Good Morning.
Two more short sessions have been executed in between catering for the Dutch clients. I decided to drop into the swim which produced the stop-start take the other week. You could say there was unfinished business to attend to, or I have only started to scratch the surface with regards to this position on the lake. Happily, both nights produced action, and I shall now explain what happened, and how I landed two more Sierra Brava carp.
Marcellus and Bjorn enjoy their breakfast on the bank!
On Sunday evening I got my rods sorted, after repeating the process of accurately baiting up with a spod, and marker. I settled down for the approaching few hours, and after a long day, was soon fast asleep. The night was unusually quiet with regards to fish noises but nevertheless, I was woken shortly before 4am by a take to a rod placed at the entrance to a bay. The fish pulled hard and I already had a feeling it was another small fish. I was right!
You can never grumble at a carp a night, give or take a few, so I left the swim to attend to my food duties. I was confident there would be more action to come that evening; so dinner (egg mayonnaise, followed by lasagna and salad) was prepared, whilst my mind raced with thoughts of what the fish were doing in my swim! In no time I was delivering the food to the clients, and the rods were delivered to their designated areas.
Last night I opted to try a slightly different tactic and fired out some Frenzied hemp and tigers. For each rod in turn, four spod loads were dropped around my marker, followed by a few pouches of Monster Tiger Nut boilies – a winning combination I think. Hookbaits were Monster Tiger Nut pop-ups of the boilie variety – not the actual nut; and once more I settled down to wait in anticipation for a take.
Look out - signal crayfish are about!
The Dutch guys are what I would call wine conoisseurs, and they actually had three half cases of very good quality wine sent over in preparation for their trip. Only yards from my swim I joined them for a glass whilst we put the world to rights, and I am pleased to say they have both given my choice of wine cellar their seal of approval. They sampled the Tinto Fino the previous night and gave it the Dutch grapey thumbs up.
Shortly after getting settled on my bedchair back in my swim, I prepared a cup of coffee. The rod to my left, placed in front of one of the submerged Spanish oak trees, signalled a take. Fishing locked up and with the rod at an angle, the 2.5lb/tc rod took on a healthy curve. I pulled it from the rests and wrestled with the strong and surging fish. It really pulled hard and the rod was a joy to use as it absorbed the lunges, even though I had to walk forwards a couple of times. In instances like this it is always better to hold the rod to one side to encourage the carp to kite away from the danger on a tight line. Once this started to happen I then had to keep winding under pressure as another tree to my left was the obvious danger. These fish know the lake like the back of their pectoral fins, and if you give them line, they will get their heads down, and you will be the one, who is left shaking your own head, as the fish drops the hook in the branches!
With the imminent dangers out-of-the-way I started to draw the fish towards me. It was only yards away and then the hook suddenly pulled. That rarely happens to me and on inspection a small starburst scale was impaled on the hook. On reflection and judging how the carp pulled with such ferocity, it was probably foul hooked, so it mattered not.
There was no time to sulk or nurse my wounds; the rod was quickly delivered to the spot, and my Surefire torch came in very useful for ensuring I was close to the tree. Clipping up is fine, but you sometimes need to see the trees, as the landscape in some areas of the lake at night all looks the same. I have a very powerful torch known as the M4 Devastator and with 350 lumens, it delivers a mighty punch. By holding the torch in your mouth (!) it is possible to cast and look at the same time, as your lead and hookbait land with a splash!
At 3.50am my right hand rod was away. Three beeps was all I heard as I then saw the rod tip arching in the pod. The moon is now waning but the sky is still well-lit at night. The moon was now directly above me, and it was as if I had a spotlight on me as I started to play the fish. This time the fish came away from the woody danger fairly easily. It came in calmly without any fuss, then suddenly the fight began in the margins. What a fight it was. I kept hearing the surface getting broken by its tail and the size was still not possible to judge – then it erupted on the surface and I knew fine well, that I was playing a cracking fish. The moment was soon over as I drew the fish into my outstretched net, and all I saw were big scales in the moonlight. A mirror – thank you lord!
This one could not resist two 20mm pop-ups!
At 15.5kg or 34lbs, I then put the fish in the water to wait till the morning for its photocall. The two Dutch lads assisted, and a fine job Bjorn did with the camera. As a fellow Canon owner he needed no instruction, and the fish was soon returned no worse for the ordeal. Unhooking mats are a must, but at Sierra Brava they really must be big and well padded. The terrain is very fish unfriendly, and any carp or a big fish like this mirror, would not deserve to lose its scales down to bad carp-care. I saw some anglers the other week, drag a carp up the bank in the landing net. Whatever the size, they all deserve good treatment!
Unhooking mats - DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT ONE!!
Smiles all round - the new Spanish PB!
Not surprisingly I will be back in my swim later. Come back tomorrow to see how I get on.
Cheers
Jake and the dogs!
