How extraordinary life can be. Only yesterday I was in the local tackle shop when the name Fred Wilton was mentioned.

I wonder how many bells that might ring with you, even with any carpers reading? Not many, I’m guessing, even though Fred has been largely responsible for much we see in carp fishing today and is one of the most remarkable anglers ever to grace the carp scene.

My last interaction with this exceptional man took place well over 30 years ago when I edited an interview he gave for a carp book I co-authored way back then. Carp, Quest For The Queen, you’ll have guessed, was its title and Fred’s contribution alone made it special so you’ll appreciate the warmth I felt to hear he is still out there, even working on baits to this day.

Baits are what Fred has always been about. I think it’s safe to say that whilst he has been largely self taught, his probing mind and research have revolutionised carp baits these 40 or more years past. It was Fred who pioneered the whole concept of High Nutrient Value (HNV) baits, baits that is with a very high protein content, a food that carp recognise as being beneficial and therefore super attractive. Of course, old carp hands will add that Fred wasn’t alone and Eastern Anglian legends Lenny Bunn and Dick Weale were working around similar theories on waters like Taverham pits in the late 60s but I think most would agree that Fred was leader of a small pack.

HNV baits are an accepted fact now, but back then they engendered huge controversy. The great angling god Dick Walker pronounced the whole idea as bonkers, maintaining that no animal knows instinctively what is or is not good for it. Despite the exponentialrise in fast food sales, I think most of us now would side with Fred and agree that carp at least know how to look after their bodies.

In 1960, we were carp fishing with bread paste and potatoes and a couple of decent fish a season was good going. By 1985, I was making my own HNV boilies and routinely had three 'twenties' in a session. The turn-around was that fast. Allied with hairs and bolt rig technology, Fred’s bait discoveries meant no carp was safe anymore and carp were caught that previously had been dismissed as uncatchable.

One of the many facets that make Fred so important is that even when he gave the interview all those years ago, he was sufficiently prescient to realise that he had let the genie out of the bottle, as it were. He predicted that the mass introduction of HNV baits would have a trickle-down effect, increasing not only carp growth rates but also those of tench, bream, roach and all species present in any given water. Even weed growth would be stimulated by the added protein levels anglers’ baits brought with them. Of course, the milder winters this century have helped these processes but not invalidated a single one of Fred’s assertions. It is in some part down to him that even us largely non-carpers catch tench and bream of sizes unbelievable in the 60s, even 70s.

But Fred’s wisdoms extended far beyond the biological alone. Let me quote samples from that long ago interview, ably executed by Norfolk artist Chris Turnbull I might add.

“Many years ago, I predicted that my discoveries would change fishing dramatically... I don’t think that everything has been for the good. I cannot see that catching more fish automatically means more pleasure. In the mid-60s half a dozen doubles in a season was excellent going. The pleasure of each fish was phenomenal. I think much of the pleasure of individual fish has now gone and that is a great loss. If you combine deadly efficient baits with advanced techniques... fish have no sanctuary at all. This is all a loss not only to the fish but also to the angler. The mystery is lost and the pleasure is diminished. Youngsters have lost all the pleasure of learning and catching small fish first - they go straight in at the top with big fish. They have lost all the pleasure of building up to this pinnacle. I can only see this deteriorating further as there is more leisure, more pressure and better tackle and baits. This is not the sort of fishing I want... a gloomy picture of the future is easy to paint.”

So, Fred, I hope you don’t mind me writing this piece. How nice it would be if it reminded any of today’s 'stars' that they are standing on the shoulders of a giant. As indeed anyone who fishes a boilie is doing too.