An English gentleman who used bait to fish for Carp loaned me 10 videos in 2005. This is a copy of the notes I took while watching the videos featuring Matt Hayes and Max Cottis. They fish for Carp with bait in England. It was humorous at times but incredibly illuminating in terms of how serious these anglers are and the great effort they take to care for the fish they catch.
Swim: where you fish
An awkward swim: a difficult place to fish
Leading and plumbing: using the marker rod to figure out depths etc.
Topping up: fish rising
Shorted up: wearing shorts
Umbrella: tent
Winter skin: rain fly
Syndicate lake: pay lake, actually a membership lake
Day ticket lake: This is the pay lake
High double: over 15#
Margins: right up next to the bank
Deck: the bottom of the lake or the bank.
Kit: gear as in a “Piece of Kit”
Boilies: bait balls that come in a jillion flavors
Glugs: Flavors for the bait. (I wonder if Carp like chocolate?)
Pod: holds three rods parallel to the ground
Robust: sturdy
Marginal snags and weeds: stuff near the bank
Goalpost bank stick: I think this is two single rod holders set up next to each other.
Pop over: go to
Fishing at range: casting farther out
2 ¼ -2 ½ Test curve: rods that are 12 feet long. They cast 80-90 yards. Up to 3 ½ pound rod to get out to 130-140 yard class which is considered ultra long range.
Shock leader: heavier than the main line to absorb the hit of a carp suggested to be 18-22 feet
Rod rings: rod guides
Bivvies: tents
Brollies: umbrella or canopy, shelter from the weather
Bite alarm: an alarm is attached to each of the three rods on the pod and sends you a signal when you have a take. They fish during the night this way.
Braid blades: scissors that cut braided line
Take poundage of rod and add ½ to ¾ ounce and you get the optimum lead weight for casting.
Feature: structure or something out of the ordinary on the bottom like a gravel bar or plateau.
Max prefers four foot of drop from the tip ring to the weight
Compress the rod: load the rod
Bait runner: I think it is a reel
Drop back take: buglemouth takes and runs towards you baby
Fishing at range: means fishing at long range whereas fishing at short range means just that and margin fishing means fishing near the bank
Catapult: a very large sling shot. Hilarious to watch.
Throwing stick: Used to fling chum.
True stalking: looking for patrolling fish and lowering the hook bait in front of them.
Ambushing: prebaiting swims with hemp etc. then putting a hook bait in front of them.
Key to this is staying mobile 1 ¼# 12 foot model
Hookbaits and freebies. Hookbait is the one on the hook and freebies are the chum. They’re in the same cooler as his food. They’re more nuts than I am.
Super bit of kit: good gear
Hemp and pellets to prebait: chumming
Crystal waggler float is locked onto the line with lock shot. It appears to be split shot you can squeeze.
Unhooking mat: A padded mat to keep the fish off the ground while it is being unhooked and photographed.
Weighing sling: Check into this. I need to get something like this that I can carry easily.
Tripod: Set up to weigh fish. The scale is at the top of the tripod and the weighing sling hangs from the scale with the unhooking mat below the sling.
Specimen hunter: It’s the scale.
I strike: I set the hook
Mattie said, “If I had to catch a Carp, if my life depended on it, then boilies would be well down the list of bait.”
Uses Hinders Mega Hemp as his best prebaiting material, then uses trout pellets, then live maggots. These guys are crazy!
Red strawberry pescaviva sweet corn is a high choice for these guys.
Mattie “rates worms at the top of the tree for stalking bubbling and patrolling fish.” (Tailing and shopping fish)
Bag up: I think it means catch a lot. But then later I saw them bag fish for the night so they could take their pictures in the AM. I didn’t like that but at least they are in a soft mesh bag.
Bait band: a small rubber band
Crack off: break off a fish
More hectic sport: catching more fish
Floater cake: “a boalie on the surface” He made these in his oven. These guys are WAY into this.
A damn good shake: a damn good shake
Bang on: do well or done well as in “this floater cake is absolutely bang on.”
Knick the hook on the floater cake: barely hook it:
Absolutely spot on: damn good
Talking about particle colors etc. They said that carp can get used to a certain color and it’s good to change. I wonder if this means only in the pay lakes where the same fish see the same bait.
