You can tell a lot about an angler from the venue he chooses to fish. In some ways, it the biggest and most influential decision we make about what we intend to get from the pursuit of our quarry. It seems clear to me that an angler who applies himself to a single, low-stocked water has very different expectations to those of an angler who fishes high profile day ticket waters all around the country. Both are perfectly valid forms of carp angling, but the topic raises an issue that has plagued my conscience for years, and I’m only now beginning to understand and explore. The issue is where we, as anglers, draw the line between what we regard as a desirable challenge, and what is just too easy.

It’s an issue that at times threatens to divide our sport and always sparks lengthy debates, yet it is something that is inevitably different for each angler. If you will allow me to show you where I draw that line, and some of the experiences that have led to that attitude, perhaps it will cause you to consider your own approach to the subject. It’s possible then that we may be able to look and listen to others’ angling achievements with a greater sense of tolerance and understanding.

I began Carp fishing on very hard gravel pit, and for a long time I spent my night sessions dreaming about a fish that I was realistically never going to catch. Looking back now I can see I was under prepared and ill experienced to be fishing such a difficult water. The frustrations and disappointments of blanking for nearly three seasons on this lake weren’t helped by my dad fishing alongside me and using the same tactics to catch some stunning fish. On the one hand I was forced to improve my fishing to try and overcome this huge challenge, yet on the other, the idea that fishing ’smarter’ would help me land a fish was totally undermined by being my father’s ‘net boy’ for some seriously big Carp. Surely I was just unlucky not to catch?

Disillusioned and convinced that luck was the overriding factor in whether I caught or not, I drifted away from serious Carp fishing and spent my time catching small Carp on an easy day ticket water. It was here that my faith was restored, as I developed my own style of fishing that consistently put more fish on the bank than others on the lake, I could see that skill did indeed play a part in catching Carp.

So what does this have to do with defining the way I fish today? Well, having jumped in at the deep end of Carp fishing and toiled away without reward, I gained a respect for Carp and those that consistently catch them. By also having had experience fishing a very different type of water, I could recognise very clearly that to catch a Carp from one lake is not the same as to catch it from another. A point proved by the fact that my one capture from the gravel pit, at the end of 3 season’s struggle, is the pinnacle of my angling achievement to date, despite that fact it wasn’t a personal best.

Most of all though, I’ve learnt that for a fish to mean something, there has to be a struggle, or some obstacle to overcome. After all, we could all spend our weekends scooping Carp out of the fish farmer’s tanks, but we don’t. Every one of us chooses some way to obscure the path to our objective: to catch a Carp. For me, the greater the obstacles I can overcome, the greater the sense of achievement. We can all choose our own obstacles in the type of lakes we fish: high stock, low stock, large lakes, small lakes, pressured, unpressured… the list is endless. Yet at times do we lose sight of this, and do we short change ourselves by forsaking the buzz of catching something you’ve worked hard for, for just catching something bigger than the last one?

Whether you share my views or not, it can’t hurt to look back at what first got you involved in the sport, and what you want to achieve in the future. Why not use this as an opportunity to think about what really drives your desire to fish. Maybe you’ll find that instead of turning up at a lake with the ‘in’ bait and fishing the known swims for a new PB, you’d be happier elsewhere, getting results in your own time and in your own way.

I know that I will always be an angler, and as such I have a lifetime to achieve all of my ambitions. With this in mind I try to focus on only the nearest objective. It’s taken me years to land my first English ‘twenty’, but now that I have it feels great, and I only want to catch more. The lake I fish doesn’t hold thirties, but it does hold more than one twenty and that’s my next challenge. Thirties, forties and the rest can wait for the time being. I’m in no rush - and I’m enjoying my fishing.

You can tell a lot about an angler from the venue he chooses to fish. In some ways, it the biggest and most influential decision we make about what we intend to get from the pursuit of our quarry. It seems clear to me that an angler who applies himself to a single, low-stocked water has very different expectations to those of an angler who fishes high profile day ticket waters all around the country. Both are perfectly valid forms of carp angling, but the topic raises an issue that has plagued my conscience for years, and I’m only now beginning to understand and explore. The issue is where we, as anglers, draw the line between what we regard as a desirable challenge, and what is just too easy.

It’s an issue that at times threatens to divide our sport and always sparks lengthy debates, yet it is something that is inevitably different for each angler. If you will allow me to show you where I draw that line, and some of the experiences that have led to that attitude, perhaps it will cause you to consider your own approach to the subject. It’s possible then that we may be able to look and listen to others’ angling achievements with a greater sense of tolerance and understanding.

I began Carp fishing on very hard gravel pit, and for a long time I spent my night sessions dreaming about a fish that I was realistically never going to catch. Looking back now I can see I was under prepared and ill experienced to be fishing such a difficult water. The frustrations and disappointments of blanking for nearly three seasons on this lake weren’t helped by my dad fishing alongside me and using the same tactics to catch some stunning fish. On the one hand I was forced to improve my fishing to try and overcome this huge challenge, yet on the other, the idea that fishing ’smarter’ would help me land a fish was totally undermined by being my father’s ‘net boy’ for some seriously big Carp. Surely I was just unlucky not to catch?

Disillusioned and convinced that luck was the overriding factor in whether I caught or not, I drifted away from serious Carp fishing and spent my time catching small Carp on an easy day ticket water. It was here that my faith was restored, as I developed my own style of fishing that consistently put more fish on the bank than others on the lake, I could see that skill did indeed play a part in catching Carp.

So what does this have to do with defining the way I fish today? Well, having jumped in at the deep end of Carp fishing and toiled away without reward, I gained a respect for Carp and those that consistently catch them. By also having had experience fishing a very different type of water, I could recognise very clearly that to catch a Carp from one lake is not the same as to catch it from another. A point proved by the fact that my one capture from the gravel pit, at the end of 3 season’s struggle, is the pinnacle of my angling achievement to date, despite that fact it wasn’t a personal best.

Most of all though, I’ve learnt that for a fish to mean something, there has to be a struggle, or some obstacle to overcome. After all, we could all spend our weekends scooping Carp out of the fish farmer’s tanks, but we don’t. Every one of us chooses some way to obscure the path to our objective: to catch a Carp. For me, the greater the obstacles I can overcome, the greater the sense of achievement. We can all choose our own obstacles in the type of lakes we fish: high stock, low stock, large lakes, small lakes, pressured, unpressured… the list is endless. Yet at times do we lose sight of this, and do we short change ourselves by forsaking the buzz of catching something you’ve worked hard for, for just catching something bigger than the last one?

Whether you share my views or not, it can’t hurt to look back at what first got you involved in the sport, and what you want to achieve in the future. Why not use this as an opportunity to think about what really drives your desire to fish. Maybe you’ll find that instead of turning up at a lake with the ‘in’ bait and fishing the known swims for a new PB, you’d be happier elsewhere, getting results in your own time and in your own way.

I know that I will always be an angler, and as such I have a lifetime to achieve all of my ambitions. With this in mind I try to focus on only the nearest objective. It’s taken me years to land my first English ‘twenty’, but now that I have it feels great, and I only want to catch more. The lake I fish doesn’t hold thirties, but it does hold more than one twenty and that’s my next challenge. Thirties, forties and the rest can wait for the time being. I’m in no rush - and I’m enjoying my fishing.

Stumble it!