical fishes that it's fairly quiet. Yeah and I don't know if you're like me the older you get
the grumpier you get. The more grumpier you get and someone casting you swim and you're losing the plot
a little bit and it's a bit more gentlemanly like you know there's not as much intensity
it's um I think that's why I've been fishing for so long I just enjoy it. Well there's different
types of fishing isn't it? I remember just you saying about Walled Pack then, me and Crowey
went there when it first opened as a day ticket. So that would be very early 90s I think when it
had just set up when we were doing the day ticket course's features. I remember yeah. And yeah that
would have been well to be honest I can't remember but it would have been early 90s. I remember it
being lovely very clear water and some really nice scaly looking things in there. You've got like four
lakes on the complex you're like four like five six like seven like eight. Because you would have
they wouldn't start at one would they? Well that's a bit further up that's owned by someone else one
two and three is like a private syndicate as well. Okay. We have some just as impressive fishing there
that you don't hear a lot about but a few you know old school anglers fishing and that. But it's
just really old fish proper gravel pits with weed and bars and overhangs and just old wrinkly old
camber shit carp. Cambridge is amazing isn't it? It was well actually it was in Cambridge that
that was the last place that we fished together. It was wasn't it? Different type of venue but um.
Was it Willow? Was it Willow? I think it was Willow. Enver Moodham wasn't it? Yeah. We'd done
um trying to catch them and that and yes yeah yeah it was great fun wasn't it? Yes I remember it being
was it was it quite hot then as well and did it rain overnight? I think so yeah. Anyway but that's
anyway look that's that's a long time ago but let's talk Cambridge then because it's it's an
incredible county for carp Cambridge. Yeah. You know from from the border with Lincolnshire it
seems to have come into its own over the last few years you know there's always been big fish there
the fat lady was a big fish a real target fish over the years but you know. You've got Grenville
as well haven't you there? Exactly. It's literally there's so many you've got Ternage, you've got
Grenville, you've got lots of different lakes around that area you've even got the Riveroos with
carp in even though the predators and otters have diminished them quite a lot you've still got carp
in there they're a real achievement to catch one out there. Well you know one of the things I was
going to say is there's something in the water up there. Most definitely. The fish in Cambridge
just seem to grow really really big you know and it doesn't matter whereabouts you are like is
Deepings Cambridge or is that Lincolnshire? I think that's Peterborough. I think it might still
be Cambridge I think but right on the border to be fair. Yeah it's all that sort of you know that
county just seems to be the big fish county. The more you think about it the more you think oh yeah
that water you've got like the folly which is up there as well and you've got all these waters oh
yeah that one that one's got some big ones in that one. It's carp county for me Cambridge you know
and over the last 10 years it's become carp county I think maybe 15 years now. But too what I like
about it also is that you can where it's not so busy you can actually get on with your fishing
how you want to fish. Yes. Something I've done this year I've just gone back to catapult,
frying stick, 18 mil boilies, tiger nuts, braided ooklings just going back 30 years to how you used
to fish it. Well you know when we fish in competition you can't go in with a style or a standard you have
to adapt and I think that's one of the good things about for me competition fishing also doing the
all day ticket thing that when you're traveling around different waters you've got to be adaptable
and I think there's a lot of people these days that tend to jump on either a going rig or a going
method. It's always sort of been like that but the better anglers are the ones that can think the way
around a problem and you know prime example how often do you see a throwing stick. Now we won the
world championships with the throwing stick last year it's as simple as that throwing stick and
solubles that's what won the world champs and yet you know other people other years should I say it
would be spodding other years it was a solid bag you've got to be adaptable and and I just don't see
throwing sticks and boilies that much. I don't see them at all. It's crazy it's such a good method.
You see a catapult, frying stick it's less disturbance than a spawn I mean I do use a spawn
and a spod and that type of thing I've gone on to using a um like a caulder is it a wind something
or it doesn't make as much noise. Oh right. So it's like it's all about where I'm fishing
try not to make as much noise with two heavy leads I'm using like little like two ounce leads and
I'm using stringers stringers I mean a lot of people go what's that stringers are brilliant
you know or three bait pva mesh sort of triangles and pulling them through the old hemorrhoid rig.
That's the way. Leon's got the hemorrhoid. It's like it's it didn't stop working we just go on
to different things don't we and you know a carp these days they get so much pressure everywhere
that I think they're conditioned yes and as as much as you can condition them to eat on the spod
there'll be other times where you'll condition them to shy off it yeah and that's where being
adaptable and you know that boring side of things really counts. Do you do you find that you catch
bigger fish on boilie? Do you think because that's the old school view isn't it you know
particles are good but it swings around about I think you do but the thing is if you're all
using boilie on the lake you're going to catch the bigger fish aren't you yeah but if you're
all using particle then you're going to catch the bigger fish if everyone uses like the ronnie rig
brilliant rig never used it myself. Oh you're missing out I probably am but it is shaped up.
