Good Afternoon.

It always feels nice to return home from a successful session. It was also refreshing to walk into a clean and tidy house. Since giving up the cigarettes, and in particular during the first week, I went on a cleaning frenzy at home. I needed something to do with my hands after all! I sometimes woke at 5am unable to get back to sleep, so I would get up and clean! What strange creatures we are at times…

My final carp. A pretty mirror weighing 23lbs exactly.

All in all I had a really good session at Sierra Brava. I finished up with 19 fish in total from 24 takes, losing five to hook pulls – two during the fight, and three immediately after doing the hard work and stopping the fish in its tracks. It’s always nice when you can let a fish run, but when you are fishing two yards from danger – the brakes need to be applied. These are the rules of engagement. Winning the struggle is half the battle, and getting them in from there, is the other part of the equation. No-one likes to suffer from a hook pull, especially after waiting hours for a take, but they happen. You just have to imagine it was a small fish, and get back on the horse, so to speak.

My eighteenth carp was caught not long after finishing last night’s blog. A really spectacular common was caught on my right hand rod,   its colour and shape being the reason why. The fish probably weighed no more than 15lbs but I really wish I took a picture now. A Spanish lad showed me a picture of a common last week, and it was the same strain. Almost tench like in colour, perfectly formed scales, dark fins, and heavy shoulders with a deep frame. If I catch another, I will definately photograph it for the blog.

Take time – certainly works for me.

At 3am as the moon rose to the take position, I received a take! After a good fight a pretty mirror could be seen on the surface, and shortly afterwards it was looking at me from my landing net. I got the rod back out, spombed some more bait to the cast, and then took some self takes of the 23lb fish. I also photographed the moon to show you its position. I have had takes on three nights running when the moon has been at the same height. I have also heard other people having takes at the same time, whilst I have been playing my fish, so something certainly makes them go on the feed.

At 7am Craig appeared in my doorway. He took his stove and coffee, asked me if I wanted a cup, to which I replied no, and then rolled over to return to sleep. Minutes later my right hand rod was away, so I leapt out of bed and was on it in seconds. Could this be carp number twenty? After a short tussle I turned the fish, and disengaged the baitrunner, then the hook pulled – better luck next time!

I have had my big-bait offerings on all the rods for the last three nights, and suffered three hook pulls in that time, but I have also caught some better sized fish than average. From my own point of view, I would rather have fewer runs, and bigger fish, than get pestered by smaller fish throughout the day and night. What’s a small fish in my eyes – anything under twenty pounds. When you use bigger baits, you sometimes get a knock on the rod tip as the line tightens, then falls back, which I am convinced are smaller fish trying to get the baits into their mouth, bolting, the bait comes free, and they aren’t hooked. I have caught smaller fish using the big-bait theory, so it isn’t completely foolproof, but I am sure the majority of the hook-pulls are smaller fish that just aren’t hooked properly.

To finish with three 17kg+ fish, a 14kg+, 13kg+, three 12kg+ fish and two 11kg+ fish in the session, plus eight smaller fish is an excellent result from Sierra Brava. Stupidly I forgot to print out my TOKS sheet before leaving the house last week, and had I entered my four biggest fish from this session, I would currently be the World Leader overall with a weight of 66.65kg. I must remember to take my sheet next time!

I am now home for a day or so and then I am heading back to the lake on Friday with a client for the weekend. This is a specially tailored package I have put together for my client at his request. He is English, and lives in Malaga. He is driving up to my village and we are heading off on Friday morning for two nights fishing. Not only will he get tuition and full guidance, but I will be fishing with him, so he will also learn from watching me. I don’t generally fish with clients as a rule, but this weekend, as I said, is a specially tailored package which I happy to do for anyone interested.

I will be back with the blog soon. Thanks for reading.

Cheers

Jake Langley-Hobbs