In Search of Monster Mirrors: Success, surprises and the one that got away!

Early Fall Reward

After my diversion for a 30lb common in September I was keen to get back onto my big fish waters and renew the hunt for Monster Mirrors. I dropped onto the 800 acre water for a few evening sessions and was disappointed to receive my first blanks of the year but even more disappointed to see no signs of carp. I walked the lake regularly and at a time when the carp are usually very active I don’t think I saw one single sign of a fish in the next two weeks. It was an easy decision to head back onto the river for the remainder of the fall and my first stop was to a section I had put a lot of time and effort into during the spring and summer, with only small rewards so far.

A nice reward for lots of work and many hours spent on the water prior to actually fishing

 Surprise!!

During the final few days of September I managed to fit in one overnight session. I arrived a few hours before dark and located a spot I had fished before that held deeper water and one where I thought the carp might be travelling through. I had located a beautiful margin spot in the spring just beyond a drop off and I baited this liberally with particles and fancied this as my best bet. I was proved correct when bang on midnight I received a strong take and a 15 minute battle commenced. On parting the folds of the net I was amazed to see a tank of a common looking up at me. I had only just broken the 30lb barrier 10 days previously and now I had demolished my PB again, with a 36lb 10oz fin perfect common.

Second PB common in the space of 10 days
Mat shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To say I was blown away is an understatement. I had come for mirrors but was rewarded with an amazing common. All of the hours I had spent plumbing the depths and watching the fish behavior had paid off much, much quicker than I had expected. I didn’t have too much time to dwell on this capture as at first light I had another take off the margin area and another great looking fish was in the net. Although not a monster it was equally as impressive in the morning light and was in pristine condition.

20lbs 8oz’S of fin perfect ‘muddler’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall weather brings results

October started in earnest with a trip a little further afield and back to a section of the river I was sure the fish would be holding up in over the coming weeks. The weather had stabilized over the past week or so and I arrived for a day session at around 5am. However, several other anglers already had the same idea and were already fishing so I decided to spend a few hours looking at other spots and would return for a two day session in the week. The time was well spent as it allowed me to take one spot off my list of possibilities and add another as a definite spring option. Rarely, is time on the water a wasted effort if you know what you are looking for.

I arrived back at the water a couple of hours before dark and was very confident as the anglers fishing at the weekend had caught several fish, with a couple of big ones included. I was met by a local carper who also had the same plans and we fished together for a few hours. The fish were obviously still around and in numbers as the local carper had several takes landing a few fish, topped by a magnificent low thirty. I had an upper double, but knew that with the right bait application I was sure to catch over the next two nights. I decided to fish both rods on boilies and bait one margin spot lightly and then a deeper spot with a good amount of bait. I was hoping that once the fish started to feed on the boilies I could keep the bait going in and eventually draw in the bigger fish.

I am a big user of particles in the spring and summer but in the fall and winter I am much happier with a boilie approach as I feel the fish are looking for bigger food items as the natural food is diminishing.From the start of the summer I had been using a few baiting approaches and although I do make a lot of my own boilies and particle mixes I had also committed to using a few products from Dynamite baits. I knew that the carp in my target waters were eating large natural baits such as crayfish, pea and zebra mussels and I wanted to offer them an easy meal that they would find hard to refuse. With this in mind I concentrated on two baiting approaches; tiger nuts for my particle attack and 20mm Dynamite Carptec’s for my boilie fishing.

My favored boilie for my summer and fall fishing
Monster Tigers for my particle approach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The one that got away!!

Throughout the first night I picked off a few fish with a 26lb scatter scale linear being the best of the bunch until around 4am when I hit into a fish that was much heavier. The fish gave a good account of itself and it took a few attempts to net it, but eventually I managed the task. Here is where it got interesting. As I had to drop down several feet to the water to net the fish I was not keen to lift an obvious upper thirty over rocks and risk damaging it. I had my retaining sling close at hand and decided to unhook the fish in the net and then lift it into the sling so that I could then secure it and assemble my unhooking mat at the top of the bank to place the fish on. The first part went pretty well as I unhooked the fish and got the sling unzipped. I picked up the fish, which was very wide and deep and thought to myself that it was around 37 to 38lbs. I lifted the carp out of the net and just as I turned to place it in the sling, the rock I had one foot balanced on decided to give way leaving me with a decision to either lower the carp to regain my balance or go for a swim in deep water. The carp was deposited back into the margins and slowly righted itself. I grabbed the net and tried to coral it but it was not to be, as it slowly sunk and swam into the depths. I will admit I let a few expletives out in the moment and was disappointed I didn’t get a true weight and picture, but all in all I would repeat the process again, as I just did not want to risk damaging the fish to take a picture.

26lb+ Mirror, caught before the unscheduled release
A lovely dark mirror

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Move or Stay?

Over the next 36 hours I picked off fish steadily and was joined by my good friend Craig. We had arranged to fish a three day session several weeks prior and originally we were thinking of another spot, however, there was no way I was going to move from big feeding fish and as Craig wanted to fish together he joined me. My baiting strategy was working quite nicely and I knew it was only a matter of time before numbers of big fish moved over the area. Unfortunately, I had to return home and told Craig I knew he was going to bag up as the 5kg or so of boilies I had scattered around still had the fish in the area. The weather conditions also looked spot on. Needless to say he had the night of his life and caught several big fish, along with some marvelous back-up twenties. Although, I was a little disappointed I wasn’t there to fish and share in the haul, I was non the less very happy that the big fish had turned up in numbers.

