Good Evening.
I can’t believe how quickly this week has flown by. It is true what they say: “Time does fly when you are having fun!” Tim and Steve are heading back to England tomorrow for the winter carp society show at the weekend, and that will leave myself and the dogs on the lake. I have a feeling that I too may call it a day, as I have lots to prepare before I leave for Italy. You may think it is just a case of throwing a few extra items in my van, loading up my boats and then hitting the autoroute? That would be nice but with so much equipment to carry and some items to leave behind, and with crucial space limitations, everything has to be planned and packed carefully and there is no margin for error. It would be great to think I could just turn up at my intended destination and set up and start fishing, but that also won’t happen. Permits need buying, fishing and boat, and I need to sort out the all important internet connection. Without it there will be no blog, so as my readers, you will all understand how important that piece of the jigsaw puzzle is. Italy will be fantastic, believe me, and I want you all there to join my adventures.
"X" marks the spot!!
I have a beef casserole on the go at the moment. By the time I have finished this post the meat should be tender, so once again I am working to a schedule! No more fish have been caught and that just leaves tonight for everyone. How often do you hear that so and so caught one on his last night. It often happens and I am really hoping someone latches into one of the big ones; me or whoever!
I did have a small, one beep incident, on one of my tree line rods at around bite time this morning; 10.30am. I was reading the recent Carpworld that I had sent here, and whilst lying on my bed there was a definite knock. I used to get this sometimes in the summer and it was either a liner or a pick up. Needless to say nothing happened so after thirty minutes of waiting by the rod, I reeled it in to check and everything was as it should be! It is better to be safe than sorry though, leaving out a bait that potentially is stuck on the hook for example. I have left the two open water rods where they are for the final night and the snag rod has had a perfect recast and a small introduction of freebies over the floating nugget that rose to the surface after the cast.
Tomorrow morning I will be up early and will be sitting on the rods. You just never know what is going to happen in the next few seconds in carp fishing. That is why I love the sport so much. I think I mentioned this in my short write up of the river Lot. One minute you are sat reading a magazine by the rods and the next you are in the middle of the river, in your boat, getting dragged around by an angry mirror carp. Spontaneous and exhilarating all rolled into one.
Darkness has completely fallen while I have been writing this post. I have been enjoying the nights this week combined with a little reading, a little writing and plenty of sleep. The sleep has certainly been the best part! I finished Flash’s jacket repairs today whilst sat by the rods and he got rather excited when I went to put it back on him. I think he had missed his winter warmer and I had forgotten how daft he looks with it on! He then went off and came back with a small stick and gave it a good chew as if to say thanks!
Step one: Hold the stick between your paws.
Step two: Chew stick to loosen bark
Step three: Strip of bark with teeth.
I don't think it tastes very good!!
There will be a couple more posts before I leave for Italia and then there may be a slight delay till the blog returns. I will inform you when this will happen and put some good links on the homepage so you can read some good stories in the meantime.
My dinner is now ready. Fingers crossed some carp may eat a little tonight too!
Catch you soon.
Jake and the dogs.
Tags: blog, carp, Carp Society, Carpworld, jake langley-hobbs
November 26, 2009 at 8:10 pm |
Hi Jake!are u and your dogs feeling comfort?your blog is still fine, as longer as i read it-the more i like it.but i have one question:I have seen that u are fishing other rods now, did u stop fishing tony parker`s? and why? i wish u 3 (you+the lovely dogs) the best and nice greetings from austria!
November 27, 2009 at 10:09 am |
I have been using Tony’s rod since March at Cassien and I have used them every day since. They have had a lot of abuse!!!! I took an opportunity to get the rods back to Tony in the UK last week, there was an angler fishing on a French lake who was returning to the UK, so I gave them to him. My rods have slightly different eyes/guides on them to the ones Tony will sell with the rods. Plus the ones on my rods are no longer available/they are discontinued/no longer sold so it made sense to get my rods back to Tony who is going to strip them down and rebuild them for me with the correct guides on. I hope that all makes sense.
One other thing to mention is I am fishing very close in this week to snags and I like to use a more forgiving rod so I can bully the fish out of the snags if need be.
Hope that clears that up for you.
Jake
November 26, 2009 at 9:41 pm |
Hi Jake,
Still enjoying the blog every day. Good luck in Italy.
