ACE angler, Martin Boreham aka ‘Bash’ has sent us this brief report from a recent week ‘social’ trip to Dream Lake 2. Taking ten fish, including 4 x 20’s, 5 x 30’s and this 43.10 Common during what he describes as a relaxed weeks fishing Bash told us “All the fish fell to Snowman rigs comprising of a Mainline 18mm Cell boilies topped with a ‘Proper Job’ 11mm white Condensed Milk pop-up”. All rigs were coupled with mini sticks made from crushed Cell boilies and Mainline Coconut syrup. Tackle included size 6 LS hook tied to ACE 20lb Gravel coloured Camo-core to a ‘Shocka Rig’ and 16lb mainline. Bash is off to Sky Lake next month........watch this space for his report after that trip

Finally, I’d like to say a special thank you to Paul for organising my birthday BBQ and everybody who came along, not forgetting all the people who sent me birthday wishes and congrats for the fish............Grenville is a very special place with some amazingly nice people..........long may it remain that way! 

Returning from his recent session up at Grenville Lake in Cambs http://grenvillelake.com/index.html , Max has reported another sucessful trip where he went landed six fish including three twenties and three thirties included in brace of 35lb+ in the shape of a 35.03 and a 37.01 during the 72 hour period. Intrestingly, Max actually captured the 37.01 around 16 months ago when it tipped the scales at a shade over 31lb so this fish has put on nearly six pounds in just over a year.......significant growth but not unusual for the Grenville fish. Setting up in his favoured Peg 3, Max, used the ACE Velocity Tapered Leaderlines to cast to a clear area on a plateau at 115 yds in strong westerly cross winds. Fishing 3oz ACE distace leads, ACE lead clips and 20lb Weed Camo-core  Max presented a new Mainline bait he is testing over a bed of chopped boilies, reponse pellets and sweetcorn.  

Cheryl Cottis has banked what we believe to be the largest Common carp ever landed by a woman? During a recent trip to Rainbow Lake fishing Peg 18 along with husband Max, she was determined not to be out done having seen hm land a series of carp to just over sixty pounds! Fishing on the right side of the swim down towards Peg 17, Cheryl started the week by landing a 51.04 Mirror in a very difficult  situation managing to steer the carp out of some fallen trees and safetly into her waiting net. Catching steadily throughout the week, Thursday morning saw the rod she'd placed down the margin hoop signalling that her Mainline Cell snowman bait that she'd carefully placed on Monday had been pickd up! Striking into a powerful fish, it kited out into the open water so she had to take to the water to avoid any potenial problems with her 'float' catching up on the other lines! After what seemed like an eternity, this powerful fish finally found its way into the waiting net and whilst it was obvious that this was a big common, we didn't realise the sheer size of the fish until we returned to the shore to weigh her. Once I carried her to the waiting unhooking mat I knew then that this fish was obviously in excess of sixty pounds! Sling wetted and scales zerod the moment of truth.........68.08.......an incredible acheivement with a fantastic fish..........and well deserved I may add! Cheryl tackled this beast along with all her fish using a Gamakatsu Super Strong Size 2 hook tied to an ACE Camo-core Silt 35lb hooklink, ACE lead clip to drop the lead, 10oz Lilley Lead, 25lb braid with a 40lb mono leader and 5' of ACE Silt Leadcore leader. Bait was a Mainline Cell snowman fished in conjunction with large sticks made from Dynamite Tiger Nut Stick Mix, Little Gems Pellets and Lockey's Growler Juice! 

Benelux ACE Team member Dennis De Wilde has recently been to Freedom Lakes in France to do a feature for the August/September issue of leading Dutch magazine, Speigel. Only open for the last two years Freedom Lakes is already starting to create a lot of intrest and whilst it isn't producing the kind of monsters associated with waters like Rainbow (yet) it is producing some very good fish, in fact the average this season is around 15kg (33lbs)..........and over this session Dennis actually averaged 17kg over 8 fish! Boasting all the facilities you'd expect from a commercial fishery in France like a clubhouse, hot showers, toilets and even a small tackle shop in case you run out of any essentials during your visit.  The owner Jean Noel is confident that the average weight across all the lakes will be in excess of 20kg within the next couple of years. For more details visit http://www.freedomlakes.com/ Freedom Lakes is set to become a firm favourite with travelling anglers for sure!

Army REME Team captain and long term ACE user, Barry Hope has just sent us details of his recent trip to Sandhurst where he landed this new pb Common which tipped the scales at 30.02. Fishing from Peg 14 he cast his NASH Squid/Robin Red hookbait which had been glugged with ‘Corn Cap’ 60 yds towards the ‘Bailiff’ swim in 5 feet of water. Landing this lovely Common, Barry also lost another fish in a snag to the right of the swim. His tackle included a Nash Size 8 Fang X hook, ACE 20lb Gravel Camo-core with ACE Leadclip and Hard-On leadcore leader which was all pinned down with the aid of our Flying Backleads.............well done Barry, a nice result!

Slightly delayed, but better late than never. Here is a news report received from Dutch ACE team member Ronald Margadant telling us about the first fish he has caught using his recently acquired Grey's Torsion rods! Having fished extensively in South Africa this year Ronald hasn't had much time for fishing back at home however he did manage to fit in a 48 hour session on a very pressured local lake where he captured this cracking Mirror whilst field testing our new sinking braided Re-action hooklength! Fishing in 1.5m of water, Ronald has told us that it rained continually throughout the night until around 05.30am when his i-3 alarm gave two single bleeps which was followed by a slow positive take. Lifting into the rod, fifteen minutes later Ronald safetly netted the impressive 19.8kg Mirror...........In addition to the new hooklink material, Ronald used a Solar Pineapple pop-up fished 1" off the bottom attached to a Solar Widegap hook, a ACE 3oz Dumpy Pear lead and 15lb ACE Velocity Camo mono.

