Tag Archives: Fish

Carp Fishing Basics

Float Fishing for Carp

So many carp anglers use static setups these days that you could be forgiven for thinking that float fishing for big carp is a lost art, amazing really as it can be one of the most adrenalin filled methods for targeting big fish at close quarters there has ever been!


I have heard of many a carp angler who is become bored with the current trend for fishing static set-ups at extreme distances in some cases not even casting a rod but using a bait boat to ship out a lead and hookbait to some distant location – no wonder the heart has stopped pumping – that alone would be enough to make me fall asleep! All I would say to such anglers is break out a float rod and have some fun!


As methods go, they do not get much simpler – all you need is a float and a hook! Forget your bite alarms, rod pods, swingers and suchlike – this is proper fishing designed to put your heart in your mouth every time the float twitches! My standard float fishing set up for big carp consists of a light action carp rod of around 1.5lb to 2lb test curve, which provides exciting sport when playing fish at close quarters, twinned with a lightweight coarse reel – there is no need for big pit reels or baitrunners – so long as it has a drag facility which allows you to adjust the tension during the battle it will do just fine. Spool it up with a quality monofilament line, my personal choice is Daiwa Sensor. The breaking strain will depend on the water you are fishing; if it is free of snags, weed and other submerged obstructions you can use a lower diameter, say between 8lb and 10lb, or increase it up towards 12lb or more if conditions dictate.


Again, on a personal level I like to keep things light as this increases the enjoyment factor when playing fish close in, so most of the time I will use 10lb or below. There are countless floats available for carp fishing, but to be honest I only have about five different types in my tackle box which I find cover me for all eventualities. To fish a standard float set up I like to use a self weighted carp float, not only does this save time when setting up but it means you can swap and change easily when faced with a different distance rather than having to take off or apply different shots to the line each time you want to change distance and depth.


As most of my float fishing for carp is carried out stalking fashion I am never going to be casting huge distances more likely just dropping the float out to marginal features like weedbeds, lily pads or reedmace in the margins. As such I only need enough weight to cast the float a few yards so a pre-weighted float is perfect for flicking out the hookbait. If I want to attract carp on the drop or if I am fishing for spooky carp I won’t attach any shot to the line at all, but if I want to get the bait on the lake bed quickly I will add a small shot or a chunk of rig-putty about three inches from the hookbait to help it reach bottom quickly.


Hook size is critical as you need to match the hook to the size of hookbait. Too many anglers think you need huge hooks to bank carp, which is simply not the case. Most of my stalking and surface fishing for carp is carried out using hooks between size 12 and 16 and rarely do I lose a fish due to the hook pulling! You don’t really need hair-rigs, just mount your bait on the hook and away you go! Just remember to carry an unhooking mat so you can deal with a big fish safely on the bank.


Try to fish to obvious features where carp might visit and keep trickling in loosefeed on a “little and often” basis in order to grab their attention when they do come along. My personal preference for bait is something that moves, something that stops the carp in its tracks when it passes by – and as such I usually favour maggots or worms.


It really is as simple as that, the adrenalin rush on seeing the float slide away before having the rod bend double just can’t be beaten and I can assure you you’ll never be bored again! I have bagged countless lumps recently on the methods and tactics described above. So why don’t you get out there and do the same.

James Johnson, carp fisherman that has caught the big one, the little one and sometimes none at all. Just like most fisherman, the one that got away is always the biggest. Carp Fishing from Trevs Tackle North West Carp

Fishing Tips

Carp Bait Recipes – Secrets Of Readymade And Homemade Baits For Big Fish!

You may be looking for a new edge and keep trying costly new readymade boilies, but you have the power to make your own awesome baits extremely easily and cheaply – and far faster than you ever imagined! Such baits are very effective indeed when compared to standard baits because they can be made different to normal – and being different is truly the biggest edge in carp fishing! So read on to discover how to be an even sharper carper and get ahead and catch loads more fish this year and many years to come!

Today many anglers either care very much about the nutritional attraction of their baits – or not as the case may be. This is whether an angler always uses readymade baits or makes his own or uses both.

