peter crabtree
AKA Simon, 1953 - 2022 (RIP)
K and A canal for me Sunday, near Reading. It will undoubtedly be busy with boats, bikes, canoes etc.
Happy days...
Anyone else out this weekend?
Happy days...
Anyone else out this weekend?
Betty Swollocks again this weekend....
- Thread starter peter crabtree
- Start date
C
chefster
Guest
Open match at Tofts Silver Lake @ Rugby on saturday,draw 12 noon, fish 1-6,no fishing sunday as spending a rare day with my better half,then a club match at Tofts Carp lake next thursday......No boats, no walkers, joggers, cyclists,etc, happy days!!
barbelboi
Well-known member
Yep, Fri, Sat and Sun @ Ross - I believe that it's a couple of degrees cooler there than here and shouldn't exceed 28c.
Jerry
Jerry
B
binka
Guest
Might get out Sunday but it will be early or late doors if it's gonna be sweltering... or I might leave it until next week as I have the entire week off and plan on spending the vast majority of it on a river
Quite fancy a spot of river carping for a change
Quite fancy a spot of river carping for a change
nicepix
Well-known member
Just got back from my 'river island' swim where I've lost a catfish again!
I watched it swim past my sand eel bait and after half an hour I thought my chances had gone so I was just packing up when I saw it come back. The float slipped away and I was in close up and personal - less than 6 feet from the rod end in 2 feet of water. No messing about with 2.75lb TC rod and 12lb line this time. Not after getting my ar$e kicked so convincingly on Sunday. 4lb TC Ugly-Stick uptider, Okuma Trent with 40lb line knotted to 40lb Catlink, a bl00dy great Eagle Wave hook and a bit of wine cork as a float. Drag on reel set appropriately. The cat never stood a chance. It couldn't make any headway this time, not an inch, and spent most of its time airborne crashing about all over the place like a mad bull. I was just thinking of how best to net it when the hook pulled out. 30 to 35lb I reckon. Might have played it too hard on reflection.mg:
I'll give it a couple of days and have another go.
I watched it swim past my sand eel bait and after half an hour I thought my chances had gone so I was just packing up when I saw it come back. The float slipped away and I was in close up and personal - less than 6 feet from the rod end in 2 feet of water. No messing about with 2.75lb TC rod and 12lb line this time. Not after getting my ar$e kicked so convincingly on Sunday. 4lb TC Ugly-Stick uptider, Okuma Trent with 40lb line knotted to 40lb Catlink, a bl00dy great Eagle Wave hook and a bit of wine cork as a float. Drag on reel set appropriately. The cat never stood a chance. It couldn't make any headway this time, not an inch, and spent most of its time airborne crashing about all over the place like a mad bull. I was just thinking of how best to net it when the hook pulled out. 30 to 35lb I reckon. Might have played it too hard on reflection.
mg:I'll give it a couple of days and have another go.
terry m
Well-known member
Stuck working in Ohio in the US this week and not home 'til Saturday lunch time so unlikely this weekend.
black rod
Well-known member
No Betty Swollocks for me, it's mid winter here in New Zealand, but I will be making the effort to get out fishing on Saturday, it's the 6th Carp Club NZ match, they are more of a social than a serious match and will include the obligatory bbq, it's on a lake an hours drive south from where I live, it's not really a "big carp" venue although there are rumours that they may be some lumps in there and a 16lb fish has been recorded on a match in the past. The problem we have is that the Asian community in NZ are very fond of eating them and there are plenty of them that live in this area.
The other problem we have with matches is that the carp as classed as "noxious pests" and by law we should kill everyone we catch, the problem is that they are very slippery customers and often slip out your grasp when you are near water :wh and they are very difficult to drown
I'll report back on how I get on.
The other problem we have with matches is that the carp as classed as "noxious pests" and by law we should kill everyone we catch, the problem is that they are very slippery customers and often slip out your grasp when you are near water :wh and they are very difficult to drown
I'll report back on how I get on.
black rod
Well-known member
Blankety blank....again
I really enjoy the social side of these events even though I was the only Englishman there and couldn't understand what the South Africans were talking about 90% of the time, what is that language they speak ?
As a "social" venue it was perfect, comfortable area to fish, plenty of space and on site facility's, We attracted a bit of attention most of which was positive. The main downside was we were fishing in an area that the locals use to feed the ducks and swans, remember this is their domain and we were the visitors, yes we would have hoped for a bit more consideration and forethought. We had to free one swan which was attracted by one of our friendly local bird feeders and got tangled in a fishing line, no harm was done.
