The Carp Society

The 2010 junior carp has now finished and it is time to reflect on this year’s event. To make the carp camp a success we are reliant on a number of factors that bring the event together. We rely on the kindness of the instructors to give up their time to attend; we rely on the kindness of our sponsors to make sure the juniors have all they need while attending the event; we rely on the juniors enjoying the event and behaving themselves during their visit to Horseshoe Lake; we pray for good weather so the event is more enjoyable, and finally we rely on the Horseshoe carp being kind to us.

The two things that are totally out of our control are the weather and the carp playing the game. Well, at this year’s event both were very kind. The weather was fantastic throughout the four days, and the carp were also playing the game, So all the juniors caught, but more about that in a moment.

It amazes me every year that we get numerous offers from adults offering to give up their time to come to Horseshoe to help with the event. This year we had a mixture of new and old instructors, some of whom have been attending for years. This worked very well as we had the wisdom of the more experienced instructor as well as fresh ideas and enthusiasm from the new instructors. I also must thank the anglers that gave up time prior to the event to help get it set up, they are Andrew Endean, Steve Bowles and Tim Matthewmen, all gave up precious Horseshoe fishing time to help prepare bait and make sure all the juniors had a goody bag with all the equipment they would need for the event, thanks guys for your help.

Now to the instructors. You were all excellent this year so many thanks to: Malcolm Tuckwell, Pete Castle, Shane Thompson, Steve Hall, Jonathon Manning, Dan Wildbore, Jake Wildbore, Brian Pilsworth, James Anderson, Karl Bullock, Keith Leech, Luke Ochman, Steve Bowles and finally Nathan Bowles. You all did an exceptional job, well done to you all.

We can't run the event without the kindness of our sponsors, so thanks to all at CCMoore, Korda and Nash tackle for once again showing your support, please also accept the thanks of the juniors who attended who were all thrilled with what you provided them this year.

Now for the real stars of the event, the juniors. I have been doing the junior carp camp for 14 years now and I have never witnessed such a great bunch of juniors as we had this year. Their behaviour throughout the event was exceptional, so well done to you all. What really surprised me was the unselfish attitude they all had; if some of them had already caught fish they gave up their swims and their rods to the juniors who had yet to catch. They were not asked to do this by their instructors, this was their own idea. I felt that they all worked as a team this year and all helped each other, so well done to you all.

As I have already said we were fortunate enough for every junior to catch this year, with over 90 carp banked. All had at least two carp with some having half dozen. There were some notable catches and many PB’s caught during the four days. Here are a few of the memorable ones.

I have to start with Terry Wood, he was fishing peg 9 (boat point) with Jon Manning and Terry managed to have the big common at 36lb 2oz, a magnificent fish and a new PB, Terry got a bit of a soaking for his troubles, but well done on an exceptional capture. We also had a rarity this year as we had a young lady called Ellie Rossiter attend the carp camp. Ellie was not going to be outdone by the boys, having three PB’s during the event, finally landing a PB of 21lb 12oz. Well done Ellie, you are going to be a great angler of the future. Not to be outdone, her fishing companion Charlie Butcher got amongst them, having mirrors to 24lb.

Other notable captures were a new PB 24lb 4oz mirror for George Gibson fishing in peg 1 ( this was his 3rd PB of the week), a new PB 20lb mirror for Benedict Fowler and a new PB of 23lb for Paul Tolley, well done to you all. As I already mentioned all the juniors deserve a pat on the back for the excellent angling skill they showed through out the week.
This year I also introduced a Skills Sign-off sheet, so that we know that the juniors left Horseshoe lake with the skills they need to make them better anglers of the future. It also helped the instructors understand what they needed to teach on a one-to-one basis in the swims. Feedback from both the juniors and the instructors was this was an excellent idea so we will be using it in the future.

This helped back up structured lessons the juniors had on floater fishing, carp care, PVA & rigs, groundbaits & stick mixes and particles and there use, thanks to all the instructors who gave these specialised lessons.

I have already started to plan the 2011 junior carp camp, which I hope will be just as successful as the 2010 event.
Finally I must thank the team at Horseshoe who all helped with this years event, David, Annie & Miles in the office, Gary King and his team of bailiffs for making the site safe and Malcolm and helpers for the excellent food.