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After more than twenty years of articles, inspiring
success stories and photos of monster carp in the media,
carp fishing in South Africa is undergoing a huge
transformation, from conventional to the
European style of carp fishing. Thousands of conventional
anglers are experimenting with the new style and although it
has shown mixed results, most found that this new style has
blown new life into their fishing experience. And YES, many
are converting, or at least employing some of the basic
principles. My involvement started
when I met Gilbert Foxcroft about two years ago when we
developed his CD. We had access to all the
technical information, but what really grabbed my attention
were his photo albums. The fact that he has caught more than
2000 carp weighing more than 10 kg was proof enough for me
that this concept really works. So I decided to give it a
go.
After about 8 years in Pretoria, the
business, family and other factors made it possible for us
to move back to Bloemfontein, where I grew up.
Old fishing destinations with new practices had me really
looking forward to it. So when I eventually arrived in Bloem
I immediately made plans to visit some of my favorite spots
which I frequented so long ago.
My previous personal best of 10kg came
from the Krugersdrift dam so it obviously was first on my
list. But, unfortunately Krugersdrift dam was out of the
question as someone forgot to close the valves after letting
out water. It almost ran dry as it does not have a big
capacity. The fish died by their thousands, so much so that
netting operators were called in to catch some of the fish
for the poor, not to let everything go to waste. After that
the dam was closed for a few months due to the health risk
created by all the dead fish.
My second option was a place
called Glen which lies on the Modder River, approximately 40
kilometres north of Bloemfontein. Fishing at Glen is not
easy and that is probably why I decided to
target it. If
a place is known to be difficult to fish it means less fishing pressure
and
bigger fish. I contacted the owner and within a few weeks
I got access to my own private spot.
Christian with his first Glen Common
of 7,5kg |
Like any new fishing destination it took
some time to figure out which bait to use. I was trying out
different baits and different flavours without any success.
If it wasn't for my son, Christian, who caught a 7,5 kg
carp on a plain mallow, I would have still wasted my time on
using dips on all my baits. I changed to a plain boilie
and suddenly I was reeling them in one by one.
So, what does this have to do with the
European style of carp fishing?
The answer is simple...
Christian only fished with mallows and
like other anglers in the area he caught one muddie after the
other. Within 30 seconds after his bait hit the water he had
to get ready to strike another muddie. That obviously left
little room for the big carp to get to the bait.
I definitely was not interested in
muddies. My immediate challenge was to improve
my personal best which had been standing for fifteen
years.
The advantage I had over everyone else,
was that my 18 mm boilies were too big for the muddies, so now that
I had the right bait, it was just a question of time.
My first decent sized carp (9kg)
at Glen |
After about three sessions which produced
good results, I decided to increase the size of my boilies
from 18 mm to 22 mm. At that stage I was constantly catching carp between
4,5 and 7,5 kg and I wanted bigger.
To me it just made
sense. Bigger bait, bigger carp. At my next session of only five
hours, my new strategy
paid off. I landed a carp of 9kg, the only fish for the day.
Suddenly everyone next to me also
converted to using plain boilies and soon everyone were
catching the bigger carp.
Now you've got to ask yourself, what
makes boilies special?
The answer is simple. In the Freestate, like in the UK, we have
a lot of nuisance fish which include muddies, yellows, small
catfish and small carp. Using boilies exclude these species
from the list which means your chances of catching the
bigger carp are
improved considerably. I have, with thousands of other anglers
proven that fact. I cannot describe the feeling I had when
I finally realised what impact this simple concept had on my
fishing. Nothing could keep me from the water, the
challenge was on and I was so confident in the concept that
I was sure that it was only going to be a matter of time for
me to better my PB and that at a place, known to be
'difficult'.
My new PB carp (11,2kg)
at Glen |
This carp (10kg)
was caught only
20 minutes after my new PB! |
My next session started slow, but after
16 hours of blanking I suddenly had a run. As
I picked up my rod I felt that it was no ordinary
fish, at least not what I have grown accustomed to. I was
alone, so it took
me 25 minutes to land the fish which weighed 11,2kg, my new
PB! Twenty minutes later I landed another biggie of 10kg,
bettering my PB twice on the same day. That, to me, was the
final nail in the coffin. I needed no more proof! European
style works and there is no doubt about it.
