Middle of Nowhere

So, the season is just about to start. We had a spell of warm weather this year and we got rid of the ice cover a bit early (at least in Southern Finland). So this actually means two things: 

1) I must start making my boilies and rigs quite soon

2) I must plan what lakes to fish

Part 1 of my plans will probably fail miserably, and I will be tying the rigs just before my first session. Also, probably no self-made boilies either. But anyway, that's life. Considering how much you need to be organized to fully function in todays world, I prefer a bit of chaos in my fishing and preparations. Besides, a lot of people think that only the simple people need to have their surroundings organized. I must be very smart then :)

OK. Now to the second part of my "What to do"-list. Planning. More or less, I will be fishing a few of my already-familiar lakes and maybe doing some discoveries (if I have the time or motivation). A lot of the time my "discoveries" have been... well... more like disasters. I remember one time I was checking out a remote forest lake, which had very swampy banks. When actually getting to the bank (walking 1 km in very rough terrain and bitten by around 200 mosquitoes) I found out that a big animal had visited my swim as well. Checking the huge footprints and big piles of soft poo, I had a gut feeling, that it wouldn't be wise to fish this swim at all. The only reasonable thing I could do then was to walk back to my car and drive away. Of course, the markings were made by a bear. I am not afraid of bears, but considering all the goodies in my bait-bag, I am really not keen on fishing with bears. :)

Fishing in the middle of nowhere (around 2009). The place was actually quite nice (if you like deer flies)

Still, sometimes I have been very lucky, as some places I've discovered have been really kind to me (like catching carp on the first night on a new lake). Going to new lakes can be frustrating, but sometimes it is like getting to know a new friend. 

No matter the size of the carp, getting the first carp from a new lake is always happy time!

Just Another Blog Update - With a Belly Rub!

Dear Readers,

It's been too long since my last update. Sometimes writing is easy, sometimes it isn't. Well, just to summarize my season - it was nice. Especially as I didn't have so many nights out on the bank. My fishing notes regarding this year however were quite good considering the seasons to come. I learned a lot of new things. I even managed to pull off a 4 carp night fishing alone. Considering the low number of carp in our lakes, it's more or less an achievement here.

Hopefully you will enjoy this picture of a very concentrated belly rub!

Sometimes it's good to have a landing mat with walls. Carp can get veeery active when you don't expect it.

Some product talk here. I started using the Prologic C.O.M. pod this season. It is really nice on tight swims, and its low profile is really stealthy, so you can stay below radar on waters where you don't want to be seen. The light attached to the pod is just to humor me, and to give me an indication where the pod is (in pitch black conditions).

My current set-up (Switching hangers to Prologic Windblades for 2015)

Rocky swims and RIGHT lines

Dear Readers,

It's been a while since my last blog entry. I managed to do some fishing since, and had some good experiences with new tackle.

As I have told earlier, the carp swims here in Finland can be rocky and weedy (a lot of these lakes formed during the last ice age, hence the rough banks). Normal monofilament usually ends up in the bin after a few fights with a carp, as the line gets "the rash" from the rocks. Braided line would just break almost in an instant. 

Now my issues with line have been solved with the Prologic Interceptor Fluoro Carbon Coated mono. It performs like a mono, with good breaking strain. It really doesn't get any scratches (because of the fluorocarbon coating) and after a trip it is as good as new. I am using 0,40 mm and it suits my needs perfectly. I can recommend this line to anyone who is fishing on rocky & weedy swims.

Ah - that will be it for my tackle related talk. 

The last trip I did was a nice two-night session fishing alone. I managed to catch a nice brace of carp, and I was more than happy being on the bank. I still had my fair share of misfortune, as my cameras remote controller died on a critical moment. Few good photos anyway, and here's a pic of my first carp of the session.

Midsummer Nights (and Jinxed Again!)

Dear Readers,

Midsummer nights in Finland are really different from nights in Southern Europe. It really doesn't get dark even at midnight, and time has less meaning. But as much as I love the bright night skies, I still prefer the embracing darkness of August nights.

Midnight "darkness"...

My brother caught a big carp on a trip with me. I seem to have been jinxed again! My trips with my brothers have been really good, but not for me. If my calculations are correct, I have blanked on nine (9!) consecutive trips with my brothers. My misfortune seems to be of a very personal kind, as all of my brothers have been catching quite good. I hope I can lift this curse...

Upcoming season 2014!

