We’ve followed Lee’s angling for a long while now and have always been struck by a few things – one being that Lee almost only seems to catch lovely carp, and secondly, that he does it very much on his own terms, and with a lot of love and passion. Lee is from the school of grafters, a carpenter by trade, his eye for quality and details undoubtedly bleeds through into his angling and despite only being 28, it is clear Lee has his shit dialled in, in more ways than one.
Without doubt, being a weekend angler makes catching big carp consistently infinitely more difficult, especially chasing the stamp and grade of carp that Lee does, but he makes it work, and he also does it with an enthusiasm and smile that we’ve always enjoyed seeing. We thought he would have some interesting angles on the prep side of things, and how his ethos of work-life balance actually plays out in real terms. Enjoy
From the little I know about your angling, Lee, you are a weekender basically, aren’t you, with a few worknights thrown in the mix when it is right for it?
Yes mate, I’d say 90% of my fishing is done over a weekend. I’ll do the worknights if I feel like it’s really on, taking a few things into consideration, like bite times and locality to work etc.
Has the work/life balance always been something that has come naturally to you, or do you have to fight the mental battle to stay focused on work at times?
I’d be lying if I said I haven’t had times when my focus has drifted away from work slightly, especially when the stakes are high and the windows of opportunity are very small on some waters I’ve fished in the past. I think that’s only natural in the style of angling and lakes that I choose to fish. That being said, I’m under no illusion that to sustain a good working relationship with the contractors I work alongside, I have to switch off and focus on what’s in front of me at work. One week I could be putting a roof on, and then fitting an expensive kitchen the next, so I have to be fully focused, otherwise it could lead to either a dangerous, or very costly mistake (laughing).
How does the weekend angling affect the choices you make, target and water wise, or doesn’t it? Am I right in saying you do a fair bit of angling fairly close to home?
It doesn’t really, mate. It’s always just been about what I’m angling for, regardless of how much I can or can’t do. Being self-employed gives me a bit of flexibility when it comes to taking some days off in the ‘prime times’, so I’ll often take the Fridays off in spring/autumn which gets me ahead of the weekend rush – that is a big help in itself. I’m fortunate with where I’m situated in Suffolk because I haven’t ever had to travel massively far for my angling. Within an hour on either side of me I’ve got some special lakes in Norfolk, and heading south I have the Cambridge area which I’m sure you know, mate. There is pretty much a lifetime’s worth of angling in that neck of the woods. Apart from a few years spent in the Lea Valley, I haven’t had to travel much further than an hour. When I see some of the lads with three or four-hour drives ahead of them, I feel extremely grateful for having great carp so close to home.
The way you talk about what captures mean to you strikes me as someone that is driven to fish for particular type of carp, and there’s hardly a bad carp on your Insta. You definitely seem drawn to a particular type of carp – is that a big factor in the water choice for you, above all else?
Yes, mate, you are correct in saying that. Don’t get me wrong there’s a few things I look for when choosing a water, but ultimately the type of carp has always been the drive for me, whether it be age, looks or history, or a culmination of all three. That sort of carp is definitely what I look for when choosing a water. I like to be getting bites as much as the next man, but I’m also prepared to sit it out for a handful of bites a season on certain waters. I’d rather one or two real special ones that mean something each year, over a shedload that don’t really make you tick. The type of carp I set my sights on has always been the driving force to what helps me stay focused and put in maximum effort each week.
What sort of things are you looking for in a water, an atmosphere, and your fishing in general?
So, I’d say I look for waters that make you want to be there, if that make any sense. Those lakes that give you ‘that’ feeling from the moment you step through the gate. They need to be captivating. Of course, that isn’t always the case. I’ve fished some lakes in the past that were not the prettiest or most atmospheric, and it is purely the carp that keep you motivated and going back, but I yearn for that sense of wildness and ‘left aloneness’ within a lake. Not in the angler aspect because that is so rare to find now, in this day and age, but the nature of the lake itself. I want that ‘hunting’ feeling and I’ve been lucky enough to find that on the new ticket I’ve acquired this year, mate. Bliss!
Would you say you are a target-driven angler then, or do other factors play into that? Are you happy to walk away without ‘that’ one?
