It’s coming! The winter that is. How many of you are out at night now trying to catch that elusive carp before they go into hiding? I know I am and I’m certainly not alone judging by the amount of bivvies I noticed on the banks of the lakes the last few nights. And a few of the better fish are still making an appearance on the bank.


Tim with linear
The other week I was sitting over on ‘A’ Pit when the word got round that the ‘linear’ had once again been out. I rushed round, camera in hand only to see her disappear into the murky depths. Bugger, I’d missed her. Not to worry, here is a picture of her with her captor Tim (birds tackle Claydon) using mainline baits. What a fish! This picture was taken in may this year when she came out at exactly 27lb. Well done Tim.

This lake is one of three run by Breakaway Tackle, Bramford Road, Ipswich, and I must say its not very often I blank on their waters no matter what time of year it is. Okay, okay, there are no record breakers hiding in them to attract the specimen angler such as Terry Hearn and the like, but for us lesser than God anglers there is that chance to be the first person to catch a 30-pounder which, I’m sure, just has to happen soon.

My best from ‘A’ pit at present is 24lb 3oz by way of ‘Big Scale’ and at Melton it’s only 23lb but I know there are bigger and better carp to bank. I have it on good authority that Dennis, the bailiff at Melton, has released two 30lb-plus carp so who will be first to enter the hall of fame?


Carpy53’s baitboat
So how did I do this time out? Cough, cough! Errrrr! Well, ermmm, I caught a bream…..”Oh god not a bream”…yeah! but hey, its better than blanking…………………….or is it?

Now lets move onto a somewhat controversial subject…..Baitboats! Love ’em or hate ’em it seems to be the way forward. I was one of those who used to say it was like cheating. But why is it? Did they say that when the boilie first hit the scene? Or the baitrunner reel? I’m sure they did.

Like a lot of other anglers, I get bloody annoyed at the prices charged for items and when I looked into the price of baitboats I nearly had a coronary. £ 500, £ 450, £ 600-plus…..Bloody hell! Well, I thought, sod it, and scoured the internet to see if I could buy one second hand, and I could, but they were still in excess of £ 300 for something half decent.

That was until I came across a website called The Baitboat – http://groups.msn.com/thebaitboat. On here I found the plans to build my own, so, I did….and does she work? Yes, and very, very well I might add. Take a look at the pictures for yourself.


Now I know it doesn’t look brilliant, but you have to remember, I am to making things with my hands what Maggie Thatcher is to page 3 modelling. I’m sure with just a little more care yours could be far superior. How much did it cost you? I hear you ask. Well, before I answer that let me tell you this, I did not use second hand gear, which I’m sure is a better option. I could not get hold of a four channel radio set so I got a six channel, and instead of making mine a single rear hopper as in the plans, I made mine into a three hopper.

Okay, now for the cost – £ 185. And just about a week in time, and that includes everything you need brand new and a set of navigation flashing lights. I have had her in the water with up to 2 kilos of bait in her (with room for more if needed ) and she goes like a steam train…..wooooooooooo hooooooooooo! Didn’t catch anything though…..except the bream.

If you do go ahead and make your own, please send me some pics and let me know how you got on – carpy53@hotmail.com.


Oh yes, and please remember this, if you are using a boat on the lake and you see someone else using one, don’t forget to ask what number their crystal set is before you start out. Imagine loading up your hoppers and sending the boat out only for someone else to turn their transmitter on and dump all your bait exactly where you didn’t want it, or vice versa. It sounds funny I know, but there are some big moody macho carp anglers out there and it would be even funnier to see them chasing you round the lake with a peg mallet or, in my case, a driving iron from my golf clubs.

Remote control boats run on 27 or 40 MHz Transmitters only.

Kev Garrett
Cold & Miserable
‘A’ Pit
Suffolk.

P.S. my boat plans and pics are also on the website under my pseudonym carpy53.

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