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Carp anglers in the UK predominantly fish from the bank, however, using a boat in carp fishing has become a lot more popular with anglers both here in the UK where boats are allowed and also those who are travelling abroad to chase down the European monster!

Henry has done his fair share of using a boat for fishing and he’s caught an incredible amount of big carp all over Europe doing so. In this session we headed to Essex, to a venue where Henry had exclusive access to fish for the carp. This venue is actually an open water swimming lake with an abundance of features scattered all around the lake, submerged trees, dense reed lined margins and even an aeroplane. That’s right, there’s a plane in the lake! Due to it being a diving lake, objects like the plane have been added for the divers to explore. But, don’t panic, these objects were on the opposite side of the lake so there were no hazards where he was fishing.

After arriving at the lake, the first thing to do is get the equipment set up. Unlike most fishing, there’s a lot more to set up prior to getting the rods out when boat fishing. Henry had got himself one of the brand new Nash 280 boats, an upgrade from his previous boat boasting a few extra features, such as an inflated deck and a keel to make the overall boating experience much more smooth sailing (pardon the pun). Once the boat is folded out, the next thing to do is pump it up. This can be extremely time consuming and tiring, however, the Nash electric pump will do all the hard work for you and even turn off when the correct pressure has been reached. This gave him the time to get the rest of his equipment set up. There are a few other things that are needed to operate the boat. A motor, a battery to power the boat, oars (in case of the battery or motor failing) and most importantly, a life jacket. Henry also carries a box of spare equipment that will stay on the boat for the duration of his session.

Once the boat and the equipment were set up, it was time to venture out on to the lake to look for likely areas where the carp will be holding up. To aid him with finding the perfect spot, Henry likes to use a Deeper sonar. This connects directly to his phone so as he’s driving around the lake, he gets instant feedback on the lake bottom and surrounding area. This is a massive edge and is a piece of equipment that he uses almost all the time in his boat fishing. Having fished the venue once before, Henry had an idea of where he could place one of his rods, an overhanging tree on the far left hand side of the lake. As we approached, not only was it clear there were an abundance of fish in the area, but there were also inquisitive fish following the boat, clearly they were used to foreign objects in the water with it being a swimming venue. Although the fish were clearly there, the problem facing him was the depth. With it being a quarry, the bank was on quite a steep slope, not suitable to place a bait. After a good bit of searching around the area, a spot was found a couple of rod lengths off the trees. Just to confirm the spot, Henry used a lead with a H block to make sure the spot was flat, which it was.

After returning to the bank, he got to sorting out a couple of rigs with Scopex Squid pop-ups and a nice bait mix that consisted of Monster Shrimp boilies, Citruz flake, Tigernut Slush and some small seed mix to help keep the fish in the area for a little bit longer. Once all prepped, it was back in the boat and back out to the spot with the first rod. When boat fishing, once over your spot it’s a simple case of lowering the rig into position and spreading over some bait with a baiting spoon, then it’s back to shore to place the rod on the bite alarm. One thing to be aware of is that when you’re dropping the rig, if the boat is drifting, you may miss your spot so it’s important you take the conditions into consideration.

When the rod was set, Henry was just about to get the second rod into position over on the right hand side of the swim on a margin spot that he’d found, but there was no time for that as he was already in! We knew there were lots of fish in there but we never expected a bite as quick as this! He was straight into the boat as the carp was starting to kite to the right towards a buoy in the lake. But, with Henry’s experience, this was no problem and the fish soon after saw the back of the net, get in! He had mentioned that the lake was full of small commons, and this culprit was exactly that. But, nevertheless, he was off the mark and there were definitely more bites to be had.