We've just received reports that Marc Westenberg has just landed his new Dutch pb in the shape of this magnificent mirror! Following an extensive pre-baiting campaign, Marc landed  this fish known as 'Sam' at nne o'clock in the morning following his first night on this 300acre sandpit along with another of the smaller residences at 32lb. Marc told us" This fish is very old and only comes out perhaps once a year so to see her roll over the cord of my landing net after a slow dogged fight made me very happy!" Both fish were caught using Hinders Krill n Crab boilies and he used ACE Velocity 18lb Carp mono with an ACE lead and our sinking rig tube!

After a long period of hot weather finally there was a break and a colder front with some rain would come over our country.  This would of course mean that the fishing would pick-up again as the predicted low pressure front with wind and rain would bring extra oxygen along with hope-fully a feeding frenzy as a result!  Wednesday and Thursday I baited around 3kg 24mm club-mix boilies a day at long distance to a plateau I know the carp love to visit.  Whilst running our dog "Balou" out every morning before work I already noticed the odd carp-tail breaking the surface so I was full of confidence to start fishing Friday-evening.  Three rods went in both baited with Solar's club snow-man presentations and Ace safety lead-clip set-ups which are doing a perfect job in re-leasing the lead!  First take occurred at 1 o'clock, I struck into the fish and it fell off the hook immediately...bother, bad luck...  After a recast, I baited another kg of boilies and went to bed again.  At 3 o'clock I received a savage take on my I-3 alarm and was out there in a split-second.  The fish just kept ploughing and taking really long runs, to be honest I was expecting a big carp popping his head out but it just took to long to get it in.  I started to get annoyed as it took ages to get that fish in and as I have full confidence in my end-tackle I screwed down my clutch and hoped that everything would hold on!  Bit by bit the fish came closer until it was ready for netting and then I saw a beard coming over my net-cord....Oh no, it was one of the 3 catfish that had been introduced years ago at small weights but it seemed they were doing well, at least this one was! The last "cat" being caught was around 10 years ago at a weight off 16lbs.  Now, I didn't weigh the one that was in my net, but I measured it correctly and it was 1m40 long, so approximately between the 25-30kg bracket.  I took some night shots off the beast and let it swim away.  By this time it was quickly getting light so I tied up a new hooklink and cast out to exactly the same spot, topped up with another kg of club-boilies.  I had another small beauty nap until at 8.30 I had another take on that same rod again.  After a spirited fight I landed one off Integra's old warriors called 'big Josh" at just under 44lbs.  Down in weight but a really nice end to the session!

Once we were back on dry land, weigh sling zeroed I lifted the fish out of the water, it was at that point I knew that it was considerably bigger than I’d first thought so I told him that I thought she’d probably break sixty.........onto the scales and as the scales settled, our mouths dropped in disbelief.......71lb 14oz............and a new p.b for me, breaking my old one of the Cassien fish from May 85 which had stood for 25 years........unbelievable! We returned the fish to the water for a few minutes whilst we prepared the photography equipment then proceed to take the pictures.

It’s funny, but I’ve never had a problem lifting up ‘sixties’ for the camera but this fish was killing me....was it that I was weaker having lost a good few pounds recently, or the fact that the extra pounds had pushed me to my limit.........or just excitement? Anyway, throughout the rain, we fired off a few shots quickly as I was keen to return such a magnificent fish to her home as quickly as possible.

The weather remained horrendous for the next 24 hours continuing to rain which restricted our movements however the fish didn’t seem to object and we went on to catch a few more fish before the rain stopped and the weather started to improve. On Thursday I decided to start trickling some Cell boilies in around the back of the island and keep an eye of it for signs of fish feeding. Checking the baited area on Thursday evening, I noticed a small area of fizzing so I decided to leave it alone until the morning, opting to just top the swim up with another 100 or so Cell boilies.

Friday saw me greeted with one morning take from ‘up the back’ .......jumping in the boat, I made my way up to the back of the way only to find my float sat in the place where I’d placed my rig and the whole lot locked up solid. Donning my faithful gardening glove, I inched the boat up to the float and reached down lifting up the line until I could reach my 45lb Silt leadcore leader. I was able to do this as I was fishing with 6’ of leadcore and fishing in 4’ water. Wrapping my hand around the leadcore I gently started to apply pressure to try to pull it free of the snag, still not knowing if there was a fish there or not? To my surprise, all of a sudden, I felt a small branch snap releasing the trapped leader which was quickly following by a large Mirror wallowing on the surface! I quickly scooped her up into the net and made my way back to the island. After a quick sort out, she was quickly weighed at 49.06. Putting the rod back out, I decided to have a look round at the baited area behind the island. Creeping up on the spot, I saw a couple of good areas of fizzing so I went back to grab a rod. Returning with a running lead set up, I flicked out a Cell boilies and a small Dynamite Tiger Nut Stik onto the area and placed the rod onto my i-3 alarm. I didn’t need to wait long, 10 minutes passed and I had a slow steady take.......I bend into the fish at close quarters as I was only fishing 10 feet from the bank only to be met with a powerful resistance. A lively fight followed until I slipped my net under a 48.11 Mirror...not bad for a little bit of stalking! I called Lee round with the big unhooking mat and camera and after a couple of quick shots I returned her. Deciding to let the swim settle for a couple of hours, I stood the rod up against the tree and introduced another 50 or so Cell boilies and returned to the main island.

After a couple of hours, curiosity got the better of me so I decided to return round to the back of the island and check on the baited area. Taking a new rig round to slip onto my QC Swivel I found more bubbles, a sure sign that the fish had returned after the disturbance. Flicking out, I placed the rod back down on the buzzer and waited for a take. An hour passed with incident until the rod arched over and I struck into a powerful fish which was intent on making for a sunken tree just out to my right! Applying a slid pressure I turned her over and after a somewhat dogged fight a large Common boiled on the surface. Without further ado, I quickly netted her and gave Lee a shout! As I lifted the net onto the unhooking mat, I knew she was a lump......a fact confirmed as the scales read 63.13 which represented my second biggest Common.....taken no more than 10 feet out! Feeling slightly bad, I suggested Lee had a go to which he didn’t need asking twice, slipping a rod in quicker than he runs up the pitch he quickly got in on the action with a 45lb+ Mirror!

