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Back to Academy searchMyles Gibson
The most recent recruit into the Greys Carp Academy Myles Gibson has been Carp fishing since the age of nine years old.
Based in Cheshire, Myles has caught over twenty five UK 30's and currently holds a PB of 41lb 20z for a Common.
Myles' favourite venues to fish include Stoneacres and Christchurch on the Linchhill Complex.
Myles also writes for angling magazines, Carp Talk and Advanced Carp.
News from Myles Gibson - Monday 20th June 2011
"The fishing on Stoneys was slow to say the least through March. Although finding fish was never a problem, getting one to pick up a hook bait was a whole different story. I was fishing chodds a lot during the early part of the season, just casting at showing fish and, if within range, scattering a few baits around the area with the throwing stick.
"The Tench took a liking to this approach with over thirty springing the traps in the first few sessions. The things were a nightmare, even when seeing Carp clearly in an area the Tench were relentless and, after catching a few of them the Carp that were in the area would soon to move off with all the recasting etc. Looking back it was very frustrating fishing.
"The first one I managed to put a hook in was around the middle of April. I had found a small clear area that had without doubt been created by fish as I had spent a lot of time fishing the same area during the previous autumn and it wasn't there then. The spot had a good hit of both N Gage and the xxx before I left and on my return after the week end I flicked a bait on the spot and received a take just a few hours after getting sorted. The fish turned out to be a stunning mirror of 29lb 6oz and to date is the only Carp I have hooked from the spot. The Tench however soon clocked the bait and became a real pain once again. It was hard to get away from them, as soon as you put any amount of bait in an area they would soon to move in and eat all you could offer, quite often I think the Carp never really got a look in.
"The next chance I got was the last week of April. I had seen fish showing at range in the south end of the lake and managed to get in a swim where I could get at them. It was blowing a good westerly which is right over your back in the swim, making it a lot easier when fishing at range. I fished two rods in the area they were showing as the weed had started to come up and I could only find one clearish spot just big enough to cram two rods on. The spot was just over 170 yards from the bank and an area that rarely gets fished due to the range, and without the wind behind my back I could see why.
"The next evening just as the light was fading one of the rods fished on the long stop tightened up. The fish didn't really do a lot really just like a Dog on a lead until it was under the tip where it made itself a real pain by taking the remaining long rod out. The fish was another mirror and once on the mat I recognised it as a fish I had caught my first season on there. The lovely fish went to 26lb 6oz and although a repeat was more than welcome.
"My next bite wasn't until the start of June. I had fished every week but just couldn't buy a bite. Fish were getting caught around the lake but it was a spell where I would have a swim in mind then change my mind then one would get caught from that area, and so on. Although some sessions were spent prepping areas, getting clips and creating spots ready for later on in the season there were times I really felt like I should have caught. The long spell without a bite came to an end in fine style though when only an hour or so after getting the rods out on a prepped area one of them ticked off, after a very scary boat battle I netted what's one known as the Bus and at a new biggest weight of 42lb 10oz. The fish is in my eyes one of the best looking Carp in the country and I feel privileged to have caught such a creature.
"My next session down was the following week, although I wasn't meant to be going as the Mrs had booked the week off work and I had agreed to not go fishing and spend the week with her. I just had a feeling one of the special two were going to make an appearance and just had to be there. I somehow managed to talk her in to coming with me but only for two nights. It proved a good move as on the first morning one of the rods roared off and after a hectic battle I lifted the net round another stunning mirror, again it was another repeat slightly up in weight from the last time we met at 30lb 6oz. The gut feeling was right as I got the phone call the next day from a very happy Mr Smith with news he had just had Choco at 46lb+. Well done fella."
News from Myles Gibson - Tuesday 19th April 2011
"As I had planned, I started fishing back over on Stoneacres early March. I had though about the lake a lot over the winter and was looking forward to getting an early start on there and see if I could sneak one or two out before the spring rush.
"My first session of the year was in a swim known as Big Point where I spent three nights without even seeing or hearing a fish, I had not really expected a lot really as the lake is known for being a slow starter with not a great deal getting caught till late April onwards.
"It was the week after my first session, around the middle of March when I saw them showing for the first time after the long winter. It was nice to see them active as I have always believed that if there showings then they are catchable. I had planned to stay mobile and just fish single hook baits as close as possible to showing fish during the early part of the spring and if they were within range spred a few baits around with the throwing stick. The fish do see to get about the lake a lot the early part of the year, not really staying in one area for too long before moving to another part of the lake.
"For the past five week I have been seeing more and more fish showing but only managing to catch the Tench. I have had over twenty five in the last three sessions, even catching them on single fish meal baits at night. On my last three sessions I have been on fish, Varp throwing themselves out the water, yet all that seems willing to pick up a hook bait is the Tench. The same happened the previous April, fish showing like mad with very little getting caught, then like a switch they will start coming out. A few more week of this warmer weather will see them getting about more and more and with a bit of luck, in search of some grub."
