Tom Maker is an angler who spends much of his time fishing in the Kent Area. With a number of twenties,thirties and forties under his belt Tom is an experienced angler who loves to go fishing. He has fished many BCAC events with his dad Andy as well as fishing for England in senior events. He also is a consultant for Fox International.

March 2010

2 Very Hectic 24-hour Sessions Up at Thorpe Lea

With college and work commitments limiting my fishing time over the past month, I have only managed to get in a few sessions, 2 of these sessions have been on the ever productive Thorpe Lea Fishery a day ticket water renowned for its mega catches. The first of the two sessions was on a Wednesday night, on arrival to the lake I could see that the lake was pretty empty with all the anglers that were on only down for a day so I had the choice of the lake.  I opted to fish a swim that fished to the middle area of the lake where the fish normally sit once I got into the swim  I took a few minutes to take a look out infront of me to see if I could see any fish show. I stood watching for about 15 minutes but didnt see anything however there was a large gathering of tuftie ducks sitting around 110 yards out and from past experiance that normally signals fish are near so I took no time in setting my gear set up and getting my rods ready. I started off fishing with a Mainline Cell Bottom Bait on one rod and a Hi-Viz Milky Toffee Pop Up on the other these were both fished with a small 10p size pva bag's of Mini Combo Pellets dipped in Bloodworm Concentrate with short 6 inch Cortex hooklinks with Size 6 SSBP Hooks on a lead clip set up, these were cast either side of the group of ducks with both the lines mended and the bobbins clipped on it didnt take long to get the first bite. I landed a 21lb 2oz mirror a great start to the night and a start of a super hectic session, the sessions continued as it started and by 4pm the following day I had landed a total of 51 carp losing 2, 6 of which went over 20lb with the biggest going 25lb 10oz using the same tactics as I started with.

With college finishing at 5pm on Friday and still feeling the pace from Wednesday night I decided that fishing for the weekend would be ruled out to get some rest. However  on the Saturday morning the sun was shining and my feet were itching so I put the rods back in the car as well as some more bait and headed back up to Thorpe Lea on the off chance I might drop into a decent swim for the night. I arrived at the lake shortly after 12pm and went streight over to the board to see who was where and I noticed that swim 49 was coming free at 1.30pm so without question it had to be there. I loaded up the barrow and pushed it to the swim and waited for the person to pack away whilst doing so I tied around 50 pva bags of Nutz Multi Mix, Little Gemz Pellets with Bloodworm Concentrate to form a "stick mix", and also mixed up a large bucket of Nutz Sludge, Mainline Response Pellets and Sea Salt and Chilli Pepper Hemp ready to spod. The bloke left shortly after 2 and I was straight out with the rods whilst I set about getting my bivvy up I caught a carp of around 15lbs within 10 minutes but then nothing for hours. So I decided it was time to spod I wound all my rods in and set about clipping them up. I clipped them to a distance of 114 yards a comfortable distance especially with the wind behind I started of f by spodding the whole bucket out just to get the fish interested.  This certainly worked as by the morning I had caught 25 carp with 6 going over 20lb to 22lb 4oz, spodding regular between bites to keep the fish interested. After a sleepless night I decided that at 5am enough was enough and I wound my rods in to get some sleep. I awoke around 10am and could see it had turned out to be a lovely day  with temperatures around 10 degrees and bright blue skies so for the remaining few hours I decided to try spodding over zigs, fishing with different coloured foam on the hooks and spodding a sloppy mix of Nutz Sludge and Response Pellets over the top. I managed to land a further 8 carp and another 20lber  weighing 23lb 10oz, my biggest of the session. I had to be gone by 2pm and I think by 1.30 I was back in the car stinking of carp and covered in spod mix and another great haul to write down. So in the last 2 sessions i had managed to land 83 carp, with 13 over 20lb, and the rest over 10lb.

Till next time

Tom

February 2010

24 Hours at Thorpe Lea

With all the cold weather we have been having over the last month, causing nearly every lake in england too freeze, it would be nice to get the rods back out.  I arrived at the prolific day ticket water around 6.15am on the saturday, just before opening time, the gates were due to open around 7am, which was enough time to tie up some small pva bags, consisting of Little Gemz Pellets. The gates opened just before 7am and I was first into the car park, although a few people had done the night on the friday, their was still a few decent swims left.  I opted for swim 49, a swim which fishes into the open water, onto the shallow plateau, and a area that I have caught from before in the winter.  Once in the swim, I got my 2 rods straight out, one in the shallow water and the 2nd just off the island in the deeper water, once the rods were out I then went about setting my bivvy up.

