Search for River Carp in Tricky Conditions

I arrived back at the river and wandered a few areas, spotting a few nice fish lurking in a few beds of streamer weed and occasionally cruising by. With the carp already sighted being somewhat sluggish, I decided to leave some bait in a few areas and await a response. After allowing some time for the fish to find the feed whilst I kitted up, I wandered to my first spot and my excitement levels hit the roof when I spotted a couple of fish, a common and a mirror, with their heads down and their tails up. I slowly plopped my rig onto a clear patch and hoped that this hadn't caused a disturbance and waited. My friend Mark Lindsay had by this time arrived to join me, and was looking at a few areas just below. Just as I looked round to see how he was getting on, my rod jolted forward. I picked it up and an instant bowave followed as I started to apply some sidestrain. Within a few seconds though, sadly the hook had pinged out. This was a promising start, but at the same time it felt like it could be costly with the conditions becoming increasingly more difficult as we started to reach the heat of the day.

I put a little more bait into the area and went over to see how Mark was getting on. He had settled just below me where he had also sighted a couple of fish dipping their heads in and out of the streamer weed. I re-tweaked my rig slightly, then lowered my bait back into the same zone where I had managed the bite. I decided to give this area another hour, just in case there was an off chance that there could be another patrolling fish on for some feed. Mark meanwhile, lowered his bait into a very promising looking area. It really wasn't long until his rodtip buckled over and he was into a decent sized chub. It was a nice consellation to have landed a fish between us after losing the carp and it was good that we had gotten through the some smaller nuisance fish that had appeared.

A lean summer chub!

I continued to wait it out in this particular spot, but it was evident that the moment had passed and it was time to have a wander. After spotting very few carp in this duration and attempting a couple of ambushes and failing, it was looking to be just one of those days. Time was also getting on, as Mark now had to make tracks, leaving me with a few hours to devise a plan for myself. After sending Mark off, I took a bit of time out to sit on my stool and decide my next plan of attack. I recalled right at the beginning of the day, I had sighted a couple of fish in a tiny gap in the streamer weed. I had noticed on arrival at this area that the bait I had thrown in had gone. Although this could well have been smaller fish, I baited the spot up again and lowered my rig into the clearing. I crouched behind some foliage and watched the baited area. All of a sudden, a dark shape emerged and starting hoovering up all the bait. I could see a very chunky mirror carp absolutely troughing its way up towards my rig. It was only a matter of time until the fish slowed and shook its head before towing the rod across the ground. I dived towards the rod and battle commenced! Keeping steady pressure, I did everything I could to keep the mirror's head up and away from a couple of dangerous snags. I depended on the stretch of the mono and the power of my barbel rod, to deter the plump powerhouse from ploughing through anymore streamer weed. The final crashes on the surface and bolts for the streamer weeds were excrutiating, but thankfully I managed to slip the net under this gluttunous culprit.

12lbs 10oz, one product of gluttony!

It was great to have finally broken the deadlock and at 12lbs 10oz, it was my largest mirror off a river.  It was in fine condition, with a perfect mouth and a beautiful starburst effect towards its tail wrist. By this time, I only had a couple of hours remaining so I decided to have a wander to a new area. Once I had arrived at the second spot, a carp slowly cruised past. This was such a promising sign! I introduced some bait and followed this by lowering my rig into position. It was not long until a small common had made its way into the swim, before being out-muscled by some larger shapes which started to absolutely hoover the bait at one hell of a rate. Before long, all three fish were making their way towards my hookbait. I knew it was only a matter of time before one was going to get hooked, when all of a sudden one shook its head and bolted downstream making the baitrunner sing as it tore off! I picked up the rod and even with the clutch tightly set, this fish absolutely steamed off downstream at what felt like absolute knotts! After one hell of a battle with with this pure powerhouse, a beautiful mirror surfaced. I hurriedly slipped the net under it and gave out a huge sigh of relief! At just over 11lbs, I was very happy indeed to manage another double figure river fish, especially after a very difficult day indeed. I continued for another hour or so, but other than a couple of chub pulls, this was the last of the action. It was fair to say that I left feeling more than satisfied, landing a couple of healthy looking carp after many challenging hours.

