| This feature of see's us focusing on 'Storming' Norman Carpenter, to try and learn some of this canal expert's skill on bloodworm and joker fishing.
The Walsall based match man plies his trade with Sensas backed MAP Garbolino Starlets. He has qualified for the Kamasan match man of the year final for the past three consecutive years, but in Norman's words, " I don't chase the points, I don't go looking for them. If there's a match with 10 anglers or one with 60, I'll go to where I can catch a few fish. How many other anglers there are is irrelevant." That just sums up how successful this canal angler is on the winter circuit.
Norman's season comes to life in October, when bloodworm and joker comes into it's own. With 18 years of blood and joker fishing on the open match circuit, he has a wealth of knowledge and I was only to eager to try and gleam just a little.
Norman's busy weekend schedule meant I had to meet up with him on a weekday afternoon in October. The setting was the Wyrley and Essington canal on the town wharf stretch in the heart of Walsall. A local angling club, Beechdale MG, manage this stretch.
It was 2.45pm when Norman unpacked his 17.5m Garbolino Renaissance pole, to which he confesses to having so many top kits that he has lost count. " It's either 20 or 22, I can't remember." Trays were removed from his carryall and everything neatly put in its place. Canal fishing can mean a lot of towpath traffic and can result in items of damaged tackle if one is not neat and tidy.
" How are you going to attack this today then Norm?" I asked. " Well this is a fairly wide peg that we have chosen, and as there's only us down here, it's going to be a slightly different approach to one I would take in a match." He continued, " If I had drawn this peg in a match, I would generally let my neighbours start to sort out their swims paying attention as to what line they were plumbing up, giving me an idea as to where they were going to fish. I would then look to fish some 1 - 1 1/2 metres further out up to a maximum of 13 metres, which is a comfortable distance especially today due to the weather conditions." We were now sitting in a heavy downpour with a light to moderate wind blowing from left to right. " Because the peg is wide the chances are the fish will back off at the start of the match due to the amount of feed that is being put in by my neighbours. I believe that the fish will not return to confidently feed on those lines for a while, especially the better stamp. By fishing a line a little further out, you may be on better fish straight away, but remember this is peg is not a standard canal draw."
" Today I will fish two lines. One at 6 metres out directly in front and a second line beyond that at 10 metres." From his armoury of rigs, he selected two. One for bloodworm and the other for joker, although to be fair both were identical apart from the hook size. The worm rig consisted of a number 3 Vespe elastic through the top two, 0.08 MAP Matchtec mainline to which he attached a .4grm Sensas Jean Desque float. A 0.07 hook length, 6 " long, was attached to a Leeda Prism 22 hook, which Norman states is an ideal bloodworm hook even though they are no longer available! An olivette is neatly placed on the main line some 16" - 18" away from the hook with two Number 12 droppers, the closest being approx 4" from the hook and the second being 6" further up the line. The joker rig was identical in appearance apart from it having a size 24 hook. " I always without exception use an olivette. Get the bait down to where the fish want it as quickly as possible. Olivette's are made for this job. Besides that, get the float dotted right down so that even the shyest bites can be detected."
Floats are very important to Norman and he has his favourites that are tried and tested. All have blacked out tips or yellow ones. In his armoury was the Sensas Romaine in addition to the Desque. All floats ranged from .1grm - .4grm. If anything heavier is required, Norman likes the Trabucco carbon X range. Again these are no longer available to buy, so he has had some commissioned called, wait for it, 'Stormin'. These are being made and marketed by M B canal specials. ( www.mbcanalspecials.co.uk ) " These are a good buoyant float with sensitivity, ideal for the tougher conditions the winter can throw at us."
 
Some of Norman's Desque and 'Stormin' collection
The depth was carefully plumbed and both lines exactly marked on their respective top sections. " This is my referral point. I will work the bait at various depths but will always be able to revert back to the exact depth. This also helps with rig changes."
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