Friday evening came so we started packing away most of the gear whilst listening to what can only be described as the worst England performance I’ve ever heard.

Alarm set, we were both up bright and early on Saturday morning following a night of  sweet nothing...however as we reluctantly reflected on the week packing our gear away, my long rod arched over and Rainbow gave me one last present before I left.........a 50.03 immaculate Common!

All in all, we’d had a great week landing some amazing fish...........better still, I’ll be back next week in Peg 18 with Cheryl.........she’s on a roll at the moment so watch this space!

Max Cottis

Since a few days I saw some fish showing themselves in the margins around some weed beds.  I baited this spot for 2 days in advance with Solar Clubmix in the hope off holding the carp in this area.  Friday arrived and soon I was casting my chod-rigs just behind the weedbed.  I'd given them some free-offerings but not too much as the catch-rate at the lake recently had been very slow to say the least.  In the middle off the night I received a savage take which after a good fight resulted in a 38lbs common which was the proof my tactics worked.  By morning I saw a big mirror poke its head out and slowly sink back into the lake.  I landed 2 bream and expected the best time to catch another carp was gone as it was getting warmer by the minute.  Because off the bream, I decided to cast my rods a little bit further out into the lake in a bit more deeper water so they would hopefully leave my hookbaits alone. Only 30 minutes after my recast, I had another take and the fight was savage!  The fish kept ploughing into the weed and I was expecting it could snag me up any moment.  Luckily everything held tight from rod to hook and soon a big mirror surfaced.  I recognised this one as "Calimero" and really wanted this one as her belly was still full of spawn.  Of course this resulted in her best ever weight at 48lbs, which left me really happy.  Evening arrived and as soon as it was dark, I've had another run which unfortunately resulted almost immediately in a hook-pull.  Probably the hook was masked in the thicker weed and so I was soon casting out that same rod again.  By mid-morning again the rod was away this time a 26lbs common was the end result.  Soon after landing the common, I packed up really happy and returning home, I found myself diving into my fridge for a few chilled ‘Jupilers’. Thanks ACE for not letting me down!

His move proved the right one as he went on to take twenty fish during the remainder of the week ranging from 7kg to the best fish of the trip, a stunning 25kg Common!

All the fish were taken by introducing a mixture of different size CC Moore’s Meteor boilies in 16mm, 20mm and 30mm. To help him land his fish, Stef used ACE Camo-core Gravel 25lb hooklinks, 45lb Gravel leadcore leaders with ACE leadclips and 3.5oz Dumpy Pear leads. 

Taking advantage of the recent very hot period, ACE consultant Alain Seveas headed of to fish the Oase syndicate lake know as the ‘VBK Water’ that he has been fishing for the past 2 years.

Upon arrival, Alain quickly located some fish cruising in a known ‘holding area’ so he quickly set up and cast out two of his own adjustable zig rigs and set them approximately 1 foot below the surface.

Alain’s plan worked as he didn’t need to wait too long as his receiver started to vibrate alerting him to the fact that one of his zigs had been taken..............a slow dogged fight ensued and Alain was sure he’d hooked one of the lakes larger residents which was confirmed as some while later as he drew  one of the lakes biggest fish, a carp known as ‘RON’ slipped over the cord of his net!

Photo’s were taken to record the event which was duel celebrated with the customary cold Belgium beer before the rod was re-postioned. Over the next eight hours, Alain hooked and landed two more of the VBK residences, a 15.5kg Mirror and a smaller Linear which tipped the scales at just under 8kg! Alain left a very happy man having caught RON at 20.5kg who hadn’t been caught for more than two years!

Maurice Wilms, our man in German has just sent in the following report............. 

“Because of the long and hard winter my fishing started slow this year. A trip to foreign water was totally fruitless for me and the first few nights on my local water where also without any result. So my dearly awaited first run on my new I-3 Buzzers was still missing.

Because of the bad results I waited also with my first visits to a new syndicate water till the water was a bit warmer to avoid disappointing session an a new water what would turn me into a bad mood. I like to be in a mood with a new water, I always call is “talking with the water spirits” (Silly German, I know…) So my first visit was anyway still a blank, on the second visit I caught a couple of twenties and my last trip was for a few days and I had a 19 fish catch including an elusive Italian Mirror with 21,2kg / 46.7lb. Nice water, very nice fish and alarms that wake me up and that means something!”

Last week i was invited to visit Freedom Lakes near Poitiers and fished the biggest lake of the complex (Louane). I fished this winderful lake with my mate Jan and we ended up with some very lovely fish. The fishing was not easy as they prepare for spawning, which they ended up doing from the wednesday on. We tried buiding up some feeding spots but most bites came from the middle part of the lake near the shallows around the central island. We ended up with 17 bites with an average of 15kg plus (33lbs plus) and the highlights were a 49lbs complex record common and a 42lb long mirror for me and for my mate a 44lb mirror.

The Materials used consisted of ACE Leadcore, Leadclips and Leadcore Helicopter Leaders and rigs were made of ACE Camo-Core with Solar Stronghold hooks. Baitwise, all my fish were caught on a combination of 18mm Solar Secret boilie and a 15mm Pineapple pop-up. This combination resulted in all 17 bites landed so we were very happy with the result.