11lbs 1oz of beautiful river mirror carp!

On the following day I decided to stalk some chub. This has to be one of my favourite types of fishing in the summer as you can creep up on shoals of chub and often watch them take your bait! I finished the day with a dozen fish running to 4lbs. It really reminded me of how I used to spend many of my summer days, just messing about on small waterways for some fit and healthy looking chub! There's really nothing like watching your bait disappear into a large white mouth as it devours your bait.

A stunning Summer chub!

I hope you enjoyed reading this write-up, as I really enjoyed writing it.

Tight lines to all for the coming weeks and months!

Tom

Opening Day Glory!

It's that time of year again, the reopening of the traditional coarse season...

After doing a little bit of walking in the closed season, my friend Mark Lindsay and I had the pleasure of stumbling across some carp on our travels, ghosting about the place. With a lot of talk about what to do on opening day, we decided to meet up and see if we could extract a fish or two! Mark very kindly made a few extra trips to introduce some food into the river as well which certainly gave us a fine head-start, with the 16th only days to go... I decided to take a fair selection of terminal tackle as I was unsure as to what to expect. Although I have caught river carp, I have never actually targetted them by design. Every carp I have managed to land from the river thus far, has been almost by accident whilst roving for chub. As I was nearing my way to the river, I had a text from Mark informing me that he had his first carp in the net. It was a very encouraging start indeed, and I hurriedly made my way to the swim to do some photographs.

Mark's rip-roaring start! A pristine Ghost Koi!

It was a wonderful start, and what was even more encouraging was that more fish were showing and were certainly in the mood for a 'grub' about. After trying to intercept a couple of fish with my static rig with little success, Mark kindly pointed me in the direction of a couple of nice looking fish that were crusing in a nice bay. With the fish acting a little cautious, Mark kindly let me use his rod set up for freelining. With a bit of patience, a lovely young common slurped in the bait. On striking, the fish gave a very spirited battle indeed, typical river carp style, as I tried to deter it from the thick weed. It was a lovely mahogany-coloured common carp, and a wonderful way to start the season.

A beautiful example of a Common Carp!

As lunchtime approached, we baited a few spots up and waited for the perfect opportunity for an ambush. Whilst I was tweaking my rig slightly, I sighted a nice ghost carp patrolling along a nice lie, vacuuming plenty of bait as it did so. I knew this was certainly a good opportunity, so I did my best to lower my rig towards its dinner table, whilst it had moved off on the rest of its patrol. Sure enough, she returned, and was back on the bait. After watching this fish guage itself on plenty of particle and gliding over my hookbait plenty of times, I tweaked my rig slightly further and lowered it onto a slightly more clear spot. I decided to stay down in this instance, but Mark continued to watch as the ghostly shadow re-emerged. "He's right on your hookbait" Mark said excitedly as my eyes remained glued to the rod tip. The anticipation was almost unbearable with this fish just inches from my hookbait. "You've got him!" Mark shouted, as I saw my rod sliding right across the ground. I had her on! All I could do now was hold on to the culprit for dear life as she ploughed through beds of thick weed. With 12lb line being really tested and my 1.75lb barbel rod buckled over, I managed to deter it from ploughing through anything more! An excrutiating bolt for the near bank followed, before I managed to finally get her head up. With no messing about whatsoever, Mark managed to net her. We both exclaimed sheer joy, as it was a proper team effort, and one of the target fish we had seen in the bag! We put her on the scales, and at a pretty solid double (12lbs 15oz), Mark and I were really happy that this team effort had paid off.

My best River Carp so far!

As the sun was at its peak at midday, the action significantly slowed. Mark freelined in a few spots and the first fish to show for his efforts was a lovely looking chub around the 3lb mark. With a few more carp showing, with me sticking to my static fishing and Mark continuing to be proactive with free-lining, he had soon found a nice group. With stealth and patience, Mark was into another! The battle was of another typical river carp - plenty of energetic sprints and supersonic bolts for freedom.  This fish was the first mirror of the session, and was in absolutely stunning condition. Following on from this fish, after Mark had left for home, I made my way to another familiar hunting ground. Just as I was looking at some nice areas, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pair of carp cruising together near the opposite bank. I put some bait on a clear patch and casted my rig in, hoping for an opportunistic capture. I was very hopeful when I noticed that the larger fish, the ghost carp (probably around 6lbs), was close by. I watched the fish absolutely troughing before it finally tripped up. All hell broke lose when I picked up the rod, and the fish commitedly bolted through the streamer weed. I tried to slow this run, but unfortuantely in doing so, the hook had slipped. It was a pity as it would have been my first particular carp from this spot, but it was not the end of the world!

