One of our longest serving sponsored anglers, 32 year old Adam has been carp fishing since the age of 12, having caught hundreds of 20s and numerous 30s from all over the country, with a personal best of 38lb 10oz. Currently, he is a Minister at the New Community Church and typically manages to get up to 4 nights fishing every month, along with a few quick morning or evening sessions. Based in Southampton Adam is currently flitting about different waters, trying to get away from the carp angling rat race to fish some waters that are slightly more off the beaten track. After catching stacks of good fish, one memory shines brighter in Adams memory more than any other and this was when he managed to extract a 20lb common from ‘under the ice’ on a 10 acre lake, where the whole lake was frozen except for one 15ft hole, a truly amazing capture. Adam is a columnist for carp talk and has also written several articles for Carp-World, Crafty Carper, Anglers Mail, Carp and Coarse Angler and has even written in the USA for the North American Carp Angler.

44-year-old Andreas Karrer is based in Graz, Austria and has been sponsored by Fox for the past five years. He started carp fishing way back in 1987 and his current PB common stands at 30.2kg whilst his PB mirror is 26.5kg. He is currently targeting a couple of hush, hush gravel pits in Austria although he lists his favourite venue of all time as Lac Du Salagou in France. He currently gets to fish 8-10 nights per month on average and has had features published in a few different Italian magazines. He is a massive fan of all Fox products and cannot speak highly enough of them!

New recruit to the Fox Team, 33 year-old ‘Andy’ lives in Ruedesheim at the Rhine in Germany. He started fishing in 1987 on the River Rhine, but his carp fishing really started around 1990 with his professional carp angling career started in 1993. Over all these years he has fished all around Europe. He is experienced on many of the legendary waters in France. He has also fished a lot of very small and difficult lakes in Germany, but his main fishing remains on the Rhine.

He has banked many carp weighing more than 20kg, with his personal best being a huge 33.4 kg fish! He also targets zander and catfish, admitting that fishing with shads and lures is his second love after carp fishing.

Fox’s Deputy Chairman Andy Little is a very well respected angler and name is synonymous with specimen fishing. Andy has been regarded as one of the best all round anglers for more years than he cares to remember. He is equally at home delicately trotting a stick float down a stream for roach as he is holding on for dear life with a huge marlin tearing off across the ocean. In recent years Andy has had a huge involvement with the development of the Fox Sport Fishing brand. He loves trips overseas, big game fishing, with Kenya ranking as one of his favourite angling destinations. Take a look at the Fox Sport fishing website and Facebook page to see some of Andy’s tireless work in action!

› Marlin Adventure in Watamu, Kenya in the Indian Ocean
› Shark Adventure in Watamu, Kenya in the Indian Ocean
› Big Hits on the Reef, Watamu, Kenya in the Indian Ocean

Having been part of the team of Fox sponsored anglers for some time now, Andy has now joined his son Tom on the Consultants Team. Although he has been fishing since the age of 5, it wasn't until he was 13 that Kent-based Andy started to fish solely for carp. His carp fishing started on local club lakes and farm reservoirs, before in the 1984/85 season he joined Darenth and spent many happy years fishing this venue until its demise. After leaving Darenth, Andy went on to fish various venues in the Medway Valley, Sutton at Hone, the Walthamstow complex and Chilham Mill to name but a few. In more recent times he has enjoyed angling on a private ‘southern syndicate’, where he has landed carp to over 40lb (and a colossal British Record chub of 9lb 5oz!). Andy’s current PB is a staggering 54lb 14oz and was in fact landed on a Zig Rig! Like his son Tom, and fellow Fox members Steve Spurgeon and Chris Rose, Andy enjoys his match carp fishing, and is in fact rather good at it having won the British Carp Angling Championship in 2004, finished third in 2008 and then going on to win the ‘Champions of Champions’ held at Barston Lake in 2009. He has appeared in a number of UK magazines including the Angler’s Mail, Angling Times, Crafty Carper and UK Carp.

Arnaud lives in France in the region of Aveyron, in the South of the Massif Central. It is his father who passed on to him his passion for fishing from the age of 4 years. At 31 years old, "Nono" as he is know to his friends, turned his passion into his job and feels lucky to work as a river Technician and fishing guide within the Fishing Federation of Aveyron. A Regular author in the magazine "Planète Carnassiers", he likes fishing for all predators, with however a preference for zander and perch with drop-shot and vertical methods.

Having been lucky enough to go fishing several times in Canada and Ireland, he practises almost only lure fishing for the versatility and the multiple possibilities that it offers.

With his job, Arnaud is lucky to be able to pass on his passion and his knowledge every year, in particular to numerous children. For him, notions of sharing and respect for nature and fish are inseparable from his passion for fishing.

His personal best to date are: pike, 100 cm; zander, 88 cm; Perch, 52 cm; Black-bass, 52 cm

Captain Skip is based in Islamorada, Florida. As an offshore charter boat captain operating from the legendary Bud N' Mary's Marina, he's logged countless hours on the ocean targeting blue marlin, sailfish, snapper and tuna. As a backcountry guide, he's piloted his skiff across the shallow water of the flats literally hundreds of times in search of bonefish, permit, tarpon and snook.

Read more from Captain Skip in the Catch Reports, or contact him by email, skipcyd@bellsouth.net

Another ‘young gun’ in the Fox team, 20-year-old Carl Goulsbra from Lincolnshire is another hot prospect with a very big future in carp fishing ahead of him. At the age of just 14 Carl was crowned British Young Carp Angler of the Year and since then he has gone to finish fourth in the World Carp Championships and bank a long list of big carp topped by his current personal best of 43lb 8oz. Carl enjoys fishing a number of quite syndicate lakes in his home county and is also a regular face on the banks of famous midland day-ticket complex A1 Pits. Carl has some big plans for his fishing in 2010 so keep your eyes peeled in the carp magazines and the Fox website to keep in touch with his achievements this year.

Chris is a monthly star in Crafty Carper’s 48Hours feature during which he gets to fish a different day-ticket venue each month, and has also been published in Carpworld magazine. To date Chris is yet to ever blank on one of his 48Hours features and is widely regarded as a rising star in carp fishing. He has a current UK PB of 40lb and enjoys tackling a variety of venues from intimate day tickets to the mighty 300-acre+ Sonning Eye in Berkshire. Chris specializes in a number of different tactics for tricking carp and climbing tress and locating the carp plays a massive role in his continued success. Although he is one of the youngest members of the Fox team is certainly highly regarded and is set to have a very long and successful relationship with the brand.

Chris is a former World Shore Angling Champion and a current member of the England team for this year’s Championships being held in south west France. He has won some 15 team and individual medals. The 59-year-old retired farmer who also writes an angling column for a number of local papers and the occasional feature for the Sea Angler Magazine, has also written two books on Sea Angling.

While Chris is really at home on the beach, especially on the match scene, he is also a member of two freshwater clubs and particularly likes trotting a float for chub and dace on the Hampshire Avon.