News from Myles Gibson - Tuesday 15th March 2011
"Since the capture of the Perch common I have been heading down to Christchurch most weeks, plugging away in the same area that I caught the big common. The lake was very quiet compared to normal and I was pretty much getting the pick of the swims when I was arriving in the early hours of Monday mornings. I knew this wouldn't last long though as when word got out there had been a fish out, the lake would soon start to fill up. I knew I wouldn't enjoy fishing on there when the lake was busy, with leads and lines everywhere, so I decided to see if I could make the most of the lack of anglers and keep the bait going in on the spot I caught the perch common from.
"The week after the first capture I was back in the same swim for a three night session. I had baited the spot again with a mixture of maggots, milkmin pellets and a modified version of the live system and was fishing small solid bags over the top, with small trimmed down homemade fruity cork dust wafters as hook baits. Nothing happened until the last night of the session when I went on to catch a twenty five common and another common just short of twenty two pounds. Like the Perch, both the twenty's had come off the rod fished on the left on the spot, closest to the weed.
"When I pulled off on the Thursday morning a good friend of mine Ed followed me straight into the swim and over the weekend he managed two fish, both were gooduns, a thirty six plus mirror and another cracking mirror of over thirty nine pounds. I was gagging to get back down as it was clear they were getting on the baited area and not only that, the better ones seemed up to be up for a mouthful.
"I was back down in the early hours the following Monday with the hope of getting back in the swim. I only had to wait until nine that morning until the chap who had done the night in there was leaving. He had managed a low thirty mirror during his session so as you can imagine I was itching to get some more bait on the spot and get some hook baits out. In the early hours of the next morning the left hander was away, after a good battle I netted a stunning dark mirror of over twenty eight pounds. The lake filled up during the Tuesday with leads and spods landing all over the place and as a result nothing happened over the next two nights. I was due to leave as normal on the Thursday morning but as a lot of the other lads had pulled off I was once again felling confident of a bite, a quick chat with the misses and I soon had the thumbs up to doing another night. It proved to be a good call as in the early hours again the left hander tightened up and the clutch started clicking.
"The fish felt a goodun from the off with it just plodding round deep down in front with the odd powerful head shake. The hooked fish had taken the middle rod out and a horrible grating sensation could be felt as I tried to pump the fish towards me, soon after all went solid. With all sorts running through my mind I just kept the pressure on finding myself repeating the words COME ON,KEEP COMING,COME ON. I kept pumping the lot slowly towards me, praying all held. Soon the hooked fish was wallowing on the surface just out of wader depth, with my arm at full stretch I managed to lift the net round what looked like another huge common in my dim torch light.
"On the bank I recognised the fish to be the biggest common in the lake, known as The Box. At a weight of forty three pounds twelve ounces it was a new PB. I was more than happy with the results from Christy and it was nice to see a plan come together, the lake by this time had produced eleven fish in all with the spot I started baiting doing ten of them fish. Just proving that once you've found them, consistent baiting with good quality bait will soon catch there interest.
"I had a feature booked in the following week with Johnny Bones from ACF over on Linear Fisheries so I planned to spend that week over there and then get back to it on the big lake ‘Stoneacres' from there on. Christchurch was getting busier and busier and being more than happy with what I had caught I was looking forward to getting an early start in chasing them big mirrors round once again.
"The three night session over on St John's went well. In total I landed eleven Carp, seven over bait and four on the zigs and not forgetting a sixty three pound cat fish nailed on a zig. It took a while to land that one, but the size twelve korda mixa hooks and six pound krooza hooklink held up ok in the end. The highlight of the session was without doubt a common of thirty four and a half pounds; it was a lovely fish with distinctive scaring on its flanks. It has been one of the best winters I have had in a while; I am just hoping them big mirrors over on Stoneys are as partial to the bait as the big commons have been. Fingers crossed."
News from Myles Gibson - Monday 14th February 2011
"Since the weather has improved, I have been heading down to Oxford most weeks. I have ended up fishing on Christy on the Linch Complex for my last three sessions as the lake has been pretty quiet angler-wise, well compared to normal and, with the lakes impressive stock and previous winter form I was enjoying being there.
"I managed to lose one on the last morning of my first three night session. A small stringer fished over a few 10mm bird food baits, hemp and corn had got me the bite which, to my knowledge had been the first fish hooked off the bottom since late October / early November 2010. I fished the same area the following week but from a different swim, one that gave me the best possible view of the lake.
