Welcome to the Outcast, the podcast from Outlaw Pro, the ultimate angling experience.
Well hello and welcome to another fantastic episode of the Outcast, the podcast from Outlaw Pro.
Now we have got a fantastic guest in today, a man that you will all have heard of who's got some
incredible fish, but more of him later. Before then, let's just have a quick recap on what's
been going on in the world of Outlaw Pro. Well, for a start, the huge news at the moment is we
have got a new store opening up in Tadley, not far from Basingstoke, Reading and Newbury, sort of in
a triangle there of Carp World. And it's going to be a brilliant new store. So that's going to be
coming soon. We'll bring you plenty of news about that as and when we go through. We've got some
fantastic bait, we've got some fantastic products, we've got all sorts of stuff going on. And also,
don't forget, we've got our membership scheme. I'm going to remind you of this again and again
and again. Why? Because it saves you money. Sign up to our membership scheme, you get 10% off every
Outlaw Pro product within the store or online. And also you get 5% off certain items of other
manufacturers through the store as well. So do sign up to that. Anyway, that's the news from us
for the time being. Let's welcome our guest. Now our guest has been around quite a long time.
He's caught some incredible fish. He is without any shadow of doubt, one of the country's best,
most well-known big fish haulers, not just anglers because he's got a long track record.
It is a good friend of Outlaw Pro 2, none other than Nigel Sharp. There we go. How was that for
an introduction? Not bad. Good to have you over. You've come from the west side of London, so you
live over over Reading Way. Yeah, around the other side. Yeah. Yeah, it'd be close when we've got the
new shop for you, wouldn't it? Very close, within walking distance. That would be nice. Brilliant.
What are you up to at the moment? Tell me about your fishing. I'm fishing on the lakes over at
Reading. Trying to catch a big common. I seem to like a big common, don't I? But yeah, this is a bit
of an ongoing campaign. It's been going on for three or four years now. So I'm well through it.
So I caught a lot of the fish in the lakes, some of them several times and you know,
you feel close then you don't. It's you know, an ongoing thing, but it's an itch. Okay, you haven't
the scratch, so I won't give up. What is it? Can you tell us where it is or what it is? It's a big
common. It's actually called the Prestine. It's in one of the Reading Waters, Farnham Flint.
It's on the Pingewood complex. It's a nice lake, proper mature old gravel pits, like a miniature
burr field really, right next door to the burr field. Clear water and weedy then. Yeah, that's the one.
So how big is it? The lake. No, the fish. Yeah, the fish. I think its top weight's just over 57 pounds.
Yeah, it may be a PB for me if I'm lucky enough to catch it. Yeah, oh you'll get it. You'll get it.
Well, there'll be two outcomes. I'll either catch it or it'll die. Yeah, there's not many that have
evaded you so far really, is there? Well, no, you've just got to keep going, never give up do you?
No. Well, look, we'll come to that a little bit later but on your journey for that fish,
you've had a bit of success already, haven't you? What have you been catching?
Like I said, I've caught several of them. Well, I've caught most of the lakes stock,
mostly A team, some of them several times and it's just got to keep going and this year I've
sort of hit the ground running. It's fairly local to me so I walk it a lot. I've walked it like every
other day since Christmas, done a lot of leg work, waited for them fish to come within range because
there's a couple of distance safe areas that are tricky to get at and when I see them start coming
into range, start fishing and so far I think we're seven weeks into this year's campaign and I haven't
blanked session yet. I think I've averaged a fish a night and I've done 19 nights so I've got 19 fish.
Pretty good, I don't think I've done that well before but yeah. You've had a couple of decent
ones as well. Yeah, I've had fish up to 46 pounds, well 46.12 is the biggest and you know,
second biggest common in the lake so it's a good buzz. I have met that fish before but it sort of
proves you're getting things right but sometimes other fish get in the way of the big one, don't
they? Yeah, yeah, it's a weird one isn't it? You know, you want to catch a certain target. You know,
I'm not a target hunter for an individual fish. I have a target weight so I will go out and I will
try and chase a, you know, a 60 pound or a 70 pounder but I'm after the number. I'm not necessarily
after the fish so it's slightly different for me. I don't mind which 60 pounder it is as long as it's
a 60 pounder but you know, it must be, I'm not going to say frustrating but it will be a frustration
if you're trying to catch a certain fish and you keep catching other fish irrespective of how big
they are. Yeah, it can be frustrating. Spin the clock back years ago, lakes used to have like
one per acre which was an average carp lake so you know when I fished over on the Yatey complex
carp are like for instance a dozen fish in that many acres. Yeah. It kind of makes it easier to
catch your target fish, you know, talk about that campaign later on or whatever but
when there's less fish it's easier to pick the one you want out but the lakes these days tend
to have heavier stocks so there's a lot more to get in the way and this is kind of what happened
on Burfield and this thing is repeating again for me, I'm sort of stuck into one of them campaigns.
So how do you solve that? What do you do? Is it, because I'll use Crowley as a prime example,
he was targeting Butt-head up north as well, you know, that's a huge fish in a lake with an awful
lot of fish in it and his general view was go to where the carp aren't which is completely alien.
Yeah, I can understand that because where the carp aren't there's obviously less fish about
and if that one comes into the the area you've got a better chance of hooking it. I mean,
going back to Burfield I had chances when there was only three fish about and nailed the wrong one a
couple of times, you know, things like that but when there's 50 fish about there's very, you know,
it's odds and that's percentages. The chances are one other than the one that you want is going to
be the hungrier one. The other thing is, I've got a very good memory, you make mental notes like
I know places I've seen this fish feed three years ago so when I go in that certain swim
that it's about I'll always put a bait on that spot whether it's been on it that day or not,
it's just that I saw it feed there once so there's something that he likes about it, you know.