A lovely dumpy mirror, look at those colours!

I decided for the final few hours, after some unproductive ones walking plenty of water, to fish one final swim for the day. It was not long until I was getting some response to bait I had thrown out. The first result was a chub that had turned up in the swim, and certainly scattered the carp until the light levels dropped and they were back. After a few hours of watching some sizable carp enter the swim, the rod tip slammed round. It this time turned out to be one of the smaller fish that was in the swim, but it was a lovely way to finish the day. The colours were absolutely stunning, as well as the colour of its fins, being mixtures of orange, purple and even red!

A pretty, young common to finish the day!

Thank you for taking the time to read this opening account of the river season, lets hope for a few more sessions like this! Huge thanks goes to Mark for being great company for the day, doing those extra trips to introduce the bait (which definitely made a huge difference) and for taking some lovely images. It was probably one of, if not my most, memorable opening day fishing! I look forward to more trips in the near future!

Tight Lines,

Tom

July 2016 Update: Carp, Tench and Lure Fishing

A fine summer's evening

Last week, I decided to renew one of my Club Tickets to make the most of all the waters within walking distance from my home, and target stillwater species in conditions which are tougher from a river perspective. The species that have been on my mind of late are carp, tench and eels. I have also been contemplating getting into light lure fishing, which was also on the agenda for my local river. For the first outing, I decided to venture down for a short afternoon's session on my local club lakes after some carp and tench. As the light started to fade, and the workers on the peninsula of the lake had stopped strimming, I started to get some takes. The result of this was a few bream and tench, but sadly no carp were around to make an appearance in this duration. I think they key to catching these fish is to introduce some bait, so that the carp can potentially dominate the swim in their, at times, greedy fashion.

A powerful little tench!

On the next session, I set my stalls on another club lake to try and stalk a carp or two out. My choice of bait was a single piece of fluffy bread flake which I was hoping to trigger a couple of fish into slurping in. I arrived at the lake, brimming with enthusiasm as I saw plentiful carp, some of which were bathing and others were slowly cruising. There was also some slurping that was taking place with carp sucking naturals off the Canadian Pond weed. The first swim I chose, I saw a group of fish and a common which looked as if it was up for a helping of flake. After casting just over the fish and teasing the piece of ever-expanding bread towards the fish's path, a few agonising minutes were to follow. The fish carried on taking naturals off the weed and slowly made its way to my bait and paused. The mouth extended and sucked the piece of flake in. I let the fish take the bait and was baffled at the fact that I had managed to strike into thin air! This fish was well into double figures, which was a great shame as it would have been a lovely fish to start with. After missing another fish, cheaply getting away, I found myself right at the corner of the lake which was also thick with weed and a nice group of lilly pads. After drifting my bait to the edge of these pads, a small pair of lips came up and slurped in a medium-sized piece of flake. I struck more positively this time and connected. Despite this being the smallest fish that took my bait, the reward was a lovely dark little mirror.

An enjoyable tussle in the weed!

For the final session, I decided to head out and do some light lure fishing. Having chatted with a mate, Mark Lindsay, about fishing light jigs before, I decided to get myself a light lure rod and some braid for a 1000 sized reel. With the rod having not arrived yet, I decided to dig out a telescopic rod I had found in the garage from a previous holiday. After loading my reel with some light braid for some perch fishing and finding some abrasion-resistant fluorocarbon, I headed to a stretch close to home with some depth. This stretch is very weedy and boggy, but I knew that I was in for a chance of seeing some nice perch and pike in the gaps in the weed to cast to. After fishing a few swims and failing to tempt the perch, despite appetisingly pausing the lure in their field of vision, I headed to a stretch downstream of here. Within a very short amount of time, I had managed a few tiny perch which tend to congregate in this little pool which was certainly a start! Following the fact that I had seen a few little pike in the gaps in the weed and chasing minnows in the silty and stagnant areas, I decided to have a go for a few with my little jig. After getting a few chases, but failing to get a take, I casted the jig in a gap in the weeds which looked a likely area for a pike to be hiding. As the lure started to work, in light-speed a pike came out of nowhere and snatched the lure. The take was amazing through the braid, as you felt the fish crunch into the lure. With a quick strike, I managed to hook the pike comfortably in the scissors and it gave a wonderful little tail-walking scrap.

