Carp Catchers Blog

We’ve got some nice goodies to look at now. This time we have the Angling Intelligence Airframe Light Shelter, The Angling Intelligence Unhooking Mat and luggage wise the Angling Intelligence Brew Bag and Bivvy Accessory Bag.

The Angling Intelligence Airframe Light Shelter will be a hit with the mobile or overnight carp angler as it is exceptionally lightweight due to it’s areo aluminium poles. The Airframe Shelter is also extremely quick to set up or take down. For more information or to purchase please click on the above link.

The Angling Intelligence Unhooking Mat is masssive!! 60inches long folks, but it folds to half that size. It features 2.5” of high density foam for both the carp and the integral kneeling mat it comes supplied in it’s own dedicated bag. The Angling Intelligence Brew Bag and Bivvy Accessory Bag are also new in and would make excellent stocking fillers. The Brew Bag is big enough to take all your brew kit including stove, kettle, mugs, tea, coffee, sugar and cutlery so every thing is to hand. The Angling Intelligence Bivvy Accessory Bag is designed to keep dirty groundsheets, infill and mozzi panels away from your other kit. For more information or to purchase please click on the above links.

                                                                Airframe Light Shelter

                                                              Angling Intelligence Unhooking Mat

                                                                      Brew Bag

                                                          Bivvy Accessory Bag

Best Fishes,

John

Carp care should be high on all carp anglers priority list. With that in mind we have two new ultra protection unhooking mats. First up we have the Nash Carp Cradle, which in reality is not a mat as the padded mat is held off the ground by an easily assembled metal cradle. If you look at the photo’s below you will get an idea of how it works. I used a similar product years ago when fishing Orchid Lakes and they really work well. The Nash Carp Cradle is definitely up there for ultimate carp care. For more information or to purchase follow the above link to the main site.

Another cracking more traditional unhooking mat is the Wychwood Epic Safeguard Unhooking Mat. This has a sculptured 90mm foam inner and a decent padded kneeling mat. The Epic Mat has a full length fish cover to stop the fishing getting out of the mat should you need to step away to get a camera etc. For convience the Epic folds in half and is stored in its own dedicated carry bag. The Wychwood Epic Safeguard Unhooking Mat is also up there in the carp protection stakes. For more information or to purchase follow the above link to the main site.

                                                                                        Nash Carp Cradle

                                                                                 Nash Carp Cradle

                                                                          Wychwood Epic Safeguard Unhooking Mat

Best Fishes,

John

For those of you carp fishing particularly weedy waters this year dropping your lead is probably a very high priority. Regular customer Ian Smith showed me a weed lead clip system by Nash designed to drop the lead with even less effort than most regular lead clip systems. I always cut down my lead clips when fishing in weed but these lead clips mean you don’t need to. The Nash Weed Safety Bolt Bead  used in conjunction with the  Nash Weed Safety Tail Rubbers  are basically a smaller version of the regular lead clip system which requires less force to discharge the lead and are ideal for fishing in weed. Recently Ian has landed a lot of carp using this clip system and it is without a doubt a factor that has helped him land more fish.

A 25lb 14oz mirror caught fishing in weed.

Give the Nash Weed Safety Bolt Bead and Tail Rubbers a thought next time you’re tackling a weedy water.

Tight Lines

Dave

Hi, I haven’t written a blog before, but whilst we were fishing a few weeks ago, an article John showed me struck a chord and I thought I would share it with you.

We all know how important it is to take care of the fish we catch, having a decent size unhooking mat and treating any wounds with the Korda Carp Care Kit , but it is also important to take care of ourselves and our dogs (if they are fishing companions).

The article was about Leptospirosis or Weils Disease which is carried by 15 – 30% of rats.  The bacteria is excreted in the rats urine and can be passed onto humans and dogs when they come into contact with contaminated areas.  In the case of fishing – lakes, rivers and canals.

To protect yourselves you should cover any cuts with waterproof plasters, don’t leave food and cooking utensils out or uncovered.  If you do get symptons, which are fever, chills, headaches, muscle ache, vomiting or diarrhoea, you should contact a doctor immediately.  Weils disease can be fatal if not treated early.  Dogs can also be carriers and also contract the infection, so you need to make sure that they have been inoculated.