Chris de Clercq was born in 1977 and teaches Moral Philosophy at the Maritiem Instuut Mercator in Belgium. Since 2005 he has lived with his wife and three kids in Bredene near the Belgian coast. Chris loves to spend his scarce fishing time at large lakes, rivers and canals in Belgium and France. The Pinnacle of his fishing career was the catch of a 27,7kg mirror on a very large Belgian lake in 2009. From 2006 he has played an active role within the Belgian carp angling organisation VBK, first as Coordinator Water Management and as from 2011 he coordinates the Rotary letter for the VBK Magazine. Chris is also responsible for the carp fishing section in the magazine Hét Hengelblad and has written articles for magazines Beet, Dé Karperwereld, Karper, Spiegel Magazine and Karpfen. During the 20 years Chris has been fishing, Fox tackle has always been an important in his hunt for carp. For example he is proud to be still using the first editions of the SX Microns and finds the Halo Zig Floats a brilliant asset for effectively fishing zig rigs. As from 2012 Chris will be joining the team of Fox anglers.

Chris Holley is a well know and respected Dorset based angler. Chris grew up in South London where he spent his early teens fishing for carp on the pits and lakes of Kent but his real love is for running water. With over 30 years experience on rivers, he specialises in the pursuit of barbel and chub with over 200 double figure barbel to his credit and chub to 7lb 10oz.

Chris has been classified by the media as a traditionalist spending the majority of his time on the bank preferring to adopt a roving approach with conventional baits to search out his prey.

He has been involved in many angling clubs and organisations over the years, being a founder member of both The Barbel society and Barbel Study Group, carrying out several studies on the species and their habitat. However, nowadays Chris spends much of his time teaching with tuition days and presentations to fellow anglers. Chris is also an NFA qualified coach.

With the best part of 20-years carp fishing experience to his credit, Chris Rose is what you could call a carp fishing innovator. Responsible for a number of products that you will find on your tackle shops shelves, Chris’ latest brainchild is Fox’s extremely popular Arma-Mesh. Chris believes this product has given his angling a massive edge in recent times and judging by the number of carp he has caught on it we cannot disagree. Alongside Steve Spurgeon, Chris enjoys match fishing for carp and hopes one day to finally lift the British Carp Angling Championship trophy. He is another fan of using the spod to fish large beds of particles and has used this tactic to take a number of large carp topped by a PB of over 41lb.

Cliff Kemp is one of the real ‘nice guys’ of carp angling, who always goes about his fishing with a huge smile on his face. Not only is he a top bloke but his ability of catching carp surpasses most. Sales and Marketing Finance Manager Kempy, as he is known amongst friends, has been fishing since the age of six and has caught carp in the UK to a colossal 52lb 12oz. His first ever thirty was the famous Bruno from Elstow 1 and since then he has gone on to catch fish such as Patch from Horseshoe Lake and Starburst, the Big Common and the Small Plated from Richworth Linear St John’s, plus many more. He is so good he even has a carp named after him; Kempy’s Linear, which is pictured here. Kempy loves his NTXr alarms saying “they are the best buzzer on the market”. The Bedfordshire angler loves fishing PVA bags over spod mix, this method he employed even before spods were commercially available, however, he is now very grateful for the Fox Exocet Spod!

All round angler Dan Williams is our most recent addition to the Fox Predator team and brings budding youth with expert knowledge to our ever growing Predator brand. Originally based in Farnbrough, Hants, Dan has recently relocated to East Yorkshire where he has taken up the position of assistant editor for Predator Publications and Carp Fishing News. At just 19 years old, Dan already has an impressive list of personal bests which includes roach of 2lb 11oz and bream of 12lb 10oz yet; it is his prowess at catching big pike that is really impressive. Dan has fished a wide variety of waters up and down the UK however; he would rate the River Thames as his favourite for the sense of the unknown which it provides. Loving to keep mobile Dan will rarely sit it out in one swim all day, preferring to try plenty of likely looking spots where he thinks the pike might be lurking. His most memorable capture is his first ever 20lb pike and he still regards the original Fox Warrior 2.75 rod as his favourite tackle item of all time. It is a real pleasure to have Dan as part of the team. You can keep up to date with some of Dan’s angling exploits in the pages of Coarse Angling Today and Pike and Predators.

Lincolnshire-based Dave Moncaster is a 43-year-old engineering technician who has been carp fishing for the past 24 years. He lists the famous Baston Fen complex as his favourite venue of all time and is currently targeting the ultra-deep Bundy’s Pit in Cambridgeshire alongside a quiet Cambridgeshire gravel pit that is home to a 50lb+ mirror carp. His current UK PB mirror is 44lb 8oz, whilst his personal best common carp stands at a very impressive 42lb. Dave puts a lot of faith into the regular introduction of a quality bait to be successful and his favourite rigs are the Withy Pool for pop-ups and the Line Aligner for bottom baits. He is very impressed by the Fox range of end tackle especially the incredibly sharp Arma-Point hooks and top quality Coretex hooklink materials.

Tackle shop owner Dean Watson is a highly valued member of the Fox sponsored anglers’ team. The 31 year old has caught carp in the UK to an impressive 43lb in his 12 years as a carp angler. Fishing up to six nights a month the Shropshire based angler loves a varied approach in his fishing. He believes in ringing the changes until you find something that puts fish on the bank, as he hates nothing more than sitting behind motionless bobbins. Working in a tackle shop Dean has access to whatever rods he likes however, rates the Fox Horizon XT as the best rods he has ever got his hands on!

Dietmar Isaiasch was born in 1968 and started his angling career as matchman. His extraordinary talent was recognized early on in the junior section of the Recklinghausen Angling Club and he went on to win many national and international titles. Dietmar considers his greatest honour to date as winning the first Predator Team World Championships in France in 2002 where he fished with his wife, Carmen.

Dietmar has fished extensively for pike, zander, perch and other predators for more than 25 years encompassing all techniques from both boat and shore and he started his career writing for the German angling journal Rute & Rolle; later he became co-founder and chief editor for Der Raubfisch and the Dutch journal De Roofvis.

For the past ten years Dietmar has lived with his wife in the Netherlands and currently writes for 15 different angling journals all over the world. His product development skills have resulted in the creation of many unique lure patterns resulting in him being appointed in 2009 as Fox’s European Predator Manager, responsible for the Fox RAGE range.

His trophy catches to date include: pike, 127 cm (20 kg); zander, 107 cm (15 kg) and perch, 54 cm (3 kg)

‘Ecky’, as he is known to his friends, started fishing at eight years of age and has developed into a highly experienced and passionate angler with a big fish instinct. He loves the freedom and feeling of being at one with nature that fishing gives him and he pursues fish with a vengence!

The all round angler from the Ruhrgebiet region in Germany has fished for everything but for many years his greatest passion has been predator fishing and he loves the versatility of this branch of the sport. He developed his angling skills on very diverse waters from flowing venues such as the big River Rhine to uncountable gravel pits, many big waters in the Netherlands and the Skerry waters in Sweden.

Apart from his numerous trophy catches Ecky also became famous for winning the 2003 European Pike Angling Championship title in Vastervik, Sweden and he made a profession out of his passion and since 2000 has run a prestigious angling store in Krefeld, Germany where his many clients benefit from his experience and professional advice. As Ecky himself says, “Where else can you infect other people with the same enthusiasm and pass on your joy of fishing and nature than in a specialist shop!”

