Jon McAllister: Big Fish Angler And Co-Owner Of PCB
Angling mentors and greatest assets to age-enhancing pop-ups and happiest times: Jon McAllister gives us a five minute insight into his angling life
Although I don’t have an angling mentor today, I did when I was a younger and more impressionable angler. Choosing one name is really difficult, because there were quite a few I looked up to, but if you’re talking about someone inspirational, then it would have to be Pete Springate. I could only dream of catching some of the fish he caught. Inspirational characters have a funny old habit of rubbing off on your make-up, and true to Pete’s ways, I later went on to fish some of the waters he fished and I even managed to catch some of the magical carp he caught.
The greatest asset an angler can own has got to be the ability to be open minded and adapt! You may be successful on one particular water but to be successful on a multitude of waters across the country, and even on the Continent, really is something where the ‘one-lake-wonder’ anglers will fail if they aren’t able to adapt. Not only is broader knowledge required but so too is the correct mentality. So the best way to be able to adapt is not to be so narrow minded. Be open to suggestions, and most of all be humble, and then use that to adapt!
Something fishing-related I don’t currently possess but I would love to own would have to be a lake. I doubt that’s ever going to be a reality but that would be amazing. You never know though, funnier things
have happened, and you’ve got to think big!
The last thing I bought and loved was—and still is—my van. I’ve had vans all my life but my current one is by far my most favourite. It’s a long wheelbase ex British Gas VW Caddy. It drives like stink (mind you, so does anything with me behind the wheel!) and looks great too. I love it! I might go off it quick though if the injectors go on me!
If I had more time on my hands I’d go fishing more. I’d visit France, Holland, Belgium and Spain more. I’ve fished all those places in the past but now I simply don’t have the time to visit them as often as I wish I could. There is nothing quite like the adventure you feel when travelling abroad to go on a fishing trip.
Rewinding time, the happiest I’ve ever been on any lake would have to be whilst at Wraysbury in Compos swim. I was fulfilling a dream, following in the footsteps of Pete Springate, and life in that swim was amazing. It was the first peg I fished and I caught my first fish over 40lb from there.
In my bait bag you will always find way too many pop-ups. I carry so many different pop-ups it’s ridiculous! Different sizes, colours and flavours—when in reality I really only use one. My go-to would have to be my own Proper Carp Baits ‘Black Seal’ 12mm white pop-up. The older the pot the better! The fenugreek we put into the mix comes out in the pop-up as it ages. Once they’re at a certain stage in their life, these pop-ups really are the best high attraction hookbaits I have ever used.
The game-changing moment that altered everything for me came many years ago when I caught a 20lb mirror from a working sand pit in Sevenoaks. It was a harsh winter’s day and I was only fishing the days. Up until that capture I always doubted myself during those cold conditions, but that was the capture that led me on to believing that anything can happen at any split second moment. That realisation became the driving force behind many a winter capture, including The Pug from Wraysbury, when on arrival to the lake I was greeted with an ice rink. I caught that fish the day the ice melted. Another capture driven by that 20lber from Sevenoaks was to be from Burghfield, while the entire lake had a lid on it, landing a fish from a hole in the ice in the margin. Never say never and keep on keeping on!
I’ve always got a positive thing to say regarding other anglers but the most irritating thing I see in anglers today is the ‘I wanna be famous’ brigade. The ones with big egos, the ones who want it for the wrong reasons. Because of the recognition I’ve received for the big carp captures over the years, some of you might think I’m one of those egotistical people, but I can assure you I never once went out of my way to ask for things. If opportunities fall your way then great, take them up if that’s what helps, but don’t go begging ‘cap in hand’ so as to speak. What will be will be.
Something I wish I still had that I lost was the rod and landing net which I caught the Black Mirror with. It was a 9ft three-piece Dymag rod (numbered 13) made by my good friend Graham Fanner. In fact, I never lost it, but I sold it to Sean Leverett. I knew it would be in safe hands but he was subsequently burgled and the scum bag took all his fishing gear plus my 3ft rod bag and the three rods inside it, along with the landing net.
Carp fishing has given me the most amazing life, meeting so many people along the way, making friends for life. The only thing in life I’d be doing now if I wasn’t into carp fishing would be sitting in the sun on a beach in Barbados, with a poncy cocktail and an umbrella in it.
