My Journey So Far

This year I celebrate 20 years of big carp fishing, now universally known as Specimen Carp Fishing. I remember those times when as a conventional bank angler I had a burning desire to catch bigger carp, because quantities of small fish were just not doing it for me anymore. The brothers even got their sister into a fine common. Doorndraai Dam double up with my brother Marcel. I met Yusuf Loonat,the owner of the Western Accessories Group when he still had a shop in Germiston, where he showed me how to tie my very first hair rig. The SA record carp was caught from Klaserie Dam a few weeks prior to this - it weighed an astonishing 26,3kg which is still the official SA record carp to this day. So it was quite obvious that I needed to get there to see if I could also put something decent on the bank for a change. Yusuf shoved a small tub of almond flavoured boilies into my hand and I was off to Klaserie for a week. I caught only one fish for the week on those boilies, an incredible 16kg mirror, the biggest carp I had ever seen! Needless to say, I was hooked and it wasn’t long before I was back at Klaserie joined by my dad and brother Marcel. Even though we caught nothing that week, it was a trip that would change my carp fishing life forever. I met a gentleman from England that was fishing on the main dam using a pod and alarms, something I had never seen before. His name was Norman Smith and was visiting from England on advice from a good friend of his, Martin Davidson who himself was a very experienced big carp angler. We exchanged numbers and a few weeks later I received my first Carp World magazine that Norman kindly sent me when he got back home. For those of you that are not familiar with this publication, it is a thick monthly British publication filled with stories and articles on big carp fishing. I was like a kid receiving his first comic book, and I read that magazine over and over again. A short while later Norman was back in South Africa and I was introduced to Martin, who would be his partner in a big carp fishing business called African Gold. They not only started a shop that specialized in specimen tackle imported from Europe, but also carping holiday tours. I spent a lot of time at Martin’s place trying to learn as much as possible from his vast experience, and it wasn’t long before he invited me to join him and his long time fishing partner for a weekend at the water’s edge. His partner was Gilbert Foxcroft, and he too was willing to share as much information as I could take in, and it was a lot! Gilbert helped place my lines and although the weather was a bit dodgy, I managed to bank my first carp fishing with my proper specimen tackle. I learnt a lot from Martin and Gilbert over the next couple of years and as my confidence started growing, so did the size of my fish. My brother was living in Cape Town and wasn’t doing much fishing, so I decided to go down and live with him for a year or so, during which we did a lot of fishing at some of the most beautiful waters I had ever seen. When I got back to Joburg I wanted to start sharing my big carp adventures with as many anglers as I possibly could, as this had now become my passion - a passion to spend time at the water in pursuit of our big carp, and a passion to share my experiences. My very first article entitled “A passion for carp fishing” appeared in the Tight Lines magazine back in 2001, and there were quite a few more articles to follow after that as my need to spark more interest would hopefully result in growing this incredible sport as quickly as possible. My brother moved up from Cape Town to join me in a business venture of our own, “Carp Crazy”. Together we produced a DVD entitled “A basic guide to specimen carp fishing” with our main goals being introduction and education. We ended up producing nine more DVDs during which I also started writing full time for The Bank Angler magazine, trying my best to share as much information with our DVD viewers and magazine readers as possible. Marcel and I then expanded Carp Crazy a little more by adding carping holiday tours to our brand. I can honestly say that we were very busy, especially with local clients, and our success rate for an angler to smash his personal best was probably about 90 percent. I must admit though that most of their previous PBs weren’t big fish, so it wasn’t too difficult connecting them with their dream carp! But being away from home for weeks on end started adding a little strain to my marriage, so when my second son was born I decided to stop doing the tours. I joined the Boksburg branch of Western Accessories five years ago as a floor salesman, specializing with the specimen carp fishing division. Although I don’t spend much time at the water’s edge anymore, my passion for helping new anglers to the sport is still part of my big dream from so many years ago. Recently the owners have asked me to take the Jackel brand to a whole new level, so I am basically in charge of all new product development, with regards to what I believe we need for our very own fishing conditions. I will shortly be off to China to develop a brand new range of top quality specimen carp products (more on that when the time comes). So it’s been an incredible journey for me, and I have caught some incredible carp from some of the most beautiful wild waters on the planet, and now I get to develop my very own carp tackle. A brand new journey awaits… Klaserie Dam mirror - still my all time favourite water. Author busy with product development. A small venue we targeted for two years produced some incredible results. My very first carp on my new specimen fishing tackle....nearly 20 years ago.