His trophy catches to date include: pike, 126 cm (17.5 kg); zander, 97 cm (10 kg), perch, 57 cm (3.25 kg) and chub, 75 cm (3.75 kg)

37 year old Ed Skillz has been fishing for carp for over 20 years. Due to his busy job being a tattoo artist his fishing time is very limited, therefore he always tries his hardest to make the best use of his time on the bank. His personal best was caught on one of the hardest waters in Holland and is a superb 45lbs common carp. He mainly fishes with the aid of a boat which is a tactic he has refined over the years and he loves to fish with his 10ft 3.00 lbs Horizon rods, which are ideal for boat work. Ed prefers to target large waters where he finds the peace and mystery which are so important to him. Besides this Ed captures his angling adventures on film and photograph and he is the creator of the highly successful website www.carpcrossing.com: one of the most popular Dutch carp sites. He also regularly writes articles which get published online and in fishing magazines.

Fred, together with his best friend "JMB", is the backbone of the Belgian team. Both lure anglers are real freaks and love competing in the professional predator competitions in Belgium, the Netherlands and France.

Fred is also a team member of Humminbird, Minnkota and Scotty! The laid back but very professional Belgian always gives 100 percent and experiments a lot with different kinds of lures to keep ahead of the game in competitions.

His kind character and his watercraft make him unique.

His trophy catches include: pike, 113cm; zander, 93cm; perch, 50cm and catfish, 218cm

My name is Fredrik Johansson im 32 years old, I have been fishing for as long as i can remember. Zander has always been my nr 1 fish, I started out whit trolling and Coarse Angling but have now converted to Vertikal jigging. The most of the time on the water i fish pelagicvertikal a form off fishing i find almost addictive ,nothing beats the feeling when you se a big fish on the sounder rising towards the jig.

My trophy catches so far pike 119 cm (10.38kg) Zander 93 cm (7,8 kg)

51-year-old Gary Thomas is a retired fire fighter and now works as a commercial, rod and line bass fisherman. Based in Cornwall, Gary has a UK PB of 33lb, whilst his overseas best stands at 58lb. He has been carp fishing for the 40-odd years and as such has a wealth of carp fishing experience. Gary hardly fishes in the UK (limited to day-only sessions also) and tends instead to target the large, wild rivers in France managing two fortnight-long sessions each year. Much of Gary’s fishing is done at long range on these rivers and as a result he lists the Fox Ranger Rod Pod as one of most valuable pieces of kit. Over the years Gary has had a number of features published in Carpworld magazine and has been a member of the Fox team since 2005, when he helped Team England beat France on their home territory!

Royal Air Force Regiment instructor Glenn Beardsall loves nothing more than sitting it out with his rods positioned at range over a fair bit of bait waiting for a whacker to make an enquiry. The Fox RAF Carp Team Captain has been angling for 28 years, however, had to take a break when he was out of the country between 1992 and 2000. However, since his return he has been trying to get on the bank at least four times a month. Recently he has been angling on the well documented Wellington Country Park which he lists among his favorite venues of all time. Although Glenn has a PB of 45lb 13oz he still rates his first ever carp as his most memorable capture ever, all 5lbs of it! Glenn believes the most important item of tackle are hooks and he cannot speak highly enough of the Arma Point hooks which he believes are the highest quality range ever produced.

48 year old Glenn Maulkerson is an incredibly successful carp angler and after 28 years targeting the species he has racked up an impressive list of captures. The Bury St Edmunds based angler’s most memorable session to date was when he landed a phenomenal two 20’s, three 30’s and three 40’s in one session up to an incredible 47lb 12oz in just 48 hours! That is one hell of a session I’m sure you will agree. Glenn has fished many of the country’s top venues and is currently targeting Monks Pit in Cambridge and the notoriously tricky Nunnery Syndicate whilst Elstow pit 1 remains his all time favourite water. Fish care is high on Glenn’s list of priorities when carp fishing and he loves the superb STR Flotation Weigh sling, he believes it is the safest and best way to look after his catch whilst he prepares his camera equipment. Glenn is also a talented writer and has featured in Carpworld and Crafty Carper as well as appearing in the Angling Times, Anglers Mail and Carp Talk.

Professional angler Gordon Howes joins our predator team with a wealth of experience behind him. Gordy has been pike fishing for 35 years and will happily turn his hand to any means of targeting the predatory species. His favourite method is lure fishing and he would never leave for a day’s fishing without a couple of his favourite Fox Replicant soft baits in his bag. Gordon travels all over the UK for his pike fishing, however his favourite venue would have to be the Fens close to his Cambridgeshire home. In addition to pike Gordon has a knack of winkling out the odd big zander with a personal best weighing in at a huge 15lb.

Not only is Gordon, a professional angler, but he is also a fishery manager, a representative for Stillwater Fisheries on the Angling Trusts' East of England Fisheries Forum and runs his own predator guiding service. His boat is fully equipped with all the latest gear from the Fox Rage and Predator ranges and his guiding knowledge is second to none. If you fancy having a day out with Gordy visit his website www.waterlandfishing.co.uk.

Also a member of the Fox Predator team Gordon Howes can turn his hand at anything and with a UK PB of 51lb 8oz it’s safe to say he is pretty good at it. Gordy is a Professional Angler and guide as well as a Fishery Manager, so you can see he is heavily involved with the sport! The 41 year old chooses to fish hard for carp through the spring and summer fishing around 20 nights a month whilst over the autumn and winter he targets predators. Choosing his favorite capture is a hard task for Gordy as he has managed to catch so many great fish such as The Woolpack Fish at 42lb 10oz or the Lady from St Ives. The Cambridge based angler loves to fish in the edge, however, he can fish equally well at range, with many of his greatest captures coming from long distance spots.

Hannes Novak is 37-years old and currently works as an application solution manager for a US-based company. He resides in Vienna, Austria and has been carp fishing since the tender age of 15. His current personal best is a 29kg common carp and at present he likes targeting a large lake of 42ha, which has a low stock but is home to some monstrous specimens. However he lists his favourite venue of all time as the River Po in Italy, which he describes as ‘amazing’. Hannes likes to employ a very active approach to his carp fishing and prefers to go and find the carp rather than waiting for them to come to him. Although he has only been a member of the Fox team for one year he has become a massive fan of a number of products including Rigidity hooklink material and the Adaptive Camouflage leadcore to name just a couple. Hannes currently gets to fish an average of five nights per month and has been published in Carp Connect and Fisch und Wasser magazines.

Hans is a 33-year-old angler who is based in Utrecht in the Netherlands. He currently works for the Military Police and has been carp fishing for 25 years. His current PB stands at 65lb 10oz and he lists Cassien in France as his favourite venue of all time. Hans is very limited for fishing time and an average month will see him usually fit in just four short day sessions and as a result his preferred style of fishing is to use ‘hit and run’ tactics with PVA bags. Hans has been sponsored by Fox for the past year and he absolutely loves the Arma-Point range of hooks as well as the Coretex hooklink materials. He has been published in some of the best magazines on the continent including Spiegel, De Karperwereld and Het Visblad.

