Went fishing with a mate from a while ago, Mark who is a Fox/ Mainline man to a super secret fishing spot in Holland. I didn’t know quite what to expect but I had been assured by mark that he had baited up and that he had put plenty of Mainline “pulse” down. Never having used Pulse at all I didn’t know what to expect ( I normally fish CCmoore meteor) but I was pleasantly surprised to small a rich spicy fishmeal bait with plenty of robin red.
well after the start I was 1st off of the mark with a small chub, however this was a small one and the second one was nudging 5lbs, Mark had one that if we had weighed it I suspect it would have gone past the 7lb barrier which as I understand now is fairly good for chub.
Carp wise mark was the first to get in the action ( local knowledge paid off – well that is my story and I am sticking to it) and after a spirited scrap a mid double common graced the net
The action tailed off for a bit which was good as it gave us both a chance to enjoy the evening sun and have a chat. Mark is one of those blokes who always has something worth listening to, to say. It was a joy to pick his brains on a carp front and learn so much from him. Indeed a major flaw that had developed in my rigs was quickly identified. For the curious I am become a great fan of fluro carbon and liked to use it with beaked point hooks. However I has gradually swapped to beaked hooks with an aggressive in turned
eye and combined with the stiffness of the fluro carbon was making the hook catch way too far forward in the mouth. This has been the reason why I have had quite a few losses recently. Swapping to a Fox LS hook ( Longshank) seemed to cure the issue completely and gave me good solid hook holds again.
Dusk quickly fell as it is want to do at this time of year and we were gifted with one of the most beautify sunsets, actually every sun set is beautiful if you are looking at it through a set of rods 🙂
Mark was hammering through the chub, but his perseverance brought this beauty at about 22:30, it fought a spirited battle but in the confined water there was very little place for it to go and soon it was gliding over the mesh to be gently laid on the waiting mat.
Fish was a about 24lbs and was immaculate apart from 1 area. Look at the tail, some idiot has decided to mark “his” fish by cutting a piece of the tail off. It is becoming less and less common but some of the old fish are still sadly marked.
Later in the night I had an absolutely screaming take, and such was the ferocity the other rod was also jangling on the pod. With trepidation i picked up the rod and struck. After a quick fight a beautiful, perfect common of ( again) 24lbs came of the net. Mark was a true gent helping with all of the landing as I couldn’t remember where the clear spots were to land the fish through the weed. Thankfully he had remembered and the fish was mine.
As it was really dark by now the decision was taken to sack the fish till daybreak and take better pics with the morning light. When I woke up in the morning I asked Mark if he had had any action in the night as I didnt hear any buzzers go off, only to be told that he had had fish of 5 kg, 7 kg and 8 kg… I know I am a heavy sleeper but I really need to learn to wake up when I hear others alarms 🙂
And that was a wrap, after the early morning fish we were fish less till we left at 11am and it was back to brave the train back to Amsterdam, carrying what amounted to almost twice my body weight on my back.
I leave you with those memories that we live for whether what ever we fish for, that of the water at dawn,
The Masterblanker 