I've properly shaped on that it's like everyone's forgotten about the chod rig yeah that's what
had its day and it got quite a bit uh used and fish were falling off and all that so people
forgot about it yeah five six seven eight nine years ago now's the time to get back on it it
didn't stop being the good rig yeah still a good rig tell you it's time the ronnie had been to get
back onto it yeah I just it's almost like the ronnie was a development of the chod rig though
because it made chod rig fishing that little bit safer yeah as in they didn't fall off as much
brilliant rig I tell you what I found with the chod actually I find that the chod is pretty good
when there's craze around and yeah you know craze are a pain in the ass at any time aren't they they
just absolutely batter you but using like a choddy especially with a screw rather than with a some
sort of a stop then I think the craze find it a little bit harder to deal with yeah so I mean I've
fished a few lakes over the years with craze and they're um it's just a bloody nightmare but there's
a few things I did uh was one use lots of bait yeah so you're feeding them off sort of thing
two fish seal the areas they don't like the open not keen on that and um don't use things like
lead core anything with lead in it they're on it and biting it and eating it like you know they
love a rig component they'll don't they they'll take your hair stop it's hair stop everything
before now not that the bait was crap but with with a previous bait I was using you'd have the
bait it'll come back in you think brilliant and then you'd find that your hair stops gone and
they've nipped the loop you think you're absolute bastards another good one the rig which we used to
use uh is that the little turenum feeders used to cut the ends off put the put paste in them yeah
and then wrap it around it boil it but they couldn't get the paste inside it's plastic yeah I
don't think they sell them little feeders anymore not the tiny ones or wooden balls put loads of
flavor yeah in a wooden bowl and use that they can't they can't eat it yeah I think the the
I would rather feed them off and use bait if I can do and and we've suddenly gone off on a
completely different tangent we're on cray tips now um what we found out at abbey lakes when I
set abbey lakes up over there there were so many crayfish in there and what we find was liver bait
seemed to put them off and you would think that liver would be exactly what they want but they
didn't like liver that much the other one is 22 mil halibut pellets because they absolutely love
a 22 mil halibut palette one because it's a big halibut pellet but two because they've got something
to play with because you know unless they're really big they just do that for ages on it so
all they're doing is they're breaking the bait up for you making noise yeah wow yeah everything's
going I didn't think of it that way so using craze to your advantage by actually putting 22
mil halibut pellets and then fishing boilie by the side of it if you put halibut pellet and a boilie
next door to each other I can guarantee the majority of craze I've ever met will go for that
rather than that and yeah it's cool I remember another little craze story it was on when I used
to do the carpology below the surface films or features such an insight they were unbelievable
brilliant fun got finchie out on it was a lake in the cotswold I've forgotten the name of it and he's
casting to the back of a bar and he's incredibly accurate finchie and he's chucked his rig just on
the back of the bar and it's landed with the donkeys got yeah that's perfect and he was using
tiger line at the time and I'm trying to follow this tiger line and I cannot see it it's that good
underwater and if you can't see what you're trying to follow obviously you get lost and I'm searching
around for ages trying to find this rig and I could not find it and then I saw the lead right
by the side of a crayfish hole now crayfish tend to love to sit on bars yeah yeah and and their
their nest looks a bit like a badger set okay so small version of that so the lead is at the
entrance to the badger set you can imagine the cray sit there in his nest fringes cast out the
lead's gone funk by the side and he's gone oh I love that he's pulled it he's pulled the rig back
in the set yeah so you imagine it's not fishing ever never never in a million years no not a chance
it's actually back down the hole so yeah interesting interesting stuff interesting stuff um look we've
talked about the carpology features you are very very active on media social media in particular
youtube it's one of the things that you're you're known for and you've got a really interesting style
as well you've done some good stuff yeah you've got to enjoy yourself haven't you you've got to have a bit of fun it's not all about
catching and yeah it's great to catch but I mean like we've yeah we've done some weird and wonderful
things on youtube and that like uh firing the front is that the one you're thinking of in particularly
funnily enough yes firing the frontier I mean you know as um as somebody that's involved in media
you always want to do something that either pushes or even breaks the boundary of what's on there and
for it to be so different everybody looks at it and to be fair that was um it's just a bit of fun
I remember I got a phone call I think from um Lewis yeah oh he messaged me outside he said do you fancy
doing something a little bit different you know I'm quite independent I use lots of different
people's gear he says what did you have in mind exactly you know this guy on youtube and that we
want to replicate that with uh mozza and that and I thought as soon as he said my way right I mean
that would be absolutely crazy uh and yeah it's just real really good fun it did cause a bit of
controversy in the fishing world some people absolutely loved it and come and other people
like really hated it what is going on that's good media well it was for those of you that don't know
what we're talking about have a look on youtube and have a look at fire in the frontier on youtube
it's on the fox channel yes yeah and basically what happened was mozza is mc mozza and I've got
what a talented man mozza is yeah you know he really is he's great with his editing he's a good
angler he's a good cameraman he's actually a really good mc yeah uh so he was rapping and you were dj
dj b trop dj b trop yeah I was um I can't remember the guy's name I was I was meant to be uh but I
had all the chains on the hat on and give it mozza his prompts and that and man them this and seagulls
and all this sort of stuff it was just well we could stop laughing half the time when we was
filming it um it was just really good fun and it was just you know you got to take yourself a little
bit not serious sometimes haven't you pushing pushing the boundaries of advertising that
pushing the boundaries of advertising talking about serious there was a few people that reacted
quite badly to it what's carp fishing becoming and all of that it's weird yeah I mean it's I
don't know I don't understand it myself but it's you just got to see it what it is bit of fun
