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IAN RUSSELL: A bit of a different one this month; while Troubleshooters in the past have always been a single reader, for this issue I’m joined by duo Sean Bunting and Steve Davis. Brothers-in-law and angling buddies, Steve and Sean signed up for a paired tuition after chatting to the TC team at the Sandown Carp Show, adding a nice little twist to our usual feature!

Willow Park was to be the setting, a venue I’m certainly familiar with and more importantly, a venue that the pair have been keen to invest their time in. Being part of GoCatch, it was simply a case of booking three swims together to ensure we were all in close proximity for the duration – a brilliant bonus of this booking system when looking to go angling as a group! I’d opted for Pegs 8, 9 and 10, which I was sure would offer plenty of options for the feature and give us all a good chance of catching fish.

Steve dropped into Peg 8 and Sean into Peg 10 with myself in the middle to be able to work equally between the two of them. Now the guys arrived the night before I did and Steve fished three rods out in front and didn’t have any luck, but Sean in Peg 10 managed a lovely 21lb mirror that night. So at least things were off to a start before I’d even arrived on the gate for opening time the next morning.

Dumping my gear into the swim, I first stopped off with Steve for half an hour and immediately got him to change one of his rods over to a solid bag flicked across to the margin to his left. Now, it’s not an overly obvious feature, but I know the swim well and the carp regularly drift into this little bay, where a well-positioned rod along the bushes will usually get you a bite in the day! I then walked on down to Sean for half an hour for a bit of chit-chat, however we decided not to change too much else with it being prime bite time.

I left the two guys to it while I set up in Peg 9 between them, quickly flicking out a couple of my little pop-ups on to a spot I know well before topping it up with six Spombs of Peppered Squid Crumb, CompleX-T pellets and 3mm halibuts. It’s a simple opening gambit, but one that usually does the trick on here! The third was then roamed around on a zig, which is another winning tactic on this lake. We then pulled a bench up behind the swim, meaning we could all gather together for a brew and a chat, while still being in close proximity to our respective rods.

SEAN BUNTING: “Steve and I typically don’t get a lot of fishing time, usually aiming to get out together for a session each month or two – between work and family life, there’s just not a huge amount of time left to go fishing, but we always try to book a trip in where we can. With such limited time on the bank, I really want to try and make the most of it and get the best out of my fishing, so coming out with Ian will be massively helpful. In particular I really want to talk to Ian about rigs, presentations and bait application as these are all areas I know I need to improve on.”

STEVE DAVIS: “I very much felt the same and wanted to gain a little more finesse In my approach – whether that’s rigs, my approach or even simple things like casting etc. Even just watching Ian going about getting his rods out, I’ve picked up so much already. The speed and efficiency of how he fishes is really impressive, to say the least. Also his thought process when he looks at a swim has made me think more about my fishing too. When I first arrived in my swim I was concentrating on just fishing out in front of me in the open water. I did look out to my left in the swim, but didn’t really think about fishing a rod across to that far margin where Ian said there was a banker spot.”

IAN RUSSELL: Only an hour had passed since Steve had moved his rod to the dolly hole, when it whizzed off with a mid-double mirror carp! With a carp each, for Steve and Sean, it’s safe to say things were already looking good! With the fish safely in the net, I got Steve to prep his rod to get it straight back out there, as there was every chance of another carp!

We then had Sean’s rigs in, chopping and changing things up to see if we could get his rods back into the game once again. With the rods all back out in play it was time to get technical and go a little more in depth into the discussion of rigs and presentations. We all sat around the table behind my swim with rig boards and tackle boxes, running through the whats, wheres and whys of carp presentations.

Now, not to be disrespectful in any way, but it’s safe to say that Sean’s rig board was born from confusion rather than confidence, with probably more than half a dozen different rigs of varying sorts. To be fair, he had mentioned that he’d bought a range of pre-tied rigs off eBay or some other internet site to try and practise his own rig tying from, but the rigs supplied were far from satisfactory in my eyes! Confusing rig choices, hooks too small, tubing too big – in reality it all needed to be cut up and started from scratch. This is certainly no poor reflection on Sean, as so many of my clients’ rig boards look exactly the same.

The key here was that it was just all too much and the best thing Sean could do is go back to basics and master tying just one or two effective rigs. Build confidence in these and there really is no need for a lot more than that! I fish all manner of different waters, all across the country for all different sizes of carp and yet my rig board only contains three key rigs to cover pretty much everything: my trusty Ronnie for pop-ups, a wafter/bottom bait presentation and a solid bag rig. Plenty of these get tied up and I don’t really use much else. Add to this a box of zig components and you’ve really covered all bases!

We cracked on with tying up a few Ronnies how I think they work best, when Steve’s margin rod was away again! This time it was a low twenty common, which was soon in the net! With the shots of that carp all sorted, the guys set about refreshing their rods with their new and improved presentations.

