Tuesday 2 September 2008

Summer Success











Although no other piscatorial species excites me like 'Esox Lucius' i do enjoy the traditional summer break and of course enjoy catching other species. This summer i have been consumed by catching carp off the top and again it is the influence of Stu maddocks aka 'The Womble' who is responsible for this obsession. I began the summer season with my bite alarms; a disciple of the 'Korda' video bible. I often had with me a float rod and mixed catching carp with plenty of Tench and Bream and other fish but the main target was carp. I have always fished for carp on the top but never with such an appetite, but observing Stu stalking around me as i sat statically often for long periods without a single bleep from my alarms made me more and more interested in fishing with bread and dog biscuits. Stu prefers dog biscuits where i prefer the old school bread. One particular session will forever remain in my memory; this time i watched Stu climb into the bankside foliage; a large willow over-hanging the lake and eventually after patience he hooked into a small hard fighting common. How he extricated this fish from such a tangled mess of branches i am still amazed by and in awe of. He came out of this tree with pride but also mixed with annoyance because his target fish was a much larger carp which had been beaten to the bait by this small common. So as the summer progressed i began to fish more and more with surface baits; mainly bread. Stu knew of my ambition to catch a 'Grass Carp' which i had never caught and had been an ambition for a long time. I had targeted the species a number of times over the years at expensive day-ticket waters without success and Stu had shown me spots locally where i could achieve it and eventually it happened; a fish of 20lb 1oz was my prize. Pictured above are a number of my summer carp and i must thank Stu again for all his advice and knowledge.

3 comments:

musclecarlover said...

Wow, those are huge fish! I love fishing, but I've only fished for small things, like perch, trout, and pickerel (spelling? Haha). My Grampa has fished for Cod I think, and Salmon. But that's so cool, it must be so much fun! Loved your blogs.

Chester Predators said...

Thanks Jenn

David Edwards said...

Mike... nice blog and hopefully I'll be able to post some of Esox on my BLOG!!