bit of joke have a laugh you know but people are getting really like that's not carp fishing and
these are okay you know how do you cope with trolls do you get trolled a lot because you
um you do some anti stuff no I don't really um there's two ways of dealing with it dealing with
it is is that you have a agreeing go yes well yeah yeah and then they got nowhere to go yeah
uh or you just ban them off your page or whatever I tend to go the other way and lead the comments
on there yeah so it makes them look even sillier than what I think they look like you know just
agree yeah you're right or never get into an argument there's no point no life's too short
no no that's what they want they're looking for a reaction yes so what's the point yeah there's
you're only fueling more madness yeah yeah well more negativity talking about madness as well you
know firing the frontier was pretty wacky um picnic time yes we did picnic time with mark pitchers we
did that um I actually for about four or five months well knew is good another great idea of
louis's and harry's I think uh and I grew a beard with a hand above mustache and a little goatee and
that wore a red red and white striped jacket a straw hat and we was doing picnic and that and
that was that was an almost fun as well that was great great fun what was the idea behind that
just talking about food or yeah it was just talking about what my favorite cheese was and it just got
all a bit out of hand really yeah that was really it's just really good fun uh but the problem with
it was it was going to be a series so mark was going to have lots of different people on that
during picnic time yes but we've done it so well and it was so good that there was nowhere else
to go with it so we sort of done ourselves out of a doing a series really yeah crazy so biscuit time
was um oh you have biscuit I love a biscuit as you can see we that's something I do I've done on
youtube channel on me um on me catch my carp subscription we do biscuit in a week as well
um it's it's quite mad as well that a lot of guys I speak to or I've subscribed as I look at the
youtube and that they say the only time I can watch fishing my missus lets me is either when
you reach to have your little dog yeah pork chop or when we're doing biscuit in a week because
the missus go what biscuit has he got so he can watch all of his fishing programs then it's amazing
what appeals to people but it shows that it's not all about just technical stuff or teaching or look
how great I am it's you know let's face it a lot of the time people want to be entertained as well
as instructive don't they so yeah it's entertainment or you've got to give value you know we've got to
entertain someone give them something they can take into their own fishing value wise not just
like this is a rig but it's like all right okay well can you actually show me how to tie it okay
yeah but why do you use that particular material in your opinion why do you not because you're
sponsored or why do you use that bit of material whatever that's what people want to know yeah and
running a social media marketing company if you just youtube if you look at the stats of that
the most thing you'd think right this is how I'm going to get loads of views holding the fish up
you look at your stats and the analytics as soon as you get to that person holding the fish up
if you strop I used to think why is that and it's because people don't want to see you catching it
they want you to tell them how to catch that fish yeah so it's it's it's around about the other way
or what you perceive it should be like it's it's an interesting um interesting concept as well
isn't it that that there are so many different channels of social media out there now too yeah
that different people consume their media in a slightly different way and different platforms
appeal to different people so you know you can have something that raves really well on youtube
that absolutely drops on the floor on tiktok and it's it's partly down to putting the right thing
on the right platform but also the audience appeal as well very very different audiences
different social media channels attract as you say different people different age groups different
demographics facebook is more of your older demographic more of your sort of like 40 50
year olds your tiktok's a lot younger we're a tiktok generation i would say um tiktok
generation is probably that's me you're sort of up to 25 the 30s that's probably just coming out
tiktok generation and then you've got like instagram is quite young it's like 25 to about
40 yeah as well so it's um something that doesn't do very well in the uk is like x or twitter yeah
it's called x now well it's just people having political arguments and stating America's massive
it's ridiculous but it's um it's never really taken off in the uk sort of thing all i ever see on
tiktok on x or um twitter yeah is is politics and arguments and people trying to force their view
on you you know tiktok seems to be ridiculous entertainment of either people taking the clothes
off or doing stupid dances yeah but that's that's really growing that is taking the clothes off
yeah there you go folks you've heard it first take those on tiktok you get a million views
youtube's a really good channel as well you know it's like if you want to learn anything or how do
i tie that or how do i change my will youtube is the biggest search engine in the world it's the
encyclopedia britannica for those of us that are old enough to remember if you want to know a fact
then then it's there somewhere isn't it and youtube is the the best heines manual that there is if i
want to know anything about anything yeah there's got to be a video on youtube about it yes you know
why does the sun go around the whatever is you put that in you go there's some professor telling you
or or how do i paint my living room yeah it's all on there how do you paint my living room
let's let's talk jobs then because you've got a very interesting past too you you you are currently
a media guru effectively yeah so yeah let's not blame me on trumping you're doing pretty well at
it mate you've been doing it for a long time and you're pretty good at it the thing is with with um
i don't really tell anybody what i've done for the last 10 15 years doing i i help set up lots of
different fishing companies media sticky base erm base total fishing tackle western development
summit tackle i've sort of gone in there for one two three years showing them how they can do it
and then they take it in house and do their thing sort of thing um it just gives me a buzz learning
how to grow someone's channel give them more traffic on youtube or facebook or instagram
or tiktok or you know give them more sales or it's just it gives it's my thing it's what i like doing
um and i realized many many years ago when i was a consultant with different companies that
when i go out with photographers and that and it's like i'd learn as much as i could from them
so i started off my business taking product shots and then doing videos of a product or
whatever it is and then and then social media sort of come along 10 15 years ago learn any