Ultimately the angler is aiming to be different and offer carp something irresistible – that overcomes instinctive and angler-programmed caution to as great a degree as possible. But most anglers actually do not do this because the basic format of their baits is far too standard. I may be stating the obvious here but if a big wary carp has been dealing with boilies and pellets on round, barrel or barrel shapes for the past 40 years it is pretty obvious he is going to be that much harder to hook no matter how mind-boggling the nutritional profile or potency of the enhancer and flavours and extracts incorporated etc in a readymade bait.

It is very obvious that carp learn by experience and association and this is at an instinctive level – basically just like humans. Without these instincts and constant behavioural adaptations survival is just not going to happen! Most anglers are unaware that the firmness and surface feel of the vast percentage of readymade baits makes it very easy for very wary fish to detect baits that are safe and baits that are not. I would go so far as to state that these days if you always use boilies that have been cut down into odd shapes or simple squeezed in half and stabbed a few times and chopped a bout with a pair of sharp nail scissors, then such baits will out-perform perfectly round or barrel shaped baits consistently.

A very striking example of how easy it can be to double your catches or get more fish that much faster is this example. In the nineties I used to fish a water in Essex where it was very noticeable that anglers using fresh readymade boilies straight from the bag struggled to catch many fish and blanked approximately 70 percent of the time when doing sessions of 12 to 60 hours duration.

In this situation I being a resourceful type of angler who always tries to utilise what I observe to best effect came up with many innovative alternative bait options that worked tremendously well but I never publicised what I was doing because that would have given other lazy anglers an edge they did not deserve!

The biggest carp I caught during this period was a leather of over 48 pounds, which I did not photograph as I had no camera, no sack and no mobile phone – you will learn why in a moment! I happened to hook this incredible fish on a homemade catfish rod which was the only rod I had left after someone had stolen pretty much all my gear the previous week when I had generously offered to go to get some more supplies from a local super market for a new friend who turned out to be a thieving you know what! It appears that the moment I left he began packing up my gear putting it straight in his car for a clean get-away. (Therefore going back to that water the following week was very strange with only one rod – and I really deserved that big fish!)

Later around that same period I hooked the fish called the little leather at Darenth Big Lake but lost it at the net so getting photos of forty pound plus leather carp has yet to be achieved – but who knows what the future holds! All through my fishing ever since the seventies I have kept aiming to observe how fish are behaving in response to angling pressure and change tactics, strategies and thinking. Before everything else a change of thought is needed so trying to keep an open mind is an essential asset.

Years ago I noticed I would hook very little-caught commons on small square hook baits as opposed to the round boilies that were very standard at that time in the eighties. This really got my thinking and it became obvious that anything that made fish less suspicious would produce more fish. One excellent idea from the early nineties that I came up with one day while helping a beginner on an Essex lake was this:

I noticed few fish were being caught on whole round readymade boilies straight from the bag. I had been messing around with crumbed homemade boilies since the mid-eighties and this idea occurred to me to help this new guy catch much quicker than normal. All I did was cut a few round 21-millimetre boilies to remove their outer skins so the baits were about 10 millimetres in diameter and square in shape.

Removing the outer skin of a boilie is one of the very best tricks to improve performance as the entire bait can more fully interact with the water in pulling fish to your hook. The extension of this is of course to soak these small square baits in whatever additives you wish. I think in the case in point, to help this guy I had made up a soak using LT94 fish meal, Marmite, halibut pellet powder, and crushed betaine pellets, plus a little Nash peach and strawberry oil palatants.

People who have heard of me for my ebooks consider that I am a homemade bait fanatic but in fact I am just as passionate about innovatively utilising readymade baits and bait substances applied in creative new ways. Making readymade baits become super-charged with potency with impacts that fish will never have experienced in such ways before is an area I am truly passionate about – because it is within the reach of every single angler to very seriously improve his or her catch results by doing this!

Creating your own homemade bait soaks as opposed to just buying them is a very exciting thing because you are literally creating new unique baits immediately and changing their nutritional profile, smell and palatability – all of which can be massive breakthroughs in hooking those elusive big rarely-caught fish that all anglers dream of catching!

