Brookesy

BC Tackle now has a 10% discount on Dynamite Baits across the board. This is reflected in the current price. There are several classics available ranging from White Chocolate and Coconut, Banana Crunch, High Attract ranges and the cheaper Carptec baits. I can personally attest to these baits effectiveness as I have caught numerous big fish on them in the past 18 months. If you are looking for a reliable and effective boilie then take advantage of this current offer and stock up for the spring. Here's the link: http://www.bigcarptackle.com/index.php/manufacturers/dynamite-baits/

Come on guys, only 45 votes so far!! Have a read through as there are some great stories in here and vote for your favorites. This is not an attempt to garner votes for myself, just would like to see a bit more participation from the CAG Members in appreciation of all those who shared their adventures

Yeah, it wasn't funny at the time but in hindsight it would have been great to have got it on video. I have to skype a couple of my friends from back home as I've forgotten so many stories over the years as we were always involved in mischief and mishap.

Happy that it bought a smile or two. I have lots of other funny stories but unfortunately they are not for an open audience as they invariably have adult content!! For whatever reason, I have always attracted the crazies and it hasn't stopped since I moved to the States

MORE BIRDS STORIES THAN ALFRED HITCHCOCK!! I've had plenty of run in's with bird life over the years, just an occupational hazard of fishing in England as they associate anglers with food. Here's a few of my favorite tales: 1) Damned Tufties Tuftied ducks have the ability to dive to over 20 feet and once they know bait is in an area they will not leave until it's either all gone or you hook a few of them! I've had my run in with them over the years, always threatening to kill them but feeling guilty once in the net and even treating them with carp Klinic on their beaks. Anyway, I was sitting sharing a cup of tea with a friend who was fishing to a big snag that required you to be right next to your rods. A fish had rolled over his baits 10 minutes previously and there were no ducks in the area. As we were discussing tactics his right hand rod let out a couple of beeps then absolutely tore off. Being on top of the rod he instantly bent into the fish and proceeded to give it some serious stick so it could not get into the snags. He uttered the immortal words, "it's an absolute flier" at which point it actually was, as a tufted duck broke the surface and proceeded to fly into the air. I couldn't help him net it as I was bent double, repeating 'it's a flier' over and over! 2) Mallard 0 Rock 1 In the mid 90's I was a member of a Syndicate Lake that was a former nature reserve. On one of the banks lived an old lady who absolutely loved ducks. She was out ever morning talking to them and feeding them and she really did treat them with more respect than us anglers, who she hated. I was taking a lap of the 65 acre lake, hoping to find a fish or two and I stopped off below the old women's house where one of the other members was fishing. He wasn't very happy as he had been baiting the back of the weedbed (at 20 yards) with sweetcorn and as some of it had settled on the weed near the surface and a large posse of ducks was continually diving over his baits. I suggested he catapult some hemp seed at them which usually does the trick but after a couple of pouch fulls the ducks were still there. I suggested a few small stones might also work, not big enough to injure them, but enough to scare them. Looking around the swim we picked out a selection of decent missiles and I jokingly tossed him a stone that was about the size of a golf ball. He laughed but at that moment a duck must have hit his lines again and losing his composure he instinctively launched the rock in the general direction. Well, you guessed it! He hit on of the ducks plumb in the head, which killed it instantly The next 20 minutes were spent trying to net the bird which was just out of reach before the old lady came out of her house and reported his 'crime' to the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty against Animals). 3) I hate Canadian Geese Walking around a favorite Estate Lake in the old close season, myself and a fishing buddy were scouting out new areas and doing a little bit of pre-baiting. The lake had never had Canadian geese on it in the past but we noticed a pair of them nesting in the bushes. Not wanting to disturb them we gave them a wide berth and stopped to look at an island spot. We must have been stood there for 10 minutes or so, watching the water when suddenly we heard a massive shreak and from 50 yards away a male Canadian Goose came charging towards us!! It was intent on causing us harm and we were both in the firing range, but I soon realized it was every man for himself as my 'buddy' shouldered me towards the goose and also a large muddy puddle. I went 'arse over tit' straight into the puddle and now I was a face level with the goose. It kept coming at me and my only option was to do a 'Bruce Lee' round house kick straight into it's chest. This did the trick as it ended up in the lake, no harm done to it, but me with bruised pride and covered in mud. Don't know why my 'buddy' thought it was so funny, but he did. 4)Geese Sh#t Back to the syndicate lake again and this time I was fishing on an island with 3 other anglers. We were all on friendly terms but one of the anglers had set up at the start of the rota and was bragging to all and sundry about his new gear. He had new rods, new pod, new delkims and a top of the line Aqua Bivvy that even 25 years ago cost around $1000. Now the new gear didn't bother anyone, it was the fact that he set up and then declared he had to leave for a few hours and would we look after his equipment? 24 hours later and he still hadn't returned so being the practical jokers we anglers are we started to concoct plans to punish him. While a discussion was taking place a very friendly white goose was begging for food off of us. Well, a few well placed pieces of bread and it was in the door way of the new bivvy. Even though we threw some pieces into the bivvy the goose was very wary of the interior. No worries as one of the anglers gave it a push and then quickly zipped up the doors. The next 5 minutes were mayhem as apart from the noise the bivvy was shaking constantly. We all decided we didn't really want to stress the goose out, even though we wanted to wait for the return of the prodigal angler to give him a surprise. We unzipped the doors and goose shot out quacking it's disapproval. On peering into the bivvy we were all in shock. How could a goose of no more than 40lb's produce so much crap?? It was everywhere, even up the walls. The door was zipped shut again. About 2 hours later the angler in question finally came back without so much of a thank you or explanation. His mood soon changed as he opened his bivvy. Some epic cursing followed with him accusing everyone of doing his wrong, but I don't think he will ever leave his tackle with 'friends' again.

