Carping Allegedly - February '22
Contrasting approaches on a lake on the Continent provide food for thought for Bill Cottam. He also considers just how much kit we actually take on such excursions.
Session Mentality
Whether we realise it or not, the type of fishing we spend most of our time doing undoubtedly shapes our approach to catching carp, and in all honesty, that is why I class myself as a reasonably proficient lengthy-session angler, and a decidedly average short-session one!
Most of the waters I have fished over the last fifteen years or so are places that hold relatively small numbers of big fish, waters where takes—unless you drop unbelievably lucky—are few and far between. That suits me down to the ground, though. I love the chance of catching the occasional lump, and I have long passed the stage of wanting to catch five fish a night.
Over the last few years, I have spent a bit of time on a French venue called Happy Lake. I have never been a fan of the name of the place, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on there, and there is no getting away from the fact that it has been incredibly kind to me. Many of the visitors to Happy Lake are seemingly able to catch more fish than I have, but my run of better-sized fish has surpassed just about anything I have ever experienced.
There has been one exception, but generally speaking, I will get two chances in a seven-day session, and for the most part, they will come from day five onwards. In fact, if I needed any confirmation that the ‘big fish Thursday’ phenomenon actually exists, I need only look back at my Happy Lake results.
Whenever I settle into another Happy Lake session, my plan is to pick my spots and steadily apply a combination of RG Baits’ The Formula + Arctic Crab boilies, and hemp and maize from Carbon Baits. This approach has done marvellously well for me on previous trips, so persisting with it is a no-brainer. I am looking for results in the week. Not, then, on day one or day two, but at some point during the week! Unless I see a number of definite shows in one spot, I rarely move any of my rods to new ones, and only very occasionally do I chop and change my hookbait presentations.
I spent a week on Happy Lake recently, accompanied by a mate who fishes predominantly short sessions back home, and it was interesting to see how our approaches varied. He used more tactics in the week than I have used in the last five years. He also fished more spots than I will fish if I continue on the lake until I’m eighty!
In no way is that intended to sound like criticism. Indeed, it made me think on a couple of occasions during the trip that I should maybe work harder, and be a bit more flexible in my approach. But conversely, I guess, as my old mate Jules keeps reminding us, if it ain’t broke…
My trip to Happy Lake a few weeks ago followed a similar pattern to most of my previous trips: plenty of waiting and watching, and a couple of out-of-the-blue chances. As luck would have it, another member of the A-Team came my way and I headed home a very happy bunny. Pastures new on the horizon, me thinks!
Snapz
I think I have mentioned in the past that I favour Canon DSLRs for my photographic efforts. I am a bit old school, and irrespective of what happens in the photography world and whatever technological advances are made, I suspect I will never accept that a camera doesn’t have to weigh three kilos and cost the same as CR7’s weekly wage at Man Utd.
Having said that, there is no getting away from the fact that camera phones have come on leaps and bounds in recent years. Now, they undoubtedly offer a viable alternative to the more traditional kit which I continue to lug around with me. The quality of photography it is possible to obtain from anything like a decent phone is unbelievable!
Generally speaking, I use my camera phone only for quick pictures and snippets of video destined for social media, and for that they are, indeed, absolutely superb. I have recently invested the princely sum of fifteen of your earth pounds in a Wolf Snapz. The device is basically a Bluetooth remote control for an Android camera phone, and I have been mightily impressed. You simply switch on the Snapz, pair it with your phone and away you go… every press of the easy-to-locate round button enables you to take a photo remotely, or fire the video up from a range of up to ten metres. Definitely fifteen quid well spent!
And before you remind me that some Android phone cameras can be operated remotely by simply grinning like a Cheshire cat, might I remind you that smiling with a fish is just not carpy under any circumstances, and should be discouraged at all times!
Job Titles
Judging by what I have read in the press and online, and from some of their titles, there would appear to be some mightily impressive job opportunities kicking around in the carp-angling industry of late. I have seen at least two companies advertising for a ‘lensman’—I can only assume this position would suit someone who has access to a DSLR and the ability to swap from a standard lens to a nifty fifty in the blink of an eye—and another company who are apparently searching for a ‘social media strategist’—which I am guessing is aimed at somebody who spends their every waking hour on Twitter and Instagram, and who has more than a passing interest in carps.
For my part, my days of being a ‘manufacturer and global distributor of nutritional piscatorial foodstuffs’ are now behind me. These are now spent being a ‘global brand ambassador’ for the likes of Kryston, Summit Tackle, RG Baits, Carbon Baits and Smart Carp Clothing.
How Much Kit?
I’m confused. When I first began fishing overseas, back in the early nineties, my mode of transport for my mate and me was initially a Ford Sierra estate This was followed a couple of years later by a comparatively cavernous Volkswagen Passat estate. I honestly don’t know how we did it as I think about what I cart around with me now, that I didn’t then. These days, a couple of us seem able to fill the trusty VW Transporter up to the roof with relative ease… so what has changed?
Well, unhooking mats have undoubtedly got bigger, today’s more luxurious bedchairs and low chairs are considerably more bulky than those we used thirty years ago, and I guess we take a bit more bait with us than we used to. Even taking all that into account, though, it remains a mystery how much gear we lug around Europe these days. My mate and I have just returned from a week in France, and as we drove to the Eurotunnel, it dawned on me that we barely had room on board for an extra packet of boilie stops!
Once we had got ourselves set up—or plotted up, which I think is the modern-day term for such chores—all that remained in the mystery machine was some changes of clothes, spare bait and my male grooming kit, so we weren’t particularly guilty of taking excessive kit… I just can’t work it out!
