Effort Equals Reward!

PUTTING IN THE HOURS
Of course it makes sense that someone who’s on the bank a lot will catch more than those who are rarely there. Fishing is one of those pastimes that you need to put time and effort in to get consistent results. It’s another cliche but… you can’t catch while sitting at home… unless you’re lucky enough to live right next to a lake! 

The way I see it is a lot different to those who love to knock the anglers who fish a bit more than most. You have to put the effort in or you’ll never achieve anything. This especially relates to sport. You aren’t born Heavyweight Champion of the world, whereby you simply get out of bed and win the title. You have to put in years of effort, getting up early to hit the road for a few miles, spend hours in the gym sparring, hitting the bag and jumping rope etc. You might not see your partner for weeks and you’ll almost certainly have to live on a strict diet. This will go on for months at a time, usually 13-15 weeks leading up to a fight, so it’s not quite how those social media posters view it when the champion gets paid £10 million for blasting someone out in the first round: “Not a bad night that, £10 million quid for less than three minutes!” No it was £10 million for 13-15 weeks of living religiously day by day, plus the years before then on the route to becoming the champion.

It isn’t just in sport where it works like that. If you’re a businessman, you have to live that business every day to make it work. If you’re a band wanting that crucial break, you’ve got to put yourselves out there. When I was a kid at school there was a lad called Peter Baker who we used to see every night on the school field hitting golf balls. He mostly did it on his own, smashing them out of the long jump pit and whacking them from the football pitch to the rugby pitch. He was like a machine, and was there like clockwork, while the rest of us ran riot all over the field, generally causing mischief. Peter was a few years older than me so I never got to know him, but he ended up playing professional golf and earning millions during his career. He was in the Ryder Cup team in the 1990s, played with all of the greats and even won a few decent pro events on his own. He deserved everything he got out of golf because he put the work in and made it happen. 

Every single one of us has the opportunity to do something with our lives. Of course there are hurdles along the way, but it’s how you handle those hurdles that makes you the person you are. Someone who simply gives up isn’t the same as the person who keeps marching forwards. That’s the ethos for special forces soldiering, and exactly how they single out the weak ones right at the very start with the famous Fan Dance. If you aren’t capable of carrying a Bergen 13 miles over the Brecon Beacons in a set time limit, you’re gone. It has the highest dropout rate of all special forces qualification stages. Okay, being a special forces soldier isn’t quite the same as being a carp angler, but I think you get the gist of what I’m trying to say. If you want to be a Terry Hearn or Darrel Peck, you’ve got to go fishing as much as they do. If you can’t do that, then you’re showing the early signs that you’re not in the same league as they are. 

Health and social issues aside, making excuses for not being able to go fishing isn’t exactly a good counter argument for why someone else is fortunate to be able to go more than you. If you’ve chosen a different pathway in life to Terry Hearn or whoever, that’s your decision. If you’ve got four kids to four different partners and you’ve no time to fit fishing in, that’s your own doing. Anyone who fishes more than the average person is simply someone who chooses to live their life in a different way. It’s their choice, and knocking them comes across in a bitter way.

MORE THAN JUST ‘FOLLOWERS’ 
I’ve worked in the carping industry for thirty years now. There isn’t anything I’ve not seen or heard. Of course the industry has changed massively down the years, and more so than at any other time, there is a big demand for people wanting to be full-time sponsored carpers. The boom in Instagram especially shows this; many people paying to boost posts to try and gain followers and attention. It’s quite crazy really because there is so much more to being a full-time carp angler than simply having followers. For a start, it’s not just about catching fish. Anyone can do that. We see it every day, young girls with pouting lips holding carp to get attention. 

There are lots of guys now fortunate to earn their living from fishing full-time. Every single one of them is experienced in many different aspects of carp fishing. Most have fished in different environments all around the world. They are seasoned carpers who could catch from anywhere. Most of all, however, they are a different breed to the majority of normal carpers. Their addiction to carp fishing is the primary source of their success. They are on a different level to general carpers, and will go the extra mile to catch a particular carp. I’ve read the stories and spoken to all of them over the years. The miles they’ve clocked up. The sacrifices they’ve made, and the things they’ve lost, all in pursuit of a fish they are so passionate about. 

