I’ve recently decided to pick up on carp fishing after a protracted lay off – 24 years to be precise. During this time, angling has remained my enduring passion but I channeled my resources and enthusiasm into match angling, then family and business commitments left me with short session times so I filled these times exploring a few new avenues of the sport; surface plugging for Bass, spinning for Perch on the local cut, and fly fishing for both coarse and game fish.
I can generate a bit more time on the bank at present and so joined S.O.T.A.S. to give me access to Redesmere’s double figure Bream population. I enjoyed the process of locating and researching them and even banked a few… to 11lb plus.
During the long spells behind the rods whilst waiting for the bobbins to lift, I mulled over exactly what it is I go fishing for. It was not, I decided, to sit on a chair, thinking about how to catch fish and waiting… plotting and initiating I can enjoy but the waiting does not suit my style.
What’s it all about?
Where are the pro-active angler’s I mused….watching carp moving amongst the swans freshly preened down, floating in the early morning mist on the New Bank of the Mere, through the binoculars. By nature, as a match angler, you take the bait to the fish and endlessly search out the water available to you, changing tactics and presentation until that next bite is earned – the work rate is high and contrary to most peoples view is conducted with a sense of urgency and determination.
The chance hooking and subsequent loss of a Carp in the weed stirred up reminders of the past and once back at home I dusted off my old Carp diaries from 1982. Looking at some of the poorly photographed but simple triumphs I reflected on what carp fishing had meant to me and importantly, the reasons its appeal diminished during the early 1980’s….
New age carping
The advent of mass particle baiting…witnessing beds of moulding, uncooked pulses and nuts on the bed of Thornycroft Lower Pool one afternoon in a favorite peg, the peanut debate raged on, High Nutritional Value became buzz words and the angling press started to read like a cookery book. Baits and flavorings became big business. I had always’ felt uncomfortable with weaning fish off natural baits onto mass produced boilies’ cooked with eggs, Kevin Maddock’s and Kevin Clifford break through with ‘the hair.’ was being popularised, after their observations at close quarters, in tanks. ……it was all in the name of progress but I was sceptical.
Romantic notions
I had always fished by a romantic code as put forward by the likes of Chris Yates and Bernard Venables. Richard Walker’s stories of Redmire giants, secret Priory pools available to only the few, duels with unseen monsters at dawn, enjoying and observing the seasonal changes, some days I just watched the lazy submarines from up in the Snag’s and was so engrossed I would not even set the rods up…It was about being there as much as capturing one of these rare and mysterious blue/grey ghosts…every carp was special by virtue of it’s species alone, doubles caught were a triumph, twenties were on the very edge of possibilities and ‘Clarissa’ at 44lb an extraordinary giant that could never be bettered.
I revelled in the exploration of the factors that determined the fishes behaviour, Jim Gibbinson led the way …wind and pressure effect, the tilting of the thermocline, water pH and plant oxygenation, underwater physiology, the lunar cycle’s influences……compulsive reading.
Around then a pivotal point was passed.
Who calls the shots?
Watercraft and working with and within the natural elements began to be replaced by fish conditioning – the naturalistic approach was yielding in favour of attempt’s to manipulate the carp’s feeding habits.
In essence, I preferred to target the fish on their terms, in their habitat, where they call the shots and not educate them with baiting campaigns and as that mentality became more prevalent, so my trips to the lake declined……
Evolution
So, what’s changed apart from the colour of my hair?
Well, a great deal. The ‘evolution’ of the sport has continued and still gathers pace today…
The cult of immediacy is ever present in Western life……‘’What do we want?’’ More, bigger, better, sooner, – all join in – ‘’When do we want it?’’…NOW!!
As in all aspects of modern life it appears that instant gratification is required and there is always someone ready to provide people with what they want, usually at a price.
Tackle wise…there has been a total consumer led revolution, every possible item has or is having its saleability exploited, from bait boats to boilie stops, echo sounders to swinger arms. Tackle development forges ahead as fast as the magazines can get a feature out and you even get a specifically designed pretty camo bag to put it in…Help, the cynic’s escaping….
Ready made terminal rig complexity…talk about ‘splitting hairs!’
The benefit to the angler currently lies in the flooding of Far Eastern imported products…there really are some unsustainably low prices out there on rods and reels at the moment!!
Ludites unite
Twenty years back, if during a session I identified an item that would improve my efficiency or give me an edge I had to make it my self …I recall making twin extending rod rests as a school project, enamelled and everything with proper thumb screws, wind free bobbins out of wine bottle sleeves running on knitting needles…building rods up from North Western Blanks….water proofing my heron bite alarms that used to whine until the battery flattened if it rained!
A major part of the appeal of fishing was the issue resolution, a sense of over coming obstacles. It is now too easy to bob down the tackle hyper market for an expensive solution.
There is a touch of the Ludite in me that actually craves for things to be more difficult…..perhaps even a touch of the masochist!
For me the level of strife emphasises the magnitude of the result.
Pale imitations
The fish….bless ‘em – are paler imitations and continue to outstrip the old strains for growth, stack on weight and pull the scales round to the same place but do not satisfy the soul in the same way.
