How To Fish Like A Pro

HOW TO CAST IN A BIG CROSSWIND
Seasoned professional, Nigel Sharp offers up some words of windy wisdom

Trying to hit a precise mark is a hard task in itself; you’ve only got to glance through an old Below The Surface feature to see that nine times out of ten you’re not right ‘on the money’. Now imagine trying to hit that same spot with a big crosswind… 

“The basic rule is: the stronger the wind, the harder you need to cast, so the bigger the lead needs to be to do the job well,” states Nigel Sharp. “You might only need a lead of say 2oz to 2.5oz to cast the 80yds you’re fishing, but a heavier lead of say 4oz makes the job of getting ‘a drop’ and straightening the line out before the leads hit the water—elements which are very important in a crosswind—measurably easier.”

Nige continues: “You want to allow the lead to hit quite hard against the line clip, as this will remove the belly in the line. Dropping the rod tip down to water level on impact will help to get the line down and stop it from acting like a sail and dragging the lead to one side.”

Sight Marker Tip
In a crosswind, regardless of how hard you punch the lead, the lead will move. So if your horizon marker was the end tree of three, then aim for the first tree in that row.

HOW TO DROP IT UNDER AN OVERHANGING BUSH
There are a couple of golden rules for dropping a lead inch perfect under an overhanging tree or tight to an island. One: you need to alter the lead’s flight height and two: you need to use the line clip on your reel. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite as easy as that—but with the following few steps you’ll go from ‘losing a fiver’s worth of kit in the tree’ to ‘getting takes in double quick time’.

How tight?

Prior to casting you have to take note of how far the overhang comes out. The further out the tree overhangs from the island/far bank, the harder you need to cast. With willow trees, you can actually cast right through them, but make sure you use have a Stick bag covering your hook point.

Get grounded
There are two things you have to get right when ‘casting to the clip’ and a feature. One: the flight path is the same every cast and two: you stand in the same place each time.

Cast harder
When casting to a 60yd feature you need to cast as if you were trying to hit 80yd. The reason for this is the lead trajectory needs to be a lot lower, so it dives under the tree, not high so it catches the overhanging branches. 

Get low
If the target area is really low cut then to help keep the lead’s trajectory low, then actually get on your knees. This will reduce the height the lead travels through the air, helping to tuck it right under the overhang.

Push the rod
After you’ve made your cast, just as the line is stopped by the clip, push the rod forward so the lead carries on travelling. This will also give you the chance to ‘feel for a drop’. Remember: the tighter you can get it, the more bites you’ll have. 

COOK LIKE A KING
Is healthy eating on the bank one of your 2023 resolutions? Here is Matt Eaton’s quick guide to get you on the road to making proper, tasty meals while you’re fishing 

Sandwich Toaster  
As well as the ubiquitous toasted sandwiches, these are incredibly useful for cooking and re-heating all manner of foods. Anything you’d normally fry or cook in the oven, such as sausages, steak, chicken breast etc., can all be roasted to perfection without drying out. They’re especially useful for things like onion bhajis and samosas to accompany a curry, spring rolls and prawn toasts to liven up a stir fry, or some garlic bread to bring some texture to a bowl of pasta. You can even use your toaster to reheat a homemade or frozen Yorkshire pudding, which will hold a filling of your choice.

As these provide an enclosed cooking space, there is little heat loss so almost everything cooks better on a very low flame. Your toaster will get very hot indeed so place it on a small towel to prevent it from melting your sleeping bag.

Spare Plastic Plate  
As well as a spare for visitors, or for bread, this is going to earn its keep as a chopping board. Remember to cut veg before any raw meat products.

Ironmongery 
Along with your eating irons, you’ll find it handy to carry a small spatula and a stirring spoon. Plastic ones are by far the most suitable as metal will scratch off the coating of your nice non-stick pans, and wooden ones stay damp and go mouldy in your bag. Mini silicone tongs are useful too, and a small sharp knife is essential.

