Ups and downs of a campaign lifestyle

Jon, what is it about campaign fishing that grabs you? You’re known as a campaign angler targeting big carp, but why were you drawn into that style of fishing?
“I guess when you use the phrase, “campaign fishing”, you mean fishing on one water, whether that’s fishing for one target or six. That’s quite a sweeping question in all honesty. Most people do campaign style fishing without even realising it, unless you belong to a club that has a group of waters that you choose to flit between regularly. Most people are, unbeknown to themselves, campaign fishing by the very nature of focussing on one water, most of us do week in, week out, whether you’re a young lad in your teens or an older guy that’s retired.

“That’s actually a really hard question to answer, these days I couldn’t afford all of the tickets to not fish in this way, but for me personally it was a natural progression from club waters. I remember years and years ago I was fishing a lake that had loads and loads of twenties. It takes me back a long time but still a few years into my fishing, and I angled for anything that swam. My target was to catch a 30lber – but ultimately one never existed in there. I think that’s probably the key answer there: I’d fished three or four years chasing something that didn’t exist. It was quite obvious through catch reports in Carp-Talk what fish were in what lake, even back then, so I went to fish a lake with fish of that size in and eventually, after a couple of years, I had three thirties on consecutive mornings – that was probably the true beginning of my campaign angling.”

You spent four years fishing a water for a non-existent 30lb carp, how did that change your angling? Did those four years channel your angling towards campaign style fishing?
“At that point, from there on in, I went to a lake that I knew had the fish I wanted to catch, I didn’t want to spend another four years chasing my tail, ever, so that was the last time I fished a water for myths and rumours. Let’s face, it every lake has a mythical 30lb common, or 40 or even 50lb common, on whatever level you’re at. Those mythical fish aren’t in those lakes. I will never waste my time fishing for a carp that hasn’t been on the bank and documented.”

With no social media when you were fishing back then, you say everything was in Carp-Talk, but was there much spoken about or did anglers keep their captures close to their chest?
“Once you were fishing fairly busy circuit waters people would talk openly about other lakes. I used to buy Carp-Talk week in, week out and look at every single catch report and where it was from. That was how you used to learn about fish and what lakes they were in. Leisure Sport used to have a book, and even if you weren’t a member of any of their lakes you’d get yourself a copy one way or another and it would show you what fish were in what lakes. I had one before I even fished there. There was also the BK Guide which had 1,000 carp lakes or something like that so that was where all of my information came from back then. You learnt where you might want to go next.”

Mallins from Wraysbury, a period in my angling that was probably the most successful

The Pug at 40lb 2oz - a new PB at the time

So how does that compare to today?
“You might not always find out about a capture today or back then, that’s out of your hands and completely down to the captor if a target is banked. Today though, everything is instant. The information, once in the public domain, is spread and accessed so freely that information is instantaneous if you want it to be – it’s all on tap, in your face every single day. To some degree it’s kind of lost a bit of its identity because everyone and anyone can find the information and it’s available to the masses, whereas before - and yes, I know everyone could grab a copy of Carp-Talk - but it was different back then. Today we all know the carp scene has changed dramatically from 30 years ago, it’s almost become diluted there is that much information, I don’t know now about all these top waters. Perhaps it’s because I’ve already fished them. Years ago there were these mecca waters but they’re dwindling now, commercialisation of these fisheries has become so widespread due to the popularity of the sport – but money makes the world go round.”

Mary’s Mate at 41lbs exactly

Cluster at 48lb 2oz

Have you got any campaigns that you’ve undertaken that stand out from years gone by? A particular capture, social side to a venue or something that sticks in your mind?
“Every single campaign I’ve fished through has been enjoyable, and all for different reasons too. Even the false stories that are banded around to put you off a place add to the journey, because once you get to the lake you look back and laugh about the rumours and hearsay and you kind of understand why anglers spread them – they just want to look after that special bit of fishing they have.