Maybe one day this will go from a minnow mincer to a duckling worrier!

It's wonderful with these small jigheads how easy it is to quickly unhook the fish and release them back into their watery home. I took a stroll onto a silty and stagnant section nearby and saw this tiny baby pike with a stunning green hue sitting boldly in the silt. With a little flick just over its head and the lure fluttering in its view the lure was absolutely devoured! With an energetic and lashing fight, it was lovely to see another one of these stunning juvenile pike in my hands. The immature markings on juvenile pike are wonderful to feast your eyes on, especially from my local chalkstream. By the time I had managed my third little pike, my lure had been bitten in half, so I felt with my family wanting to have some supper that it was a good idea to go home.

See what I mean about the immature markings?

Thanks for reading and tight lines,

Tom

Barbel Fishing First Attempts and Summer Chub

The first trip saw Ryan Hayden and I heading to the banks of the Hampshire Avon in search of some larger chub. The conditions were against us with the sun up high in the sky and the final results were some small chublets, baby barbel and 'bootlace' eels. It's so nice to see a burst of small barbel on the Avon and hopefully these fish will flourish and grow into one of those famous double figure fish!

Barbel taken of trotted maggot

On the same evening I decided to try a local Thames Tributary for the night after the barbel and plonked a couple of rods in subtly with a nice build up of food through the swim with a bait dropper, my choice of hook bait was a Sonubaits Spicy Sausage Oozing Pellet. It would have been such a relaxing night with the gentle trickle of the river and the call of the barn owl, but this was ruined by the numbers of nasty mosquitos. As the light started to prevail, I woke up and watched the barn owl gliding overhead as I started to reorientate myself for where I was! I noticed there was plenty of dew on the ground and knew there was a chance of finding some slugs to try for some of the chub residents. I reeled in both barbel rods knowing after my baits were completely gone that I had been crayed to pieces and perhaps had not put enough food in. It wasn't long until I found some slugs and I was almost instantly into a nice chub, not a monster by any means, but pristine condition!

Pristine chub on free-lined slug

Venturing later in the day to another stretch of this small tributary of the Thames in search of another chance of barbel, I started again with my mind still on chub managing three nice fish, biggest possibly 4lbs or so. Even though I did try for barbel in the afternoon, my swim was gatecrashed by a jack pike, and coupled with the heat levels I felt it was time to call it a day and quit whilst I was ahead...

Best chub of the day on free-lined bread

Thanks for reading and tight lines,

Tom

More Stalking Carp & Night Session

During the next few days on my angling adventures, my aim was to catch a carp from one of the harder lakes on my local club complex. The days were getting warmer and I was rather excited, deciding to target these carp from the harder lakes with surface or slow sinking baits, as well as bringing a few bits and pieces for some opportunist bottom bait fishing in the edge. I arrived the day after I had that enjoyable session with Ollie to find that a few carp on the middle lake were yet again cruising and basking. I tried again to gently lower baits into their path but all I was greeted with was the fish spooking and also completely ignoring my bait. I couldn't believe it at some of the points as I managed to gently get the bait to kiss the water and hardly leaving a dimple on the surface but they were still spooking. After a few hours of frustration, I placed a bottom bait in the edge on the middle lake on a small barrel bait which eventually was eventually engulfed by a bream. After this, I felt I should call it quits and go home and think about how to tempt those fish that were showing.