Newest addition to the team of Fox consultants is Harry Charrington. Originally from Surrey he has relocated to Essex following his full-time appointment as media assistant for Fox. Harry will be working closely with media manager, Lewis Porter, along with the fantastic team of sponsored anglers and consultants. He will keep you up to date with all their latest stories and captures and informing you about the latest products from the Fox stable, via the Fox website, Facebook and Twitter. Harry has been fishing for the past 17 years and the last eight of those have been targeting carp almost exclusively. Harry loves variety in his carp angling, one day you might catch him bagging up on busy day ticket lakes or competing in the BCAC and the next he will be creeping around the Colne Valley, targeting big old warriors on some of the country’s most historic carp waters such as Longfield Fox Pool. Although his fishing is incredibly varied, if he had to chose one method over any other it would be surface fishing due to the adrenalin pumping excitement it gives the angler. He has been featured in a number of magazines in the UK including Total Carp, Crafty Carper and UK Carp.

Better known as Chilly, Ian Chillcott is one of the longest serving members of the UK Fox team, and it is fair to say, is one of the most popular faces in modern carp fishing. He currently writes a monthly diary feature in Advanced Carp Fishing, and has a monthly technical article in Total Carp Fishing, The Chillcott Files. He also writes regularly for other publications. He is the star of Onlinefishing.TV’s Chilly on Carp series one and has just completed series 2. Both of which have been launched to huge acclaim. Chilly is a jack of all trades, but much prefers his boillie fishing approach. He has used these techniques to outwit some of the countries hardest and biggest carp, from a whole host of challenging lakes that include; Wrasbury, The Car Park Lake at Yateley, Horton, Conningbrook, Sonning and Ashmead in Somerset. A lake where he landed his personal best, a mirror of 53.12, on January 27th 2009! In recent times the big man has become a World Champion. He and partner Lee Jackson won the World Cup on the St Lawrence river in October 2011.

James is a 25-year-old fisher studies lecturer and qualified angling coach. He currently resides in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and has a UK PB of 50lb 8oz. He has been carp fishing for the past 12 years and lists the Carp Society’s Horseshoe Lake as his favourite venue of all time. James has been a member of the Fox team for the past three years and lists fishing with solid PVA bags on short overnight sessions as one of his preferred lines of attack. He is a massive fan of lots of products in the Fox portfolio with the Illusion XS main line and Arma-Point range of hooks being two of his particular favourites. James has had features published in both Carpology and the Anglers Mail and get to fish 6 nights in an average month.

The youngest and definitely the best looking new member of the Dutch Fox team is Jasja Bijsterbosch. She’s an 18-year old student of Forest & Nature Management, which is why she spends as much time outdoors as possible. Jasja’s started fishing at a very young age and specialised in carp at the age of 13. She can be found on the banks of one of her local lakes or canals almost every weekend and loves to squeeze in short sessions in the evenings after school. Her fishing styles are very versatile as she loves both stalking and a more static approach. Jasja’s PB currently stands at just under 30lbs but we expect her to catch a few bigger fish really soon. Last year Jasja featured in a large interview with Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad and with it gained fame in the Dutch carp scene. Now joining the Fox team means we will see a lot more of her in the future!

Known to his friends as “JMB” Jean-marc is 42 years old and comes from Fleurus in the Walloon region of Belgium.

A passionate angler since he was five years old JMB was inspired by his father and started his fishing on small trout streams and then the River Meuse before becoming inspired by the challenge of predator fishing.

JMB has now devoted himself to the pursuit of predators for some 20 years with perch and zander particular favourites. He particularly loves the unique challenge of lure fishing for zander, which requires constant refinement of technique to keep in touch with the changing moods of the species.

For ten years JMB has fished with a small group of like-minded friends under the www.zanderfishingteam.be banner and together they have not only fished their local region but also throughout Holland, Spain, France and Sweden.

JMB teams up with fellow Rage Team member Fred De Greef to fish various competitions including the NKS where they gained a podium place in 2009. Rather refreshingly JMB views competitions not just as a chance to compete and win but places to meet, exchange information and evolve his passion!

His trophy catches to date include: zander, 93cm; pike, 1.08m; perch, 52.5 cm and asp 72cm

Jeroen Flokstra is a 40 year old Dutch carp angler who is very passionate about the pursuit of carp. He does most of his fishing on the Abbey Lakes complex in France and is the Dutch and Belgian booking agent for this venue. Jeroen has written a couple of articles for Dutch magazines and is the editor of the YouTube series "Abbey TV" which gives a weekly update from the Abbey Lakes complex. He’s a new addition to the Fox team and has been sponsored by Mainline Baits for a couple of years. Amongst his preferred tactics is the Parachute Bag, which involves using a large solid PVA bag and a bait boat.

Jim O'Donnell is a UK fishing Author and Photographer, based in Devon, England. In 2004 Jim travelled to Florida whilst on a work assignment and fell in love with the Keys and their fishing. After several further visits to Florida over 2005, Jim and his family set up fishinginflorida.co.uk, organising fishing holidays to the Florida Keys for UK and European anglers. Fishing in Florida offers various accommodation packages including guided backcountry and offshore fishing; Kayak fishing and self-drive boat fishing.

Read more from Jim in the articles below, or contact him by email, jim@jim-odonnell.co.uk

Articles by Jim
The Tarpon Trek Spin 30-50

Jocelyn is French and lives in Lyon where he works as a sales representative for Homsys Group.

He has fished for carp since he was 13 years-old and specialises in targeting big rivers and lakes in France and abroad.

International carp fishing author and sponsored by Fox and Dynamite Baits and Navicom (MinnKota, Humminbird) Jocelyn has caught numerous specimens in lakes and rivers in France; Orient, Der, Cabanac, Biscarosse, Saint Cassien, Bin El Ouidane... his record stands at 29 kilos a mirror carp called « Jaluse » caught on the Orient Lake and has 6 fish up to 25 kilos

Read more from Jocelyn on his very own website, www.jocelyndupre.com

Cornish born and bred carp angler John Kneebone is a fairly new addition to the ever-strengthening Fox team and has spent the last decade dedicated to perfecting his carp techniques. He has fished on a number of challenging venues in and around his home county and is currently making regular 8-hour round trips to target the various lakes on the famous Linch Hill Complex in Oxfordshire. Jon regularly answers questions in the Mainline/Fox Ask the Experts feature in Carpworld magazine as well producing informative features for both the Fox and Mainline Baits websites.

› Watch and learn
› Fox Stratos 12000 MAG reels – User Report

Big carp angler John Mac is one of the UK’s most successful carp anglers of all time, with a staggering number of large, well know carp to his name. His UK PB stands at a more than impressive 64lb 5oz which was Conningbrook’s Two Tone. Based in Kent John has travelled around a huge array of venues, famous for the big English carp they contain. Sutton at Hone, Yateley Car Park, Colne Mere, Conningbrook, Manor Farm, Elstow 2, Richmond Park, and St Ives Lagoon are just a few of the waters he has fished in the past, with Wraysbury 1 ranking as his favourite venue ever. After 23 years carp angling and with so many impressive carp under his belt anyone would think it would be hard for him to pick his most memorable capture, but when asked, he never hesitates to say The Black Mirror, from Colne Mere, one of the most sought after carp to have ever lived. John fishes almost full time however; all he needs for shelter is the superb FX Oval Brolly System which he loves due to it being so lightweight and versatile whilst giving a surprising amount of floor space for a brolly. John confesses that he is not much of a margin angler saying “I can’t really be bothered with all of that”, preferring to opt for a boilie only approach in open water. But who can argue with him, his track record speaks for itself. All in all John is one of the nicest carp anglers around and boy can he catch them!