Freedom Lakes is a very nice venue with 3 lakes to be fished. The biggest lake, which we fished, is the one with the biggest fish in it. The lake record is 50lbs plus (last Season) and the growth rate is very impressive. I had a 42lb mirrot that was caught 6 months ago at the 31lbs (and it was not heavy with spawn)! There are some 200 to 250 fish present in around 9 hectares (22Acres) ans a maximum of 8 anglers can fish 14 swims.

If you want to try your luck have a look at http://www.freedomlakes.com

My buddy Wesley and I have just returned from a week’s fishing in France. As it is early spring, we decided to fish the shallow end of the lake knowing that this water was going to warm up quickest at this time of the year. Upon our arrival at the lake we were greeted by the proprietor who had some bad news for us......it seemed that around forty carp had been found dead within the previous two weeks, victims of the extreme winter that they’d experienced. There was still more bad news, only four carp had been caught in the previous three weeks so things weren’t looking good for our week ahead.

Nevertheless, Wes & I had travelled all this way so we were determined to give it a go, at least for a couple of days where we would decide whether to stay on or move off to another venue for the remainder of the trip. We set up fishing to an area where the old river bed ran through and near a small fountain, hoping that the additional oxygen it provided might draw the fish to the area?

We fished for two days using a bait boat to drop off our rigs and free offering however this method didn’t result in anything more than a couple of single bleeps  on our i-3 alarms so we decided to switch tactics. Continuing to use the bait boat to drop off our freebies, we both decided to cast our rods around five feet to the sides of the baited areas as we suspected that the fish may have been extremely cautious in feeding confidently over the bait and we hoped that they would be more confident away from an area that they undoubtedly would be suspicious of?

Our new tactics obviously work as straight away I caught our first fish, a stunning Mirror of 16.8kg. Noticing that most anglers on the lake were all fishing towards the middle, we both decided to go for a completely different approach and fish in the margins, a choice which soon proved to be the right decision.

Fishing with different rigs and baits on all rods to help us try to find out what would work best; we’d even gone to the trouble of adding additional camouflage to our leads as we knew these fish were very smart so we didn’t want to take any chances. Wesley caught the first big fish of the week, a stunning Mirror which weighed in a little less than 21kg.

Day 4 saw the wind change direction and start blowing directly into our swim; it was this change which was to see our session take a dramatic change. Mid morning, and my alarm gave a single bleep which was followed by a slow steady take........I struck into what I thought was a smallish fish however once close to the net it rolled on the surface it became clear this was no small fish! Safely in the net, mat and sling were prepared and the fish was lifted onto the scales where it took the needle round and registered 33.4kg........not only an incredible fish but also my new p.b.

The next day, Wes landed another big Mirror of 23.2kg to end our week, a week in which we’d landed ten carp which was amazing considering the there had only been five other fish caught in the previous six weeks on the lake. All our big fish were caught using 15lb Gravel coloured ACE Camo-core hooklinks , size 4 Solar Longshank hooks and Solar 20mm Red Herring boilies and all came from less than 2 feetof water within 1 metre of the bank!

I’ve just returned from a very enjoyable weekend at the invitation of RH Fisheries for the opening of their new ‘Avenue’ syndicate water in Shropshire. The Avenue is Rob Hale’s fantastic new 11 acre water which he has been working on for more than two years. Stocked with more than 200 of his prize hand raised fish reared in his own stock ponds the growth rates of some of the fish I caught proved his plan is coming together and the future very bright! Keen to see how much weight the fish have put on since their introduction, Rob soon saw that the regular feeding regime he’d put in place of up to a dozen feeds a day from the pellet feeder had paid dividends..... a 30.02 I caught was stocked less than two years earlier at 19lb and a 28.01 I caught had put on over thirteen pounds in the same period being stocked at just 15lb! I was joined on the weekend by other celebrity anglers like Des Taylor, Steve Briggs and my Rainbow fishing partner, Mr Chris Tarrant! Following a draw for swims, we all set off to our pegs and awaited for our gear to be dropped round to us in the syndicates ‘Gator & trailer’......no pushing a barrow round on this water! Following a relatively quiet day, I took the opportunity to introduce a good bed of bait then retired to the cabin for the evening’s festivities where Rob had laid on a lavish spread and the odd beer! Returning to my swim, I cast both rods back out and settled into my bivvy for the night. Shortly after dark, I had my first take which resulted in a cracking scraper twenty which was duly photographed (both sides for Rob’s records) and returned. I wasn’t back in my bag for long before I had another take, again resulting in another low twenty! The action continued throughout the night with another two fish landed and one lost before things quietened down and I finally got some sleep. In hindsight, I think that they had cleared me out; eating everything I’d introduced before dinner and then moved on in search of another meal!  Waiting until the morning feeding period had passed, I introduced another daffy of bait which almost instantly resulted in another take.......this seemed to confirm that they were looking for bait and the noise of the spod had drawn the inquisitive fish had returned to see what was on the menu?A couple of the anglers had to leave on Sunday afternoon due to work commitments  however myself, along with Des joined by Rob in Chris’s vacated swim decided to fish a second night. Every angler bar one had caught fish however Rob’s son Josh got one over his dad on Sunday evening when he was placed in charge of Rob’s rods whilst he disappeared off to retrieve an Indian meal for the anglers.  In polite fashion, Josh waited until his dad had just pulled out of the car park then bent into a stunning 27lb Mirror, his new P.B which I must say he  played and netted like a true professional!As Monday morning arrived, I too was faced with having to pack up and leave the ‘GAP’ swim which I’d been requested for the last 48 hours.  I finished the session with 9 fish landed and 1 lost due to a hook pull, four doubles, four twenties and one thirty. All fish were caught using 10mm Mainline Pineapple pop-ups fished with small sticks made with ground Mainline Cell/Dynamite Tiger Nut stick mix & Coconut Milk syrup. As you’d expect, the syndicate is full for the 2010/11 season however if you’d like to be considered for the waiting list then write to RH Fisheries at RF Fisheries Ltd, Badger Hall, Badger Lane, Burnhill Green, Nr Wolverhampton, WV6  7JR of telephone Sam at the Monument on 01952 463141