After a good few hours with no fish, I decided that a bed of bait might get them on the feed, so i mixed up a bucket consisting of 2 jars of Salamiz Hemp, Little Gemz Pellets, Mainline Response Pellets and a can of corn.  I started off with around 15 half spods, fishing with small Mainline Hi-Viz Pop Ups over the top it wasn't long until the first rod was away, a small mirror of around 12lb was soon in the net, a good result and a sure sign that they was liking the bait.  With the fish safely returned and a further 5 spods out I was soon into another, this time it felt a lot better, and at 21lb it was a welcome visitor on a cold afternoon. The afternoon produced a further 2 more fish of around mid doubles over the bait, with the sun now well behind the trees the temperature plummeted to below freezing, and I thought my chances were over, however, I spodded the rest of the bucket out and decided to sit over it for the night in hope that the freezing conditions hadn't put them off.

At around 11pm I was woken by a twitchy take on my left hand rod, i jumped out of bed and picked the rod up, but was shocked when I looked out across the lake, to find that most of it had frozen.  Luckily enough a small area in front of my rods hadn't froze, so with the tip in the water I gently played the fish until it was free of the ice and netted it first time a mirror of about 14lb, and a real out of the blue bite.  With one rod still in the water I knew there was every chance I could still get another run and wasn't surprised that at 1am Ihad a take on it.  By this time the lake was solid the rod tip was bouncing around like mad unable to take line I had to smash the ice from around the tip so  I could play the fish.  I aimed the tip at the hole and just played it very gently after about 10 minutes the leader knot come onto the reel and after a few more winds the fish was splashing around in the hole breaking any ice that was in the way . With the net frozen solid I managed to get it in the water and scoop the fish up on the 2nd time of trying I couldn't believe my luck 6 fish on a freezing cold session and 2 of those from under the ice in 4ft of water, it just goes to show, that trying something different in winter can get you bites even in the toughest of conditions. 

Tom

September 2009

Fishing with Hinders Salamiz Hemp, Little Gemz Pellets, Mainline Response Pellets and Cell Boilies, I managed to land 12 fish in a 48 hour session on my Southern Syndicate, this included 6 20s to 28lb 6oz, as well as 30s of 30lb 11oz and a 31lb 12oz mirror, fishing at long range with the spod, I put in a total of 10kgs of the mix, spodding a bit out after each fish.

July 2009

From the 15th July to the 19th July, I had an amazing 4 night session down on the Syndicate, I arrived down at the lake around midday, and was the only one down, after a quick walk along the bank I decided to set up in an open water swim, and a swim that had produced fish at the weekend, because of the lakes depth, it is very rare that the fish get caught during the day, so I had a good few hours to set up, and get everything sorted for the night, once the house was all set up, I went about setting my rods up, and getting the bait mixed together, as I was doing 2 nights in the swim I decided to put a fair amount of bait In on the 1st night, so I mixed together 3 tubs of Salamiz Hemp, 2kgs of Blitz Multimix, 5kg of Cell Response Pellets and 2kg of Chopped Cell Boilies, this might seem alot of bait, but their are large shoals of commons in the lake, and they will clear that lot out within a hour or 2, with the float in position and rods clipped up it was time to put the bait out, making sure I  left a good 30 spod fulls in the bottom of the bucket for spodding in case I caught during the night, although time consuming it was well worth the effort, as during the night  I hooked into 14 carp and landed 13 of them.  I had caught 7 carp, all of which were commons before midnight, and hadn't had the chance to spod any bait out, but this didn't make any difference, as at around 2am a shoal had moved back over, this time better fish, as I landed a 20lb 2oz Common Carp, 22lb 10oz Common Carp, 21lb 6oz Mirror Carp, 25lb 6oz Mirror Carp, 30lb 2oz and a stunning 31lb 6oz Mirror Carp as well as a mid double common carp, the night had sure enough been one of my best ever, and I was actually pleased that the water wasn't a day time lake so I could get some sleep, I think by the time I had finished tidying my swim up after the night at around 10am I was ready for bed, the next thing I knew was when I woke up and checked my phone, it was 4.30pm, I had slept through most of the day, after a quick coffee it was back up to the car to reload the bait bucket, preparing the exact same mix as the previous night, I was confident of a few more bites.

Once everything was sorted and the rods and bait was out it was time to sit back and tuck into a nice indian takeaway with a few friends, with that polished off it was time for bed, still wide awake I lay in my bed drinking a coffee when all of a sudden my middle rod screamed into life, I leapt from my bedchair and ran to the rod and proceeded to play the fish, after a short fight I soon had a gloriouse 23lb 2oz Common Carp in the net, a good start to what seemed to be another good night, with the fish safely returned I recast the rod and spodded a further 20 spods out and got back into bed, I hadn't caught any carp for a few hours, and by now it was just getting light, just light enought to see for a recast, so  I wound in all 3 rods, rebaited them with fresh baits and bags, and cast them back onto the spot, and spodded another 10 spods out, and it didn't take long to get another bite, a small mid double common carp. In the next few hours it went quite mad, I hooked and landed another 4 mid to upper double commons, so it was another good night, landing a total of 6 more fish, however, I had been told that I still had no work, so I decided to stay on for 2 more nights, could it get any better.