The result of applying this bait soak treatment for a few hours on the small square baits previously mentioned was that after I had helped the new guy set up his gear he shortly afterwards hooked one of the very few linear carp in the lake at a great new weight of 27 pounds – and he was not surprisingly over the moon with joy because apart from being a stunning fish it was a very rarely-caught fish and was a new personal best fish for him!

This example proves a point about the fact that wary carp definitely fall for creative new and alternative bait ideas that offer different features and characteristics to standard baits. Note that at the time of this capture other anglers using round or barrel shaped readymade baits straight from the bag and also in dips and glugs were doing very poorly – yet this new guy caught just 2 hours after casting out on a new lake for him.

Of course there is a massive number of further ideas and insights that could have been adopted at that time but it really was a case of doing something there and then that was quick and easy so that this guy could use the idea himself in the future – again and again with success but also adapt and customise the idea and create new ones for himself! This is where I am coming from because so many anglers ask me for a recipe or even readymade bait to improve their success when what it vitally takes is creative thought that comes from observing your fish and their responses to standard and alternative baits and baiting and methods, learning about fish senses and bait substances (and why they induce feeding behaviours of various forms,) and creating practical new alternative baits and bait formats and different refined methods to overcome fish wariness all to great effect!

Now you might think that soaking boilies or pellets is a neat trick and of course many anglers do simply soak their baits in neat Minamino or whatever. But I like to cover nutritional attraction especially in multiple ways by creating homemade dips that carp have never experienced ever before; some that have metabolic-booting effects, some that are particularly enzyme-active, or some that are far more prebiotic, or probiotic for instance. Some ingredients and bait additives have come onto the market just in the last 5 years that have tremendous impacts upon fish feeding and attraction responses but many are not sold by bait companies so you need and eye open and do your research like me!

Ultimately you do not need a degree in nutrition or marine biology to catch fish, but even finding out just one new bit of information that exploits an aspect of how fish detect bait or digest baits better or see baits or hear baits or suck-up baits better, will definitely make all the difference to your catches. Fisheries are getting more and more competitive all the time so you need to exploit any edges you can create for yourself because these will most closely solve the problems and challenges you are faced with on your water! It takes experience, ability, insight and imagination as well as a sound understanding of fish to do this and not just the convenience of simply buying newly advertised baits off the shelf!

The vast majority of readymade baits are massively under-performing due to many reasons including their actual format and adsorbent or absorbent capacities and ways they transfer water from outside the bait to the centre of the bait so pumping out bait substances.

For one thing commercially made baits have to make a profit so they just do not contain the levels of substances they really could potentially contain – to far greater impact on multiple carp senses! But in adapting your readymade baits in special ways or even making quite simple but massively potent homemade baits (and highly economical ones too,) you will multiply your catches like so many others for sure! Revealed in my unique readymade bait and homemade bait carp and catfish bait secrets ebooks is far more powerful information – look up my unique website (Baitbigfish) and see my biography below for details of my ebooks deals right now!

By Tim Richardson.

 

Now why not seize this moment to multiply your big fish catches for life with this unique series of fishing and bait secrets bibles: “BIG CARP FLAVOURS FEEDING TRIGGERS AND CARP SENSES EXPLOITATION SECRETS!” “BIG CARP AND CATFISH BAIT SECRETS!” And “BIG CARP BAIT SECRETS!” For these and much more now visit: http://www.baitbigfish.com the home of the world-wide proven homemade bait making and readymade bait success secrets bibles and more original articles!

Fishing Strategies

How To Fly Fish For Carp

Fly fishing for carp is awesome and frustrating at the same time. Carp have a really uncanny ability to spit out baits they deem suspicious before you have a chance to set your hook.  Although it’s a very exciting thing to see, it can also be heartbreaking to see a large carp disregard your bait and quickly swim away. If you do hook one, however, hold on for deal life and hold on to that trembling, vibrating fishing pole!

Carp regularly come to the surface looking for food and the best baits to lure them there are breads, chic peas, salmon eggs and canned corn. These are all inexpensive baits as well.  These baits must be securely attached to a #4 or #6 hook.  It’s advisable to break your bread into small portions, dampen it, seal it in a sandwich bag, and let it sit in the sun for about an hour or so.  Since different breads have different textures,you’ll have to experiment to know which one will stay firm enough to cast.  Another great bait are the pellets which you can buy ready to use.  These are simply store made versions of classic baits, all rolled into a convenient, and smelly pellet!

