We arrived on the Friday lunchtime and agreed that the ‘match’ would run from 3.00pm until the Sunday lunchtime, or when we had had enough! We both set about getting the gear sorted; bait ready, houses up, or in Kev’s case, his van’s side door open! I should have known then that with no tossing of the coin for choice of swim, Kev was up to his normal tricks again but with the prospect of some great fishing, I was just happy to be there. I have never wanted to kick his rump so badly, as by now, all the Mainline and Fox lads were placing bets on the outcome and I was now the target of loads of text messages about just how mad I must be and how I stood little chance, if any.

I started spodding out my mixture of hemp, groats, Response Pellet and Response Pellet Plus with a few kilos of the new Pro-Active-Pineapple in 14mm about an hour before the start while Kev sat about enjoying the sun and cracking jokes about the effort that I was making, it was already getting boring! It was at the off-time that I saw the first good point of the boat as Kev sent out about 3 kilos of his bait along with his rig and dropped the lot right under the canopy of a tree on the island. Now I consider myself to be very good with the spod rod and quite an accurate caster to features but this was just so easy. No recast required, no casting several times to get the clipping up right, no leads or spods up tree’s. His boat just sped out to his chosen spot with little if any disturbance, dropped the lot where you would struggle to get a lead, and job done, all within about 5 minutes.

After about an hour and a halves fishing, I was still spodding out when Max Cottis arrived just as Kev was into his first fish. It was duly netted and weighed at 28-12 and Max joined in with the barracking and wind-ups. Was I getting worried, no way? Well all right I was slightly as Max then spent some time telling Kev about the spots to fish, and with his knowledge of the water, I knew that it would help Kev immensely. Nether the less, I carried on, still sure that once the initial disturbance of the spodding had died down, the fish would move onto the bait and I’d be up and running. I still had one trump card, my joker, up my sleeve and that would come into play very soon.

Darkness fell and with no further action for Kev, I was getting more confident with every passing minute. I had clipped up all three rods, two tight to the over-hanging trees on the island and one about five yards short. With bait over two of them and just boilies over the third, I was set for the nighttime action and joined Kev for a tea and a chat. That was my first mistake as my arrival in the next swim signalled the start of what was to come. Kev’s right rod was away and a 22-12 was shortly having its picture taken, by me! No sooner had Kev dealt with that one, and told me about the take, the fight etc several times, the middle rod was away and he was in again. With a 19-12 photographed and returned, I went back to my swim to leave Kev to get his rods back out. With the lines marked, Kev decided to re-cast them instead of using the boat, so along with a 5-bait stringer, both rods were repositioned.

By daylight, it was now starting to go very badly wrong. Kev was now on four fish, including a 31-4 and I was yet to get off the mark and with the light, Kev could now get them back out tight again. He sent out the boat with fresh bait to all three spots whilst I decided to top up the two-spodded areas and get them as tight as I possibly could. Then, the one thing that I didn’t want, the wind started to blow quite strongly from my right to left. This would make spodding very tight to the island quite difficult and if the fish did follow it, they’d end up in Kev’s bay to my left.

Undeterred, and loosing spods and leads rapidly, I got the baits as close as I humanly could along with another 4-5 kilos of spod mix and sat down with Kev as confident as ever. My plan for the joker card had not worked quite to plan during the first night. I have fished with Kev many times in the past and he is well known for getting into the bag and nothing, and I mean nothing gets him out of it. Many times I have had to hit his takes and land his fish while he shouted instructions from his bed. The first night had seen a new person on the bank, the Kev that I know when he fishes the BCAC or other important events, up and working and missing nothing. I just hoped that the novelty had worn off for Kev and the second night would see me coming back into the match while he crashed out and let me get on with it.

During the day, Kev extended his lead with another five fish, and with no fish seen on or close to my bait; I was starting to get worried but didn’t let him know that. To pull back nine fish was going to be a tall order for anyone, with or without a bait boat but I still hoped for the best. Kev was now fishing very well, tying up rigs and changing them as required, freshening up the spots with additional boatloads of bait and working as hard as he could. A spare rod was now set up and laying in readiness up against the van and with Darrell now joining us, we sat down to dinner. The banter on the bank was now firmly focussed on me, along with regular phone calls and text messages suggesting that I take up golf, seek medical attention or go home just some of them. Still, what are friends for eh?

Was my plan going to kick in now as darkness fell again? The three of us sat there in Kev’s swim for the evening, chatting about all things fishy and changing the world, whilst watching Kev add to his total. With the departure of Darrell back to his swim, and Kev hitting the sack, I sat up and awaited the action that I longed for so desperately. Well that lasted less than an hour before a buzzer signalled a take, yes on Kev’s rods. I tried to make out that I was asleep but after about 3 minutes of listening to him calling me and telling me that he had yet another one, I gave in and went to help. Well, that was my next mistake and the end of my trump card. The next 5 hours of darkness was spent with the pair of us in the comfort of Kev’s van, watching DVD’s, drinking tea and me landing fish for him. All this time, my buzzers staying silent. Could it get any worse for me?