Tribal, Frank Warwick baits is no longer doing business. Frank stepped back from the company as he felt it wasn't going in the direction he wanted and the website and facebook pages have been static since early fall. As for Solar baits, you may be a happy camper come the spring

Parksy, I yelled twice last year!! The other time involved a Russian fish killer who heard I had caught a fish and drove directly to my swim and from 30 yards up the bank decided to cast 20 feet in front of me, directly over my rods! This time instead of use the 'old' deaf excuse he tried to convince me that he didn't understand English......he did however understand hand signs which are fairly universal!! I did worry about a night time visit from him and his fishing companions but I had the last laugh when I landed 'The Pet' at 4am the next morning. I used to think that England was a nightmare, but at least the anglers knew they were taking the p#ss or would try to do it subtly. Here you not only have to deal with boats, bass anglers who think it's a good idea to cast right next to your pod, fish eaters, bow hunters........it's no wonder I try and find remote spots!

Tom, I may have run into the same guy the next day but this time he was on land. Here's my experience at last years ATC: Now I have never been a fan of competition angling but Dave Moore kindly invited myself and Parksy to fish the ATC, which would afford us the opportunity to also meet some of our younger contributors to BC News and also get a healthy perspective of what CAG is all about. We arrived and the first day was spent sorting out tackle and socializing and also anticipating the dreaded swim draw, the next day. Well to cut a long story short we ended up in about the last place we wanted to be but still that's tournament draws for you. We arrived at the swim before light and promptly set up and decided our tactics. Not a bad looking area, apart from the lack of fish! 7am rolled around and it was time to cast in. My rods were duly dispatched at varying ranges and I made sure to lower my rod tips to avoid the many rowing teams that seemed to be in the area. However, Parksy must have misjudged his cast as within seconds of the lead hitting the water he hooked into a four women rowing team!! After screaming at them to stop, they finally realized something was amiss and Parksy spent the next 15 minutes winding them into shore and then freeing the braid from the bow. Needless to say the rest of the day was a bust. However, Day 2 would turn out to be very eventful. 5.30am and the peg draw, this time getting a slightly better area that had produced at least one fish the previous day! Off we went and after scoping out the swim we decided that Parksy would fish outside the Bridge and I would go underneath it fishing just past the first stanchions which would mean I would be sitting next to the rods all day as I was in effect snag fishing. Incident # 1: Weekend Warriors Around 8am I hear a large commotion as a group of fitness fanatics appear behind me, carrying logs and other items. No problem I think, as they head to the open field to do all kinds of exercises. Well, 15 minutes later they start to come under the bridge and decide that the area next to my rods would be ideal for a morning dip. I politely explain to them that I am fishing and so being such understanding Austinites, they go an extra 10 yards before entering the water and applying mud to themselves. Maybe the carp are used to this, but I'm not. Incident # 2: Lets play catch Now Town Lake is popular at the weekends, for all sorts of activities and as well as avoiding the boat traffic and constant waving at canoe's and paddle boards to avoid your rod tips there are also a lot of dog walkers. Around 10am I encountered 2 small dogs whose owners thought it was a good idea to throw a tennis ball into the water directly over my baited area. Again, they could see me fishing....i just don't think they cared. Parksy was busy laughing at me, but his time would come! Incident # 3: Swim Jumpers I've experienced my fair share of swim jumpers in my day but have to say that the average Bass angler must be either clueless to other people or more likely, ignorant of them and bankside etiquette. Noon time arrived and now Parksy had to have words with someone trying to cast a lure, standing next to his rods. The angler decided to move on.....next to my rods and he did manage one cast (as he was walking) before I also told him (again politely) to move elsewhere. At this stage, the lack of fish and the constant noise of traffic (I was under a bridge) was beginning to wear on me. Incident # 3 : Deaf Guy Fast forward an hour and a group of 3 anglers turn up and decide to fish under the bridge. They were pretty close to me, but as I was now seeing signs of fish in the area I decided to leave them to it, as long as they didn't cast over me or into the area I was fishing. I was concentrating pretty hard on the area I was fishing trying to determine if I was seeing bubbling carp or just gaseous bubbles. My concentration was soon broken as a whole live bait hit the surface directly over the bubbles! One of the anglers must have sneaked around the back of me to my left and completely oblivious to myself was happily fishing directly over my lines. At this point the lack of sleep and fish caught up with me as I now started to shout over to the angler (no longer politely, I'm afraid). After several shouts I assumed I was being ignored so now I approached and still no response. Finally when he became aware of me, he just looked up and shrugged. Well, that was like a red rag to a bull as I proceeded to inquire as to what his shrugging meant and that if he didn't move I would move him. Still, no real reply and another shrug. At this point Parksy approached so I decided to walk off and curse to no one in particular. It transpires that the angler was in fact deaf, which explains his lack of response. However, he knew exactly what he was doing and after Parksy also explained to him the need to move, he retreated....this time cursing to anyone who would listen. Incident # 4 : The South American Armada We were now approaching 3pm and it was Parksy turn for some excitement. I could see a group of at least 8 South American's (not sure of their country of origin) with one of them hauling around 20 rods and reels under his arms. You guessed it....they set up right next to Parksy and proceeded to thrash the water to a foam. Bobbers appeared everywhere on the water. Parksy looked on, happy as ever Redemption: Anyway, after all the drama I finally had a chance at a fish and with 30 minutes left in the ATC I got my first Texas Carp. Not the biggest but I think we earned it. I'll be back one day to fish the lake on my own terms but it was definitely an experience I will never forget.