28-year-old Julian Chidgey from Taunton in Somerset is a very talented all-rounder who can turn his hand to catching a wide plethora of species. His current list of personal bests makes very impressive reading and includes a pike of 32lb 14oz, a 45lb carp, 11lb 7oz tench, and a 4lb 3oz perch to name but a few. He has been angling for the past 23 years and enjoys a wide variety of fishing styles and gets to fish a total of eight days and nights during the average month. Hi lists the Linch Hill Complex in Oxfordshire as his favourite venue of all time whilst the mighty pike is his favourite species out of all the fish he targets. As well as being a very talented angler Julian is also an accomplished angling journalist and has been published in the Angling Times, Carp and Coarse Angler, Coarse Angling Today, Pike and Predators, Beet, Info Peche, and Rybolov Sport. He has also recently started a monthly series in the UK’s largest selling monthly fishing magazine, Improve Your Coarse Fishing.

28-year-old Julian Chidgey from Taunton in Somerset is a very talented all-rounder who can turn his hand to catching a wide plethora of species. His current list of personal bests makes very impressive reading and includes a pike of 32lb 14oz, a 45lb carp, 11lb 7oz tench, and a 4lb 3oz perch to name but a few. He has been angling for the past 23 years and enjoys a wide variety of fishing styles and gets to fish a total of eight days and nights during the average month. Hi lists the Linch Hill Complex in Oxfordshire as his favourite venue of all time whilst the mighty pike is his favourite species out of all the fish he targets. As well as being a very talented angler Julian is also an accomplished angling journalist and has been published in the Angling Times, Carp and Coarse Angler, Coarse Angling Today, Pike and Predators, Beet, Info Peche, and Rybolov Sport. He has also recently started a monthly series in the UK’s largest selling monthly fishing magazine, Improve Your Coarse Fishing.

Meet Jurgen Weisz a hugely successful carp angler, based in Austria, but has landed huge carp from all over Europe. The 40 year old gardener has been angling since childhood and back in 1995 he began to focus specifically on targeting carp. For the past few years Jurgen has fished a well known Austrian Gravel Pit, with some great success. Now he is turning his attention to a big Hungarian pit, rumoured to contain some real monsters. Jurgan usually manages to fish two or three nights each month, however, in the spring and autumn he travels further afield to target carp away from his Austrian home to fish for up to 15 nights at a time in countries such as Italy, Germany, Romania, Croatia and Hungary. Jurgan has been part of the Fox team since 2009 and to date his favourite Fox product has been the 12000 Mag reels, for many reasons, but highest on his list of positives is the superb clutch which this reel boasts. Jurgan is a superb angler and a pleasure to have on the Fox team.

Leon Bartropp is one of the most consistent carp anglers in the country and year upon year he manages to put numerous 40’s and tons of 30’s on the bank. The 43 year old is an angling journalist, consultant and tutor so his knowledge spans far further than just catching big fish. Leon has been carp angling for over 25 years and has fished a huge variety of venues including some of the toughest in the UK, in that time he has landed mirror carp to 48lb 8oz and common carp to 44lb 12oz in the UK. We asked Leon what his most memorable capture was and he replied “They are all memorable, but catching ‘The Woodcarving’ from Horton rates up there with my favourite”. Leon loves the Arma Point range of hooks and told fox that the SSC pattern was the sharpest hook he has ever used and for this reason it was his favourite Fox product! Currently the Essex based angler is spending his fishing time flitting around a number of big fish venues and manages to get on the bank for around eight nights a month. You can keep an eye on what Leon is up to by watching his video blog on Fox Fishing TV which he regularly updates!

Fishing Days with Leon
"I've been fishing for over 25 years up and down the country at all types of venues and whilst I am known for catching bigger carp, I am just as happy on a runs water and can pass on the knowledge to give you the confidence to tackle any situation on your venues. I pride myself in offering a total carp fishing experience, whatever time you book with me it will be a one to one session. I rarely fish myself when with a client, the time spent is all about YOU and what you can gain and learn from it. You can then put this knowledge into practice both on the session and at your chosen venues in the future"

Email: leonbartropp@btinternet.com
Tele: 07747 635947

Léon Derksen is a very fanatical and passionate carp angler who finds joy in angling more important than the weight of the carp he catches. Despite this approach he has caught an impressive list of big carp with several breaking the 25kg barrier not only in Holland, but also in other countries as well.

He’s the driving force behind the bait firm Cipro and his attitude of only wanting to use the best products not only applies to his baits but also to his tackle, which is why he choses Fox. Every detail has to be perfect to lead to optimum results in often short fishing sessions. In other words, only the best is good enough!

Léon has become a well known name due to his work in the angling trade, but also as a valuable contributor to several angling magazines in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Hungary.

Lewis is the former editor of leading UK carp fishing magazine Crafty Carper and is employed by Fox as their media manager. He works very closely with all of the Fox-sponsored anglers both in the UK and overseas and produces editorial material for magazines and websites across the globe. In addition Lewis is also in charge of Fox’s advertising and promotion in the UK and works closely with carp brand manager Scott Day. Lewis is also quite a distinguished carp angler in his own right having banked two different UK 40lb+ common carp, the best of which weighed 43lb 8oz. His current UK PB is a stunning mirror carp of 44lb 6oz and was caught using a host of Fox products. He enjoys fishing on a number of venues in and around the Nene Valley including the 65ft deep Bundy’s Pit in Cambridgeshire. Lewis has caught carp from Bundy’s in over 50ft of water and is looking forward to testing the performance of a range of Fox’s products in these extreme depths over the coming years. His preferred style of fishing is a boilie-only approach and he particularly enjoys tackling tricky venues where you need to devise cunning plans to fool the wary residents into taking your hookbait.

Wolverhampton based carp angler Luke Edwards is a hugely consistent angler and there are never many weeks that go by without the Fox office receiving a catch report from the 30 year old. Having fished for the past 15 years with the last eight seriously for carp Luke has caught carp in the UK to a huge 47lb 2oz. He also enjoys trips to France where his PB stands at a whopping 63lb 9oz, bizarrely he caught two different fish of this size in the space of just two hours. Currently Luke is fishing Acton Burnell’s Top Lake and it was here where he landed his largest UK carp. Luke tries to fish up to 15 nights each month and always puts his faith in Fox Coretex for his hooklengths which are perfect for the combi-rigs he uses. Luke always changes his fishing style to suit the conditions; however, he does love using large quantities of maggots.

Young Luke Griffiths, around his hometown of Peterborough, has been making a name for himself as an incredibly talented carp angler. After carp fishing for eight years the 23 year old has a PB mirror of 40lb 6oz with a number of other 40lb plus fish to his name. Managing to get on the bank up to eight nights a month Luke is currently targeting a tricky 35 acre venue in Cambridgeshire. He loves pitting his wits against big carp, using boilie tactics with hinge stiff rigs, but due to the clear and weedy nature of the lakes he targets Luke needs tackle that is strong and reliable. This is why he has changed to using Fox Adaptive Camo Soft Steel, as he believes it is “The strongest, most reliable line on the market”. Having already featured in Crafty Carper and with youth on his side, don’t be surprised if you see lots more from this top angler in years to come.

