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Ed’s Piece
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Ed’s Piece August 2009

ust like our funny man, Pete Regan (P101), I always have tremendous respect for the bloke who still manages to get out there, catch and yet hold down a job, family commitments and have an active social life. The type of bloke who might get 24hrs or at a push, 48hrs in a week to fish. Those chaps are the ones who are up against it, battling away and working harder than ever to get something going.
    Indeed: our cover star Gaz Fareham is a case in point. He works, has a girlfriend, numerous consultancy duties and a social life, and yet he still managed to catch five fish from the ultra hard Car Park Lake last year, have an amazing run of big fish throughout the spring and only last week he banked Heather The Leather at 51lbs+. He’s clearly getting it very right and we’ve managed to convince him to explain how in his feature this month, Hitting The Spot on page 45, so you can do the same.
    However. What you can learn from Gaz’s piece can be taken away elsewhere – like actually hooking one but then losing it through ill-prepared end tackle construction. Help is at hand though. Our experts’ Rig Etiquette (P14) details everything from tying the Perfection Knot to improving hook holds with barbless hooks – and then of course there’s Rob Hughes’ Below The Surface (P36) feature where we actually test to see how much pressure is applied when striking and playing a fish in.
    In fact, as I look over the completed first draft of this month’s issue, it has dawned on me that this could be our ultimate edition: Dave Lane explains how he hunted down the big brutes whilst away on holiday (P60), Keith Sykes analyses the opening week on his syndicate water, Nigel Sharp (P52) talks about patrol routes (i.e. the carp’s roadways, which is their equivalent to a motorway services or the Ivy Restaurant) and in The Rotary Letter (P73) we’ve got Shaun Harrison and Iain Macmillan.
    I did say it was good. Enjoy the issue.
Joseph Wright, Editor

Contributors
Words: Cover shot: Gaz Fareham. Words: Mitch Smith, Rob Hughes, Lewis Read, Keith Sykes, Nigel Sharp, James Anderson, Ali Hamidi, Myles Gascoyne, Bill Cottom, Shaun Harrison, Iain Macmillan, Dave Lane, Mike Willmott, and Pete Regan. Pictures:James Armstrong, Shaun Harrison, Iain Macmillan, James Anderson, Dave Lane, Keith Sykes, Ali Hamidi, Nigel Sharp, Lewis Read, Rob Hughes, Mitch Smith, Pete Regan, Hall of Fame entries and various tackle companies. Special thanks this month to: Gaz Fareham, Mark Smith, Kingsbury Water Park and Rob Hughes.
The Social - August 2009
Inside Our Month For This Issue…
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It’s here! Photographic-proof that Keith Sykes can be messy. Page 52.
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Mention to Laney I’d tried giving up smoking. His response: “No point, gotta die of something! Take me for example, I got drunk, drove a quad bike and nearly died. Well, a broken shoulder and knackered a thumb!”
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Martin Locke’s done it again. March ’08 he breaks the Cricket Fishing record. July ’09 he’s liquids score the highest ever rating in our Tank Tests. Page 84.
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Numerous complaints about recent ‘fitties’ meant upping the budget. Surely you must all find her attractive? Page 128.
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More Hooker Gallery entries this month on page 6. Check out the gurn!
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Played an 85kg Rob Hughes this month to find out exactly how much pressure is applied when striking and playing a fish. Answers on page 36.
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A very familiar sight during our ten-day trip to Canada, as part of the awesome Canadian Carp Club. Geezer had 50 fish in one day!
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Fished off an island the size of a car whilst in Canada. Amazing. Mentally, although surrounded by hundreds of acres of water, we caught them 50yds out!
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Myles Gascoyne finds a piece of carp heaven. We’ll let him explain more on page 24..