Here's a short story that I was reminded about yesterday as I was uploading pictures from 20 years ago! It's purely a fishing tale and doesn't have any strange or disturbing interludes like most of my other 'adventures'. It outlines a session where myself and another angler tried to catch a monster. It was around 25 years ago that I first started to target carp. Like most young anglers I had whet my teeth on roach, gudgeon and perch before moving on to chase tench, bream, crucian carp and pike. Around the age of 18, my best friend was living in a house a stone's throw away from a Park Lake and so naturally we became enthralled with the place and so my 'carping' addiction started. That first year I caught several good fish, even managing a 20lber, which was a big deal in my neck of the woods and I was all pumped up with pride thinking I was the next Rod Hutchinson. Here's I am with a fish on June 16th, the opening day of the season. After 3 or 4 months on this park water I decided I needed a bigger challenge and so set out to fish a much larger water (5 acres max. which I now consider a puddle). The next month was frustrating as I listened to everyone else about how to catch the carp and miserably failed. It was until my best friend advised me to do my own thing that I started to catch, and after a few nice scatter scaled beauties, Scott (my friend) decided he wanted in on the action. Here's an example of the fish that were on offer. After a few successful sessions fishing together we thought we had the water all figured out and our usual approach was to do a lap or two of the lake to discover where the fish were and then set up a swim that would give us good access to the area. On a beautiful summers day we had set up about two thirds of the way down the lake. We were in the middle of a 48 hour session and during the first night we had both caught a fish or two. It was a blazing summers day and the lake now appeared dead. I decided I needed to go for a walk to look for signs of life. I headed to my left to the far end of the lake where there was a nice reed line that the fish liked to get into. This night time shot of the water shows the area I was looking at. As I approached the area I stopped dead in my tracks. In front of the reed line there was a large back sticking out of the water. Now this lake had a decent stock of double figure carp, but at the time I was unaware of anything bigger than low twenties ever coming out of it. This fish was in a different class, it was as wide as my friend's labrador and black as coal. I wanted to catch it. I quickly backed away and rushed back to my bivvy. The rods were bought in and I preceded to cut off my rig and attach a single hook with a small shot 8 inches away for casting weight. Scott, who was passed out in his bivvy heard the commotion and immediately inquired what was going on. Being selfish, I lied as best I could, "just going for a look around mate". "Why the rod?", he inquired. He didn't buy my explanation that I was taking it 'just in case' and also bought his rods in, exclaiming that I had obviously found some fish and he was coming as well. Because I am a good friend, I explained I had seen a massive fish and I thought I had a chance at stalking it. Rather than race to the area we agreed on a formula that would allow us both to try for it. One cast apiece until we hooked it or spooked it!! Bait wise we took a mixture. Some floating trout pellets, bread crust, mixers and a tub of worms. Our first plan of attack was to drift some trout pellets and mixers over it's head and see if there was a response. We crept back into position and sure enough the fish was still basking where I had left it. Scott exclaimed that it was, "Fu*kin massive" and was shaking with excitement