How to catch a brute like Nigel Sharp

1 The dedication required

Sub categories: Learning everything and being ready for anything

If you want something bad enough you’ll go all out for getting it so this is where the dedication comes in.

For me, once I’ve set my sights on catching a fish, found out where it lives, done my research, obtained a ticket and set a start off date, the dedication has already kicked in because I’ve basically made up my mind that’s what I want. By saying that this doesn’t mean I occasionally drop on the lake, pick a swim, set-up, kick back and dream of catching that fish during a random session, it means from day one of seeing that photo the hunt has begun. Every part of targeting a particular big ‘un is an adventure and right from finding the lake in which it lives, to navigating my way around it for the first few times is a buzz which for some reason or another I really enjoy. Maybe this is the boy in me coming out again, but the feeling of walking around a lake for the first time to see if it matches up to expectations and with every turn of a corner revealing something new is just so exciting. It’s all part of
exploring unfamiliar ground just like I used to as a boy.

I remember the winter of 2000-2001 when Bidders and I went for our first look around the mighty Burghfield. Well, that wasn’t entirely true because that wasn’t my first walk around the 100-acre maze, as I’d walked it as a teenager with my mate’s Dave Crisp and Darren Murray. As Bidders and I were quick to find out, on that freezing winter’s day, my memory of the lake wasn’t so great when it came to finding our way around and we got very lost and even had that same panic set in that I used to get as a kid when I’d lost my bearings in Tomlinscote Woods. Strangely enough that never put us off and we went back for another look the following weekend, and the weekend after that and so on. After a few visits we’d found our way around the water and also worked out all the access points and parking places.

Many talked the talk but few could handle the walk

In time, which became the start of a five year hunt, I got so familiar with the lay out of that lake I could even walk it in the dark without the aid of a torch. To those that have never walked Burghfield they might not think this is any great achievement but in my time on the water I saw a lot that ‘talked the talk but they couldn’t handle the walk’ let alone the challenge of targeting one particular fish in such a big, overgrown and broken up water. Like I’ve said, to me this is all part of the challenge and although I’ve always been keen to do as much fishing as humanly possible which would involve evenings after work, I had to sort my tackle and car out to such a point it would change a big part of my life. This would see my fishing tackle virtually in my car 24/7 to maximise my fishing time. That said, it wasn’t just a case of this is my gear, there’s my barrow, load it up and head off to a swim. Due to the logistics of the great lake and all that goes with it, my gear had to be broken down in to several categories like ‘evening kit’ which was a bunch of rods, a bucket and small rucksack. ‘Night kit’ which was purely just the addition of a bedchair, small brolly, tea kit and 24hrs worth of food. Other extremities like counting tea bags and spoonfuls of sugar were employed to make my kit light enough to carry. Yes, I do mean carry, not barrow because at the time we couldn’t physically get a barrow along the paths so it was easier to carry it. Although I’ve always been keen and would think nothing of doing a 64 mile round trip to do a few hours in the evening or a day session on Richmond Park or drive to the Causeway Lake every evening after work just to keep spots baited, this again required another form of dedication and I loved it. In some ways because where I’m fishing at the moment doesn’t require that form of hardcore fishing I do miss it, but I’m sure in the future there will soon be another challenge like it. For the time being though, I’ll just carry on camping on the club waters with the other lads.

A lot of determination went into this capture of the Royal 40

2 The mindset

Sub categories: Getting in the zone and overcoming the problems

Blinkered, tunnel vision, call it what you may, but if like me you want something bad enough that’s the frame of mind you have to adopt. You’ll see this type of mind set in most competitive sports. Away from fishing one of the finest examples of this was several years ago when Michael Schumacher was in his heyday and won no less than seven world championships. When on the grid prior to a race he’d be in his car, hands on the wheel, staring forward and fully focused on the job in hand and in no way let the other distractions of press pundits and totty around distract him so it is no surprise the man is statistically the greatest F1 driver of all time. Given the competition he had, this, to me, proves that being ‘in the zone’ and being able to ignore distractions is a serious edge when you’re at the top of your game and having to maintain that status.

Another fine example of wanting to succeed was the look on Alonso’s face at the end of last season when he realised he hadn’t won the championship. The man looked totally gutted but that’s because he wanted to win and was so close to that very fine line of success.

Anyway, I think I mentioned this last month, but to refresh, I fish a lake because I want to catch a particular fish and in doing so accept the challenges that the lake throws at me. Some have minimal problems with rules like no night fishing. Some are park lakes with swimmers and dogs going through your lines and weeing up the back of the chair. Others don’t allow fishing, some have airplanes and some have motorways. Just recently I’ve fished a lake very close to the latter so the challenge is to see how long I can keep my eyes on the water because the traffic noise stops me from hearing fish showing. This type of fishing can involve a lot of the ‘1,000-mile stare Schumacher style’ but if that’s what it takes, that’s what I’ll do.

Still on the mind set thing, I’ll remind you of my last piece where I talked about ruling out areas of the lake and focusing on the hot big ‘un or big fish areas. This is all about being so focused I’ll be in every waking hour be thinking about it, working on it or fishing it and in doing so hopefully catch that fish because I’ve been constantly in my own mind focused on staying in that fish’s face. I could go on about this but I think you’ll by now be getting my drift on this matter.

