Good Afternoon.
When I first began carp fishing in 1988 I was living in North London at the time. I fished a few of the ponds that Hampstead Heath offered, and one in particular was very special to me – the Vale of Health.
This mature pond of around three/four acres held a small head of carp and it was not an easy water. I suppose I could have fished at day ticket ‘runs’ waters to begin with, but not having a car at the time, and the fact this lake was within walking distance of my parent’s house, meant it was the only close option for carp fishing. I suppose I relished the challenge it presented and there was one certain carp that lived in its depths and that fish was known as ‘the common’. The weight of this beautiful chestnut carp ranged from about 20-24lbs and two of my friends had already caught it. I desperately wanted to catch it too, but it took a long time and many hours on the bank.
I was attending university in Bristol and some of my time was spent fishing in the south-west of the country. When I returned to London, the Vale of Health was all I thought about, and that common of course! I had started to suss the place out by now and was catching carp quite regularly. In fact I got so obsessed with the little gem of a water, that I started to put together a logbook of the carp to see exactly what the Vale of Health did hold. I had so far caught about fifteen of the residents and together with the pictures from my friends, including captures of the common; the total number of fish seemed to be around the seventeen mark. I had yet to catch my target.
Occasionally you would get smashed up rather violently and we all wondered if there was something much larger and much more powerful in the Vale, but while myself and my friends were fishing it, the common was the largest carp on record.
My victorious night finally came one summer’s evening, as the light was beginning to fade. I had cast a bait into the bushes spot, which was just to the right of the Bin swim. The cast was only a slight flick, and the carp used to patrol up and down one snaggy bank that was slightly overgrown and out-of-bounds. It was a funny place actually as it has residential flats with long sweeping lawns that backed onto the pond. A willow tree is another prominent feature and together with a large set of lily pads you have a wonderful place to fish.
Out of the blue I had a savage take which pulled the rod round in the rests. A friend was sat with me at the time and I pounced on the rod and applied sidestrain. I felt that satisfying movement as the hooked carp came through some branches under the water. Suddenly the fish shot to my left and I was now playing it in open water. After a minute or so the carp rolled and I finally realised that my moment had arrived. She went into the net, that I was stretching out towards her, and I was over the moon when I looked down at the carp that I had so longed to catch for such a long time.
I raced round to one of the flats and knocked on a door. Mobile phones were just on the horizon, although they resembled bricks, and I needed to call my mate Ian Abbott, to come and take some shots. In no time his red Ford Granada was heard coming down the lane, and after we had done some beautiful pictures, I released the common and then punched the air. It was a fantastic moment in my carp fishing life and I will treasure the day I caught the Vale of Health common. She weighed 23lb 12ozs incidentally.
Back tomorrow.
Jake and the dogs.
Tags: Bristol, common, Ford Granada, jake langley-hobbs, Vale of Health
March 11, 2010 at 8:56 pm |
Great story, but where are the pictures your mate Ian took?
March 12, 2010 at 3:55 am |
They are in photo albums, in a cardboard box, in England, Daniel. This was before the age of digital cameras…try using your imagination if you enjoyed the story!!
March 12, 2010 at 2:29 pm |
You made this experience in 1988 and it seems, that carp fishing in England was already quite sophisticated at this time. Where I live, catch & release or specialised fishing was a foreign word to most anglers about ten years ago and still there are many (mainly old) anglers who kill everything they catch. They don’t understand why one should fish just to return the fish.
Of course, carp anglers use unhooking mats and everything today, but I think in 1988 such things didn’t exist here. It’s interesting to see the differences between these “fishing-cultures”.
March 13, 2010 at 1:13 pm |
I certainly had an unhooking mat even in those days, although I seem to remember they were quite small back then. I also remember this lake had nice grassy banks so you could always lay the landing net on that.
I guess it is difficult for the older generation who always saw fish as a source of food, to understand that the enjoyment taken from catching a fish and watching it swim off strongly, can be better than serving the fish up on a platter! I also suppose if carp is part of your culture’s diet, in Poland they eat carp for their Christmas Dinner, then that can also be difficult for them to understand. We must be crazy to spend all of that time fishing, just to release a fish that would feed a family of fifty.
Everyone is different and education needs to change. As carp anglers we obviously care more, but to some folk, carp will always just be another fish, and I guess it is at the end of the day!!
Jake
March 12, 2010 at 10:01 pm |
First I would like to say thanks for helping re ignite the pasion for me and have enjoyed following you from your first artical in carpworld. I too spent 5 years(85-90) chaseing my first 20lb fish whilst doing my study. 3 different waters for me to catch on my first eve at the 3rd. 23lb 10oz Common within 2hrs of casting out. Followed by a 22lb 10oz mirror the next eve.