Camping Pans  
Normal pans are a bit bulky for angling but specialised camping ones are lighter, thinner, have folding handles and nestle into one another to provide a neat little package. Non-stick is the way to go and try and get one that includes a frying pan which will be the most useful. 

Olive Oil 
A small bottle of olive oil will allow you to fry healthily and make garlic bread. 

Box of Tricks
Whilst you’re unlikely to be going to the same lengths on the bank as you might at home, there is no reason not to eat flavoursome fayre on the bank. A Tupperware box with a few little twists will transform your bankside cuisine. Not only will they enable you to create dishes from scratch but they’ll liven up ready meals and tinned food no end. Take your pick from these essentials: salt, pepper, dried mixed herbs, chilli flakes, smoked paprika, spice blends of your choice (i.e. fajita seasoning, peri-peri mix), stock cubes, garlic puree, tomato puree.

Packet Sauces
A selection of powdered ready-made sauce blends are a really good way of making life easy. The packets take up little space, weigh next to nothing and come in a variety of flavours.

Tins
Tinned ingredients, especially vegetables, have their place for the bankside cook. Sweetcorn, broad beans, French beans, tomatoes, beans and pulses etc., make fine additions to casserole-type meals. Tinned potatoes are simply wonderful, gently fried in a little oil. A few tins left in the car will come in handy if your services are pressed into action on a social!  

Cleanliness
You need the option to clean up, especially on longer sessions. A folding groundbait bowl or 10 litre round bait bucket, scourer, tea towel and tiny bottle of detergent make washing up easy. Baby wipes are a lightweight option too. We’ve all got some hand gel kicking around so do use a squirt before prepping your dinner.

Watertight Containers
A few small watertight containers are just the thing to transport small amounts liquids for cooking such as cream, wine, lemon juice, etc.

SPANISH CHICKEN AND CHORIZO STEW
Here’s a nice easy recipe for you to have a go at. Proper food that tastes great 

This tastes great served with rice, fried potatoes, mash, in a wrap or with hunks of crusty bread. There’s scope to mix it up with the veg, so feel free to add or swap out for green beans, courgette or aubergine. Top with grated cheese or add a dash of cream at the end if you want to make it a bit more decadent.

Serves 2
Ingredients

1 large chicken breast
½ chorizo sausage
1 onion
2 peppers (any colour)
3” squidge of garlic puree or 2 cloves of fresh garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
Glass of wine (red or white)—optional
1 tin butter beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
4 teaspoons smoked paprika
4 teaspoons dried oregano

Method

1. Dice the chicken and chorizo into 0.5-inch cubes, season with salt and pepper and fry in the olive oil on a medium-high heat, stirring occasionally for five minutes until it begins to colour. 

2. Slice the onion and peppers and add them to the pan, cooking for a further 5 minutes, until softened.

3. Chop the garlic, stir in, then wait one minute before adding wine (if using), smoked paprika, oregano, tomatoes and butter beans.

4. Simmer for 10 minutes, until thickened slightly. A squidge of tomato puree will help to thicken if it’s a bit thin.

5. Get stuck in!

HOW TO THINK LIKE A BIG FISH ANGLER
In issue 41 of CARPology) (and just to make all long-time readers feel old, that was back in 2007!), Keith Sykes penned an article called ‘Why big fish are consistently caught by the chosen few, or so it would seem?’ Here is an extract from that article, outlining what the likes of Hearn and Sharp have over the masses… 

“It’s been said many times, but your only reward in life is the effort you are prepared to put in, and this cannot be truer in our sport. It is easier to sit behind the rods in the comfort of a bivvy than to walk around the pond looking, waiting and watching, and eventually catching. 

“I remember seeing ex-England match team member, Kim Milsom in my local tackle shop—he was going through packs of hooks, and it was only when I got closer to him did I realise he was using a jeweller’s eyepiece to inspect the hooks! He reckoned he would ditch anything up to 90% of the hooks in a packet. His preparation, knowledge and attention to detail were second-to-none.