Over the next 48 hours another friend joined Craig and while only having 5 fish his average was remarkable. This spurred me to return for one more overnight with both of them and hopefully pull a flanking move to cut off the fish before they got to their baits! On arrival I installed myself to the left of Craig and Sean and fished one margin rod and one in the deeper water. We spent the next few hours socializing and just as we were about to eat a nice curry my move paid dividends. A steady take on the margin spot resulted in what looked like a nice mid twenty. However, as the fish got passed up the bank it’s size grew considerably. On the scales the fish went 33lb 14oz and the disappointment of putting back my last thirty without a picture disappeared. A few more beers were drank and during the night I helped Sean land a nice common before landing a tank of an upper thirty that had crashed over my margin spot 15 minutes prior to the take. To finish the session I had a nice low twenty just before dawn and I finished the 3 night stint with around 25 fish including ten or so nice twenties and two thirties.

Solid mid thirty that I managed to photo!
Last fish of a productive session

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back for more

I returned less than a week later hoping the fish would still be in the area. I was only fishing for a short overnight session, but knew my best chance of success would come during the darkness so proceeded to bait a couple of spots and tie up some fresh rigs in case I needed them. Bite time came around 9pm onwards and shortly after 9.15am I had a stuttering take on the deep water spot. As I was using the new Delkim Smart Clips the movement of the bobbin was amplified and I bent into a fish that went absolutely nuts. I knew it was a common before I saw it and at low twenties it out punched it’s weight by several pounds. I re-positioned the rod and re-baited (using Dynamite Pinapple Carptec) but the next rod away was the margin spot an hour later. This fish was much bigger an a beautiful upper twenty mirror was pictured and released in quick order. The margin rod tore off again, less than 30 minutes later but unfortunately after playing the fish for 4 or 5 minutes the hook pulled. The rig was fine and the hook was sharp and at times even when you do everything correct you still lose the odd fish. I had lowered my percentage of lost fish dramatically this year to around 5% so although every lost fish is tinged with sadness I can certainly accept the occasional hook pull. I had to wait several hours for my next take, but it was another beauty on the Carptec and another upper twenty. I finished with a mid double just on first light and reflected on another good session. Although I really wanted to tempt the bigger fish, if you are catching numbers then it is only a matter of time before the bigger fish make an appearance, especially if your baiting strategy is sound.

Upper Twenty taken on boilies
Another upper twenty, also taken on boilies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change of Tactics leads to Success.

Another week passed and I got back to the river mid week in the early hours of the afternoon. I was greeted by chocolate colored water and it was obvious that the dam above the section had been opened that day to release some of the recent rain water. As I did not want to waste a session, I spent a few hours looking at another section of the river and made my way back to the spot I had fished at the end of September. Straight away I saw active fish and I spent a few hours chatting with a couple of other anglers before setting up as the light faded. I had a little mirror straight away, and then although I saw a few fish roll it went very quiet. At 4am I had two fish in quick succession topped by a nice upper double mirror. Throughout the next morning I was plagued by small carp and landed several fish that would look great in anyone’s garden pond, but not exactly what I was looking for!

I sat and took 10 minutes to think about my approach. Although I was using boilies I was also using method/pack to help reduce any tangles on the cast and also to offer a nice attractive pile around my hook bait. However, as soon as the method hit the water the small carp were on it straight away and I was either hooking them or they were picking up the rig grabbing at the boilie! I quickly formulated a plan. I spombed around 50 broken boilies (about 6/7 casts with the Spomb) losely around the area and catapulted a further 30-40 whole 20mm boilies around the area also. I then changed to double 20mm bottom baits fished with a four bait stringer. My second rod I moved a good distance to the left and fished fake corn with method, as well as throwing some extra method out into the area. My aim was to attract the smaller carp around the left had rod and keep them away from the other area where hopefully a bigger fish would have a chance to get to the hook bait.

The next hour was spent catching a dozen or so small fish on the fake corn rod, whereas the boilie rod had been left untouched. I continued this approach and 30 minutes later I received a steady take on the boilie rod and bent into a ‘proper’ carp. The fish immediately surfaced and then kited into the margins 60 yards away. I was convinced it was a low double and proceeded to play the fish quite leisurely. As it got closer it went a little deeper and then plodded around for a minute or so before it popped up close to the net. It was only when I lifted the net and had trouble getting its tail over the cord that I realized it was somewhat bigger! On the mat I quickly reassessed my estimate and knew it was a good thirty at least.

Just a ‘wee’ bit bigger than a double
Massive mouth and over 43 inches in length

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The scales went round to 43lb 5oz and although a few ounces short of my PB I was blown away. The fish was a true ‘Monster Mirror’. Exactly the reason I had spent so much time, energy and gas in my attempts to get one in my hands. I quickly got a few pictures taken and also managed to get a few release shots.

Amazing scale pattern and colors
Over 43 inches of wild American carp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October had been very kind to me and I could only look forward to what the rest of the fall had in store for me. It was only the ‘Mega Storm Sandy’ that kept me off the water for a few days, but I knew I would be back as soon as the weather allowed.

Reason enough to tempt me back in November

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Hunting,

Dean Brookes

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