Good Evening.

After the competitive events of last week, it is now time to get down to some fishing business of my own. Fortunately, I am not fishing in a competition and I am therefore under no pressure to perform. The next three weeks is more about enjoyment and recharging the batteries fully before I undertake a couple of really long sessions. I am fishing at Gigantica till the middle of July and in that time I hope to bag one or two large carp. Catching a large quantity of carp is not on my agenda; I just want a lump!

I actually started fishing on the Saturday night. Luckily I drew number 1 out of the bag; I drew last too! This meant I got pick of the swims. As my friend Ian was coming to Gigantica for the week, something he booked at the last minute through Angling Lines, it meant we could double up in a swim known as The Alamo. The weather and particularly the wind was in our favour and it seemed a good choice all round.

The change over day at Gigantica is normally quite disruptive to the fishing and after last week’s European cup, I was sure this week would be no different. A very large quantity of bait had gone in last week, so the decision was taken that just stringers would be cast out for the first night. Apart from a few bleeps, nothing else happened.

Sunday morning arrived, and after a good breakfast, cooked by Danny the Head Baliff, Ian and I set about getting our rods sorted out properly. The bad weather that was forecast seemed to have disappeared and blue skies and warm sunshine set in for the day. Not what we expected or were hoping for!

I decided to put a temporary marker out at the 80 yard range which I walked out first on the track behind my swim, and then put out a few kilos of boilies. One rod would be fished to this area. One other rod was cast out 50 yards in the direction of the lodge to my left, and I am also going to fish one rod in the margin to my left, as I have observed many fish patrolling them since I arrived at Gigantica. And as you may remember I have already caught two carp on plastic corn stalking along the edges, the morning after my arrival last weekend.

To prove this point even more, after the rods were out and I had left Ian in charge of the rods and dogs, I went for a wander along the margins to my right. I have got the stalking bug again, big time, and now I have started I can’t stop! I wasn’t actually fishing for them, more a case of looking for them; and I found some monsters! Since I arrived here it has been very easy to find carp basking in the shade, deep in the tree lined edges. On this particular side of the lake they do tend to be smaller carp though, in fact Danny calls it ’Nursery Corner’.  Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across a good mid forty. I followed the carp along the edge and it joined another group of fish, gliding in very shallow water under the bough of a tree. I am sure one fish was ‘The Giant’! It was absolutely massive, with incredible length, width and depth, and I could make out its small head and huge shoulders. There were about six other fish present and they all looked between 40 and 60lbs. I crept to the edge and just watched them swimming around playing with each other. Who needs to fish when you can observe them like this!

The night arrived and it was incredibly warm. The lake resembled a mill pond and confidence was low. Not surprisingly nothing happened, apart from a few bleeps on my margin rod. I am fishing tiger nuts on this rod incidentally. The day warmed up very quickly and by breakfast time it looked like it was going to be a scorcher. There was little wind and with the soaring temperatures, I decided to give the fishing a miss and went to look for some fish.

Surprisingly there were none to be found down yesterday’s spot, but I soon found loads of carp sitting in the snags by the Tree Line swim. When I say loads, I mean loads. It looked like carp soup. I don’t want to exaggerate here, but I lost count of how many big fish I observed. It was difficult to contain my excitement any longer and I had to go back for my camera. Fishing for these carp in the snags is not allowed and to be honest it is not safe stalking. If you did hook one, there is little chance of landing it, and it seems unfair to ruin their little sanctuary. I think carp on all lakes need an area where they feel unthreatened and can relax, yet it is also great if you can quietly observe them.

The pictures were taken using a polarising filter and it really was like looking into an aquarium full of giant carp.

In the end I dragged myself away. I have a feeling my fishing style is going to be rather relaxed for the next three weeks! As I write this now at 23.12pm I have only just put my rods out with stringers! It is a very still night again, and by all accounts we are in for a very hot week; temperatures up to 85F and very little wind 5 – 10 mph. The fishing conditions are not looking fantastic, and I think zigs may be the best bet in the daytime, so tomorrow I will be having a play around with different depths and colours. According to Mr Turtle, the carp do like a zig at Gigantica.

Catch you lot later.

Jake Langley-Hobbs & his Doberman dogs.

Tags: carp, Gigantica, jake langley-hobbs, zig

This entry was posted on June 29, 2009 at 11:28 pm and is filed under Gigantica. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.