(CO) JohnFinney
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Posts posted by (CO) JohnFinney
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Congrats Tony ! almost makes me want to try a carp salad now !
John
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2010 River Monsters, had an episode on Snakeheads. Had to go back and watch it today via Netflix in honor of this thread!
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Alex: 34 rods, and 36 reels !! must be like a case of double phenumonia - no saving you I guess ! I retract my medication comment, it obviously will not work on extreme cases like you - though perhaps a lack of wall space to hang those sweet reels or storage space for the tasty rods will work ! You know, you're going to need a bigger house !
Tight Lines!
John
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Alex, 34 rods !!!! there must be some prescription medication out there that can help you with that !!!! dang !!!
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A very timely topic, since I am just getting back into the sport and considering upgrading my, hate to say it, Ugly Stick medium action rods, to 12' rods in length. Btw, ironically, those darn Ugly Sticks take some abuse that's for sure! I was/am still considering the Daiwa mad dragon's, primarily due to their low cost entry point and general popularity, or even the Wacker entry level rods (feedback on those would be great?). For $60 or so, not sure you can go wrong so long as you appreciate you get generally what you pay for. I already rue not spending my Ugly stick funds on something better! Perhaps i'll feel the same about the 12' entry level rods (likely), but who knows! Like many, it is a simple matter of funds, you buy the best you can afford at the time.
The old European addage was _never_ buy a rod that costs less than 100 pounds (about $160) - as it won't last. I would not say that is 100% true - it all depends on your funds available for the purchase, what/how you are fishing (method, pva bags/sticks, single hook bait), the range you are fishing at (25 yards, 50 yards, 90+ yards etc), your casting skill (a more expensive rod will not necessarily make you a better caster!), what your distance goals are and what "Jones" you are attempting to keep up with this week - the later being sadly all too often a reason why some old colleagues back in the homeland used to upgrade to the next, new, shiny piece of gear out there. The "Jones" are also a great supplier of used equipment in the Tackle for Sale section ! (not complaining here about that as i'll likely be acquiring some fine used tackle shortly!). We need more "Jones" here in Colorado me thinks! c'mon, you know are out there!
If you were going to spend those extra $, and could only afford one rod, then I would recommend using those $ for your spod and/or float/marker rod/reel combo (if you use them) as that needs the greatest distance of all. IMHO pointless having $200+ rods that can cast and allow you to fish at 125 yards or more, when you can only bait up at 50-100 yards. Might as well be using Ugly Sticks, like me! Hey, they do work - at least for short range - 50-70 yards or so.
John
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That's one beautiful carp, well done ! and keep at it ! im sure you will get those ghost carp outta there soon !
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A good few days fishing with some nice results ! Congrats ! Patience pays dividends !
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Very Nice !
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Hey Shawn, after 25 yrs away from this sport I know how you feel. Back when I was a kid fishing here was a few of the tactics we used (cash poor).
bait stop = a piece of grass you bent over and used to keep the corn, of luncheon meat, from flying off your hook on a cast.
bank stick = any old piece of debris/limb with a V/Y shape you could drive into the ground without face first slipping/falling off the bank into the lake (done that more than once, btw)
throwing stick = your arm
catapult = offensive weapons back in the day, police would confiscate them if you were found with one, became more accepted for use in fishing later on
method feeder = we canibalised maggot tube holders, made the holes larger, and stuff them full of maggots, worms, corn etc.
bite alarm = 14 hours of watching your rod tip (ledger style) until your eyes started to almost bleed ! I think i was 15 or 16 when my parent bought me my first electronic alarm, i was in hog heaven and at the bleeding edge of technology then !
ground bait = on that lake, you were/are not allowed to ground bait ... *cough*... though it always seemed to happen - perhaps just a lot of feeder use before you setup
float/bobber = when I very very first started a float was a match stick tied to the line with tin-foil to make it more visibile
bait = home made dough balls (parents always wondered why our bread vanished so quick), corn, maggots (when I felt rich from working the market stalls or a paper round - only the "rich" kids used maggots), worms -> very easy to acquire out of the garden, luncheon meat (I suppose somewhat like spam here)
chair = you sat on your tackle box
umbrella = the leaves/limbs of the trees you would hide beneath when it rained
tackle trolley = if you were a "bad kid" you would ninja a trolley/cart from a local supermarket on the walk to the lake and then return it on the way home - often the car park of the lake could be littered with "borrowed" trolley/carts!
