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In 1980 angling was a very big part of my life but I did not, at this point, know any other anglers with my interests. From the humble beginnings fishing with Pop to being sixteen and wanting to catch bigger and bigger fish seemed a million years apart. The local canal Carp had been good fun for the last couple of years but it was not enough.

The start of my 'A' levels and therefore a lot more work, left me with less time to fish. I now wanted bigger Carp but was unsure how to go about finding them. Everyone I met pointed me to the canal, even my special marmite paste and flavored luncheon meat seemed unable to put anything bigger than about eight pounds on the bank. The local pool had some monster Carp in, I had seen them many times but these fish were uncatchable, everyone said so!

1981 was to see two major events that would change in my outlook on Carp fishing. The first was I met Phil Houghton, an angler the same age as me and also a Carp fisherman. Phil had been fishing the local pool and was reputed to be able to put some very good-sized Perch on the bank. Phil knew of me as the lad who caught all the big Bream. Phil had spent some time on the canal and had moved onto Willesley Lake in Leicestershire. This lake contained some 'massive' Carp reputed to be over twenty pounds! Another good reason for getting together with Phil was he had passed his test and had a car, a very useful person to know indeed! The second event that year was the release of a book called Carp Fever. That autumn we fished a number of nights on Willesley but I only managed a couple of small fish.

The following close season saw the making of plans. We would start the 1982 season with a two-week campaign; Tench fishing for a couple of days; Willesley for the rest of the holiday. This changed after a few days as the Carp started spawning but not before I put my first double on the bank, a 12lb common, followed later that morning by a 14lb fish both taken on floating luncheon meat.

Kevin Maddocks book, Carp Fever, had changed my thoughts on big Carp and set the specimen hunting world alight. I now believed that the monsters in my local pool were not uncatchable and so I started to fish it on a regular basis, mixing it with sessions on Willesley to put a bend in the rod. The pool is really a reservoir of about a dozen acres, it just happens to be called Stowe Pool. The Carp were quiet visual and few in number. I knew from the many hours spent watching the water that there were only about seven Carp, two small commons and the big mirrors, how big I did not know, I did not have the experience. However I did know I was going to catch them I just did not understand was how hard that was going to be and how it would affect my life. I started to spend more and more time there. The pool was full of Crayfish and the main challenge was to keep a bait on long enough to give the Carp a chance. Boilies made very hard seemed to be the only thing that would last more than a couple of hours. I fished through the winter hoping to outwit the Crayfish that way. I started to have nightmares about them.....giant Crayfish coming out of the lake to get me by the boilies!

Two years later and I had my first run. I lost the fish almost straight away. This did not deter me though, in fact I started to put even more time in! On September 5th 1984, at 16.20 I had a screaming run, a few minutes later I landed one of the uncatchable monsters, all 26lb and 14oz of it.

I was now a fully fledge specimen hunter and totally hooked! At this time, in the midlands, there were not many fish of this magnitude and I wanted to keep it quiet but soon other Carp anglers started to appear. One of these was a guy by the name of Phil Wortley. Phil was a member of the Burton Specimen Group; a bunch of experienced specimen hunters who had fished together since the early 1970s. One July morning about 3am Phil was fishing the dam wall and awoke as he heard another angler setting up about a 100yards down the bank. Pulling the sleeping bag off his head he peered round his umbrella to see a guy wearing full evening dress, bow tie, shinny black shoes, the works. The angler set up, cast out and disappeared under his umbrella. Phil went back to sleep. Later that morning he woke and thinking he had been dreaming popped his head round the brolley. Was there someone there or had he imagined it? There was certainly another umbrella. Morning came and went, then early afternoon out pops this angler, still in full evening dress. Packs up and goes off.

The following week Phil saw the same angler and decided he would go and have a chat. I had been to a summer ball and in the early hours I had a row with my girlfriend. The logical thing to do for me was go fishing and being slightly pickled did not bother to get changed.