Mark is an IT Consultant and has been fishing for carp since 1990. For many years he has been a regular contributor to Dutch angling magazines and several articles have been published in other European countries.

Because of his busy job, family life, sport and other hobbies and commitments he is forced to prepare and execute his fishing as effective as possible. Although Mark has already caught quite some big Dutch carp, that alone is not what he’s after. Variation in his fishing by constantly searching for new challenges and improvements in every aspect of carp fishing is what makes him more fanatical with each passing year. Forward thinking quality products from Fox International play a major role in this process which he combines with sponsorship from Mainline Baits UK.

Based in Stokesley near Middlesbrough in the north of England, Mark Pitchers has been a carp enthusiast since the age of 11 and also has quite a distinguished match fishing background too. As a youngster Mark fished for the England Youth match squad with whom he won a gold medal at home international level and a bronze at world level. Once he finished with the England Youth team he returned to his passion, which is targeting large carp. During a distinguished carp fishing career, in which he has reached the British Carp Angling Championships final twice, Mark has also banked common and mirror carp to over 50lb from the UK with his current personal best being the famous Benson, which he banked at a staggering 56lb 8oz. Mark owned his own tackle shop for 10 years and has seen all of the tackle available on the market, yet chooses to use Fox products as he firmly believes they are the best available! Now he owns and manages his own fishery in the North East and is currently trying to bank a 50lb+ mirror known as Black Eye from Home Pool in Gloucestershire. Amongst his most favoured methods for catching carp are floater fishing and stalking as he likes to observe the carp’s behviour and then adapt his tactics to trick individual carp.

32-year-old Mark is the newest recruit to the team of Fox anglers and is based in Thetford, Norfolk. His current UK PB stands at 39lb 12oz and has been carp angling for over 20-years. He is currently targeting the hush, hush Nunnery syndicate in Norfolk and manages to fish nine nights in an average month. Mark has been a user of Fox products for many years and is a big fan of many of our new releases and ranks the Zig Floats as one of our best ever! He likes to turn his hand to all styles of carp fishing and also enjoys the odd trip down to the river for a chub or two.

The ‘fusspot’ of the Fox RAGE team Markus often experiments with lures and he loves to test any new bait before he puts it on his line. He is, therefore, an essential team member who is not only especially innovative but also extremely critical.

Markus was born in Ulm in southern Germany and fishes at least two days per week, from the shore as well as from the boat. He puts his experience into the Elchinger Angelcenter where he has been responsible for the whole lure range for a number of years.

His trophy catches to date include: pike, 125 cm; zander, 98 cm; perch, 53 cm and catfish, 230 cm

21 year old Matt has been making a bit of a name for himself as one of the best up and coming young carp anglers in and around Surrey. The plumber who is based in Kingston-upon- Thames has an incredible knack of catching big carp in a short space of time. It took him just 17 nights to catch the famous and notoriously tricky Chertsey Mirror which is his PB at an impressive 48lb 8oz. In fact his most memorable catch was of a 41lb mirror called Clanger from Silvermere which came just 15 minutes after casting out on his first session at the venue. People may say this is luck but it happens far too frequently for that to be the case and his natural ability to second guess the carp plays a huge part in his angling. Another big part of his fishing is having the very best hooks possible and this is why his favorite Fox product is the fantastic Arma Point hook range, he told Fox that “They are the sharpest hooks on the market today, with unrivaled strength and a lovely dull non reflective finish”. Matt’s is very much a short session angler, having never fished a session longer than 48hours. He loves travelling light and moving onto fish and it is this mobile approach that has served him so well over the last few years.

Top Italian angler Mauro Pitorri is from the city of Rieti in Italy which is home to a number of big lakes and superb trout waters.

His wide fishing experience makes Mauro one of the best all round anglers in Italy with a stunning record of huge carp, pike, perch, zander and trout. Mauro’s list of catches speaks loudly!

Chairman of the local fly fishing club for over 20 years, he’s also the founder of many carp and predator associations aimed to encourage younger generations to try fishing and to raise money for charity. Mauro is a well respected angling writer for the leading Italian magazines and has appeared in many carp, spin and fly fishing videos. His secret is the incredible amount of time he still spends fishing almost everywhere.

Mike Holliday has been a USCG licensed fishing guide out of Stuart, Florida since 1986, the same time he started writing about fishing for The Miami Herald. A renowned writer/photographer and author of two books on inshore fishing, Holliday has served in editorial positions with Florida Fishing Weekly and Florida Sportsman Magazine. His writing and photography credits include most regional and national fishing publications, and newspaper stints with The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Fort Pierce Tribune and The Stuart News.

As a fishing guide, Holliday targets trophy snook, spotted seatrout, redfish, permit, tarpon and flounder on the Treasure Coast. Adept at leading spin, plug and fly anglers to the fish of a lifetime, he regularly pursues his targeted species in the Indian and St. Lucie Rivers and the nearshore waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Articles by Mike
Fox International Travel Rods Rock Southeast Florida Waters

Known by the carp fishing public as Spug, the charismatic Mike Redfern started solely targeting carp in 1995. He started his carp fishing path on some local day ticket waters before joining the Catch 22 Syndicate Lake in 1997, where he soon started breaking records for the amount of fish caught in a weekend and then in a season. The following year Spug decided to join the famous Kingfisher Syndicate in Norfolk, before moving to Kent and targeting the ultra-difficult Conningbrook, home of Two Tone, the British Record carp. Over a three year period Spug spent 72 nights on the lake and bagged a total of four carp including the mighty Two Tone at 56lb 8oz.
Spug is a regular face in Carpworld and Crafty Carper magazines and has also recently had his own book published entitled Carping Mad!, which has received quite some critical acclaim. He is currently targeting well-known big-carp venue Monks Pit in Cambridgeshire and lists he favourite approach as camping style with lots of boilies!

My trophy catches to date include: pike, 124 cm (13.5kg); zander, 92 cm (7.6 kg)

I have been fishing for different kinds of species for many years, but I always liked predator fishing best and the last few years I only fish after pike and zander.
Fishing for pike in the Baltic see with different kinds of lures and jerk baits, and also trolling after pike in big lakes. I have also doing a lot of trolling after zander but when vertical jigging came to Sweden a few years back its the style of fishing I use most of the time. Another style of fishing that I like is ice fishing after pike and zander.

Personal best: pike 13,1 kg 126 cm, zander 7,6 kg.

Introducing campaign carp angler Phil Bunyan who’s drive to catch big, special carp has left him with an impressive fish list. Top of the tree in the Swindon based angler’s album is the mighty King Fungus from the awe inspiring Wraysbury Pit One. Despite only managing to get a maximum of 6 nights fishing each month the 46 year old loves the challenge provided by large low stock pits and his favorite style of fishing is at extreme range on these big lakes. Currently he is taking up his biggest challenge yet on the near 100 acre Burghfield Lake, with the hope of catching the magnificent Burghfield Common. Phil is also a regular in the monthly magazines having appeared in Advanced Carp Fishing, Crafty Carper, Total Carp and Carpology.

