Tom Dove & Neil Spooner: Monster Carp Presenters

NEIL SPOONER: Thinking about angling mentors, when I first got into carp fishing, I looked up to Dave Lane. I still follow everything he does, even now. Slightly before that, perhaps, it was John Wilson. 

TOM DOVE: It’s only Terry Hearn that I really take any note of, now. In Pursuit of the Largest was just massive, wasn’t it? That changed everything for me, and even though he doesn’t do much—which is a good thing for him—I’m the first to click on his videos on YouTube.

NEIL SPOONER: The greatest asset an angler can have is watercraft, I think, and being willing to watch and watch and watch, because something will always give the game away.

TOM DOVE: I think, time! [laughs] A positive mental attitude is pretty important, and believing that you might get a bite at any time. Then you’ll make the right decisions at the right time. I see it with Spooner a lot… he’s really got that. Someone
who doesn’t have that attitude doesn’t move forwards thinking they’re going to do it, so they don’t end up doing anything good. So yes, confidence, with a positive mental attitude.

TOM DOVE: Something I don’t currently have, but would dearly love is, once again, more time. 

NEIL SPOONER: Mine is a pair of night-vision goggles. I’m going to get some, and no, I’m not joking, because I can’t think of anything else I need that I’d like.

TOM DOVE: The last thing I acquired and love, and it’s a bit ridiculous, but it’s a bigger bivvy! I have a Pioneer 150. Neil sorted it out for me to go to France with. I usually use a Tempest 100, but we do such long sessions with Monster Carp and he said that he’d get me one, because he’s got a bigger Tempest. I absolutely love it… it’s like a hotel in there! There’s room for my chair and all my stuff, and I have a little cooking area. I can’t wait to go to France and use it.

NEIL SPOONER: The last thing I bought and loved, is actually something some at CARPology appear to disapprove of, so you can tell Thom Airs that it’s an AeroPress! [laughs]

NEIL SPOONER: If I had more time on my hands… well, I can’t fish any more! [laughs] That’s a really tricky one… I’d probably fish harder waters and target carp that are trickier to catch. At the moment, I choose venues where I think I’ll get a bite every time I go. Realistically, with a lot of the big carp up and down the country, targeting them wouldn’t be possible, given the limited time I have.

TOM DOVE: I’d fish as much as Spooner! [laughs] Seriously, I’d play more golf, and I’d fish much harder lakes. I’d fish venues where you’d hope to catch, say, three to five fish a year doing three nights a week, instead of somewhere where you’d look to catch twenty fish doing the same number of nights. On those sorts of venues, you really need momentum, and you can’t gain momentum when you’re away a lot. I’d like to fish those sorts of places because they’re the kind that get you up in the morning. I can’t give those sorts of venues any time at the moment, because I’d just end up wasting it.

NEIL SPOONER: Rewinding time, the lake where I was happiest was Star Lane, Right of the Pads.

TOM DOVE: Walthamstow 2, south end, round the back, for me.

TOM DOVE: In my bait bag, you’ll always find pineapple pop-ups. They’re always in my bag, no matter what the rules are.

NEIL SPOONER: In mine it’s far too many hookbaits! If I’m going to a venue I don’t know, I’ll always have Cell, I’ll always have sweetcorn and I’ll always have tiger nuts. 

NEIL SPOONER: Game-changing moment which altered everything for me was when, I managed, somehow, to get through the second interview at Korda and got a job! [laughs] That changed everything! 

TOM DOVE: Mine came when I was fishing Golden Gates four or five years ago. It was July, and it was fishing really badly. They were fizzing everywhere, but no one was catching. I’d been speaking to Gary Newman about using live bait during the summer. It was something I’d never done, because of small fish, but I thought I’d give it a try. I got hold of two gallons of lovely, crunchy, well-prepared casters, went over to where the fish were and found a clay spot at something like eight wraps. I put out half a gallon and I had eleven fish that day. It had done something like three fish in two or three weeks. It had been completely dead, and it was almost like cheating. Any time I’m faced with that kind of scenario now, if I can use casters, I will. Other anglers sometimes wonder what I’m doing, but it just makes it easier.

TOM DOVE: One angler I’d love to fish with is Tom Bankes—I’d love to see his rigs!

NEIL SPOONER: It has to be John Wilson for me. The man was a legend. 

TOM DOVE: What I used to find most irritating about other anglers was alarms. It used to really annoy me when anglers left their alarms on when they set their bobbins. I thought that I’d be cool and not do it, but it’s gone full circle and now I just don’t care! [laughs] Now I’m doing it, so I can’t really say that.

NEIL SPOONER: A lack of etiquette. Casting all over you, is the main one. On somewhere like Berners, because the swims are quite narrow, you’ll get a bite, and anglers might alter their angle slightly, and get closer and closer to your spot. Other than that, most anglers are pretty sound people.

NEIL SPOONER: One fishing-related item I’ve lost and wish I still had, and it goes back a long way and is one of those weird things, was a really nice pen knife that was given to me when I was young by a family member. I took it fishing once and never saw it again. It was nicked, rather than lost. I was about 16 at the time and it still comes back to me, so it would have to be that.

TOM DOVE: I didn’t lose them, as such, but it would be my very first rods. I sold them, and whilst I never used to have any feelings for items of tackle, I’ve become sentimental as I’ve got older. So yes, maybe I should’ve kept those rods and not sold them.

NEIL SPOONER: If I wasn’t doing what I do, I’d be selling cars.

TOM DOVE: I don’t think I’d be in the UK—I think I’d travel a bit more. Perhaps I’d still be involved in fishing, who knows? I have a mate who works on superyachts. We used to always do the same thing, so maybe I’d be doing something like that. Perhaps I’d be more transient with things… When I was 17 or 18 and this job came up at Korda, I questioned whether I wanted to do the same thing, over and over again, forever. There was a moment when I considered the decision to stay, or just head off somewhere, so I don’t think I’d be here, I’d be somewhere random, I think…