FJAmes_KingoftheSummeror the Carp episode I always had in mind that we would take James and John to a favourite venue of mine in France, as a finale to their Summer angling adventure and to hopefully top off the series with a very big fish for James. Lac Meunier in France, is a place that I have been lucky enough to have fished several times over the years and it is owned by very good friend and Crabtree collaborator, Graham Harman. When planning series two Graham suggested that he was happy to give up a week on his lake for us to film an Episode – a rare opportunity.

This is a lake that is fully booked-up for years ahead due to the beautiful setting and the resident huge Carp in there. Also because the water was featured several years ago by Brian Skoyles and the late Kev Green in a Carp Crew Episode which is testament to the power of TV in putting a venue on the map.

But before we headed off to France though, we thought it was important for James to get a few hours under his belt fishing for Carp in the UK, with all of the new skills he had learned over his amazing Summer fishing with John and to also get some top tuition from a couple of brilliant Carp anglers.

There are more magazines and programmes dedicated to Carp fishing in the UK than in any other part of angling. Understandably, as it is incredibly popular and many young anglers enter the sport via Carp fishing. Indeed most of my fishing (which honestly isn’t very much these days) is dedicated to Carp so I always wanted to make an episode around
them. When thinking about and writing this episode though, I was mindful of several reservations I and John have, along with many colleagues have about how Carp fishing is generally presented and how it is perceived not only by anglers new and veteran, but also by the wider public.

Without wanting to come across all pious and preachy I guess one of our concerns is that lots of young anglers come into angling through the readymade, pre-prescribed Carp route but don’t learn or develop all of the other angling skills that are fundamental to a long successful and varied career in our sport. For me and I think for many, learning to fish means catching all species on all types of waters, making the mistakes and developing the skills that we all have to learn in any sport, through our own endeavours and through the guidance of other more experienced coaches, parents and mates.

The really good and successful anglers and the ones that fish for life, are the ones that have a strong grounding and an understanding of fishing in all types of situation. This apprenticeship is, I feel, massively important and the many well known and brilliant anglers I know, came into the sport in this way. Its how they have developed the essentials of watercraft and an ability to think around their fishing.

Its not that I am knocking the very many anglers that exclusively go fishing just for Carp, or that I don’t acknowledge that its the area of the sport that attracts many new anglers which is all to the good. Its just that I think that so many new anglers are missing out on so many other amazing parts of fishing and more importantly are missing out on learning so much that would help them in their Carp fishing. I love Carp fishing, its what I choose to do when I actually get the chance to go but having fished from as young as I can remember I have learned (I hope) to be a reasonable angler and I can turn my hand to most types of angling situation, and importantly for my Carp fishing I can apply lots of aspects that I have picked up from far better anglers and from a variety of angling situations.

It’s not commonly known by our younger audience but John spent many years in his own angling quest for Carp and also wrote some of his hugely best selling books about them, so he knows the pull of the species and how they, and the pursuit of them, can become an obsession. He has bagged thousands of Carp and some very big specimens along the way so knows what it is about this fish that can make a grown man giddy and decide to spend years dedicated to their pursuit. But he and I didn’t want to make another Carp programme with all the big product selling and the promoting of just one way to fish for them, but rather give a more rounded view of how to catch Carp and approach fishing for them.

So it was with this in mind that we approached ‘The King of Summer’ episode with a view to hopefully getting across how great Carp and Carp fishing is, how the pursuit and raw power and excitement of hooking one is, the magic when you hook and land your first ever Carp and see it nestling in the bottom of your net and how this species can totally take over your every waking and non waking thoughts – but also to show that there is more to Carp fishing than just buying a load of gear, casting to the horizon and waiting. Hopefully you have seen our ‘Shadows’ Ep where John bags a beauty off the surface on bread.

