CARPING ON

Hello to all

As I mentioned in the last blog the river carp trail had gone very stale and we had been struggling to get a bite for a couple of weeks. I took a small break from the carping and enjoyed some more lure fishing with Moxy.We have mostly been roving the tidal on quick sessions catching small pike and perch and the odd sea trout.Neil however has been carping on. And catching in the process.

Good work Neil lad! Two lovely Exe doubles of 11lb 7oz (top fish) and 14lb 10 oz.The carping doesn't end there either.On a very hot afternoon I finished Work and had a hunch that a spot I sometimes frequent would  be holding a basking fish or two.I arrived at the spot and quietly crept up to peer into water to see if anyone was home.I slowly approached the edge making sure I didn't break the sky line and ruin a potential chance of a carp.As intuition would have it there were indeed fish at home and quite a gang too.I could clearly see five carp hanging in the shallow water enjoying the suns rays looking like they were not in a rush to go anywhere.

In such situations like this a standard ledgering approach is not the best option as a splash could spook the fish into leaving the area. The carp in question were quiet modest fish for the Exe with 3 of them around the 7-8lb mark and the other two being low doubles. I opted to use a my 1.75lb Fox Barbel rod and freeline a large piece of bread on the surface.The bait was flicked into the margin and drifted over the carp then held so it flutters on the surface. I know that the presentation is very unnatural looking but the carp haven't twigged. I find this by far the most exciting way of catching carp, Being able to see your quarry is real heart stopping stuff. It must have taken all of two minutes before a big set of slurping lips sucked in the bread.I bloo my cover with a very clumsy but well timed strike.The surface exploded as the carp realised his mistake, his shoal mates soon fled and battle commenced. After a dogged bit of hanging on I convinced the fish to get his head up and slipped him into the net.

The little fella ended a bit of a lean patch for me so I was well chuffed and playing him on the light barbel rod was great fun. I stuck around to see if the other fish returned but it seemed the whole ordeal had persuaded them otherwise. Meanwhile Neil was downstream fishing on the bottom with a paste wrapped boiley, He was later rewarded with a pb stunner of 23lb 6oz. I had left by this point so sadly missed all the action.

Aside from the carping I took on  a 48 hour Catfishing trip to Swallow pool to try and break my recent pb of 47lb 8oz. Swallow pool is a fairly recent project set up by Kieth Wesley, the water is home to some huge cats up to the 88lb mark. Keith welcomed myself and Julian Chidgey to his very unique water.

Watch this video to see how we got on.

Till Next time

Good luck