In reply to Post #430
Marcus Watts is a very significant figure on the SW carp scene. Once a tackle dealer in Wadebridge, Marcus made a big name for himself by catching many of our region's finest carp, among them the then College record of 34lb.
So great a reputation did Marcus acquire that anglers flocked to his shop to buy his baits. One in particular, which was called the Reservoir Special was rightly feted as one of the best fishmeal baits in the country, and to be fair, it did catch everywhere. Small wonder that he was head-hunted by Dynamite Baits who tasked him with the development of their boiled bait range. Thus the Reservoir Special became The Source...Nuff said!
Marcus was also a regular at Carp Society events, often attending Conference and regional meetings on behalf of Dynamite, usually in the company of one of the big names of our sport such as Terry Hearne or Frank Warwick (seen here). Marcus is the very tall geezer at the back.
Also in picture are two of the nicest people in Cornish carping, Lee and Alison Critcher. They are behind Frank left and right of his bonce! I could write reams about these two. Lee a gentle giant of a man and his missus a lovely lass with a heart of gold. She was a Development Manager for a regional business expansion and development organisation back in the 90s and she worked at developing small businesses in the St Austell area. As such she helped me refurbish my office from the creaking old set up I had at the time to a brand new all- singing all- dancing office suite; new PC, new scanner, new printer, new just about everything, and all as a low cost interest-free grant. Bless you, lass! She was always smiling and was a capable and happy member of the Clawford Syndicate, as was Lee. They both knew how to catch a carp or two as well!
As did her old man...
I did a couple of shows myself but only as a support act, once to Frank and a second time to Bill Cottam. Bill was always great fun. His northern sense of humour kept us in stitches. Bill seems to have nurtured his talent for telling funny stories and he once contributed occasional pieces for Carpworld called 'Carping Allegedly' If you haven't seen them I suggest you look online. There are one or two archived pieces to be found, including one that details Bill's extraordinary talents for biscuit eating, in which he gives us a list of his all-time top ten Favourite Biscuits...only Bill Cottam...!
A truly gifted angler, Bill would not only make us laugh but also make us think. He has always used his own Uber Method, keeping things simple and using the best bait money could buy (Trigga). The Graviers Scar Fish and the Saussaie common are just two of his worthy trophies, however, I think I can claim the fame for sparking the big fella's flame for large continental carp. I took him to Boffins Pool in March 1996 as Bill had set his sights on catching the long forty pound common that Tat had caught the previous year. He accomplished this fairly rapidly, though sadly at a tad under the forty pound mark. Not to worry, said Bill. Mission accomplished. So it was that Bill caught his first French biggie. I taught him all I knew on that trip...
Marcus Watts is a very significant figure on the SW carp scene. Once a tackle dealer in Wadebridge, Marcus made a big name for himself by catching many of our region's finest carp, among them the then College record of 34lb.
So great a reputation did Marcus acquire that anglers flocked to his shop to buy his baits. One in particular, which was called the Reservoir Special was rightly feted as one of the best fishmeal baits in the country, and to be fair, it did catch everywhere. Small wonder that he was head-hunted by Dynamite Baits who tasked him with the development of their boiled bait range. Thus the Reservoir Special became The Source...Nuff said!
Marcus was also a regular at Carp Society events, often attending Conference and regional meetings on behalf of Dynamite, usually in the company of one of the big names of our sport such as Terry Hearne or Frank Warwick (seen here). Marcus is the very tall geezer at the back.
Also in picture are two of the nicest people in Cornish carping, Lee and Alison Critcher. They are behind Frank left and right of his bonce! I could write reams about these two. Lee a gentle giant of a man and his missus a lovely lass with a heart of gold. She was a Development Manager for a regional business expansion and development organisation back in the 90s and she worked at developing small businesses in the St Austell area. As such she helped me refurbish my office from the creaking old set up I had at the time to a brand new all- singing all- dancing office suite; new PC, new scanner, new printer, new just about everything, and all as a low cost interest-free grant. Bless you, lass! She was always smiling and was a capable and happy member of the Clawford Syndicate, as was Lee. They both knew how to catch a carp or two as well!
As did her old man...
I did a couple of shows myself but only as a support act, once to Frank and a second time to Bill Cottam. Bill was always great fun. His northern sense of humour kept us in stitches. Bill seems to have nurtured his talent for telling funny stories and he once contributed occasional pieces for Carpworld called 'Carping Allegedly' If you haven't seen them I suggest you look online. There are one or two archived pieces to be found, including one that details Bill's extraordinary talents for biscuit eating, in which he gives us a list of his all-time top ten Favourite Biscuits...only Bill Cottam...!