everything i could self-taught done some you know courses and things like that and just
i'm constantly looking at videos and talking to people in america talking to instagram talk to
facebook how does this work how does that it's always changing it's always changing and you know
i get paid well for helping companies grow their traffic and their profits a lot of my business
now has gone away from the fishing side and i do a lot of my business with um dentists with uh you
know care homes yeah things like that which is um uh filming and editing and it's just lots of
things like that just i really enjoy it yes yeah it's it you know one of the questions that i used
to get asked an awful lot of the time was how do i get involved in the angling trade and you know
loads of kids want to get involved in the angling trade or the angling industry in some way shape
or form and and back in the day really the way that you got involved was you used to work in a
tackle shop originally catch a few fish wasn't it well catch a few fish and hope to become sponsored
or alternatively you work in a tackle shop as the saturday boy and work your way up and then doors
open after it yeah um nowadays social media and media in particular seems to be a way that people
can get in but it's not all about you and catching fish it's about how you can promote the brand that
you're trying to work for in fact the fish that you're catching is probably the lesser amount of
that 100 definitely uh i get lots of messages from people saying oh i'd love to do what you do you're
a full-time angler well i'm not a full-time angler you know i'm furthest from it you can imagine how
do i get into the industry i said look go to college do your thing have your side hustle yeah
learn out about photography learn out film properly i mean you've got to look at on social media every
two or three four months nash or fox like um we need a new videographer yeah we need a new guy
to work in our media team expanding all the time you know yeah if you've got fishing experience and
you sort of know how to do that yeah you've got a chance to get that job this lack of videographers
in this industry yeah yeah you're not getting a job as a full-time sponsored angler never in a
million years just from nowhere you're just not getting it it's not happening it's not happening
ever again you've got to bring something catching fish is a bonus yeah you've got to be able to bring
your good with um as graphic designer or you're good as a videographer or an editor or social media
marketer or you know you're you're good at packing stuff in a warehouse yes whatever it is bring
something to the business nothing to really do with fishing that's just a bonus that you can work
your way into yeah with that company absolutely well let's let's talk about your job prior to that
as well because you've had quite an interesting past as well it's not fishing related but it is
quite interesting so you you served for a while you were in the raft i was in the raft where i was
very young so for four years i think yeah uh had a i got medically discharged from there because i had
an accident right so i had to come out of that when i worked in the city um temping and worked my up to
being a uh stock broker would you believe i used to buy and sell shares for these big companies
and that and uh yeah that was good i mean the most business we ever done in one year just myself was
a hundred million pounds right we did of just buying and selling shares for clients yeah uh i
actually got bored of that because i wasn't doing any fishing i was just working constantly money was
brilliant yeah but there's more to life than money i know it sounds silly but i went and worked i went
and worked on um from doing that i've always always get quite bored so heads why i like social
mediums is forever changing so i went from there and worked on the big bp ships pumping all the
old oil for bp into the in all the barrels all that sort of stuff hooking them up and pumping
them out did that for four or five years um and then got bored of doing that and then went into
work for the government as uh as a um a prison officer at belmarsh dealing with all the terrorists
like abu hamza and all these sort of guys so it's been a crazy that must have been a real a real i
opener there what real i have a hostile environment very hostile that was one of the reasons i left
there as well was because it was just getting too dangerous government cutting back on everything
you won't get as many officers in charge now i mean it was it was different every day that's why i
liked it was different all the time um and once or twice particularly this one time i won't tell
his name but i was working one day and i opened up my door went all right mate how are you sort of
thing it was another fisherman that i knew is it you know that you'd be put in there and it was like
don't tell anyone you're in here because they ship you out they know we're friends yeah it was um
um yeah it was a couple of times you'd be going about your work and all that sort of stuff you
get all right where are you going fishing this week and all this stuff so it was um
interesting always something happening uh but at that same time i started really getting into
social media yeah really getting into photography videography that type of stuff and um yeah just
left there built my business doing that and um yeah still do it now yeah so what um you've done
a bit of coaching as well yes i passed my level two coaching exam i was on the same course
who else was on there we had um who's the guy from up uh lester really good angle with with uh
caulder can't remember his name now um can't remember his name but we was on the same course
course together this has got to be 20 years ago yeah uh yeah and i did a did a few
uh courses and then went out took people to linear and all that type of stuff one particular one
particular client of mine you probably know him very well actually a little quick little story
was um this guy messaged me wrote me up and he said uh i want to come out with you i want you
to show me how to tie this rig do this bit of casting show that i'm a chef so he said at the
moment i'm a chef i've come out of me i cook the food and all that we went out had a really good
time really good guy showed him loads of things at linear about a year later he said i want to
rebook you again went out showed him a few more rigs oh this particular rig and all that type of
stuff and um and i still speak to this guy to now and he actually fished for england england team
uh bonesy all right yeah now you said he's a chef yes bonesy and we all have a giggle now and i see
him talking to someone okay yeah tell him uh who taught you how to go carpentry and all that and he
he's great about it it's really good but yeah yeah just just shows on it it does you know when
you've been around a long time you know prime example i've obviously you've been around a long
time i've been around a long time as well people turn around and go i you can only get in the
england team if you're a mate of rob it's like well that's not the case at all all of the england