On a happier note, its been lovely and sunny, but don’t get sunburnt use your suncream and stay in the shade when possible.

Be safe and catch lots

Angela

I read an interesting piece of research on hook sizes in carp fishing recently. The study looked at the relationship between hook size, mouth damage and catch rates when carp fishing. The ultimate purpose of the study was to try to limit mouth damage to carp in commercial carp fisheries. The results of the study showed that smaller hooks caused less damage and caught more fish than big hooks. However I believe the research was flawed as the hook sizes tested were a size 1 against a size 6. There are very few carp anglers using size 1 hooks, in fact I cannot think of any make of carp hook that comes in a size 1. To be useful in a modern day carp fishery the study needs to be repeated using more representative hooks sizes. I suggest that testing 4s, 8s and 12s would be more realistic. The bait used (sweetcorn) could have also have influenced the results as a big hook with a small bait would have hardly been a stealthy presentation to the carp.

Best fishes,

John

I don’t want to sound preachy, but I’d like to have a word about carp care. All you carp anglers out there should have a decent unhooking mat suitable for the size of carp you’re fishing for, but how many of you have something to treat the hookhold or any wounds your prize might have. We have a certain duty of care to the fish we catch, so we should all carry something to treat any wounds or ulcers they may have. The Korda Carp Care Kit is an excellent product which fulfills this need. The kit which was designed by the lads at Thinking Anglers has two different bottles of treatment and treatment applicators all in a handy, compact case. The two treatment bottles have different uses, one is for any mouth damage and the other is for any wounds or sores on the body. The Korda Carp Care Kit offers our quarry the best possible chance of a speedy recovery. So please if you haven’t already got one or something like it, invest in the future of your sport and get one. 

Best fishes,

John

In this third part of which hooklink we will be looking at braided hooklinks. Braided hooklinks are almost self explanatory in that a soft material is braided to give it a smooth finish and extra strength. The most popular material for braids is Dyneema which is the registered name for a super strong polyethylene fiber. Because Dyneema floats it is often braided with another material usually Dacron to counteract its bouyancy. Kevlar another registered name is increasingly becoming more popular as a fiber for braiding due to its incredible resilience. Kevlar is the stuff they use to make bulletproof vests so that tells you how tough it is. It also is braided with other materials such as Dyneema to give it different properties. Some good examples of braided hooklinks are shown below.

Korda Supernatural      Sufix Silky Soft          Super Nova               Sufix Nu-Flex

Braids

Braids were originally used because early carp anglers believed that carp could feel hooklink materials with their lips. Because braids are soft, thin and supple they reasoned that the carp would be less likely to detect them. Nowadays though they are used as a supple hooklink which allows the hookbait to act naturally. Braids are also very useful when using solid PVA bags as the hooklink can be folded into even the smallest bag.

Though braids are usually used to construct supple rigs they are quite commonly used to tie combi-link rigs, this is because supple rigs are easier for the carp to eject. Combi-link rigs are tied with the braid at the hook end knotted to a stiffer boom section which is attached to the swivel. This gives a rig which has a supple hook end, therefore hopefully catching somewhere in the carps mouth with the stiffer boom section making ejection more difficult. Another variation of the combi-link rig is to have a stiff hooklink material at the hookend attached to a braid section running to the swivel.

Carp Care

Finally just a word of caution some fisheries are banning the use of thin braids as they believe they have a cheese wire effect and cut into the scissor area of the carps mouth. If you find that this is happening in your own experience please, please stop using them.

Best fishes,

John

Congratulations to Andre Kormoniki from London on landing the world record carp. Andre used a  Greys Platinum 12ft 6” 3lb Carp Rod to land the 91lb, YES 91lb monster from Luke Moffats Le Graviers water in France last week. The leviathan is known as the scarred fish or the fish of two halves as it has a scar running round its body. The scar was caused by a rope which was tied around the fishes body to retain it, this was done many years ago before people were less concerned about carp care. The bait Andre used was the awesome Baitcraft T1 a bait with a track record for the bigger specimens. Andre used a blowback rig tied with a Kryston Super Mantis hooklink and a Korda Longshank X Hook to catch the carp of a lifetime. Not content on catching the world record Andre went on to catch ten more fish including carp of 63lb, 56lb, two at 50lb, 40lb, 37lb, 33lb, 32lb, 29lb and 27lb. Well done again Andre, Well done also to Luke Moffet for nurturing such a special water and such a colossal fish.