It's an interesting mentality that as well that, you know, I spend a lot of time swimming with them
obviously and they are without any shadow of doubt creatures of habit. There are areas they want to
live, there are areas they like to sit, there are areas they'll feed, of course they can come from
anywhere but actually, you know, the older the fish which probably resonates with the bigger the fish
because they've been around a lot longer, they are such creatures of habit. Yeah, they're masters of
their own environment, aren't they? They know where to be at certain times, you know, and
other, they're buddies as well. I mean, the lake I'm currently fishing a bit like Burfield was at
the time, it's got an old stock of big fish but there's a lot of newer stock, younger fish and
them older ones, like you say, they're set in their ways, they're in their habits so
if you can find them older fish, you're up in your chances of getting close to that fish all the time
and, you know, obviously the smaller stockies and that can get in the way and it's just a process,
you just got to keep going. It is a completely different mindset to just go fishing though,
isn't it? You know, if you're going fishing for bites, it's a totally different mindset to go and
fish in full race specific creature. I mean, I suppose in some ways you could liken it to
different types of soldiers, you know, some are infantry men and they're fighting the line and
then you get a sniper who wants his target, you know, he's got a certain thing that he's got a
snipe at and kind of like that really with fishing and this type of fishing I do, you know, and that's
what you call it, a target fish, it's your target, isn't it? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, good analogy. It's,
you know, to be a big fish angler is it takes a hell of a lot of sacrifice, doesn't it? It takes
dedication. You've got to dedicate yourself to it first and foremost, but, you know, people see the
photograph, they don't actually see what goes on behind that and, you know, number one, the majority
of the time I'd say it takes a lot of time, but it's not just the time, it's everything that goes
with it. Yeah. You know, that does come with a lot of sacrifice. Yeah, I mean, myself, I've led a very
selfish life for a long period of time, I've only, I don't know, can I use any language, only had my
copter key, you know, and I could do what I want day to day, for years I've done that and if I feel
I need to stay another night or another two nights or whatever, I just do it, but now obviously
life's changed for me in the last couple of years, I can't be as selfish, although I'm lucky I have
an understanding girlfriend who helps out with this obsession, but yeah, I'm in a lucky position,
I fish for my living now, which is, you know, I've done it for quite a long time, nearly two decades
and people would label myself as being a full-time angler, which I don't fish that long, I normally
fish a maximum of three nights a week, but when I'm at home, I'm preparing and that can be two or
three days of getting everything right, because the minute I get in my car from my house and drive,
I don't, you know, the only time I get out of that car to go to the lake is when I'm at the lake,
you know, I don't stop at shops or anything and when I'm at the lake, I start at the lake, I'm not
nipping up the shop or down the calf or anything, I'm focused, you know, tunnel vision, that's a sort
of sacrifice, your home life as well gets affected by it and yeah, I could do more nights, but I don't
feel I fish effectively if I'm not prepared. Yeah, no, I think there's a lot to be said for that,
you know, the full-timer, it's a label that's banded around quite a lot, but you know, this
full-time is seven days a week, isn't it? Yeah. You know, that's all, I suppose that's all-time,
full-time could be five days a week, but even that is a lot and I think when you look at a lot of
what you class as full-time anglers, people that fish all the time, they become very stagnant,
yeah, very stagnant. When you get off the lake, when you go back, it's another session, but if
you're full-time, then it just sort of rolls into one. Tell me about your life, Nig, you know, I've
known you for, I'm going to go back and say 93, 94, which was your early 80 days. Yeah.
It was interesting because we're, I don't know how old you are exactly, but we're not far off
the same age and myself and Crow, we were sort of the Northern boys that were going around,
I suppose to use your soldier analogy, I'll use one slightly differently. We were going around
scoring goals because we wanted to catch fish wherever we went, lots of different places and
looking at the likes of you and Tell and Pinky and the guys that were on the eight league, you were
climbing mountains. Yeah. You know, we didn't have any mountains by us or our mountains were a lot
smaller. So as a result, we went out and scored goals because there were a lot more fish to catch
and it was really interesting seeing you guys down south, what you were doing when we didn't
have the opportunity to do it and the sort of dedication that you put in. It was a whole
lifestyle, wasn't it? Yeah, definitely. It ruled your life really. It's just an obsessive lifestyle,
you know, like you say, we wasn't there trying to score as many goals as we could, but we still had
certain goals we wanted to score, which I suppose it's like, you could score lots of goals in lots
of different football matches, but you know, we was playing at Wembley sort of thing.
Yeah, that's why I say they're like the mountains, you know, we didn't have mountains and it just
seemed an enormous task going out to catch one particular fish, you know, because there weren't
that many around then, weren't there? You know, it was such good times. Yeah, I mean, there was
probably back in the mid 90s, as many 40s in the country as some of these lakes hold today, you
know, it's unbelievable, isn't it? Yeah, I just, I look back on the 90s and you know, carp fishing
is where it is now and people, you know, you get some of the old farts that grumble about it, say
now it's changed too much, it's not as good as it was. You know what, live your life. Yeah, there's
no point looking back to what it was because you've had that. Yeah. What you've got now is what
you've got now, so make the most of what you've got now. The youngsters, it's not their fault that
that's what they've got now, because that's where they are. It's an interesting one. I get quite a
lot of young anglers come up to me and you know, everyone likes hearing the old Yateley stories
now, it seems to be a thing that everyone likes to hear and they always say, I wish I was about
when you, you wasn't, and I said, well, the thing is you're about now and when you're my age, you'll
have another youngster come up to you saying they wish they was about when you was, so it just moves
on, doesn't it? Yeah, there's it, obviously we all do it on social media, we do bits and bobs on
social media and I sort of quite like some of the inspirational quotes that come out and there's
one that's out at the moment that says in 20 years time, you will wish that you were 20 years younger
and you could do what you're doing now and I think too often people either wistfully look at
what they used to be, just get on with it now, you know, it's a great world, but I'll go back to my
original thought process on that actually, I've been distracted, but I just think the 1990s was
such a good time for carp fishing, you know, the whole scene, I've been thinking about it for a
while, I know you like music, you used to be in the club scene quite a lot, I liken the fishing
industry a little bit to the music industry as well, that if you look at how music's progressed
over the years, you know, back in the 80s and 90s, you had to be a talented musician to make it in
the music world, that's right, now there's a lot more manufactured bands, there's a lot more
opportunities for people to be able to be famous if that's what they want, but back then you got
there because you were talented, yeah, it's very similar in a lot of ways, yeah, and you know the
music scene at that time was absolutely fantastic, the carp fishing scene at that time was really
exploding, yeah, everything seemed to evolve suddenly didn't it, in the late 80s, early 90s
music and like fishing, I think when myself and Terry went onto the big fish side of the road
at Yateley, like the carp art north from Pad Lake, we were quite young then and I remember obviously
Terry caught Basel and I caught Heather, I think Rob Maylin caught Jumbo out of Pad Lake the same
week and there's that picture of us three sound the bed chair, I think Chris Ball come down and took
the photo and I remember him calling us the young guns, yes, I think that was a turning point in
carp fishing that you'd walk around them Yateley lakes and there would generally be older lads on
it like I suppose middle-aged, you know Rob Maylin's age I suppose, oh they were also us back then,
we was kind of the people that proved that youngsters could go on and catch them fish, I mean
don't get me wrong I was four years older than Terry, I think I was about 26, 27 when I went on
the carp art lake, that was still considered quite young to be attacking them waters then and
and since then as you know now I mean I had a photographer out of me the other week and he was
20 years old he's called 50 pounder and he asked me when I caught my first 40 and I said when I was
27 and he looked shocked at me, different world, that's how it's evolved, completely different,
so much more of it about, it's interesting though that you say what you've just said about the
age thing because this was when I was doing my mental prep, I'm fortunate with you because I've
known of you and have known you for quite a long time so I don't need to do that much prep because
we're of the same era growing up but one of the things I was thinking of was that you know
again myself and Simon up in the north doing what we were doing, you guys in the south doing what
you were doing, it was the beginning of a new age of the younger anglers coming through and you know
back then certainly on those big fish waters it was an all boys game, young anglers, suddenly it's
like oh these two young kids are starting catching fish and you've got a group on there as well
and I always used to look at some of the pictures of you, there was what, there was Lewis,
Jamie Smith, yourself, Pinky, bless him, God rest his soul as well, Terry, Nick as well, you know
you were the sort of six down south that really set the world alight really with like suddenly
everyone's looking at these young kids as they were catching so many big fish. Our generation
was sort of inspired and the big fish scene by people like Richie MacDonald and you know the
lights and Hutchinson and then obviously we sort of hit the eight equal them big fish,
proved that younger anglers could do it with that enthusiasm we'd built up over a few years and then
you don't realise it at the time but we're actually inspiring the next generation and
absolutely you know what come from it and it's something to be proud of really.
