G
Gary Franklin
Guest
Off to Raduta in Oct, anyone with any experiences and tips?
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Stuart Dennis
New member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2005
- Messages
- 0
- Reaction score
- 0
IF ONLY GARY!!
W
Warren 'Hatrick' (Wol) Gaunt
Guest
Found this mate.......
A trip to Raduta in October can be a big risk. As Romania has no seasons like spring or autumn, the temperatures are very unpredictable. In reality it can vary from 25? to nearly zero!
But, encouraged from our trip from last October, 9 of us decided to book a week from 29.09.00 untill 08.10.2000. What Lucky guys we were! When we arrived the weather was windy with temperatures of about 10 - 20 degrees In my opinion these are among the best conditions at this water. The water level itself had dropped by nearly 1.5m since our last trip, so most of the sunken trees which are normally a nightmare were visible from the bank.
We all got together and had the customary pick of swims before departing around the lake. My mate Christian and myself planned to stay near to the hotel. We felt this was the best swim available because the water depth was around 20 feet. From past experiences, especially this time of year, this is where you often find the Raduta carp. After looking around with the echo sounder we found some nice places to cast to and as it was getting dark we quickly put some baits out and got ourselves settled.
A trip to Raduta in October can be a big risk. As Romania has no seasons like spring or autumn, the temperatures are very unpredictable. In reality it can vary from 25? to nearly zero!
But, encouraged from our trip from last October, 9 of us decided to book a week from 29.09.00 untill 08.10.2000. What Lucky guys we were! When we arrived the weather was windy with temperatures of about 10 - 20 degrees In my opinion these are among the best conditions at this water. The water level itself had dropped by nearly 1.5m since our last trip, so most of the sunken trees which are normally a nightmare were visible from the bank.
We all got together and had the customary pick of swims before departing around the lake. My mate Christian and myself planned to stay near to the hotel. We felt this was the best swim available because the water depth was around 20 feet. From past experiences, especially this time of year, this is where you often find the Raduta carp. After looking around with the echo sounder we found some nice places to cast to and as it was getting dark we quickly put some baits out and got ourselves settled.
W
Warren 'Hatrick' (Wol) Gaunt
Guest
It was Christian?s first trip and I explained to him, that the bigger carp tended to be at their most active in the morning, so both of us were hoping for a undisturbed night. So it proved. After some much needed sleep Christian got the first take at around 8.00am the next morning. We took the boat out to net the fish and after a very hard fight we landed Christians first Raduta common weighing 26,4kilos! Unbelievable!
I caught the next fish shortly afterwards which weighed 9kilos and the end of they day we had caught several more carp around this weight. It was an excellent great start on a water which can sometimes be incredibly difficult.
During the night we caught 2 grass carp but apart from this it was pretty quiet. Raduta is absolutely stuffed full of Grassies (we call them Amur) and if you are not careful you can end up catching them all week long and missing out completely on the bigger carp you are after.
The following morning saw the wind direction change and we saw a lot of good carp rolling at the other side of the bay. This coincided with the arrival of a German group of 9 anglers including J?rgen Becker, the winner of the 1999 Carp World Cup. After quickly talking to them they set off round the lake to their swims.
Christian had the next fish, again a common weighing 16,7 kilos and the wind picked up even more. We caught a few smaller carp between 3-6kilos but that was it. We were faced with a major dilemma; We had already caught 2 good fish within the first 2 days, but we kept seeing really big carp rolling at the other side. We decided to give it one more night and see what happened.
That night we caught a few more carp upto around 10 kilos but as the wind was still blowing hard to the other side, we took the boat and the echo sounder to look for other places to fish. We found an area we both thought would be productive where there was a massive wall of sunken trees in the margins. We moved over with all the tackle and were ready to fish again within 1 hour - good for Olympic games I think!
Of course it was impossible to play a fish from the margin so we had to use the boat everytime, but after you have done it a few times it is not too difficult. Within 2 hours after casting out it was Christian again to have the first bite which was an amazing mirror weighing 21,6kilos; a rare fish for Raduta. We now knew that we had done the right thing. It was only the first fish of the afternoon and the next hours brought us 4 carp up to 12 kilos.
Once again we had a night of full sleep(one of the reasons, why I love this lake!). In the morning Walter, a friend of ours came over and told us that they still haven?t caught anything. They were only fishing about 500m next to us which went to prove how unpredictable this water can be.
I caught the next fish shortly afterwards which weighed 9kilos and the end of they day we had caught several more carp around this weight. It was an excellent great start on a water which can sometimes be incredibly difficult.
During the night we caught 2 grass carp but apart from this it was pretty quiet. Raduta is absolutely stuffed full of Grassies (we call them Amur) and if you are not careful you can end up catching them all week long and missing out completely on the bigger carp you are after.
The following morning saw the wind direction change and we saw a lot of good carp rolling at the other side of the bay. This coincided with the arrival of a German group of 9 anglers including J?rgen Becker, the winner of the 1999 Carp World Cup. After quickly talking to them they set off round the lake to their swims.
Christian had the next fish, again a common weighing 16,7 kilos and the wind picked up even more. We caught a few smaller carp between 3-6kilos but that was it. We were faced with a major dilemma; We had already caught 2 good fish within the first 2 days, but we kept seeing really big carp rolling at the other side. We decided to give it one more night and see what happened.
That night we caught a few more carp upto around 10 kilos but as the wind was still blowing hard to the other side, we took the boat and the echo sounder to look for other places to fish. We found an area we both thought would be productive where there was a massive wall of sunken trees in the margins. We moved over with all the tackle and were ready to fish again within 1 hour - good for Olympic games I think!
Of course it was impossible to play a fish from the margin so we had to use the boat everytime, but after you have done it a few times it is not too difficult. Within 2 hours after casting out it was Christian again to have the first bite which was an amazing mirror weighing 21,6kilos; a rare fish for Raduta. We now knew that we had done the right thing. It was only the first fish of the afternoon and the next hours brought us 4 carp up to 12 kilos.
Once again we had a night of full sleep(one of the reasons, why I love this lake!). In the morning Walter, a friend of ours came over and told us that they still haven?t caught anything. They were only fishing about 500m next to us which went to prove how unpredictable this water can be.
M
Mike Lee
Guest
Plenty of articles in the monthlies Gary.
Why not give grandad Tim a ring and ask for his heavenly enightenment?
Why not give grandad Tim a ring and ask for his heavenly enightenment?
S
Stu Black
Guest
As an aside, whats wrong (to the author)with grassies?
G
Gary Franklin
Guest
You are right Stu, " if only"; wouldn't catch me within 200 miles of the place - scarey stories ! - it's for my brother who is one of the intrepid 20 going this Oct. he couldn't be arsed to submit a listing so i did it for him
C
Cakey
Guest
Ill take his place if you like ?
G
Gary Franklin
Guest
What as my brother - bit late for that although having seen him fall in the lake coz he was so pissed on Friday night, I will take it under serious advisement.
C
Cakey
Guest
I used to be a stunt man so I could do a friday night roll in the lake,
mm I think thta what Wol calls me
mm I think thta what Wol calls me
G
Gary Franklin
Guest
I've been told off by my brother for slandering his good (huh!) name so I need to correct the misinformation - he wasn?t pissed, he was trying to land a fish!!! Not his however and yes he did get it out of the snag and onto the bank for a very happy (and dry) friend.