|
Hi all, Thought I'd like to share with you by first big catch, It was way back in '83 when the hair rig was not in wide use (in our area) I,d been carp fishing already 2-3 years, fished around all my local lakes, done pretty good but I'd read about Fred Wilton ,& Kevin Maddocks had released Carp Fever. It was early September. Anyway, there was a brand new water opened nearby & through the grapvine we'd heard that during a netting of this water, many 20's a 30 & an even larger fish had escaped the net. We had been invited to fish by a local angler eager for some company on this sometimes desolate 40 acre, but very beautiful reservoir in the S.W. of England (in Falmouth). Ken had been down mid week & hit the jackpot, using a sweet (mollases) carbo-bait and piling the stuff in, he'd ambushed the fish & caught 7 or 8 double figure fish in a single day trip session; including a 20lb common, absolulely pristine & never caught before we are almost certain. I could not wait to get down for the weekend and we were there at the crack of dawn on the next sat morning. It looked an absolute picture, as we arrived we could see in the distance a fox running along the far bank, there was a warm gentle mist rising off the lake, in the distance a shreik from a disturbed Heron made it sound magical. We were going to tear the place apart - so we thought. We could not have been further from the truth, and infact for almost 3 months we never caught another fish! |
|
|
On 24th Dec 1983 I was off work and decided to go it alone for once & Ken could not get down anyway. I arrived at after first light ,it was blowing a gale, a fierce S.Westerly whipping across the lake with scaully showers being pushed along by the wind. I remmember wondering if I'd packed my umbrella pegs. When I arrived in the swim I was awestruck, there were huge 20lb + fish jumping all over the margin. only 5 yards out a huge Italian mirror thumped the surface almost clearing the water. I was shaking with anticipation, hardly able to tie on the hooklink ; praying I could get one of these monsters. The bait was good wasn't it ? would the rig work,? would the cast frighten away all the fish? my heart was thumping so loud, I thought even the fish would hear it. What happened next might have well have happened in Carp Fever ,but never to me! - - An underhand swing was enough to get the bait right amongst the fish , Yet I cast slightly away from where most of the fish were showing . BLOOSH ! in went the first lead , I hurriedly tackeled up the second rod ;all was quiet now ,even the wind had dropped, I tied on the second rig ; 2 oz lead, bloosh in went the second lead , line in the clip ,engage the windbeater , open bail arm. Now it was deathly quiet , I sat down on my rather uncomfortable creel ........not a sound ......no movement ! blast dont do this to me. My brain was in overdrive , how could I mess this up?. Then I distinctly heard a click , followed by the full blooded howl of my Optonic bite alarm BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!! in less than a second I snapped the bail home ,swept the rod back & thump ; I was in . The carp made a long run out toward the centre of the lake ,I let it go, we had not found any snags out there, eventually it stopped and slowly but surely I gained line , during the next 5 or 10 minutes the carp kited left to right using that broad powerful body to test out my tackle & arm strenght. The wind had returned & I was aware of a disturbance; I looked around at my other rod , it was not there ! I powered into this fish now, managed to get it into the net and ran over to my other rod . I found it several yards away, dragged along the bank, the line was almost empty ( 250 Yds of 8 Lb) I hurriedly snapped over the bail arm & struck hard to connect with the fish-- WHOOsh ...... something a long way out started to move . I remember thinking well now .... no fish for too long , then two on at once, I was still having trouble taking it in. Slowly but surely I gained line, foot by foot then inch at a time. The fish was within about 20 yards but then it went solid, it would not move, I walked up the bank to get an angle on the fish : pulled as hard as I dared and the carp was out of the snag! God was on my side today! There was a fair amount of weed on the line but the main problem was my lead which had jumped over the shock leader knot & was jamming in the tip ring not allowing me to gain any line ,,just then the fish rolled on the surface it was HUGE; biggest carp I had seen . I began to shake uncontrolably , I had to get this carp in! the only way was to put down the rod & hand feed the lead over the shock-leader knot . This I managed without much trouble, but just then I remembered the other carp was still in the net ! now what? , there was only one thing to do & I was glad I had bought such an huge landing net . 2 in the net that?s why they made em so big! I hauled the 2 carp up the bank, I was still shaking, I hung the big mirror in the sling and the dial rotated 1..2..3..4. Turns on the Avons we were up round the 30 mark but I just could not hold the dam scale steady 31..8oz after deducting the sling the true weight was 29lb 4oz ! what a stonker. I secured the fish after releasing the first (16lb) fish which looked dwarfed by comparison. Luckily there was another angler a way down the bank & he returned to take a picture of one capture which I shall never forget .It was the first time she had been out , so happy was I that I could have packed up there & then but felt like a rest from that lot so , on with more bait lets see if there are any more! |
|