Well like the photographs you did an interview I think with Carpology was it or
Siphru, was it Elliot that you did the interview with or was it Carpology recently where there was
a few of you talking about the olden days at Yateley, there seems to be a 90s resurgence at
the moment, everyone's looking at the 90s as how good it was but that's because it was so bloody
good. Just talk to us about some of the stories, what was it like down at Yateley at that time
because you know the iconic picture of I think Richie with Basil in particular is the one that
really stands out to me you know I also for me as well I think Kev Clifford's capture of it
was another iconic picture but you know there are what I call take your breath away pictures,
lots of people have I said lots there are a number of esteemed captures of Basil not loads
and loads but there's one or two that really stand out and the Richie capture for me was a huge one.
Richie's capture was I think October 84 the year I left school and you know it's sort of
I was more interested in going fishing when I left school I won't lie about it I didn't really want
to get a job or anything that's all that mattered to me and then bang there's this capture in
October this I think at the time second biggest carp caught in the country wasn't it? Yeah 46
wasn't it? Yeah 45-12 yeah yeah yeah you know it's when you set foot on them lakes you know I was
you know I was local, lifting friendly so I could ride my bike over there as a nipper or you know
we'd drive over once we passed a test drive over and have a walk around it wasn't a very secure
venue you could just wander about and you'd see these anglers I actually met Richie McDonald a
couple of times on me wanders nice chap yeah Jock White, Terry Peffbridge all the Yahoo crew and that
lot almost as a nipper walking around feared talking to these hardened carp anglers attacking
these rock hard waters that he didn't think he'd ever fish like and he was quite shocked when
that was quite you know pleasant to you and then one day you find yourself taking the step over
to you going on the match lake where you was kind of ushered over to you know like don't you think
you should be fishing for 20s lads or something all right I'll go and do that yeah caught all them
moved on to the cops lake trying to catch a few target 30s done that right I'm coming over to the
big fish side now you know but when you set foot on them lakes you're a little bit in fear of it
you know you think what these iconic fish that you know Richie Mack and Robin Dix like another
iconic shot I have a one in Robin Dix's capture you're thinking I'd love to catch them fish like
beyond your wildest dreams and that and how long is this going to take you think you're going to be
sitting it out for 10 years on them lakes because you hear all the stories you know so and so went
on there he looked Basel or he looked ever on his first night and he lost it at the net or something
and he's still on there six years later you know that's what you're facing you know and yeah there
there's a bit of nervousness about it but he's also had confidence from being successful elsewhere
like venues before and the slightly say lesser lakes on the other side of the road you know
but yeah he's quite shocking to be sat there thinking I'm fishing for them fish I see
10 years ago in the papers like you know yeah it's interesting about the you know the photographs
you talk about the the photographs of of Richie there was there was one for me that really set
me alight and that was Rod Hutchinson at Cassian with uh he got a 56 pounder on a Lilo I don't know
if you know that but in exactly the same way that Richie inspired you to do that I was I think I was
15 maybe 16 at the time when Rod caught that and that just turned me on immediately to continental
fishing I thought as soon as I can drive I'm going there didn't even know where it was like I just
wanted that it was it was amazing well on the subject of particularly good fish we ask people
to bring in a present for us that we can stick on our fantastic wall of memorability we've got some
lovely things up here and Sharpie you've got something for us as well and I think it is a
fish but it's a very very special one isn't it just tell us what this is and why you've bought it in
it's quite fitting really it's sort of um I don't know one of the things I'm famed for and probably
my most epic capture and a picture of the Burfield Common there there is look at that that I even
signed it for you fantastic we should get that framed we'll just show this camera over here
so we shall get that framed and stick it on our wall of fame up there you'll be in esteemed
company with uh with some of the things that we've got up there but that is a very very
very special capture indeed there you go thank you very much sorted lovely very carpy t-shirt
on that one as well I still got it I have a fashionista probably don't fit me now though
I'm about three stone heavier there's one really iconic picture there's a number of iconic pictures
of you but there's one particularly iconic picture of you that stands out for me and I think it was
Heather you got your optics cormorant that's right yeah so the old glasses yeah and I just thought
at the time you were the coolest man in carp fish I don't think I've ever told you that but I just
thought at the time yeah man he's proper cool there's the old um burgundy um airborne sweatshirt
as well yeah so happened to end up in all my big fish shots at yate as well you know that
I think even some of the clothing brands these days sell burgundy sweatshirts on the back absolutely
but you've got to say that you know as as fashionistas both both you and terry at that time
some of those pictures you know the iconic clothing items let's have a look at what the most
iconic clothing item is going back historically dick walker's felt hat that's got to be up there
quite a lot isn't it yeah rod duchess and that of multicoloured sun visor yeah I remember that
yeah I've been playing tennis that's it yeah it's like where on earth does that come from but it
just looked completely wrong didn't it um then you look at um with with terry I think the cardigan
stood out quite a lot yeah the cardigan that was I think we went up um black push market just up the
road from yate on the sunday market and I think he bought that cardigan there and it just god only
knows what happened to that card he's probably still got it oh he's still got it he doesn't throw
anything away you know I think actually yesterday I see on a Facebook group I think it's old school
carpers I don't know if you follow it yeah someone had posted a picture up that I took with um terry
holding a dustbin up wearing that card was it really and you know everyone's going mad about
that picture and it kind of makes me proud to have taken that picture but it is of that time and
that you know again like you say your jumper yeah I mean I was given that by a mate who was in the
parachute regiment and he told me never to wear it and let anyone see you wear it yeah yeah
because paratroopers don't like to see you wearing things like that and I did actually have one pull
me up like sort of come into me swim at yate when was you in then yeah like this big 16 stone man
mounting yeah I said well wasn't my mate give me it so I don't know he's like you're not meant to wear that
I was in there for 22 years well I'm all right it's my lucky jumper though but yeah he said
I never thought I'd become a fashion icon though in fishing with glasses and the jumper
yeah oh no it was just so cool at the time it's so cool and you know the the other thing that at
the time that was quite big was the the clubbing scene as well wasn't it you know I know Lockie
was into it as well yeah he was he wasn't fishing the at that time he was probably around Dartford
somewhere but you know the the the the music scene went hand in hand very much yeah it did I mean
around like my era late 80s early 90s you had the illegal rave scene and that which was great fun
and then it became legal and I kind of backed out of all of that sort of early 90s 93 94s yeah as
the more focused I got on Yateley the less I was interested in it all but obviously the music was
there and locally it was um there was friends of mine actually they run a pirate radio station
called Radioactive I think Terry wrote about in his book yeah we all tuned in I think we
on the Pads Lake and that there was a tree down on Greaveshead Point and we got a bit of copper
wire and climbed the tree and wrapped it around it and then you wrapped it around the area of your
little radio and so you could tune in to it a bit more but yeah you could walk into a few swims and
everyone would be listening to the you know music on the little radios and that it was part of it
back then I mean now I think everyone listens to opera music when they're fishing don't they yeah
I don't know because if you look at if you look at Alan Blair and the Nash boys they you know they
sort of they're quite music oriented as well aren't they yeah they like all their decks and that side of things
don't they yeah yeah I suppose it's each to their own isn't it yeah it's funny because you get people
now going oh god music oh they should be doing that it's all about but actually 30 years ago it's what
we were doing anyway you know I'm from the north well north midlands northwest midlands and you know
the whilst we were into house music the the Manchester tunes were ours so yeah stone roses
yeah and all of that this is well pre-oasis but they were such a huge part of uh of what we're
doing um just stick it on yet before we move elsewhere uh the Bazzill stone the Bazzill