We were also paid a visit by a few members of the public that were interested in what we were doing which was good and one English guy had been fishing there for years and knew "Smithy" very well, Smithy was the guy that spread most of the illegal fish around New Zealand, he died a few years back and left a few million NZ$ in trust to be used "for the good of NZ angling". I can't recollect his name and he didn't stop that long that I could have a good chat with him, he did mention that crucian carp had been introduced many years ago to feed the Maori's. Are these the strange goldfish that I catch ?
The other thing I noticed yesterday was how I seem to attract the local nutters, I must be a magnet for the majority of odd ball that frequent this glorious country, especially the Huntly area.
A few ideas got exchanged during the day and I enjoyed the bbq although only 3 of us made the effort.
The "Asian" guy was very friendly and was a wealth of information and bait for Nico.
A few fish would have been nice and it wasn't for the want of trying, I had two rods out, one was a conventional carp set up which I was hoping to attract the resident lumps with and the other was a feeder rod rigged match style and fished at around 15m to 20m hoping to attract some bites. We could see fish activity on the surface for most of the day, but it was all at range, a range that Marius couldn't even reach although he had a very good try at attracting them into his swim using his "SPOMB", my rendition of the dam busters theme tune and imitation of a bomber fell on deaf ears, The SA's didn't even know what world war 2 was.
All in all a very enjoyable day, tho I must admit getting up at 5 o'clock and catching no fish for the third time is waring a bit thin, but like Arnie "I'll be back" for more punishment.
One question I do have, How long can a venue like this survive when all the fish that are caught are taken out ? Food for thought.
The lack of me catching fish has also got me thinking, is it time to go back to basics ? do I change back to simple basic rigs, smaller hooks, bait on the hook or am I simply getting the fundamentals wrong ?
Yesterday looked perfect for float fishing, a waggler and constantly trickling in some grains of corn, but that's really not what the carp club is about, or at least I don't think it is.
__________________
I really enjoy the social side of these events even though I was the only Englishman there and couldn't understand what the South Africans were talking about 90% of the time, what is that language they speak ?
As a "social" venue it was perfect, comfortable area to fish, plenty of space and on site facility's, We attracted a bit of attention most of which was positive. The main downside was we were fishing in an area that the locals use to feed the ducks and swans, remember this is their domain and we were the visitors, yes we would have hoped for a bit more consideration and forethought. We had to free one swan which was attracted by one of our friendly local bird feeders and got tangled in a fishing line, no harm was done.
We were also paid a visit by a few members of the public that were interested in what we were doing which was good and one English guy had been fishing there for years and knew "Smithy" very well, Smithy was the guy that spread most of the illegal fish around New Zealand, he died a few years back and left a few million NZ$ in trust to be used "for the good of NZ angling". I can't recollect his name and he didn't stop that long that I could have a good chat with him, he did mention that crucian carp had been introduced many years ago to feed the Maori's. Are these the strange goldfish that I catch ?
The other thing I noticed yesterday was how I seem to attract the local nutters, I must be a magnet for the majority of odd ball that frequent this glorious country, especially the Huntly area.
A few ideas got exchanged during the day and I enjoyed the bbq although only 3 of us made the effort.
The "Asian" guy was very friendly and was a wealth of information and bait for Nico.
A few fish would have been nice and it wasn't for the want of trying, I had two rods out, one was a conventional carp set up which I was hoping to attract the resident lumps with and the other was a feeder rod rigged match style and fished at around 15m to 20m hoping to attract some bites. We could see fish activity on the surface for most of the day, but it was all at range, a range that Marius couldn't even reach although he had a very good try at attracting them into his swim using his "SPOMB", my rendition of the dam busters theme tune and imitation of a bomber fell on deaf ears, The SA's didn't even know what world war 2 was.
All in all a very enjoyable day, tho I must admit getting up at 5 o'clock and catching no fish for the third time is waring a bit thin, but like Arnie "I'll be back" for more punishment.
One question I do have, How long can a venue like this survive when all the fish that are caught are taken out ? Food for thought.
The lack of me catching fish has also got me thinking, is it time to go back to basics ? do I change back to simple basic rigs, smaller hooks, bait on the hook or am I simply getting the fundamentals wrong ?
Yesterday looked perfect for float fishing, a waggler and constantly trickling in some grains of corn, but that's really not what the carp club is about, or at least I don't think it is.
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