A while ago you wrote that you don’t mind fishing with other baits than the ones you are feeding with. It’s a different tactic than I am used to. When I trie to fish a water I try to get the fish confident with my bait, so that even I change the spot, the fish will recognice my bait as safe bait, so they take it with confidence. I use a snowman only when big amounts of bait are thrown into the water (late autum) so the hookbait will be token earlier. Your cathes prove your tactic works. I am just curious how you think about mine.
thnx
Leon
November 27, 2009 at 8:30 pm |
Hi Leon.
One thing you have to bear in mind with my fishing is as follows: I am quite often fishing a new lake with limited time…okay it may be a month… Therefore I don’t generally have time to get the fish onto my bait as opposed to over a long period of time where they start to find it regularly and then see it as a safe/natural food source. I am always looking for quick results and I find a bright pop up in amongst my feed, a sure bet to get a take if the fish are feeding on my bait. I do use the same bottom bait from time to time, and of course a snowman. I don’t have any problems about feeding my areas with two or three different boilies and fishing amongst them with a bright yellow pop up for example. I did this at the Orient and it worked fine because the fish were obviously hungry and were not going to turn their noses up at one boilie and not the other. I think when you are fishing a public water for example that does not receive the same kind of pressure as say a very busy commercial water, you can get away with a lot more for example. Fish may not be so line shy and they are generally quite catchable if you can find them.
On the other end of the scale if I was fishing a lake long term then I certainly would try to introduce a very high quality bait to get the carp on that food source, especially if there was a lot of natural food in the water. You have to or the fish aren’t getting the same kind of nutritional benefit that they get from the naturals. I would fish with pop ups of the same mix or bottom baits to try and catch them, but I would never rule out the bright pop up either. The carp normally only take the pop up out of curiousity and if you get them in feeding mode usually let their guard down a little.
You would not think you would catch carp on yellow foam hanging three feet below the surface, but this method(zigging) is deadly and the carp are taking it because they think it’s a bug or something similar, or maybe they too aren’t sure, so they mouth it to see. Then you have got them!!
Every situation is different on each lake I fish I guess and I always try each because one will normally work at some point.
I hope this answers your question. Have confidence in your method and you can’t go far wrong.
Tight lines
Jake
November 27, 2009 at 10:37 am |
Hey Jake,
Have to admit im excited for you about the prospect of Italy. As a Carp angler for some 17 years now i can definitely relate to how you must be feeling…as i sit typing this in the office all i can do is dream of what you are doing. To think i may be soon leaving the sunnier shores of south london to relocate to flaming scotland of all places, where a double is considered a good fish .grrrr lol Good luck pal
November 27, 2009 at 8:36 pm |
Geoff I know a Scotsman Roddie Bird and he will tell you: a double is a good fish in Scotland!! I have obviously visited Italy last year but the weather was too hot and I am looking forward to returning at this time of year and finding or trying to find a few lakes that will fish for the winter. I have a few up my sleeve so watch this space!
Oh..enjoy Scotland by the way
November 27, 2009 at 12:10 pm |
Flash has that hollywood smile in the last photo – beautiful pearly whites!
November 27, 2009 at 8:33 pm |
Yeah he often has his teeth whitened at the dentists when he gets the chance!!!
November 27, 2009 at 2:37 pm |
Hi Jake, met you a few weeks ago (I was part of the Army gang) and am back tom with my mate Chewy. What time you leaving as I have a new coat for one of the Dogs (mine refuses to wear it). If you have gone I will leave it with Danny. All the best and good luck for Italy (wonder if you will touch pasta again when you get back ?)
Carl
November 27, 2009 at 8:38 pm |
I will be here Carl so see you tomorrow mate!!
November 27, 2009 at 9:48 pm |
Jake,
Thanks for your long answer.
This is exactly the reason I like to read a lot about carpfishing. Every once in a while I read a different way of approuching. It maybe usefull in the future for my fishing. I never had that much of trust in pop ups. I use them on the river as a snowman to keep away the breams. I only use green,blue and sometimes white. The other colour are turning to grey under water very soon. (just a tip of a friend who does diving for a hobby)
Using different kind of boilies at the same time may also work at pressured waters just because no one is doing it.
Good luck with your trip.
Excuses for my bad english
grtz
Leon