let's talk about the Bazzill stone for those of you that don't know what the Bazzill stone is
you're going to find out because this is an incredible piece of history is it is it still
around or was that buried with Bazzill this is a hard question I couldn't give you a straight
answer on that but I know there was a stone that got passed around and if I don't know how but this
stone was passed from one to the other and if someone called Bazzill and they in possession of
the stone they handed it on to the next person that's it it was I thought you might know where
it originally came from basically what it was was there was a was a tiny pebble it was only like
as big as a two pence piece wasn't it maybe even smaller yeah because I know Terry had it at one
stage yeah yeah and and basically this was the lucky thing so someone caught Bazzill and I'd
like to know who where the original came from maybe Terry knows Terry if you're watching let us know
yeah um but they they they drew a picture of the fish on the on the stone and then it got passed
around and if you caught it then you gave it to someone else that you that's right yeah did you
I thought you had it no I never had the Bazzill stone but you had Bazzill yeah yeah so I think
I probably caught it too quickly to be handed the stone though right yeah maybe someone who was holding
the stone was still holding it after I'd been and gone yeah I think I was only on the North Lake
26 nights oh well they've been there done that piece of cake tick the box tick gone so just before
we move off yetly then of all of those fish you know dustbin orange heather Bazzill which would
you put as your highest of those would it be Bazzill or heather tricky question two different
carp and one a leather and one a you know a mirror carp um a lever carp very rare and heather was my
first 40 so very special there but I think Bazzill is just such an iconic fish um I've even named one
of my cats Bazzill so probably is that yeah yeah you know to to catch one of those fish is incredible
but to have caught two of them is is amazing absolutely amazing let's roll the clock forwards
uh and talk about more iconic carp as well because that's not the end of the story there is it um
there's a certain common that lives in a place called Burfield that is arguably the most sought
after fish in the country uh as well and you've uh you've managed to peg that one too yeah that
was well going back a few years now 2006 may 2006 I caught that after pretty much five years to the
day of going after it I originally went to Burfield so I wanted to catch a 40 pound common yeah as we
just said I'd caught a lever and a few cut the mirrors over 40 pounds and I thought I'm not one
for breaking any records or you know like I looked at sort of uh Raysbury and it was full of record
hunters back after Terry had caught his boats and I thought well out of my depth I'm a
at the time relatively small gravel pit angler that's a little bit out of my league and working
full-time couldn't do it so I thought I set my own little records like you said you know you fish
for a weight I set myself little targets and I thought you know what I wouldn't mind mirror
a common and lever you know and at the time I think there was probably only three or four 40
plus commons in the country and two of them were open access waters one being Burfield and one being
Sutton and you know Sutton was down Garford way from side of the M-25 yeah and you know
Burfield sort of 18 20 miles from where I lived in Cambly at the time so that was uh you know
that's where I'm going next sort of thing you know and I went there originally just to catch 40 pound
common because I'd heard a 41 pounder have been caught the year before and see it in the angling
times and yeah pretty much found it straight away from walking on the lake and then you know
I got it taking mixes nearly you know was very close to catching it within the first couple of
days and you know I thought you know I like this place there's other fish seeing them swimming
about and enjoying catching a few fish with me mate Bidders and I think we had that year we caught
40 fish between us from Burfield which was pretty good when we was learning it for ourselves we
didn't ask questions or anything I did have a few mates from old we're old school very secretive so
I didn't even dare ask them so was there many people on it then was it was it busy? Burfield
was back then there's just a few local anglers and another chap called Chris Gardner fishing it
and the local anglers it was their back garden their playground yeah you kind of like they
didn't welcome you I wouldn't say they were hostile unusual well it's like I know why now
because those lads are all very good friends of mine known for 20 odd years and that but the reason
why they didn't befriend you is because they did see people come and go and they didn't want to
encourage you but once they realized that me and Bidders has caught sort of several fish between
us that year that we weren't going anywhere in the end the sort of leader of the pack Stuart
you know he's been on their years anyway he sort of stopped once you know he used to walk through
me swim some of us you know you'd be bivvied up on a path with your rods in the reeds and they'd
have to walk past the front of you and he'd walk through with his rods and his rucksack on his back
and he wouldn't even say hello or anything you know this went on from May till September and then
one day in September he just stopped and you know you've seen it then yeah you know you ain't going
anywhere are you mate I said no I'm here till I catch it and he said oh he goes right I'll start
off I'll apologize for not speaking to you but I see so many people come and go like and I can see
you're not going to give up so right very good friends to this day in the game but that's what
them lakes not just Burfield you had Engerfield and Farnham Flynn and that they was all very
quiet lakes they were the locals back garden their playground and now it's a different story very
popular Pingewood was fished a bit I think Chile and Laney and all that lot was over there because
they was fishing for the jockey back then you know I was like I remember when I was sort of
reccy and Burfield out that winter when all that you know Chile and you know Ian Russell and Laney
and all that like they remember used to be driving fast I think no they don't see my car
because I don't want them to know where I'm going and what I'm up to you know but um
yeah it's evolved in the last 20 years my I think um my time chap called Malcolm Tab caught common
on my first year 45-12 good weight gain for it that created a bit of interest the following year
it did get busier and then that influx of anglers slowly died off like over the next two or three
years and I think people started to think forget about it or think I was after this mythical thing
that's in my imagination and that and then obviously in that day in 2006 when I caught it it's like
boom you know 50 pounder it's like very big fish for its time as well so really common it it it
changed the dynamic in that not not in that area but certainly on that lake that that that went
from being you know for those out the area it's sort of rumored that there is a reasonable fish
in there and yeah there's a 45 in there to suddenly why it's a 50 pound common and 50
pound commons are huge yeah you know a 50 pound fish was massive but a 50 pound common in particular
was you know and it sort of it it sort of shone the spotlight on it then a little bit yeah I
think I remember reading something that Paisley had wrote about you know we have record mirrors
and record commons in Europe why don't we have a record common in England and he said my capture
should have been a record common at the time but it's like which is you know that's like quite nice
for someone like him to have said about that you know and but yeah it did create a lot of interest
I think the I've messaged Ian Welsh because he is always very good the angling manager for CMX or
RMC at the time he's always very good to me so I let him know and he posted something up on their
forum yeah don't know if you remembered that forum yeah yeah and I'm told because once I caught the
common we'd done the photos I had a cup of tea packed my gear up and went that's me done it's
quite funny five years just for that moment gone yeah but I'm told the following day after it the
car parts around there were just rammed with people wanting to have a look around and all that like
it's wow what have I done it's weird isn't it you know you're you're you're very much old school and
reading about I think I don't know whether it's Rob Malan and the boys that started it but when
you've caught the biggest fish in the lake you pull off yeah you don't wade through them if your
target is the biggest fish in the lake and I sort of subscribe to that as well I think that kind of
comes from um your yatey days was it yatey so you know like say for instance North Lake only had
seven main fish in it and when you're talking seven fish you had basil which was a 40 pounder
which let's face it that's what everyone comes to catch they didn't travel from Manchester the
other side of Kent the west country to come and catch the 30 or the 20s they come for basil now
yeah we had basil the 30 I think you had four 20s and a couple of doubles that was the stock of the
lake so you catch basil you there's no rule but out of respect for the other anglers who are doing
the traveling and putting the time in you pull off because you don't want to catch it again you
don't become a dream breaker yeah I think there's only ever one angler that caught basil twice