SEAN BUNTING: “To be honest, this was exactly the sort of things that I needed – a full rundown on rigs, so I don’t have so many different things cluttering my rig board and cluttering my mind when I’m on the bank! I was pleasantly surprised to see just how simple and basic Ian’s rig choices were – it works perfectly for me!”

IAN RUSSELL: The remainder of that afternoon passed without so much as a sniff, and other than chucking the rods around to try and buy a bite, little else occurred until evening. We’d just put on an order for a curry from the local Indian takeaway when the carp really started showing strongly in Steve’s swim. We’d probably seen half a dozen shows in 10 minutes. This continued all the way through the evening and it was clear that the carp were there in numbers. We suggested that Steve bring in one of his open water rods and flick another solid bag into the zone and this was shortly followed by a zig on the third rod, such was the number of carp present!

However, despite seeing so many carp jumping in such as small area of the lake, the only thing that was eaten that evening was a delicious curry! To top things off, Steve had kindly donated a large portion of the bill and for that, we were all very grateful! We always get a delivery here at Willow Park and I’ve got to say that whether it’s been and Indian, Chinese or the local chippy, we’ve never been let down on quality!

With the food demolished, I topped up the baited spot with another dozen spods of the boilie crumb and pellet mix, before chopping in the zig for a solid bag just off the spot to the right. After a couple of cups of tea, we all decided to get an early night, but my head had barely hit the pillow when my middle rod lifted up tight and battle ensued. This fish would not give up, but eventually I netted what Willow Park has become famous for – a beautiful mid-twenty, fully scaled mirror. We got Sean and Steve up too to see the fish and it’s safe to say we were all blown away by the fish. A fine example of a carp where size truly doesn’t matter!

With the fish returned, a fresh rig was sent straight between the other and I was back into bed! Now nothing occurred for any of us in the night, and I soon arose to my 5am alarm as I always do. It was just getting light and there were fish everywhere… all around which the baited rigs were placed. However, these weren’t jumping around and fizzing, these were lounging with their backs out of the water!

So, I skipped the solid bag back in and tied on a 4.5ft zig and placed it back out into the zone, fully expecting a take at any point. However, it wasn’t my rod that eventually produced a take, but Steve’s zig, which he’d left out overnight! I was already stood next to his rods by the time Steve had emerged from his ‘camp’ and was just about waking up with a bent rod in his grasp. Unfortunately for him, the carp ended up getting weeded and being a barbless venue, it soon shed the hook.

That morning Sean kindly rustled us all up a few bacon and egg sandwiches each, but partway through our breakfast we were disturbed by Steve’s left hander up against the far margin busting off with a 17lb fully scaled. We kept that in the net while he tied up a fresh bag to replace it and before we could even get the first fish out, that same rod he’d just cast out was away again!

This fish had him locked up solid in weed, once again a risky situation with barbless hooks. Now, Steve was barely applying any pressure and this would be a lesson he would need to learn – in situations where you are faced with snags or weed, you need to apply substantial pressure to stop the carp from going wherever it wants (safety). I got Steve to slowly up the pressure and there was a proper bend in the rod, just enough to slowly start extracting the carp from the weed bed. I had assured him that his rods, line and end tackle are all plenty strong enough that you’d be very unlikely to break anything in this way, so long as you tie good knots.

Sure enough, things began moving and the fish kicked free of the weed, putting him back in contact, although this time with a huge ball of weed above the carp. Slowly Steve eased the fish back and Matt stepped in to scoop it up with the net, another fully scaled, this time a fair bit bigger at 23lb!

Once again, with the fish safely in the net, I got Steve to get the rig straight back out there and it couldn’t have been more than two minutes later before it was away again! I grabbed my other landing net and scooped up his third carp of the morning, this time a 19lb common. This was a case in point just how important it is to get rods back into play as those windows of activity can be so short, but so productive!

STEVE DAVIS: “Well, I’m a bit blown away really with the action over this last half hour or so! I’d been speaking to Ian the previous day about how he likes to get the rod back out before taking the fish out and also about carrying multiple nets! Well this says it all as I’ve ended up needing three nets!

“Ian’s advice on giving the carp a lot more pressure is also something that I think is going to be important to take on board – we normally fish pretty barren lakes without a lot of weed, so it’s not been too much of an issue, but with the plan to fish here a lot more, it’s going to be something I need to address. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about giving it too much pressure as I wasn’t sure how my line would fare or if I’d get a hook-pull. Having Ian’s guidance, I feel like I’ve got a lot more confidence to apply the pressure when needed.”

IAN RUSSELL: With that, it was time for me to get packed away, though Sean and Steve had another night ahead of them and I’d be very surprised if there were no more carp caught after we left! Then, just as we were about to head off, Sean’s rod rattled off and after a good fight, they put the net under a beautiful linear – the perfect ending to our duo’s Troubleshooter feature.

Link To Willow Park Fishery!