CarpQuest: Year in Review 2013

2013 was a an amazing year for CarpQuest. Early in the season I found my old Sony Camcorder and started the video blogs. We fished new venues, met new friends and banked some stunning carp together.

We fished at Quail Lake, Prospect Lake, Runyon Lake, Pikeview Reservoir, Willow Springs Ponds, Chatfield Reservoir, Pueblo Reservoir, Valco Ponds, Boyd Lake, Brush Hollow Reservoir and Bear Lake, UT.

Beautiful scenery and wildlife were observed, including ducks, geese, muskrat, snakes, herons and more varieties of birds I simply cannot name.

We fished in temperatures below freezing and over 100F.

We endured the baking sun, snow, and sometimes rain. Winds strong enough to blow us almost off our feet and slippery mud slopes.

Once we trekked through miles of wilderness to reach a secret spot - on the hike back from which I ended up tearing my shoulder and missed almost a month of fishing whilst waiting for it to recover! (the things we do for CarpQuest!)

We drove up mountains, down trails, and once got so lost we ended doing some insane off-roading in the family SUV - mistakenly I would add and not something i'd recommend!

We caught common carp, mirror carp, rainbow trout, a channel catfish, crayfish and untold, and sometimes unrecognizable, debris!

We had line cut off's, more hook pulls that I care to remember. We fell into the water, we dove into the water to prevent a fish escaping and even snapped the top section of one rod clean in half whilst playing a fish.

My old Sony Handycam finally died at the end of year and has now been replaced with a Canon HD camcorder. In total we went fishing 52 times, had the lines out for about 266 hours and caught exactly, 100 carp (log books are a wonderful thing!)

It was the year of "CarpZilla", my new PB common carp at 37 lb and 5 oz.

It was a year to be remembered.

Here at the highlights.

Tight Lines,

John

Rigs, PVA Sticks and a Puppy

On a sunny, and surprisingly warm, Sunday morning I ventured out for my second session of the year. My first trip, a week before, had not ended so well. The plastic line-guard on one of my Daiwa reels shattering. I am still waiting on the replacement Daiwa are sending me.

Here is the video I made of today's session.



This was to be a real short session. I wanted to test a few rigs and experiment with my usual packbaits to how they worked with PVA stick. I had not previously used PVA and this year I want to get them worked into my rotation to allow a wider option of baits and range in my fishing.

It had been almost a year since I last fished Quail Lake. The ice was off now for a few weeks and it would be interesting to see if the venue had changed. It was also time to take my new puppy Raven with me to see how she does at the bank and being my fishing companion. At 5 months old it would take all of her concentration and patience to sit there calmly as I fished.

Given that this would be but a few short hours on the bank I decided to travel light. I only took my old 8ft ugly stick with a shakespeare reel spooled with 12 lb Berkley Trilene Big Game, a pair of banksticks, a single bite alarm,  a weigh sling, backpack full of tackle, weigh scale, folding chair and lots of water for myself and "Raven" to consume. I was set to meet up with a friend who was bringing his landing net and carp mat. It is amazing just how much stuff we drag to the bank even for such a short session!

We arrived at the lake around 10am and met up with James. There were so many people out there fishing already it was like seeing an army of ants crawling across a hill. The majority of anglers were fishing from the shore, their chairs setup, cool boxes nearby and lines flying out with baits attached. A few folk were out upon the water casting fly lines from their belly boats and inflatables. It took us a while walking but we finally reached one of our usual spots that was free from other anglers.

James fished an area just out from an inlet pipe. I fished directly out into the middle of the lake, prehaps 75 yards off the shore. The next few hours were occupied with numerous false takes and short runs; the likely culprit, trout. I experimented with using a bait glug/dip and got some practice in with making PVA sticks. I learned quickly that PVA mesh and sweet corn, right out of the can, just do not mix - the PVA stick quickly dissolving between my fingers to demonstrate the error of my ways!

Having forgotten to bring a hanger I constructed one from a broken stick. It worked surprisingly well and was adept and indicating the focus the corn based baits were getting.

Just before our session came to an end a passerby informed us that Quail Lake was so busy as it had just been sticked with a few thousand trout for the put & take crowd. One thing I know all too well is that trout really enjoy corn and will voraciously peck away at any bait that resembles it.