The margin rod went a bit quiet: the rod I’m fishing near the bank ain’t doin’ nothin’.
Distance rod: the one you cast way the heck out.
Mid rod: the one you cast between the distance rod and the margin rod.
This fish is a little chugger: nice and steady.
Blastin’ into the margins: a fish running towards you.
“Izzy Wizzy, let’s get busy, pull a few strokes on Mattie routine”: how the hell do I know what that means?! Mess with Mattie’s gear, talk some smack to Mattie, catch more fish than him, who knows…
The temptation to bully them too hard: puttin’ too much wood to them
A little bit dodgy: a bit difficult
A good stamp of fish: I guess above average size.
Dead easy to do: damn simple
A little bit of jiggery poker: Hmmm… does this mean shenanigans?
Boilie punch: cores a boilie to insert foam so the thing sinks slowly or maybe not even all the way. Yes, he just showed pop-up boilies—maybe they float. These guys are maniacs. I’m thinking they make fly fisherman look tame.
Check out snake skin and snake bite as leader material. He uses it as “hook link” Well, now he’s talking about “Caspar (as in the friendly ghost?) Soft Link”. Good grief, it’s flouracarbon.
Hook link: tippet
The Carp just comes along and hoovers up the whole damn lot: Eats everything.
Boyer Leisure owns Harefield Haulin’ A season permit lake established in 1810. (Darn near 200 years, wow…)
Plummin’: determining water depth for ground baiting.
Net handles detach from bag. They roll up the sides of the net to move the fish to the unhooking mat.
Capture: catch a fish
Session: a day of fishing. Or a night.
They walk in the mud barefoot in the lake. Ain’t happenin’ for this cowboy.
Some of the fish have been in the lake since the late 70’s and early 80’s. How old do they get?!
They say that the fish move down with the wind.
Barrow: a gear cart
Bait boat: sounds like a remote controlled boat to drop off chum.
A lump: A phattie
Specimen: I think this means a big fish too.
Untidy anglers: said with disgust he means shitheads who litter
Carp care kit: Holey Crimeny, they have antiseptics in this little bag to put on the Carp where it was hooked or if it has any sores on its body. That does it; these guys are crazier and more in to this than any trout fly fisherman. No wonder John thinks Americans have no respect for Carp. I had no idea…
Blanket: mucky, whispy looking algae, weeds,
Underwater they put their hands on a Common. Very fascinating.
Do they put the antiseptic on the carp before or after they leave it in a bag overnight?
ReplyDeleteThe whole bag thing seemed contradictory to me. I did see them apply antiseptic to a couple fish in the videos. Yes, they showed a sacked fish but nevertheless they were very, I would say extremely, careful with the handling of fish when they unhooked them, photographed them, and released them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info Mr P. I have been fascinated for quite some time with how over the top the Euro-Carpers are with certain things. It is like a religion or something. Not one that I want to join necessarily, but one that I certainly respect.
ReplyDeleteMcTage, I started a response to your CAG post and it just got so involved. I had to go back to my viewings of those 10 videos and the conversations with John to explain why I even knew what the heck a weigh sling was. I have most of the response composed as an additional blog post. It is long however so I may just put links to this post and the one on nets and slings in your CAG thread. I still have more pictures a few more pictures to take.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny, but half the time I don't understand a thing they say. It is like they are trying to describe snow to somebody from the tropics. Anybody who has touched snow knows what it is without thinking about it. Those who have not cannot even picture it. Is it just another word for a cradle?
ReplyDeleteDuh. I am just barely old enough that I sometimes forget you can google anything. Found a youtube video, like a duffle bag mixed with a cradle. Still looking forward to your stuff though!
ReplyDeleteMr.P,
ReplyDeleteI have a pal from Yorkshire who has shared 2 carp videos with me. My Grandmother long ago as I was a pre teen bought me book on course fishing in the UK, she just knew I liked to fish, I memorized it. They fly fish also chumming, and there is a debate about doing that and not needing to. I believe I missed 5. Great stuff!
Gregg
One more thing. The effort and sophistication they use for course fish, and that is the term I use and taught my boys, FAR surpasses the crude bait fishing here I see universally. Being private waters bought into as a day fee or club membership, as I understand it, may account for the lack of trash one sees there also, especially nasty monofiliment which I particularly abhor and is a particular bane of mine. Oe do those fishermen/women just care more?