               24lb 15oz                                      30lb 01oz                                28lb 01oz   

Josh with his new P.B 27lb

We’ve just received details of Daniel Wilson’s recent trip to Clearwater Lakes in France. Accompanied by his grandfather and younger cousin Jack, 18 year old Daniel was on his first trip carp fishing in France. Fishing to a group of snags at approx 130yds range, Daniel fished with Mainline Cell pop-ups tipped with plastic corn fished over a bed of Cell boilies, hemp and corn presented using 12lb Velocity Camo mono in conjunction with an ACE lead clip system, 2.5oz Dumpy Pear lead and 15lb Weed Camo-core hooklink. Daniel had a very successful week taking five fish in excess of 30+ topped with his new personal best of 35.09 One unfortunate incident marred what was an otherwise fantastic week – Daniel somehow managed to get a hook well and truly buried in his nose why tying up a rig for his cousin – we suggest that in future his cousins ties his own rigs!

All the fish fell to Snowman rigs with combination of Active8/Red Plum Pop Up fished on 25lb Gravel Camo-core on ACE helicopter rigs on 18lb Velocity Camo mono.

Benelux ACE Team member Ronald Margadant has just sent through details of two of his last captures for 2009 which capped a magnificent pre-christmas winter campaign! Fishing a Dutch gravel pit, Ronald took this stunning 52lb Common along with this amazing snow caught 39lb+. Both fish were taken with the water tempature at 4 degrees using an ACE Helicopter rig and Velocity 0.35mm mainline with a Snowman presentation of KGB boilies..............what a brilliant end to the year!

Dutch ACE team member Ronald Margadant headed for the Alps but unlike most people he'd packed his carp rods instead of ski's! Fishing in incredible surroundings, Ronald proceeded to take 22 fish during his seven night session including these three upper thirties. Using Silt coloured Camo-core in combination with camo leadcore Helicopter leaders tied to Velocity 15lb mainline which he reports saved him many times as his swim was fishing close to some heavy snags and featured some very steep gravel bars! Bait was his favourite T 'n' T supplied by KGB baits.

Our man in Spain, ACE consultant James Harrison has continued his recent run of sucess with this stunning new PB Common of 54lb which he took on his birthday!  Fishing on the massive sixteen thousand acre Lake Orellana, James took the stunning common using Vitabaits boilies fished on D rigs tied to Camo-core hooklinks in conjunction with Hard-On leadcore leaders and lead clips.

Well done James, we can't wait to see what you sort out for a Christmas present? 

Returning from his latest trip to Rainbow Lake, Max accompanied by good friend and fishing companion Chris Tarrant managed to bag 8 fish between them in what turned out to be a particularily difficult week! Whilst the fishing was quite slow, the size of the fish caught was pretty impressive as both Chris and Max took several 40lb+ fish topped by this impressive 61lb 03oz which fell to a new Mainline bait he was testing very early on in the session. As usual, tough tackle was the order of the day and all fish were landed with the aid of 27lb braided mainline, tied to 50lb Fluorocarbon leaders, ACE 45lb Silt Leadcore, ACE Lead Clips and 35lb Silt Camo-core with Solar Longshank Size 2 hooks.

News has just reached the ACE office of a recent trip by ACE Italy team members, Alessandro Venturi (The Carp Detective) and Michele Zignani.........'We have just returned from four days of fishing on the Ostellato canal hunting the population of large Grass Carp that populate it. After a slow start, the massive baiting campaign we'd undertaken with Tiger nuts, Hamp & Mistral Rosehip boilies started to pay off. We finished our session with more than ten Grass Carp landed between 15kg and 21kg along with twenty other carp including a Mirror and a Common arp of 19kgs+. I used the fantastic Camo Velocity Carp mono you sent us in 12lb, this proved ideal to combat the fast bursts of speed from these grass carps.........In addition, we also used 80cm of Hard-On Camo Leadcore, ACE Lead Clips both in Weed colour. This was fished with our Camo-core hooklinks of 25cm with 10cm unsheathed tied to a K-024 fish eye hook in size 4. All catches were made with Tiger Nuts balanced with ACE Tiger Nut Drill and Cork sticks or Mistral 20mm Rosehip Isotonic pop-ups. Tight Lines - The Carp Detective.

As already previewed by Wesley the fishing was pretty slow for the time off year on this particular lake.  As we both still had some days off we managed to fish a midweek non-stop in the hope to deceive some carp before the end off the season.  The previous week Wesley managed to land a 40lbs mirror called Orange caught at long range with a single hookbait.  We choose to fish the same way with just single hookbaits/pop-ups all cast out on different distances in the hope finding a productive area or bumping into a carp who was looking for a feed.  The weather was getting colder and the watertemperature was now around 11-12 degrees.  The first night I had a "bumpy" take on my left hand rod which I thought would result in a bream.  After a few minutes we became aware that there still could be a carp on the other end.  These words were just spoken as all hell broke lose!  After an envious hard battle my mate Wesley netted the carp and said I just landed a piece of history.  Indeed, in the bottom of the net lay a famous common called "the kempfish" at a weight of 46lbs+.  As this a really old warrior that has to be treated with utmost care and respect due to his elddom we took the pictures immediatly in the dark and gave him back his freedom to fight another day.  That carp left me stunned for quite a while I can tell you!  A celebrating beer followed in the middle off the night.  This sessions couldn't fail anymore and I was a happy lad.  By the end off the session Wesley managed another 2 takes which resulted in both mirrors of 48lbs and 50lbs.  Last night off the session and I was in again which resulted this time in a fully scaled beauty of 28lbs.  All these fish were caught on the ACE-endtackle topped up with RedFish boilies from Dynamite.  Nice way to end the season and maybe time to move on and look out for another lake in the hope for a winter whacker.