So the season 2014 is just around the corner. Some carpers in the southern Europe have enjoyed good carp fishing already. But here we'll get rid of the ice cover within a few weeks. Anyway my aims for the next season are relatively modest. Fishing, after all, is about enjoying what you do. My years of competitive angling have already insured me that I know how to catch fish and I don't have to prove anything to anyone. The only thing I am hoping for is some kind of a discovery. Should it be a new idea, a big fish that shouldn't have been in this lake, or just a new perspective on fishing in general. This year I am also going carping abroad, so you'll see something about that on my blog later on.

Almost forgot about this one. Absolutely a beautiful film by Alliancepeche. It's about the freedom in fishing (I think). Just watch it. http://vimeo.com/87580260 

This was such a beautiful fish from 2011. Or IS a beatiful fish to be exact... Swimming free in a non-commercial lake!

Prologic Senzora 13 Bite Alarms Tested

Dear readers, 

As I wrote in my hands-on review about the Prologic Senzora 13, no final judgement can be made about an alarm system just testing it for a one session (or just in your living room). So, making a thorough test takes easily a complete season. I don't actually know how many sessions I did, but the alarms were tested in varying conditions, from 30°C to - 2°C (rain etc. included). My set of 4+1 was in use in all of the sessions, so I got a good picture how the alarms behave. To put it is short: they worked just fine.

So no fuss, no problems, and the alarms produced reliable bite detection. That's all I want of my alarm set. I think I will stick to this set for a longer time.

Lucky summer days and mornings.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

Christmastime is just one of the times I usually don't think about fishing. This time I won't make an exception. Have a good time, all of you, and take care of the ones close to you!

I didn't send any x-mas cards this year. I targeted the card money to a project that restores spawning areas for trout.

Morning mist on a Finnish lake. Also you can find my current setup in the picture (PL Fastwater 9'6", Okuma Trio BF 55, Prologic Senzora 13 bite alarms+snag bars, Prologic Hangers and Prologic Tripod). 

The Learning Curve - And The Happiness of Not Learning a ****!

Hi all. It's been a while since my last blog entry. Nonetheless, the season is over here and it's time for some reflection on my doings.

When I started carping, I got off to a flying start. I think in no less than 15 minutes I had hooked my first carp. It was more than easy, as were my following catches. I hardly knew the meaning of word "blanking". Luckily, years have taught me better.

In every form of fishing, you get better by doing it more and more. This is true no matter if we are talking about match angling, fly fishing, etc. I remember my first time tench angling. I was struggling just to get one, and this went on for a few trips. Two years spent entirely on tench fishing on the pole taught me a trick or two. If I remember correctly, one of my last trips was when I caught 25 tench in a five hour session. The catch in total was like 40 kg+. At that point I knew tench angling quite well (at least the pole techniques). I knew if I wanted to catch tench, I would. Some part of me just loves the effort of trying to catch and learn. The way of becoming an angler. At the same time, I love the things I don't know. They truly are the reason why I return to the bank every time. Casting for the mystery.

Luckily, carp fishing has still remained quite mysterious to me. And I think I want to keep it that way. Some things are clearer to me now, and some not. I am a biologist, so the nature around me hardly has any mystical or magical essence, as from my point of view, it's just genes and evolution. Spruce = genes (and it's fenotype), birch = genes (-..-), carp = genes (-..-).

So yes, carp fishing is an action where a monkey (Homo sapiens) uses a lot of time and absurdly expensive and elaborate tackle (made of carbon, plastic and metals) just to see a fish (Cyprinus carpio). So where's the magic then? The "magic" is just a product of our own imagination and our want to make things meaningful. Life itself, possibly has no bigger meaning, so fishing might be as important as anything. From this perspective, I find carp and fish in general, as magical creatures capable of possessing my mind. It's a way better story than the monkey-version!

Yes! It's a monkey (Homo sapiens) ALMOST kissing a member of the Cyprinidae-family (Barbus barbus).

A Double Date - It Can Get Tricky

Dear readers,

It's been a while since I last wrote. Sometimes it's quite hard to get your ideas together to write about something new or even remotely interesting. This blog has been running now for about 3 years now if I remember correctly. Sometimes it is just normal to have a small pause in writing.

I was fishing my new spot, and was happy to get a run in the middle of the night. I took my right hand rod and I played the fish closer to the net. What surprised me was that my left hand rod alarm started to go off like crazy. I thought for a second that I somehow got this fish tangled into the other line. After that one short second, I realized that I had another fish on the other rod.