"The lake was frozen when I got there on the Tuesday morning with only an acre or so of ice free water. I was able to get some bait out but It took a little longer than expected for the ice to thaw out and I was unable to get the rods out until first light the next morning. Nothing happened that session but I did see a mirror stick its head out as I was packing up. I had spoken to one of my mates who was fishing over the weekend, and with nothing at all to report I was hoping to get back in the same area again.
"The lake was empty when I arrived, so armed with my rucksack and water bottle I made my way round to the swim. I had only been in the swim five minutes when I saw fish stick its head out, and in the same area the fish had shown the previous week. After a quick look round I soon had a clip for a nice clear area next to some thick weed, close to where both fish had shown. Two rods were clipped up and cast to the spot and both going down with a nice ‘thud', the third rod was fished to the spot I fished the previous two sessions.
"Later that afternoon I spodded ten spods of my 10mm choc molt bird food bait I had rolled up and ten spods of maggots over the two rods fished in the area the two fish had shown. In the early hours the next morning one of the rods fished over the bait tightened up and pulled out the clip. After a dogged fight I netted what I first thought was a nice 30 pounder. It was only when I went to lift it to the mat I realised just how big it was - it looked huge in the torch light! I quickly weighed the fish and it was hovering around the 41-41.8lb mark! Totally blown away I popped it in the sack and arranged for John to do the pics in the morning. Those few hours are a blur to be honest, just sat convincing myself I would wake up any minute and it all be a dream. It turned out to be a fish known as the Perch Common and at a weight of 41lb 4oz it was a new PB by 2oz. What a stunning fish, it's certainly made a nice start to the year. Hopefully there will be a few more to come over the next month or so... I'll keep you posted."
Myles Gibson
News from Myles - Tuesday 25th January 2011
September - November 2010
"I was fishing Stoneacres every chance I could through autumn as I had convinced myself that one of the two big mirrors would make another appearance before the winter set in. It wasn't to be though, as there was not a lot caught through the autumn months at all. The lake had fished well through the summer, with fish getting caught most weeks but as the season went on the fishing really started to slow down. The only thing I could put it down to was that the Carp had switched to naturals as I would regularly see them showing in areas covered by high onion weed.
"One session I was watching fish show in the early hours of the morning, sometime in early September, in an area they kept turning up. One after another they were boshing out, some coming clean out the water but most just flopping out as if they had pushed half their body out the water and enter back in on their side. After closer inspection with the boat and aqua scope I could see dark holes in the weed the perfect shape of a Carp's body, even small holes could be seen, clearly created by the Tench.
"I tried all sorts to try and catch one from that area but, with no success it was clear they were more interested with the grubs that were buried in the silt under the weed. I did manage to catch one around the 20th of September a linear of 26lb 5oz, that was caught on a single bright bait that was cast to the back of the area they kept showing, next to one of the largest remaining weed beds in the lake. After that the lake went very quite with the next fish out being in the second week in October, a stunning 31lb 12oz mirror that I caught from a long range spot I had been giving a fair bit of attention. I also managed to lose what felt like a good fish on the same rod in the early hours the next morning. Apart from that there was a low twenty mirror caught on the other side of the lake the same session I had the two takes, and a upper twenty caught at the end of October, which turned out to be the last fish caught last year.
"In early November I had one of my mates, Stony booked on for a guest session for four nights, we decided to give the maggots a go on Willow - the smallest pool on the complex, as going off last winter's results we thought it would be our best chance of catching a few.
"Things didn't go to plan though and we spent the whole session convincing ourselves the very large bed off maggots would eventually kick off. Well, all we caught was a couple of large Roach and a few tufty Ducks. And to top it all off the only Carp we did see over the spot was just as we had packed up, typical. I had a few more sessions over on Willow during November, there were a few of us putting the maggot in on a regular basis but they only produced the odd fish, nothing like the previous winter. I managed to catch what I am pretty sure was the last Carp of the year from Willow, It was my last session down be for the cold weather took hold. I was fishing the bottom end of the lake and with not a lot happening I wound in and went for a mooch round, after a while I found some fish grouped up in some snags next to a over grown bush. There was a clear area in around three to four feet of water right next to the bush. I gave the spot a few big hand full's of maggots and a hand full of small chocolate molt flavoured bird food bolies and planned to keep an eye on the spot. After another quite night I wondered round to the baited bush and found the spot to be all collared up and the shape of three carp working a way at the bottom. I rushed back to my swim to grab all the essentials and made my way back to the bush. I only had to weight ten minutes or so be for the line pinged out the clip and the spool started spinning. That one turned out to be a stunning little mirror of just under 19lb, not the biggest but the way it was caught made it more special to me.
January 2011
"With another harsh winter that froze solid most the waters in the country, like many I didn't do any fishing for Carp for some time. The longest I had gone without going fishing for Carp in over thirteen years, and boy did I feel it. With having no work on what so ever I have been sat round the house twiddling my thumbs with nothing to do with my time but make hook baits and tie up leadcore leader's, rigs etc ready for the first brake in the weather.