Hi ACE........just a quick update following a weeklong trip to France. The venue was just north of Paris called Etang 5. This trip was thrown into turmoil when the venue we were supposed to be going to fell through, however after a few frantic phone calls and some re-planning we ended up there........As it finished up, the week turned out to be one of those ‘dream weeks’ when everything went right. The conditions weren’t perfect as the weather was really hot which is always good for the tan but rarely ever any good for catching carp however this trip threw all the rule books out the window! I managed a good number of fish ranging from doubles through twenties, thirties, forties, a fifty and topped the catch with a 71lb 12oz! The end tackle included about 8ftof Hard-On leadcore in conjunction with your leadclips, 8oz leads, 7in Camo-core hooklinks and a variety of hookbaits. All the fish came from differing areas from holes in the weed to craters that the fish had previously created.  Catch up with you later.......Jason.

Quick update from France...............Here is a picture of a recent capture of a carp from a small lake near my home. The fishing is very challenging because many small catfish in this lake however we still managed to take 11 fish on the weekend with the biggest being this 17kg mirror which was caught using our 25lb Camo-core hooklink (Weed) in conjunction with a flat In-line Pear attached to 1 metre of Hard-On leadcore presentation with a Meteor 30mm Bottom bait..........more news shortly.

Regards Stef!

I had arranged a French trip with a couple of friends in late October, We had the lake to ourselves, on arrival we choose swims, mine being at the far end of the lake, at its widest point, with a nice overhanging margin that stretched away to my right. After a bit of investigation I decided to position a couple of baits along the margin, rigs were tied using 14" of the new Re-Action braid which I’m currently field-testing connected to safety lead clips , four feet of hard on lead core, then back leaded, as the fish are very line shy.. Out into the middle of the lake I located a hard clay area that ran diagonally away from my bank between 70m and 100m ,baits were placed at the near and far end of the area , approx three to four kilo of Premier Matrix was deposited in the area. These rigs were fished helicopter style with combi links tied with a combination of the new Re-Action braid and another new stiff mono like material called ‘Riga-mortis'.

First night I landed a 31lb common, then early hours the margin rod was away, the fish put up an excellent account of itself in open water, giving long powerful lunges, it then preceded to plunder the margins for the next ten minutes, diving for the cover of the overhanging trees, as she rolled into the net I could see it was a real solid lump! The scales settled at 54lb 12oz Yea-ha!! A new PB Mirror and I still had the rest of the week ahead.Re-baited and settled with coffee in hand, reflecting on what had just happened, the long range rod sprang to life, after another epic fight, a cracking looking common rolled into the net, huge broad shoulders and pristine condition, physically shaking I hoisted her to the weigh area, sling zeroed she took the needle around to settle at 51lb 14oz, another, PB for a common this time.

During the rest if the trip I also managed to land a 43lb & 46lb mirror, with another 5 thirties up to 38lb. Happy days and great fishing! Grixy.

I’ve recently returned from France where I fished a 7 acre lake. My swim was very weedy and although I'm quite capable of finding clear spots in weed with the marker rod, after an hour of casting around I still hadn't a clue where to fish! Finally, I decided to use the weed rakes I took with me. After nearly two hours of casting with the spod rod and a weed rake I created a clear spot of about three square meters. Almost instantly the fish were showing and after a quiet first night I had my first take, early in the morning of the second day which resulted in a lovely 31lbs mirror. The week went well and I ended up catching eighteen fish in total, two upper 20's, eleven 30's up to 39lbs 8oz and five 40's to 45lbs 12oz as well as losing another 3 due to hook pull. All fish were caught using the Velocity 18lbs line, 25lb Camo-core hooklinks and 3oz ACE inline leads. The bait I was using were 15mm Krill boilies from ‘Watersense’ (a small Dutch bait company).  Rigs were kept simple - 14mm pop-ups fished with a bag of pellets attached to it. What a week!!! Nice weather, nice people and lovely carp, including some very special fish like "the black and white (orange) fish" at 37lbs and a 43lbs common.

Now I'm preparing for my next session on Steve Bonds Lake Bossard the first week of November. This will be a lot more difficult but, I hope I still got some luck left in the session bag, I let you know how I get on!

Tight Lines – Fred.

It had been a long hot boring summer here in Extremadura. The endless days of 40deg made it impossible to sit out in and the nights weren't much cooler. I really had done much fishing over the summer, and it took a couple of mates, Tom and Robbie, arriving to get me out on the bank. I let them chase the carp around Orellana for 10 days then joined them on Sierra Brava. When I arrived they were in the process of moving – again – as one of the key swims had become free. I parked myself on a small point more with the intention of just enjoying being out. There were a few fish showing and the boys had seen some good fish in the area. All the action was still in the hours of darkness, and the first night produced a double for me just before first light – it was good to be back. Just after 11am, when bite time seems to stop, I wandered off to Tom’s swim for some banter and spent most of the day there. Nothing got caught during daylight, and that night we all caught a couple of fish, the biggest just over 20lb. Tom and Robbie were getting itchy feet and were feeling the call of Orellana again. They’d had their bit of action and wanted to have a crack at Orellana again. I said they should stay as ‘Brava often through up a big fish on the fourth day, but their minds were made up. Not one to miss an opportunity I was packed up and in Tom’s swim before he’d left, but still trying to play it casually. 

