Then To Now

Nicky brings us up to date with his carp angling since he was a Carp-Talk columnist.

- Nicky Onslow

It seems like only yesterday that I was writing for Carp-Talk. Back then I was covering all the goings-on at Thames Water Walthamstow in a column called ‘Walthamstow Uncut’. That was 15 years ago when my fishing was carefree. It was my whole life and I was lucky with my day job as a postman. I finished fairly early and I was able to get down to the ’Stow most afternoons. As my fishing was mainly short evening sessions and the lakes are so vast, it was based on the old-school method of finding fish using watercraft. We never had the technology that there is nowadays that allows you to track the fish that are caught via social media.

Throughout my ’Stow years I managed to catch most of the desirable fish from the No. 1 Reservoir all the way up to the Lockwood. This included my best fish from the complex, the Higher Maynard’s pot of gold, Brian the Common at 43lb, my first English 40-pounder (I actually caught her twice). That was one session I will never forget.

I turned up at the ’Stow around 6pm and I noticed that there was a big northerly wind blowing on to the road bank and the sun was blazing down. Straightaway I noticed a big fully scaled mirror tearing up the margins. I set up all three rods, one of which was close to the mirror I had already spotted, while the other two rods were placed in open water. Within five minutes of casting out, the rod close to where the fully scaled was feeding screamed away. As I was playing it I could see that it was the fully scaled fish I had previously seen. Unfortunately, the hook pulled and she was gone – I could not believe my luck. I recast the rod on the same spot and around an hour later the rod was away again. I was determined not to lose one; little did I know it was not a carp but a 4lb trout. At this point I did contemplate giving up and going home.