So before we visited Meunier I felt that it would be useful for us to film and James to fish for slightly easier and smaller Carp in the UK to get the feel of the kit, tackle and techniques used in modern Carp angling. Also to fish alongside some good mates of mine and of Crabtree, expert Carp anglers Adam Penning and Scott Maslen who would be able to teach James a few tips and tricks when it came to taking on the challenge of the big French Carp.

For us, it was important that whilst James was most likely to be fishing with the most up to date kit and rigs in France for very very big Carp, it was important that he had a good grounding across all disciplines and an understanding of how we would approach them.

James is a very good young angler who fishes all of the time with his dad Rob, a very good fisherman and after a Summer with John fishing for a wide variety of species on a host of different waters and alongside some excellent anglers (the likes of Alan Blair, Alan Stagg, Frank Warwick, Simon Pomeroy, Mark Kitson, Dave Lidstone, Mike Holcombe….) he has become an even better one. He has played big fish, learned a multitude of different techniques, watercraft, location, baiting situations etc. He has learned to make slight changes and to adapt his fishing during a session and he has always been willing to learn and take on board all that he has seen, experienced and been taught. A true Peter Crabtree!

We decided on another Godalming Angling Club water (you might recall that we fished Johnson’s Lake in Casting for Gold) Broadwater Lake as it is one that I am familiar with, is run by a great angling club and has a big head of Carp of all sizes but with several going over the 30lb mark, that we knew would give James some action and an opportunity to try out several different approaches.

So on another beautiful 2014 Summers dawn we arrived at the water as the sun was rising, mist rolling and the water looking abundantly alive with fish showing everywhere. And the early promise and sight of so many fish didn’t disappoint, as James hooked into his first Carp, first cast, on the drop! This fish, as with all of Broadwater’s Carp, big and small gave a spirited scrap and although only a single figure fish was a great start and looked stunning in the early morning sunlight.

So started a few hours of non stop action to James’ rods and also to our two angling guests Adam and Scott who on camera had a few lovely fish but after we stopped filming took another 30 or so fish. All of James Carp at Broadwater came to a variety of rigs incorporating Pallatrax Stonze for weight, Pallatrax, Enterprise Tackle and Nash end rigs and hook baits and during a few frantic hours he was able to try out lots of different techniques and methods, firstly with John and then with Adam and Scott and then by himself.

This was a great fun sequence as Scott and Adam are really good mates and provided non stop banter and fun, thus giving James another insight into the great camaraderie that can develop through fishing with mates. In between the action we got to cover some stand out points in the episode with one on ones with James and both Scott and Adam that were both informative and great fun, as well as a chance for both to share their angling memories and philosophies with John. Scott being a well known actor has the chance to hang out at premieres and do the celeb circuit but doesn’t, as he would rather be fishing. Some of his chat with John in the Directors Cut is, I think, really interesting and shows the allure of fishing in all its guises to an incredibly wide and varied audience.

Meunier
So armed with all of these new skills and with all the tips and advice taken on board, James was ready for his biggest test yet – his own quest for ‘The King of the Summer’. Bernard Venables famously penned this moniker for the Carp in the original Crabtree book and cartoons and it is an apt name for this most mysterious and much sought after species. Nearly all anglers have their own early Carp stories and John ponders on one most evocatively in this episode, fishing with a float on the pin under a margin tree.

We first see Meunier as John and Peter walk into shot, approaching the lake from the gate on the pathway up to the house that overlooks the water. It is as you see, a truly stunning lake and could easily be an old established lake in the UK. The difference being that the stock of Carp in terms of numbers and in size is remarkable. John felt that he wanted to approach the water in a more traditional style, knowing full well that this would be  huge challenge but one that he wanted to demonstrate. Also he has been there and done it when it comes to session Carping and as it was how we were going to set James up, it meant we could show alternative approaches.

For me as programme maker it meant that we could get John doing some great pieces to camera without buzzers and all the activity that would be part and parcel of James very modern approach. A couple of points of note on the fact that John and James fished separately at times during filming, James was at all times with my very experienced crew and from an angling and safety perspective by his dad, Graham or myself. The water is deep, the fish are very big and many of the techniques we were employing were still new to James. I mention this because believe it or not we do get the odd email or social media comment asking how or why we have left James on his own!?!

