Comments on: Catching The Common!

By: Russell Enstone

Russell Enstone — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:59:16 +0000

I remember the vale of health from 1975 ,was only a kid.My freinds and i would go and fishing every weekend.Being a kids we used to fish for the smaller fish in the pond of which there was plenty.I used to watch older anglers come and fish for carp and one weekend i was there to witness a 36lb common being caught.I recently went back there with 2 of my children to fish and my how the place has change .The wall swim as we used to call it and the bank that used to run to the first swim on the road has shrunk and now only the wall swim remains.There were only about 5 places to fish on it .As there were 2 carp anglers in the wall swim we set up in the willow tree swim where there is now a load of lilly pads now . I put out a bait near the lillies and then started fishing with the kids to see if we could catch some small fish.All we could catch was perch.Where have all the roach ,bream and tench gone. I will be going back soon to see if i can catch my first Hampstead carp.There still in there as the guys fishing in the wall swim had an 18lb when we were there .The place holds some wonderful childhood memories.
Tight Lines
Russ

By: john grant

john grant — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 10:25:33 +0000

Hi Jake,just back from a holiday in Turkey,no fishing tho!!! Yes i remember the old pads infront of the willow, and casting as tight as i dared to them,in return would produce more takes,i also caught well,wading down to my left,in the bin swim,and casting over tight to the back garden margins.The vale was my first serious carpfishing pond,after catching the odd carp and plenty of tench from the highgate ponds.I still remember catching my 1st 20 pounder from there, like it was yesterday, does’nt life fly by!!!From there i moved on to fishing the walthamstow ressie’s,oxford ,and colne valley day ticket waters,and now settled on a few syndicates in the colne valley.Iv not done loads abroad,but had some success in Holland,France,USA,and Canada. Keep at it,follow your dream,best of luck Regards John

By: thebigcarphunter

thebigcarphunter — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:14:15 +0000

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

By: john grant

john grant — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:02:57 +0000

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

By: Mirror carp of 20lb taken from a french lake in 1994 | The MasterBlanker

Mirror carp of 20lb taken from a french lake in 1994 | The MasterBlanker — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:22:59 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: Rodders

Rodders — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:48:11 +0000

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.

By: thebigcarphunter

thebigcarphunter — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:51:18 +0000

It probably has…off on a five week session now to continue the search for my big common!!

Cheers

By: thebigcarphunter

thebigcarphunter — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:50:34 +0000

Thanks

By: thebigcarphunter

thebigcarphunter — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:50:24 +0000

What happened at Gigantica??

Jake

By: Rodders

Rodders — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:06:04 +0000

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.