John
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Out of nostalgia I did a search and found a website for where I grew up and learned to fish at age10, 1978->1986, Standborough Lakes, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, England, UK. Back in the day I caught an 18lb mirror carp out of that lake, which back then, was a true monster. Lake record is now 33 lbs or so.
Always good to reminisce about where you got started in passion for carp.
John
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You could always email the manufacturer, support@nashtackle.co.uk - though with international shipping, could be an expensive part to replace unless you ordered a few of them, though perhaps cheaper than buying a whole new net.
John
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>>> PB: Peanut Butter. What it has to do with carp fishing I'll never know.
We British old timers used to make bait out of peanut butter. Hell, we used to make bait out of our lunchtime sandwich fillings - you never went home with leftovers!
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Being British, now living in the US for the past decade, i find this thread, most entertaining !
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Sure is !
Now the weather is starting to pickup I can begin doing some research on the local lakes higher up in elevation. I believe there is a nice lake up the trail to Pikes Peak? I have also yet to try Palmer Lake, Monument Lake, and a few other smaller ponds in my local Springs area.
I am going to have to drive down and face Pueblo Reservoir, or up to Chattfield one of these weekends when im not working. As for carp holding streams around here, alas, I know of none though I am sure they do exist - perhaps a local trout angler could provide some pointers in that direction. I am sure if I were to hop into the car and drive an hour or so then it wouldn't be too much of an issue. So far, it would seem, that trout, variants of trout, or anything vaguely trout'ish, is what the majority of what local anglers here are fishing for (rainbow, cut throat, etc), that and bass.
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I was once a Carp addict from the UK (back in the mid-80's). My uncle taught me to fish on the River Trent back when i was but 9 yrs old - I spent my youth fishing ever since that first day. Sadly though, I turned away from this passion to more social pursuits in my late teens (go figure!). I moved out to the USA (Colorado Springs) back in 2001 for work and a decade later I am still here with my wife. Note: - though after a decade I have not lost that British accent ! Finally, after an almost 25 yr absence, I have decided to get back into fishing. here in Colorado. I now rue the day that I moved here to the US and dumped all my old tackle - back then it seemed pointless to actually pay for it all to be shipped here - especially given that I didn't fish anymore. DOH !!!! make that double DOH !!!
My wife and I are just taking up camping (ironic, hit mid-40's and as a mid life crisis, got a tent, not a porsche!) I managed to get approved a "meager" budget for some basic fishing tackle, Walmart specials for the majority of the basics, entry level rods & reels from Sportsman's warehouse. Hey, if you're going to go camping, you got to be able to fish eh ? well, that was my excuse to my wife
Back in late March'12 we took a our first camping trip down to Lake Hasty, near Lamar, CO. Most of my colleagues thought I was insane going camping in a tent here in Colorado in March, they were probably correct ! I had no clue what I would catch out on that lake, I had read that the lake held walleye, wiper, trout and other fish - I honestly have no clue what most of those fish were. I am used to carp, tench, bream, chub, perch, etc - the fish I caught back in my homeland, England.
Knowing no other tactics but ledger I cast out with some spam on the hook and waited. No luck (back in the old days we used to catch many carp on luncheon meats, sweet corn, dough balls etc). I switched to the worms the tackle store had provided as "trout bait" and waited - I presumed a trout or other "sports" fish has got to eat - worms ... yummy perhaps ? Minutes later, the end of the rod twangs around and I reel in my first fish - a small carp, perhaps 2lbs in weight. I was most surprised, 6000 miles from my homeland and I catch a carp here in the USA! not what I was expecting. I cast out again, and again a while later, another carp, then another, and another, all small about 1-2 lbs. dang !
