FFFFF Session, (YES FFFFF!!) Options

[Brid]

Well - a very happy New Year to one and all - especially the Carp we didn't catch in our FFFFF venture NO - you are not counting the amount of F's incorrectly. If you add a seven letter expletive to the beginning, F _ _ _ _ _ _ Freezing First Fishing Folly, you'll be about right !!
Just recently we have been having some unseasonally warm days with temps in the low to mid 60's, which has been very nice. Getting out and wearing only a T shirt around midday was very cool (you know -- cool - hip cool!!) The nights have been a little nippy though, with a few frosty AM's. Still - a whole lot better than what many other poor souls around the country are dealing with (that's why I live in California!! )
Our chosen venue for this legally condoned madness was carefully thought out (we had nowhere else to go and bivvy up for a couple of days ) and, as we've fished it a few times before in the summer months (never catching anything) it was perfectly clear to any sane soul that we couldn't go wrong giving it a try in the middle of winter ( )

The water in question is a private lake - 125 acres of very undisturbed "bassers" paradise, that rarely sees any bank anglers - let alone 3 wild eyed Carpers, that (reportedly) has Carp big enough to knock wading "bassers" off their feet.
Having spoken to more than one of these "bassers" that has undergone a good "'knocking about" from monster Cypry's, I have absolutely no doubt they are in there, however - they could give a hoot about having - tiger nuts, 5 or 6 different flavoured boilies (bottom and popped up), maize (pineapple, anise, mussel, plain, & more), 4 different method mixes, PVA'd pellets (at least 4 different flavours) liquidised bread with peanut oil soaked sweetcorn, pepperoni chew sticks (and more I've forgotten) thrown at them!!
After a 125 mile drive New Years eve morning, I got to our venue point in the tiny hamlet close to the lake in pretty nasty & cold tulle fog. A quick word with the petrol station store employees bore out what I was fearing -- that the weather forecast on the lakes website was --Errrr -- optimistic . I had driven over there with sandals on - and before even getting out of the van, had a quick change into long john's, thermal boots and battery heated socks. I'd just driven from high 50's (and very nice indeed) into a grey pea soupy low 40's.
Mick and his son Wesley (another of those Basserists - and occasional carperist!!)) rolled in about 20 minutes later. It was Mick's birthday, so I quickly gave him my gift - 5 lbs of uncooked hemp seed (HEY -- it had a red bow on the bag!!) - a true Carpers present to a like-minded friend

After discussing the slightly cool conditions, we headed to the lake. On arriving, we took a little time walking around looking for a suitable swim where we could set up camp for a couple of days. A quick few lobs with a marker float found a likely spot, and we got the vehicles there and started to unload. A couple of "basserists" passing by in a boat seemed bemused by the amount of gear we were pulling out of our vehicles (Those poor folks really don't know the half of it!!) and we set up camp.

Had they seen the finished job, they might have wondered if we were there for some sort of sales convention -


Wesley had 2 carp rods out on his pod, along with 2 "basserist" rods. Mick had 3 carp rods on his pod, along with a marker float rod - and a spod rod. I had 3 carp rods on my pod, plus a marker float rod - and a spod rod -- at a quick count, that is 14 rods - all in a pretty small swim!! Add in the two bivvies, all the "accutriments" one needs to stay alive "out there" - plus probably 12 bait buckets, and --------GAME ON !!!
My little spot-


Well -- the best laid plans of mice and Carpers sometimes doesn't go quite as planned After a few beers celebrating Mick making it another year, it was very -- very quiet, and we were all tucked up nice and warm in our bivvies when the "witching hour" came ------------ and went First I knew about 2009 was getting up to take a pee at about 5-45am !! It was pretty nippy, so I headed back in my bivvy and thought " New Years resolutions?????? FFF ????? "

We were all up and around a bit later, however - any thoughts about sunrise pics were a bit muted by the conditions. It just got light -- there was absolutely NO sunrise

We were deliberating about packing up and leaving until I pointed out that we had until 12pm to "do the business", and that brought about a new years flurry of re - baiting and another cold day!! At least we had covered a good few bases waiting for the illusive Carp to show up

The cold had us all turning in pretty early that evening. It was darker than a "bad girls" heart, and my black cat ceramic heater had the bivvy pretty toasty, so - the fun talk about the old Brit comedy shows - Porridge, It Aint Half Hot Mum, The Goodies petered out and we skulked off into the warm
Less than 15 minutes later, one of Wesleys rods took off - and he was up and out -- in his socks, to land the only fish of the session ---- a manky little catfish

As New Years day evening quietly slipped away, I was rather humbled by the absolute silence - sometimes abbreviated by birds call or a coyote's baleful cry and the very deepest darkness -


40+ hours of cold, --with no Carp, finally dictated we should pack up and try again another day.
We tried - which is what it is all really about, and - other than the obvious lack of success with the Carp, we all went away knowing we had spent some valuable time out there -- with nature - and friends.
Tight Lines,
Brid.

[MinnowMagnet]

nice story and pics, too bad you guys blanked.

[lurch]

sry about the blank, but a nice story

[Cactus Carp]

Ahh yes the trials..and silent alarms. I can relate my fishing friend...more times than I'd like to recall. But then again that loe cliche that's why they call it fishing..keep after it

[sausage]

Great read

[Jerome]

Well, you succeeded to translate a blanking session into a story very worth reading! As you said, trying hard is what counts. Congrats for sticking at it for the entire night & day. You guys are brave!

