Good Morning.
I can’t describe how happy I am this morning! I have finally achieved my first milestone at Sierra Brava and broken the forty pound mark and it feels fantastic to do so. I remember when I caught my first 40lb common at Cassien and feeling pleased about it; this however means so much more, as it is my local water. I really do think on a personal level that this could be the start of things to come, and as I am planning on fishing as much as I can over the next four months, I am hoping there will be more big fish to show you all.
It is now tipping it down with rain. The weather actually changed yesterday evening, just before it fell dark. I checked the weather forecast and sure enough, it confirmed a low front was moving in, bringing slightly warmer temperatures, cloud cover, low pressure, and rain. The weather for the past two days has not been brilliant, and this favourable change until the end of my session, might help me out a great deal more.
Due to the sudden change in climate I was on the edge of my seat for most of the night. I ate early again, conjuring up a chicken curry with rice (there is a familiar pattern emerging here)! My first take came at 10pm and after a spirited tussle I netted a common which weighed 18lbs. I returned the rod to the mark and quickly topped up the spot with my spomb.
No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t sleep. It is as if I knew something good was about to happen. At 3am I was actually sat in my porch on my chair when a single beep alerted me. I watched the rod in question as the tip bounced back slightly. Another beep followed as the tip slowly pulled forwards, by which time I was already on the rod. Nothing really happened to begin with until the fish woke up and then it took line. There was no need to try to stop it so I let the fish chug away like an underwater barge. Finally it slowed down by which time I had switched my boots for my waders and was now stood in the water. I could feel the fish kiting to my right. The fish had taken a lot of line and the danger to my right was a tree. The fish clearly knew where she was heading so I quickly had to get some line back on my spool. I heard the clatter of my stop-knot through the rod rings and breathed a sigh of relief, as I know the tree is slightly farther than the distance of the stop-knot. The fish continued to kite right and then as I wound in line I experienced that horrible feeling as everything went solid! The fish suddenly and very powerfully went on a ballistic run. Whatever was caught before had now been pulled free by the fish and I breathed another sigh of relief. The fish slowly changed direction and started to head for the shoreline to my right. I was trying to pinpoint its precise location when it suddenly boiled a couple of yards from the bank. Realising it was now in shallow water it then slowly headed back to open water.
I now felt like I had things under control with the fish in front of me and the shockleader knot almost on the reel. I still hadn’t caught a glimpse of the fish and was starting to wonder what was attached to my hook. Three times as I heard the shockleader knot rattle through the rings, the fish decided to have another go and forcefully took line. On the third attempt however, I could feel her energy reserves were waning. Out of nowhere I saw her come to the surface. She stayed there, so I slowly drew her towards me, and into the net she went, first time of asking.
I peered into the net and saw a fish that was definitely a good thirty. I waded along the margin with my prize in the net and left her in the edge whilst I put the rod down. I rolled the net down to carry her to my unhooking mat and now my estimates suddenly changed. Was this possibly my first forty in fact?
I was quite lucky to be honest as when I went to unhook her, the loose hook and bait was rolling around in her huge cavernous mouth. I transferred her into a weigh/retention sling and hoisted her up onto the scales. Well would you believe it – forty pounds exactly – on the nail. I had to take a picture as I couldn’t quite believe it myself!
At first light I self-took photos and released her to swim free once again. She looked magnificent as she sat in the water preparing herself to swim off. Certainly not a young fish by any means and on closer inspection her mouth was in excellent condition, still sporting the curtains in the upper part of her mouth. As public water carp go – they don’t come much better than this!
The rig I used was the blow-back rig with a snowman for bait; a 24mm OR-O bottom bait and a 20mm Strawberry Scopex fluro pop-up and the carp was caught from my open water spot, no more than fifty yards from the bank.
I am now going to have a siesta!
Back tomorrow with more news from Sierra Brava.
Cheers
Jake and Flash.















