Choose life. Choose a lake. Choose a swim. Choose a bait. Choose a rig. Choose sleepless nights under the stars. Choose the nocturnal music of branches creaking in the wind, leaves whispering, and the eerie night-calls of owls and wildfowl. Choose bright moons shattered in the rippling surface of lakes, and purple skies at sunset perfectly mirrored. Choose silent mist-shrouded pools at dawn. Choose visions of white-flowering waterlilies turning green-gold in the half-light. Choose the flashing bronze flanks of carp, twisting below the surface, on the edge of visibility. Choose a heightened heart-rate. Choose an emotional rollercoaster. Choose the psychological assault-course of planning, watching, locating, preparing, casting and waiting. Choose the endless hours of strung-out anticipation. Choose the rush of striking, hooking, fighting, and landing (or losing) the fish. Choose to walk the tightrope between desperate failure and the adrenaline-inducing, life-enhancing triumphant high of success. Choose life. Choose obsession. Choose Carp Fishing.
"Greg Freestone, Carpspotting 2011"

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Fishing on a budget

After my trip to Spain it was nice to get back down to the lake I love and missed and with the season coming to a end and a few guys leaving a social was needed.




After a heavy night on the beers and jd's and dribbling over sexy ladies it was off back to the lake to try and catch some stunners. Knew it wasn't going to be easy as my freezer was empty and no bait to be found so all I had for ammo was some 10mm + 15mm pop ups.

I was already one night down as I didn't get to the lake until Saturday lunch time and with the worse hang over ever it felt like a life time carting my gear round and getting set up, but after a few beers I was forced to drink I felt like a new man and the rods didn't take long to get set up and I was on the hunt.

stacks of fish boshing all over the small lake and with only one person fishing it I had to be mad not to get a line in the water
So I set up a zig rig around 13ft using the new Nash 10lb NXT Zig Flo line and my choice of hook was a size 8 fang uni .. I armed it up with two 10mm white choc pop ups  (yellow/pink)
Out they went in around 16ft of water and with the carp going mad all over the lake it was only a matter of time before it ripped off

Few beers later this little stunner was on the bank





Happy days few more beers was needed and the BBQ was fired up
Few laughs and that with a few members as the sun was out in force and being their last weekend we made the most of it




It didn't take long before I was running down to the rods again, after spotting fish moving near to my swim I reeled in the rod from the small lake and cast out the zig to the showing fish and it only took about 20mins before I had another stunner on the bank



over the moon two fish within a few hours I just wish the sun came out more often :)
After having two on zigs I thought I would get another rod set up ready for the night as I didn't really wanna be messing around with zigs in the dark so I tied up a chod rig ( I must be a noddy as I use chods ) and loaded it up with a 15mm Nash white choc pop up.

Out it went in around 18ft of water on a nice light weed area - The trap was set.
few more beers and laughs with the guys they started to drop like flys and off to bed they went with the sun still out, luckily reggie was still at hand as within moments of everyone calling it a day the sirens were calling my name




No freebies was used in the helping to catch this fish :)


The hunt is still on  tight lines and catch stunners

Sunday 5 May 2013

Back on the Ebro

A week in the sun what more could you want? well carp would be nice.

Me and my mate headed out to the ebro for an adventure. we planed to fish up near caspe for a few nights with ebro carp fishing (www.ebrocarpfishing.com) then head down river to riba roja with ebro madcats (http://ebromadcats.co.uk/)  

After a long journey we got to Spain around 9pm and was welcomed with rain and dark clouds, I was thinking were is the sun? we left sunny England to come here we must be mad.
after a few hours drive we got to our first destination




nick shattock, was there to meet us and had set all our stuff up for us as he knew we wasn't getting to the swim till late so we didn't mess about rods went out and beers cracked open and the waiting game begins.

6am and the fish started to feed this stunner 33lb+ was caught by my mate and he was over the moon







After a few hours we had bagged a few more carp and some 2lb roach which also seemed to like a few 20mm pellets





Day2

After another night we decided to move swims as the water was starting to rise so we headed to a tributary where we had seen carp and thought it would be a good idea to give it a bash
Most of the head of fish we caught was small and my mate had again the best of thee bunch which he caught from a margin spot he had been baiting up













Day3

Our trip to caspe was over and it was now time to head down to Riba Roja and to meet up with ditch from madcats. The weather had turned too with the sun shining and the winds warming things were looking up.
After spending a few nights on a bed chair it was nice to have a comfy bed for the night so we didn't bother getting the rods out but decided to get a good nights rest and feel fresh for then next few nights fishing






Day4

As we was fishing with ebro mad cats it would be wrong not fishing for cats so we headed up so a nice looking swim and baited up and gave it ago as a few had been out the last few days





Plenty of beers and sun was soaked in and not one bite all day and night it was time to load up the van and head off on the hunt for carp again




Day5

We drove around and looked at a few spots but this spot looked pukka and after spotting a few good size carp we unloaded the van and made our way down the cliff side to a nice looking swim.
As the swim was a bit tight it was a few nights under the stars for us but with views like these it don't matter were you sleep

 
 



 
It didn't take us long to get on the fish catching loads of carp around 20lb up to 29lb all on the mighty monster squid
 
 












 
 
Crazy night fishing with fish crashing every five minuets if we wasn't so tired I think we would of ended up with about 20+ fish but with the sun back out and the water dropping we headed to a new swim
 
 
 
 
Day6
 
Nash man ditch catching some stunning ebro carp