(I give you the debut article from Big Carp News Contributor and K-1 baits field tester Sean Lehrer. Please click on the picture for enlarged images as they are truly amazing fish! – Craig)
Three x 37’s, two PB’s and one Stunning Specimen!
As I prepared for an upcoming session in a part of the country I have fished on and off for the past year and a half I was devastated when I had to postpone it due to time off work. My friends went on without me and caught some gorgeous fish to mid 30’s, so I couldn’t wait to get back on the bank in two weeks time. Over the next week or so I started preparing by sorting out all the tackle I would need for the trip and gave the boys at K-1 a call to get some boilies shipped out. Knowing I would be fishing where some “BIG” fish roam I had them ship out plenty of the K-1 20mm Anise boilies which I would be testing on this session. I have confidence in their bait because they were specifically developed and designed with US carp in mind. Although I had not used the Anise flavor previously, I thought it would be a good time to try it as it seemed like it would be a good fall bait. This is because its strong distinct flavor and bright orange color are ideal for the colder water temps. As another week passed Friday was here faster than I imagined and I was on my way to what I hoped would be a good session.
I hit the road in sheer excitement.It was hard not to, because my mate Craig had text me to inform me he had already caught four 30’s and a 40lb mirror PB the night before. I arrived in the swim around 2:30pm and Craig had a 26lb mirror on the mat. I sorted him out some pictures and then started sticking some K-1 boilies into the swim to get the fish on my bait and in my area. Another key thing I did was to start soaking some boilies in the river water to start releasing the attractants and lighten up the color of the baits. This is known as “washing out the baits”. When fishing boilies they tend to lose their color after a while in the water as they are releasing the fish attractors. So I soak my boilies before putting them into the swim as it helps prevent fish being spooked off your baits because it looks like they have been in the water a while, thus resembling a potential food source.
I made up some method mix, which consists of old fashioned oats, panko, cream corn, cinnamon, whole kernel corn, K-1 Anise spray attractant, some crushed up K-1 Anise boilies, and a few other secrets I like to add. I started off my baiting approach by sticking about 10-20 baits over each rod and the plan was to top off each rod with a handful of baits after every fish or every hour because there was a slight current and I knew the baits would eventually be swept away over time. In addition to this I didn’t see many fish showing in the area at the time so I didn’t need to put out a ton of bait, just enough to have fish get over my rods. Craig had told me that most of his fish had started to come out around 8:30 pm and then steadily throughout the night. He also mentioned that all of his fish were coming off bottom baits so I tied up a couple blowback snowman rigs. I fished one rod with a K-1 Anise boilie topped off with a K-1 Toffee Cream pop up for color contrast, and the other with a K-1 Juicy Tutti Frutti pop up. Rigs were tied up using a size 6 long shank hook with a little shrink tube, a medium size pop up weight an inch up my hook link which helps turn the hook over into the bottom lip, and I stripped back a few inches of my coated braid for a little more movement in the rig. I am very specific when it comes to rigs because it is very important that I do not lose any fish, especially when fishing for big fish. I must have total confidence in my end tackle before I cast it out. Previous visits to this swim meant I knew what type of structure there was in the swim and I knew bottom baits would fish well because it was a fairly clear bottom with some deep holes. Leading about I didn’t feel too much weed except for a small bit close to the bank which was not near my baits. After I had put out both rods I finished setting up my camp and awaited my first run of the session.
Time passed and the darkness was approaching so we started to cook up some food and relax with a nice cold beer. Just before it went dark I figured I would stick out a few more baits over each rod. Sitting alongside Craig around 8:45 enjoying a beer and having a catch up I jumped out of my chair hearing the sound I have been waiting for, my rod had screamed off. I instantly knew it was a good fish because of the solid weight I felt at the other end. The fish took off on a good run down to the left hand margin and continued to fight hard for the next 10 minutes. After a great fight the fish rolled close in and upon netting it we knew she was a good 30lb plus fish. We placed her on the mat and parted the net to reveal a huge two toned mirror much bigger than we first thought. We safely got her in the sling and on the scales and she topped out at an incredible 37lb 10oz, smashing my previous mirror PB by over 11lb!!! This was also my first fish from this swim as I had blanked previously when I was here in the summer. What a result! We took a few photos in the night because it was too early to sack her up till the morning. So far I was very satisfied with this session and couldn’t wait to see what else the night would bring.