Yes, I would say I am target driven. It’s normally always about a certain one which ticks the boxes of what I’m looking for. I don’t really like to walk away having not caught a target, but sometimes you have to weigh it up logistically. An example being a lake that I fished last year; it only contained 13 carp and I got lucky and managed 20 bites in the year I did over there. Catching some four or five times, Odds on, I should have caught the carp I was targeting, but sometimes your name just isn’t on them. It began to feel like sacrilege unhooking 40-pounders and just dipping the net. Also, I was taking captures away from other people, which started to feel unenjoyable, and that made my decision for me. Once the enjoyment is gone, I feel it’s time to move on, especially when holding a few tickets.
Being a weekender, fishing pressured waters that see a serious calibre of anglers, and with work always coming first, how important is the prep to you?
I’m a self-employed carpenter. I’d say the prep is important, but not the biggest factor within my angling. On the busy lakes, when it’s a struggle to bait or get back into swims, I’d say my prep is slightly different; for instance, walking and watching the lake, or even when learning on a new water, or staying behind on a Sunday afternoon to lead up some areas that take my interest. I actually did this recently and it paid dividends the following week. Depending on where I’m working at the time, if I can get over one morning before work I will – preferably the morning before my trip. It just gives me a chance to scope out and see what the carp are up to, if I can find them. It can often help with decision making when turning up in the afternoon after work which is never the best time to be walking a lake.
Is there a bit of ‘mid-week’ buzz element to it as well, getting things sorted for the weekend?
Oh definitely, mate! Every week on the evening before my trip, I’m in the garage with the tunes on getting all my kit in order. Just as excited as I was the week before. It’s that buzz of knowing, one more day of graft, and then I’m off up the lake. You can’t beat it!
Talk me through a bit of your weekly checklist for your session prep. What are your absolute ‘non-negotiables’ on the prep front?
My weekly checklist consists of the standard stuff really; boilies out of the freezer and on soak, which I usually do a few days before. If I’m taking nuts or seed, I’ll get that out, too. I weigh out and bag up all my particles in advance so I know how much I’m taking, that saves the need to bring a bucketful, adding unnecessary weight to the barrow. I’ll also tie a couple of rigs up, along with making sure everything’s charged and topped up within the carp fishing itinerary. Then it’s up to the supermarket getting some essentials sorted – milk, food and so on. All those extra minutes soon add up and count! It can literally be the difference between getting where you need to be, or not.
Fishing the sort of lakes you do, where the stakes are high, and fishing as well as possible is vital, how important is that prep to you? Do you feel like it genuinely makes a big difference to how you can angle? Or is it more that it removes some of the stress levels of setting up late, after work etc.
The prep is undoubtedly very important. I’d say it is key if you want to succeed and perform to the best of your ability. It’s all part of the process when building your way up to the end goal, I guess. It eradicates the need to fumble about getting rigs tied and looking for certain things. I wouldn’t really say it makes a huge difference to how I can angle, but what it does do is enable me to focus and zone in on the fundamentals, walking/watching and trying to get on fish. Like you say, it definitely makes the work nights easier, removing some of the stress when everything can seem a bit of a rush at the best of times.
You’ve often fished busy lakes. Is the prep perhaps even more important in that kind of scenario?
I would say being prepped and on your game certainly helps. There’s no doubt that knowing everything’s prepped gives you a sense of clarity, but I feel there’s only so much prep that can help you angling-wise, when mixing with some very talented and capable anglers on the more pressured waters.
In regard to actual angling, the stuff you do at the lake – baiting, spot finding, getting wraps dialled in etc – how important is all that side of it to you? Or is that not how you angle?
Having clips in swims and finding the right areas is the absolute one for me. That’s exactly how I angle; more often than not, I find ‘spots’ through what I have seen. Spot finding is a crucial part of the process for me and I’ve got a diary in which everything gets logged. I normally tend to fish as accurately as possible, so when I’ve found a spot, I’ll put a float out and get my spomb clips, too. It’s something you don’t see many people doing all that often, and it’s a technique that I’ve found to be a huge edge when getting rods out, fishing quickly and efficiently. I don’t like guess work, so I’m particularly thorough when it comes to nailing down spots. I’m sure it’s accounted for and caught me a few bonus carp over the years. When it comes to baiting, everything has to be right before I start investing in an area, and that really boils down to knowing if I’ll be able to get away with it, and when the time is right, capitalise on it frequently enough. Angling pressure is the main factor played in the decision of starting to bait a water.
So, venue, situation and seasonally dependent, then?