So I netted the first carp quickly and took the left-hand rod and started playing the second fish. Luckily, I managed to land the carp into the same landing net, where the first carp was waiting for company :) I can honestly say that the situation was really much easier to handle with my Fastwater 9'6" rods, which are powerful, but really easy to use in tight natural swims. 

After some trickery, I managed to take photographs and release the carp back into their watery haunt. Didn't get any more runs that night. I guess sometimes the feeding periods can be very short and savage.

The smaller one of my double date.

Short Rods For Carp Fishing

Dear Readers,

I suddenly remembered that this SHOULD be a blog about carp fishing. So, here is a picture of a carp for you. This was the first time my new Prologic Fastwater 9'6" 3.5 lbs rods were out there. I love them. A lot. 

So why the short rods? In most cases, our natural lakes have only tight swims where it's almost impossible to cast properly with a 12' rod. Also, the fish are so much more fun to land with these shorter rods... Combined with Okuma Trio 55 Baitfeeder reels, my combination is really lightweight and still packs a lot of power.

A nice wild mirror carp. Wasn't held in a sack, but photographed just after the capture.

Carp Fishing and The Small Issue of Money

Dear Readers,

Carp Fishing is not from the cheapest side of different fishing styles. To be more precise, you at least have to invest some of your hard earned money just for carp mats etc. So if you don't want to spend 100-200 euros for fish welfare, please don't start carping. Catch and Release is not a religion, it's about treating the fish right and fishing in a sustainable and ethical way.

But yes, now to the budget side of fishing... The easiest way to break this down is probably making a small list of where the money goes:

•  Carp fishing essentials (carp care) cost from 100 to 400 euros.
• Carp fishing essentials 2 (fishing tackle) cost from 400 to xxx euros. You can spend a fortune on these, but you can manage with a 30 euro reel and a 30 euro rod. My choice would be a 100 euro rod and a 100 euro reel.
• Bivvie+bedchair+sleeping bag. Cost from 250 euros.

The previous investments are the stuff that you can use year after year, and then there are the real money eaters...

Where did my money go?! Carp fishing is really good for the oil companies!

• Bait is something where you should invest some money. I normally use bait for two prebaitings and during my fishing. For a normal campaign, I usually spend about 50-75 euros for bait.
• Gasoline/Diesel... I probably would have bought my fishing kit five times with the money I have spent on fuel. One year I drove about 4000 km in the search for good fishing spots and prebaiting. It cost me about 600 euros for the gasoline alone.

The last two things are the ones you have to invest finding the lakes and the fish. And considering all the hard work and money I have put into finding suitable carp fishing spots, I find it a bit funny that people ask me where to fish for carp. Please do use the same 2000 euros and 1000 hours and ask me after that :) When you have done the same what I have done, you really understand that there is nothing to win in sharing the fishing spots.

Metropolis Carp - DVD Review

Fiddling through the Internet, I stumbled upon a video teaser called "Metropolis Carp". I was hooked from the first second. At last I could watch 2 minutes of carp angling without any product placement! Whoa! The teaser was über-cool and you can watch it here...

After watching the teaser, it took about 15 seconds for me to go on to their website and order the DVD. You can do the same on http://www.digitalit.at/metropoliscarp/startenglish.html

The DVD itself is made with professional attitude for bigger audience, as you can also choose English subtitles on the DVD menu. It's super cool, as my German is a bit rusty, and Austrian German is way too hard for me. On the cover of the DVD is a text saying "No tackle, No Tips, No Tricks - Promised". I really like that, as considering my fishing, tips&tactics from other countries are as useful as a bucketful of snow to me. And we have more than plenty of snow here in Finland.

The film starts with nice scenic videos from Vienna, and it really gets you into the urban attitude. Later on Sebastian and Nick go fishing on the Danube. The guys really know what they are doing, and they  catch some really nice fish. But the film itself is not about the fish or the techniques used. It is about fishing your OWN way, and finding your own paths. I hope this will inspire some carpers to abandon the commercial lakes and finding true carp angling somewhere else.

I really liked the juxtaposition of the film. I mean there were parts of fishing, and just before you were getting a bit tired of seeing the fish/fishing, the film took you somewhere else. The editing on this film is really good. Thumbs up!

The soundtrack and all the audio work is done really well. Seriously, I could never imagine drum and bass going along so well with carp fishing... From what I saw, the film had its soundtrack from Vienna artists, which gives the film a more local feeling to it. The video material and the soundtrack go absolutely hand in hand. Besides, the music is actually really good. You don't get the "porn video" music which is very common in fishing films.

