Carp Catchers Blog

Gary and I fished the 2009 BCAC Qualifier at Farlows lake again this year. We got down on the Thursday and had a good look round, then had a nice social in the bar that evening. The next morning we were up at first light and after a cup of tea we scouted the lake again. We had a hearty breakfast in the onsite cafe and then the moment of truth the draw!! Gary and I were fortunate and came out second and got our second choice of swim. We were up against some stiff opposition, The O’Connors, Ian Russell, as well as last years winners, but we felt confident. Things started slowly in our swim but after spodding out 3 kilos of 18mm  Mainline Cell Freezer Boilies  I had a run at 9.30pm on a rod fished to an island gap. I managed to get the carp away from the snag, but half way in it kited to my left towards a gap in the islands. The carp had to be stopped so I held on and gave no line and unfortunately the hook pulled argggh!! Gary had a take that night and was cut off almost immediately. Next morning we found another snaggy spot and had a fish within an hour which weighed 18lb and some ounces.

Finally we were off the mark with a nice common carp. The take came to a combi link rig tied with Rigmaroles  Hydro-Link Silt  with two pieces of  Enterprise Pop-Up Sweetcorn  as a hookbait. In the afternoon we tried zig rigs on top of the gravel bars to no avail. We spodded out about another 6 kilos of bait for the coming night. We added some sweetcorn and  Carp Company Icelandic Red Cranberry & Caviar Freezer Boilies  to the spod mix.  At about 5.00pm I had another bite on the island rod which was cut off after about 20 seconds. Another cut off on the same rod about two hours later had Gary and I pulling our hair out. We both tied on the heaviest Nylon leaders we could (leadcore and braid leaders are banned) in an effort to combat the cut offs. Gary had one cut off and landed one carp that night which weighed 19lb plus so now we were in the running. Next morning saw us land another 18lb pluser, which put us well into contention. It was not to be though and at 12.00 the hooter sounded to end another BCAC qualifier. Had we landed any one of the fish we lost we would have qualified.

Best Fishes,

John

This is the beautiful dawn that greeted us on the final morning. We were however still fishless but we rebaited all the rods and banged them out to the horizon. Just after 9.00 we had a take but unfortunately the hook pulled, we also had an aborted pickup at about 9.30. When the hooter sounded to end the match Gary and I were still fishless, we had learned a lot though and hopefully next year I will not hesitate too long before I put our hard gained knowledge into practice.

Best fishes,

John

Friday night was extremely cold with temperatures below freezing and saturday morning dawned with a widespread frost. Gary and I were fishless, on reflection I had made some poor descisions on the friday not being willing to change tactics quickly enough. Match Carp Fishing is far removed from my normal Carp Fishing, I normally locate the Carp and their feeding spots and am prepared to wait it out to a certain extent till they make a mistake. In a match you have to make it happen and be prepared to change tactics frequently. We now decided to change tactics, however the fish had moved out of open water into the bays, so our change of tack may have been a bit late. Time would tell

Best fishes,

John

As evening drew near on the saturday my team mate Gary and I hatched a fiendish plan. We found a gravel bar close in and figured that most day ticket anglers would have also found it and would probably spod particles and pellets etc. on it. Gary and I’s cunning plan was to put 5 Kilos of big boilies on top of the bar in an attempt to tempt some of the bigger Carp. We reasoned that the average day ticket angler as I said earlier would be unlikely to do this. I am afraid our plan, though fiendish in the extreme, did not work!! Had we put it in to operation on the friday things may have been different, but that’s Carp Fishing for you.

Best fishes,

John

Even though the Carp Catchers team didn’t qualify I thought I’d share some of the photo’s we took. This first one shows the conditions just after the hooter went for the start of the match. As you can see it absolutely chucked it down (hailstones) there was thunder and lightning directly overhead so the rods were put down sharpish I can tell you, as waving 13ft carp rods around in a thunder storm is a definite no no. The storm lasted about 45 mins which I suppose was not too bad as the conditions were the same for everyone.

Best fishes,

John

I’ve just come back from the BCAC qualifiers at Farlows Lake unfotunately our team did not qualify we had a great time though. The event was closely contested and qualifying places were up for grabs right up to the final hooter. The event was very well run and the marshalls were kept very busy. The venue itself which has had a major overhaul was very clean and tidy and the staff made us all very welcome. I would just like to thank my team mate Gary Westcott who stepped in at the last minute because my regular partner could not make it. Cheers Gary you fished really well mate.

Best fishes

John