Carp Catchers Blog

Ian has sent me this pic of a lovely common carp weighing 17lb 2oz from his recent haul.

Best fishes,

John

The close season on the rivers comes to an end next monday June 16th. As all of you who fish on the rivers sort out your fishing tackle ready for the off, please don’t forget your rod license. The enviroment agency bailiffs will be out in force so don’t get caught out. Rod licences can be puchased at any post office or online at The Environment Agency .

Best fishes,

John

Here’s two nice old looking carp from customer Ian Smiths recent haul. They both weighed in the 15lb bracket.

Best fishes,

John

Regular customer Ian Smith has just returned from a a brilliant session where he had an 11 fish catch. The photo shows a 18lb 8oz mirror carp, more photo’s and a catch report to follow soon.

Best fishes,

John

I had a really memorable session on the May�Day bank holiday, memorable not only�for the fishing but for the good company, stunning scenery and lovely weather.

It was my girlfriend Angelas’ idea to go, what a great idea ! We arrived at the Big Lake just after dawn and had a�cup of tea while looking out across the lake trying to decide which swim to go in. The Big Lake is approximately 75 acres so locating the carp is not easy.�Because�it is deep the water temperature is still quite low at this time of year, consequently the carp do not show very much making location even more difficult. One factor in our favour though is that the carp follow a fresh new wind and a new warm easterly wind was due next day. We saw no fish so I�studied my map of the lake�carefully paying particular attention to the swims on the windward side of the lake. I picked swim 24 as the easterly would blow directly into it. Swim 24 is also relatively shallow and I reasoned that with a warm wind and sunshine forecast�the water temperature in this area might be a few degrees warmer than the deeper water.�Another factor in my decision was that at around about this time of year the carp move into�their spawning areas which are normally in shallower water.

We set up and I cast out three pva bags to begin with as I had seen no signs of fish and didn’t want to disturb the swim too much. Angela cast her one rod out to the right about 30yrds out. Nothing much happened the first day apart from a nice barbie and a chance to chill out for the first time in ages.

On day two the wind switched to the forecast easterly so�I kept a good eye on the lake watching for signs of fish. My friend John turned up early morning and set up in the swim to my left. At 10 o’clock while having a brew with John�I saw some carp moving my way but they were a good way out, maybe 200yrds or so. I�set up�my marker rod and found a nice smooth plateau 12ft deep�with 14ft-15ft of water surrounding it at about 75yrds. I made a nice spod mix up consisting of��Swim Stim Betaine Green 3mm, hemp, sweetcorn and three kilo’s of Mainline Activ-8�boilies�and spodded it out around the plateau. I cast all three rods out onto the plateau making sure they were well spread out and at about 1.30pm I sat back to await events. I could see the carp moving closer and closer and�at 4.30pm a fish rolled over my right hand rod, 15mins later it absolutely�flew off. My Century NG �was bent right over, the carp kept going on blistering runs right out into the lake but I eventually subdued it and weighed an absolutely stunning apple slice plated Mirror at 17lbs 4oz(see photo below). The fight that this beauty put up belied it’s size and�I�just could not�believe the powerful runs it had made.�Nothing more happened that night and I eagerly awaited the next days events.

I awoke at first light and was treated to�a beautiful sunrise as I looked out over the lake for signs of fish. The wind had dropped overnight and there was just a gentle breeze blowing into my swim. The gentle breeze did not fill me with much confidence as the carp in the big lake respond best to a good strong wind. The wind was to due to pick up a bit later, so I took a gamble and sticked out another 1.5k of boilies. As I was due off that day I packed a few bits away early as I am rubbish at packing away. At lunchtime�I invited John around for a barbie and brew, we were just washing down sausages and steak with a nice cup of tea when my right hand was away. This fish felt bigger and gave me the same blistering runs as the first. I eventually landed it and on the scales it went 20lb 8oz another handsome fish as well(see photo below). John went�back to his swim and I cast the rod back out and started the long process of packing up. About half an hour later my middle rod was off the fish put up another superb fight but I prevailed�and weighed in another magnificent carp at 26lb 12oz(see photo below). As I was half through packing up I didn’t bother putting that rod out again�and started stowing the rest of my gear. Another half an hour and the middle rod was away ! what a brilliant day. This fish felt really heavy and fought just like the others, after much toing and froing a really nice two tone mirror carp�of 29lb 8oz was landed. John came round and did me proud with photos’(see photo below)�thanks John. With that the rods were packed away and I drove home in a lovely sunset a very happy man. In a future blog I’ll talk a little about the rigs I used.

Best fishes,

John

This is the first carp of my session a stunning apple slice scaled mirror of 17lb 4oz.

Best fishes,

John

This handsome fellow weighed 20lb 8oz and gave me blistering run after blistering run.

Best fishes,

John