Carpin' On 2011

The Carpin'On show held at the Five Lakes Golf Course & Hotel complex in Essex, is one of the premier shows on the angling calendar, which thousands of anglers attend over the two days.

UKMA attended the show on the Sunday to see what was on offer for 2011 that we were not aware of.

The exhibitors at the show read like a "Who's Who" of the carp angling world with companies such as Greys/Chub, Fox, Korda, Nash Tackle, Trakker, JRC, Wychwood, ACE, Avid Carp, Solar, Angling Technics, ATT and many more with stands that were showing off the majority, if not all, of their product portfolio. Retailers were also in attendance and stands occupied by Johnson Ross, The Tackle Box and Climax Tackle being constantly busy throughout the day with anglers purchasing the products that they had seen on the manufacturers stands.

There were also some new bits that caught our eyes on when at the stands, including a plethora of new terminal tackle bits that impressed us in a big way.

Dutch company PB Products (pictured right) had some new lead systems which did not look that much until you actually took a look at them, where they opened our eyes to fish safety with regards to rigs. The new systems include both a lead clip and inline system that allows for leaders to be used with them that should a breakage occur above the leader, the hooklink is free to come off and the fish is not towing around a leader and a length of mainline. There has been DIY attempts to do this in the past from several forward thinking anglers, but the majority of anglers will not be willing to spend time doctoring existing products to achieve the same thing, and once the products come into the UK, there will not be a need to do so anymore. Other products from PB that were new included a dedicated snowman stop that stops the baits from seperating on the deck and also a virtually unbreakable bait band (which almost lead to me losing the tips of my fingers trying to break one!). We cannot wait to get our hands on these new products and put them through the rigourous bankside tests.

ATT had their range of alarms and remote accessories on display, including the new Neville alarm backs that incorporate an ATTx dongle in them. As a Neville and ATTx user, these were something that I was very interested in, and through speaking to Darren at ATT who explained everything that was needed to know about them, UKMA are sure that these will be a huge success. We will be putting these backs through their paces in the coming months as soon as they are available.

Solar Tackle also had a new product on their stand that had literally just come into the country and could throw the leader market up in the air. The new Solar Unleaded leader and hooklink material is designed to replace the use of leadcore in the end setup, having all the benefits of the material, without the cons. Unleaded looks just like the outer braided coating of a standard leadcore but it is totally hollow throughout which allows for splicing but it is extremely heavy and dense. When we took a look at it, we tried to see what made the material so heavy and could not see anything obvious, yet it was essentially as heavy as a traditional leadcore but infinitely more flexible and supple, which means that when used with slack lines it would take on the contours of the venue without any problems. This to me was the stand out product of the show and as an avid leadcore user, I look forward to putting this through its paces.

Trakker had their new Tempest bivvy on display, and from what we saw of it, it looks to be a massive seller even with the large price tag! We didn't get a chance to have a real good look at it, as the guys on the Trakker stand were constantly busy demonstrating it to others, but the new locking mechanism on the frame will make assembly childs play without affecting the stability of the shelter or adding to the weight.

The bait manufacturers were also busy with anglers looking at new baits for the coming season, and the stand out bait company at the show had to be Aqua Dynamix. We struggled to get chance to speak to the guys there as they were busy talking to other anglers and promoting the baits, but we did pick up some bait to put through its paces in the coming months.

Mainline Baits also picked up an award at the show for the "best bait range in 2010" voted for by Carp Talk magazines readers. Rob Marsh, captain of the Mainline match team was on hand to collect the award (pictured left). With the New Grange being launched very soon, 2011 is going to be another busy year for the Mainline team.

ACE Baits had a new product on their display in Monkey Nuts, which we have given our first impressions HERE.

We could go on for weeks writing about the show, and with the numbers of anglers that were in attendance and the overflow car parks being almost to capacity, the recession certainly looked to be something that had been made up by the Government! Anglers were walking out with barrows full of gear as well as a lot of top of the range items in their arms, so a lot of money was changing hands throughout the day (which is a good thing for the angling trade).

The Carpin'On show wouldn't be right without the main stage in the centre of the building, where numerous talks were held with some of the top names in the world of angling on stage. Rob Hughes presented the talks and with anglers such as Terry Hearn, John Wilson, Ian Chillcott, Ian Russell, Derek "The Don" Ritchie, Danny Fairbrass and others on the stage throughout the day, the crowds were entertained to the max with what was being spoke about.

Overall it was a very good show that was supported well by both the angling trade and anglers alike in financially worrying times. We decided to do something a little different to most reports in that we wanted to put disabled access to the test. The disabled anglers that have been to these types of shows usually complain that they are too busy and they don't get chance to take a look at anything due to being pushed out of the way or are ignored if in a wheelchair due to the stands being too high so they are not seen. So we took along a disabled angler in a wheelchair with us, and other than a couple of the smaller stands where access was very tight, he said that he had no problems at all with getting round or looking at items. The Greys/Chub, A.C.E, Nash, JRC & Korda stands stood out as the most accessible. He was not ignored whilst at the stands where he wished to find out more about the products, and could also see demonstrations carried out without hinderance. This is to be applauded as there were several wheelchair bound anglers at the show, and discrimination is a thing of the past in todays society.

Every angler that came through the doors early in the day, got a goody bag containing a couple of bags of Nash Bait which more than covered the entry cost. At these shows we listen out to both the exhibitors and the crowds for any comments made about the show, and we didn't hear any negative comments made by those at the show.

Roll on Carpin'On 2012!