The point I’m getting at here is if you haven’t got the drive and ambition to go carp fishing almost every single day, then you are never going to be able to compete with the top names on a consistent basis. I’m not on about you catching more than Terry or Darrell on one particular lake on a given day. Even my Nan has the chance of out-fishing the best when the stars align, and she’s blind and can’t even walk! I’m on about doing it a lot more than just once, competing with the big boys on a regular basis and at lots of different waters. That’s where you need that something extra. It doesn’t come with bait and rigs either. It comes with knowledge, experience and that key ingredient of a passion to succeed. If you need to drive more than 100 miles to bait up this evening, will you go or will you make an excuse not to? That’s the difference between a consistently good carp angler and the average Joe; especially on the busy circuit waters where the famous big carp reside, the ‘edge’ is mostly down to the anglers themselves.

THE UK’S MOST EXTREME CAPTURES
Five great examples of the extreme levels some anglers will go to in pursuit of their quest to catch their target carp… 

1. Dave Lane and Black Jack 
When Dave Lane describes somewhere as ‘extreme fishing’, you know it’s going to be tough. The nature of the lake where Black Jack resided meant Dave had to wade everywhere and it’s so tricky that in four springs he only managed three bites.

2. Danny Smith and the Forgotten Lake Fish
Trying to catch an unknown forty-pound carp doesn’t come without its problems: an ex-marine as a security guard (complete with gun!), wading through two rivers to get to the lake and billions of mozzies. The uncaught forty made up for it, though.

3. Lee Jackson and Two-Tone
By Conningbrook standards, Lee Jackson was successful, with his target fish, Two-Tone, being his 23rd capture. It took its toll though: six years, over 45,000 miles and “24/7 thoughts about the fish”. Still, at 67lb 7oz and a new British record, those stats were soon forgotten.

4. Nigel Sharp and the Causeway Fish
Although Sharpy wrapped this fish up within three months, don’t be misled into thinking it was easy. He visited the lake every day for a month, walking its entire length, some 40-acres - and that’s all after doing a day’s removals.

5. John Elmer & the Little Fully
It was during the last ten of his 20 years on Sutton 2 that John became obsessed with catching the Little Fully. Effort-wise, it involved getting up at 3 a.m., fishing until 10.30 p.m. before going home to make bait for the following day.

TUNNELLED VISION
If you want to catch those famous carp then you need more than just followers on Instagram to get you to the prize. Take a look at Greg Ellis’s result on Burghfield which was recently highlighted in CARPology. I don’t care what the knockers say, that lad made it happen. He wanted that fish and pushed himself to the limits to get it. That’s good angling in my book, and if you can’t see where I’m coming from, then perhaps that’s the reason you’re sat there looking at his catch with envy.

Greg put that fish at the forefront of his mind and found a way to catch it. It became the number one priority in his life. Some may consider that a bit sad, but that’s why he eventually went and caught it. It’s called staying in-tune with the lake. Knowing where the carp are and what they are doing on a daily basis. You need to know every little intricate detail and put in as much effort as you can to unlock the puzzle. That’s how the consistent catchers of big carp keep on doing it, year after year with complete tunnel vision.

We’ve all got the capabilities within us to be like that. The difference is most choose an easier option because that’s how carp fishing has become today. So popular is the sport, there are big carp up and down the length of the country that are much easier to catch. People prefer the easy life, and that’s why I find a lot of the negative comments about Greg’s catch a very sour way of looking at carp fishing. These people weren’t there and their opinion is based on very little other than a negative outlook on life. 

I’ve been slagged off on lakes numerous times for fishing with exactly the same tunnel vision as Greg. One that stands out the most was when I was obsessed with catching a big mirror in a northern club water. It was my number one focus at the time. I didn’t have a night book for the water and used to be allowed on from 5 a.m. until 10 p.m. each day. I was there almost every day from 5 a.m. until 10 a.m. fishing, then packing up and going off to work. I used to return around 9 p.m. to find a vacant swim where I’d sit for an hour, before baiting up and leaving at 10 p.m., returning the next morning to make the most of the pre-bait. The night book members were like robots. They’d fish the same way and in the same swims all the time, which made it easy for someone like me to fit in around them. When I caught the two big mirrors in there, I saw posts on forums and social media which were just utter nonsense! There were lies being told and all sorts of garbage spouted by anglers who were simply jealous of the fact I’d caught the carp they wanted. It happens all of the time on every water, one or two anglers letting the side down and not being able to look at other anglers positively. It’s a sad part of carp fishing, but at least it gives everyone else an insight into the kind of character some people are.

The point I’m trying to get across in this feature is that consistently good carpers are a different breed. You only have to circulate with them to see what they are like. They are very driven individuals who get addicted to the pursuit of big carp. They rarely have an edge with a new rig or wonder bait. They simply put the extra bit of effort in. It’s not seen as a chore to them, rather just another piece of the jigsaw that comes with being persistent and completely focussed. Basically, how much do you want to succeed?