I think he's not palsy or something like that he's a Robin Dixie's mate I think he caught it at a low
weight and as a 40 pounder yeah that's historic I think basil done 60 captures but yeah the thing
was pull off and if you did go back on there you was frowned upon now there are several lakes like
that still about low stock water small family a carp with one main target and the gentleman's
agreement with a red card as they call it yeah you go and realistically what you're trying to
prove by staying on there you just become a dream breaker don't you yeah nowadays some people try
and pull the red card on what I call super waters that have multiple stocks of big fish you know and
say like there's 20 odd 40s in a lake and you go on there and catch the bigger than your first fish
you spent whatever these days prices are inflated thousand pound ticket you do drop it yeah so
people tend to stay on and try and catch some of the other fish because you've bought into that
syndicate or whatever for say the 20 40s not just the one yeah a bit like you saying you fish for
the number of you know the size of fish you think right I want to go there because that's got 20
40s in it yeah and yeah it's a hard one to pull the red card thing I mean yeah the red card is a
circuit water saying and yeah yeah it is it it is a tricky one that you know the gentlemanly side
I think he's quite nice but like you say I think the the difference then is the stock yeah that
you know if it's if it's one standout and and low stocks then yeah maybe I'm being romantic and I
don't know I I had a I'd love a fair with Cassian for a very long time and I went down it and I just
fished it because I loved it I don't know if you've ever been but it's just no I've not no I remember
reading about it over the years from the early days of Hutchinson even Richie Mack went there
didn't he yeah it was it was just you know it was it was mecca it was very special and you know where
way eatly in Raysbury with the heart of UK fishing then then casting was the heart of continental
fishing and you know I went over that and I was lucky enough in I think it was 2016 the
caught the biggest fish in the lake it was one of the last original still in there a fish called
Bernadette yeah and and immediately sort of my dynamic changed with the place a little bit it
wasn't I don't know if you feel the same way but it's almost like you have done it now yeah
yeah and I've been back a couple of times but I don't fish it in the same way
no I mean I've had it myself with some waters like what I call super waters yeah you do catch the
big and say like a frimley with the charlie's mate for instance I'll call that as um funnily
enough I didn't catch the Burfield common as my first 40 common I caught Charlie's mate in
2003 or something 41 pound there was still wasn't many 40 pound commons back then but
then I I went back there several years later like when the ownership of the place changed and
I'm I actually recaptured Charlie's mate at 50 pounds eight like you're talking probably 17
years between captures yeah it's nice to see the old girl again but there's a different buzz
recapturing it yeah you know it's is but I was more for fishing for some of the others like your
your black eye and uh what's the other one Gregory yeah that was one I really wanted to catch out
of there you know but that place has evolved in time there was a lot of big fish in there you
know I think now something like three different 50 pound commons in there at the right time of
year you know and yeah again where'd you draw the line with it you know it's like it's surprising
actually when you when you've caught one how you feel an affinity to it you know you want you want
it but once you've caught it you almost feel like it's a friend yeah yeah and and and you know
if you do have a recapture of it it's like oh hello again yeah I mean do you talk to him I talk to
him oh you have your little muttering moments don't you I mean it's like again we'll always
end up talking about Yateley because it's so special now the North Lake the Low Stock you look
at it I can't remember 12 islands a spit you know bays and it's quite a daunting lake when you
thought there's only like amphalocarpia where are they this is a bit of a maze you know I've
fished a lot bigger mazes since like 100 acre burfield mazes sort of thing but yeah you kind
of like fishing it trying to work it all out trying to get in touch you see a fish you move
and that lot and um but it's so mad the moment when you you know like you lift the net around
basil and you know gazing down there you have your little moment wow Richard McDonald caught
this so-and-so's caught this you know the history of it obviously you're hooking next mouth and that
but then once your photos and everything's done and it's swum off and a few people depart and
you start packing your gear out you stand and look at the lake you think I'll work that out yeah it
almost seems like it's it's simple like the mystery's gone from it doesn't it yeah yeah
it's uh recaptures there's never the same buzz from it is there doesn't matter if they're bigger
or not no I don't think so it's it's funny when you like I don't I don't spend a lot of time on
the same waters I tend to I tend to bump around quite a lot just because of the nature of work
and it's always been us really um but I used to be a member of birch grove you know late 90s early
early 2000s and that for me at the time was arguably it was it was one of the best winter
waters in the country you know we had a winter syndicate November through to March there's a lot
of 30 pounders back then you know 30 pounds of a big fish there wasn't a 40 in there and it was
interesting because there's as there always is there was an a team of I don't know five or six
big fish in there and I can't remember I think I did three winters on there I can't remember
having recaptures and actually ended up working away all the way through but not having a recapture
that's very good you know and it's it's it's weird isn't it you know whether or not they're learning
or whether whether when you've done something do you let me pose this one when you're on a lake
that you're fishing regularly as opposed to bouncing around are you doing the same thing in
the same swim so you know you've got the point swim and you know that 60 yards out there is a
bar and you've caught a couple of fish off that bar yeah when you've caught them on there do you
keep revisiting that bar or do you go somewhere else you tend to um I've been very guilty of it
before and it it's a tricky one sometimes on a lake that's not so busy and you can pre-bait and
work a swim you will keep revisiting them swims and you'll milk it for every bite and create a
playpen or if you get in there you know everything will come to you sort of thing obviously on busier
lakes like lakes and now nowadays are a lot busier you know you get rules you're not allowed to
pre-bait and things like that so I consider being out getting a swim two or three weeks on the trot
yeah a right result I'm just kind of relying up former sessions as pre-baiting don't you yeah
you do find yourself getting into that and I've found myself in recent years sometimes I think
that's been to my detriment because you recapture the same fish because they literally you think
right I need to be in you know that swim you know say like you say the point on in May because the
weeds up and you go in there and you know you're going to get bites you do get bites oh god it's
that one again you know and this year I kind of changed my tact I'm not fishing any swims
that I fished before because of that because I don't really want to keep capturing the same fish
but again I did have a recapture of a big fish this year but it kind of got in the way of what
I was after so but you you sort of I don't know I think these things are so often creatures of
habit you know I remember me and Crowe were fishing at Orchid and Dorchester you know on
the lagoon there and Crowe preferred Orchid you know it was slightly more of a pressured water
I've always liked the slightly wilder bigger waters that didn't have as much pressure on so
I like the Dorchester side right and I remember going down and there was a there was a 37 pound
common in there which again you know at that time was absolutely massive and it was a it was a big
lake it was 40 40 odd acres so you know it's not it's not a small not huge but not small
and this fella caught it and then he came back on his birthday because he caught it on his birthday
and he came back the following year on his birthday and just like for old time's sake I'm coming back
fish the same peg caught at the same fish on the same day under the same tree and that's that's
always stuck with me yeah these things do happen don't they? Basil's Bush yeah you know why was it
called Basil's Bush? Well it did get caught there a few times didn't it? I think I can remember one
I can't remember the angler but they actually might have been jot while something caught a snake
twice out of the crow on exactly the same day the following year you know yeah it happens too much
do happen you know I know some anglers that do fish off a calendar like that old Sunso fish was
caught out of that swim off that spot on this day last year and they'll be in there you know
I've actually put myself in areas like that but there's like you say masters their own environment
there's a reason why certain areas of the lake attract carp at certain times of the year and
however it's the weed coverage the natural food or anything it's absolutely it's all part of the
bigger picture talk to me about the capture of the burfield common how did you actually catch it?