The dialogue and the monologues are really funny, and I can agree on many statements the guys said about urban angling. I won't spoil anything, but at least I can say the "problems" are so similar in Finland and Austria.

The Metropolis Carp - Urban Fishing Documentary  really is a documentary. It is a documentary of a shared passion for angling in urban Vienna. For the first time, I have seen it - fishing has finally been portrayed in street credible way.

Don't miss it. Go and order the DVD now!

One happy camper with the Metropolis Carp DVD. Winter is still quite strong here as you can see from the snowy background...

The Importance of Catch And Release

Dear Readers,

The upcoming season has got the grip on me. No hope of going ice-fishing, as I think only carp. A sad story, yes, but still it's nice to be obsessed. Obsession is way better than depression. A summer person can't be too happy in Finland, so just thinking of summer gets me going.

Anyways, I have something to say. Every now and then someone catches a carp by accident. I mean here in Finland, almost all of the carp are caught without intention. Sometimes by foul-hooking on lures, on gill-nets, etc. Way too many of these carp are killed, usually just to be photographed for a local newspaper. And that is a pity, as people should know better. Carp is not the best fish for consumption anyway. We have zander and perch for that.

My message is actually a competition. Carp Of The Thousand Lakes will give (to be precise, I will) a prize for the best Catch&Release Finnish carp for 2013. The best C&R is not determined merely by the carps weight. The "competition" will be called "COTTL Let It Go".

Just Let It Go...

One beautiful mirror carp on its way back home.

Midwinter Thoughts

As the great thinker H.P. Baxxter once put it - "The chase...is better than the catch." For some people out there, it seems that the catch is all there is to carp fishing. I find this philosophy quite blasé. As I said in my earlier blog, the fish after all, are just fish.

I think we all enjoy hearing good stories. That's why we watch movies and read books. Even our lives can be seen as a story, a lifelong journey that could be written as a book (or several). Anyway, there's little point in measuring life by numbers, like annual income, weight, height or number of children. The only people interested in those facts are statisticians.

I am quite sad to see that carp fishing is heading strongly to plain statistics. I prefer stories to numbers. So if I hear a fishes weight before hearing the story behind it, I am not impressed at all. And if you catch the monster of the day-ticket lake, make sure you can tell a story about it. It's sad if the only thing worth mentioning about catching a monster fish is that last time "Betty" (the fat lady carp) was caught, she weighted 2 kilos less. It's not a story, or at least a story to be told to future generations of angling.

Be nice, and catch experiences rather than PBs. If you have a good story, you can always write a nice article or even a book someday!

Oh, and here's an old picture, a real blast from the past. My biggest carp caught on sweetcorn. Too bad I had to stop fishing for carp that autumn, I had a MSc thesis to write... And yes, there's a story behind that carp. Someday hopefully, I can find the time to tell the story.

A nice common caught from a lake somewhere quite close to the arctic circle...

Winter Is Coming - And The Problems of Carp Fishing

As I am writing this, a winter storm has arrived to Finland. It is sweeping the world with fury and ice. Nice to be indoors.

In carp fishing, and in fishing in general, I like the secrecy of things. I don't want to see the fish I am after, nor do I want to know the size of the biggest fish in the lake. That would definitely ruin it for me. Seriously, I am never going to a lake where the fish are known by their weight or by name.

You might wonder why I think that way. Well, in my opinion wildlife should be wild. Semi-domesticated fish aren't that wild or worth the effort of fishing. Don't get me wrong, I care about the fish, but not about fishing for them. It's not the fishes fault that they are stocked and fished the wrong way.

Harsh words, yes, but I don't like the mainstream of carp fishing. The state of our sport is all about PBs, tackle sales, stealing fish from public waters into private lakes, etc. I repeat what I said in my earlier blog. - this style of carp fishing will destroy the sport, or actually already has. I hope our lifestyle will actually be a lifestyle yet again, with a taste of eccentricity.  Who wants to see or read anglers talk about 390 degree, semi stiff hangaround rig? Seriously?! That is just  a plain stupid way of looking into this wonderful and dreamlike world of carp fishing. 

Eccentric or not, here is a photo of a hidden carp. I was crouching by the landing net to get this photo.

Fully scaled dark mirror carp. Definitely not my PB or caught while sleeping in a deluxe "Bite-enhancer" bedchair.