And you gave me a good laugh with the FFFFF moniker. That was the pattern across the entire country!

[baitbucket]

It was the darkest couple of nights ive been out on for a long time, on the first night something bashed out 3 times right over the baits on the margin rods, there was a lot of debate as to whether it was a carp or a water born mammal such as mink/otter etc, wern't beaver tail slaps for sure, it was so dark you couldn't see it at all and it happened between 15 and 25 feet out in 8-10 ft of water. This was also another reason to stop longer IF it was a carp it may come back the next night, hopefully with the bruvvers, but to the best of my knowledge there was no more surface activity, to busy catching up with some much needed zee's. On the better side it is an area of the lake weve not tried before and i spent some time going around the adjacent area with a marker rod which will be for the greater good at a possible later date. Even though Wesleys only fish was a cat i was pleased he got something as he dont always target carp and he was rather pleased that he caught when Dad &Co blanked, i hope we get some more chances to fish this place at a better time of year after some pre baiting it would be good to see if the rumors have some foundation and get thier mugs on film as so far theyve been as elusive as the bigfoot that Brid seems to think may be in the area!

[Brid]

Mick clearly hasn't got quite as furtive an imagination as me In walking around looking for a suitable spot, we came across several piles of faeces that were full of crawdad shell/pieces. By the size of the stools, it was clearly a large creature that left these "land mines". I didn't say too much, however - my mental images were definitely hovering around seeing a large hairy beast sitting bankside munching whole crawdads
At the very least, it was grand seeing the evidence of plenty of crawdads - proving that the illusive Cypry's have a good full larder

One thing I didn't mention in my first post was thinking I heard low voices during the middle of the second night (Wes too heard something)
I was all tucked up tight in my bed, with the impenetrable darkness lurking just outside the bivvy, when I distinctly heard what I thought was Mick & Wes outside talking very quietly. I even thought I saw a very brief flash of a headlamp. Thinking they might have a fish on, I shouted twice - asking if they needed any help. I finally got out of my bag and poked my nose out of the bivvy - to see absolutely nothing at all I was soon back in the warmth, and thought no more about it until we talked at first light. Mick is a pretty heavy sleeper and heard nothing, however - Wes said he too heard something. His suggestion was maybe the wind whistling through our lines ???
Ah well -- just another thing we'll perhaps never know the answer too -- unless it was a bigfoot with constipation from eating too many crawdads
Cheers,
Brid.

[bigbird]

very good read. enjoyed it.

[hammercarp]

Mick clearly hasn't got quite as furtive an imagination as me In walking around looking for a suitable spot, we came across several piles of faeces that were full of crawdad shell/pieces. By the size of the stools, it was clearly a large creature that left these "land mines". I didn't say too much, however - my mental images were definitely hovering around seeing a large hairy beast sitting bankside munching whole crawdads
At the very least, it was grand seeing the evidence of plenty of crawdads - proving that the illusive Cypry's have a good full larder

One thing I didn't mention in my first post was thinking I heard low voices during the middle of the second night (Wes too heard something)
I was all tucked up tight in my bed, with the impenetrable darkness lurking just outside the bivvy, when I distinctly heard what I thought was Mick & Wes outside talking very quietly. I even thought I saw a very brief flash of a headlamp. Thinking they might have a fish on, I shouted twice - asking if they needed any help. I finally got out of my bag and poked my nose out of the bivvy - to see absolutely nothing at all I was soon back in the warmth, and thought no more about it until we talked at first light. Mick is a pretty heavy sleeper and heard nothing, however - Wes said he too heard something. His suggestion was maybe the wind whistling through our lines ???
Ah well -- just another thing we'll perhaps never know the answer too -- unless it was a bigfoot with constipation from eating too many crawdads
Cheers,
Brid.

Racoon, they are expert crayfish catchers and you would be surprised at the size of the dumps they can take. They also pile one on top of another to mark their territory.

[baitbucket]

Racoon, they are expert crayfish catchers and you would be surprised at the size of the dumps they can take. They also pile one on top of another to mark their territory.

I reckon that would be right, never knew they swam out a bit though.Thanks

[ultralight carpe...]

Brid,

Sorry you didn't catch but yet another great story. Keep 'em coming!

Rob

[kccarper]

Way to go Brid!

David

[Brid]

Thanks fellas Finding some solace whilst in the jaws of defeat is sometimes a struggle - to say the least
Keeping the old chin up is something I learned at a very early age - and which ever way you diagnose a blank session, the fact is -- quite simply, you didn't outsmart the fish
In this case, we'd already been skunked on the lake - more than once before, and it really took a bit of fortitude on all our behalves to stick it out another night. Still -- that's what successful Carping is often about - NOT giving up and keeping trying until the bitter end
Another good reason for us not leaving earlier is of course, we all hate packing up - especially when sleep AND Carp deprived
Not the most ubiquitous start to the new year, however - another learning experience !!
Tight Lines,
Brid.

[baitbucket]

Went out and put it to rights this morning, got a 19LBR and broke in the new net, aswell as that i got a pic of the net levitating

This post has been edited by baitbucket: Jan 4 2009, 05:58 PM

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