Rob Hughes, an angler with many years experience of specimen hunting, has produced a thoroughly watchable dvd that is both informative and enjoyable. His pedigree as a specimen hunter is backed up by the number of 40's and shedloads of 30's he has caught to date, both in the UK and abroad.
After a brief introduction, about the pedigree of Rob Hughes, by Liam Dale, Rob starts by informing you that he is fishing on an ordinary club lake with no pre-baited swims, and by giving you a great Top Tip; "Location, Location, Location and once again Location". What is the point of fishing in a swim that has no fish? He then goes on to tell you to walk arround the pool/lake looking for signs of fish and to talk to other anglers. If one angler has caught 10 reasonably sized carp park yourself next to them because you know that fish are nearby, on the other hand Don't set up next to someone who has blanked.
I
know it's stating the obvious but too many anglers choose their swim because it's easy to get to or there are not tooo many snags, and these are the people who tend to blank more often, And yes I used to fall into this category, but since watching this dvd I have changed my habits and although I'm not catching many fish I am blanking a lot less.
The next tip is to see if the fish are feeding "On the wind" or "Backing off the wind". This basically means that if you have a warm wind blowing then make sure that it blows into your face, and if it's a cold wind then get it at your back.This is common sence, you see if a warm wind is blowing into your face it means the water is warm and the fish will go into the shallower water, to feed where all the food has been blown to and when it's cold they tend to feed in deeper water so why have a cold wind in your face when you can put your brolley up behind you.
Yet another top tip is to look for snags and features, like overhanging branches, sunken branches and don't forget the margins. All too often I personally settled in the easyer swims but now its time I started to catch some better fish so I'm actively looking for difficult swims in which to fish, and hopefully a mouth with fins will be there waiting for me.
Rob then guides you through general baiting techniques and how to cast to snaggy areas without loosing your terminal tackle. This is simplicity itself, all it envolves is clipping your line up and using a marker on your own bank that is about 20ft away from the edge of the pool. When you cast out from this position you end up with 20ft of line to be reeled in therefore if a large fish takes your bait it is impossible for it to crack off once it bolts.
He then goes on to explain when you should Not use your bait runner on your reel, which is a valuable lesson in itself.I can't count how many times I've been cracked off because a fish has bolted for the cover of a nearby snag!
The next section is to do with groundbait and hook bait. He simply talks you through the different samples that he uses to customise his groundbait, the one ingredient that was a total shock to me was tuna!! Then he explains how to make a "Dynamite Stick" of groundbait using pva tubing . This is a great method of hiding your hooklength in the middle of your groundbait so you don't spook wary carp, and you know it's going to disolve so it won't foul on your line.
He then talks about how to hold a fish for that important photo before getting back to talking about his personal favourite hookbaits.
Finally he shows you how to make a simple combination blow back rig using Kryston Mantis. This rig is pure brilliance, there are so many different ways of using it, wether you use it as a stiff rig, a semi stiff rig or one of the many other ways it is so simple to make and so versatile.
Overall it wasn't a bad dvd, with a total run time of 57 mins but no extras. It would have been better if the film was shot in sequence, (Location, Baiting up, Rod setup, Terminal tackle, Bait, etc. etc.), but although this was not the case the information given was relavant. There's also a couple of moments on the film which proves he is human like the rest of us, like when he catches a couple of Bream (he doesn't like Bream) or when he casts a bit too near some snags.
It's a good dvd and one I will watch again and at less than £5 who can not afford it?
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Very good first review, My dad used to carp and making the boilies was a pain in the neck they stink. And often on a saturday use kids used to help roll them before they were boiled. The fruit ones were ok but yuk the fish smelling ones were awful lol, lou xx
mumsymary 02.03.2006 13:13
A usefull revioew perhaps I sould read it, I have only ever caught gudgeon really :-) we got stuick in our canal boat when we were 17 /18 6 young things and cos it was a long way to get food we caught gudgeon and cooked them needed a lot to go on toast and they did not taste too good .
sit2020 02.03.2006 07:48
As an ex angler (well lapsed) I find this a very useful review.
When it comes to Carp angling there are only a fortunate few that can make the claims that ... more
Rob Hughes can. His highly successful fishing techniques have taken him all over the world and his experience of every kind of Carp angling situation makes him ...
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![Rob Hughes Guide To Top Carp Fishing Techniques [DVD] [2004]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78509961.jpg "Rob Hughes Guide To Top Carp Fishing Techniques [DVD] [2004]")
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