“As a carp angler visits a pond, so would Kim drive to a venue thinking nothing of doing a round trip of eight or nine hours in order to practice. He would know each peg to a tee when it came to the draw and how to fish them according to the conditions of the day. This attention to detail is something that the Hearns and Sharps hone to perfection. Ask them, watch them if you can. Hooks, bait, everything is carefully selected.

“There is a wonderful paragraph written by that master of anglers, Chris Yates, and I hope he has no objection to my referring to it here as it epitomises the reason why the few are consistently successful and the majority are not (relatively speaking that is):

“The art of angling, as opposed to the mechanics of angling, simply involves observation, appreciation and improvisation; everything else follows behind. But because the unknown element of chance plays such a large part in my fishing, I have to give it as much space as possible in order to take advantage of it.”

So there we just might have the answer to the question posed: the chosen few, they are masters of the art of angling, for what we might look upon as observation can only be seen as nothing more than a fleeting glimpse, whilst these artists will recognise a telltale sign we would probably miss a thousand times.

“Watercraft cannot be found by pure observation alone by thousands of hours sat scanning the water. No, they must appreciate their quarry, their surroundings and their quest, for without this “buzz”, observation is as good as being blind for they will not know what they should be looking for.

“The final piece of the jigsaw of this sixth sense and watercraft that very few have and those who do, quite often do not fully understand is improvisation. They have open, clear, uncluttered minds, they do not follow the brethren like sheep in the field, but rather see as they would see the fish and the means of outwitting him or her. Improvisation, as Yates so simply puts it, can quite often be the hardest part, for in order to improvise you have to clearly know what it is that needs the honing or tweaking, and when at the first attempt this fails which piece of the picture needs clarifying?”

HOW TO TAKE EPIC CATCH SHOTS
Whether you own a Sony A7iii or only use your iPhone 14 Pro for all your catch shots, Mainline’s chief videographer and photographer, John Kneebone has some suggestions… 

For me, the perfect catch shot is one where the fish—and the angler—are in focus, but the latter is slightly softer due to the f-stop, and this ‘centre piece’ is framed well within an out-of-focus background. Some background bokeh and ‘leading lines’ drawing your eye to the star of the show—the carp—finish off the shot. 

How To Frame
While the fish is still in the net or retainer, start by placing the unhooking mat or cradle in potential photo spots where there is distance from the background. This will give you a nice shallow depth of field (DOF), where the background is out of focus and non-distracting, even if your lens doesn’t have a large aperture. Look for leading lines that will direct the eye to the centre area where the angler/carp will be—pathways around the lake are good for this. Once the carp is on the bank and being held, cast you eye around the outside of the frame for anything distracting (you don’t want a rubbish bag hanging in a tree), and look for an even distance on each side of the carp (head and tail), as well as above and below the angler. Finally, take one image, check it, and make alterations if needed—don’t shoot ten without looking and think one will be okay.

Top Tip For Shooting In Manual
Exposure: take your first shot 2/3 of a stop underexposed, ideally with a shutter of between 1/160 to 1/400. Nine times out of ten that’s about right or close enough that a single adjustment means your second shot is perfect.

Top Tip For Shooting In Auto
Don’t use full auto—too many elements are controlled without consideration for the exact type of image you’re after, so use a semi-auto mode. AV is the best for catch shots so you can keep the ISO low and control the aperture—the camera does the rest.

Top Tip For Smartphones
Turn off face detection then tap the gill plate of the fish on the screen for position of focus or/and tap and hold for focus position and drag down the exposure just a little. Smartphones have a habit of trying to create a bright image, not a dark and moody catch shot.

HOW TO MILK A SPOT
Nigel Sharp did this to perfection during his 2014/15 Frimley Pit 4 campaign

“By getting back in there regularly!” jokes Nigel Sharp. “I know that’s a very hard thing to do in this day and age, but increase your odds by picking a swim which isn’t favoured by the masses and keeping the bait going in regularly are two ways of achieving it. You do need to be mindful if it’s a weedy lake, as you don’t want the spot becoming too big, as that will start making the carp wary. If the spot is big enough to fish, then start winding down the use of pellet and particle and increase the number of boilies. You can then sculpt the spot to the size you want it.”