29/05/07 to 01/06/07
2007 Junior Carp Camp, 31 May-3 June, saw 30 lucky juniors, over 20 of them first-timers to the Carp Camp, taking part in the ultimate carp tuition experience.

The event was held at The Carp Society’s Centre of Excellence at the famous Horseshoe Lake and youngsters flocked from all over the country to get first-hand tuition with some of the country’s top carp anglers including Dynamite’s Pete Castle, and Simon Scott from Sparsholt.

Dynamite Baits supplied all of the bait for the event, which saw the juniors bank no less than 59 carp to 30lb 4oz, 17 tench to 8lb 5oz and bream to 11lb 2oz. Junior Harry Rush netted the biggest fish of the session from Winter Disabled Point, and while all participants caught big carp, most had the added bonus of upping their PBs too. Budding carper Stephen Hutchinson netted arguably the best looking fish of the session in the shape of a fully scaled mirror that tipped the dials round to an impressive 25lb.

The juniors used 10mm and 15mm Dynamite Baits Hi-Attract Spicy Shrimp & Prawn boilies, pop-ups and liquid to tempt most of the fish, while Dynamite XL Trout Pellets, Dynamite Frenzied Hemp and Dynamite XL Corn also gave the youngsters plenty of bait to feed their chosen areas with either via PVA bags, by hand or with spods. As well as all of the bait provided free of charge, each youngster also received a Dynamite Baits baseball cap as well as end tackle from Korda and carp safety items like mats and slings from Wychwood.

Dynamite’s Pete Castle added: “The organisation from the Carp Society was phenomenal. All four days coaching was laid out to a set itinerary, which ensured I had a chance to coach each of the 30 juniors on a one-to-one basis.

“I was amazed at the junior’s patience given that carp fishing is notorious for being a waiting game, but above all every one of them was willing to listen and learn to help improve their own fishing.

“What’s more, despite the weather looking decidedly wet in the days running up to the event the weather turned out magnificently making it all the more enjoyable. I’d like to thank the Carp Society and if the fishing’s even half as good as it was on this stint I’ll be counting the days until I’m back at Horseshoe again.”

A lot of work went on behind the scenes to make this event possible for our future angling stars and we doubt it’ll be too long before we’re reading about some of them in this magazine!

Luke Ochman from the Carp Society said; “Pete Castle and all of the other guys that helped, including Sparsholt’s Simon and Sue Scott were a great credit. All of their efforts helped the juniors to bank some spectacular fish and make their commitment to angling all the more enjoyable.

“Pete Castle spent hours in front of big crowds demonstrating new tactics the junior anglers could adopt into their fishing and he really did pull the goods out of the bag.”

The Junior Carp Camp is one of our main events of the year and its success would not be possible without the effort of our own team. Thanks go to Derek Buxton who handled almost all the organisation prior to the event and the majority of it on the day.  In support, Malcolm and Janet were magnificent in the kitchen producing mountains of food three times a day for approximately 55 hungry folk. The bailiff team and admin team were also invaluable.

A big thank you too, goes to the anglers and instructors as well as the support from Dynamite Baits, Wychwood and Korda, who all made this event possible.

We’ll be taking names for 2008’s event at the beginning of January.