Friendly Competition and Tackle Envy!

I arrived at my local lake today to find that members of an angling club were already in the car park prior to their first competition of 2010. I have to say that being fairly new to coarse fishing I initially found this a bit daunting as I gazed around at the fishing trolleys/seats, poles and endless different types of baits and ground baits brought.

So it was with more than a little apprehension that I unloaded my gear, said my hello's and made my way down to the lake to get set up ahead of the other anglers. I use my Shimano 15-45gm spinning rod currently for my carp fishing and when needing to go lighter again I use my purpose made Imax Mullet rod which has a second top section for quiver tips, and these two rods have served me well so far as I build my skills levels. When I feel the time is right I will get some proper advice and buy some reasonable quality coarse/carp fishing gear.

On getting down to the lake, quite rightly some of the bank had been pegged out for the competition but I was able to fit in on the end to the left corner of the island. I was already set up and fishing by the time the club anglers came down after making their draw for pegs. I was fishing a simple running ledger rig using a fluorocarbon hook link on a hair-rigged size 10 Kamasan hook and using my home-made boilies. Making my own boilies is new to me as well, and I found the methods for doing this simply from base ingredients on the internet. This aspect of my new style of fishing has real appeal, as I can be preparing for fishing when I can't get out and also the thrill of catching on a non shop bought bait. I will write a short blog on methods of boilie making, the equipment I use and flavours in the near future. Today I was armed with pale red strawberry, red tutti-frutti and natural coloured liquid brasem flavour which actually smells like caramel.

All but one of the club anglers were using poles, and the angler to the right of me had what looked like some very expensive kit. As he was fishing on the float, out of consideration I asked if my legering would interfere with his fishing, and got the chance to have a close up look at the pole and rigs. Although just a different form of fishing, the pole has little appeal to me as I just prefer using a rod and reel. I have to say that my initial apprehension quickly disappeared, as the anglers were a friendly bunch, inviting me to join in their competition (which I declined) and the banter up and down line could only be described as hilarious. The guy to my right called Ian got in amongst the Roach and Rudd from the off, and although they were very small fish around a few ounces he was hoping to build a bag and looked like he would as he was catching fairly steadily. No one in his club were trying for carp as it was felt that they wouldn't be feeding well if at all.

I persevered with legering and after about an hour or so I had a run and hooked a small carp of around 5 pounds, which had the line around its fin, and as I tried to net it, the line "pinged" off and promptly unhooked itself, so carp 1 and me 0. This happened at around 10.30am, and after re-baiting and casting to the same spot I settled down to wait again. It was around 12.30 that I had another run, and hooked and landed a lovely common carp that was a bit on the lean side; about the length of 7 pounder but no more than about 5 1/2lb. I guess the cold winter had taken it's toll on this particular common. The next hour and a half saw five more runs and another five carp, all mirrors successfully come to the bank ranging from 5lb to the best at around the 7 1/2 lb plus mark in the picture below.

My last fish of the day coincided with the end of the competition and I was intrigued to find out the result. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the weights that had been made from catching small roach and rudd. Top weight was 16lb 5oz and my neighbour who had kept at it managed a respectable second place weight of 14lb 12oz. It suddenly dawned on me that had I accepted the invitation to join in, I would have had the top weight. Will this experience turn me into a match angler?...........I doubt it, I wouldn't like the pressure to catch, but today taught me a few things, that match anglers are a friendly bunch willing to share information, and maybe my years as a sea-angler served me well and enabled me to transfer those skills and adapt to a new form of fishing; and after all fishing is fishing and should be enjoyed!