As you can imagine, when I turned up to Swan Valley I was absolutely buzzing to get going. It’s such a mega lake and I had been told it held some super-cool carp, with a fair few forties to go at! With the pressure of the film crew, it would have been so easy to go in like a bull in a china shop, running round the lake like a mad man. I knew it would pay to have a proper look around the lake, and by proper, I mean several hours. I didn’t choose a swim until I had properly tracked them down, there weren’t any half measures. I didn’t even cast a rod into the water until the evening, despite me turning up at first light. My focus is always to try find the fish and angle for them in my way; I choose my swim, it’s mine to do as I please and I’ll take as much time to investigate it until I’m one, happy with my choice and two, I know I’m putting myself in with the best chance of success. It would be so easy to crumble in these situations and feel like you’re losing rod hours in the water, but if you get it wrong from the very outset, the chances are you’ve ballsed it up before you’ve even began!

With my swim decided, I had spoken to a few of the members on the way round and they all told a similar story; bait boats were king on Swan Valley. It was easy to see why, the weed-choked venue screamed out small spots. The more people I talked to, the more bait boats cropped up and so I decided to go against the grain. With the carp used to finding tight patches of bait everywhere, I decided to spread mine around a bit by using a Spomb. A completely different approach can often help trip up the carp, especially if they are conditioned into seeing a tight patch of bait as dangerous.

The weather was super-hot during that trip, which was always going to make things a bit harder. However, whenever it is like that, there’s always a chance during the night and early in the morning. I paid close attention to where the crusty old dorsals were appearing and found my spots using those signs. If you don’t see them there, then don’t fish there, it is as simple as that!

After settling in for my first night in Yateley, I woke up the following morning to the signs that we all want to see. Heads rolling over the spot, bubbles sheeting up tight to the weed bed, then the inevitable, a churner on the middle rod. Straight away it felt a good fish, but it wasn’t until I bundled it into the net that I realised it was one of the biggest mirrors in the lake at the time, ounces over 40lb. A huge relief for everyone on the shoot, especially me! Not only that, but the rod to my right that I was fishing to a lovely gravel spot underneath a fallen tree also went after we’d let the big girl go, which ended up being a smaller common. Now, if that was you and you’d just had two bites from two different spots, would you move swims? No? What if I said I started seeing numerous fish including a huge carp start showing the other side of the weed bed that I was fishing two rods to, which could only be accessed from the other side? Now you’re thinking about it! To me, it was a no brainer, the barrow was loaded just after slipping the common back and I was on my way once again to angle for them. However, if I didn’t catch after the move, I probably would look like a d***head, but I just knew it was worth the risk!