Going back to the look on Alonso’s face at the end of the championship a few years ago, to me that said it all: the man was totally gutted and I know how he feels because I’ve had a similar feeling when I’ve been the stood by when my target fish has been caught by another angler after I’ve put in so much effort. Yes, it is hard and if you don’t suffer a little bit of jealously you’re (in my book) not really wanting it! On the other hand, I don’t stand there and grumble about it, I shake the man’s hand, help him out with the fish and once it’s safely back in the lake where it belongs I’ll carry on and hopefully one day achieve my objective which is to catch that fish. I saw a fine example of this at an early age when I witnessed Richie Macdonald net Heather The Leather for a chap called Keith Bryant. As soon as she went in the net Richie voiced that he was gutted then immediately turned and shook Keith’s hand.

I learnt a lot from that, as it’s a true mark of a sportsman and I’ll have a bet Alonso’s shook Vettel’s hand. I also have a bet he’s still seriously determined to win the championship. Although 2012 was a good one for me and I managed two different second biggests from as many lakes, I also want to win those bites and finish those chapters of my life. Maybe they’ll come like buses but I know I’ll have to be fully focused to achieve those goals from two difficult waters.

3 The approach

Sub categories: Baiting and rigs

Now this is where some people might well fall foul of doing a little bit too much research but not enough in-depth research. What I’m trying to say is, some of us (myself included) might have been led up the garden path by hearing things like ‘it loves its boilies’ or ‘so and so caught it on a gallon of maggots and 5kgs of hemp’. I know I have got it wrong when I’ve heard a certain fish loves its bait, gone in heavy with it and sat there thinking I’ve got it sussed. When I’ve done a little bit more in-depth research I’ve found this to be totally the wrong thing to do and the ‘likes his boilies’ thing means it does more often than not get caught on boilies but not necessarily lots of them and the same with the maggots and hemp thing as it transpires that it was fed little and often.

A simple mistake but it can be a big one to make.

The same thing can apply with rigs. Take for instance if you’ve heard a certain fish tends to get caught on a pop-up. If you did hear this in this day and age I’d have a bet a Choddy would be a lot of anglers first choice. This is not to say a Choddy won’t catch a fish that is known to fall to a pop-up because it will, but there are several different pop-up rigs about and each come into their own depending on the baiting situation applied. The same will also apply to bottom baits and if it’ll eat a pop-up it’ll definitely eat a bottom bait and again it’s all down to the areas fished and the baiting situations.

What does ‘it likes its boilies’ really mean?

Personally I like to stick to what I know when hunting a big ‘un because the last thing I want to do is go and lose it at the net because I was experimenting with something I’m a little unsure of or just don’t normally use. Obviously, sometimes we need to adjust and one particular big ‘un I’ve recently fished for is known to occasionally come out on a Zig Rig.

Because of this I don’t just simply whack a Zig out and hope it yawns at the right time, I just simply store this info for the time when I find/get on that fish and it’s up in the water.

Again, like floaters, Zigs are another string to the bow when the situation dictates. I think if you was to send out a questionnaire to most successful big fish anglers they’d all have very few rigs that they use on a regular basis and the others like Zigs and floaters are just a quick fix, win a bite in the right situation jobbies.

The moral is stick to what you know and if it ain’t broke why fix it?

4 Does size matter?

Sub categories: Hookbaits, freebies, leads, hooks

Ideally, I like to fish a small (16mm maximum) size pop-up on a large, say size 5 or 6 hook over a scattering of 15mm freebies with a lead just large enough to cast the rig the distance. This is a method in which I have employed countless times and caught a large percentage of my big fish on so like in the last section it’s a case of if it ain’t broke why fix it.

The only time I will adjust it is if the bites aren’t coming or they’ve just simply dried up. When this happens the norm in angling is to firstly fine down your approach to see if you can win a bite so this is what I’ll do. First up is normally the hook size which I’ll just drop down say from a 5 to a 6. The next change will almost certainly be the hook length material and then so on. Sometimes due to the clarity of the water it’s not always the end game that needs changing and it can be purely down to the size or colour of the hookbaits and freebies used. Some waters like Sandhurst and other day ticket waters, the fish see an awful lot of particle type baits ranging from hemp, maggots, tiger nuts and pellets so it can be very hard to get a bite on a standard sized or shaped boilie because the fish have been conditioned into feeding like slugs on small items. In this situation this is where you definitely need to fine down or risk a blank so, yes, size will definitely matter on those types of water.

Size does matter depending on the venue you’re angling on

In the main, on a syndicate or known low stocked big fish waters you’ll normally see a yearly pattern forming. This can range from Chods and maggots during the winter, then as spring kicks in the Zigs come into their own. Then, as the spots start to clean up, the Multi and Hinge rigs start working and then during high summer the particles will start out-fishing the round stuff as the carp will probably by then be scared stupid of boilies. Then we move into autumn and the boilie approach seems to come back in after they’re fed up with eating veg and start feeling the need to bulk up for the coming winter.

On most of these kinds of waters the anglers that fish them will normally be well seasoned and will know only too well what approach to adopt at a given time of year so it’s a case of being able to adapt to keep the bites coming and dare I say it, some prefer to follow my leader and that does happen. Just like any form of specimen hunting, stick to what you know and when all else is failing use your own watercraft to adjust but don’t follow the crowd as you’ll be, at the closest, one step behind.

From my own observations I’ve seen many anglers do just this and fined down at the wrong time and lost fish because of it. At the end of the day fining down may well get you more bites but what’s the point if you’re not going to be able to land them or have to shout “BOAT” every time they hook one? I’ll leave you with these thoughts but remember most successful anglers spend years perfecting and fine-tuning their methods.