Pike: Hungry Little Buggers

Hi all!

Some parts of the Baltic sea are already fishable, so some of my friends have already started their pike season. Alas, I just can't find the time at the moment to hit the waters. Hopefully, I will have more time in the near future.

Just a small suggestion to pike fishermen, who are more or less uncomfortable with bigger lures - don't be! Big lures can sometimes be the only lures that work - whether you are targeting small or big pike. Last autumn I read about guys using only small spoons for pike. Yes, these CAN work, and they are worth the try. But you can blank by using too small lures.

For instance, I was fishing with normal sizes softbaits (13cm), and was blanking. Then I switched to the 40cm Real Eel. You know what happened?

This happened. A smallish pike hit the 40 cm Real eel. It didn't want to bite the small 13 cm lure.

Yet again, this is not the ultimate truth. Only an idea that can sometimes be true. Be open-minded about your fishing, and sometimes you can discover something.

Midsummer Carping 2015 (and The Small Issue of Bright Skies)

Hi all! 

It's been a long time without any carpy pictures, so I decided to go and take some new ones. Of course, it was not an easy task, as I was fishing a new swim. I once wrote to the Carp Core magazine about new swims and blanking, so I know quite a bit how "carpy looking" swims can cause you some hard times. Luckily, this was not the case this time around.

I managed to prebait the swim just once, so I wasn't really optimistic about catching anything. Luckily the weather was nice with some sunshine, wind and clouds. The night was also quite cloudy, so it wasn't too bright for carps liking. In Finland, June nights are so bright you can read a book outside even at 2 am. Sometimes that is more or less an issue when you fish a night lake (where carp feed only in the dark hours). So having the clouds up in the sky was a good thing for me.

My setup was this time again my trusty Okuma Trio 55 Baitfeeders and Prologic Fastwater 9'6" 3,5lbs. I just can't tell how nice it is to battle carp with this really compact and lightweight setup. I will not got back to using 12' or 13' rods. Casting distances are rarely a problem in Finland anyway, sometimes casting 10 meters is is enough. Doing that with 13' rods is really not easy :) Besides, I usually fish alone - netting the fish is so much easier with a shorter rod.

During the night I heard some carp jumping in my swim, so I woke up every now and then. It really wasn't a good nights sleep. So when I got a definite liner at 4 am, I was getting more and more excited about actually getting a bite. A couple of hours later I got a screamer run. Rushing outside the tent and grabbing the rod was as fun as ever! I can say the fight was really hard, and I was pushing my line (0,405 mm Prologic Interceptor Fluoro Carbon coated monofilament) to the limit. The fish pulled the line through some rocks close to the bank, so I was more than happy to have the fluorocarbon coating on my line. I think braided line would have snapped in an instant... 

I managed to net the fish and my new unhooking mat was tested for the first time. The fish was a great looking common carp. I was more than happy with the result.

Up Close And Personal

There are a lot of good guys making videos of true carp fishing. For instance, you can go and watch the work of Alliance Peche, short movies by Frank Pizon or the Vienna boys' production Metropolis Carp. Of course there are a lot of great videos made, but these few are mentioned just as examples. (Also worth checking out is a Finnish video made by team Siloneula).

For my part, I think that I want to keep my dearest moments and experiences to myself. Sharing something that you truly love is actually really personal. Also the work made by the people mentioned above is probably enough, as I really don't believe my version of "true carp fishing" would be better (or anywhere close :)) The feelings you have, the moments you live - they are something I find pretty hard to share. I remember a Ernest Hemingway quote "Somebody just back of you while you are fishing is as bad as someone looking over your shoulder while you write a letter to your girl." (Still don't know if Hemingway really said this. Internet quotes can be dodgy :))  Some things are just too personal to be shared. A part of my fishing is a piece of the essence of who I am. That part I am not ready to share.

You can be sure that I will write trip reports also in the future. It is nice to share some things from my trips, but you can be also sure that a lot of the stories will never be told. And I will never tell you the story how my backlead got stuck between rocks and I consequently ended up losing a fish. That would have been my first carp of 2015. Instead of a picture of that carp, may I present you a video full of carp runs... where no backleads get stuck!

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!

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...

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).

Carp Core Magazine

Dear Readers,

The rate of blog entries seems amazing now! Three within a week!

I would like you to go and check out a new carp magazine "Carp Core", which is completely free and you don't even need to register to read it. Oh- pay special attention to MY article "To Blank Or Not To Blank". I hope it will be a good read.

Carp Core Magazine

For no obvious reason, here's a picture of a red moon.

Thank you and best regards-
Henrik

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)

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.

Blank streak's back, alright!

So the third session of the season is over. A nice 24 hour trip with fair weather and good company (fishing alone). Too bad the fish weren't there, or at least not feeding. Cutting it short, I blanked.