Regarding the use of modern techniques, this was something that James was keen to have a proper try out with, its undoubtedly the way Graham, I and most anglers catch the fish at Meunier, as well most anglers actually do in most Carp angling situations and its a misconception that Crabtree or John is about old style traditional fishing.

We are paying homage in Crabtree to angling’s greatest icon and its creator but just because it was written a long time ago it doesn’t mean we are clinging to an old style of fishing. We are giving a nod to a character and story that enthused literally millions of people to go fishing, I liken the Crabtree effect back to being a kid watching the FA Cup or the World Cup and then going outside and playing football and dreaming of playing for England.

It should also be remembered that Bernard Venables and Mr Crabtree were at the top of their game, they used the most up to date methods and tackle available to them and were highly innovative. Look at wrapping paste around the hookbait, the ‘Method’ etc – all in the pages of Crabtree from over 60 years ago when even today you will see angling writers suggesting these as new techniques and ideas..

So while John walked the water for a look at likely looking intimate margin spots James, ably assisted by Graham and Rob, got set up for a proper Carp session with his Nash Pods, Delkims, Pallatrax and Lone Angler rods, Baitrunners etc – oh yes he had all the gear! It looked like an anglers treasure trove behind the scenes which offered a nice contrast to John with a single rod, centrepin and bait-bucket.

James under the tutelage of owner and very good angler Graham was going to fish some likely spots in areas that we know as fish holding areas and where I have previously had many big fish to 64lb. We had to boat some of the rods out to far margin spots under branches that are impossible to hit accurately by casting. The fish aren’t put off by the boat and as Mr Crabtree often liked to get out in the boat, we thought it appropriate and a lot more in keeping than a bait boat would have been. We also spent quite some time finding areas in the silt that offered us something, whether a clear hard spot or an elevated mark as a feature to bait and fish on.

As I have already said we know the water and therefore many of the features and areas that hold fish. There are two points I guess to make here, one that when making an angling programme, especially for big difficult Carp we don’t have the luxury of weeks of filming and so have to at least have a bit of knowledge. Secondly its always important to do your own research when fishing any venue by tapping into local knowledge with anglers that know the venue, to spend time walking and watching the water for signs of fish and of course investing time in looking for those features, some by sight and others by prodding, plumbing or leading around.

We haven’t spent a lot of time going into minute detail about certain areas of preparation in the first 2 series as we want the narratives to flow, however we do intend to focus on a variety of aspects in future series to hopefully help anglers, especially new and young anglers to better understand the more difficult areas of location, watercraft, baiting etc. We hopefully give enough information and how to’s to give the balance of education and entertainment in the series and we only have so much time in each episode. We are always happy to receive your feedback so do let us know if you would like to see more of the ‘how to’ and technical features or whether you want more of the angling narrative and action.

Then we were fishing and while Graham and I were particularly confident that James would catch and most likely obliterate his Carp PB, I also know that things rarely go to plan when fishing and especially filming fishing. You have to bear in mind that we have a full production film crew on location, a behind the scenes team, catering, visiting journalists and partners and trucks of kit so its a very busy location and not always easy to bag wary big Carp in the limited time we have. But for once the Carp had read the script and played their parts perfectly.

What we wanted was for James to get action of course and to catch a real big one, we wanted to get him on camera hooking and playing a big fish or two and ideally we would like him to catch a couple of big fish and then top it off with a very very big fish of a lifetime. And thats what we got. Cameras were in position when he had a run, we got explosive action, with rod bending, lurching runs that took off out into the lake, heart stopping moments before finally bringing his first big French Carp to the net. At 28lb not a big fish for Meunier but for a young lad who has rarely fished for Carp its a monster. James lives and breathes fishing and is always super excited and when you see his face and total joy at a capture, it is 100% genuine. When it was a fish of 28lb + he was off the scale.

