[Pictures and explanation of rigs and knots]

Guys,

Here are some pictures from a Dutch magazine (BEET) which might help especially some beginners. I don't think an explanantion/translation is needed given the high quality of the drawings:

[Mexican fully scaled mirror]

I went back to the same lake this week. Caught about 10 fish up to 16.5 Lbs, sure no monsters yet, but have a look at the pics. Apalogies for the bad quality by the way. I took the pics off a video cam.

My question: Looking at the very high backed shape of the commons here, would they be the result of a cross with Israeli mirrors, or are we looking at a different type of common carp here? I have now confirmed that there are carp over 45 Lbs in this lake, both common and mirrors, but yet need to catch one.

In other lakes I have caught much leaner shaped commons. These fish look like they came straight out of a French lake however. Very different indeed, and because of the shape, very promising. Also, there are not too many carp in this lake, so food should be plentyful. You have any similar type common carp in the US?

[Which snake is this?]

And to confirm: she was indeed very, very fast. Both on land and in the water...

[Which snake is this?]

That's a coachwhip snake 

That's it! Thanks mate....

[Mexican fully scaled mirror]

I have a fully scaled 4" Israeli carp swimming in my aquarium. The other two have varing amounts of scale coverage.

Any chance you could post some pics here of those beauties?

[Mexican fully scaled mirror]

Mario,...Nice fish!...Have you had any luck finding the larger carp

down there yet?

Nope, nothing over 10kg yet but truth is that I hardly had any chance to do some serious carping. Went out for a few one-day sessions but short trips don't seem very succesful on large artificial lakes. I started exploring some huge lakes on the Texan border and they seem very very promising, so I hope I can report back later with some nice ones...

[Which snake is this?]

Here she is swimming...

[Which snake is this?]

Oh yes,

it was about 6-7ft long...

[Which snake is this?]

Here's one for the herpetologists amongst you... Which snake did I happen to find during a fishing trip. I saw it swimming in Cerro Prieto, a lake in North-Eastern Mexico, close to Monterrey. After it swam for a while in very rough waves, it went to land, perhaps to rest a bit. I'm guessing it is some sort of watersnake, but I'm not sure. You guys have these ones in the US?

[Mexican fully scaled mirror]

Mmmm,

If that's the defination, then I am sure I've caught a Israeli "common" there as well. Both the mirror and the common were very small though. Any thoughts on potential sizes of Israeli's?

Thanks,

Mario

[Mexican fully scaled mirror]

Ok guys, now that one is new for me. I've fished carp for more than 20 years, but in Europe I just never heard that term I guess. I've heard about Israeli carp here in Mexico, but I somehow never really linked them to mirrors. What is the difference between a 'Israeli' mirror and a 'normal' mirror?

[Mexican fully scaled mirror]

Guys,

What do you think about this little carp I recently caught in one of the lakes in Northern Mexico? Do you think it's a fully scaled mirror or just a confused common. To be a true common, it should have neatly lined up rows of scales of equal sizes, which is obviously not the case. Then again, I doubt if it is a true mirror. If I compare it with the other picture, which is a true fully scaled mirror I caught in Holland some 15 years ago, I would say they very much look alike. The Mexican one just has the dark coloration on the outside of the scales, which is not very usual, but it does happen sometimes.

Mmmmm, any ideas?

[wildlife shots]

Anyone knows which snakes we're looking at in Jerome's picture? I just happen to see a similar one in Mexico of around 6ft. Some sort of watersnake?

[Finally... videos 2006 uploaded...]

Jerome, keep it coming, this is great stuff indeed. I have a request for you: I'm not sure if you were already planning something alike, but would it be possible to test different rigs in front of the camera: let's say I would send you (or you tie) several substantially different rigs, would you like to test them one day? I'm thinking about at least the following:

1. stiff rig 2. standard simple hair rig 3. combi/hybrid rig 4. overloaded/shot rig 5. recoil rig 6. mono d-rig 7. banana rig

Maybe we can confirm or eliminate a lot of the theories around rigs. And if that proves to be too ambitious (very hard to draw real sound conclusions based on one water type/bait/situation), at least we can have fun and watch some home made rigs in action. For all of those who haven't see Korda's video's I'm sure it could be a really useful. What do you think Jerome, are you up for it?

Saludos!

[Guess the weights & win boilies]

Well, somehow I'm not so sure Keith's gonna mail his boilies to Mexico...

[Guess the weights & win boilies]

Yeah, AnglerMike is right, we're still weighting

[Guess the weights & win boilies]

The amount of replies to this "competition" is incredible. I guess too many people are not fishing at the moment, including myself...

[Guess the weights & win boilies]

1st: 44 and 2nd: 35

[Pike freaks!]

Either you can use wire, or thick fluorcarbon. Both work well. With normal mono or braided lines you don't stand a chance...

[Pike freaks!]

Yeah, pike, I remember them from my time in The Netherlands. Slowly trolling a dead or live 1 pound roach or bream behind the boat, or also static with a herring or smelt on the carp gear, that's the stuff...