I again returned and tried the two harder lakes which again was a frustrating affair. This time I had stocked up on more dog biscuits as lose feed, therefore I opted to go on the slightly easier lake in search of getting off the mark. After a few minutes of trickling in dog biscuits I managed to get a few nice carp coming up and taking a few mixers and then dropping down again in the pads. It took a while to get one fish confident but with little helpings of mixers now and then one fish started to slurp a fair few up. I saw this as an opportunity, so I casted just above its path and tweaked the biscuit back slightly. This was a painstaking moment as the fish continued to slurp and coming rapidly closer to the hook bait. The first turned and slurped in my mixer along with another; this was met by a firm strike and I had a good fish on. I instantly put some steady pressure on the fish in order to guide it out of the pads, but unfortunately it kited at an unexpected time and therefore consequently pulling my hook. As you can imagine, I was disappointed as I was pretty sure it was a double figure fish, which to me would have been more than welcome. Not feeling too sorry for myself, I chucked out a few more mixers in the pads to see if I could re-gain another carp's confidence. After just over half an hour of watching the odd carp come up now and then and take the odd mixer, I noticed one fish quite happily helping himself to quite a few of my freebies. This I felt was another opportunity and as it was continuing to feed, I managed to cast perfectly over it and gently tease my biscuit bag with leaving barely a dimple on the surface film. This fish hurried to my biscuit in the appetising position it was, and with no suspicion whatsoever, took the bait as good as gold. I lifted decisively into a nice carp and I was ready to cup the spool when it tried to charge in the pads. After a mental battle of kiting left to right and diving down deep, putting my barbel rod to test, I managed to guide it into my waiting net. This was a great result and I punched the air with delight as I was so happy to get some great sport. This fish was no monster but decent enough for my liking! After this quick picture I slipped the nice common back to its watery home and after that I decided to head home and get some revision done.

Low Double Common off the top!

A day or so later, my good friend Oscar Bates and I chose to do a night on the middle lake. The lake itself is shallow and silty and has a good head of carp to over 20lbs (rumours of 30s), Tench to around 7lbs and some nice bream. We opted to fish bottom bait rigs with one rod each after carp and one rod each after bream or tench. Oscar had managed a rather large tench specimen from this swim from the reeds straight ahead, therefore we opted to put our tench and bream rods towards this zone. The carp rods we aimed at the pads nearby on the left after spreading a generous helping of bait in the area. I managed to hit the areas I wished first attempt and after a couple on his carp rod Oscar got a perfect cast on this carp rod. It was just after he had sunk his line and put on the bobbin his alarm screamed off, but when this was met with a positive lift into the take there was unfortunately nothing there. After Oscar put his rod back in, we had a good chat about various things and watched the light fade. It wasn't until midnight but after a few bleeps on my carp rod, it slowly started to rip off and I was also connecting into nothing. We both found this somewhat confusing as there was nothing wrong with our rigs or bait presentation. We assumed it was tench or bream picking up the bait and not being hooked properly but I still do wonder whether it wasn't carp getting away with it.

After a reasonably cold night and the light starting to arrive again, I re-casted both of my rods and it wasn't long after this until I got a run on the tench and bream rod. I lifted into a weight of some description, but this was a leaping bream! I was pleased to be off the mark. I re-casted again to the same spot and again, it wasn't long until a bream had latched onto my bait. After doing another quick flick into a similar position, the next take was a slow but decisive take with the bobbin shooting up. I was again connected to a small fish, but the way it was fighting would to me suggest it was a tench. Sure enough, a small male tench popped up which was great to see as it shows a hopeful sign of new big tench for the future. Oscar had also managed tench similar to this size, which is a good sign of flourishing recruitment for future bigger tench. One more bream was to follow, but it was a nice little session and social with Oscar and certainly looking forward to having more trips with him in the near future...

Tench for the future!

Tight Lines,

Tom

Stalking Pressured Carp with Ollie Johnson

The first session I arranged to meet Ollie Johnson for a bit of stalking on my local lake after a carp or two. I arrived at the lake and this was the hottest day of the year so far, and we both expected the carp to be on or near the surface. We started by walking straight to the top lake and instantly we were greeted with a very fine sight of carp, to what I reckon were over 20lbs, basking in the sun and slowly cruising around. Both Ollie and I were very excited by this sight and crept round the lake in search of more fish. The lake was low and had a lot of clarity, therefore we could both admire shoals of small roach and perch, as well as jack pike chasing them around. We arrived in the area known as 'the bowl' and admired some more carp merely cruising past casually.

