The Night Of The Living Mosquitoes

I had been prebaiting my swim for a week with DD Bait Feedermix and boilies. A few kilos of Freshwater Snail Feedermix and about 2-3 kg of boilies every other day. The boilies I choose for prebaiting were the Banana&Crustacean and Red Bull Guana. I was really looking forward to fishing the spot, as I have succeeded there almost every time.

The night of fishing came, but it was actually a night of terror, as mosquitoes were trying to take over the world. Literally, there were hundreds of them just waiting to feed on me. Taking some pain and around hundred mosquito bites, I managed to set my rods and my bivvie. So it was just a waiting game then. I managed to get some sleep, and around 4 am, I woke up to my alarm going off!

I hurried to my rods and saw the right rod going off in a good speed. But I also found out that my left rod had lost 100 m of line and it was pointing to another direction I cast it to… I took the rod on the right and landed a beautiful mirror carp. It was in really good condition after spawning, and by the looks of her, the boilies had been very tasty…

After that I started to work with my left rod. The rig was probably stuck in tens of waterlilies, so I pulled the line to cut off the lilies. One by one, I managed to get the rig closer. It took around 15 minutes, and I put very heavy strain on the Prologic XLNT Camo monofilament. Suddenly the rig was loose of the weeds, but I also realized that the fish was still on! My situation was quite tricky, as I had my landing net occupied with the previous carp… After some hectic (and not so educational) close quarters battle with the carp, I managed to get her also in my landing net. A landing net can get crowded… But to cut a story short, the lean and mean fighting machine common carp was 12,3 kg. Both of the fish were caught with a combination of DD Bait Red Bull Guana and Banana Crustacean boilie.

Rig bits, pieces and boilies

Hi all again!

I wanted to write something about rig bits and pieces. Basically, most of what has been written about carp fishing rigs is just marketing work. What I learned from match fishing is that there are no big secrets out there. When someone invents a rig type and catches a carp or two with it, it's virtually in every carp magazine there is. In the meantime the basic bolt rig caught around 60 000 carp around Europe. It's not useless to consider your rigs in detail. Biggest differences are made in small details. That goes to all fishing. It's not about inventing something fancy, but to make small things right.

What my basic rig is: a Prologic C3 #4 hook, tied onto stiff reptilian 25 lbs hooklink material. The hooklink is cut to around 15-25 cm (I mean the ready rig is that long, remember to add some line for the knots). A multi bead is threaded into the line, and the end of the line is tied to a multi clip. This multi clip is then attached to Prologic Distance Leadclip Leader. Tie your mainline to the Leader and attach a lead (50-90 grams) onto the clip. Now you are ready to go carping in most situations. The only situations that this rig type is not good for are weedy bottoms and surface/middle water feeding fish.

My rig bits and pieces on a Prologic bivvie table. And yes, it's snow on the ground.  Luckily we are getting more and more each day.

The most important variable in carp fishing is not your rig. Don't go too fancy. You'll end up thinking about wrong things and waste your energy. Be in the right place when the carp feed, and you'll score with your rig.

Oh, about the boilies. I almost forgot. It is really funny to see the big differences in the UK and Europe carp angling scene. In the UK there has been a trend to fish with small boilies (10 mm or less!) and in France, a lot of good fish have been caught with boilies over 30 mm. The size difference is huge. So how would 8 mm boilies work here where we have huge stocks of nuisance fish? The answer is more than clear. It would be a nightmare to fish with small boilies, because the nuisance fish would always take the bait. So when reading articles about carp fishing, remember to keep in mind the following questions:

1) Is the bait suitable for the fish you are targeting? Nuisance fish problem?

2) Is the bait used in the article designed for heavily fished commercial ponds or big natural lakes?

3) Is there a critical difference in the climate or the water between the article and the lake you are fishing?

4) Is the article about just another "flinga"-paste to put on the boilie/pellet/etc? Is it more of an ad than a "I really use this"-type of an article.

You can come to see my bait bag anytime. You'll see DD Bait all the way. I have used some other brands as well, but the new HNV-series got my attention 100%.