Carp tend to scare easily, so when they begin to swim around your bait, be careful not to jerk the bait and scare them away.  The longer they analyze the bait, the more comfortable they’ll become.  This is the fisherman’s best chance for a nice strike.  This tactic can be very useful if using zig rigs.

If a carp takes your bait, quickly rebait your hook and cast back in.  Don’t cast directly on top of the feeding carp or they will surely scatter.  Cast away from the feeding area then slowly reel the bait into position.  Slowly reel your bait into the middle of the feeding carp, and try hard to keep it as close to the surface as possible.  You may want to rig it 6-8 inches unter a float to ensure it sits close to the surface. 

Here are some tips that have been helpful to me:

-Use smaller amounts of bait for carp.  They nibble at the bait, and a big chunk will allow them to nibble for a long time before getting to the hook.  You don’t want them to get their fill without taking your hook.

-Use heavyweight line and a steel leader.  Carp tend to rub their teeth and gums together after they bite, and this can break your line.  I recommend at least thirty pound test line, as carp are voracious fighters.

-Dip a piece of sponge in some fish scent (can be bought at any bait 7 tackle store) and hang the sponge above your hook.  The scent will help the carp find the bait-and your hook.

-Using a float is a good idea because it helps keep your bait close to the surface and it’s easy to find your rig.  You can also tell right away when you get a bite.

-When fly fishing for carp, use a standard five second count after your fly or bait hits the water.  If you don’t get any hits, increase it to ten seconds.  Carp tend to practice restraint if they are unsure of a bait.  Those extra seconds could mean the difference between getting a bite or not. 

In the end, it really isn’t the bait that’s most important but how the bait is fished.  Throwing some bait into the water before fishing, also called “chumming”, can also be an effective technique to draw carp to your fishing area.  This makes the carp think that there is an excessive amount of food for them there and before you know it there will be a large school of them ready to feed.  The number one key to fishing is patience.  If you can wait them out and wait for them to realize there is food available, you’ll definitely catch a big carp.

If you would like to learn more about fishing for carp and read some more fly fishing tips, visit: Fishing Tips For Beginners

Fishing Tips

2008 Review Gillhams Fishing Resorts Krabi Thailand

Please check out our web site … http://www.gillhamsfishingresorts.com for all the latest news and info about fishing in Thailand at Gillhams Fishing Resorts.

2008 Review Gillhams Fishing Resorts Krabi Thailand

What a year 2008 was – it was the first full year Gillhams was open. We first opened the doors to anglers in August 2007, and the very first anglers to fish were my old friends Terry Eustace and Joe Taylor. Terry caught his first ever arapaima here, and to this day it is still my favorite arapaima picture. Many of my friends own and run fisheries, and they all warned me how hard this business is. I did not believe them, but I now know why. Over the course of a year we have met some truly lovely great people, some OK people, and some extremely horrid ones. Luckily the really nice ones by far outnumber the a——-s! Perfect examples are people moaning because they have not had a big arapaima when it was 130lb, or saying they’ve had no big fish today when they have had a couple over 60lb, or that it’s a bit slow when they had a 100lb fish in the morning and a 150lb fish in the afternoon! We even had a guy who caught 150lb, 220lb and 340lb arapaima plus a 60lb carp and two red tails of 50lb and 60lb all in a day say it was OK but not what he expected! Christ I would love to fish his local lake. Another one we hear is, “The line broke – it’s crap.” No, it broke because they don’t know how to play fish, and when trying to stop a 300lb-plus beast at 30 miles an hour, something has to go! The list goes on, but the happy smiling faces as a decent angler catches a big fish far outweighs the idiots! Seeing grown men reduced to tears as they catch the fish of their dreams is what it’s all about to us. What a shame the good guys sometimes fail and the prats catch the whackers!