Over the next few days I think I hauled a dozen or so carp from that lake all around the same size but not one "sports fish". The other anglers around me were catching their trout but hey, I was happy with my little carp. I was bemused though at the reactions I got from fellow "anglers" to my pleasure in catching the type of fish I had spent so many long hours fishing for as a youth. A few even told me, "bleh, that's a carp, we just toss them onto the bank or use them as bait for catfish!". I was sad and horrified at this response! One old gentleman even took "pity" on me at my lack of trout / "sportsfish" success and offerred up a few of his trout as a gift (btw, I do not even like to eat trout!).
I do confess on my last evening at the lake to breaking out a few small spoons and casting out in a forlorn attempt at spin-casting (btw I suck at spin-casting I discovered). I managed to snag a batch of small walleye, my fellow anglers were now nodding approvingly at my success. I finally had to swallow my pride and broke down to ask one what it was I was even catching ! <a newb to those hard core sports fishermen I am for sure!>. As I happily returned all my fish carefully to the waters I did notice strange looks again from my peers at the shore at this "catch and release" policy.
Upon our return from Lake Hasty I knew I had rekinlded my old passion for carp fishing again. I spent the next month visiting local sporting shops to inquire about carp tackle etc. Thus my month of frustration began, finding that 99% of the people I spoke to either knew nothing about carp fishing, did not supply or stock equipment designed for this type of fishing, or thought I was some crazed British lunatic. Terminology seemed to be a challenge, most knew not what ledger was as a fishing method. I switched my search online (should done it sooner given I have worked in IT for 25 yrs!). I found the CAG forums here and after being a lurker signed up as a member a few days ago.
I am already assembling my shopping list of new "toys" to acquire from the vendors that frequent these forums, dedicated carp tackle, bait runner reels, rods, pods, bite alarms, mats, nets, the list goes ever on. Hopefully over this coming year I will be able to persuade my spouse to approve the acquisition of more dedicated tackle. <fingers crossed, this will be a hard task as she shares not this hobby!>.
I have dragged a work colleague out with me to a local lake (Pikeview Reservoir) and started to help teach him to fish these past few weeks --- one can never have too many friends to go fishing with. I have seen some Koi swimming in those waters and now must know what else lies beneath the surface there.
I am very surprised and pleased to see that here in the USA there is a swelling number of anglers who fish for carp and respect these beloved creatures and the passion that goes along with the sport of catching them. I have reached out to an old friend back in the UK who has been carp fishing for decades to start getting back up to speed on the new developments in the sport, tactics, bait, gear etc. It would certainly seem that after 25 yrs the carp angling sport has become way more commercialized than ever I remember it with specialized baits, rods, reels, etc.
This coming weekend we are off camping again, this time down to Walsenburg, CO, Horseshoe and Martin reservoirs. I have no clue if there are any carp lurking out there in those still waters (or somewhat still minus the speedboats and water ski'ers). Armed with my basic equipment it matters not, my lines shall be cast out, my folding chair set out and my feet propped up as I wait to see that rod tip quiver. I shall be sure to post an update on my success or failures when we return. This time I have unpacked an old camera to take some pics as hey, what's a post without pictures! Though those waters I shall be facing may hold wiper, walleye, bass, pike, I shall be more than happy if a carp takes my worm, powerbait, or whatever else I can attach to my hook!
If nothing else what the past month(s) have taught me is "Once a Carper, always a Carper". So, greetings to my fellow Colorado anglers with a passion for carp, however, or with whatever you may catch them - it matters not to me !
Warm Regards
John
Colorado Springs
My upcoming acquisition list so far includes, 2 x Daiwa Mad Dragon Rods, 2 x Daiwa 5500 BRI Plus Bait Runner Reels (or Shimano 12000 D's /drool), a Fox Stalker Pod (WTH, we used to use wooden sticks back in the old days! or a single bank stick to hold an alarm), 2 bite alarms, swingers, a carp net, mat & sling and most importantly, a much more comfortable chair - other suggestions appreciated for a Carp'a'holic returning to the hobby once more.
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Looks like you had one fine days fishing ! Congrats !