Well again my great memory of seeing it feeding in certain areas over the years I was on there
and but the actual build-up to that capture started at the end of April when I was circling
the lake on my bike yeah because it was faster to get around it on a bike and look at different
areas but I'd opted to fish down the shallow end but a friend of mine Alan Welsh was fishing in
the first shallow swim and rather than go opposite him on the blue pool side yeah I sort of fished
slightly off the shallows in a swim called the blocks I think it was and the reason I wanted to
be there as well I was chatting to Alan I see a bit of bubbling out in the shallows and you know
it's like yeah I'd really like to go at them but he is leave him to it you know with respect it's
a hundred acres you don't sit up next to someone on an empty hundred acre pit there you give them
a bit of space etiquette you know it's that word that we all use but some you know actually
practice in etiquette and I remember the next morning I got up and I wandered just up the bank
I was feeling a little bit tired because I've watched me water for a bit just drinking a couple
of cups of tea but I was feeling a bit tired but I decided to make a coffee and I wandered up the
bank now I don't often drink coffee but I believe that a cup of coffee I still remember it to this
day was the reason that the build-up started but I needed something to keep me awake and I remember
walking up the bank with it and I was looking across the shallows towards Alan scanning the
area where I'd seen the bubbles from his swim and there was bubbles pinging to the surface in that
area and literally while I stood there watching it and sipping my coffee I see a big fish come out
like it literally showed itself boss and I thought wow that was it wasn't it and literally as I was
thinking that was it it's come up again and then again and it sort of showed three different ways
it didn't come the same sort of way it's that way that way that so it's like here I am you know
showing myself so and you know that that's the Burfield common at the time yeah well there's
no mistake there's no other big at the time when I fished Burfield there was probably five other
fish over 30 pound in that lake you know and nothing okay so that's definitely you know that's
a one-off I used to call it a freak of nature Terry said it's a wonder of nature yeah which
I think Terry is probably a bit more just insane yeah but um it's like I remember a bit later on
I was like well I need to get it you know I'm gonna have to go in now I'm not gonna cast long
though I'll cast a bit short because I'm not casting on top of Al he wasn't fishing fully on
it he'd clearly see this fish as well and it's quite it's all part of the story but me and our
good friends we never spoke about the fishing on the lake it's kind of an agreement between us we
shared the sailing club like as our sort of lodge yeah where our freezers and everything was but um
I remember moving in there opposite him and I just put some bright ones on chod rigs I think I spoke
to Dave Lane on the phone the day before so you know like I said you know when I cast him out I
said um you know I was just stuck at two in a pineapple and he's going do you think I'll have
that you know I'll call him out here before like why not you know I'll stick him out for the day
and put some food baits out for the night and yeah put the rods out sort of whipped them in in the
evening puts the food baits on scattered a little bit of bait out I think the next morning I woke
up to a 26 pounder full right I've got the rigs right everything in the area just got to keep
focusing on it and I think over the next three weeks I see a couple of instances of the water
moving like someone waddling plank you know over a bar in the shallows um I'd caught a couple of
other fish as well and I just if I was either in the swim that I'd caught the first one from where
I'd seen it show or opposite where I was fishing he for some reason was fishing elsewhere on the
lake yeah he did and which is like I don't know whether he realized what at the time sort of thing
but I just kept you know keep going in that area throwing sticking bait around that center where
you could hear it from both sides and um yeah the build-up was the session I think I set up the
wind went up the other end I moved up the other end and the wind sort of turned around it come
back down so I went back around to the original swim I see it show from the following morning
caught a classic carp now that fish has been caught several times several times it had history
of Dan caught it with a common yeah catch that fish the commons about and I remember I stood in
the blocks talking to me mate John when I had the take off that and I've heard a bleep it's locked up
fishing tight clutches with chods a bit of a tip fish tight clutches on chods because you want the
lead to pull up to the hook link on the take I remember just seeing a bow wave leave the area
and another one go the other way so I thought what else was when I got it in like it's classic
what else was there it could be it you know that was a big bow wave left the spot and that was a
repeat capture you've got to keep going through them again and again get the rods back out I think
the next morning woke up to the double belly which was the biggest mirror in the lake 34 pound yeah
wow I'm close here and I couldn't recast the rod because there was scum all over the surface I
needed south westly to blow it all away and when the wind picked up and the water ski boat come out
it cleared you know basically whip the rod back out I'd actually had to put a bigger hook on because
I'd run out of size fives at the time so I put a size four on cast you know checked it in the
margins cast it out and then at midday while I was dozing on my bed chair because of the two fish
I'd caught I think I was four days into the session I thought I need to help this swim because I'm
close yeah how you think that after five years of plowing your way through the fish again and again
but I was thinking I think I had a little bit of water I thought the only way I can survive until
it's dark is I need to go to sleep and preserve my water and then I'll nip home and get some
provisions to stay in the swim and literally I was dozing on my bed chair and them two previous fish
hadn't taken line off the clutch had just pinged it out of clip and I woke up to a one-noter and I
kind of knew didn't even put my trainers on or anything I just bent into this fish and
very powerful here we go yeah like playing a conger and epic battle involving steering it
from two islands and it's snagging me in the bush to the margins big explosions and that and
there she was I mean that you know job done incredible yeah and the feeling when it you know
when when your target whatever your target is goes over that net cord yeah is just I don't know I'm
gonna I'm gonna say it's a good one but for me um it's actually relief yeah first and foremost
you don't get the you get you get a squirt of elation like yes that's like oh for that
hmm don't you yeah that you know at last I've got it or you know you've you've hit the target
whatever it might be I remember during the battle when I got it on a shorter line and it was kiting
to me right and I knew there's a snagged bush to the right yeah and I was just winding like trusting
me tackle giving it everything and I'm in think don't go in that bush don't go in that bush and
it did right but I remember as it come past me your mind's racing and you know it's everything
goes into slow motion because you're thinking quickly and I remember just seeing it perfectly
as if it was out of the water in front of me that is it this is your chance it's on like you know
do not yeah yeah yeah it's that sort of thing and uh you know it's like I was talking to myself don't
move your foot in keep your feet where they are that you know don't like once it's in the bush
just you know it's rolling about fortunately it was well looked chod rig and the lead was in its
mouth so nothing would hang up yeah thing you know yeah all right that so this the psychology
of big fish angling is one thing the psychology of playing a big fish is another thing as well
isn't it I don't know if this is just me and I'll throw this I've never spoken to anybody about this
is all at all but I think sometimes you can talk the fish off in your own mind and sometimes you
can keep it on in your own mind and there's a huge amount of positive mental attitude when you're
playing that big fish you know when the fight is gone on for just that little bit longer than you
want it to you think oh yeah I'm really enjoying this oh yeah it's a good fish and you think right
now it's time yeah and then you see it and it boggles off another 20 yards back out again you
think oh god it's going to come off yeah and there's been a few times where I think it's going to come
off it's going to come off it's going to come off and guess what it's come off and and you know it
can't be because I was thinking it was going to come off and it's actually come off but there's
other times I think right you'll know you're not coming off and I don't know whether it's mindset
or what but that you know I'd have given recently and again it was a it was a huge fight you know