A truly gifted angler, Bill would not only make us laugh but also make us think. He has always used his own Uber Method, keeping things simple and using the best bait money could buy (Trigga). The Graviers Scar Fish and the Saussaie common are just two of his worthy trophies, however, I think I can claim the fame for sparking the big fella's flame for large continental carp. I took him to Boffins Pool in March 1996 as Bill had set his sights on catching the long forty pound common that Tat had caught the previous year. He accomplished this fairly rapidly, though sadly at a tad under the forty pound mark. Not to worry, said Bill. Mission accomplished. So it was that Bill caught his first French biggie. I taught him all I knew on that trip...
In reply to Post #431
...including how to spot Hyakutake's Comet, which filled the night sky over SW France for a brief few hours during our visit. Bill was in his pit that evening and as I knew that the glorious cosmic visitor was due that night I was up and waiting for it to appear. It was fantastic, like a long zip fastener blasting though the Cosmos.
"Bill!" I shouted. "Come out and see this. It's amazing!."
What is...?" asked Bill. I told him about the comet's trail that filled the sky.
"Yeah, OK,," he said. "I'll catch it a bit later!"
I didn't have the heart to tell him that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see one of the greatest Cosmic spectacles of his or anyone else's life, that would not return for another 70,000 years! Oh well...!
Now if that had been Chilts it would have been a different story. He, like me, takes great pleasure in star-watching.
This is Bill's first French target fish, a fish that set him on his path to legendary glory...or so he says!
Bill, just in case you don't know, is a fanatical supporter of Sheffield Wednesday FC and he can bore for England on the subject. Nige is equally fanatical about Nottingham Forest. In consequence whenever the two meet on a football Saturday, money will change hands depending on the result. On this occasion, when Bill came down to do a slide show, Forest won and Bill handed over the tenner through gritted teeth!
As I mentioned just now, Pete Amey will always be close to the heart of Nutrabaits...
...including how to spot Hyakutake's Comet, which filled the night sky over SW France for a brief few hours during our visit. Bill was in his pit that evening and as I knew that the glorious cosmic visitor was due that night I was up and waiting for it to appear. It was fantastic, like a long zip fastener blasting though the Cosmos.
"Bill!" I shouted. "Come out and see this. It's amazing!."
What is...?" asked Bill. I told him about the comet's trail that filled the sky.
"Yeah, OK,," he said. "I'll catch it a bit later!"
I didn't have the heart to tell him that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see one of the greatest Cosmic spectacles of his or anyone else's life, that would not return for another 70,000 years! Oh well...!
Now if that had been Chilts it would have been a different story. He, like me, takes great pleasure in star-watching.
This is Bill's first French target fish, a fish that set him on his path to legendary glory...or so he says!
Bill, just in case you don't know, is a fanatical supporter of Sheffield Wednesday FC and he can bore for England on the subject. Nige is equally fanatical about Nottingham Forest. In consequence whenever the two meet on a football Saturday, money will change hands depending on the result. On this occasion, when Bill came down to do a slide show, Forest won and Bill handed over the tenner through gritted teeth!
As I mentioned just now, Pete Amey will always be close to the heart of Nutrabaits...
In reply to Post #432
Having described the social side of the Clawford years in (probably) more detail that is strictly necessary in a carp fishing blog you may well be asking yourself, do they ever go fishing? Well, yes, we did a bit here and there and enjoyed ourselves enormously. The 5Cs was a great group of people and there was literally zero competition, no big egos. We shared knowledge, and bait and rigs and beers. It was some of the best fishing of my life. Here are a few happy memories.
Terry Taylor plays a Tanners Lake fish while his daughter stands by with the net. Young Sam (in the cap), a fellow syndicate member watches proceedings.
Here's the result...
Talking of Sam, he was no slouch with a carp rod either.
My mate Nige Britton could catch carp from a raindrop and Clawford was just one of the lakes all over the UK an Europe where he showed his skills to great effect. Having retired and moved to a cottage overlooking the R. Lot in France, no doubt those cunning river carp are also now getting the Nige treatment. Here's the guy with a Clawford biggie.
Steve Churchill, along with Nige and a few other like-minded anglers in Roche AC such as Big Kev, Colin and yours truly were entirely responsible for turning the Club around, creating a brilliant carp-friendly club that attracted membership to such an extent that we had to close the books. A subsequent committee under the leadership of the legendary Gert Louster, and his fellow Cornish carpers, took things on a step further, cementing the Club's finances and setting it on a secure footing that made Roche the envy of the south west carp scene. Sadly the Club today is a far cry from those halcyon days...
...but enough of that. On a brighter note, Steve was another RAC stalwart that found the atmosphere and the carp at Clawford greatly to his liking.
Harry (H) was always a great laugh and when the going got tough he got going. He is another very good angler but of course, being the Fishery Manager at Clawford gave him a huge advantage (only joking, H!) but he too could catch carp from a puddle. In fact I became the Tanners Lake's official photographer as far as H's carp were concerned; I spent more time taking pix of his fish than he did of mine, that's for sure.