Pic Or It Didn't Happen

Dear Readers,

Yet a few weeks has passed and I have something to say again. We are having an early winter and the temperatures have been even -10 Celcius. Now it's a bit warmer, but how long, I can't say.

The season 2012 was ok. Didn't fish as much as I would've wanted, but still I managed to get some good experience and some nice fish. Don't get me wrong, me and my fishing friends managed to land very nice fish. Only some of them have been portrayed on my blog.

I don't actually want to keep an accurate record of my catches nor do I want to share all of them with the rest of the world. Sometimes it's better to keep low profile even in the case of success. I can say I catch carp on a constant basis, which is somewhat of a miracle in Finnish waters. But I don't want to shout out too much of my catches. There is a fine line between writing a blog and showboating.

I mean if I just report every single fish I catch on every possible forum, it would eventually get attention from the wrong people. I like that carper number is growing steadily and slowly here. I don't want it to become a mass sport overnight. If and when people start carping, they would know the tackle better and take better care of the fish. I have read too many stories of catch & kill carp stories from Finland that I don't really want to cause a hysteria of carp angling. In my opinion, slow evolution is the way to go.

All in all, Finnish carp are smaller than their southern relatives and more rarely caught. Despite of that I think carp fishing in Finland is the best carping in the world.

By saying this, here's another pic of a carp (not)

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. 

Brrrr... Cold

Dear readers,

It's getting already quite cold here and the water temperatures are dropping steep. Not bad, but combining low temperature, hard wind and rain, the weather is not so pleasant for carping. Maybe I am getting old or too comfort-loving... Probably the latter, but really, spending nights by the lake soaking wet is not probably the sanest thing in the world, is it?

Anyway, a picture of a warm SUMMER morning carp. I took notice that the sun behind the camera isn't that good for the picture. A carp and my skin are so pale in colour, that the picture burns very easily... Not much to see in the picture, but the fish was beautiful. I have never caught that one before! Oh- and notice the camera shadow in the carps belly. It's not always easy when you are doing all by yourself!

Take note how NOT to take a photo. This one is quite heavily photoshopped to even see the outlines of the carp. And yes, there are a lot of carpers out there doing some photoshopping on their carp to get stunning colours... Luckily I got some good release photos on this carp.

Autumn Greetings

Dear readers,

It's been a while since I last wrote a blog. I have still been quite busy fishing for carp and spending time with other things I love. I have had hard time finding the time to write. Life is full of choices, and sometimes spending a few hours in front of a laptop might not be your cup of tea when alternatives are more tempting. Anyway, on with the story.

This season has been quite good with its ups and downs - some blanking and some good nights. Just as it should be. At one point I was quite fed up with catching carp every night and happy that I had a blank night quite soon after that. As I previously mentioned, blanking is an essential part of carp angling. If you are not blanking, you are fishing in waters that are way too easy. And carp angling shouldn't be too easy.

Tonight temperature will probably reach zero Celsius degrees... Winter is coming fast. Yet there is still enough time for some great autumn carping. Last trip me and my brothers had a good session with one of us banking two carp, including a personal best. I hope I have the time and the energy to go chase some autumn carp.

An autumn carp has just been netted and the net is disassembled for lifting.

1st Anniversary For "Carp Of The Thousand Lakes"

Dear readers,

My blog "Carp Of The Thousand Lakes" had its first anniversary. It's time for me for some celebration, as the reader number has exceeded my expectations. I even had some offers of getting money from writing this blog (!) I had to let these offers down, as I want to keep the commercial aspect as far away as I can. I think you, as well as I, are fed up with the UK-style buy this, buy that, don't buy that (it's the last years model, and because of that, it's crappy).

I really would love you to subscribe to my blog or leave comments. It's the fuel that keeps me writing this blog. Also, all the contacts I have received via email have been very interesting and I am very pleased receiving them.

Now some talk about carp fishing... I have learned about carp fishing a lot this year. The most interesting part was to have Enrico Parmeggiani (Italian carp angler) visiting Finland. We had some good debate about the behavior of carp. The conclusions were quite different, and there are some very big differences in Italian and Finnish carp. Like the biggest disturbance by the lake we fished was a woodpigeon cooeing 1 km away...  So at least the acceptable disturbance levels in carp fishing are quite different here and in more urban waters. Carp fishing is always a learning game for even the most experienced carp angler. And in my opinion that is the biggest reason I will keep on fishing for carp. It's not the record carp, it's not being famous, just the idea of something I will never master even how good I will be.

This Northern Beauty missed a scale.