as was I. We used a baiting spoon to throw out some floating baits as we didn't even want the noise of the catapult to ruin our chance. Now the waiting game would commence. Even though there was no reaction from the fish we knew that sometimes you had to keep feeding for quite a while to get a reaction. There was also a slight chop on the water as well, so it was hard to judge the reaction, if in fact there was one. An hour passed very slowly and it was clear the fish wanted no part of the trout pellets or mixers. Okay, Plan B.....bread crust. This lake was popular with bird feeders and the carp loved a bit of bread, no way could the fish resist a juicy piece of crust. Being that I discovered the fish I would have first cast. I dipped the crust in the margins and lobbed it 20 yards upwind. Even the master of fishing John Wilson would have been proud. The crust drifted into position and I swear I saw the fish move. I checked the clutch of the reel and got ready to strike as I was convinced I was about to hook into the fish of my dreams. The crust drifted over the fish and I lost my chance. Being a competitive pair, Scott pushed me out of the way and announced that he would show me how it was done. I was gutted, I'd missed my chance and now Scott was going to hook it instead. I was relieved (aren't I a good friend) when the fish also ignored his cast. This repeated itself for a good 3 or 4 casts each until we agreed that it didn't want a surface bait. Unbelievably, the fish hadn't been spooked and it's massive back was still on display. I really need to see this fish in my net!! The bread was thrown up the bank and I impaled two very healthy lob worms on the hook. This time I cast the worms 10 yards past the fish and skipped them across the surface just in front of the fish and then let them drift past the leviathan's nose. No way could it resist, it was only a matter of time. I was shaking so put the rod on the grass and watched for the next 5 minutes expecting the fish to tip up at any moment and inhale the worms. No such luck. Scott's turn again and his cast was spot on. Oh well, I thought as at this point I just wanted to see the fish on the bank. Again, no reaction. What was wrong with this fish. It showed no reaction, neither positive or negative to any of our attempts. We began to discuss the reasons and hastily retreated to the bivvy's to get some more baits. Over the next 30 minutes we tried a number of offerings....side hooked boilie, tiger nut, pop-up, in fact everything we had. I was now officially PISSED OFF. This fish was not normal. Getting aggravated I cast a bait directly at it, to get reaction. NOTHING. After several casts I knew something was not 'quite' right and Scott was dispatched to get his waders on. Perhaps the fish was in trouble or snagged on the bottom. I had witnessed several anglers using 'death rigs' on this water so this was a distinct possibility. Scott waded out across the margins just behind the fish with his landing net. He tried to net the fish but something was stopping the net from going underneath the fish. He waded back to shore and stripped down to his underwear as the water was too deep for thigh waders. We were both concerned about the fishes welfare, which was soon to change. Scott waded out again and as he got within 4 feet of the beast he began to swear repeatedly. At this point I wasn't quite sure why, but once he got a good hold on the black backed beast I understood completely. Out of the depths he raised his prize to chest level. It was BLACK..... it was MASSIVE....... it was a fu*kin MICHELIN TYRE!! I also started to curse, but after a few seconds we both saw the funnier side and started to laugh. Like a couple of plums we had been stalking a tyre for over 2 hours.