“The best lake for socials was probably Conningbrook, that was a barbecue every night. Great lads on there. All of the campaigns were different and enjoyable for their own reasons. Some were short lived, some took longer than others but I always said to myself three years was enough on any lake to get what I wanted. Some were so memorable because they were successful beyond my wildest dreams, like Wraysbury, everything just dropped into place. To some degree, perhaps, where I’m a little bit older now, I’m not so gung ho with how I go about my business. I’m in less of a rush, I’ve proved to myself…

“…This has got to come across right. There are a lot of people out there who want to achieve things to say that they have, almost to kind of brag about it. I did it for myself and I always needed to be able to say to myself that I’d done what I set out to do, I suppose I’m very determined and headstrong in that sense. At the same time there are a lot of very good anglers around today too. My current campaign at Rockford has seen me plot up next to anglers who are extremely good at long-range fishing, they’re only young and I don’t think they even realise how good they are.

“I suppose the fact that I’ve only ever knocked one campaign on the head shows how much I enjoy my fishing, and that was Burghfield. The reason I drew a line under that at the time was because the lake got sold. Arguments were frequent about who owned which land and who had rights to fish certain key areas of the lake. These were key areas that you want to be able to fish, during the time that I was a member that first year I could fish them, then all of a sudden that was taken away from under my feet.

“That lake in particular you really are up against it, the rules changed too and over all of the years that’s the one lake that stands out as “unfinished business” as it were. For myself that change was too off-putting and I prefer a set of parameters to a campaign that stay constant, you get prepared and you know what you’re up against from the off then.”

Wraysbury in the winter: the ultimate water

Measles at 28lb 10oz. It was a lovely fish and one of the oldest fish in the lake at the time

When things change during a campaign does that affect your focus and change your plans too much?
“When I was first on Burghfield we had the free run of the bank, you could fish anywhere and then, all of a sudden, a quarter of it was taken away. That quarter was good areas that you want to be fishing. When that happens it just puts you off. You know, I’ll admit now that, I pull strokes to get to where I want to get to, to catch the fish I’ve become obsessed with. I will never fish unsafe and endanger fish, but, you know, there’s only enough room on one lake for a certain amount of people that are going to be pulling strokes. When the lake becomes full of other anglers that are so determined, and prepared to pull strokes like yourself, you can’t all be on there doing it at the same time as it will all come tumbling down around you.”

So have you had an instance where that’s happened to you on a lake then?
“It’s never come tumbling down around me. It’s bad enough having to compete with anglers on a small lake like Yateley Car Park for example. It was rammed day in, day out, seven days a week – you’re always competing against the anglers. When you’re on Burghfield and you’re pulling subtle strokes, like using a boat to get your rigs in place that you can’t quite cast to, as soon as other anglers are coming onto the lake who will pull the same strokes to catch that fish then your edges no longer exist, and those strokes aren’t giving you the edge.”

Taking that into account, would you say there’s a case for having lakes without rules?
“There was a lake I used to fish without rules, Johnsons Railway Lake. It was the best lake, one of my favourite campaigns. Nobody took the piss, it was so tight knit, but now, where the explosion of the carp scene is so huge, there are people coming from all corners of the country to fish venues. You’re never going to get that tight knit community on a lake and with the time and distance anglers will always tread on toes to get their ultimate prize, it’s just the nature of it. There are too many people willing to push the boundaries where I wouldn’t go; I might pull a subtle stroke, but if there’s a lake with no rules you can bet your bottom dollar that someone is going to take the piss and go past islands, drop under snags and fish unsafe – I don’t think you could run, or fish for that matter, a lake with no rules these days.”