Another Finnish carp going back to freedom.  With 8 mm boilies, I would have been harassed by 1-2 lbs bream patrolling the area. And remember, wild carp are cautious. A disturbance might cause them to loose appetite for many hours. You don't want to have too many nuisance fish on your hook. 

Essential Tackle vol. 2

So I would like to continue my list of essential tackle. The previous blog was about the MUST have tackle, which are intended to minimize the harm done to fish. This list is to help choose the basic tackle you need to catch carp. I mean, you really need to have a bedchair organizer and a gas-operated heater. But these aren't the tackle you start with.

1) Rods - usually you need many. I fish with 3 rods, but also have different rods for different uses. Don't buy the cheapest available if you have some money to spare. I use 3 lbs test curve 12' rods. It's a good allround choice, suiting light PVA-bag work and good casting capabilities. Choose semi-fast/fast action as it's yet another allround choice. Just make sure the rod has parabolic action. You want to have the thorough action reserve for playing the fish. You can get a good rod in the pricerange of 50-100 euros. These usually are good enough for several years to come. When considering the price, remember, it's a 12' rod. A quality one cannot be bought with 20 euros. According to my experience, there is just little difference in rods worth 170 euros and 500 euros. 

Here are my bite alarms, old rods, the reels that I use and the "swinger" type bite indicators.

2) Reels - match the number of the rods and yet again aim for the middle-priced models. I have used Okuma Longbows from 2007 and never had any problems with them. A product advert, yes. But it's just an example that nowadays you get quality stuff with medium prices. The size I have been using is 65, which is a bit too big. Now I am changing down to the Okuma Trio baitfeeder size 55, which holds 260 m of 0,35 mm monofilament line. The capacity for a carp reel should be around 200 m of 0,40 mm line. And most importantly, it should have a baitfeeder/baitrunner/freespool feature. The big pit -models are for advanced users and it should be considered only when the waters you are fishing demand long casts. But as a beginner, you shouldn't fish that kind of waters.

3) Line - you need to have your line flawless. The bottom is usually full of rocks and debris, so your line is in a constant stress. I use monofilament because I like the small stretch it gives (the hookhold is better that way). Also, I always run the mainline through my fingers while reeling in, so if I feel a nick on the line, I immediately cut it off. You won't have a broken line if your line is flawless when fighting the fish. My choice is 0,40 mm or 0,43 mm. It's a bit thick, but we have a lot of natural snags here in Finland. It's not like we are fishing in a gravel pit. Our lakes were formed after the last ice age, so it sets a few demands for the tackle.

4) End tackle - You need some end tackle in order to catch something. Well, there are as many rig types as there are carp in the world, so getting all the bits and pieces for all the set-ups will cost you more than your rods, reels and bait combined. You will be suprised that this is a fact acknowledged even by the tackle trade companies. The easiest and most commonly used rig is the bolt rig. I like it because even beginners can hook fish properly in the bottom lip. And why is that? It's because the rig does the hooking by itself. Get some safety lead clips, rubber sleeves, swivels and some hooklength material (I use Prologic Reptilian 25 lbs). Also buy some 70 gram and 90 gram flat weights for the bolt rig. You also need some hooks, designed for carp fishing. I use the Prologic C3 in sizes 6 and 4.

5) Bait - There IS a difference in catch rates between different bait. I consider being biased here (I am a part of Prologic/DD Bait Team for 2012), but I use DD Bait Original HNV range. I consider this generation of DD bait a lot better than the previous one. My catch rates went up like a rocket this year. And I can also say that not all the scents were working on every lake, but in overall that just tells the story of experimenting with different bait and scents. Now I have some bait in my baitbox, which I can trust 100% to catch me fish. One of the bait scents made the fish go crazy, catching on every night, including a double run. I cannot ignore it, the bait really matters. Of course, there are many good bait brands on the market, but my trust is now with the DD Bait.

These are some of the bait I used last year. I tend to keep some boilies ready for the spring sessions. I always store my boilies in room temperature.

6) Bite alarms - you need bite alarms. But I will write about them in my next blog...