One Midsummer Morning

Dear readers,

I started my Finnish carp season a bit late. This year I am going to try to fish the season more on the later side (summer&autumn). Years before I have been struggling with May and June fishing, so this year I am going to try something different. I started the season just on Midsummer. 

The first rays of the sun were just hitting my swim when I had a run. (FYI - The sun rises 3:50 in midsummer... That's quite of an early morning.) I tricked the fish with Prologic Banana malt snowman 20mm+20mm (the swim was baited with PL Banana Malt Stick&Method mix). I was also using a new mainline, Prologic Interceptor Fluoro Carbon coated mono (0,40mm). The line performed really well, and despite playing the fish around the rocky&snaggy swim, the line didn't have any scratches. I am really happy with this.

A nice start for a (hopefully) successful season...

The long & lean common carp had some marks from spawning, and it was not really on its prime condition. Anyhow, the carp put the scales to 12 kg. A nice start for the season.

[For all the smart people who are asking why I am wearing a beanie in midsummer, I would like them to watch this video about Finnish "summer"..]

Oktoberfest - The Search For October carp

My main target for the season 2012 was to catch a carp in October from a big Finnish lake. It's not that easy considering already some night frosts, which can cause fish to seek shelter in  deep pelagic areas. Also even on good conditions in summertime, big lakes can be tricky with very low fish densities. Anyway, I set my target and had a good prebaiting campaign with DD Bait. I found myself chucking in a reasonable amount of 20 mm boilies, as the carp want to feed before the long winter. 

One week I found time for a quick overnight trip, when conditions were on my side. The night was really dark. You can imagine how dark it can get on a remote Finnish lake at October! I lit some candles to heighten the spirits and make myself at home. After that I had some decent barbecue with sausages and toasts, when suddenly my rod had a long dropback bite. Red Bull snowman was just too tempting! I managed to land the carp in pitch black conditions. After the fish I hit the bed.

Midnight express. The quest for October carp had succeeded!

In the morning I had a slow run, which got a lot faster before I could get to the rodpod. After picking up the rod, the fish had some speed for leverage. The fish easily pulled 40 meters of 0,40 mm monofilament stretched to the limit. Unluckily, the hookhold wasn't that good. In brief, my October expedition was a success with two good runs in a quick overnighter.