"Mind games" is the word that comes into mind. This blanking streak is just around 48 hours now, so I am not even halfway frustrated. If I want a fish, I can go get it from a fish-per-night -lake. But it's something I refuse to do now. I have set my goal into making this new lake produce a fish for me. And that is what I am going to do.

As I always say, I am not fishing for the fish. I want to be a better angler, and getting the fish from the fish-per-night -lake would not make me a better angler. Let's hope and see if I catch a fish from the new lake - or will I fail and go get the "100% sure fish"...

Anyway, my new Okuma Trio BF 55 were on their second night out. Nice reels, have to say. I reckon they are by far the best Baitfeeder reels Okuma has made. And besides, they are good looking :)

My new Okuma Trio BF 55 -reels. Like reels in a pod.

Okuma Trio BF 55 reels, Prologic CC30 3,0 LBS rods, Prologic Tripod.

First Trip of the Season

The time had come for the first trip of the season. I didn't keep my hopes up, as the time was quite early and I am yet again searching for a new lake. The odds were strongly against me, and despite my hard effort, (and reading Chris Yates' magnificent book "Nightwalk") I managed to blank 100%. 

Remember, dear readers, blanking is good. I actually cherish blanking sessions (if they remain on blanking streaks less than 300 hours). What I learned from the first trip of the season: it's never too early to start a season. I am not on the bank for the fish... I am there because of me.

The Prologic WUSB alarms worked nicely and they are actually quite durable. I didn't get my alarm song of "Ice, Ice, Baby" though. Yet it's worth every minute on the bank waiting for Vanilla Ice to start singing/rapping "Yo, VIP, Let's Kick It!". And on that moment, I'm definitely going to kick it VIP Style!

My Prologic WUSB 3+1 alarms with fender kits and QR hangers attached. Some might say snag bars are useless on tripods, but I reckon they are quite handy if the rigs are cast to either side of the tripod. They prevent rods falling off the pod on a screaming run.

Change of plans - blanking is good

I've taken up gardening. It's good for your mental health. You can't be blanking with sunflowers, can you? You won't get your tackle smashed by roses? Plus, the travelling isn't a problem.

In my garden I have found some lobworms, and they are said to be good as a fishing bait. Sunflower seeds are also good when soaked and cooked. Good for carp! And that leads to my subject of the day. Carp.

Well... My last trip was a blanker. It's nice to have them once in a while. It makes catching feel a lot better. When I had good fishing, and I was catching EVERY night for a long period, it made me want bigger fish. And in an unhealthy way. It was like smaller fish (8 kg or 17½ lbs) weren't what I wanted. And when you start thinking that way, boy you seriously need some blanking!

Fishing for pleasure comes down to two things: fish welfare and fisherman welfare. If you are not feeling good about what you are doing: stop. It can be a long and treacherous way of going. You just forget why you are fishing in overall, and start focusing on wrong/trivial things, like the weight of your catches. And soon, you loose the love for fishing. Just because you weren't reflecting what you were doing.

It's nice to go out for some good carp fishing. It's more than you can ask for when you are having a grill full of salmon fillet and garlic potatoes. After that you have a warm cup of tea and rest your eyes on a moonlit pale silver lake. And listen to the silence of the night.

600 hours = one carp

Carp fishing in Finland is just as it should be. Basically there are no commercial waters (except a few ones, which are under very low fishing pressure). What we have in Finland is 187 000 lakes of over 500 square meters. Of that huge amount of lakes, hundreds are stocked with carp. These lakes are mostly situated in Southern Finland.

On most occasions, there are no official records of carp stockings. In some cases there are some official markings of when and where some amounts of carp were put. Usually they have never been fished for carp since the stocking occured.

So when I start to fish a new lake, it is always a mystery to be solved. Where in particular the carp of this lake like to feed... or are there any carp left? So when I wake up in the middle of the night because of my bite alarm going crazy, it's a lot more that just catching a carp... It's more like a discovery!

Sometimes it's a struggle with long times of blanking. This summer started with ending a streak of ca. 600 hours of blanking! The unhappy time ended with me catching a 9 kg dark-marble coloured mirror! Oh the joy and disbelief! I already thought my bite alarms were jinxed...

But as H.T. Sheringham once wrote:

Carp Table

One day = eighteen hours. *

Eighteen hours = one potato

Ten years = one carp

*summer calculation

Carp fishing in my opinion shouldn't be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. It SHOULD be difficult, and EVERY bite should be considered as "happy time". Big fish I like, but chasing PBs is just one way of carp fishing. I don't find that kind very rewarding. Learning is rewarding, and discovery.

In this photo is the remarkable fish that ended my epic blanking streak. I'm not fishing the lake at the moment, so let's see if I am returning to that lake again some year.