Chilled selection

It has been a quiet year for fishing and blogging as I have been busy with contract work and looking for something full time – we’ll that’s my excuse! Much as I would love to be fishing, work is the priority as is getting value for money in life and also carplife.

In carplife (after tackle and tickets) the money goes on bait; boilies, glugs, dips, paste, particles et al, it soon adds up.

This is backed up by the recent fishing survey that had carp anglers spending a whopping £258.6 million a year collectively during an annual total of 7.4 million days in the bank; that’s just under £35 a trip all in.

If you think about it, you are just throwing money in the lake! This is especially the case when blanking, where the feel good factor of a catch is not there.

Having said that I call this “active” pre-baiting to make myself feel better!

Now back on the train to London having got a new contract, I am thinking about lunch, something cheap and cheerful, the meal deal!

There are plenty of options on the high street as there are carp magazines in the newsagents that also come with a subscription deal, the carpy “meal deal”.

You get boilies (the sandwich), a gulg (the drink), and some pop-ups (the sweet treat) and some throw in a few extras so where is the best value?

For ease of comparison here is a snapshot of a few annual subscription deals at the time of writing:

• Carpology: £89.99 – 13 issues, a massive 10kg of Mainline freezer boilies, two tubs of Dissolva hookbaits, a book, some fake bait, a little box and a 3oz feature finding lead – but no drink! Pricey, extra mag and some bits and bobs that’ll live at the bottom of the tackle bag – for the tackle tart.

• Carpworld: £65.00 – 12 issues, 4kg of DNA Baits boilies and pellets, a tub of Half Tones pop-ups and 250ml soak. Cheapest and a magazine with a great heritage – for a serious weekender.

• Total Carp: £65.75 – 13 issues, 3kg of Crafty Catcher boilies, one tub of pop-ups, 100ml Munga Juice, a beanie hat plus a branded cool bag, which makes me think the boilies are frozen. Lower mid range, general magazine for tips and techniques, extra issue and very useful bonus items – for the novice.

• BC Obsessions: £80.00 – 12 issues, 4kg of Urban Bait boilies, pellets and stick mix, 500ml gulg, Liver Cracker powder, five tubs of pop-ups (various colours) and a tub of hardened hook baits. Upper mid range, a proper carpy magazine, a no messing deal for the professional.

But all these pale into insignificance when you look at an old issue of Carpworld, from a recent “Throwback” by Julian Cundiff, where a £1,000 of bait was up for grabs in a competition!

Plus another £500 Nash competition, now that’s carpy.

So with Christmas coming a subscription deal could be the perfect present. They are all good value depending on your needs and bait preferences so really it’s just a question of how many kilos of boilies you can get in the freezer with all that left over turkey!

Tightlines and waistlines!