ReplyDeleteGregg
Hi Gregg,
ReplyDeleteYes, I think sometimes they care more but I think that is because they are fishing where the resource is much more scarce. They have a limited amount of public water so it just gives them an entirely different perspective. I believe we would be the same way if we were living and fishing in the same circumstances.
P
Mr. P.,
ReplyDeleteHave to comment on this. I've a small pond/canal complex here in Boise where my boys and I, their friends and my one angling pal fish, hard. We use bread flies to match that that is fed to the ducks as mentiioned earlier elsewhere. The crux is this. Boise has a large immigrant/refugee population which speaks highly of this place. The serenity of it attracts people used to war torn strife, many from the Middle East especially. During the warm days of late spring/early summer when we catch many carp on our bread flies, the carp fisher's "duffer's fortnight," we over the last several years have been approached as we fight a fish to be asked for it. Fine, though the fish seem too stately for me, though I do it for them also. To a person the concept of catch and release is so foreign to these folks. Then, it had to happen, the same people began to fish as they did in Iraq and Iran, with conventional tackle, and very heavy line thrown about a coffee can. Kind of interesting actually. At first just a few, then one evening I counted 14 not from Boise spin fishermen. And so it has become. Every fish is kept, every one. I suppose by the numbers of young carp I see most years the recruitment can accept that. I don't like it, but it's a free country. The real problem is that as with many Idaho conventional fishermen a lot of trash is left, most damming is the monofiliment. A park across a major thoroughfare from this water is closed to fishing as it is a walking park, designed for a Japanese Garden type experience with ducks and geese welcome. Too bad fly fishers can't access this, it supports a carp fishery with every type of water one can imagine. With the trash elsewhere I'm worried about the Park's Dept. closing this and others to fishing. It can happen. Fly fishers are not immune of course, but we do leave much less trash, unarguable. We used to see the occassional local person, maybe one or two a year, after bass and bluegill. Now, I can't help but wonder what next year will bring. The community of newbies to Boise is very welcome, but I fear this pressure will increase and so will the trash. Plus it's a small water and I've only so much good access. Fishing trash, I hate it, I clean up after others but sometimes that is what I could spend a whole day doing. Was this a rant?, I don't think so, but I'm worried.
Gregg
And further, upon reflection,
ReplyDeleteLocal fisherman still, always will, regard carp as "trash fish," thus the lack of others here over the years. The new community of fishermen/women, regard them as protein, plain and simple. I understand that. But like many, not all of course, conventional gear folks, it seems that to not clean up after a fishing trip is just not even given a second thought. I have enough problems with others in this puplic park, disc golfers, the chronically inebriated, anf the park's constant waste of water with sprinkling, all which delete access for me. But the fisherman, again, I fear the worst, all it will take will be an urban goose wrapped up in monofilament to destroy what I enjoy.
Gregg
Hey Gregg, well said. Not a rant. I think most of us understand and have seen it for ourselves as well. Is there any way to talk to these folks to have them be more respectful. And, more likely, are there enforcement personnel around to slap a fine on them?
ReplyDeleteMatt,
DeleteI have not visited this in a while and I hope you do read this. Oh sure, we talk to many of them but the older folks know little English and the younger people who often translate for us leads us to believe that unless we grab a kid and teach them to fly fish and our angling ethos as well, they will just not get it. My middle boy was releasing a fish when a car stopped with a screech and a young man jumps out screaming NOOOOOOOOOOO! He was from Bosnia. My kid had already released it. This pond is drained to a puddle every year, I am shocked by the fish that survive a winter. I have not been by there in a while, I would hope no one is trying for them who may keep them, possibly try by snagging the puddle. The trash we also talk to them about, or better, pick up as they leave and shame them into the same. Maybe they are learning. Too many "theys" these are Boise residents after all. The police are a joke. They drive by on bikes as in bicycles, and make sure the local drunks clean up after themselves and are not annoying people. Sometimes they try to tell us we can't fish here or check our licenses as if. I have decided to give no fish away and am going to ask my benevolent boys to do the same. Cruel? Don't think so, tired of what I'm asked to do and what has become. Nice of you to reply. Urban fishing usually is great for solitude, my how things have changed. Like I said, I'll see what occurs this year.
Gregg