Best fishes,

John

I get quite a lot of catch photos’ as most of you that read the blog regularly will know. Now all of them are welcome, but here are few tips on getting really good shots of your new personal best or special catch. I know it’s hard, but when you catch a special fish don’t run round like a headless chicken. Retain your catch in a safe manner and compose yourself. Next get your camera ready, if a friend, relative or passerby is going to take the photo show them how to use the camera if they don’t already know and explain what it is you want from the shot. Now, and this is one of the most important tips, select the background for your catch photo. Make sure there are no bivvys, nets, chairs, rubbish etc in the background, a nice bush, hedge, flowers or similar that will fill the majority of the shot are ideal. Avoid tree trunks, rushes or long grass as these can look like they’re are growing out of your head. Check the position of the sun, the camera operator should have it behind them shineing towards you. Make sure that the camera operator is crouched down at the same height as you and is not casting a shadow on you or the fish. The camera operator needs to position themselves fairly close to you and adjust the zoom to ensure that all the fish, your head and torso are in the shot, ASK THEM! On dull days use the flash function, this helps to “fill in” the shot and create a sharp image. At night obviously use the flash but also use your cameras red eye function. If you are taking photos’ of large fish such as carp or catfish, have plenty of water to hand and douse the fish regularly to protect it’s mucus layer and also give you a nice shiney fish to photograph. These simple steps don’t take long and they should help you get decent trophy shots. I may do a more in depth look at photography and trophy shot techniques in the future. Hope this has been of some help.

Best fishes,

John

Getting a good picture and correct weight of a capture is important to a lot of anglers and fish welfare is paramount when doing so to help you to be prepared and get some good shots of your carp here’s a few tips on how.

Firstly pick a nice flat area for your unhooking mat and make sure there is some sort of foliage close behind to give a good background for any pictures. Once you’ve landed your prize secure it in the margins with a bank stick through the spreader block of your net making sure its deep enough to hold the fish safely and get everything ready and laid out close to hand. You want to wet your weigh sling and mat, zero the scales, fill a bucket of water to keep the fish wet and prepare the camera.

Once everything is ready lift your capture from the water ensuring all it’s fins are folded back against the body before doing so and lay it gently onto the unhooking mat, some good choices are the Chub Carp Care Cradle or the Venture Carp SI Protection Mat . It maybe easier to have the sling laying over the mat for easy transfer of fish from net to sling. Once unhooked it would be advised to apply some sort of fish friendly antiseptic to hookholds or any damage on the fish in general, such as the Korda Carp Care Kit which has two seperate solutions for hookholds and external damage. Now transfer the fish from the net to sling and move the rod and net out of harms way, then hoist the fish up on the scales to weigh the fish. Once the fish is weighed move scales out the way and lift the fish carefully for photos, putting two fingers either side of it pectoral fins and two fingers either side of its anal fin, this will make it easier to hold the fish steady and avoid it slipping out of your hands. Although this down to personal preference, some people prefer to hold it differently, stick to what feels comfortable.

If the fish flips while being held up for a photo roll it back onto your forearms and lower it back onto the mat.

When taking photos some people prefer to kneel and others prefer to squat down and rest their elbows on their knees to help hold the fish steady. Try to get who ever is taking the photos to try and get level with the fish and frame your whole head and the fish without cutting off any fins. Having you at positioned in front of some foliage will make a nice back drop for the photo and will help draw focus to the fish and yourself.

Try taking photos from other angles as well itll give you a better representation of the fish’s size and will also show some of the fish’s colour better.

During the process of weighing a photographing your capture make sure to keep the fish wet and avoid keeping it out the water for longer than a few minutes.

Tight Lines

David