one of those the unstoppable run the the big scrap all of this like it's gone into some reads I just
thought this is going to come off and then I just thought no don't think like that it's definitely
not going to come off yeah you know and I think sometimes you can talk it off in your own mind
sometimes yeah you can do I mean I'm a bit boring when it comes to rigs they use the same old rigs
obviously is and you know they're fine tuned and that and I know how much stick I can give them
general rule is you know say a hinged stiff rig one of my favorites or a chog rig if they stay on
more than 10 seconds they're coming in yeah unless you hit snags or you know like pad stems or
whatever you know but there's different ways of playing fish in different situations and they
you know you're sorry well again I was I was talking with a fellow the other day about hook
patterns I don't think there's a bad hook pattern out there I think all of the hooks that you know
there's very rarely a bad hook but I do think there are certain hook patterns that don't suit
certain people's playing styles very true setup or not true you know and people turn around and go
oh Nash hooks are crap or Fox hooks are crap or whatever hooks are crap it's like no actually
they're not they just don't suit your playing style yeah the setup you've got yeah or the certain
notch you use to tie the hooks or any the fine tuning of it and absolutely small margins add up
don't they and I think this is perhaps being slightly more old school when you've got something
you know you say you're fairly boring with your rigs actually you're not boring at all because
you know what works yeah and I bet you haven't changed your hooks for god knows how long or you
haven't changed your rigs for long as I have experiment but these days like say years ago
when you know the hinged rig start came out everyone was on drennen boiler yooks and that
lot now I've never really liked boiler yooks I used to lose fish on them yeah maybe like you say
didn't suit my playing style I have yeah but everyone was on them I prefer a straight pointed
hook so I used to get a super specialist and slowly bend the eye out slightly on them same as
like the boiler yook had the out turned back eye then it evolves almost a crossover of them to like
a super specialist and a boiler yook evolved into a stiff rigger the esp stiff rigger and now
I don't think there's a terminal tackle company out there that doesn't do what's now called a
chod hook which evolved from a stiff rigger sort of thing you know and let's face it most are good
and they I've used pretty much most of them yeah there's a fashion these days that hooks have
micro barbs and micro barbs are getting so small the mites will not be a barb so you know it's like
again what do you do about that do you play them harder I don't know yeah I think I think you just
know don't you you know you know very quickly I know what hooks work for me uh I don't know what
hooks don't work for me and and and sometimes for some reason I don't know why I might be swayed
and and this isn't targeting fish this is just going to fish as well I might be swayed to try
something else for a reason you know straight away whether or not it's right or wrong yeah uh and and
I think when you've when you've been around the track a little bit it's very hard to pry you off
what you've done it's not we're boring we just know what works yeah but talking about what works
big fish bait do you believe that there is bait that can target big fish or do you just think
that carp will eat anything I used to think that I mean spin the clock back again we go back to
80 now when I went to 80 from the match lake right through to the cops car part north lake pads lake
caught them all and I caught them all fairly quickly I think the longest campaign was a
pads lake five months it took me to catch that one out of there but generally on the match lake
and the cops lake I caught the better fish I didn't catch the smaller ones but I use
fish meal baits now I owe this to the likes of Terry Pathbridge from the old yahoo crew like they
you know me and my mates like maggot and paul toy like we used to use bird food baits we used I
think I forget I think we used to get it off a bloke called uh Rob McGill an old 80 veteran
and he used to be called the 80 hit squad mix like a bird food bait and we did all right and
that is a good bait it caught a lot of good fish and um but when we got talking to Terry Pathbridge
as youngsters and told him we was fishing like a 60 acre lake 16 fish in it like um Hawley lake
um he was interested because they were old leanies and he's like you know he's like a bit I don't
know bold sort of bloke you know like you want to get on a fish mill for his like premier fish mills
and you know put you know cat full to each egg in it and cat full to each egg on it like lug them
up with fish oils get them out there and we we caught them fishing a couple of weeks once we
started using fish mills and this sort of carried on through me fishing you know when you find
something that works like you've been doing all right but then all of a sudden it accelerates
you know you think you stick with that and that worked into Yateley a few years later and I went
through them and funnily enough when I met Terry he used to use like a bird food or a nut meal bait
and Terry for instance I caught 15 fish out the match lake that year Terry caught 40 carp from the
match lake and the cop site just doing afternoon sessions and stalking but he tended to catch the
smaller ones he's struggled to get through them and like into the bigger ones I wouldn't say
Terry struggled because he never struggled and I remember when he went over to the North Lake
to hunt basil like he was still using that same sort of bait and I remember him asking me about
it and at the time Jeff Pink had sorted me and Terry out a deal with Nashi like and I'd moved
on from Premier and Cotswold baits I'd moved on to like um Nash monster pursuit so I looked
through what Nashi did he had the sting and I know Tench liked that for some reason so I thought I'll
go for this monster pursuit that worked well on the cops lake caught the big ones quick out of there
and then Terry's like I don't know that bait you were using and I don't know if you remember the
myth that um Basil used to like a bait with Robin Red in it didn't he? Yeah yeah yeah so Terry got
hold of the monster pursuit and I think he introduced Robin Red to it or he might have
mixed it with a sting to give it that red tinge and it you know straight away he started catching
I don't know what I think he used Cajun prawn and shellfish sense appeal with these flavors
yeah I was using lobster firmador and salmon oil palate yeah you know and I think regular
sense appeal at the time but um again I just carried on catch the big fish carp at Lake Bank
you know Heather's my first bite, Singlescale's my second bite, the Big Common's my third bite,
fourth bite, Singlescale again you know it's like bang bang bang going for them big ones then I call
it half on it you know so at the time you're convinced it's fish meals fish meals for the men
sweeties for the boys you know you keep your bird foods and all your sweet flavored baits catch
some more fish but I think nowadays it's probably evolved a bit but I do think when we was younger
in the 80s and you make your own bait you make your own recipes roll your own bait each week
and you tweak it and that you try and outfish your mates and you don't tell them what you've done
whether you're up to your flavor levels or lowered them and all this that and the other
those sort of days are in a massive scale these days say like I've gone on quite a hard late
like meal only yatey in the past with a nutmill bait everyone's zig fishing I'm catching them
I'm fishing tight lines with rigs on the bottom so they think I'm zigging as well I'm using hinge
rigs thrown sticking nutmill baits out there all seven fish then all of a sudden everyone
realizes I'm catching off the bottom so everyone else goes on the bottom and they're all using
I think at the time maybe something like the krill was the in-bait like a few years back
and so everyone starts gunning the krill and my catch rate goes straight down because they got
a better food source fish meal yeah and like my light sweetie attractor bait yeah it's not outfishing
them it's on a bigger scale to the old ways yeah it's funny I think that you know when there's
when there's a lot of good quality bait around us there is now it's a lot harder to stand out
on your bait yeah definitely which is which is where I you know personally I'm quite fond of
liquids a lot of the time yeah I think that's the future and the liquids yeah you can you can
jazz things up and just make it you know not not just more attractive but more nutritionally
superior definitely by putting some of the the fantastic liquids around but I don't think the
say the 80s when we used to make our own recipes all these different fish meals were available you
could have capes in me or sardine meal macromill and you don't really see them now it's all lt 94
or whatever that's it well I we I don't know about you but we used to get our surprise expense up in
up in Fleetwood he was the main fish mill manufacturer for the whole of the country