With a fresh bait added to a fresh rig, Henry was back out to the spot to get the rig into position and top up the bait to keep the carp feeding. With the rod back on the alarm, he swiftly got the second rod into position with the thought that another bite could come very soon. This is something to consider when boat fishing, if you are fishing with multiple rods, there will be periods of time where you are out in the boat and you have rods in the water. It’s important to have your receiver on your person and make sure that you are efficient with getting the rod out to reduce the chances of a bite occurring whilst out on the lake. Fortunately, this didn’t happen to Henry; however, soon after returning to dry land, the left hand rod was off again! This time the fish stayed left away from the buoys so he was able to play the fish from the bank. Quite a short battle resulted in fish number two in the back of the net. This time another common but a slightly bigger one. After a few snaps, the fish was slipped back and it was rinse and repeat. Straight back out in the boat to get the rig back on the spot.

We were so confident of another bite coming pretty soon that we put a guess on how long we thought it would be until the rod hooped round again, saying between eight and 10 minutes, but it wasn’t even that – once again the rod buckled over and Henry was, yet again, into another carp! This one was heading back towards the snags so a bit more pressure was needed to manoeuvre the fish in the right direction, but disaster, it was off! The fish was really fighting to get back in the snags and that added pressure resulted in a hook-pull, gutted! What’s worse is that he opts for 8oz gripper leads to make sure the rig stays in place whilst towing the rod back to the bank. On the take, the lead is immediately ejected, so when losing a fish, it’s also a lost lead and these heavy leads aren’t cheap!

However, like clockwork, the rod was shipped back out into position and we were adamant another bite would happen pretty soon. Sure enough, the rod hooped over once more, and Henry was into another one. This one turned out to be an unusual character. A big headed, beaten up old common with a hump back on it, almost dinosaur looking! A fish that he had spotted on his previous trip, a very recognisable character, although not the big mirror that we were chasing. Surely one of the mirrors would slip up, the bites were coming thick and fast so the odds were that it would happen soon enough.

No more than 10 minutes later, yet again the left hand rod hooped round. It really was a flyer of a session! Henry never even managed to get the third rod in the water. Another fish landed but this time it was a mirror, result! Unfortunately not one of the bigger one, but at least it was a mirror. Once a few photos had been taken, the fish was slipped back. At this point it was getting pretty late in the day. We had originally planned to shoot the feature over a 24-hour period; however, with the amount of fish that had been caught already and bad weather forecast to move in overnight, we made the decision to cut the session short. But we weren’t quite done yet…

Henry fancied one more chance at one of the lake’s bigger residents, so once again he jumped into the boat, made his way to the spot and replaced the rig with a fresh handful of bait over the top. The light was fading and the rain had started, the end of the session was nearly here. There was definitely another bite to be had before we set off though. And, with all the other bites coming within 10 minutes of putting the rod out, we knew it wouldn’t be long, or so we thought… the 10 minute marker came, and quickly went by, before we knew it 30 minutes had passed with no action. Maybe the fish had moved out of the area, or maybe they just preferred feeding when it was a bit lighter. Whatever the situation was, we were starting to think that maybe there were to be no more fish.

Henry started to pack up some of his gear and began to load the van as the rain was now getting a bit heavier. The van was only parked just behind the swim so as the rain increased, we took shelter inside the front seats and watched over the lake as the light faded. Just before we decided to call it a day, Henry had an almighty bite, again on the left hand rod. This one was more ferocious than the others and almost pulled the rod off the rest! Instantly he knew he was into a better fish as it had gone straight for the snags. Without hesitation, he jumped in the boat and drove towards the fish hoping he could direct it away. Unfortunately, as he got closer, the fish had made it into the snag. He spent the next few moments using his hands trying to direct the fish away from the branch that it was caught around. This was a much better fish, the one he’d been hoping for! Being able to see the fish was torture as he knew this wasn’t going to be easy. To his despair, the fish managed to free itself from the hook and Henry emerged from the snag with an empty net, gutted! You often hear anglers talk about “the one that got away”, and this was exactly that!

Alas, the light had now completely gone and all the commotion over the spot Henry was fishing was sure to have driven the carp away from the area, so it was time to pack up and head home. Maybe he will get his chance again one day for one of the lake’s bigger residents.

Personal Best: 77lbs
Occupation: Marketing manager, Nash Tackle
Employer: Nash Tackle