Pet hates are the fellas you haven’t seen for 15 years suddenly coming up to see us at a show, announcing he lost his contact details for me, his long lost mate, then asking for a mate’s rate! Come on – I have never been hard to find! Or the ones who come here on holiday and make you their best friend in the whole world, and invite you to their house or a couple of days thinking it now qualifies them for free holidays for life! How about advising someone what bits of tackle to bring to increase their chances, only for them to present us with a bill for it afterwards – people bringing piles of junk that we will never use and wanting us to buy it. Or moaning because the drinks and snacks in our fridge using our electric, and which our staff refill, is five pence more than the supermarket 15 miles away, then filling our fridge with the stuff they saved three quid on with a ten quid taxi fare. Or bringing end tackle with them, and then taking a few bits home along with our bits and bobs – we have hook link material, baiting needles, pliers etc stolen every month. We even had one prat who whinged so much that we wouldn’t buy some overpriced items he had brought with him that we purchased stuff off him that we get for free of our sponsors, only for him to take it out and use it during his holiday, and then take home some of the bits we had been forced to buy!

Then we get the ones who go to the local pet shop, buy some goldfish, and want to use them as bait in our lake! No wonder carp pox is on the increase in the UK with these morons about! All our fish are photographed in the water to protect them; 100lb fish bouncing across the ground does them no favours. But hey, for the ultimate photo, who cares?

Wanting to hold them out of the water for pictures on three cameras and a video, then wanting their mate to hold them the same, all in the name of ‘look what I caught!’ Get the camera ready, work out your angles and background, and take a couple of good shots – believe it or not it’s the fish that matters. Guys who get a repeat catch – this happens when fishing one swim for a holiday, as a lot of predators are territorial. If you photographed a fish two days ago in the dark in the same swim, why on earth would you want another picture? Even if you are wearing a different shirt? Well folks, the list goes on and on, but as 90% of anglers who come here care about the fishes’ welfare and want them to be just as pristine for the next person. We meet so many lovely people, for us it outweighs the bad, but when the bad ones come it spoils our day. If you are one of these people, please do us all a favour and stay away.

Anyway, that’s the griping done, so onto the year, and what a year it has been with 3,465 fish landed of 29 species. The list below shows the figures from January 08 to December 08.

Arapaima – 432 total, best 400lb, best month November – 44 fish.

Alligator gar – 151 total, best 35lb, best month August – 21 fish.

Arawana – 12 total, best 8lb, best month September – five fish.

Asian red tail catfish – 40 total, best 31lb, best month November – six fish.

Barramundi – six total, best 31lb, best month February – two fish.

Big head carp – two total, best 30lb, best month July – one fish.

Black pacu – 186 total, best 55lb, best month December – 33fish.

Black shark carp – two total, best 10lb, best month March – one fish.

Chao-Phraya catfish – 62 total, best 64lb, best month September – 11 fish.

Common carp – six total, best 25lb, best month April – two fish.

Giant featherback – three total, best 21lb, best month May – one fish.

Giant freshwater stingray – two total, best 90lb, best month November – two fish.

Giant Gourami – nine total, best 15lb, best month March – five fish.

Julian’s golden prize carp – 105 total, best 45lb, best month May – 25 fish.

Mekong catfish – 46 total, best 185lb, best month May – seven fish.

Mrigal (Asian grass carp) – five total, best 18lb, best month November – three fish.

Red tail Amazon catfish – 504 total, best 80lb, best month August – 76 fish.

Rohu carp – 83 total, best 21lb, best month December – 37 fish.

Siamese carp – 1,325 total, best 98lb, best month December – 213 fish.

Spotted featherback – 34 total, best 15lb, best month November – eight fish.

Shovel-nosed spotted sorubim – 379 total, best 45lb, best month October – 65 fish.

Striped snakehead – 40 total, best 5lb, best month December – 15 fish.

Tambaqui – eight total, best 29lb, best month October – three fish.

Tiger catfish – four total, best 20lb, best month March – two fish.

Wallago Attu (silver) – nine total, best 25lb, best month August – three fish.

Wallago leeri (black) – five total, best 35lb, best month April – two fish.

