Since my last blog life has been a bit hectic to say the least. First of all I am pleased to say that after a surprise approach from carbon and stainless giants Century I am now working on a part time basis for the company in a media development capacity.


This role will see me undertaking a very similar role to the one that I already perform for Baitcraft by overseeing all of the companies social media exploits as well as creating a new YouTube channel, heading customer open days, shows and my usual writing and magazine features. It’s a great opportunity for me and one that I am very much looking forward to getting my teeth in to.

Things at Baitcraft have been as busy as ever with order levels literally through the roof and I honestly can’t remember when poor old Mark last had a day off. So it’s all good there with some great results coming in from our customers on a daily basis.

As far as the fishing goes it’s been a bit of a mixed bag if I’m honest and I just seem to be catching lots of small ones! The weather has been changeable to say the least and it has no doubt had an effect on the fishing locally. I have managed a couple more sessions on Cleverley Top Lake and started out with two small ones, again both on long zig rigs in deep water. The zigs were producing the bites but nothing of any size. One session saw the temperatures plummet to minus three and with freezing fog so thick I couldn’t even see my rod tips!

To my surprise at during the early hours I received a real screamer on my left hand rod which was fished in the margin in around two feet of water. I thought I had seen a carp there in the afternoon and decided to put a bait on it despite the cold conditions. I must admit it was the last rod I expected to go as the terrible weather moved in but it came up trumps and after a long battle I finally slipped the net under a cracking 28lb 5oz mirror. Although it turned out to be a recapture from last autumn it had packed on a bit of weight over the winter and was more than welcome in the freezing conditions.

After a quick call to Paul, our Baitcraft camera man he kindly agreed to come down at first light and film the capture in the fog and we got some great footage which I have linked to this blog if you would like to check it out.

I did a three nights on a private estate lake and managed yet more small ones taking no less than twenty one carp and a few Tench.  However none of them were even double figure and no sign of the biggun there what so ever. These baby carp were gobbling up 15mm pop ups with size four and five ESP Stiff Riggers with no problem at all. So much for big fish tactics!

My first couple of nights at a huge Cambs pit then followed without a bleep and at the time of writing this the elusive Cleverley Top Lake biggun still has yet to make an appearance. The lake will be closed for a week any day now so I may have a go on a private estate lake during that period or nip off to a day ticket water for a couple of nights, get a few much needed bites and massage my damaged ego. I will keep you posted.