We still have quite a lot of (mushy) ice on the lakes. Nothing happening here.
Well, my so-called friends have been cheering me up with pictures of green banks and carp catch photos. Summer will come here, eventually. While waiting for the summer to come, the best way of getting my mood up is to browse through some old fishing photos!
This beautiful common carp was caught from Slovenia (picture: David Primozic). I think I forgot to smile!
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!
Every now and then, I find pictures on the Internet where people are abusing/disrespecting their unwanted fish species or a fish below target/specimen size. I find this attitude disturbing. A fish, no matter its size or species, is still a fish. A fisherman should ALWAYS respect their catches, no matter what they catch. I always treat the fish I catch with the same procedure (of course I don't use unhooking mats for 20 gram roach, you silly). Fish welfare is a priority, even when I catch a small gudgeon while barbel fishing or a 600 gram ide while targeting carp. Naturally, I oppose using livebaits. I don't know how many pike anglers would like me to hook a 10 kg pike from it's mouth and back ... just to "have a big bait". It is not just disrespectful and inhumane thing to do for the fish, but it is more like being in the stone age of fishing culture. It doesn't matter whether the live fish struggling in the hook is a 10 kg pike or a 100 g perch - it's still a barbaric thing to do. (Don't even get me started on the ethics of C&R predator fishing with livebaits. There is absolutely no point there.) A true modern fisherman has a strong respect for every fish. All fish are equal.
Bream might be a nuisance fish while carp fishing. How we treat the unwanted catches define us as fishermen.
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!
So days are getting longer here and I am reading fishing reports from my friends in Southern Europe... It gets me a bit jealous as it still takes some time before our season really starts. Weeks feel like years at this point - still eventually we will get rid of the ice cover on the lakes.
As some readers probably know, I have some experience in different fishing styles. (Two days ago I was fishing for zander on dropshot-lures, and I actually DID catch a nice zander!) Of course I always prefer carp fishing to other types of fishing, but every now and then I get distracted :) I can say that I started fishing probably at the same time I was learning how to walk. So being a fisherman instead of a carp angler has a time advantage of 25 years or something.
What I will always do in the future is that I will try different fishing styles, approaches and target species. I will never be a 100% carp angler (I'm probably 95%), as life is too short to be narrow-minded. There is always new things to discover and fish to be caught. It's not just about aligning your 720 degree semi-stiff chod-roundabout rig. But trust me, carp is still my no. 1 species, and you will see this also in my future blog updates.
A small linear carp caught while doing some stalking somewhere around 2010. I remember catching this with Okuma Sheffield -centerpin reel and Prologic MP Specialist 12'. It was pure joy, even the fish was small.
If I remember my catches right, I have never caught this linear carp before. A nice catch in the autumn 2014 darkness. Here the setup was Okuma Trio 55 baifeeder and Prologic Fastwater 9'6" 3,5 lbs.
So my pointless rambling is coming to an end (this time). Maybe on my next blog I will have some interesting things to tell about my boilies or rigs. OR maybe I keep on talking b-shit. :)
I have usually changed a lot of my set-up between seasons. It's a long time from November to May, so it's too easy to start changing all of my tackle when you have nothing else to do (I am not into ice fishing at all).
The biggest change will probably be just that I am starting to use the Prologic Windblade swingers. They are really good looking - than not being the main reason for my change. I have been looking for hangers/swingers that really are not prone to hard wind. Getting beeps all night long due to the wind is something I hate. Turning alarm sensitivity down isn't a good option either. You might miss cautious bites and dropback bites.
Last spring I was fishing with a friend, David. I noticed how nicely the windblades worked. (Photo from Smartinsko lake)
One thing I am definitely NOT going to change is my rods. Prologic Fastwater 9'6" 3,5lbs are the best rods I could be fishing with. I am going to stick with them for years to come. Last summer I was playing a carp with one hand, easily controlling the rod lifted high. It couldn't have been possible with longer rods. Also the short butt-section of the rod gives me freedom to play the fish as I want. (Of course I still have my 12' rods for lakes that require longer casting distances). Rods are forgiving while playing the fish, yet you still have total control.