During the following morning, I had to give in to Kev’s repeated suggestion that he boated one out for me. I wanted to see what would happen and see what difference it would make, if any. I cast my left rod over to where it had been for the past 40 hours and Kev sent a boatload of freebies out and dropped it right over the spot. I wanted to see if it was the spodding that had made a difference or if I was too far of the canopy and tree-overhangs and that’s why I still wanted to cast the tackle instead of putting it in the boat as Kev had been doing. Well, to really rub salt into my already extreme wounds, that rod was away within 30 minutes and my only carp of the trip was banked at just over 22lbs, proving to me that the fish were not going to tolerate the spodding, on this occasion anyway.

By late morning, I had to call an end to the proceedings and threw the towel in. I was well and truly beaten with my challenge not even getting past the start post. Kev’s final tally made this a bit more than one sided with four doubles, twelve 20’s and five 30’s up to 35-4. He had fished well and taught me a real lesson about bait-boats. Looking back now, I can see the advantages of them and the use that they can have. As for if I would ever use one myself, I still can’t say. You either love them or hate them but I’m still not convinced that I could take to one. I actually enjoy the spodding and the hard work, making me fell that if I do catch, I have earned that fish. It just seems too easy with the boat but Kev had showed me that you still need to work at it and make changes.

It is ever so easy to fill the boat right up with free bait but it can work against you at times. The fish may only respond to just a handful or two at times so you need to get this right and find out what they want. Kev had tried dropping about 1.5 kilos of mixed pellets and hemp with a few 14mm baits, as well as just boilies on their own but found that he got a quicker response to the pellet, hemp and baits. Too many baits were giving the fish too much feed, whereas the other mix was drawing them quicker but with less actual fed and making them work harder to clear it. I also believe that on this occasion, the fish would not put up with the continued disturbance of the spod hitting the water with the boat having the edge here, being able to drop the tackle and bait on their heads with very little noise or disruption.

You also had to think about where you drop the bait. Its no good sending it out to a spot where you have little or no chance of landing the fish no matter how good it looks. The distance also has to be considered as too far and you will have little if any control over hooked fish even if using braided mainline. I suppose that it’s this side of it that frightens me, the mis-use by some anglers that can afford to use a bait- boat. Kev had shown me that with the correct approach and consideration, bait-boats can have a place in carp fishing and if used correctly, can have an awesome advantage as I had seen first hand.

I see little if any point of going over what I did and how it was done, there’s little to say. I had fished well, fed tight and covered my bets with a spot away from the island. My casting was spot on and freebies placed directly over them. I had introduced almost the same as Kev, a mixture of pellets, hemp and 14mm Pro-Active-Pineapple baits and about the same amount during our stay.

Kev used Fox 12ft 6inch, 3.25lbs test curve ‘Ethos’ rods which have a through action to help get fish on the move quicker when hooked and 15lb Soft Steel line. With no worries about tangles on the cast, the terminal set up was kept basic and simple. A three-foot Fox 45lb leadcore leader was used with a Fox lead clip on which a 3oz flat pear lead was placed. Hooklength was either 15lb Delude braid or 15lb Fluorocarbon, with about 9inches being the length that Kev settled for after trying shorter and longer during the session. This was tied with a simple knotless knot to a size 6 Fox series 2XS hook, leaving about 3mm between the bait and the bend of the hook. Simple but effective and well proven in the past.

The very encouraging thing for both of us was the bait used. This was the first time for both of us with the new ‘Pro-Active-Pineapple’ and with this sort of result for Kev the first time out, he was very pleased. The pellets used were Activ-8 Response Pellet, the fish Response Pellet Betaine ‘Plus’ and the hemp pellet and this was used along with hemp and 14mm baits. Kev was very exact with the amount of bait used ensuring that he used the same amount of each bait every time. He used a baiting spoon on this occasion ensuring that he kept the ‘working’ amounts the same every time the boat was used and that the amount introduced was the same per fish. Using less meant a longer wait for a take, as did using much more, and the amount made no difference in the size of the fish caught.

I could see watching Kev that he had a well-rehearsed routine when using the boat. All the bait was kept in buckets close to the front of the swim, a towel was always on hand for cleaning off any moving parts of the boat and the way in which he filled and controlled the boat was the same every time. The rig was carefully placed up through the hatches and when closed, the boat was loaded with the bait without him having to keep walking off to get it. The boat was then placed in the edge and a check made that the line and leadcore was not caught or tangled anywhere. A bucket was then used as a seat while Kev controlled the remote with one hand and held the rod in the other, keeping the line in check as it went. It did look so easy but I can tell you, its not as easy as it looks and like everything else, takes lots of practise.

Even though the boat was being used, Kev had made provisions to re-cast during darkness avoiding the chances of loosing the boat under the trees. His lines were marked just prior to darkness and he used a powerful lamp to help with casting during the night, getting it as tight as he could in the process.

All in all, a very good trip and with plenty of fish on the new bait, we both went away with something to think about. I had planned to let this feature slip away into the black hole and hope that it would all be forgotten about but there is a point to be made from this and lessons to be learnt. Bait boats can have a place in carp fishing if used with care and consideration. Do I agree with them now? Will I go out and buy one? Maybe not but I will be more careful with my challenges next time. I’ll have my revenge one day Mr Knight!