You said there was a really tight knit social side to that lake, have you got many memories from that side of your campaign fishing previously and has that changed much over the years? What does the social aspect bring to campaign fishing?
“Generally speaking, during campaigns you’re fishing alongside like-minded anglers, and that’s is hugely important for me. I see that less and less now but it is still there if you search for it. I’m still in touch with friends now that I’ve not fished with for 25 years, we keep in touch and occasionally see each other, and if we do ever bump into each other or meet up, it’s like I’ve seen them yesterday. Carp fishing and the social side of it has definitely given me friends for life. There aren’t many people I went to school with that I still know, all of my friends are through fishing, everyone I know in fact.”

You say all of your friends have originated from fishing over the years, but do you think you’ve missed anything by spending so much of your life targeting carp, fulfilling your obsession and spending long campaigns and many nights on the bank?
“Absolutely, yeah of course. Over the years, for me to have been successful in my fishing, I’ve sacrificed what the average person would consider a given and something they would have in life. Relationships, partner, girlfriend, family, you know, mortgage, a house and somewhere to live and money to feed themselves. I’ve sacrificed, as have many in my position, a lot of things that people take for granted. It’s funny, I met a guy yesterday actually who asked what it was like to have fishing as a career. I could do no more than tell him it’s not a career because I’ve earned no money out of it. I’ve sacrificed a lot through it, but people that read this article, some will be misguided into believing that the likes of myself and other big-name anglers, for want of a better phrase, have it as a “career”. He said, “What’s it like to have to go fishing to please your sponsors?” I’ve never gone fishing to please my sponsors, ever. People reading this article should understand that we don’t go fishing to please sponsors, but actually we go because we have an obsession with it, and our sponsors just back us and support us with that.”

Sponsorship is seemed to be the pinnacle of carp fishing, kudos almost, for some. From your point of view, having been sponsored for years and at times a full-time angler, what is “sponsorship”?
“You don’t want to know the answer to that. Truth be known, every sponsor will give you a big deal and that will dwindle if you’re not ‘performing’, and when you’re focussed on a single fish, it can become difficult. Sponsorship has had its peak, when you could earn 10 or 15 thousand pounds a year from fishing and that would tide you over as you were always on the bank and you didn’t want for much if you had a bait deal. Now, you’re lucky to get a tiny percentage of that figure. Sponsorship used to carry you forwards with full-time fishing, now it does not. I understand it from a manufacturer as they’re a business, and this isn’t aimed at any of my previous sponsors, I’m just talking from my take on the industry.

“The rise of social media has definitely had a huge part to play in it. Where magazines used to be ‘the’ way to promote product and share literature, the internet now does that instantly. There’s no longer a need for companies to promote solely through magazines and there are countless anglers willing to push a company for mate’s rates on their product. There are still anglers who believe that sponsorship is a career; I have messages every week through the bait company enquiring about sponsorship.

“Anyone who wants to go campaign fishing and dedicate their life to it, my advice would be to only do it if you want nothing in life and you want to be skint, you don’t know where the next pound notes coming from and only do it if you’re prepared to go fishing and not have any food or enough petrol to get home. Only do it if you’re prepared to have nowhere to live and get to an older age in life and never have anything.”

It’s been incredibly hard work, but Proper Carp Baits has been worth the effort

Do you think sponsorship will become irrelevant to a point where it is no longer a part in carp fishing then?
“The demise of sponsorship that helps you achieve your targets on the bank has come about by social media; you used to get big deals, it was when magazines were in their heyday. Now they’re not necessarily at the top of the pyramid, it’s so fragmented that there’s room for a lot of anglers of all abilities to take a piece of that pie and everything has become diluted so who knows what it will fade out to…”

“For the last two years you’ve had a business venture in Proper Carp Baits with Sean Leverett, so you’ve seen the sponsorship bracket change over the decades having been on one side of it, but how does that now affect you on the other side in terms of owning a bait company? And what has your 30 years of campaign fishing brought to the running of the business?

