Learning to fish

The promotion of safe and responsible angling is high on the British Waterways’ agenda – and Robin Evans was keen to show his support and learn more about fishing at an event held at Makin Fisheries on 26 July. With the sun shining and the temperature climbing past 30 degrees, I was only too happy to head to rural Warwickshire and have a fishing lesson of my own.

Makin Fisheries is owned by British Waterways and boasts 18 lakes in a pleasant green setting. We met our fishing coaches by lake two – a typical Makin lake, large with an island to fish to and well-stocked with carp. I joined coach Mark Selby, a champion of the ‘floating dog biscuits’ and candle rig method.

Floating dog biscuits

Yes, dog biscuits. Pedigree Chum Mixers, to be precise. Mark tells me that this is one of the most popular methods of catching carp, especially in the summer when the fish stay up near the surface. But anything that floats will catch carp – as I was soon to discover.

Mark was well equipped with a catapult and a big bag of dog biscuits. I watched as he loaded the catapult with four or five dog biscuits and then shot them out into the centre of the lake. He did this several times.
"It’s to catch the attention of the carp," Mark told me. And sure enough, dark shapes soon began to swim around the floating dog biscuits. It was time to start fishing in earnest.

Baiting the hook

No maggots. Instead, Mark took a single dog biscuit and showed me how he had drilled a hole through the centre of it. He threaded the baiting needle through this and then attached the biscuit to a hair rig.
"The bait itself is not actually on the hook," Mark explained. "So the fish are more likely to catch themselves on it."

Mark handed the rod to me and talked me through casting – the method of actually getting your line into the water. Under his direction I duly caught the line with my index finger, clicked over the bail arm, took my rod back and cast expectantly. My line landed quietly next to me on the bank. This is a lot harder than it looks.

I tried again, and Mark helpfully shouted ‘Now’ at the precise moment I had to let go of the line. This time I was proud to watch my line fly out and land satisfyingly far out into the lake. Mark showed me how flick the bail arm back over, I positioned the rod on the rod rest and sat back waiting for my first bite.

Robin’s success

Meanwhile, Carl Nicholls, bailiff of Earlswood Lakes and Blythe Waters, was showing Robin Evans how to fish the ‘feeder method’. This involved buckets of ground bait – bread crumbs and fish meal – and a box of maggots. I couldn’t help an instinctive recoil here. But these maggots, I was relieved to see, were dead.
"We freeze them overnight," Karl explained. "It makes things easier as they don’t wriggle off the hook."

Robin was certainly not suffering any maggot-related reluctance as he reeled in the carp. His first catch was fairly typical of Makin Fisheries, a carp in the 4lb range, but his last catch of the day was a stunning mirror carp closer to 10lb.

My day as an angler

I had a little less success than Robin, only landing one medium-sized carp – and I have to admit, this was more down to Mark’s skill than my beginner’s luck. But I still very much enjoyed my day at Makin Fisheries. As a total novice, who had previously thought fishing was no more complicated than attaching a maggot to a hook and hoping for the best, I was fascinated both by the different ways of catching fish and by the equipment involved. Jeff Brooks, fishery ranger, showed us how he uses ‘bite alarms’ – a great way to have a snooze without missing a bite – and even more remarkably, his boilies, flavoured with pineapple and kiwi.

So, like most sports, there’s a lot more to fishing than meets the eye. My day passed surprisingly quickly and very pleasantly. Will I be back. You bet! But I think I’ll be sticking to the dog biscuits for a while yet – I’m still not entirely happy about those maggots.

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