Raven had done really well for the few hours fishing. She spent most of her time watching warily the nearby anglers and was especially interested in those out on the water fishing with their fly rods. She is an expert at digging holes and soon had one excavated to place sticks and her bone within. For a couple of hours her patience held out and I am actually looking forwards now to taking her with me again for a longer session. As she is so young it is very important at this phase to keeping her socialization with others paramount and introducing her to new environments.

Tight Lines,
John
CarpQuest


some of the products used in this trip included:

Korda Kaptor wide-gape hooks - size 6
Korda Funnel Web PVA System
CC-Moore Meteor Bait Dip

John Finney and the Carp Quest

I still recall that day in 1978 when my Uncle Frank took me out fishing on the River Trent in England. I was 10 years old and had never fished before in my life. I was excited as we left the house and made the long drive to the river. We set up on the shoreline. My Uncle cast out the rods and told me, “this one is yours – watch it – closely – and when the tip bends around to here, strike and start reeling”.

As with all 10 year olds, paying attention was not my strong suit. I sat there for what seemed like hours watching the tip of that rod bend slowly back and forth with the current. Finally the tip bent around, I yanked the rod from the simple y-rests and started reeling as if my very life depended on it. A few minutes later, net in hand, my uncle was emerging from the shallow water with my prize in his net – a chub. It was not huge, perhaps a couple of pounds in weight, but it was my fish, I had caught it, nobody else but me!

That was the start of an angling obsession that often consumed my summers for many years. Carp soon became my target species. I was always searching for, but was never able to bank, that elusive 20. I did finally land an 18 lb mirror and that remains my UK Personal Best.

It is now almost 30 years later. I stopped fishing around the time I left school – different interests consumed my time back in those days. I have been married for over 17 years. I emigrated 13 years ago from the UK to the US and now reside in Colorado Springs, CO. 

My unexpected return to the carping passion began spring 2012 on my first ever camping trip. I had planned a trip with my wife to Lake Hasty. Of course, whilst at the lake, I knew I must cast a line or two into the water. I made the obligatory pre-camping trip to the local Sportsman’s Warehouse and left armed with a veritable arsenal of entry level tackle designed for spin casting aimed at catching trout, walleye or bass.

During that first camping trip, and after a few days fishing, I soon learned that I was obviously a horrific trout fisherman, the walleye must be a fish of mere legend and bass, well, that was a fish I would have to look up on the internet to actually see one. I was seriously reconsidering my new fishing exploits.

Having failed to catch the local “sport fish” I decided to spend my last few days fishing the way I had learned as a youth so many years ago. The powerbait was deposited in a nearby trash can. The spinning lures returned to the tackle box. I went down to the local bait store and bought a carton of worms, rigged up a simple running rig with an egg-sinker and tossed the lines out. I positioned the rods at a 90 degree angle to the bank and fished the old school “ledger” – and waited. To my amazement I soon caught a small common carp, then another and another. As you can imagine I was very surprised to see the fish of my youth coming from a lake some 5000+ miles from home. Well, that was it - there are carp in these here waters! That old passion for carp fishing had been rekindled anew.

Scouring the internet for US carp fishing information I found the Carp Anglers Group (CAG). Their forums became an incredible source of up to date modern fishing information. I quickly joined and became a member. With the help of many of the CAG members I modified my approach, my baits, my rigs. For the remainder of the year I spent my free time fishing in the local lakes in and around Colorado Springs. I even managed to land a 24 lb common.

In 2013 my obsession with carp fishing continued. As soon as the ice was off the lakes my quest for carp began, this time, the journey was to "video blogged" in my Carp Quest series on youtube. I shared the bank side with some great fishermen I met through the Fish Explorer.Com. I also became the CAG State Chair for Colorado. There have certainly been highs - a 37 lb 5oz common carp from Chatfield Reservoir, the lows - blanking for 9 straight sessions at my favorite local venue, Pikeview Reservoir. I have learned that patience is key and that you must have confidence in your tackle, methods, baits and choice of location.

Most of all I have learned that I enjoy sharing my tales and my experiences with others, promoting the sport of carp fishing, and assisting others in achieving their goals. Often I have found more pleasure in seeing a fellow angler catch a new PB, than landing a fish of my own.

With the 2014 season about to start the fishing tackle has been cleaned off and the camera batteries charged. The Quest for Carp is again about to begin.

Some here call me the "UK Madman", others CO Springs John. Me, I call myself a fisherman - perhaps a little obsessed with my passion at times!

Tight Lines, and hope you see you on the bank side.

John