A great start and one that got better and better as James then had another 28, this time with JB doing the honours with the net and being on hand to help with weighing and the pictures. John missed out on a couple of the captures as he was doing pieces to camera and fishing further down the lake and we could have stage managed him being in on these sequences, however we felt it better to stay totally genuine and with fish safety paramount, decided to release the fish quickly and to then build the narrative around going to tell him, and for him and James to have their end of day, camp fire recaps. And aren’t the night time camp shots with Petromax lanterns and stoves truly evocative? I really enjoyed how these were set up and it really made for some lovely sequences.

So how to end a show and series…ideally you want to save the best til last and set up a breathtaking finale and when it comes to a fishing series you really want a true monster. So still on script, as nerves were beginning to fray with the worry that time was ticking and we hadn’t had a real biggie, out of the blue with no prior indication, one of the Delkims screamed into life as line was stripped from his baitrunner, James adeptly, with his newly acquired skills, pulled into what we all knew was a very good fish. As any angler knows when playing what they think is a decent fish, there is a fear of losing it at some point, you want to just enjoy the fight but its nerve-wracking and is real heart thumping stuff. Try that when its not you playing the fish, but your young star for a fishing TV show and this is most likely the last chance – and you know its a big big fish….

This was a great fight for James who handled everything superbly, listening to advice and thoroughly enjoying the moment. There were several heart stopping moments and line flicking off a dorsal that for a split second gave the impression the fish was off, but James was all concentration and wonder. The Carp stayed deep and ran up the middle of the lake which was a tell for Graham and I that this was one of the 40s or 50s and so this was a very exciting piece of action for us and hopefully for you too. In the end James got the better of his fish and into the net came a fin perfect Common that looked truly enormous. And at 42lb it was truly enormous and as you can see in the film, James was unable to lift this beautiful fish that was nearly as big as him.

He was overwhelmed by this capture as was John when I went to report it. It was all that we hoped to achieve from this visit and a perfect end to their Summer fishing adventure. We could have had one of the lakes 50’s as our guest Simon Pomeroy cheekily sneaked out during filming, but a forty pound Carp and a common to boot was more than enough for our story this time. It also means there could be more to come and who knows James might have to come back in the future and try for an even bigger fish.

Regarding Simon Pomeroy’s capture of what was a 50lb common, there was no sneaking this fish out and I wish one of our crews could have been in situ for its capture (they do have to have a break sometimes) and it was great angling by a very good angler. I will leave Simon to tell this story on these pages at some point but just to say that Simon practiced what he preached using his Pallatarx baits on his own trade marked Stonze method system and caught that PB Carp in only a few hours of fishing. Very good angling and using exactly the bait and methods he advocates. It was also another angling dream come true, captured on camera as this fish obliterated his own PB and I am sure is a fish that will long stay in his dreams.

In this episode we were trying to tell a story incorporating all of the above points, of doing the apprenticeship, learning techniques and earning your stripes and all in one TV hour. Nearly impossible and maybe we need a whole series dedicated to Carp at some point to do these ideas justice, but hopefully we told a good story and gave you an enjoyable episode that makes you want to get out of the armchair and get outside and go fishing.

Until my next diary – Tight lines, Lester

Footnote and Thanks – Whilst our shows are not about the corporate aspect of angling it is worth saying that what Simon Pomeroy of Pallatrax, Chris Hornsby of Enterprise Tackle and Kevin Nash and Alan Blair of Nash Tackle bring to the sport and particularly Carp fishing is inspiring. All are innovators and thinkers and brilliant anglers and their endeavours and what they bring to us as anglers makes life a whole lot easier and helps us catch more fish. Also if you have ever slept on an Indulgence bed chair in a Nash bivvy you will know what comfort is. I have a production crew that when not making Crabtree are making documentaries, films and sports shows and are used to nice hotels and restaurants but they all love the Nash beds and tents and the Petromax camping kit. Thanks to all of our angling partners and colleagues – you can see them all on this site.