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More Thames Carping
By Rob Maylin and friends
Thames Carping was our best-selling book of 2019 and for a good reason. The Thames
has everything a carp angler could possibly want, plenty of water, it’s the biggest carp
water in the country, unknown stock, a stock which increases every time we have a ood,
an element of the unknown (getting more known), very rare in today’s carp scene where
every carp is ogged,
logged ,blogged and caught by an endless stream of bounty
hunters.
Yes, the Thames really is the last frontier to be fully exploited. Thames carp anglers
have many attributes of old school carping, stealthy, secretive and not bothered at all by
of a life
the size of what they catch, although, like the old school, still hoping it’s the sh
time when the buzzer shrieks out!
For Thames carpers the build-up too is very old school, they still have the close
season, so this time is not wasted, as it was not years ago, recce’s, baiting up, getting
baits established, building up swims, while always being conscious that to be discovered
would be the end of their hard work, so coming and going discreetly, under cover of
darkness, a covert operation. Their cards held tightly to their chests. And this is why of
course that books on Thames carping are so rare and so readable.
You see within these pages are their secrets revealed for all to see. Not blatant, no
map grids in longitude and latitude to the latest hot spots but within the lines, read only
by anglers who know what to look for. A clue here, a landmark there. All part of the
ultimate jigsaw. So why do these secretive anglers choose to write, well simply because I
ask them.
Sometimes over several years. Most eventually agree, I am persuasive, arguing at
their catches need to be documented and be part of the history books for years to come.
Which is true, and why they do it. Not for money, to promote something or even self
gratication
but to be part of our great angling heritage. So that their kids and grandkids
can look back and say “look! there’s grandad with a beautiful Thames Carp. He would
spend hundreds, even thousands of hours shing for them.
So, here’s what we have, and may I say you will not be disappointed. Some truly
amazing Thames carp, from different stretches, some urban some rural, some well in
land and some tidal, but all from the amazing’ Old Father Thames’.
Let’s start with Ash Geden, who takes the cover positions again. His 2018-19 season
made riveting reading in book one. In this volume he is back for his 2019-2020 season
with equally incredible results. Many huge carp, several over forty, the front cover
leviathan being totally new. He is a great river angler with a gift for writing, you will love
his next instalment. Simon Rumsey has been on a journey while shing the Thames, like
many I suppose, in search of a thirty, or even bigger!
Andrew Sadler has discovered some Thames secrets during his many years on the
Thames, for you the reader, he divulges all. Graham Stevens is a Thames stalwart, having
written several articles in Big Carp and a couple of chapters in the rst Thames bool he is
back in this volume to tell you how he does it. A technical A-Z for all to learn from, novice
or expert Graham has some edges for you all.
The Teddington Tank by Vince Humphreys is a chapter about a huge common, that
sh of a life time that he freely admits was totally unexpected, but that’s the beauty of
the Thames.
Thames common by Mark Cook, yes, a there’s a theme developing here, A huge
Thames common, one never to be forgotten. River Thames, Same swim, Same carp … 6
months apart by Christopher Stockley is a great account which proves how territorial
even Thames carp can be. My Love for the Tidal Thames a Brief History, By Roger Baker. Is
a trip down memory lane for all those who like the history chapters? Thirty years on the
Tidal, some huge carp too. One of my favourite Thames stories yet.
A Thames Monster featuring Pete The Pirate, is pretty self-explanatory, while prolic
Thames carp catcher Danny Boy Hill, shows us just what’s possible with a breath-taking
gallery of Thames specimens. Add to these life history articles on the Thames by Jason
Townsend, Ben Frewin, Mark Anthony, Vince Humphries, Tom James and constantan
Thames carp catch ‘The Thames Warrior’ it’s obvious that this book is another must read
for not only river anglers but al carp anglers interested in something a bit different from
the norm. A book you will read over and over again. History in the making, our UK
heritage of Thames carp.
Rob Maylin
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