Good Evening.
I have just finished off a cold cup of coffee and am wearing my waders as I write tonight’s post. Two commons have just been landed in the last thirty minutes and that makes six more since yesterday’s post. I am hoping to catch a couple more before the session ends to make my total a nice round number – forty. Wouldn’t it be amazing if my fortieth carp was a forty too!
By Jove...I do believe it's a mirror!
Last night’s action started off quickly and I had a savage take on the long-range rod while it was still light. A great scrap took place and eventually I netted a long…wait for it…mirror carp! At last I have caught one and what a great looking carp too! As I returned to shore, after first dropping the rod back in position, I noticed I had received a take on the 11pm rod. “Not a problem,” I thought. I have two landing nets set up for moments like this, so I left the mirror in the first net, draped over a pole in the water, took the other rod and my spare net, and went out and successfully landed a small common. It kind of made up for the time when I had two takes at once, when my petrol outboard had packed up, and I was helpless as I made my way to the first fish which had shed the hook, and then when I finally got to the second rod, that one had also done a runner. Sweet revenge was now mine!
The long-range rod produced another small common in the wee hours at 3am, and after replacing the hook and hook bait out in the boat, and dropping the rod back in position, I returned to my bed. A drop back occurred on the same rod at first light and after legging it to the rod, there was nothing there when I wound down; however, the fish had ejected the lead! I left that rod where it was till later, and went back to bed to carry on my beauty sleep for another hour!
Once up I started making dents into the packing up and after one trip to the van, I had a take as I reached the swim. The long-range rod which I had put back in place, shortly after waking up, was off again! The strong fish managed to kite into a weed bed by the time I reached it, and after a lot of untangling, and feeling around, I managed to handline the 20lb common into the net. I don’t know who was more surprised – me or the carp!
I could hear the dogs barking as I made my way back in the boat. I could see two people near my van and on closer inspection they turned out to be the mega-keen Romanian fisherman who have been angling to my left, on and off, since I arrived. They had just arrived for another session, and as anglers go, they are as enthusiastic as myself. They often turn up just as it’s getting dark, do a quick night, and then disappear in the morning. They are fishing for any species so I showed them the carp I had just caught and asked if they would kill and eat it. “Yes,” they replied. “For us carp are food.”
Now some people may frown at that and I imagine carp anglers would get very annoyed. I am a carp angler and I would never kill a carp. I think this all comes down to culture, education, and tradition. The Polish eat carp on Christmas Day for example, and I do believe one of the major supermarkets in the UK have actually started selling carp on the fish counter. Whatever you may think on the subject, we have to respect people’s different views in Europe. I can completely understand UK carp anglers getting very agitated when carp are killed and taken from their lakes, and I wholeheartedly agree that this practice is wrong. The UK has always had a catch and release policy when it comes to coarse fish, and game fish have to be a certain size, to be knocked on the head for the table. However, in Europe it is quite different and some people just see fish as fish, and they are food for the family and table. Carp anglers and the average angler generally follow the catch and release policy, but you try telling an old Italian or Romanian fisherman, who was taught to fish by his father and grandfather, that it is wrong to kill a fish. I suppose in a funny reverse kind of way it comes back to the mouse incident the other day…I set traps and kill them, and some people wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing.
"Come out of that weed bed!!"
Anyway…back to my story! My battery on my remote control device for my camera has finally faded, so I asked one of the Romanian lads to press the shutter release button on my camera, once I had set it up on the tripod. They both happily obliged and after I had weighed the fish, we admired it, and I let her go. In case you are wondering, they didn’t try to jump in after it, or shake their heads in disgust as I released the fish. They understand that I return my fish and for myself it is purely a sport that I undertake, albeit rather seriously!
Ciprian, Flash, and Avras!!
I continued with the packing up and had a single beep on my ATT receiver whilst I was putting a bivvy in the van. I could see the rod tip pulling forwards so I ran the twenty yards back to my swim and grabbed the rod. It was the 11pm rod and the fish came away easily from the edge. This one started kiting to my left, so after about twenty seconds of winding I took to the boat. The line was caught around a branch under the water, so I had to free that first. The fish seeing his chance, found another snag, and after I finally got in direct contact, I could feel the carp pulling, but could also feel that grating sensation coming up the line. The fish suddenly pulled harder and it was gone! The hook was left in a small branch which I managed to pull up off the bottom, so I quickly checked everything, got it back on the spot, rebaited, and returned to my swim.
Pippo arrived for a quick coffee late afternoon as I was finishing the packing for the day. I have decided tonight to launch a full-on Dynamite Bait’s Chocolate Malt attack, as the nuisance species have started getting more active, and the Mussel and Oyster pop-ups are getting hen-pecked! The Choccy Malts are harder baits after drying, and slightly more visible on the lakebed, and as they have done me proud on my ‘naughty’ long-range rod for the entire session, I figured it a good time to change for the final night.
A child's drawing of where I am fishing!!
As I said at the beginning of the post, so far this evening I have had two commons already from the 11pm spot, both on the Choccy Malts. The second take came within seconds of sitting back down, and I certainly think there will be more to come this evening. As I was editing this post, I have just experienced a take from my farthest spot. A small common was the result. Carp number 39 is mine and I don’t think I will have to wait long for number 40 to be honest!
Ready and waiting!
That’s all for this evening. Final update tomorrow night!
Oh and if you are a UK reader – have a good Bank Holiday weekend!
Cheers
Jake and the dogs.
I went off into the night and landed a scrappy little common. It was a carp at least and I was confident of more. The same rod signalled a drop back at around 4am. I wound down and the sneaky bugger had swam forwards into a snaggy area about 10 metres in front of my drop position. The rod was pulled forwards a little as the carp obviously saw his chance to shed the hook and that is what happened. I don’t however think it was that big. It is funny actually how the smaller fish seem to pull harder than the bigger fish at range. Take the Koi I caught the other day for example. At 550m range it actually pulled me forwards and you would swear you had a fifty pounder on the other end. I guess it is the braided line and the fact it has no stretch, you feel every reaction very quickly.
