What we do to catch a fish! I’m certainly sure the carp don’t care that we are going to give them a bit of exercise.
A carp session begins long before I’m at my swim. First, I check the weather, and what gear do I need to bring. Is it a hot beverage kind of day or is it a cold beverage day? Need to plan something to eat. Can I make it the night before or do I have to get up earlier to prepare it? Pull out the clothing I need for tomorrow.
I make my pack bait the night before and or pull frozen pack from the previous trip. I’ll check my rods and reels and inspect and make sure the hooks are sharp and the barbs bent down and retie the hair rigs on the rods with the method feeders attached and that portion of the gear is ready to go. Start pulling all the equipment to a central location to load the night before or in the morning if it might be wet weather that evening before the trip.
I pull out the cradle and landing mat as well as my landing net. Check for holes in the net that might need my attention, and stack this with the rest of the gear. Check if I have enough hair rigs made up, are they the right kind for this trip, and check to see how many method feeders and are they the size needed for this session. If I’m fishing tidal water the next day, I might need some heavier feeders if it has rained in the last couple of days or I might need them if it is close to a full or new moon.
I check to make sure I have my pliers, hook sharpener, suntan lotion, towels to wipe my hands, have I got enough fake corn or bait stops, do I have my trusty method feeder threader, (I make these simple tools to make threading the line through the feeders so much easier, It saves a lot of frustration, trying to get wet braid or mono through the feeders sleeve), check for the scent attractor, weighting scale and all the miscellaneous gear. I have a list of gear and equipment on my bench where I keep all my carp gear to check and double-check, I’m not leaving anything.
Load everything in my truck and I’m off the swim for the day. Unload the gear, set up the pod, turn on the alarms, load the method feeders and cast them out, hook up the bite indicators, get the net ready, open the chair, sit down, and wait. I like to rebait every 5 minutes at least twice to put a good scent trail in the water, then sit down and wait again.
For all this, our reward is the bite indicator gone slamming up to the alarm that is going off indicating a run. Could anything be more satisfying? This is what carping is all about. The prep, the travel, the anticipation, and sometimes, the reward of netting one of these golden boys or girls. Is it worth all the effort, absolutely! Can’t wait to do it all over again.
joebruceflyfishing 