Carp Catchers Blog

A quick word now for those of you who bought the Nash Box Logic Rig Station, the Nash Rig Light is now in. The Nash Rig Light clips onto your rig station or bivvy table and has a flexible neck so you can direct the light where it is needed. The reason it has taken so long for these to come in is that Kevin was not happy with the original batch and sent them back. We also now have the  Nash Box Logic TT Linkers in stock. The Linkers are clever little boxes which can be linked together and are really handy for storing smaller terminal tackle items. For more information or to purchase follow the above links to the main site.

Best fishes,

John

Customer Ben Roberts has been getting amongst them recently, as this gnarly old mirror shows. Ben’s carp weighed 25lb 12oz and shows signs of being clipped in the distant past. Clipping used to be a fairly common practice on some waters back in the day. This was before carp anglers realised each carp was unique and therefore distinguishable from any other carp. The rig Ben used was constructed using 15lb ESP Ghost  knotless knotted to a size 6 Carp’ R’ Us Longshank Nailers . Ben was fishing a snaggy area and used his  Shimano Big Baitrunner LC  reels loaded with 15lb Nash Bullet XT  to guide the old warrior safely to the net.

Nicely done Ben.

Best fishes,

John

Here’s a different one from Rob O’ Brien. Customer Rob did a bit of fluff chucking at Rutland Water the other night and had 4 fish. The best of which is the nice rainbow trout shown below. The fly used was a green and black tadpole with a gold bead head tied to a weight forward line to a fulling mill leader(which Rob says is great for floater fishing for carp).

Nice one Rob.

Best fishes

John

Oliver just keeps catching here’s a nice 10lb pike he had recently. The venue was the local canal and the bait was an eel section from our deadbait department.

Well done Oliver.

Best fishes,

John

The best pike of the season by a Carp Catchers customer so far was reported to us recently by Tom Cox. Toms’ monster pike weighed 25lb 4oz and was caught on a legered roach from our deadbaits section. Tom has been tying his own traces using Drennan Barbed Carbon Trebles  , Drennan Slim Crimps and Drennan 7 Strand Pike Wire. Well done Tom that is one big, toothy pike.

Best fishes,

John

Knowing how busy it was likely to be over the bank holiday weekend I planned to fish Elsons from Wednesday to Friday of the previous week. Upon arrival at the lake it didn’t appear to be too busy but I decided to slip in behind someone who was just leaving, opting for a swim that Ive fished before that would give me control over a lot of water. I placed one rod out to a far margin, another to a clear area in the weed and the third was slipped a short way down the margin on a clear area that I could clearly observe from the bank. After a very uneventful 24 hours with little to show for my efforts, I decided I was going to up the bait a bit and put around 100 baits over the far margin rod. For the next night I recieved no indication of any fish feeding or moving around for that matter, but at around 11 o’clock the last morning I recieved a single bleep on the far margin followed shortly by another two then a very stuttery take which left me a tad confused as when I lifted the rod the culprit hit the surface between the snags. To begin with I thought it was a coot but then as it rolled I saw the distinct sight of a carps flanks, it had just come to the surface as the lead had discharged on the take. After a short fight I netted the smallest fish landed from Elsons this year, at 13lb 6oz it wasn’t massive but it was definitely a stunning little mirror that could one day be a gorgeous looking 30 or even 40lb’er. 

The going bait was a single 16mm Baitcraft T1 fished on a simple ESP Soft Ghost fluorocarbon hooklink, lead clip setup and 3oz distance lead with around 100 free offerings baited tightly to the gap in the trees.

Customer Eamonn had a really nice scaly mirror recently. The fully scaled mirror carp weighed 19.5lb and was caught from an open water spot using Mainline Cell Freezer Boilies  in 18mm. Eamonns’ rig was tied using a size 4 Korda Wide Gape Hook  and Drennan Carp Silk . Nice one Eamonn!

Best fishes,

John

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

Oliver has been putting in a lot of time and effort into his pike fishing over the winter and it has paid off. Below is a nice clean pike of 11lb caught from the local canal, a decent size fish from a canal. Oliver caught his pike on a roach from our deadbait section. Nice one Oliver!

Best fishes,

John

Customer Phil Palmer upped his personal best recently with this stunning 30lb common. The common was Phils first fish of the year and caught on his first session at a new lake. Phil was fishing behind a gravel bar and his rig was tied with Sufix Sheath Skin  in 15lb to a Fox hook. A man with impeccable taste Phil tempted his new pb while wearing one of our olive hoodys. Well done Phil!

Best fishes,

John