team are my mates but i've been around so long that i know almost anybody yes and as the england
manager it's my job to know everybody if they're any good so i already know you yeah if i don't
know you the the chances are you haven't come on my radar yeah and if you haven't come on my radar
yeah there's a reason for that you're not doing what you need to do you're not winning matches
you're not doing to be able to get on the radar i mean i look at the same i look at the england
teams that we've had and we've done so well and i think well yeah yeah yeah there's not much anything
what's he doing in there it's like yeah 100% well yeah the the door's always open yeah so the door's
always open if anybody out there and i'll say this straight down the barrel of the car if anybody out
there wants a place in the england squad no problem the door is always open i would love to welcome
you in all you've got to do is beat the people that are already in it simple as that just go out and
beat them prove you can do it not just as luck but you know ideally twice and i'll be all over you
absolutely all over you it's a really really simple open door walk through it just go out and beat my
boys simple as that yeah so it should be or not as a merit maybe yeah i mean i know some of them guys it's like
how can you catch that many fish doing what you're doing yeah you know it's just it's a talent isn't
it it's a talent hard hard work well we've got the world championships coming up by the time this podcast
goes out it will have been uh but we go out next week so yeah it's going to be going to be interesting
stuff it's going to be interesting stuff so what what's next then you you're obviously busy at the
moment uh do you target a fish do you just go out and enjoy your fishing i just go out and enjoy my fishing now
i think that's why i've been doing it for so long and i enjoy i'm buzzing to go out every week
yeah uh it's like i look at modern day carp fishing now and it's changed such a lot since we started it really has
but it's it's not always changed for the better either i don't think you've got a lot of really intense anglers
who want to be famous and they want to do this and they've got to catch that fish a lot of time it's
not only detrimental to the other people fishing the lakes detrimental to themselves as they burn
out and they go and they you know now and again you'll see um a guy who i said well what happened to you
oh yeah i give it up it was too much and all that sort of thing um but just enjoy i just enjoy it i'm
in no rush i'm in no rush to catch every fish in the lake i want to enjoy myself i don't want to
catch the biggest fish or the one i'm after straight away yeah i want to enjoy i want to enjoy the
journey i don't know if that's an age thing i think it is i was i was about to step in there and say
just before you said it but i think it is an age thing that as you get older you realize that it's
not about the results it's about the journey and and for me now as well it's about the people that
i meet yes on the way there don't get me wrong i've got different types of fishing there's work
fishing which is out and out work and that is whatever it is then there's my own social fishing
then there's competitive fishing then there's challenge fishing you know and if the challenge
is to go and catch a certain fish from a certain place then out and out that's the challenge you've
got to do that um but for my own pleasure fishing it's it's more about where i am and who i'm with
yeah then actually what i'm likely to catch yes yeah it used to all be originally when i was
younger about weight and size i've got to catch that big one i've got to catch this one i've got
to target that one got to do that but as you get older it's definitely the enjoyment of it you know
it's an enjoyable sport yeah you know what we see as anglers 99.9 percent of this world never see
the sunset the the bird the kingfisher the what we take for granted when we're younger now i'm
older i really enjoy the hour in the evening and i you know you it's what life's about to me yeah
it's interesting our trends go again we talked about it with baits but um again you know as i
was coming through the ranks as it were in the late 80s early 90s you looked up to the likes of
richard mcdonald there was an upcoming young fella called terry hernie who was going out and
catching a few fish as well and it was all about the big fish and the hard ones to catch back then
yeah now i think that is is all we're still up there but instead of there just being one mountain
there's a full range of mountains you know mountain two is the competition side of things
mountain three is the challenge of where you're going in the environment and you know alan blair
to be fair and the boys from nash have got to take a lot of credit because you know if you look at
size with them it's absolutely not about size it's absolutely about journey which is the opposite
it's the opposite it doesn't matter how big or small they are in fact most of them are small
aren't they we say okay it's just about that one rod that walking along you're just enjoying
yourself doesn't have to be there for a week yeah it's something that everybody can associate with
right i've got an afternoon i want to go down my local pond or my little club lake and i want to
get underneath that tree and flick a thing half a wrap in it yeah or you know and just enjoy flow
as bread bomb business and all that sort of stuff going on and it is brilliant isn't it really well
it's such it's such a broad church fishing isn't it carp fishing in particular you know that
though whatever you want to do do it and this is almost a message that i reiterate every time a
guest comes in there that actually we all fish for the same fish yeah we all fish with slightly
different intensities and also with slightly different methods as well and there isn't a
right or a wrong answer well that's why it's so good isn't it that's why i've been fishing for
so long and most of like our sort of age group is uh it's because it's it's not just this day do it
that's it it's forever changing you're fishing different venues every session is different
every you may try a different rig you may try different baiting process you're going to get
the rolly no get yourself on the rolly go on i tell i did cast it out i cast it out on all three rods
cast it out i was sitting there holding my head i went i reeled them all in oh you see i'm going
the other way i couldn't i couldn't i couldn't do it i've gone the other way with it i was looking
at it thinking oh you know what there's too much metal work on it for me and i tied one up to have
a look at it i think actually it might have been i was on an underwater shoot and someone had got
one on and i looked at how it laid and how it presented and i just thought you know what yeah
i can see why that works i think sometimes if we're being techie now i think sometimes people
use too much metal work yep on the bottom of it and it and it makes it a really obvious rig
but if you finesse it down and put the weight into it with a blob of putty rather than a load of iron
