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FishBuddy Interview – Mike Stockley

20th October 2020

Your Full Name

Mike Stockley

AKA MikesCarpingAdventures

Social Media Profile

www.youtube.com/c/MikesCarpingAdventures

Where are you based?

Staffordshire

When & why did you start fishing?

Currently 31 years and have been fishing now for probably 15+ years. It all started when my dad took me as a youngster. We were members of our local waters – Fenton & District, these I remember being quite simple trips, a rod, float and some maggots not caring what we caught (how times change!).

My love for fishing started there really and like most I always wanted to catch that next target fish and that naturally led me into Carp fishing, which is what I do solely now.

Your best fishing trip experience?

At my local fishery Baden Hall in September 2019 where I landed 13 double figure carp in a 4 hour period, a truly tiring but brilliant experience that I am not sure I will ever beat in terms of numbers caught.

Which are your usual Fishing Venues?

  1. Baden Hall Absolutely – Middle and Lodge especially.
  2. Millbrook fisheries – Lovely lake with lots of big fish and so well looked after
  3. Cromwell – A bit far from me but very nicely site, good facilities.

List your target fish breeds?

Definitely Carp, cat fish have never really interested me which generally a lot of carp anglers love to target. The colours, shapes and sizes of Carp can be stunning and it’s as much about catching a nice looking fish than it being the biggest in the lake. I do however have a soft spot for a Common Carp!

Preferred fishing methods?

Traditional carp tactics really but only use two rods at a time, not sure why but 3 rods traditionally does not grab me. I would rather focus on two spots and give them my attention as during difficult sessions little tweaks can often be the difference. That said on difficult sessions having that third rod can get you a bite (playing the odds) so you need to adjust to the moment.

Favourite fishing baits?

Boilies and Corn. Boilies are the staple go to bait for most carp anglers, I tend to use DNA baits but also use some bright yellow pop-ups from Hydra Baits also. Corn is a great bait when there are not many nuisance fish like Bream to get in the way, underused by so many in my opinion.

What fishing ambitions do you still have?

I have had a trip to France cancelled twice this year due to Covid so spending a week in France catching some monsters is a must for 2021. From a size perspective i would like to catch a 50lber just to get me into that club.

On a personal note relating to fishing I am currently designing my own clothing which will be available within the next few weeks, I hope!

Any advice to new anglers?

Don’t over complicate things!!

There are so many rigs, tactics and so called experts out there these days. Start simple and go from there, you will find your feet and then you can start to play a bit. Confidence is a big, big thing in fishing so using a bait or rig because someone else does doesn’t mean it’s actually the right thing to do.

Other than this go to a runs water and get a bend in the rod, learn to play the fish and don’t just go to a big specimen lake as its likely to be harder which means it’s hard to build experience and it may not be fun sitting around for 2 or 3 days only to blank.

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