We hope this list is of use to you, and if there is fish species you are targeting, it may provide you with some clues. Personally unless you are targeting Mekong catfish and
Julian’s golden prize carp, which hate the rain, we rate the wet season between June to October. There are still many good sunny days between rainstorms. But regardless,
Gillhams produces numbers of big fish every month – check the newsletters on our website where you will see returns for every month since we opened.

Highlights from each month of 2008 for us are as follows…

January. Joe Taylor taking two hours to land an 85lb Mekong catfish and stopping the whole lake going to breakfast in the process. Then we had dreams come true in the shape of arapaima. First was Simon Wynn who came on a day ticket then extended his holiday and changed his flights twice, vowing to stay at Gillhams until he caught an arapaima. Finally landing one of 160lb, he broke down in tears of joy. Then there was John the policeman who had spent years trying around the world for arapaima, then coming here and landing six up to 200lb. When you see the good guys win it makes our job worthwhile.

February. This month finally saw the completion of all the holiday bungalows at Gillhams, and with the swimming pool done, our dream was now taking shape. Top angling this month must go to 11-year-old Andrew Purton who stuck through the pain to land a 130lb Mekong catfish totally unaided after a two hour fight, only to follow up the next day with a 170lb arapaima, plus a nice 30lb Julian’s golden prize carp. It’s a strange name for a carp; I can only presume many years ago some hooray family were in Thailand with young Julian when he landed his golden prize carp, and the name stuck. Anyone out there got any suggestions?

March. This was special for me as I returned home after a long 11 weeks promoting Gillhams around Europe. This month saw four arapaima over 300lb landed, one to match angling legend and world champion Dave Roper, one to Dave Negus, one to Alan Jones, and last but not least one to Keith Purton. Now this one was special; Keith had fished Gillhams in October 2007 and caught a 350lb arapaima, which was filmed by Lee Jackson and found its way onto YouTube. From there National Geographic spied it and arranged to come here and film Keith in a remake of the capture. To cut a long story short, Keith caught the same fish again for the film crew! What makes this tale unique is no one else had ever caught this fish. Watch out for that one on your screens on the National Geographic channel. “Man vs. Fish – Arapaima” should screen in the UK in February this year.

April. Had a really good crowd in with some good fish caught. Joe Burkett caught a PB 98lb carp, adding 78lb to his best. Comments on the lake were unlucky it wasn’t 2lb heavier for the ton – strange, some people! Walking around the lake one evening I came across Bob Martin with piles of money set up along the bank. My guide Gollock was drooling as Bob had them lined up as tips – a red tail over 50lb was one pile, and an arapaima another. I had noticed on my way to him some good fish showing in the bottom corner, so we moved him down, and on his first cast he landed a 70lb red tail catfish, then next cast a 380lb arapaima! Gollock binned the tips, and didn’t even buy me a beer, the tight sod! Also another special fish to me was when my daughter Rebecca landed a PB arapaima of 200lb.

May. Now this was the month my old mate Rob Maylin arrived and fished like a demon, showing just what he is capable of. He started on the arapaima, breaking the lake record for most in a day with five up to 300lb-plus, then got amongst the carp as only Rob can, landing them up to 65lb. All the time he was hauling he kept whingeing ‘cos he reckoned we don’t have enough Mekong catfish in the lake. Then he hooked one, and after an hour he was getting knackered, but the fish showed no sign of tiring. After another hour of agony, Rob was asking us how long these things fight for. When we replied that a big one can take three hours plus, he was panicking in case he would run out of power before the fish. After 2 ½ hours we slipped the net under a new world record Mekong catfish of 185lb 2oz. His comment was, “Don’t stock tot many of those!” We told him to cast out again for a brace, but instead we went out and got wasted in true old-time carper’s fashion. The same month another legend John Allen landed a brace of arapaima at 330lb and 350lb. John, for those old enough to remember, had caught a big catfish many years ago in Cassien, France. He never thought he would catch a bigger freshwater fish in his life, but hadn’t reckoned on Gillhams. Finally in this month to remember Mike Woodley equaled the world record Chao Phraya catfish at 64lb. We did not claim this fish as we have fish double the
size in the lake, and would rather wait to break the record in style!

