Chilly endures trials and tribulations with Nigel Sharpe at CEMEX Angling’s famous North Lake, and latches into some stunning fish, in this programme exclusive to Carp Channel Monthly.
And it is… chilly that is, and windy, and cold, and wet for our visit to CEMEX’s Yateley’s famous North Lake.
This is the home and resting place of ‘Basil Forty’, the first true English 40lb plus carp and a fish that changed the face of UK carp fishing. So revered is this fish that it actually has a gravestone at the waterside.
Learn about the story of this historic 12-acre venue and its topography, including shots of when it was controversially drained after Basil died, and restocked with ‘quintessentially English’ Sutton Lake carp, perpetuating the Basil legend.
WATCH CHILLY AT YATELEY
Things start badly for our ace as it happens, with broken rods, bivvies blowing away, and most things you can think of that can go wrong, doing so.
But out of the blue and just as he’s thinking of throwing in the towel, one his lines ‘pings off’ and he’s into a prized North Lake mirror.
“I can’t quite describe how happy I am,” says Chilly as a ‘twenty’ hits the back of the old net. But not as happy as when he fools a beauty at 28lb 10oz later in the session.
In a moment of sanity Chilly shows how to tell the difference between a male and a female carp, and how to weigh fish swiftly and safely and hold a big carp for the cameras. And there’s a top tip in here – don’t forget to SMILE!!
Chilly also joins Nigel Sharpe for a cuppa and a chat – the man who caught Basil and the famous ‘Burghfield common’ at a monstrous 52lb 12oz after a FIVE-YEAR quest.
It’s a rare chance to get inside the mind of a top carp angler, who by his own admission became obsessed with one fish, and of the sacrifices he had to make to achieve his goal, including (by choice) giving up jobs, driving rubbish cars and even resorting to army rations!
Refreshingly in these days when all fish seem to be reduced to a number, Nigel says that the weight was ‘immaterial’. Realising his dream was all that mattered.
This is a great show, fun and informative, and proof that even the very best anglers make ‘schoolboy errors sometimes.
But luck is with Chilly as he tempts a beauty at 28lb 10oz in the dead of night and admits: ‘Fortune favours… the mad!’
It’s all free to view in three parts in the January issue of Carp Channel Monthly- the video magazine for dedicated carp anglers everywhere – here on this website until February 3rd 2012. Just click on the link below and use the arrows to scroll the playlist…