Deciding to move to another area of the lake, it was like starting the session again, I moved to an area of the lake know as the point, renowned for producing a lot of fish, I knew I would be in for a few, however, nothing prepared me for what was about to happen in the night, I had found a nice hard spot at about 90 yards just off a tree lined margin and decided to fish my 2 rods on that, I had already seen a lot fish in the area, mainly bigger mirrors, I decided to bait with more Salamiz Hemp and boilies, just adding a small amount of Blitz Multi Mix and response pellets to stodge the mix up, with hope that the boilie and hemp would attract the bigger fish, with the 2 rods in pole postion and the marker float in, it was time get the bait out, spending a few hours on the spod I soon waded through a mass of bait, leaving around 10 spods for the night, with my arms aching and my top covered in spod mix I had a quick wash and a change of clothes in readyness for what looked to be a good night, with strong winds from the south west and night time temperatures of 14 Degrees it was perfect "carping weather", not long after my wash I started getting liners, a good sign, this soon produced a slow take on the left hand rod, and I was soon bent into a decent fish, with the wind hacking in from right to left it was hard at times to feel the fish, however, after a few tense moments in the weed I soon had a spawned out 30lb 8oz mirror in the net, a good start to the night, with the fish photographed and returned I set about battling the wind to get my rod back out, once on the spot it didnt take long for it to again, this time with a small common.

When the action starts as early as it did, it normally means one thing, your going to be in for a busy night, so it was a good job  I had a sleep during the day, as throughout the night (9pm till 5am) I landed a total of 19 carp, I caught 8 over 20lb, 5 of wich over 27lb and all of wich normally go over 30lb later in the year, as well as a sought after Mirror Carp at a very spawned out 35lb 8oz which normally goes between 41-43lb. This was my best night by far, at times I had both rods going off at once, and at one point I had fish in 4 different nets, were I couldn't get them photgraphed and put back quick enough, I had ran out of spod mix after the first 4 fish, so during the night, when I wasn't playing a fish or tying rigs I was constantly on the throwing stick scattering 18mm Mainline Cell  Boilies in the area keeping the fish interested.

Once the sun rose up above the tree tops the action dried up, and so did the soaking wet swim, it was like a bomb had hit it, their was piles of weed every where, as well as 4 nets strung from trees and unhooking mates laid over the front of the swim, but what a night, and a night I will never forget.

I decided to stay on for the following night, which proved to be much quieter, landing just the one mirror carp weighing 29lb 10oz, however still a good fish at this time of the year. So that was my 4 day session, landing a total of 39 Carp, 2 singles, 19 doubles, 14 20s and 4 30s, if i would have had a session like this later on in the year I would have probably had at least 7-8 over 30lb and a 40lb, but I guess a session like this doesn't come along very often, so I am over the moon with what I caught, and can't wait to get back on the bank again.

Till next time

Tom

New article on Southern Still Water Carp Fishing Available Now

Here is a little report of a brace of 40's I caught recently, I ended up landing 4 doubles, 27lb 2oz common, 27lb 12oz common, 28lb 2oz common, 31lb 4oz mirror, 37lb 5oz mirror, 37lb 6oz mirror, 40lb 3oz mirror and a 41lb 8oz mirror,

I fished in one swim from Monday night to Wednesday morning where I landed 2 small commons a 31lb 4oz mirror and the 40lb 3oz mirror, all these fish were caught at 145 yards range on Mainline Cell Pop Ups fished on a 8 inch length of sandy yellow cortex knotless knotted to a Size 8 Super Sharp SSC fished with a silicone kicker 1inch off the bottom, this was attached to a safety lead clip system with 3 ft of weighted rig tubing, and a 3.75oz horizon lead, I introduced 100 boilies at the start of the session, and also a bucket of hemp, and topped up after each fish with a further 50 baits and 5 spods, also before it got dark I put out some Spod Mix which consisted of hemp, crushed hemp and Hinders Mini Combo pellets.

Tom with 40lb 3oz Mirror Carp

I moved into another swim on the wednesday as I had finished my 48hrs in that swim and within 4 hours had a 37lb 6oz mirror in the net, I was using the same rigs and tactics but this time fishing up a tight channel at 145-150 yards range, during the night I landed a 28lb 2oz common, my biggest common from the lake and also one of the biggest in there. I awoke early next morning and re cast the rods, I got 2 baits spot on was feeling confident of a bite, around midday I had slow take on the left hand rod, after a long hard fight I finally had a massive mirror in the net, the fish weighted 41lb 8oz and was my 6th uk 40lb+ carp and the second in 24hrs. I photographed the fish before finally returning her to her watery home, I managed another common of 27lb 2oz later that day, during the night I lost a fish, and in the morning I landed a common weighing 27lb 6oz, I moved back into the swim I started on about 10am friday and just had a chilled out weekend, I landed a further 3 carp to 37lb 5oz which was a great result, and my dad who was in the swim I had just moved out of caught a stunning 34lb 14oz mirror as well as a new English PB weighing 39lb 15oz, so all in all a great week.

      Tom with 41lb 8oz Mirror                Andy with 39lb 15oz Mirror and New UK PB