Yes, exactly that, mate. I prefer the summer because it’s often a time when a lot of people drop off after going hard all spring. It’s also a time when bait really comes into its own, especially in that post-spawn period. I don’t know about you, but I find myself using next to nothing throughout the spring, mainly just setting little traps, but come summer it becomes all about the bait, which makes me feel like I’m giving them something back after fooling them over the handful of nuts in April. (laughing) On the other hand, as beneficial as baiting can be, it can also be a hinderance at times in my own experience, but there is always a time and a place for everything. That’s why I like to pay attention to what’s going on around me and take certain things into consideration before I commit to tying myself to working an area of the lake.
What sort of spots and situations are you looking for to invest some time and bait in?
I’ll look at the areas where I’m seeing regular fish traffic, whether that be a weedy zone in the summer, or an area they turn up in at night in the autumn – just an example. Ideally, somewhere that’s a bit more out of the way. I associate baiting with being one of those things where you create opportunities for yourself. I certainly wouldn’t bait a popular swim on a lake and expect to reap the rewards. When choosing somewhere, I rarely tend to go on a ‘whim’, so to speak. Some sort of foundation needs to be laid already. I don’t mind if where I’m starting isn’t a ‘spot’ already either – with bait you can turn it into something. That’s when you get the most of it as well, in my opinion. You can almost train them to eat there. Going back on what I said earlier too, Gaz, it has to be somewhere I think I’ll get away with it. If I’m fishing a lake that is super-busy all of the time, I wouldn’t bother, but some lakes I’ve fished in the past which are that bit quieter, and the etiquette between anglers is good, I have baited and have been left alone, but when that isn’t the case, it takes a little more thinking outside of the box.
What sort of quantities, and bait are we talking about, in practical terms?
That depends on the lake’s stock and if there’s any nuisance species. In the summer months, on average I’d start with a 20L bucket of seed and a couple of kilo of boilies and tigers when starting from scratch. I’ll try to get that in every three or four days, if I can. If it’s clear that they’re getting through it, I’ll adjust accordingly.
Thinking back over the years, in which situations did you feel that prep and baiting really paid off for you?
One situation sticks clear in my mind; a bit of a purple patch of angling in the back end of autumn only last year. The lake had quietened off and most had thrown the towel in. One night in early November, I started hearing them boom out in the deepest part of the lake in the early hours. I had a flick about on the Sunday and found a glassy bit of silt right in the heart of everything. I baited fairly light with a kilo of boilies, along with some hemp and tigers that Sunday, and the following week after a lead about it was clear it had been absolutely demolished. I got everything dialled in and was baiting after work in the dark every three days, or at 5am before going to work if I couldn’t get down in the evening, which was graft, but I’m a firm believer that hard work puts you where the luck can find you, and it was definitely the case here. In no time, they’d taken it down to gravel, which for the time of year was crazy and extremely exciting. Cutting a long story short, mate, in a few weeks with consistent baiting I ended up catching a few, including the big ‘un over 45lbs. All on work nights, too. Some buzz that was!
I’m guessing there’s been plenty of failed prep and baiting missions, too. Do you just consider it all an investment of learning and part of the cycle?
Of course, mate, it wouldn’t be as fun if it went to plan every time would it? Haha. I see failure as part of the learning process. Sometimes, learning the hard way is the best way. I think that’s what makes you a better angler as a whole.
What is your favourite part of it all?
It has to the build up for me, mate – figuring things out and going about it in my own way, when everything falls into place after an accumulation of thoughts and theory. That’s what really gives me a huge sense of satisfaction.
… and just lastly, as this issue is focused around the theme of ‘change’, what do you think has changed most in the years you have been carp angling, and how have you adapted to that personally?
I’m only 28, mate, so well and truly missed and didn’t see the huge change in what I’d deem as the golden era in angling in the ‘90s early 2000s. I have heard about how busy some places were, like your Car Park lakes etc., but I’d have to say it’s just the sheer numbers of people out there doing it now. Being a weekender, I suppose the way I have adapted is to be fortunate enough to take the Fridays off work in the prime times!
Hopes for the year ahead?
Just to keep getting out doing it for the love of it, mate, and with a bit of luck, catch one or two nice ones. Most importantly, making sure to smell the roses along the way.
Cheers, Lee! Pleasure to chat, and keep at ‘em!