As they drove off early afternoon I eagerly got three PVA bags out to the submerged tree Tom had been baiting for the past few days. With the lack of day light action I was surprised to see the bobbin ping off the middle rod just as I was attaching the third rod’s bobbin. The spirited fight resulted in common just over the 20lb mark. I rebaited and was even more surprised when an hour later another day light take occurred. What was on the end felt completely different to the doubles and scraper twenties I’d been catching of late. The rod was way past its test curve as I inched back up the bank trying to hold the carp off the submerged tree. In my haste I hadn’t knocked the baitrunner off, and my reel hand was busy holding the spool. I tried to flick the lever off with my nose but my hand was in the way. I kept inching back, until I felt I was clear of the snag and quickly put a couple of turns on the reel to engage it. The carp just seemed to hold its position, but I could just about feel it moving. With the gear I use I know I’ll either pull out or land the fish, and here was a classic case of shit-or-bust Brava fishing. Every now and again I was able to get a couple of turns back on the reel. The rod nodded heavily with that tell-tale sign of a decent fish. I just had to hold on. Slowly it came towards me, then a large boil beneath the surface confirmed to me that this was indeed a good fish. The Dreamaker stayed past its test curve as I hauled at the carp, knowing that any weakness or snag would be exploited by the carp.  About 15 yards out a massive head suddenly popped out and bobbed on the surface. I just needed a bit of luck now. The carp waddled from side to side and made a couple of last dives to avoid the net, but I just held firm and the massive frame of a common slipped over the edge of the net.

The common was quite a short fish with a massive shoulder on it and it was insanely wide. It was easily 40+. I got the fish on the mat in the water, unhooked it, covered it and grabbed the scales. I had trouble getting her in the weigh sling at first – she was just so heavy. I was ecstatic as the needle went past 50lb and flickered between 52lb 8oz and 52lb 12oz - I wasn’t bothered, 52lb 8oz will do me. It was a new PB by 8oz and I’d caught it exactly a year to the day that I set foot off the ferry.

Swedish anglers, Birger Holmqvist and Henrik Berntsson have just come back vrom a three week pioneering trip to Croatia. Here is their report......" During their three weeks in Croatia we managedto fish 4 different lakes and had an excellent result catching around 160 carp during nineteen nights fishing, 60 of them over 10kg catching fish in excess of 19kg from every lake! Our original plan was to fish between 7 and 10 days in Croatia then move onto Italy for the remainder of our trip but as the trip went on we struck up some good friendships with severa local Croatian anglers so we decided to stay on and expore the full potential of the carp fishing in the area. This proved to be a very good descision as we caught some awesome fish. The fishing was mainly all long range and with no boats being available, we were forced to improve our casting and spodding techniques! In addition, the ACE Velocity Tapered Leaderlines proved invaluable allowing us to reach some of the distances we needed to cast with ease. Hooklinks were contructed from Camo-core which worked perfectly never once letting us down even though the fishing was hectic at times! The fish all fell to either Mainline Fusion or Active 8 boilies fished in conjunction with Response Pellets and a few particles. Our final tally reads as follows:-

Birgers - 26.12kg, 23.80kg, 20.45kg, 19.84kg, 19.70kg, 17.18kg, 15.45kg, 15.40kg, 15.18kg, 15kg along with twenty more carp between 10kg to 14kg. Total of 85 carp.

Henriks - 21kg, 20.35kg, 19.05kg, 17.80kg, 17.02kg, 16.65kg, 16.20kg, 16.04kg, 15.80kg, 15.40kg, 14.40kg, 12.80kg, 12.70kg, 12.20kg, 12kg along with a further 29 carp over 10kg. Total of 75 carp.

Finally, we'd like to give a really big thank you to Antun 'Quick Tony' Kuzele for the information gathering and to Tom, Truli and Miro along with all the other wonderful Croatian carp anglers we met during our three weeks away................we will be back for sure!

Birger Holmqvist & Henrik Berntsson - Mainline Team Sweden

Belgium ACE team member Stef Baekelandt has just reported another recent sucess in his campaign on a local canal. Stef has been catching consistanly throughout the Spring and Summmer however over the last couple of sessions he'd noticed that the runs were slowing down so he decided it was time to look for another spot to target. Stef set about pre-baiting for three days prior to his first trip which was going to be a short overnight session. Fishing from 7pm on Friday through to midday on Staurday, the session produced six takes which resulted with 4 fish landed although there were no big fish amongst these. Deciding to return for another session and hoping to get amonst some larger fish, Stef wore his lucky T-shirt which he's worn previously when he's caught most of his big carp. Stef managed to get his rods positioned just as dusk fell, then he sat back in antisipation of the first take which had come quite quickly into the start of his previous trip. However, the night came and went without any bites but Stef decided to fish on until midday as very often when you get a bite in daylight, it resulted in on one the better fish gracing your landing net. Around 10am, the long awaited take finally came and after  a lively battle one on the canal's more famous residents was safely in the net and in fine late summer condition she tipped the scales at a couple of ounces short of 48lb - a nice result and just reward!

Just received, this report from our top Italian ACE team member Michele Zignani wh has just returned from a weeks fishing at one of the countries most famous stretches of water, d'Italy Lake Pusiano. Fishing under the extreme late August sunshine which made the carp very difficult to fool, Michele managed to land 23 carp upto 17kg, all of which fell to either Mistral Tuna Shellfish boilies or Tiger Nuts which he used our Nut Drill and Cork sticks to create a critically balanced presentation. Other tackle included 15/30 Velocity Tapered Leaderlines, 80cm of Hard-On Camo Leadcore (Gravel), Lead clips with K-788 #4 hooks tied to Camo-Core 25lb Gravel hooklength. Michele plans to return sometime in November or December so watch this space for details of  that trip!

