Plans & Reflections

2020 was an awful year for everyone and the restrictions on angling were felt by all who love the sport. I had plans for early spring that were soon thrown out the window as, like everyone else, I was forced to hang up the rods. I decided early into lockdown, that the...

Stanwick Lakes

20th June, The alarm goes off, 0600, and I drag myself from my bed, quietly putting on my previously layed out pile of clothes as to not wake the household, slowly moving through the house as if on some sort of covert mission, but in reality today was the day I...

Product Preference

As Head Consultant of MAD Baits, I’m regularly asked: “which product should people be using?” As with most people, my opinions and preferences are based on my own experiences and are likely to conflict with those of others. I did my angling apprenticeship in a...

Brakes Pit

My name is Liam Gray, I am 21 and this is my Essex Big Pit Campaign. Original plans were to finish off something I had started on another water and join Brakes the following year, however, a close friend of mine who had a ticket for the water said I need to get on...

A Break from the Madness

Day-ticket carp fishing is one of the most popular styles of fishing in the UK and seems to be an ever-growing market. These types of day-ticket waters have become the starting point for so many getting into fishing but in recent years also the mecca for some very big...

Wooly Wonders, Where, Why and When.

Back in 2016, I acquired a ticket that I had my eyes and heart set on for a while, The Woolpack in Cambridgeshire. On lakes 5&6, 7 and 8. Many will know the history of this place but for those that don’t, we are talking about some proper old scaley ones. Some...

Early Days

I started my days of fishing for carp 35 years ago back when i was 17 years old after constantly getting snapped off by what i knew to be carp whilst fishing for tench, after stepping up my line i eventually landed my first carp of just over 8lb, since then i was...

Spring Preparation

With most of the country being on lock down, now is the ideal time to be sorting out your kit and getting everything ready and prepared for your next outing on the bank. Like most anglers, over time my tackle becomes cluttered, dirty and generally unorganised after a...

Chasing Targets

As I sit here now tapping away on my iPad, it’s 10.30 am and already 35 degrees but a nice refreshing cool breeze takes me back to last spring and summer on the big pit. Well I say big pit and I suppose it is really in comparison to some I have fished, but at 50 acres...