Ralf is a real all-rounder who loves experimenting and catching all kinds of fish at all kinds of waters and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a small gravel pit or the Ebro reservoir Ralf has a natural instinct to catch fish!

Shads and twisters are on top of his list of favorite baits and whether he is casting or vertical jigging Ralf has perfect control over soft baits and catches consistently.

His trophy catches to date include: pike, 127 cm; zander, 94 cm; perch, 51 cm and catfish, 231 cm

18-year-old René Treffers is one of Holland’s brightest young carp angling prospects and for someone so young has already caught many impressive specimens including a personal best of 20.4kg. He has been published in a few magazines including ‘De Karper’ and ‘De Karperwereld’ and is set to feature in more titles over this coming year. He is currently a student at the Sport Fish Academy in Alkmaar, Holland and averages 10 nights fishing per month. He has been fishing for the past eight years and enjoys fishing on a variety of different venues including small lakes, big lakes, canals and rivers. This is Rene’s first year as a Fox sponsored angler and he already has lots of products that he couldn’t be without. However, when asked to name his favourite he said it had to be the Arma-Point XSC hooks as they are unrivalled for sharpness and strength.

36-year-old Richard Shelley is a territory account manager for Fox and also a very distinguished carp angler, having fished for them for the past 18 years. Rich is based in Cardiff, Wales and has a current UK personal best of 41lb, which was a lovely common carp. Despite living in Wales, Rich tends to do his fishing over the border in England and is currently fishing Cemex’s Roach Pit in Hampshire and Farriers Lake in the Cotswold Water Park. He has a number of favourite products from the Fox range including the awesome NTX-r bite alarms plus the new FX range of luggage. He enjoys and number of different styles of angling and usually gets to fish a two night session every other week.

Richie Latham is a 30-year-old fork lift truck driver who is based in Wirral in the north west of England. He has been carp fishing for past 14 years and has a current UK personal best of 46lb 12oz. He is currently targeting Monks Pit in Cambridgeshire as well as Tatton Park in Cheshire, which is the venue that he lists as his favourite of all time. On average Richie gets to fish six nights per month and his favourite style of fishing involves using quality Mainline boilies and lots of them! Although a relatively new member of the Fox team Richie has been using the Fox Equazer A-Line bivvy for the past year and rates it as the perfect all-round shelter that ticks all of the boxes! He has been published in a number of UK magazines including Carpworld, UK Carp. Total Carp, Advanced Carp Fishing, Carp-Talk and the Angling Times and has lots of plans for more features in 2011.

Having caught carp in the UK to 52lb 8oz Rob Gillespie is more than qualified to take on anything the carp angling world throws at him. Based in Macclesfield rob has 18 years of carp angling experience stretching back when he landed a 13lber when he was just 11 years old, he commented to Fox “To quote Richie Mcdonold, to this day it’s the biggest carp I’ve seen”. Rob doesn’t have a main style of angling, preferring to adapt to the given situation, and it is his adaptability that makes him such a successful angler. Rob believes the most important part of your whole setup is your hook and this is why he chooses the Arma Points as all of the hooks in the range are super sharp and very reliable.

One of the most familiar faces in carp angling Rob Hughes has joined the team of consultants with one of the most impressive angling CV’s we have ever seen. Not only has the Shrewsbury based carper caught carp in the UK to 48lb 14oz and overseas to a whopping 75lb 12oz but he has featured in 22 angling magazines, 12 DVD’s, 11 different TV shows (some of which have been across numerous series), various different Radio shows and two books one of which has been translated into 10 different languages! Rob has been carp angling for 26 years and in that time has fished in more countries than most will ever visit in their whole lifetime. Out of all of the venues where he has cast a line, Cassien in France has to be his favorite and it was from this venue where he landed the famous ‘Bernadette’, a huge mirror carp, which Rob considers to be his most memorable capture. Rob has also dived in many lakes around the world and has a regular feature in Carpology Magazine where he investigates some of the country’s best angler’s rigs on the lake bed which makes for some eye opening reading!

A member of the Fox RAGE team who has fished many waters for a variety of fish including exotic Nile perch, River Ebro zander, monster catfish and fat Bodden pike. Rocco has outsmarted all of these species and more with his lures and his best lure fishing day with two people in the boat was 129 zander!

Rocco became passionate for angling at a very early age and since the age of six it has been difficult to keep him away from the water; since he got his new High-Tech boat this has got even worse!

Rocco is responsible for the entire predator range at VF-Angelsport in Cottbus, Germany.

His trophy catches to date: pike, 130 cm; zander, 89 cm; perch, 51 cm; catfish, 236 cm and Nile perch, 55 kg

A lure angler with heart and soul Roel loves fishing, nature and taking photographs. He has been known for many years in the Dutch pike scene, especially via the Metersnoeken.nl website where he has attracted constant attention due to his dream catches.

Roel is an exceptional angler with an incredible expert knowledge that he puts to use at Stekelenburg Hengelsport in Valkenswaard, the Netherlands where he works as head of the predator range. Roel was born in the Limburg region and is a truly passionate and modest predator angler as anyone who has fished with him will tell you.

His trophy catches to date are: pike, 128 cm; zander, 99 cm and perch, 51 cm

Samuel was born in 1970, in Le Havre, Normandie, France and has been a keen carp angler since 1990. Most of his fishing is in France, on well-known big carp venues like Amance and Orient, Cabanac Lake and the River Seine.

2010 will see Samuel’s carp fishing rise to a new level. His ambition is to fish for 100 days of the year, travelling to Cassien, Dordogne, River Cher and some secret lakes in Normandie. He also vows to fish in Romania and hopefully Morocco.
His carp fishing preference is to fish big waters after big, wild carp using top quality products like Fox. He has been sponsored by Nutrabaits for four years.

He writes regularly for Carpe Record Magazine and has his own carp fishing blog.

› Catch Report

33-year-old Scott works at Fox in the position of carp brand manager and brings with him a wealth of industry experience not to mention 20-years fishing expertise too! Originally from Northwich, Cheshire in the north of England, Scott is now based in Essex and is currently fishing on a large, private syndicate, which is home to his current PB carp of 55lb 8oz. He lists his favourite venue of all time as Redesmere, which is located in the frozen north. He has a number of impressive captures to his name and has also made the final of BCAC on more than one occasion when asked what his preferred style of fishing was his reply was “a bit of everything really.”

Sebastiaan Verkerk lives on the water in Utrecht, it's placed in the watery center of the Netherlands. Therefore he is close to his beloved element the water.

Most of his fishing time is spent fishing with dead baits. Active or static from bank or boat.
He is constantly trying to improve his fishing. Therefore he looks at al the small bits and pieces that can be improved and will leads the way to more success. For this improvement he will not only be looking at techniques and tackle from the predator corner, but doesn’t hesitate to look further on other fishing disciplines.

Trolling with lures is his second love within his pike fishing. Therefore he also visits his beloved Sweden, where he can troll the big lakes.
Pike has always been his number one, alto lately perch and zander have found his renew intension.
Before I joint the FOX team, I was already a devoted user of the many high quality products that were created by the development team of FOX.

