Team Trakker Blog

It’s been a hectic summer for me this year with my boxing career growing by the second and my fishing plans changing at the last minute with ups and downs along the way. So let’s recap you guys on what’s been happening from April to July and start from the beginning. In my last blog I managed to catch one of my last two targets from Farlows known as the ‘Mid Italian’ with my last target being one of the big original commons. I did manage a 28lb common in the same session as catching the Mid Italian, but catching a 30lb+ common from Farlows is a bit special as there’s only a handful in there.

With only a couple of weeks left until I was due back in the gym sweating buckets for my next fight, I managed three more sessions on Farlows, one which was filming with Joe Morgan and Carp-TV It turned out to be a great session and I managed to catch a handful of scaley stunners to 20lb in a quick overnighter live for the cameras. The second session was a 24-hour social where I caught 12 carp to 28lb 13oz and the final session being one of my best on the venue where I caught 15 carp in 24hrs including two x 30s, one of them a 30+ common at 32lb 4oz! And the best part is yet to come, this session was live for the Total Carp magazine feature on my debut for the magazine, can’t get much better than that! My last target on my last session and all caught live for a mag article, perfect.

After a successful spring on Farlows, my rods had to be packed away, as it was fight time and I had a boxing bout lined up on the 6th July, which meant I had to start an eight week training camp leading up to the bout. My plan after the bout was to jump back onto Richmond Park for a second attempt at the Royal after failing to land her in my first year on the venue. After a long eight weeks, the fight was finally here and training camp went very well. This showed in the fight as I managed to stop my opponent in the first minute of the first round; a quick nights work I’d say. I was over the moon with the win as I was fighting a tough, seasoned opponent who had over 27 fights.

It seemed like it was years since I last wetted a line. I’d not really thought about fishing while torturing my body in training leading up to the fight, so after the fight you can imagine how buzzing I was to get the rods back out and down to Richmond Park. But that dream was crushed when I went to purchase my ticket from Richmond office to be told I’d been banned due to allegedly fishing during the deer cull the previous year. Being angry was an understatement and I argued my innocence to the lady in the office, I was told the only thing I could do is write a letter of appeal, which she told me at the office is a long process. Great, that’s my chances of fishing Richmond this year down the pan.

Now I needed a new plan of where to fish while I pushed my appeal at Richmond. I decided to purchase a ticket for Silvermere Golf Lake. It’s a tricky venue with a stock of around 20 carp, with the biggest being a sought after carp called Clanger weighing between the 42-45lb mark. Silvermere was a venue I would always have fished but the plan was to fish it after Richmond. There are four original history fish I’ve always wanted to catch which have survived two fish kills. The Linear, Breamy Common, The Blind Fish and Clanger. Silvermere is very shallow with 3ft-4ft being the deepest and thick silt in places. The lake is around six acres and as it’s in the middle of a golf course full of golf balls. During my first session I got off to a flying start, managing to catch five carp including two of my targets, the big linear at 27lb 7oz and the blind fish at 24lb 4oz all in my first session, what a great start! Was it first time luck? Only time will tell.

After arranging a social with a mate, I couldn’t get back down to Silvermere for a good two weeks and my next session on the bank would be for a 24 hour social at Thorney Weir. Thorney is a day ticket venue right near Farlows and is a venue I’ve never been to before but was eager to fish due to a great stock of old scaley Colne Valley corkers like Farlows. With my fishing form still flowing from my Silvermere haul, I managed nine carp with a stunning old Thorney mirror at 29lb 6oz; not a bad taster at all. I was actually thinking of fishing Thorney Weir next spring as a spring campaign and banking these stunning carp got my juices flowing and excitement going for next spring.

It was my third session on Silvermere where I managed to bank my third target, (with my second session only producing a 22lb 8oz stockie) the Breamy Common. This is the second biggest fish in Silvermere and she graced my net at 29lb 8oz… a real old common which put up one hell of a fight. It was the only fish I caught that session but I must be moving close to catching my last target Clanger, the lakes biggie. With the time ticking away and boxing commitments fast approaching will I manage to catch Clanger before winter comes knocking? Find out in my next blog instalment…

Until then tight lines and be lucky,

Warren Fenn