Quick Questions With… Ed Betteridge (Video)

This time travelling angler Ed Betteridge stays put long enough to answer our questions.

Three words to describe yourself?
Enthusiastic, passionate and blanking (at the minute!).

Who have been your biggest influences in carp fishing?
My dad was the person who got me into carp fishing all those many years ago. I also love reading stuff from Terry Hearn and Dave Lane (don't tell him I said that!).

Scariest moment on the bank?
I was fishing over on Burghfield and I got up in the morning and tried to sort a few bits out, but ended up really out of breath. I rested up for the entire day but it all started again and my heart seemed completely out of rhythm; I was getting a normal beat, then nothing, followed by a few sudden bangs.

It was scary enough as it was, let alone being hidden away on Burghfield! Anyone who's been around there will know it's like a maze and the last place you'd want to be having heart issues!

I ended up getting to A&E and it turned out I'd been having aortic fibrillation – turns out I can no longer have caffeine!

How long have you been carp fishing?
I caught my first carp in 1988, so that's 31 years!

Other sporting interests?
I like watching cricket, England football and horse racing.

One day left to go fishing, where would you go?
Nowhere too hard like Burghfield, it would be somewhere I could just go and bag a few nice looking fish.

Best three anglers you've ever fished/worked with?
I've fished with plenty of good anglers over the years, including Dave Lane in the past few years. Darren Belton is a great all-rounder, and Dave Moore can certainly catch fish!

Your favourite moment in your carp angling career?
That would have to be catching Choco. It took me four years and I'd caught pretty much every other fish in Stoneacres. I was completely obsessed by that fish. I'd had 85 bites in the end, including some fish four times over! When it finally went into the net it was such an awesome feeling.

Three things you'd never go fishing without?
My camera – I always like to take photos of what is happening around me and when I finally catch that big fish I want to get good shots of it. Rigs are quite personal to me too – my hinge stiff rig is often my go-to presentation. Thirdly, it would be my marker rod. I'm obsessed with finding that spot within a spot, the little firm spot within the silt, the little gravel spot in the weed. I want to know I'm on the best spot I can possibly be, so a marker rod is essential.

Any regrets?
Yeah, I have a few. I wonder how close I got to the Burghfield Common on a couple of occasions. One time I got completely turned over with the big common in my swim and on another occasion I lost a very big fish in open water. I then went on to catch a little common with a twisty mouth, which is known to hang around with THE common. It always plays on my mind whether that was my chance…

Biggest character you have met through fishing?
I'm trying to think of a positive character here! It would have to be Dave Moore – I would love to just sit down with a glass of wine and listen to all his stories.

What are your favourite bits about carping?
When everything comes together. You try hard, grafting to put things in your favour and you finally get that bite that you have been waiting for!

Your least favourite bits?
Setting up bivvies! Through my job I've had to set up loads of them in the blistering heat or a sweaty hall! On a serious note it would have to be when you blank but you can't take anything from it. You generally feel like you've done everything right, as good as it can be, but nothing materialises and you just can't figure out why. I find it really frustrating.

Who do you most admire in carp fishing?
You've got to admire people who have crafted a living from carp fishing – it's not an easy trade to succeed in and it takes some serious perseverance and most likely a lot of risks and compromises.

Tell us a secret?
I think the biggest secret is that there are no big secrets in carp fishing any more… effort equals reward.

Tea or Coffee?
Decaf tea.

Favourite biscuit?
I'm on a low carb diet!

Favourite takeaway?
Kebab.

Funniest moment on the bank?
It was years ago when I was on a water close to home. I was fishing out on a gravel bar off the side of a tiny little island with a few little stumpy bushes on – it was called Teapot Island.

I hooked a fish and it swung round the back of the island. Thankfully my mate offered to swim out and free it so he stripped down to his boxer shorts and swam out to the island, before feeding the carp back round on to our side. He looked a right picture stood out in the middle of a 30-acre lake in his boxer shorts! To top things off I ended up losing the fish in the weed a short while later…

One fish you would have loved to have caught, past or present?
I've got a few obvious ones; the Black Mirror, Mary, the Burghfield Common. Probably the one out of all of them would be the Bishop from Redmire!

The get the whole picture on Ed Betteridge, watch the video below.

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