With temperatures dropping to the mid twenties that night I knew it was going to be very cold and people would say we were insane for fishing through weather like that. However, as an angler I will go to many extreme levels to catch huge fish and to spend quality time on the bank with good friends. After catching a new PB I was more motivated than ever to catch another beast and wanted to break that 40lb mirror mark. I topped off my area with a few more baits before I went back to enjoying my beer and then got ready for bed. As I settled into bed and prepared for a cold night ahead I couldn’t sleep because I was still buzzing from the fish I had just landed. I laid down just messing about on my phone and fell asleep an hour or two later. I was then woken up around 4 am with a couple of beeps on the alarm, which eventually went screaming off. I jumped out of my sleeping bag and noticed everything was frozen and found myself sliding across the swim to my rods. This fight was very similar to the last one, as the fish ran to the left and took a good amount of line off the spool. I scrambled to get my phone out of my pocket to call Craig for some net boy support but I struggled to multitask while the fish was peeling off so much line. Once Craig had woken up and came to help I still had a good amount of line out and the fish was still fighting really hard. After about a 15 min fight Craig did an amazing job of netting yet another big fish for me with a frozen net. Once we got the fish up on the matt and unhooked it we knew it was another 30+ but had no idea exactly how big. We put the fish up on the scale and laughed in amazement as another 37lb fish was mine at 37lb 8oz. After we weighed the fish we placed it in the sack and went back to bed.
Lying in my truck trying to fall back asleep I got woken up again by yet another fish that had decided to feast on my K-1 hook baits. This fish turned out to be one of the most beautiful fish I have ever caught. When Craig netted the third fish and we saw the big horseshoe scales crawling down its side we both looked at each other in awe of how beautiful this fish was. Its unique heavily scaled pattern was simply amazing. The fished weighed 29 lbs 04 oz and we placed her in another sack and waited about an hour till the sun had risen to get some great shots of what had been a very memorable nights fishing.
After a night dealing with the cold temps and turning my truck on and off to warm up I was still really happy and would not care if I didn’t catch another fish this session, but little did I know there was more excitement to come. As the day went on Craig and I were hanging around throwing a bit of bait in here and there just enjoying the warmness of the day after that harsh freeze during the night. Afternoon had arrived and we had not had a fish since early that morning which is what we expected as the fish seemed to be coming off during the night hours. Later on our good friend Dean arrived and setup just to the left of me to spend the last night of the session with us. Nighttime was once again creeping up and we were hoping some more decent fish would show up in the area. At 8:00pm Craig, Dean, and I had sat down for a curry and a few beers hoping for some night action. The forecast predicted a much warmer night so it was more comfortable, only going down to the low 40’s. Once again around the same time fish started to move in and before we knew it Dean was hooked up with a nice 33lb fish. Craig was still without a fish since just before I arrived, but he had caught a season’s worth of fish the night prior to my arrival. Amazingly in one night he had landed 10x 20’s, 4x 30’s up to 37lbs and an amazing fish just over the 40lb mark. About an hour or so later Craig went off to bed and I sat around and talked with Dean for a bit and enjoyed the calmness of the night before the rain came. I trickled into bed shortly after 2 AM, and was woken up to an all familiar sound of my alarms screaming off. I got up and landed the smallest fish of my session so far a beautiful 25lb 6oz Common.
I hopped back into my truck a little wet and fell back asleep quite quickly as I was pretty tired. Through the night I heard a few fish crash in the area and was feeling confident on another bite. Confident and correct I was because around 3:30 am I heard my rod tear off yet again. The fish had run into Dean’s swim and hearing his alarm twitch caused him to wake up, so he came out and got ready with the net. Another incredible fight ensued, and I remember looking over at Dean saying this is a good fish, hoping this was the 40 I wanted. As I played the fish and got her in close she was still putting up a strong fight and we saw her roll about 10 ft out. The legs immediately started shaking looking at her massive frame. Its moments like this where my hard work perfecting rigs pays off and I see the fish is hooked perfectly in the bottom lip. Into the net she went and Dean and I thought it was the 40 I was after. It wasn’t until we put her up on the scales we saw it was definitely a new PB for me but not that 40 lb fish we thought at first. I was beyond excited for yet another new PB in this session we put her in the sack and I couldn’t wait to tell Craig to go look into the sack when he woke up too see his face. A few hours later we were all up and Craig asked me if we had caught any more fish during the night and I looked at him with a nice smirk on my face and told him to go look at the sack. He looked down in the water and he smiled back at me saying “That’s a big ****** mate”. The scales topped out at another yet funny and exciting 37 lb 12 oz beast that I was absolutely amazed with. I couldn’t believe I had caught three different 37 lb+ fish in this session. I remember thinking I should play the numbers 337 for the lotto on the way home. As we waited a few more minutes for the sun to be just right for some photos I quickly threw my waders on and got ready for the paparazzi to take some shots.
The session eventually came to an end as it was hard packing up the gear after what had unfolded over the weekend. The session had ended on a good note leaving me happier than ever and more determined to get back on the bank to get that target 40lb mirror. I would like to give a big thanks to a lot of people for making this session possible. The boys at K-1 Baits for the great support and in my opinion a top of the line bait that has never let me down. Big Carp News teammates Craig and Dean for the great times on the bank and the amazing photos. Big Carp News, and anyone else that helped me through my career of fishing. I hope you enjoyed my article and I look forward to writing more about success of carping in the future. Tight Lines!