"The first session of the year was on a very large lake up in Cumbria, I had got a guest session with my mate, Joe who lives in that area. The lake was the craziest place I have ever fished; apart from the 160 acre plus lake being part salt water (The reason why it rarely freezes) it was also surrounded by large industrial plants that lit the whole place up at night. The lake was full of Carp, mainly small ones and over a 36 hour session I managed to catch three, all commons with two of them around the 15lb mark, It was nice to get out the house again and even nicer get a bend in the rod. All the takes had been on homemade bright pop ups over a chocolate molt bird food bait I had rolled up for the winter.
"The next session out was the second week in January after a week or so of milder weather and strong winds a few lakes started to free of ice. I had sorted all my gear out for a three night session on the Sunday and was hoping that on the Linear Fisheries wed site would say there lakes were ice free the next morning. On checking the web site it was not good news as after another chilly night the lakes, which had thaw had frozen again. As the gear was sorted and I was itching to get back out fishing I fished a day ticket lake within walking distance of my house called Winterly Pool, It was a very shallow lake that seems to freeze very quickly but on the other had thaw quickly. As it had been ice free for a day or two I decided to drop on there and fish areas I had caught from in past winters, along the snagy far margin. That session turned out to be one of the best winter sessions I have had in a long time. In the first 48 hours of the session I managed sixteen takes landing eleven of them, all doubles with the biggest being a mirror of just over 17lb. All the fish were caught on homemade bright pop ups with two falling to white baits and the rest to small yellow ones. I was giving them a bit of bait, not much just a few bird food baits in the area after every take. Since then the milder weather has continued all the lakes on the Linear and Linch Complex are ice free and as I sit and write this I am on my first session back trying my luck on Stoneacre as it's a full moon and with the milder weather of late you just never know your luck. I will keep you posted on what happens with the rest of the winter and in to spring. Come on Choco!"
News from Myles Gibson – Monday 23rd August 2010
“As normal I pulled in to the Linch Hill complex gates in the early hours of Monday morning looking forward to the three night session ahead. On arrival I made the routine laps around the pond in the hope of finding where the fish may be spending their time and try and locate an area that they may be using. Although it is a fairly large lake being around 50 acres in size it holds between 80-100 Carp, most if not all real stunners with the two largest residents topping the 50lb mark and a good head of other gooduns to back them up. Finding them is never really a problem as they do like to show themselves, like most big pits I have fished, you get a nice new warm wind or they are having a good munch somewhere if you keep your eyes peeled you’ll find um!
“It wasn’t until around mid day that I settled for a swim known as crows point, I had seen a few fish showing themselves out at range just short of a large weed bed at the back of the island. It took the best part of the day to get the rods sorted, two rod were fished at range at around 155 yards to a clearish area where I had seen most of the shows, both were armed with the deadly hinged stiff rig with 14mm homemade white cork ball pop ups, a kilo of CC Moore’s finest N-G age XP was spread between both rods and the traps were set. I tend to use bright hook baits for a lot of my fishing, especially on hear as if the water clarity isn’t at its best you won’t be spending ages looking for hook bait. The other two rods were fished on a large silty area a bit closer than the others, same again a kilo of boilies spread over the two hook baits! I heard a few fish boshing in the early hours of the morning close buy to the longer rods. I looked good for a take and at 10 the next morning the bobbin cracked the rod the line pulled from the clip and the spool started clicking, the fish had soon weeded its self and all went solid. It was blowing a good southerly at the time with gusts up to 20+ mph so as you can imagine it was a real nightmare once I had got above the fish and freed the weed from around it, After a scary battle though the fish was soon in the folds of the landing net, I was buzzing with the result, there just a buzz that can’t be described when it goes your way on places like this, the reason why we go I suppose. On the scales she went 28lb 15oz, a true stunner, as they mostly are. That was it for that session as the fished moved to the other end of the pond, although I moved as close as I could to them there was no more action for me that week.
“I have spent what time I have fishing this pond since mid March and to say it has been one big learning curve is an understatement. The use of a boat is permitted on the lake and to be fair it’s a necessity, not just for landing weeded fish but also finding areas so as you can effectively present hook bait. And not forgetting to mention it is strongly forbidden to drop your rigs from the boat, you can use the boat to locate clearer areas and drop H-BLOCK markers but all rigs must be cast from dry land, so as you can imagine it’s very hard work fishing at long range to sometimes very small spots, especially if the weather isn’t in your favour. On more than one occasion when I have been fishing a spot at 150+ yards, caught a fish but due to change in wind direction or wind strength I was UN able to get a hook bait back in to the area. Very frustrating fishing at times. But like all things in life the bigger the challenge the sweeter the moment when it does go your way!”
Myles Gibson
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