Yet my daughter has already had a 20 on her 2nd outing! My how things have changed. Keep up the good work and look forward to the next post.:-)
March 13, 2010 at 1:04 pm |
Thanks for the message Scott. Yes times have changed and a 20lb’er does seem to have lost its appeal to many anglers, they now seem to be frowned upon or looked at as nuisance species! I suppose back in 1988 there were probably only about 10 forty pound carp in the country, now there are single lakes in the UK that contain fives times that amount or more. It is great for the sport but has changed the way many of us view carp captures these days. People catch a big fish and they are criticised for catching a ‘pet’ from a small pond, someone catches a good brace of forties and he is accused of spending too much time on the bank, etc… It seems the whole carp fishing world has gone a little bit competitive and the enjoyment of the sport has gone out of the window. The fronts of magazines are to blame with titles telling people “how to never blank again”, “how to ensure you catch every time you go fishing”, “how to get the most from your overnighter”, “Increase your PB every session” etc… What would be nice is to see a magazine front that said, “fishing is a hobby, remember that and enjoy it” or “Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing and you will be happier when fishing!” Possibly now you understand why I like fishing in Europe!
All the best
Jake
March 14, 2010 at 2:09 am |
Hi Jake,
Thnx for sharing the story. I think experiences like this has made you the determined carp angler you are today.
best of luck
Leon
March 18, 2010 at 10:51 am |
It probably has…off on a five week session now to continue the search for my big common!!
Cheers
March 14, 2010 at 9:49 am |
Thank you, it was really intersting to read.
March 18, 2010 at 10:50 am |
Thanks
March 14, 2010 at 5:06 pm |
Nice history mate, great to hear stories of old, you know right back when! My first encounter with a carp was at a trout water in Germany called Borg. I was fluff chucking around a load of giggleing Germans watching me bust a gut to reach the middle of the pond, when my mate who was noddy bashing caught a gloroius Mirror Carp at arounf 6lbs, well it looked glorious to me, so fine was that fish that I made a taboo, I took my Hardie reel of my 9 1/2 foot Hardie Jet fly rod and strapped my pals spare spinning reel to it. I then bodged some lead system and cast what felt like to the horizon, probably 30 yards LOL, any how, 20 mins later, and a beer, which in itself was strange, you know drinking and fishing at the same time, not easy when your chucking fluff all day, I landed my first carp a massive, fantastic fighting 9lb Common……….well that was 10 years, 1 marrage and probably £10,000 of gear ago. That single fish completly changed my outlook in my fishing life………..long live carp anglers a breed of our own.
March 18, 2010 at 10:50 am |
What happened at Gigantica??
Jake
March 18, 2010 at 8:48 pm |
Gigantica, Gigantica, Gigantica………………………well mate I turned up nice and early to have a butchers, and I was well less than impressed with the state of the swims. As you know Danny has been away for a month, the weather had been terrible, alot of the swims were infact in the water. A quick phone call to my mucker Steve at Jarassica 2 soon had me driving another 170 miles to Bucy Le Long, guess what, when i got there, Dick was there also, so to say we didn’t fish to the best of our ability would be an understatement, 7 months of catching up began, we had a great week, the carp didn’t really join in, but a great time was had by all. I’m not slagging Gigantica off, thats not like me as you know, but the place was below par, just goes to show really what a good job Le Grant Fromage does around the place.
March 18, 2010 at 11:22 pm |
[...] updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginAfter reading Jakes blog about his most memorable carp I felt inspired to blog about my most memorable carp as [...]
August 29, 2010 at 8:02 pm |
having just read your article “catching the common,and remembering your name,it brought a smile to my face,reason being Jake, is that i bought my first ever bivvy overwrap secondhand off you,in 1990,i was introduce to you by Billy Oconner,and we met a few times down the vale.I to held that common close to heart,and guest what?I also hooked it one night off the same bush,only for it to get snagged 10yrds out in open water.It laid motionless on the surface in the moonlight for about 20 seconds,before rolling and breaking my line!!!In the end i never did catch it and eventually it went missing.started to see your name popping up in the mags with hippo’s in your arms,wasnt shaw you were the same Jake.now i know you are.feel free to email me any time,take care ex hampstead heath carper.regards jg
August 30, 2010 at 2:14 pm |
Hi John.
I do remember you vaguely!! It was a long time ago and unbelievable to think it was 20 years ago. The Vale always had that special hold over me. I suppose it was where I first saw proper carp anglers set up one day…I was intrigued, got the bug, and that was that. It wasn’t the easiest place to begin your dreams, but I probably had about 17 different carp out of there in the end, with a few repeats, so I think I had the place sussed in the end!! I used to love casting long to the pads and getting that satisfying feeling when you saw your lead flick the pads as it landed, trying to drop a cast into the hole in the willow tree, and then I got great pleasure catching from the other narrow end of the lake in winter after doing a little after dark prebaiting!! I also had a couple in the snow so it really did give me everything you could wish for from a water.
Thanks for getting in touch.
Jake