then actually i think it works well i use a 360 rather than a roni see i like a 360 and i don't
put any weight on it or anything it's just that i mean it's not a plug but i use like the little
12 mil cc more normal specials yes yeah and a size four hook curved shank or medium shank
rich monkey whatever it is and it just sinks it perfectly every time the thing let's let's have
rig debate now because for me i never really got into the 360 and i know back in the day i was out
filming i think it was with laney and we were on the blue pool you know a long old time ago and he
had one and it just got caught up in the net yeah there's what see that's a common mistake that's
made as well what you need to do and like some of my videos i've done is that like a safe 360
yeah need to have a little bit of silicon on the end or a bit of rig shrink tube on the end yeah
which you've steamed on there and you don't get any problem but then what happens when you do that
is actually it becomes a roni just with a slightly different configuration of of instead of an eye
going through an eye it's an eye going on to a hook but it's not far off the same yeah i mean
it's not a lot of difference really if you get that the degree i just think you get more movement
yeah with it but it's like all things in fishing it's what you're confident with will catch it's
not you're on this new super bait there isn't a super bait you're not on the new this or this rig
or that rod or what do you think of the twig then the twig now i bought a i bought one the twigs
okay i thought i'm not going to say anything about the twig until i've actually seen it
okay in the meantime of ordering it and getting it i saw crory put out a video saying this isn't new
25 years ago me yeah and hughsey yeah we put it in the book or we was going to put in the book
and so i did it went in strategic and we was told we couldn't promote it because it was
unethical oh tim paisley gave us a real bollocky i can imagine yeah so he like you know we were
talking of angling legends yes you got me started fishing he did oh he's an absolute superstar
sorry i'm just having a look to see if i can see it there uh there's the aug twin airbag method
balance in pva uh i don't i think this was yeah this was the foreign reversion of strategic
carp fishing but yeah he didn't put it in there but he come out and said it was like paisley had
said to him like you know it's ethical yeah um so i thought i'll get one make up my own mind so i
looked at it and i thought if you'd put that inside the lead there would have been no problem at all
if you'd actually put that yeah that contraption inside of a lead yeah trigger lead would have been
would have been the best new addition to angling yeah but it's too exposed the things come out i
personally won't use it i won't knock anyone else for using it but i just think you're gonna
one thing that no one's really mentioned is the size of the flanks of the fish yeah you're gonna
take scales off with it gonna get caught in weed i mean i know at the end of the day you're putting
a hook in a fish's mouth you're dragging it into the net anyway if you look at it that way but
it's not for me i think it just causes a little bit more harm possible harm it's in the use of
the anger as well so you gotta think of all different situations that someone would use it
and if they're inexperienced or it's that's i think that was that was the big advantage of the one
that that me and chloe put together because actually it didn't have the arms that came off
it was literally just one little stick that came off that you effectively pre-loaded your hook link
onto and then when the fish picked it up it pricked it and then after that it all flipped
around i saw something very similar back in darth in the late 80s early 90s there was a guy on there
and he was using something very slimmer he'd use an arm he'd load it cast it out yeah and then it
would flip like that so probably the same sort of thing he used a coated wire hook link oh right
okay which is um yeah no we didn't use that yeah it's like a wire trace it would be like a spring
lock indicator like a spring exactly the same thing that's what he was using it would go pink
and it was it clip it up cast it out pva the other side and it would be sitting there and he caught
and he caught loads of fish out of darth back in the day you know late 80s early 90s definitely
different rig but similar principle yeah isn't it yeah but it's i mean it's it's the way it's been
built by the chinese whoever's made it you've got that spring in there if you pull it out it
actually goes at a right angle yeah i looked at it and it you know i'm not slacking off alley or
anything just my opinion see i think personally i think time's moved on now and i think the concept
of it isn't unethical no i think the concept's brilliant so so where in the past we were we were
pulled to order because it was like no you can't do that i think nowadays things have moved on
quite a lot i was going to say the world's turned it's probably turned dozens of times since then
so i don't think it's an ethical issue i think it's a practical issue yes uh with with fish
safety issues for me yeah um someone could use it a thousand times and never have a problem it's that
one time yeah that you could get tethered up in ween or whatever it is um as i say for all
them tackle companies out there if it was inside uh an inline lead yeah you'd sell millions of them
make a make a make a big difference then wouldn't it would make it all the coast but if you think
about it the elasticated method feeder is is the same in reverse i know i think steve renyard yeah
i'm a bit shirty first saying hang on a second i come up with that but it was the other way around
but yes it's not pre-loaded it's not it's not pre-loaded once the twig does its thing then it's
then it's the same then it's the hermit rig then it's the hermit rig but it's too late then it's
done but even looking at it it only moves that much yeah so it's i'm not sure it even makes that
much of a difference to be fair yeah um whereas with the hermit rig that moves a lot more that's on a
a long bit yeah but that's the last like you say that's that's a tensioning system as opposed to
you know a trigger because i heard a lot of people say me i was hermit no it's not absolutely not
it when it's been done it is the is similar to that yes but um yeah so that's my sort of
stance on it i won't knock anyone for using it but i'm not going to use it yeah no interesting
reaction could you know it was another another one that really set the world alight on social media
of people for and against and it seems that they're coming down more one side than the other
what's um what are the gossips you know do you know any other gossip gossips always good
gossip oh i mean not really no not like i could actually probably tell you no no um no i mean
you know it's like in the fishing industry and the fishing world oh he's doing this oh he's
going out with her now he's doing that oh he's moving to that company it's always something
going and most of it's a lot of rubbish anyway isn't it yeah you know i've never known an industry