June. This was a sad month as our client and friend Sean Fay from the Oxford area sadly passed away. On a lighter note Steve our chef didn’t take our warnings about arapaima being aggressive in the cage, as they look docile. Poor old Steve leaned over to get a closer look at one he had just helped to land when wham, it gave him a Glasgow kiss causing a nice black eye, a split lip and a loose tooth! June was a very wet month with few clients and no monster fish – mind you there were plenty of good fish landed – 171 fish to only 13 clients. Everyone who came had at least one of the 25 arapaima landed this month.

July. The weather for this month was better than usual, even if we did get a flash flood. Our old mate John Allen popped up again; John lives the other side of Thailand, but only a 1hr 20min flight away. His target species this time was the Siamese carp. The fishing started slowly for John, but after baiting heavily for a couple of days the carp moved in. John landed 57 carp over the next few days with three at 50lb, two at 60lb, and the icing on the cake in the shape of a 90lb Siamese carp, giving John the biggest carp of his career. John reckons Gillhams gives him a bigger buzz than any place he has ever fished, and coming from a guy that has done it all, we take that as a complement. July also gave me another angling achievement after a year of trying, I finally sussed the method with my first fly caught arapaima at 150lb, which made me the 14th person to land one on a fly in the world. Mind you, now we have the fly pattern and tactics sussed it is reasonably easy to take them using this method.

August. The big arapaima were back on the feed with four over 300lb this month as the weather settled for the usual dry month between the rains. Sjoerd from Holland was the star this month, and apart from a 300lb-plus arapaima he had a clash with one of our turbocharged Mekongs. Now this fish had a story with it… Sjoerd had agreed with ‘her who must be obeyed’ to a five-day fishing, then five-day sightseeing trip. So it was with disappointment that he packed up on the fifth day, but on seeing his little face I suggested doing a couple of hours for free in the morning from 7am to 9am before his girlfriend woke up. All was going well when at five to nine Leonie appeared on the balcony pointing at her watch. As she did so, the alarm went into a one-toner, Sjoerd struck and the fish went on a mission. Poor Sjoerd landed a 120lb Mekong catfish some three hours later much to his girlfriend’s disgust. That was the last time in the holiday Sjoerd was seen fishing, but he said it was worth it and is rebooking, so all must be calm now in his kingdom!

September. This was the month we had the Anglers Mail team over. We had lots of rain, but the fish were used to this weather by now. They landed three arapaima over 300lb between the three-man team, with a total of 228 fish. Some strokes were pulled, but I am not allowed to mention Adam Parker ‘cos he gets upset! Also the Anglers Mail star Gary Newman had an embarrassing situation that he blamed on the drink – email me for details! The lads also had red tail catfish to 75lb and carp to 70lb, not to mention a rare Wallago Attu of 20lb to Vince. My old Harefield fishing partner Matt turned up this month and caught the biggest fish of his life with a fine 70lb Siamese carp, plus a nice arapaima brace of 180lb and 200lb.

October. The IGFA finally accepted Rob Maylin’s world record Mekong catfish at 185lb 2oz. Damien from Siam Fishing Tours gave his partner Jules a lesson in fishing. Now Jules has never caught a 200lb-plus arapaima, but has some strange theories that they don’t feed in bright sunlight, which is a bit like when I fished in the Colne Valley years ago when the carp didn’t feed when the pubs were open. You have to be in it to win it, and Damien was – he landed six species for six PB’s topped by a 220lb arapaima – top bloke, top angling. While this was happening, a guest who nearly shares my name, David Gillman, landed our 350lb plus arapaima, Henry. Another mate arrived at the end of the month – “I talk a lot don’t I” Derek Mallows, aka Ladders. He fished short spells, but when he did the man was a machine. He wanted to land a 100lb-plus fish and ended up with four arapaima to 170lb plus a Mekong catfish of 110lb. Add red tail catfish and Siamese carp over 50lb, and you can see why everyone at Horton is wearing earplugs now!