The road to success
OutdoorPAGES has done a lot of things for me over the years,
some good, some bad. One thing you can be sure of, it had a
negative impact on my personal finances. We cover 11 facets
of angling, so to buy at least one outfit for every facet
costs a fortune. In carp fishing, the biggest concern for
most conventional anglers is the cost of converting. Yes, imported specimen carp fishing
tackle are expensive, but thankfully there now is a cost-effective way to convert.
I converted to the European style in three
practical steps.
Step 1: Change to the hair-rig
During December 2004 I decided to try the concept, so I changed my rigs. I
got rid of the
normal Rietvlei rig and replaced it with the hair-rig
pictured below. At that
stage I was already using only one hook on my Rietvlei. If
you have read my previous article on Rietvlei dam, you will
understand why. So, to me, the change was not that big. To
make it easier, I even stuck to my usual Super Cast Super
Feed, which I still use in the normal fashion.
As you can see there is no rocket-science
involved and it is not as difficult as it seems. With this
rig I cover most of the basic principles of this style.
Step 2: Get our tackle up to standard
In February 2005 I upgraded my tackle as I was still fishing
with two 14ft Blue Marlin rods. Initially I did not like the idea of going
back to two-piece 12ft rods as I have been fishing with 16ft
and 14ft rods for more than a decade. But I found it easier to transport and
more practical for river fishing.
I got myself 3 x Shimano Alivio rods which at that
stage were relatively cheap compared to other brands. I also
bought 3 x
Shimano 8000 GTE Bait Runners which to me makes a good
combination. Seeing that I was only going to target specimen
carp and the fact that I am fishing water with lots of reeds
and overhanging trees, I went for 17lbs Double X High
Abrasion line to go with the outfit. 12lbs would have also
done the trick, but the tackle store where I bought the line
was out of stock and I had to settle for something else.
The first opportunity I had to fish with my newly acquired tackle
was during our Social Club meeting at Rietvlei in May
2005. Craig
Lambrecht caught a 16kg+ fish and a couple more weighing
over 10kg, so the big ones were in the
area. Unfortunately I could not get any alarms to use during
the night, so it was no surprise that I lost a fish because I could not hear the Baitrunner going at
full speed. When I woke up the next morning nearly 50% of my
line were stripped from the reel. I was totally disgusted as
it would have been my first fish on a hair-rig and possibly
a new PB! This motivated me to get a
pod and alarms asap!
Step 3: Accessorise Now this is
the part where you've got to be creative otherwise its going
to cost a lot of money. Some of you can skip step nr 2
because most of you already have baitrunners and most of
you already got rid of the 16ft rods.
To complete my outfit I eventually
decided to take the plunge and order the rest of the
equipment. I bought a Fox Horizon Pod with bag and extra
storm poles, butt grips, 3 x Fox Horizon Micron M alarms,
Fox MkII swingers, a Nash landing net, Nash rig pouch and
three packets of Nash safety clips. All this cost a whopping
R 4500-00 which to me, although I am very satisfied with the
product, was a bit expensive. But, then again, everything
these days are expensive. For example, one rock and surf
outfit can set you back R 8000-00, one fly rod R5000-00 and
so on.
For those of you for whom it is totally
out of the question to spend that amount of money, there is
good news! Unless you are not looking for specific brands, you do not have to
import expensive tackle anymore. With the industry waking up
to the growing demand, other, cheaper options are becoming
available. Companies like Akals have just launched a brand
new range of quality pods, the best one probably being the
Gilfox pod, selling for less than R500! Sensation Tackle now sells quality
accessories, like alarms at ridiculous prices (± R 139-00). Specimen rods
are coming down in price, reels also. Now you can, for even
less than R 1000-00, get a quality pod with all the bells
and whistles. And what's more, these products are now
available at your local tackle store.
The Gilfox pod by Akals, Alluminium, fully adjustable,
4 rod setup, comes with nifty carry bag. |
Sensation Bite Alarms. Comes with Volume, Tone and
Sensitivity control. |
Just one word of caution, buy brands you can
trust from people you can trust. I recently bought a cheap
pod for my son, paid R 250-00 for it. What a waste of money!
Do not settle for anything less than the best. Wasting
money on the wrong equipment might just ruin the total
experience. Ask around, speak to fellow anglers and tackle stores
and get to know the products. Although I spent nearly R 10 000-00 on the tackle I found a
new challenge in the European Style and I therefore think it
was totally worth it!!!
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