How did you first get into carp fishing and what was your first carp?

I started off as a pleasure fisherman catching roach, tench and bream but progressed to match fishing and went on to win various matches and compete in National events with some success. I also belong to a catch club and it had a little lake that contained carp that we would catch on cubes of luncheon meat. i remember sitting on etc bank and hearing these funny noises like a sucking coming from the pads and on further investigation it was a big pair of lips, so i got a piece of crust from my sandwiches and took my float off and attached to a bare hook and lowered it in a gap in the pads, it wasn’t long before a big pair of lips came up and sucked in the crust! After a hectic fight in the pads i landed an 11b mirror which just blew me away and as they say :”A carp angler was born” and i havent looked back in over 30 years. 

How much time do you spend on the bank per month?

Not as much as i would like as i runs media/marketing business specifically for fishing companies where i look after their social media, photography and filming needs, so as you can imagine in the spring and summer I’m lucky to get a night a week, but as winter comes around i get probably 2 nights a week.

What is your most memorable capture and why?

That is a difficult one as I’ve had so many memorable catches but the one that stands out for me is the capture of the “Woodcarving: from Horton many years ago, it was my first bite from the lake and the one that  really wanted to catch. It was even more sweet as i had tried something different after speaking to a friend and had decided to use 50mm Baits! As you can imagine I was a little apprehensive but had confidence in my approach as no one had tried this before there to my knowledge and getting that first bite on a new tactic and on the water you had dreamed of fishing for years after reading so much about the place and the catching the fish you had dreamed about also was just a little special.

Have got any tips for winter fishing?

Yes 3 actually, the first one is to pick a water that has FORM, by this i mean you always have a chance to catch a fish, the second is keep warm as a cold and wet angler will often go home and not fish effectively and the third is to use a bait that is digestible to the fish, particles and a highly digestible bait are what i put most faith in as it gets colder. Ive followed these 3 principles in my winter fishing and have been relatively successful over the years as it gets colder.

Tell us about your website, We see you sell certain products on there?

I set this up about a year ago and it has lot son photography, articles and tips/edges that i share and update on a regular basis, the shop side was initially just a way of funding the website with selected items of tackle that i use myself in my fishing that i would recommend to anyone, its really grown from there and i sell quite a few products now and its growing all the time, its become more of a business than a means to an end to just fund the website which is nice.

http://www.leoncarper.com/

Tell us about Urban baits we see you are a consultant for them?

Yes i am a consultant for them, but i also work for them looking after their media needs so it was nice to be able to use a bait that i liked as well as work closely with the guys at Urban.

Our company name is Bite Edge have you got an edge you can share with us and our readers?

Definitely, the one thing i have learnt from my fishing is that you have to be confident in yourself and your ability to catch wherever you are fishing, its all well and goo dot have the best bait, rigs and tackle, but you have to be confident in your approach otherwise the first sign of things not going right you are destined to fail so my tip would be to be confident in what you do and even when its not going to plan, just Keep On Keeping On and it will soon come right, my sort of catch phrase on my social media sites is itonlytakesonebite and i truly believe in that every blank session you are just that bit closer to the next capture.

What is your go to rig when you first get to a new water?

That really depends on so many things like is it weedy, is it deep etc etc so i havent got a go to rig, i like to tailor the rig to the situation or lake bed I’m fishing, so i could well have 3 different rigs on three different spots as the topography is different on each spot within the swim, but i do tend to like the hinged stiff rig for popups and nice blow back rig for bottom baits

Does you lead set-up change based on what type of bottom you are fishing on?

Most definitely, i like to fish a clip if in weed of near snags or a Helicopter setup for more open water fishing in silt etc.

We see you have been fishing in France do you change tactics when you go across the pond?

I like to beef up everything when fishing in France as i tend to fish the big open pits so everything gets upgraded and i tend to only fish blowback bottom bait rigs as haven’t done so well on popups across the channel.

If you fish for any carp past or present what fish would it be?

Id like to have caught Heather from the Carp Park, i did fish the car park for 1 night and loved every minute of it, but i was upto other things when the Car Park was in its heyday.

Last one form twitter follower @Jkcarping Hi, if you could change 1 thing about Carp Fishing today what would that be?

What would i change? Anglers that don’t have any respect for other anglers and their fishing, so many times in the past I’ve watched as anglers just don’t give a damn about where they are fishing or who they upset, its all about catching at all costs to both the fish and the other anglers sharing the pond, unfortunately I’ve seen this from some of our better known anglers who are in the limelight which is very disappointing.