November. Well it all happened this month, as my old mates Lee Jackson, Len Gurd, Dave Woods, John Allen and Chris Turnbul all descended on us. Amongst drinking, partying and a bit of fishing, a good old fishing party was had by all. Len has even made a DVD of the event, so watch out for that one, ‘cos Jacko has a 250lb arapaima on it. Now we have had stingrays in the lake from day one, but none were ever landed. This changed when Martin Roker was told a free day’s fishing was on offer to the first person to land one, and the next day he had a 90lb stingray and claimed the prize! So much happened, and some good fish landed, but I must mention the fishing family from Great Yarmouth (someone has to live there!) Lloyd and Lin Clark with Luke, their 14-year-old son. Wow, this family were fishing mad, and could all fish. Lloyd landed seven arapaima with the best at 340lb. Lin, not to be outdone, landed a PB carp of 70lb amongst her tally of fish. Then Luke went into super mode and stole the show when after a totally unaided display of how to play a big fish that would put adults to shame, landed a 90lb Mekong catfish after a 1½-hour battle.

December. This was another busy month with so many visitors we can’t mention them all. But fish of note were Len Gurd’s 400lb arapaima caught on his last cast on his last night. This fish gave Len a battle to remember, lasting over two hours. The old gits’ club was formed with Len Jacko and Woodsy being the founder members. To join you only need to be able to drink vast quantities of wine, wear women’s clothes, and have caught an arapaima! We rounded off a full year of Gillhams being open with a big Christmas party – three

Since Gillhams opened at the end of August 2007 we have probably been responsible for more personal bests than any other lake in the world. So many people have come here and caught fish beyond their wildest dreams, and we have the best job in the world making people’s dreams come true. Although at the beginning of this report I complain about idiots and freeloaders, really they are the minority, and 90% of our clients are lovely people. We have made many friends, most clients are returning, and we have the best job in the world. But please, if you are in the 10% bracket stay away and leave Gillhams for the people who want a holiday in paradise with the biggest fish in the world.

Fishing Strategies

Preparing Rigs for Fishing for Bass

When you’re fishing for bass, there will be days when the fish are just not biting. These are the days when you need to use different types of baits to attract their attention and lure the bass to your hook. There are three rigs you should have to help you catch any type of bass when it seems you are wasting your time. These are:

– Texas rigs

– Carolina rigs, and

– Floating rigs

According to professional bass anglers, these are probably the best three baits that will help you catch bass under any conditions. You shouldn’t rely on having just one because these are the tools of the trade when it comes to bass fishing.

 

Anglers have used the Texas rig successfully for more than 25 years.  It is very simple to set up and you are practically guaranteed to catch bass, that is, if you are fishing in a lake or river where there are bass. All you need to rig a Texas rig is a hook, line and sinker. The sinker is usually a bullet shaped slip sinker, which you attach to the line so that the smallest part of the weight is facing upwards. Using a worm hook, you then tie the hook on the end of the line. The next step is to tie on your artificial bait, which depends on the season of the year. For example, in summer, a lure that resembles shad is the best and in spring, one that resembles carp is best.

 

For the Carolina rig, you need to have a bit more equipment to get started, which is:

– main reel line

– a barrel swivel

– a length of 2-pound test leader line (about 6 feet)

– a weight

– glass or brass bead or a rattle chamber

– hook

Tie one end of the leader line to the barrel swivel. Put the main on the main line from the reel and then tie on the bead or rattle chamber, whichever you are using. Then tie the end of the main line to the other end of the barrel swivel. When you have this done, you tie your hook to the other end of the leader line.

 

The Floating rig is the most indispensable lure you can have in your fishing arsenal. You only need a small barrel swivel and a hook. Use about three inches of your main line as a leader line and tie it to one end of the barrel. Tie the other end of the barrel to the main line and then tie on the hook. You don’t use any weight for this rig because you need to have more buoyancy. This rig is designed for use with plastic baits and floating worms.

 

For fishing around rocks, the Floating rig is the best one to use because the others will get tangled up. If you are fishing a downward slope, the best rig to choose is the Carolina rig because it will stay in contact with the contours of the bottom of the river. When fishing a bull rush field, you will have more success with a Texas rig because you can make more accurate casts with the weight.

For more bass fishing tips and tricks,bass techniques and other topics related to fishing for bass visit http://www.BassFishingTechniques.net