Posted on 6th Oct 2011 @ 12:35 PM

Hi  my name is Dean , and although I do enjoy fishing for carp, I have to be honest and admit I’m not very good at it. Myself and my mate Max spend a far bit of time on the bank but we always seem to be the bridesmaids rather than the bride. A good weekend for us is a couple of takes and if we actually land one then that’s a bonus. Max seems to have more luck than me and tends to be a bit more successful. We often look though carp magazines and look in awe at the catches some of the writers enjoy. We have often remarked how good it would be to catch like the “Pro’s”. Whilst we were browsing through on of the mags a picture immediately caught my eye. I said to Max “ I know that guy , I often work with him,,he works on the same firm as me “ Anyway to cut a long story short, John  (O’Driscoll)  offered to take us and show us a few things .

As the day approached the excitement mounted, John suggested that we go to a lake were we would have a good chance of banking a few fish and said that in his opinion we should go to Thorpe Lea in Surrey. As agreed  John picked Max and I up at 7 am on the Friday morning with all the tackle loaded in the van we set off on the two hour journey to the lake.

As we ventured through the gates and stood  at the tackle shop I could not help but think how nice the place looked . John suggested that we head for the M25 bank ,which seemed to be the most productive. For the measly sum of £2 the head bailiff even transported the mountain of gear that we had taken, on the back of an ATV . Max and I had chosen a double swim  which had an island  directly in front of it. Before we started to actually fish ,John said that we should have a lead around to see what is in front of us. I have never heard the expression “Lead around” before so asked him what he meant. The next couple of hours were spent casting a marker float around the swim. It was fascinating  casting around the swim , I never in my wildest dreams thought something so simple could tell me so much. In those couple of hours we established that the island margins were very shallow no more than 2feet deep, and extremely weedy. This shallow shelf extended about 12 yards from the island , at which point  it dropped away fairly quickly to a depth of 6½ feet .  This area was very clear,  having used a technique which  involved pulling the line through my fingers. I could feel every bump and stone on the bottom ,John explained that by doing it that way rather than watching the rod tip bounce about you get a much better picture of the make up of the lake. He also thought that the closer I got to the drop off the better my chances of a bite. I popped the marker float up right on the edge  of the drop off then proceeded to cast to the marker luckily the lead landed  about 6 inches away from the float. “ Now clip up” . Again this was something I had never heard of. John went to great lengths explaining that if I used the  line clip on the reel  it would allow me to be able to “Hit the spot” again when I recast he even went to the extreme and made me walk the line out on the bank an make the spot where the line hit the clip just in case “ For some reason you lose  your mark”. He then tied a piece of bright orange bait floss close to where the line entered the clip. “ This will enable you to cast to the exact same place every time”

With this all done and a rig clipped on John brought out the bait. “This is called the Monster worm, it catches everywhere I take it ,in fact I’m so confident in it  I reckon you will have a take in the first ½ hr”.

We (Max and I) had always brought any old boilie from the tackle shop or used sweet corn or maggots. If it was good enough for John it would do for me. After a couple of attempts I was finally happy with the  position of the trap. “ Now spod some bait over it” again this was something I had never done before. John produced his spod rod and told me to walk it out to my pile of stones. How simple and effective, just goes to show that with a bit of old time knowledge how easy carp fishing can be. “What shall I put in the spod” John then produced a large bag of red pellets. “ These are the dedicated pellets to that bait you are using”. The first few spods went out perfectly and  as I was reeling it back my alarm sounded .At first I thought I  had picked up my  line with the spod, it was not until my mentor said “ Don’t you want that one” that the penny dropped . I picked the rod up and found myself attached to a very angry carp this thing fought like nothing I had ever experienced before  and it was at least 10 minutes before  Max netted my prize. On the scales she weighed in at 15lb 10oz a pb for me. After a few pictures  she was safely returned. “Hurry up and get it back out there there’s more where that one came from” . Well never has there been a truer word spoken it was a full 2hours  before I managed to get the second rod out.   I was by now feeling a bit guilty , John had been on the lake for a good 5hrs and still had not set up.  “Get fishing  I’ll be all right now, catch a few your self” to which came a reply I will not forget in a hurry. “There’s  no rush there plenty of time left  I’ll catch loads” I found the statement a bit blaze to be truthful.  So I asked how he could be so sure. “Fishing is all about confidence , if your confident in your ability and confident in your bait and location then the rest will fall into place it really does become that simple so long as those three aspects are right the rest of it is easy.”

Things did go quiet in my swim after about an hour ,so John decided to set up. He was fishing the next swim to the right of me. As evening approached it was John turn for some action 6 fish came to him in a very short spell including 2 at the same time , twice. “Are you spoding bait” I asked “How can I when you got my spod rod , no I’m just using  a small pva mesh bag with about 50 small pellets in it that will do until the morning  I’ll spod first thing in the morning just on first light”

The night itself was uneventful for me  and Max, in fact poor Max was still waiting for his first fish ,have lost one during the night. John on the other hand had been at it almost non stop until he reeled in a 2 in the morning “To get some sleep “.

As the day progressed John suggested that I use a small mesh bag  and he would spod  in the hope of stopping them going through the swim. John also suggested that Max abandon his boilies and use some of the worm. All the tactics seemed to  work a treat I started catching a few again including another PB of 19lb , Max went one better and also landed a PB at 21lb. All to quick the session came to an end  between us in just over 30 hours fishing we landed over 40 fish with 6 over the magical 20lb mark.  At this point I would like to say that my confidence is at an all time high and  if this is what carp fishing is all about then all I will say is get on the Worm.