for so much talking rubbish it's because everybody knows each other everybody knows it really is a
small industry isn't it it really is when you think about it so many years ago i fished
Harefield Lake in the Cullum Valley and i was it's before we had fluoro pop-ups things like
fluoro colors and i was fishing away and i managed to source a fluoro color from india mumbai or
something like that order some as a sample a little tiny bit and i made up these fluoro pop-ups i
think someone else had come out with i think frank warwick this like 80s 90s yeah and um i showed them
to someone over there uh craig lines the old school car i remember craig he took them to loki
yeah and look he said i want some of these uh where can i get this powder so what i did was i put them
in touch with the guys at mumbai so i ordered up these big big buckets full of the powder bright
yellow fluoro let yellow like you can believe got them to customs loki gets a phone call saying
we've just had to blow up your buckets of stuff they're radioactive really
so they got it and they put these things over they thought it was radioactive they'd blow it up
they thought it was like a bomb material something like that but he still ordered a
load more got it back and that was the original yellow fluoro pop-ups pucker pineapple were they
pucker pineapple were and i supplied it to him it's great fantastic they blew it up and
blew it up in customs i tell you what that could only happen to loki it could only happen to
loki lucky loki yeah he is um yeah if something's gonna happen it's gonna happen to loki isn't it
certainly is classic great little story well look one of the things that we always like our guests
to do is bring us in a present we've got some amazing things up here from obviously check that
out steve spurgeon bought that in last time that was the uh that was the first ever my foray into
film i bet you haven't even got a copy of that no no i felt a little bit like jr hartley for all of
the old people that will remember that but yeah yeah that was me and crowey in 9767 i think it was
there we go i remember that which is very sad on vhs there we go so we would love to add you to our
wall i've got something a bit special here well special to me is um three years ago probably
actually next month i set up uh catch my car up the code uk where we we uh we got videos on there
discounts you know it's what it's not sympagraphy that's a lot smaller than that and it's just me
doing my thing and i got my subscribers now we've got merchandise like hoodies and t-shirts and mugs
but this was the very first mug and i kept i thought i'd keep the very first one that i got
out of the box yeah like that and kept it it's been on my side like that and i thought this would make
a great present to you guys number one mug and it is awesome it is the biscuit of the wig mug
number one so it's uh it's uh the biscuit of the wig mug there so that's for you rob that's ace
i don't want to hand that in i want that that's amazing look at that so yeah basically the very
first one it's like i've sold hundreds of them but it's the uh it was the very first one i got
out of the box you know when you sort of think right yeah this is real now we've actually got
merchandise we've got videos going up it's become a thing yes and um yeah and i think at the time
it was like sympagraphy were doing their thing and obviously you've had a lot more guys come
into the space yes but mine's very instructional with a couple of campaign videos and it all come
about from youtube from years ago three or four years ago people saying to me can you do more i
want more i want more videos we really like what you're doing uh you know can you do some more rig
ones how about some more campaign at one point i was doing a video a day releasing it i was filming
them editing them putting them up yeah banging them out there and it comes to a point where
this costed me so much money to do i still want to do it yeah what's the thing i can do so right i
put it on a platform yeah the guys want to pay 4.99 that's never going to change it's always been the
same all yearly 49.99 uh and you get video a week you get a live stream we build the community
everyone comes on there asks all their questions it's never a silly question uh we do rig videos
we do burko boiler we do cob video we do all this sort of stuff yeah and it's like oh can i have
mugs i want a hoodie i want t-shirts and pens and stickers and so that was the very first one that
we got out of the box and went bloody hell right this is real now isn't it fantastic um so yeah
yeah awesome well i feel quite privileged with that that's uh i like your color coordination
yeah as well that's got it quite a cool color week yeah it's quite a big thing biscuit the week so
what is biscuit of the week this week what would if you could have a choice what would your biscuit
be my all-time favorite biscuit it's gonna be this is gonna be really bland and almost custard
cream it's gotta be isn't it yeah you see i mean what i mean what well i'm with you on the lovely
biscuits out here but i always come back to custard cream they uh mate you and me are kindred spirits
but for me it's the bourbon and and one of the great things about them they do a chocolate
custard cream now as well no it can't be because a custard cream has to be a custard cream that'd be
like doing a custard bourbon it wouldn't be right it'd be a different biscuit they are nice though
so but i'm getting involved in biscuit the week ladies and gentlemen welcome to a special edition
well that was one of the things we was going to do all i was going to do on my channel was have a
different person doing got to be this get a week you know we can get someone on and just say right
tell me about your biscuit and there um well go on let's do let's do it now because like you've
got me on the biscuit thing um bourbon bourbon is the one you always go back to you've got a
dunk ability you see there's a process with biscuit a week so you've got to have you you get your
biscuit you go right we're going for dunk ability now so we don't know fail that one bourbon wins
all this sort of stuff bourbon yeah bourbon's really good it's up there with custard cream believe
me yeah the custard cream's the one you know the other the other great one obviously hanging around
with crowey for such a long period of time is some of his tightness has worn off on me and they used
to like a gary baldy all the time they're terrible for dunking because they're really dry they call
him yeah raise it they fly to them haven't they well no fat in it he was mr healthy wasn't he i
used to love uh like a chalky digestive ideally with a toffee in it as well so you know anyway
i've now turned into mr healthy i'm moving towards rich tea which is terrible on the
dunk especially if you go for the low fat one yeah just flops doesn't it yeah you can and you know when
you're dunking actually so if we used to have dunking contests and they run up to the british
carpangolin championships on the thursday night we would have the dunking content so you have your
brew at the same time and ideally it's biscuits at the same pack yep so you'll have a home biscuit
