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).

Tench Ahoy!

Dear Readers,

I am now trying to make up for some times when I haven't been that active on writing. So, for the first time in COTTL history, a new blog entry on two successive days!

Spring is coming and I am getting anxious. There is nothing better than getting out fishing when the long winter is over. I just love the feeling when the world is coming to life. All the rivers flowing free and lakes glimmering with sunlight...

My fishing history is quite diverse, as I have been fishing with many techniques for a lot of species. At this moment I am going through the carp-crazy -phase. I have been fishing exclusively for carp for five years now (Yay!). Before carp my mind was on tench, which is a species that still haunts my mind. It is not as big as carp, but somehow it's more delicate and in some ways, even more mysterious than carp. 

The body shape of tench has real stopping power. The fish hasn't got any sharp edges. Its small red eyes and round fins totally complete the design. The fish is a work of art. Tench is probably the most beautiful fish I know, despite its humble coloring.

I used to fish tench on the pole, which in my opinion, is the best method. The presentation of the float is very delicate, and sometimes you can fool the tench to bite just playing your float. Considering all the methods where the bait is laying on the bottom, pole fishing is just über. It takes a lot more skill to handle a float and a pole than just using bolt-rigs. Besides playing a tench on the pole is a lot more fun than using rod and a reel. With strong pole elastics and a balanced rig, there is no problem in playing a 2-3 kg fish. That is the maximum size that tench grow here in Finland.

I promise myself to go fishing for tench with the pole (yes, the full monty, including a match angling seat). And at last, a picture of a fish! Here's a photo of my PB tench. It never went to the scales. Anyone having an idea about the weight of this fish?

Me and my PB tench. Don't know the numbers though...