34-year-old Shaun is Fox’s product development director and is basically responsible for all of the fantastic Fox products that you get to use in your day to day carp fishing, plus he designs tackle for match, sea, predator and big game fishing. Due to a busy work load Shaun has not published many articles in carp magazines but in the past has featured in both Total Carp and Advance Carp Fishing and plans to produce more features over the coming year. He has been a member of the Fox team for seven years now and is based in Chelmsford, Essex, although he lists his favourite venue of all time as Redesmere in his home county of Cheshire. He is currently targeting a private syndicate lake in Essex and has a UK PB carp of a colossal 50lb 12oz. Equally impressive is that Shaun is one of the few anglers to have two different braces of UK commons. Aside from fishing for carp, Shaun, also enjoys pursuing a host of exotic species all across the globe and has banked some incredible fish such as blue marlin to 650lb, a 350lb goliath grouper, and a 50lb wahoo! Back in the UK he has banked Tench in excess of 10lb and has a PB roach of 3lb.

Stefan is a French professional fishing guide who also qualified as a coach in England, and subsequently joined the Professional Anglers Association. He is renowned for his attention to detail and an instinctive watercraft, and shares his knowledge without restraint!

Based in the South East of France where he guides British anglers for carp, barbel and general coarse fishing on natural venues, Stefan is also chairman of the Alpine Carp Study Group. His best fish so far for 2008 is a 50lb mirror from St Cassien.

Stefan provides his clients with the latest Fox gear, acting as a real life tackle test platform. Stefan’s pledge is to get people to catch wild fish from a variety of venues in the Provence-Alpes region, which is a guarantee that the tackle is put through its paces!

› Safety Zone - Part 1
› Safety Zone - Part 2
› Safety Zone - Part 3

Steve Spurgeon is widely regarded as a true thinker in carp angling and it is his ability to make the correct tactical decisions that have led to a long and distinguished carp angling career. Like Tom Maker, Steve is another keen carp match angler and has also represented his country at the FIPS World Championships, where he helped them scoop a silver medal. In addition to this Steve has partnered fellow Fox member Chris Rose in the British Carp Angling Championships on a number of occasions, which has seen the pair reach the final an impressive five times. He likes to use a variety of methods when angling but rates heavy baiting with a spod amongst his favourites. Steve started using the spod back in the lake 1980’s and has used this baiting tool to great effect ever since. His current UK PB stands at 47lb 2oz and he is a regular star in a number of UK magazines including the top-selling Total Carp and also stars in overseas titles too.

Many of you may recognise Stephen Webb through his guest chapter in ‘Still Searching’ by Terry Hearn. Steve is the type of angler who likes to keep his fishing and captures to himself, but one thing is for sure, this man can catch carp! The Maintenance Engineer has UK and overseas PB’s of 50lb 9oz and 50lb 8oz respectively. Close to Steve’s heart is his capture of the Mother at 48lb 10oz from his favourite venue of all time; Elstow 2. After 30 years carp fishing Steve is a huge advocate of small hooks with the Arma Point SSC in size 9 being his preferred pattern, he says the SSC’s are “Needle sharp and super strong for their size”

Bait maker Stuart Morgan never seems to put a foot wrong when on the bank and his long and impressive list of fish captures are a testament to the talent this 32 year old has. Partner in the successful bait company ‘BM Baits’, Stu, as he likes to be called, has caught 20lb plus carp from no less than 28 different waters. Add to that 40 carp over 30lbs, five 40’s and a 50 and you begin to see just how good a carp angler he is. Variety is the spice of life for Stu, who has fished venues ranging from 150 acre windswept pits to 1 acre farm ponds, with his favourite carp water of all time being Christchurch Angling Club’s 65 acre Spinnaker Lake. Having experience on such vastly differing venues means that Stu has an array of varying tactics at his disposable. However, he is best known around his home county of Hampshire as a stalking and floater specialist, with his PB of 54lb 4oz being taken of the top along with two of his five 40’s. After 20 years of carp fishing Stu now puts all his faith in the Arma Point range of hooks saying that they are “the most reliable hook range on the market”, who are we to argue?

In the early 90’s Tim Fromant was an angler well ahead of his time and even now he still puts more big fish on the bank than most. However, catching big carp in not always number one on the Geography Teacher’s agenda; Tim is also partner in crime to fox sponsored angler Cliff Kemp together they reached the podium of the British Carp Angling Championships in 2011 and Tim superbly lifted the Event in 2000 with previous partner Mike Winstone. These achievements rank very highly in Tim’s most memorable angling moments, along with the capture of his first ever UK 40lb carp in the form of the famous Bruno from Elstow 1. Tim has a big soft spot for zig rigs, in fact he was using them long before they became popular, his first ever zig capture coming way back in 1991 on Horseshoe Lake. With 28 years of angling experience behind him it is fair to say he has used a huge array of different hooks in his time, however, for the last few years he has almost exclusively used the Arma Point SSBP hook, believing the shape and point of the hook creates unbelievable hookholds.

Meet fisheries manager Tim Oatley, who is a fountain of carping knowledge for both the UK and Europe. The 42 year old is based on the Isle of White where he runs the fishing at the prolific Rookley Country Park and was in fact the first angler to catch a 30lb carp from the Isle. When in the UK, the qualified angling coach keeps to short sessions where his prowess at stalking and floater fishing has allowed him to catch fish to 40lb 15oz. In Fact Tim hasn’t fished a night in the UK for over three years but has this held him back? We think not! Four to five times a year Tim travels out to France where he can’t seem to fail. In 2011 Tim managed over 50 carp from France with seven 40lbers, three 50lbers, one 60lber and two 70lbers to a magnificent 78lb 15oz! Tim puts a lot of his success down to his favorite product of all time; the Fox Safety Lead Clip. Dropping the lead, on the take, is a very important part of Tim’s angling, due to the weedy nature of the lakes he targets. Believing that without this product, he would have lost many of the carp he has hooked. Tim has a great deal of experience and knowledge to pass on and has featured in many publications such as Carpworld, Crafty Carper, Total Carp and Advanced Carp.

Without a doubt one of the brightest young carp angling talents in the UK, 18-year-old Tom Maker has been hooked on fishing since the age of 7. Tom has fished on a variety of venues including the famous Walthamstow complex, which was the scene of his first English 30lb+ carp. Since then Tom has gone on to land more than 50 English 30lb+ carp with a personal best standing at an impressive 44lb 8oz. Tom lists the Linear Complex and a private Surrey syndicate amongst his favourite venues. Tom has an incredibly active angling style, which is based on keeping mobile and locating the carp to ensure every session is fulfils its maximum potential. In addition to the more conventional carp angling, Tom is also a keen carp match angler and has been runner-up in the British Young Carpers Angling Championships on two occasions. He has also finished third in the adult version when partnered with his father and follow Fox team member Andy and has even fished for the NFA England carp team. Keep your eyes peeled in all the major carp angling magazines for Tom as this is set to go from strength to strength in 2010.

› The World Carp Championships - Part 1
› The World Carp Championships - Part 2

The likeable man from Bremen, Germany virtually lives on the river Weser. He has loved lure fishing with a passion for many years from and has caught huge numbers of pike, zander, perch and sea trout from both shore and boat. When he is not at the water he gives professional talks and angling seminars about Dropshot and vertical fishing and his motto is: “Nothing is impossible!”

His trophy catches to date include: pike, 120 cm; zander, 94 cm and perch, 51 cm