Phil and I hit it off right from the first meeting, he knew I was the one who had caught the 20 and tried pumping me for information. I invited the group to fish another water with me. One I had discovered earlier that year and that looked very promising. I wanted to impress these guys as they were experienced specimen hunters and I could learn a lot from them. Our first session proved to be better than planned. I landed another 20.

I had a car now and started to explore other waters and other fish. This resulted in me fishing more and more. Girlfriends did not last long; usually the parting was down to a change in wind direction, or a low moving in from the west. One ended after a weekend away had been planed, paid for and even the cases packed. On the Friday the wind changed to a south westerly and I went onto the dam wall for a couple of days. She went to Dawlish with her sister, I never saw her again and it took about five years for me to understand why! Another ended whilst on Holiday in Devon. There was a very nice pool down the road from the cottage, I fished that for the first few days and she went on the beach. After a few more days I started to fish the pool at night as well, she went home and it took me about five years to understand why!

Joining the Burton Specimen Group meant I was now getting exposed to fishing for other fish as well as Carp. I now spent my winters after big Chub and Pike. These guys were teaching me a lot and I was loving it. The girlfriends were coming and going at a hell of a rate. At this point even my parents started to question how healthy it all was. This was the pattern for a couple of years, I had now caught a number of twenty plus Carp and had landed a twenty plus pike as well. Tench and Bream had been added to the summer targets. Carp were now just another species.

The close season of 1989 saw me planning the forthcoming season's campaign. I decided I was going to re-visit the local pool. I had not fished it for a couple of years but I still had not landed all the fish. It started as expected with static indicators. July that year was very wet, the fishing had been poor everywhere. I had caught a couple of doubles from the gravel pit the opening week and had nothing since. Then on a Saturday in late July the weather turned. The sun came out and it shot up into the 80s. I grabbed a bag of floaters and drove to the local pool like a lunatic. I had planned to meet Jason, one of the other group members there at teatime. It was just after 2pm when I arrived and it was like the local park! There were inflatable boats and kids swimming all over the place! I sat on the dam and watched them for an hour, about 4pm they all started to disappear....and the Carp to appear! Phil Houghton turned up, he had decided to take a walk around before unloading his gear from the Car. He never did! Phil stood with me catapulting mixers out as the Carp swam around moping them up. After about 10 minutes of fishing I lost one. The rod got chucked up the bank and I sat down; head in hands. "Andy, quick they're still taking!" said Phil. I could not believe it, I was sure the lost fish would have spooked them. The next cast and I hooked another, this one did not come off and proved to be my first 30 at 30lb 13oz. Jason arrived and we all shared a bottle of bubbly and got slightly pickled.

I have not been back to the local pool and fished since. Carp fishing really took a back seat, too much politics and too many daggers; the face of carp fishing was changing. There were now many more on the waters and too few big fish in the Midlands for all to chase.....and I was too obsessive! So I started to fish for other species that were less pressured.

That winter I spent on the River Mease after Chub, these were short but frequent sessions. The River is a lovely one to fish but does not hold many big fish. I fished hard using mobile tactics. Things went well right from the start and I managed to put a personal best fish of 5lb 2oz on the bank.

The group secured a syndicate on a local lake that was reputed to hold some good Bream and Tench. The next couple of summers we fished hard and caught some good fish and still the girlfriends came and went. Even work started to suffer as I tried to fish three nights in the week plus the weekends. Winter was dedicated to Pike when the rivers were out of sorts, with Chub and Roach getting the rest of my time.

We started to look at other waters and Sywell came into the sights as a big Tench water. I started to fish it on alternative sessions to the syndicate water. The approach was scaled down Carp fishing, with boilies and bolt rigs and the fish came hard and fast, with Phil Wortley taking some good multiple catches. I had my fair share too.

On the 28th April 1993 Pop had a stroke. The greatest angler I have ever known was now almost completely paralysed down his right side. I did not fish that year. Pop had taught me another lesson, I had to learn to enjoy what I did and be lot less obsessive about this specialist angling. 

Humble Beginnings - Part 1:Some people are really lucky, I am one of those.

Learn to enjoy - Part 3: A major event changes my whole perspective.

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If you have any comments or suggestions email me at pickled.carp@btinternet.com