An unfavourable high pressure over the weekend didn't fill me full of much hope however following a 72 hour session which produced a total of nine fish included five over the 30lb mark proves you shouldn't take too much notice of the weather! Fishing at Grenville Lake syndicate near Huntingdon. Having taken a walk around the 72 acre carp mecca, Max spotted a few fish showing at range in Peg 12 which had a light Westerly blowing straight into the swim.  Having had a couple of good hits from this swim before and not wishing to spook the fish, he decided there was no need to disturb the swim by throwing a marker around so he'd just cast out and see what happened. Starting off by casting his right hand rod to a previously productive spot which was followed by  fifty Mainline Cell freebies he stopped to talk with Paul, the lake owner before continuing with his other two rods. Whilst talking, the rod screamed off and after a lively fight the first fish of the session was safely in the net............which after quickly weighing and photographing it she was returned.  Getting his remaining two rods out, the first thirty was quickly followed  by a mid twenty at 26.05. The rest of the day remained fairly quite with the odd fish showing at range until late afternoon when the left hand rod ripped off again producing the biggest fish of the session, an amazing two tone Mirror of 35.09, a fish that when I showed the pictures to Paul he didn't reconise! As darkness fell, another four runs throughout the night produced fish of 33.06, 25.02, 20.07 and a small Common before daybreak. The following day was very quite with the fish clearly being pre-occupied with a massive Sedge hatch which was taking place and no fish came from anywhere around the lake until late evening when I had another take on my left rod which resulted in a 31.14  which was quickly followed by the last fish of my session at 31.08...........what a result! All the fish fell to Mainline Cell & Pineapple Pop-ups fished on simple pop-up rigs tied to 20lb Weed Camo-Core hooklinks, ACE lead clips to dump the leads and 3oz Distance leads.

We’ve just received the following from German ACE consultant, Maurice Willms.....’Due to work commitments combined with some family problems, holiday with my lady and so on, my fishing time in July and August has been somewhat restricted, being limited to the odd evening session with the match rod or chasing Barbel in my local river. I did however also manage to start my pre-baiting, although on a irregular bases for the forthcoming Autumn campaign with the ever reliable ‘Source Boilie’ from Dynamite.  After a couple of weeks. I decided to check to see if the bait was being accepted so I made a one night trip where I was rewarded with this brace of 18.2kg (40.2 lb) & 19.4kg (42.12lb) which found their way into my landing net. During this session,  I had the opportunity to use the new ACE Camo Velocity Line and I was amazed how it blended into the typical coloured summer water , simply brilliant! Both fish fell to a Snowman presentation with a 20mm Source bottom bait and a bright 15mm Chocolate Malt Pop Up tied to 15lb Weed coloured Camo Core.

Following his recent trip to Rainbow Lake in France, Rikard has sent us the following update....

Hi Max.......As I said earlier this was my first trip to the magical Rainbow Lake. I have thought about going for some time now and when Stephan Nielsen (who organizes the Scandinavian trips) offered me a place I booked it straight away. We were four Swedish anglers going and I fished with Stephan for two weeks in swim 16. He fished the left side and I chose the right side. The first week was very slow with a couple of smaller fish for Stephan, topped by a 24 kilo common. My only fish was a 17,74 kilo mirror.

At the start of the second week I moved one of my rods to a small bay on the right side of the island, close to the channel which leads to the centre of the lake. I baited with approximate half a kilo of Mainline Fuzion boilies, evenly spread in the bay and a few in the bushes!, and fished a Fuzion & Cell Snowman on top of that. It was a move that I didn’t regret as early in the morning I landed a mighty 27 kilo mirror! I continued to bait up the spot with Fuzion boilies and moved a second rod to another bay in the same area. Then I had about a bite a night and landed mirrors of 19.7, 15.3, 19.9, 18.3 and finally 22.5 kilos. After that I offered the bays to Stephan, who had had nothing for about a week, but it was a stupid decision really as he then started to catch on two of his old spots and nothing in the bays! But that’s fishing in a nutshell and I was well pleased with the 7 fish I had landed. Our end tackle included ACE leadcore leaders, lead clips, swivels and anti-tangle sleeves which worked perfectly during the session.

Finally, during the last morning, when packing up, Stephan went out in the boat to collect his last rod, which was placed in one of the bays. When he came near the bay, winding in his line, everything went solid and then suddenly it started to move and he found himself attached to a carp! Without a net in the boat he had to lead the carp to the shore, beside the boat, where it was netted by me. It was a common at 16.5 kilos and a nice end to our two weeks at Rainbow.

 Rikard Bengtsson – Mainline Team Sweden

Sucess for ACE angler Barry Hope in the recent Army Qualifier at Sandhurst which saw him take the winners honour along with the prize for the largest fish of the match in the shape of a magnificent 36lb 07oz Mirror! In addition to this lump, Barry also had several other fish including this 27lb 10oz Common. All fish fell to Mainline Cell boilies tipped with Red maggots fished at Range using Velocity Tapered Leaderline, Hard-On Gravel Lead Core leaders and 20lb Gravel Camo-Core hooklinks to size 8 Nash Fang hooks.

Because there is a lot of fishing in my life , I promised my girlfriend a vacation without fishing in Southern France.

We rented a small house for two weeks near the beach, with one off the biggest lakes of France in our backyard. I did manage to hide 2 rods and some baits between the luggage and started baiting up a small area on the 3600 hectares Lake the moment we arrived. The first week passed with a lot of beach and shopping, my rods didn’t leave my car. After 1.5 week beach my lovely girlfriend let go the leash and I was able to fish the last 3 nights. With two rods and my new Ace gear I managed to catch some fish on this enormous Lake. One of them was a good one and made this beautiful vacation complete. 

Have Fun

Roderick Langeveld 

On only his second trip to the 'Oasis' run by the VBK, Benelux ACE Team member Wesley Lagaert has landed the sort after Mirror known as 'Ron' at 19.1kg. Fishing with hs good friend Alan, they put their ACE tackle to great use taking other Mirrors of 14.8kg and 17.8kg along with this magnificent fish!

Look out for Wesley's forthcoming article in VBK magazine where he'll go into more technical detail regarding his rigs and approach to catching these spooky fish from the Oasis!

Ray Best & Steve Johnson teamed up at Fenland Fisheries, Cambridgeshire. Ray had a 42lb 4oz at 4.30am the fish where caught using Velocity 15lb Camo.