and then away biscuit so i'll have the bourbon you'll have the custom yeah so round one three
two one go it has to go in at the same time and this is where the competition goes because you
will go to what you think is the limit you've then got to take it out turn it through 90 degrees
and stick it in the old cake hole now if you turn it through 90 degrees i'll see what's happening
here yeah then then that's a win you've obviously passed yeah now i've now got to do it so the
second that you've taken yours out i'll take mine out afterwards yeah so if you do it both then so
if i do it and i've left mine in longer than i went you win yeah the ones if it crumbles well if it
crumbles it's a fail isn't it it's like four faults in it in show jumping that's it you're out so
really if you so you could really just go like that pre-app buy and go it's fine yeah and then
wait for the other person and it fails yeah absolutely so but you but the thing is that
whoever goes second has got the advantage because you as first you've got to push it right to the
very very limit because even one second more sounds like a series there that's brilliant
but then what we what we do obviously if we've just done the bourbon then obviously we've now
got to flip flip to the custard because you know the don't have to last forever you could stick
it in there for 30 seconds bring it out you see i just hope together i think there's a bourbons
it's close isn't it there's a bit more fat in the bourbons just like fake custard cream
i wish we got a packet of each and a kettle we could have some serious winston what's your
favorite biscuit chocolate digestive chocolate dodges that's another classic that's an absolute
winner and it doesn't it doesn't chocolate melts and you've got everything that's about four in
the table that is i'd say it's even higher than that because the chocolate on the outside of it
melts before it goes into biscuits protected from one side so you're reinforcing your dunk ability
on it it's like when that's a really good choice and if i hadn't gone on my rich tea kick that was
that was the one that was up there before you know he's trumped you isn't he that's what he's done
well no he's tempted me not trump me because i thought now they're in the head and i want
every single one look with us yeah careful that a plain chocolate digestive wins over
oh you see i very ah no milk it's got to be milk no it hasn't no no no no come on no you can you
can flip you can flip yeah you can go yeah yeah yeah yeah you see i've had a bit of a thing with
jammy dodgers recently um i i think i think again partly because they were on offering tescos when i
went to the normally but yeah two for one and all that's it but like the good thing about bourbon
and custard creams now uh certainly in tescos is they do a double pack for 70p which is ridiculous
yeah but the only downside of that is obviously you buy them and you have to eat the whole packet
that's the problem to see you can't imagine filming that every every week or every cut the
weeks i'm doing biscuit a week yeah and i go to tescos or lidl or whatever and it's like
i have to have them four i think you know but then they've got to be eating obviously a waste of
money aren't they little lidl for me is just the place because they do some nice ones in there
you don't know about well there's one you want to have a look at which is this is the the biscuit
you want to go is lou a french one they've come over here called lou el you they're called you
might see in the adverts but the cinnamon one is it see they it's the bomb it is they do one that's
in the same sort of pack as a you know the jammy dodgers pack rather than just a wrap it's got
it's got the the holster that they sit in but they're squaring they're like morning coffee but
the chocolate on the top of the morning coffee is like three times as thick as the biscuit that's
just that might be my next biscuit i'll wake that one i think go with it so it's giveaway time now
and we've got a fantastic giveaway for you just have a look at these in front five kilos of our
amazing solubles in the flavor of your choice we do two types we do kriller and we do sweet corn
both work incredibly well the competition is really easy to enter too all you've got to do
is answer a simple question and send it to the address below which is podcast at outlawpro.co.uk
now you need to have listened to the podcast because the question is what is leon barthrope's
favorite biscuit what is his favorite biscuit send it by email to the address below we'll stick all
the names that are successful into a hat pull one out and you get five kilos of our magnificent
soluble of your choice we've more or less run out of time what's next in the life of leon barthrope
already um i'm just going to keep producing the content i mean the community that i've built
we catch more car uh it's just there's people who've been members for three years a lot of
members have been there since the start yeah and it's i say what what video do you want what can
you do one the one of my most popular videos believe it or not is how to load your barrow you
think what a ridiculous video but you've got to realize that yourself and me were like the 10
of anglers we've been doing so long i've crushed my regularly but exactly and it's like well can
you show me so i did the video and i'll thank you very much so any videos they want they got input
and we produce those videos and put them out there so more content do another three years of it
yeah uh build the community and keep working and doing me stuff and keep fishing lovely and keep
smiling mate keep smiling you have a bit of fun you know it's too serious fishing nowadays you
know i've got to get in that swim he's put his bucket in there and just enjoy it man there's a
there's a lot of really cool and trendy looking people out there that are catching carp not seeming
to enjoy it as much as they should be well the things half these guys i speak to and they go
how do i sort of progress in doing these things and still look carpy and all that and
and you get looking carpy just be yourself and enjoy it be yourself absolutely if i could give
any sort of um advice for your social media don't try and be anything else just be yourself
be yourself and you'll grow your social media be yourself and be consistent
fantastic look wonderful words of wisdom there thank you ever so much for coming in thank you
very much for everybody it's been hilarious it's been entertaining i've really enjoyed it i've my
face is actually aching a little bit through smiling i've just been completely different
rather than talking about rigs and widgets and then tackle it's not all about the fishing catching
the fish absolutely but enjoying the journey ladies and gentlemen that is it that's the end
of the journey for us here today you know what to do click like share subscribe all of that stuff
and from us here at the outcast podcast room we'll see you again next time
thanks for listening to the outcast the podcast from outlaw pro the ultimate angling experience
remember to follow us on social media for updates and information on future guests see you next time