and they went bust a few years ago and as a result now I think a lot of stuff's imported in and it
is literally this is it that's fish meal you know you could get all of these different types
you know you could you could like shrimp meal as a primary example it was great for
altering the buoyancy on the bay wasn't it there's all sorts of things but too much in it floated
off in the wind and absolutely and people people don't quite have the understanding of bait that
they used to have but actually they don't need it it's a little bit like engines yeah you know
in the in the in the car world you used to have to know how your car worked because the chances are
the bloody thing would break down yeah whereas now you know you you give a mechanic a computer
20 years ago he wouldn't know how to do with it you give a mechanic a spanner now he doesn't know
what to do with it because well I thought of you know grew up in an age of you know your car
spluttering a bit you take the distributor cap off yeah scratch the old things up with wd put it back
on off you go again now you lift the bonnet up you know there's a cover where's the battery
it's in the boot exactly that but you know it's that it's that evolution it's that need to know
basis but you know talking about bait because you're obviously now without a little pro anyway
you've had quite a few fish on on our bait recently you're doing quite well with that
yeah I mean I think it's almost six months a day since I joined um I probably didn't join at the
best time to be switching bait companies yeah I mean like uh and I was fishing the water didn't
have a great um you know winter form so I was up against it but I needed that confidence I
went to a runs water bang straight away like two different baits I think I used the
attract natural and the kriller that was on your recommendation when I come up actually and
I found the kriller worked there so straight away I'm confident in that went on this other wall with
very low winter form managed to catch a few out of there so my confidence is scaling up now I'm
on my main target water and I think I'm 19 nights in over seven weeks and I've caught 19 fish from
there so I mean I'm not catching a fish per night it's not you know sometimes I don't catch
a night and then I might catch two the next night or three you know that's how it goes but the
average is good and you know I'm not on the kriller still is it that's on the kriller and
I've sort of got out again old school we like freezer bait don't we all the old school boys
you look at shelf life as we used to call it brick life and all that that's changed a lot
and yeah you know what I find the ease of using shelf life these days it's so much you can have
it in the car spare you don't you don't feel like you've got to throw it in the lake because it's
going to go off you know take it home if you don't use it you know well it's a lot more it's a lot
more usable as well because when you defrost a bait if you don't defrost it right then actually
it can become soggy you know in the bag the bottom of the bag is always going to be too much water in there
however however well you've kept your bait in the freezer actually you know when you defrost it you
can you can not spoil it that's the wrong word but you can affect how it behaves oh yeah which is why
these you know the the shelf life baits works well we're saying earlier about the old using fish oils
to glug your baits up and that if you throw oil on the frozen bait it goes all buttery and horrible
don't it so you kind of find that you have to fool your bait out for a day get rid of excess water
so it's not you know like it's the moisture that makes your bait go mouldy at the end of the day
and yes and um but yeah with these shelf life baits you just pop the lid on the bucket put your
glug in shake it up like so you do it a couple of days before let it soak in add more to it
are you glugging it with salmon oil i'm i started off just glugging it with acrylic glug
but now the water's warmer i'm introducing a bit of salmon oil in it as well that's the
that's the one it sucks it in they're not rock hard they're they're nice baits i'm impressed to be
honest with shelf life bait yeah that's that's the one the mix of the two the the glug through the cold
months and you're doing exactly the right thing you know as soon as you get that salmon oil on it
as well it just it you know salmon oil is an absolute classic but i i have this thing in
particular that um you know coming up to spawning time they have a certain type of nutritional
requirement as soon as they've spawned actually they want to bulk back up again and then is the
time for high oil baits you know and then as soon as the water gets too hot as soon as you're getting
towards august actually i sort of drop that oil down a little bit again but there's there's like
a six-week window now where you know smash it in with a lot of blood oil and they just absolutely
horse it down kind of works a bit like a hatch don't you see your area pinging with it yeah it's
mad on the subject of bait nige has been out and he's been catching quite a few fish recently we
just heard that he's been doing quite well on our bait but you know don't just listen to us here
if you are watching on youtube have a look at this which is nige out talking about how good the bait
is if you're listening to this on the podcast do check out our youtube channel because there's a
brilliant film of nige talking about using our bait what's the future for for nige shark where
do you go now you've you've got the one that you're looking for you've had an awful lot of
really big target fish through your period anyway what is the future you're after the
you're after the farnham flint biggie have you got your eye on another fish after that or is it a
case of you're so tunnel vision that this is it you're not moving do you do you fish anywhere else
i know winter's a bit different because you get some bites and you'll carry on as per
with me target yeah i'm not saying i'm going to catch it this year or whatever if it gets caught
i might have a little excursion elsewhere you know and rethink it come back it depends like if it got
caught say in the next couple of weeks yeah i'll give it a break for a couple of weeks and then i'll
go back and carry on autumn captures once it gets caught that's it it's wrote off and it but
these days since the covid and the furlough period when angling exploded quite a lot of clubs and
lakes it's hard to get tickets in it so i've always been one over the years i'd never join them or i'll
never put my name on a waiting list and that's not because i'm specially privileged and expect to be
given the golden key i'd just look at lakes with waiting lists as being busy so you know it's not
a bit of me but i found myself becoming a hypocrite because i've had to put my name down on a few lists
and i've managed to acquire tickets because i've done it quickly before the list got too long
you have to buy these tickets although they're sitting in your pocket doing nothing because
i know a few people who've become very focused on a water and they've not bought any other tickets
and they've either caught that fish or that fish has died or they've even got nowhere to go or
they've even been banned from the water and then they're like what do i do i've got no way to fish
yeah well you can't help you mate you can't just go and buy a club ticket you know it's a huge
expense now isn't it you know things like that the the ticket that you've got for the one that you
want to fish is expensive enough but having another one in the pipe that's you know and it could be
three years well you look at it it's like relatively cheap for the ticket i hold for
you know the pinchwood area whatever call them lakes that's what the ticket is called like
i think that's 350 quid for the night ticket right and um which is quite a lot of money but
it's not when you think say a day ticket venue i'm not too in touch with day tickets don't frequent
them in the summer but generally i think you're looking at anything up to about 40 quid for an
average day 30 quid is your starter it can go up to 45 quid by the time you've done 10 nights on a
day ticket water that's your 350 quid ticket paid for and it depends how much fishing you do a year
really doesn't it yeah yeah no absolutely so well look good luck yeah with uh with your quest i
don't think it's going to be long i think you can have it this summer i think it doesn't come out
yet this year not yet no so what is it twice a year fish yeah i'd say that yeah yeah it's got
your name on it mate yeah there we go it is always interesting getting inside the mind of any of our
guests and i'm sure you'll agree that sharpie's mind is absolutely brilliant a really nice insight
into both the history of carp fishing and also some huge historic carp and targets for the future
as well so whatever you're fishing for just remember go out there go for it it is your time
it's your opportunity hope you've enjoyed this podcast we will be back with another one very
soon you know the drill in the meantime give us a like a follow click all the things that you need
to click so from us here at outlaw pro we'll see you again very soon thanks for listening to the
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