I'll have to have a think about what stories I can write. My fishing in America has been punctuated by lots of strange events and happenings and to be honest I just roll with the punches and nothing really surprises me anymore. I do have some classic stories from my fishing in England, but would imagine they may need to be censored for the younger audience. So many to choose from, I need to write an overview first. Some of the stories so far have bought a smile to my face. I've had a few run-ins with Mink, hooked more ducks and fowl that I can count, fell into many lakes and rivers and out of trees, lost more than one rod to a spool explosion or mishap, broke many a rod casting or otherwise, had some epic run ins with local wild-life (animal and human alike). I'm sure I'm missing lots as some of my biggest adventures were with friends. I'll have to SKYPE a few of my mates to get my best one. Until then, keep them coming. Life's an adventure.

Tribal, we are working on the paperwork for other bait companies but some of the popular brands you mentioned are just not interested until the US market gets larger as they are used to dealing in bulk quantities. The other issue is shipping costs due to weight so the only effective way for US Importers to bring the bait in is in large quantities. It pays to speak to Dave directly if you are looking to order a decent amount or to one of the sponsored anglers (Craig for Dynamite and Brian for CC Moore).

BC Tackle has a good supply from several different vendors and more to come in the new year. If you want to order a decent amount you can always contact Dave as just because it's not in stock does not mean he cannot order it for you. As Dave said, it's not as easy as just calling the companies and ordering the bait, hence some companies are not interested in the investment. Personally, if you are looking for a decent UK bait then I would highly recommend CC Moore and Dynamite as I have used both over the last 2 years with great success.

Credit card: Resistance Tackle Whacker BC Tackle

I just got hit today for electronic goods. I've only used 3 carp tackle companies so it's a small list. My advice to anyone who has made purchases in the last few years is to cancel their cards and order new ones. Only way to be safe for sure.