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.

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.

Valuation of the Catch

Spring has been delayed a bit, as we still had more snow. I am getting frustrated, as I remember that early May has always started my stillwater season. Let's see if the ice is going to melt in the next three weeks...

Anyway, on with my ramblings. I have been asking myself questions about what should we value in our carp catches. I think when considering just the fish and it's value, it can be divided into three things: weight, looks and the strength of the fish. Take away any of these three values, and you can easily understand what my point is. If you get a monster fish, that fights well, but looks like... well... a monster (in a bad sense), you won't be satisfied with the catch. I have seen numerous pictures of carp that shouldn't have been photographed at all. 

If you catch a nice-looking small fighter, you wish it had been bigger? What about if your carp record, beautifully formed would just wobble into the net, without putting up a scrap...

It's not rocket science, but I reckon people tend to value these things differently. My valuation is biased to having good fighting carp on the end of my line. If I just want to hold something heavy in my hands, I think I'll try to lift my car... Don't get me wrong, of course I love catching big carp.

I think I caught the hardest fighting carp ever last summer. It was the same night I had a double run... But anyway, I woke up to my alarm. When I got to my pod, the carp had ripped easily 50 m of line from my spool. I lifted the rod and set on the drag. The carp just went on... I put on more drag force and tried to increase the pressure with my forefinger...  The carp just went on.

After I had taken the rod into my hands, the fish took 50 m of line before it stopped! And I had my 0,40 mm mono screaming for mercy all the time! After it stopped it had me fighting for every meter of line. At the time I had it in my landing net, I was completely exhausted. My shoulders were sore and numb. The fish was about 8,5 kg. But it had been the toughest of them all. Trust me, I will remember that fish until the day I die.

Common carp tend to put a harder fight than mirrors or leathers. All released with the hope of seeing again someday...

The Ketchup Bottle Effect

In Finnish language there is a saying about a ketchup bottle. At the start you are not getting any, and then, KAWOOSH, you're getting plenty (or too much). This is a very uncommon phenomena in finnish carp angling. Most often, we're not getting any, and if we are getting, it's small time and seldom...

So far this year has been a success. 9 nights carp fishing, 7 nights with landed carp! And these are on different lakes, with two new spots included. It's not like I'm playing it safe. It's just that I am getting carp better than ever. I fear that I have learned something about carp fishing (!)

The most difficult thing here is that you really can't discuss the conditions with someone else fishing the same lake. That's because you are alone on the lake! It's a nice thing, but you can be doing things quite wrong with no feedback. You really can't tell whether you need to correct your rig, your spot or feeding methods...

But when you get it right, you can be very successful even in the hard waters of Finland.