A blog update usually requires a photo of a carp and its captor. Well here you go! This one was caught from Slovenia.
I might not be a big surprise that I am a keen gamer as I am a carp angler. So when I was approached by guys who are combining them, I was really interested in cooperation. Some of my blogs are on Dovetail Games Fishing -website. It is a fishing simulation, and at its current situation it is in development. It's on Steam early access, so enthusiastic gamers can go and check it out (link to my latest blog entry there).
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)
My previous seasons didn't start as I had planned. Way too much blanking in rainy weather and changing temperatures. Last autumn I chatted with a Prologic team member David Primozic, and he invited me to Slovenia. It was hard to resist, as I had already planned to go fishing abroad. So we discussed further and decided that we will fish lake Smartinsko. To make things easier, we discussed that I travel by plane and take only the essentials with me. No hassle with rods, bivvies, or driving through Europe. Just a direct flight from Helsinki to Ljubljana. And David had the small task of bringing a LOT of stuff to the lake.
I am NOT sponsored by Finnair, but it would be nice. This is the easier way instead of driving...
Somewhere above Poland, Austria or Slovenia...
Seeing green forests and snow-topped mountains at the same time was something new for me. Already in the plane I knew I was going to love this country and its nature. After a nice flight David picked me up from the airport. An hours drive to the lake and we were ready to start fishing. It was already quite late when we arrived, so we got the rods out and started our waiting game. The only bad thing was that we woke up the next morning, and that means we didn't get any runs during the first night. I wasn't nervous at all, because I knew our spot wasn't fished for a longer time, and it always takes some time to get the fish feeding on your spot.
No carp yet, so I lied in the blog title. Maybe the second part will have more fish in it... :) (Sorry about the crappy photos, they were taken with my Sony POS phone.)
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!
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.
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).
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).
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.
Writing a blog about carp fishing in Finland is somewhat of a masochistic task. Most Finnish fishermen are not interested in carp or coarse fishing in general, so writing in Finnish wasn't what I wanted to do. The interested few ones are the reason for writing. Getting new anglers to adopt right fish handling techniques and ethos in carp fishing is something I am happy doing.
I have been asking myself once in a while, why should I encourage more people fishing for carp. Eventually I am just ruining my own happiness of fishing alone on these lakes. So why all the noise and hype of something that would be best kept as a secret?
I started fishing exclusively for coarse fish because a lot of fish species are endangered and some close to extinction. For example, there WERE about 30 salmon rivers in Finnish coastline of The Baltic Sea, now the number is 2 or 3 (based on opinion). Only one of these rivers has a decent population of its genetically original salmon. The situation is really grim. The same goes with sea trout and our inland trout stocks. It is just horrible, so I decided not to take part in fishing these species until the stocks are healthy.
Why should I be a part of the horde of Finnish fishermen who think salmonids are the ultimate catch? Afterall, a lot of the salmon-related fish also end up in the fry pan after the fishing trips... My personal choice was to start fishing specimen-sized coarse fish, which ended up as a carp madness. So when someone chuckles about my catches of "overgrown roach", I raise an eyebrow and know better. The best way of protecting salmon and trout can be diversifying the Finnish fishing culture and getting people to spend more time chasing carp rather than trout or salmon.
And yes, now some trout-fanatic says that if no one fishes for trout, there will be no people fighting for the species survival. In my honest opinion, you can fish for coarse fish and still be a spokesman for trout and salmon. That is what I have been doing.
An unlucky salmon. I caught her with my excellent fly fishing skills (hooked from her tail). While unhooking her, we discovered she had a commercial fishing hook in her mouth... Of course we removed the commercial hook and released her. Maybe, just maybe salmon are being fished a bit too much.
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.
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...
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 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".