“The notoriety that I gained through 30 years of fishing, not that I’ve been known for all of those years, but you know what I mean, has undoubtedly enabled me to get this business off the ground. With the use of social media, myself and Sean’s profiles as it were, we have a following of over 10,000 anglers on Facebook. 30 years of not having any money has probably been a big influence and, because I’m such a motivated kind of person when I really put my head into something, if I want to do something I will do it, similarly to if I want to catch a carp I will catch it, and to a high standard. No matter what I do that runs through with everything and it seems to have manifested itself into the business.

“After two years of hard work and determination it is on the up-turn. Being methodical and anal about my chase for a target fish is definitely having an effect today and perhaps, moving forwards again, I’ve become friends with a lot of shop owners, some who now want to stock the bait and have played a big part in us wanting to release the forthcoming shelf-life range for example.

“The reason I’m so driven to make this succeed after so many years focussing on the next target is because I’ve got three daughters that I’ve not really given enough financial backing to. One of the reasons I left my previous bait sponsor was because I wanted to better myself, and I wanted to be able to help my kids more. I suppose that’s because I didn’t do that when I was younger and I missed out on all those years. I’ve got a younger daughter from a separate relationship to the elder two, and I want to be able to provide something for her.

“It’s all well and good these larger companies with huge turnovers, but that doesn’t bother me. A small company that takes a small piece of that pie is all I want. My gripe there was that I’ve spent my life fishing for myself, and making companies a lot of money via sponsorship and promotion, but my daughters have still gone without. I wanted to better myself and at 48 I have no money, I don’t want to still be on the bank at 68 with no money and I guess that’s come about by growing older. I’d rather be a bit more comfortable and, when I do get older and my health goes I don’t want to be living in a tent under a bush, pretty much.”

It’s clear to see the correlation with your angling history and your bait business and the similarities you mention, but where does sponsorship fit in with Proper Carp Baits as you’ve been on both sides of the coin with how sponsorship can affect your life and business?
“It’s very difficult for us. As with any business in its infancy that first year is about surviving and it’s not until years three to five that you begin to prosper. It is heading that way after two years and we get asked week in, week out, and by people of all ages it must be said, if we can sponsor them. It’s a weekly occurrence that I have to turn people down as we just can’t afford it. Every penny for two years has gone back into that company, fortunately we can now buy larger quantities of ingredients where we couldn’t before.

“I’ve never asked anybody for anything in fishing, I’ve always had them interested and approaching me. I’ve never gone to a company and pleaded my case. I don’t want this to sound disrespectful but when an angler who’s been fishing for 12 months and has caught their first 20lb carp mails us asking if we have space on the team my heart sinks a bit. There are so many sponsored anglers that everyone wants free bait and tackle – they’re not asking for the right reasons and they shouldn’t be asking in the first place. It’s crazy how many people I have to turn down. I have people ring me up explaining that they’re on X bait and paying this but they know my baits batter, can I do them a deal? It’s bizarre.

“If someone has potential, catches plenty and is good with a camera then maybe we will discuss cheaper promo team rates but anglers need to consider what they can offer to a company before they ask for things in the first place. What happened to the days of just going and enjoying your fishing? Surely the first and most important aspect for carp angling is enjoying your time on the bank, I certainly have over the years and it never crossed my mind to try and get free stuff when I started out, but maybe that’s a sign of the times?”

Do you think there’s an element of anglers wanting sponsorship to be a part of a team and feel more involved in the industry? Of course there’s then the potential to be mixing with that group of like-minded anglers and the ability to learn a lot from them?
“It’s interesting you say that actually because you’ve probably hit the nail on the head there. We’ve got a 10,000 member Facebook account and we get catch reports day in, day out, it’s great to see our products being put to good use and sharing the buzz with them. All through this interview I’ve discussed how good the social side to my style of fishing has been and integral to my time on the bank, so if that’s what these anglers see in sponsorship then maybe they should search that out, outside of free tackle and bait, because there are a lot of anglers who share our passion and what better than to spend your time on the bank than with like-minded people who can become lifelong friends.”