How to tell them apart – spray pellets over both one comes to investigate the other bolts for cover!!! ….Cynic, get thee back!
The commercial carp pools are superseding the traditional mere’s and lakes as the microwave ready meal has replaced the roast joint of beef…they both fill a hole but only one looks good on the plate.
Infotainment scam
Information…tends to be in carefully pre-conceived packages, often to launch a new gizmo…help!..stop me getting cynical again, it’s not healthy……
News agents shelves groan under the weight of carp magazines…mostly sharing and recycling well known facts….the emphasis is on tackl
e not watercraft, where are the seasonal nature notes, heritage charts for the fish, how to interact with your environment rather than just trample over it, preservation is on the wane, check out the flora and fauna whilst you wait for a bite, how to keep a decent diary, draw, refresh your mind….
Aarrgghhhh! Too late he’s escaped and he’s out of control…..
Just add Water!
Anyone can walk out of a tackle store, notice, that’s store not shop…..£300 lighter in pocket…and hey presto you’ve got what is in effect a carp angler. Replete with camouflaged, twin everything, a copy of New Carper under the arm – and keen as mustard to bank that 40lb’er – who will then probably pick a peg because it’s the right size to comfortably house the fully furnished bivvie, position it so wind and elements blow off the back for comfort, no unruly foliage to spoil the view finalises the choice..…..this guy (or girl, possibly) will catch fish, will enjoy the triumph of doing so and will enjoy the reminders through the powers of digital imagery…
What I would ask them to consider before the brass gets handed over is this, and in all honesty I was on the brink of doing the same until I dusted off my old diaries – Is it to be a matching pair of rods, reels and buzzers to reside or even sleep behind, or …a stalking rod, chesties and a tub of worms?
Stop and ask yourself, how much do you care if you look the part…. are you afraid to buck the trend…to go your own way?
To consider the missing ingredient compare these two scenarios and decide which has the most appeal: What do you want from your angling, where does your heart belong…?
Was it all a dream?
At 3.34 a.m. the in-shelter receiver blasts out, disturbing your slumber…yes, it’s time to leave your fantasy dream lover’s pert breast’s alone and pull on your waders, bleary eyes focus on slow hands fumbling with the door zipper. At the rods it’s time to decide which ones the go’er, you’re right, it’s the left-hand rod, you feel for the head torch switch, is the fish moving left or right? Crank and wind, adrenaline is now starting to pump as the fish nears the net…wind down and haul, aim for the swirl and she’s in the net…….how are you feeling……comfortably numb…but she’s in the net and let’s get the scales out now the visions getting straight….
Or….. and yes, I am of course ‘over playing’ it for effect…
Baited hook and bated breath
It’s 7.36 p.m. and light is fading to the west….after two hours up trees and on your belly looking for bulges in the pads you are now crouching, knees buzzing with pain, hidden behind the available foliage, palms sweating, nervously checking the line is on the roller and not caught on the Alder branch which the rod rests upon….this time, this time, please, a tail pattern to the left, large shoulders break the surface mere feet away…you cannot breathe, you’re sure it is looking you in the eyes….two carp have been traversing the pads under the rod end for an eternity…a big linear mirror approaches, then for no reason heads out of the swim at speed ….It must have spooked at the line…all the doubt’s creep in, then the other fish comes in aaahhh!!!.. tail pattern……visible tail …Oh my good it must be on the worm …all the senses are in overload…the float dips under and the line on the pad snakes away into the water….close eyes and lift.. a heavy curve develops in the rod….endorphins wash into the already adrenaline charged muscles and bodily awareness falls away… the next few heady minutes are fuelled by instinct…the fish gains ground with each drive for freedom and then it wallows twenty-yards out ….common sense required ..deep breaths ….steady firm draws then wind down…it must come back the way it went out….you know there are no hard snags from when you waded the swim earlier…two minutes later it’s that critical moment, the draw over the mesh…as she slides over the string you scoop ….she’s in …with the last ounces of strength you lift the net and struggle to extract your feet from the silt that has crept up to your thigh’s threatening to come over the back of your chest waders…elation drives your last strides to the firm bank behind the foliage… where you fall to your knee’s ….you are ALIVE!!!
Transcendental carping
The true essence of our sport is not realised until just after the event, it has already been experienced…and the rest of the world gradually comes back into focus…it stems from the realisation that you have been totally immersed in a mesmerizing time-locked bubble of intense concentration.
Both fish go 20lb 5oz on the scales, but attached to the photo of each will be pinned for all-time, totally different emotions.
The first is conducted in a semi-aware state, senses dulled…during the waking process.
In the second instance there is an additional, essential ingredient……spiritual engagement.
In Tai Chi, indeed in most martial arts disciplines, the perfect moment is when you cease to register your bodies existence and … JUST BE.
Last night I briefly regained that feeling for the first time in 24 years…and I want more.
In the next article we will cover information collation for your chosen venue and how to build a resource sheet that can be applied to the water as the season progress’s…plus fish spotting tips. The pro-active element starts with the research and fish finding, followed by the stalking which is conducted with all the senses engaged and with an air of purpose, absorbing everything the venue has to offer – time flies.