After finishing the walk round the lake, we headed back to Ollie's car where we had left the tackle. On our way back though, we saw some reeds moving vigorously with clear ripples of carp moving around on the other bank. Luckily with this lake, it is accessible on the other side, as you can go down the middle on a point. We gingerly crept around and spotted a few fish, but the most likely to feed were the one's Ollie had noticed in the reeds. With polarising glasses he managed to locate one fish he thought was at least upper double and a few smaller fish around. Doing this preparation before hand meant that we had a good idea of what areas we were going to target. We quietly crept away and headed back to the car. We headed down the point where we had located those carp, including the more active ones in the rushes. Ollie headed quietly to the rushes and we both opted to fish a single lump of breadflake amongst the groups of carp. We used a size 8 hook with the top part of the flake merely pinched on at the top so could be fished on the surface or as a slow sinking presentation. I crept around and spotted a few fish and quietly put the bread flake in their path but they either didn't have the interest or confidence to investigate. With thoughtful stealth, Ollie flicked a generous helping of bread perfectly amongst the fish. After a few minutes, Ollie struck into a bite, but sadly pulled out of the fish. "That was a decent fish" he said. Not feeling disheartened, but cautious, as the strike caused some disturbance, Ollie re-placed his bait in a similar position. After slowly creeping towards moving fish, I saw a fish on its own near the pads. I managed to perfectly place the bread offering in its path, but just as it started to move towards the bait, the ducks homed in on it; I was left with no choice but to reel in, and therefore consequently spooking the fish. The next minute I looked up to check if any fish were about Ollie was calling me saying he was into one. I picked up the net and watched the fish lunge and kite in the reeds giving Ollie a good run around. After a bit of steady pressure from Ollie, the fish was ours. We lifted the fish onto the bank and it was a nice conditioned common of 8lb 14oz, a nice first result for the day.

After failing to tempt anymore carp which were basking and slowly cruising by, we ventured back up to the top lake. Ollie picked up some of his bottom bait gear as well, in order to target the carp that would possibly get their heads down as the temperature was dropping. We again were greeted with the same carp in sight slowly moving and basking with circular motions with their fins. We spotted a few carp patrolling in close and opted to try the 'single bread' method again. A nice looking mirror swam perfectly into Ollie's path and he set the bait agonisingly slowly sinking in front of where the fish was heading. The fish clearly noticed the bait and paused as if it was going to consider slurping it in. The bait continued to sink and we noticed the fish was closely trying to monitor the behaviour of the offering on Ollie's hook. At the most uncalled for time, as this was happening, a sudden gust of wind came upon us and affected Ollie's bread presentation which consequently meant that the fish ended up rejecting it. I also tried the slow sinking presentation in its path but it didn't even seem to think about considering it.

After briefly fishing the 'single bread' method in a more static way and having no interest, we decided to go to an area were there were some nice features where the carp were likely to be patrolling. I remained with the one barbel rod and Ollie started to get out his more 'beefed-up' carp gear for the job and flicked some bottom bait rigs a foot or so off the island where the water shelfs down deeper. I casted a zig in a zone where the fish were likely to be patrolling. The temperature was dropping, and the fish seemed to be too so I quickly rigged up with a basic bottom bait rigged and casted it to a nice gravelly area by a tree. Just as the light was fading and it was getting considerably more cold, the anglers opposite us got a screaming take and after what looked to be a very enjoyable fight indeed, they had landed a nice fish. Just as the light faded Ollie also received a screaming run and was also into a decent fish, here's a video clip of the fight:

It was a very nice result that Ollie had landed a couple of lovely carp with this lovely looking mirror going 17lb 6oz. We took a few quick photos and watched the carp swim back in the shallower water and then disappear into the depths. This was a lovely result as it was just before we were due to be heading home and was a nice meeting Ollie for the first time.

Ollie is currently in the process of launching a company, Clearwater Angling Solutions, which is going to be doing bits of terminal tackle for different coarse fishing demands, such as floats and also doing some great baits which will catch all sorts of species from bream to chub to big tench, barbel and carp!
Please check out their Facebook page for updates!

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous