I woke up and decided it was far to cold to be getting ready for fishing, my Mrs already up and ready for work was supposed to be dropping me off down the lake, but I decided that it was far to early and I needed a lay in, this was to be a god send! I finally dragged my backside out of bed and started process for getting my clothes on and my flask ready. I looked back out the window to see blue skies and bright sunshine, do I chance wearing lighter gear or go for the winter option, it was a fifty fifty toss up. I put on winter clothes and headed to the fishing shed where all the gear was ready ..read more

Well, it’s safe to say after this summer I have a bit of a new addiction in Lure Fishing. Topwater fishing for chub, something already a lot of anglers do, however, there is still a lot which don’t. And if you’re not…why?!? This is by far during the summer, the most exciting way to lure fishing, watching a set of white lips come up behind your lure to take it is great fun, and gets your heart pumping. This being my first full season of lure angling, and my first attempts on topwater fishing. I still have a lot to learn. But I plan on sharing what I have learnt, and my experiences which you guy ..read more

With lure fishing we can catch pretty much every species that swims, from Grayling, Roach to Catfish. But which is best? The most common 3 are perch, pike and chub. Pike despite getting big, fighting hard and being pretty common they are only a winter and autumn species as its dangerous to fish for them in summer. Perch, being stunning, growing big and the grind to find big perch are all brilliant being an all year round target and very fun fighters. perch really are up there as some of my favourites to catch. Chub, challenging but strong, hard fighting and stunning are another brilliant targe ..read more

Well, after my house move, I’m back fishing and continuing with Lures. Lure fishing has really won me over, from its simplicity and ease, a rod, net, rucksack and you’re off and can fit in sessions easily around a busy life. And boy, the joy and feel when you feel a fish smash a lure…words can’t describe! I headed out to a new very local stretch to me, under 5 minutes from my door, and I’m on the river bank! This was my first trip for quite some time because of the house move. My BFS Setup, and of course the FFS Craw21, fishing Texas style. I was ready for some action! The new stretches I wa ..read more

OK let’s be clear from the start. Sprats don’t catch mackerel, well at least they don’t on Clacton Pier on a cold, misty January morning. But the sprat season is well under way and as I watch the birds working the oily water surface I can only imagine what carnage is going on underneath the waves as the shoals of sprats are being targeted by all sorts of predatory species. I love the sprat season. Mainly because it brings an additional challenge of matching the hatch but also, as anyone with a fish finder will confirm, the challenge is recognising that the action mainly occurs mid water as th ..read more

January is a tough time of the year for lure fishing anywhere in the UK. The colder temperatures and regularly strong winds that results in dirtier waters are things wished away by the lure angler, especially LRF anglers. Now even though it does get more difficult in the very early part of a new year, it’s not impossible. It just takes a little bit more patience, a willingness to change up your tactics and to fish in less than comfortable weather. I’ve caught 7 species up till I’m writing this in January, below I’ll write a little bit about how I caught them (mainly dropshot) and throw in a f ..read more

Today me and a few mates decided to go to bury hill to complete a dream we’d had for years. Bury Hill is an awesome venue with a stunning lake and big toothy angry predators! We decided to go early morning to increase the amount of hours with baits in the water even tho the zander are a night fish and thats when they come alive, when driving hours to the mark you may as well make the most of it. I missed an absolute thumper of a take in the daylight but forgot to free spool my rod so as soon s the zd felt the resistance it dropped the bait! The rigs were single barbless size 6 hooks with half ..read more

Welcome back everyone to another JT Carpers blog, we hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Years and are looking forward to the year ahead, we know we are!  So, unfortunately, we have not had the chance to hit the bank so far this year So this will be a little blog just for a recap of our last year and a look forward to the next year.  So let us start off with a look over a few nice surprises we had last year, from capturing new species, to some stunning carp and finally 2 brand new P. B’s.  The next few images are of the new species we managed to catch last year, we do n ..read more

I walked through the door at 4am with a belly full of alcohol and kebab. I stumbled up the stairs as quietly as I could as to not disturb my mum and dad who were fast asleep. I opened my bedroom door more cautiously than a prisoner might do while escaping the bars locking them inside. I got into bed and the warm hug of my duvet sent me to sleep almost instantly despite the loud, continuous ringing in my ears.   Just two hours later my dad poked his head around my bedroom door to tell me it was time to get up. I was surprisingly untired and still feeling a little giggly from last nights in ..read more

Getting down to the can is always a fun session, as it’s a good local river for me but has always surprised me with what comes out!  Tactics today were my 11ft sunridge proton feeder paired with one of my Shakespeare reels with 8lb mono (heavy I know but recently snags have been a bane) with a 1oz ledger bomb as the river had a bit of flow, down to a 6lb hook length with a Korum specialist size 8 hook with a big lobworm as bait!  The first few fish to fall to the bait were a pair of 6oz dace which was surprisingly a nice fight! Another cast in and another did this time a chub of abou ..read more