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Specialist Tackle & Riverview Motel
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Specialist Tackle & Riverview Motel
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MISSION – Take 20 kids carp fishing on the St. Lawrence River OBJECTIVE – They all catch a carp Following the upsurge in interest in carp fishing in our area, I was asked by a local school if I would give a talk on carp fishing and carp tackle, and perhaps take a group of 20 boys and girls carp fishing and try to help them catch their first ever carp.
Now there’s a challenge. I thought what’s going to be more difficult, helping them all catch a carp or keeping them all under control and interested in what they are doing for a whole day. Well, no question, the challenge was on. Arrangements were made for me to spend a morning in their classroom to run through the tackle set up, show them the tackle that is used and answer any questions they might have. This turned out to be very entertaining, with lively discussion and questions that only kids would ask, in fact I had to retain a couple of them in my landing net until they calmed down!! By the end of our “introduction to carp fishing” session, the kids could barely contain themselves and wanted to go there and then and see if a “silly old carp” was really strong enough to pull them into the river. “I think you are just joshing us Rob” one young lad said “They just ain’t that strong, they’re only fish “
“ We will see young fella when we get down the river you can have the first fish and see if you can bring it to the net on your own” “Easy peasy” came the quick reply. Followed by a classroom full of laughter as all the kids thought it was hilarious. Before leaving the classroom, I agreed with the teacher that we would take the kids at the weekend, accompanied by a few parents and 1 junior carp angler – Kody Sharlow. On the Saturday morning about 7 AM, I went down the river with Kody, armed with a few sets of rods, loads of rigs and plenty of corn and boilies for bait. The kids were due to arrive at about 8.30 AM so Kody and I spent the next hour or so spodding loads of corn and chopped boilies onto two selected swims, hoping to get enough bait in the areas to hold some fish there for a long as possible.
Just as we finished spodding and with arms like Popeye, the first of the kids came running up the bankside towards us. “Caught any yet” they shouted. “Quiet” we said “or you’ll scare the fish away” and my arms couldn’t take any more spodding. When all the kids had arrived, Kevin and I showed them how to cast and we had 2 of them fishing at a time to start with, as this was easier to keep an eye on them. Within 15 minutes both were into fish and our little ‘easy peasy’ guy was being pulled step by step towards the edge of the bank. “Help” he shouted “pleeeeeeese.” I held onto him and put a hand on the rod to take some of the strain, and after a good fight, a beautiful 15 lb common slid over the net. I am sure they heard his shouts of delight in Canada. “Again, again” he said “let me do it again, it’s awesome.”
By now, the young girl with Kody had landed her first carp and of course he told her you must always kiss your first carp. She believed him, as the photo shows. Around lunchtime things started to quiet down a bit, so we decided to put some more bait in the swims by using a throwing stick. Luckily I had about 20 kilos of boilies with me as everyone, including the teachers, wanted to have a go. Now using a throwing stick is not easy if you haven’t used one before, let alone never even seen one before, so the 20 kilos started to dwindle very quickly.
Unfortunately, the boilies went everywhere, in the margins, 90 yards out, to the left, to the right, and even behind us! Even the throwing stick went 20 yards (thankfully it floated). After a while, most of them got the hang of it and we managed to get some bait in a reasonable area, so we concentrated putting four rods around this area for the last couple of hours. We had a few more fish off the baited area, but time was against us and it was time to call it a day. Out of the 20 kids we took for the day, 17 of them caught their first carp and most of them wanted to go again. The 3 kids that did not catch, we took for a couple of hours one evening and they all had carp. I apologise for the quality of the photographs, as these were taken by helpers who have no experienced of taking ‘fish holding photos’, but they give you an idea of how the day went. If you ever get the opportunity to take a group of enthusiastic youngsters out for a days carp fishing, grab it with both hands as you will find it to be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences of your fishing life. In fact we have already agreed to take another group out this summer. Other photos: Click thumbnail to view full sized image in another window. 
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