BEN WALES
YEAR BORN: 1981
OCCUPATION: Product Developer at Trakker
Ben Wales has been in the trade for a number of years, starting in the industry at the biggest weekly carp magazine; Carp-Talk, to then moving onto a product development role for Cipher International when the magazine closed its doors. Ben has been a life long carp angler, cutting his teeth on plenty of waters up and down the country in search of lovely, old carp.
In terms of angling, Ben loves to set himself challenges and will usually have targets in mind when looking for venues to fish. Part of his love for angling is the mystery and puzzle- like scenario when trying to work out the best way to get his next bite, whether that’d be in the edge or out in open water, his array of angling skills are stretched through many different approaches.
47lb 6oz
50lb 8oz
QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS
Q. Favourite venue past and present?
A. Past: Cassien, Present: Swanholme
Q. If you could catch one carp dead or alive what would it be?
A. The Black Mirror & The Client
Q. Off the shelf hookbait or homemade special?
A. Off the shelf, I spent years rolling my own – never again
Q. Big windswept pits or small intimate waters?
A. A mixture of both, I get bored too easily and like to mix it up
Q. Spring or Autumn?
A. Spring
Q. Favourite Sticky Baits product?
A. The Krill
Q. Pop-ups or bottom baits?
A. Bottom baits every time
Q. Favourite moon phase?
A. Haha! Please don’t get me started, I just go fishing when I can
Q. Three things you wouldn’t go fishing without?
A. Glasses (getting old), food & phone
Q. As a younger angler who did you admire in the carp angling world and why?
A. I was obsessed with all angling literature and doubt there’s a single book or article published between 1992 and 2004 that I didn’t absorb, but struggle to pick out any one individual angler as an influence. But a stand out publication in that time would have to be An Obsession With Carp by Dave Lane, every chapter echoed how I felt about my angling… ‘obsessed’ was/is the word undoubtably to the detriment of everything else in my life, the first time I picked it up I stayed up all night to read the whole thing and then read it again over the following week.
