Our team has got it!
We have got the big fish experience of Allan, Bill, Gordon and Roy who between them have clocked up around 120 years of successful carping, not forgetting Simon, Andy and Alex Bransby who are fish catching machines in their own right.
We have the total all round coarse fishing knowledge of Bob, Matt and Paul – an unbeatable trio with incredible experience of specimen fishing with most UK species.
Our two newest additions are Ian and Stef who are qualified PAA coaches. Both Ian and Stef earn their living by teaching the novice and experienced angler alike, to fish effectively with their available time, and baits from Mistral have been chosen for their reliability.
Oh – we also have Alex Osborn who catches far too many carp for his young age!
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Find out how to get the best out of Mistral baits.
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I have been carp fishing for around 35 years and at times have been quite successful.
My first carp came in 1973 and took a bait intended for tench. It weighed about a pound and a half and came in a bag of tench with many over 4lbs. These were big tench then but the carp stuck in my mind. They were supposed to be difficult to catch but I got one by mistake...
Bill Dawson is proud to be part of the Mistral team and is very excited about the No Name bait range. Originally from Luton Bedfordshire where he was sponsored by Leslies of Luton and was involved with the Insight Range. Since then he has caught numerous carp including Forties and Fifties in the uk from a variety of waters in the Colne Valley culminating in the captures of two of the most sought after carp ever, in the shape of Mary from Wraysbury at fifty five pounds eight and then...
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For the last couple of years I have been using Mistral Baits and catching some great fish.
For the past 20 years I have been working in Fisheries Management with the Environment Agency and its predecessors. I am currently working from Kettering In the Fisheries Recreation and Biodiversity department, (FRB for short!) looking after the interests of various fishing clubs and organisations in the Welland and Nene districts.
I grew up fishing in and around The St Ives area, both on the Ouse and the local gravel pits, my first loves were tench and pike, but progressed onto carp after joining my first syndicate at..,
I am married with 2 kids – maybe just like the majority of you. This curtails my fishing somewhat but I’m sure you know the story. I am an electrical contracts manager too so family and work do come first.
I started to fish at the early age of 5 but some 8 or so years later I starting fishing for carp on the Yateley complex. A few years later saw me on...
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I have fished for over thirty years, cutting my teeth on the Roach and Bream of the Norfolk broads and moving on as transport allowed to bigger things. Staying in Norfolk I went on to catch Carp from many waters from day tickets through to syndicates. I finished my time in Norfolk on one of the best and most secretive syndicates in the UK and did OK. I have plenty of unfinished business on this water but as I have moved out of Norfolk now, that will have to wait for another day. I now live in the Midlands and have some new waters open to me including the canals and rivers that surround my new home.
A new job brought me to the Midlands and after five years as a fishing tackle...
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I started fishing at the age of 8 when my Dad used to take me to the local rivers trying to catch anything that came along, catching roach, bream and perch sowed the seed and as the years progressed so did my desire to catch bigger fish. My carp fishing started around 1986 on local Norfolk waters and I was lucky enough to catch my first twenty the same year.
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I have been a keen angler for well over twenty years now, with I guess the last fifteen of those geared around the pursuit of carp. Much of my angling takes place in and around the Nene valley area where i live, although i am starting to look further afield searching for my next target fish.
For me it all started way back in the mid eighties at the age of seven fishing my local stretch of the Nene. Those early years learning and applying the art of watercraft on...
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Some folk endorse baits for money, some because it's fashionable and one or two may even do it because they catch fish. As a long standing friend of Allan's (Mr Mistral!) you might feel I'm biased. I am, but possibly for different reasons to those you might expect. I've used Mistral baits regularly for ten years and will continue to do so because I know and have seen what goes into them. There is and never will be any compromise on quality and that's all that matters to me.
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For as long as I can remember I was one of those kids who would be trying to use a net and cane pole, or my hands, to scoop out newts, water boatmen, sticklebacks and so on. At age eleven this developed further when an uncle took me spinning for pike and I somehow managed to catch a jack from the River Idle. Every birthday or Christmas after that saw me with a new fishing rod kit from Woolworths, or some hand me down cane or glass rod.
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Paul is a Fisheries Scientist by trade but in recent years has turned his knowledge of fish and fishing to the tackle trade. He is the brand manager of Wychwood and many of his inventions and designs are soon to be in your tackle bag if they are not already. Knowing Paul he will improve the Wychwood range further and further into the next decade. This is the quality of person Mistral look to for their consultants – somebody who knows what he or she wants and is prepared to work for it.
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I am a professionally qualified angling coach (PAA level 2) and the founder of Smart Carping – a company that offers tailored tuition to anglers of all ages and abilities, specialising in carp fishing.
I started fishing as far back as I can remember for what ever came along, mainly in Hampshire/Surrey area. I'd fish for pike, roving many of the now well-known lakes, and later switched to the match scene with success on rivers, canals and lakes...
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I am a French professional fishing guide and consultant for Fox International. I find it a bit awkward to talk about myself, so I’ll quote my friend Ian Welsh.
"There are few better qualified French fishing guides; an angler since his grandfather took him out at the age of six Stef is well schooled in top flight match and carp fishing techniques and has passed the PAA coaching course. With a teaching background..."
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I mainly fish for specimen carp but also enjoy fishing for smaller carp and catching lots of them.
Even though I have only been fishing for four years now I have met some fantastic people on the bank, and learnt so much from them. I can’t get enough of the old school carpers knowledge and water craft.
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