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There were some right good carp in Tanners back in the day and this common was the first to go over the thirty pound mark. Others followed and for a while Tanners was the 'must have' ticket in the two counties. With so many of the syndicate on good baits - Prems, BFM, the Reservoir Special and Trigga in the main - it was small wonder that the fish put on the pounds.
Having described the social side of the Clawford years in (probably) more detail that is strictly necessary in a carp fishing blog you may well be asking yourself, do they ever go fishing? Well, yes, we did a bit here and there and enjoyed ourselves enormously. The 5Cs was a great group of people and there was literally zero competition, no big egos. We shared knowledge, and bait and rigs and beers. It was some of the best fishing of my life. Here are a few happy memories.
Terry Taylor plays a Tanners Lake fish while his daughter stands by with the net. Young Sam (in the cap), a fellow syndicate member watches proceedings.
Here's the result...
Talking of Sam, he was no slouch with a carp rod either.
My mate Nige Britton could catch carp from a raindrop and Clawford was just one of the lakes all over the UK an Europe where he showed his skills to great effect. Having retired and moved to a cottage overlooking the R. Lot in France, no doubt those cunning river carp are also now getting the Nige treatment. Here's the guy with a Clawford biggie.
Steve Churchill, along with Nige and a few other like-minded anglers in Roche AC such as Big Kev, Colin and yours truly were entirely responsible for turning the Club around, creating a brilliant carp-friendly club that attracted membership to such an extent that we had to close the books. A subsequent committee under the leadership of the legendary Gert Louster, and his fellow Cornish carpers, took things on a step further, cementing the Club's finances and setting it on a secure footing that made Roche the envy of the south west carp scene. Sadly the Club today is a far cry from those halcyon days...
...but enough of that. On a brighter note, Steve was another RAC stalwart that found the atmosphere and the carp at Clawford greatly to his liking.
Harry (H) was always a great laugh and when the going got tough he got going. He is another very good angler but of course, being the Fishery Manager at Clawford gave him a huge advantage (only joking, H!) but he too could catch carp from a puddle. In fact I became the Tanners Lake's official photographer as far as H's carp were concerned; I spent more time taking pix of his fish than he did of mine, that's for sure.
There were some right good carp in Tanners back in the day and this common was the first to go over the thirty pound mark. Others followed and for a while Tanners was the 'must have' ticket in the two counties. With so many of the syndicate on good baits - Prems, BFM, the Reservoir Special and Trigga in the main - it was small wonder that the fish put on the pounds.
In reply to Post #433
Alongside the joking and banter there was some serious work carried out by the Syndicate. When Tanners was first dug the designer thought it might be a good idea to create a feature on the lake bed between the islands so a circle of breeze blocks was laid and then filled in with gravel. We called it the Magic Roundabout. In theory this was a great idea but in practice it was a pain in the jacksie. We lost fish on the sharp edges of the blocks and the gravel sank without trance into the mud of the lake. It became such a hazard that we decided it must come out. It was tiring and very muddy work!
Tanners was a bleak and dire place in the depths of winter when all the vegetation had died back and the banks were a sea of mud. However, good company and the prospect of an evening beer kept the spirits up. Here me and Nige have a discussion about who drank my pint last night!
This is the lake in the bleak mid-winter.
It could be a real frost trap too.
Compare that with the good old summertime.
Koi snatching was something of a competitive sport when things were slow, cold and tough. An evening or two on a betalight float and sweetcorn would bring steady fun action with the kois, which averaged about 5lb. Pretty as a picture they were too.
Tat and I have some very happy memories of our Clawford days. With the change of ownership from private into corporate hands one wonders what the future will hold. Certainly there are still some big carp in the lakes and as long as the 'suits' understand what they have got then the potential for great carp fishing is there. If the offspring of the originals is anything to go by there will be some lovely carp in there to target.
So it's so long to Clawford and John & Wanda and all the crew. Have a happy retirement.
Here are a few parting shots. H goes in for one!
I'll get the Emperor lake pix scanned soon and we'll head to the South Hams for more reminiscences.
Alongside the joking and banter there was some serious work carried out by the Syndicate. When Tanners was first dug the designer thought it might be a good idea to create a feature on the lake bed between the islands so a circle of breeze blocks was laid and then filled in with gravel. We called it the Magic Roundabout. In theory this was a great idea but in practice it was a pain in the jacksie. We lost fish on the sharp edges of the blocks and the gravel sank without trance into the mud of the lake. It became such a hazard that we decided it must come out. It was tiring and very muddy work!
Tanners was a bleak and dire place in the depths of winter when all the vegetation had died back and the banks were a sea of mud. However, good company and the prospect of an evening beer kept the spirits up. Here me and Nige have a discussion about who drank my pint last night!
This is the lake in the bleak mid-winter.
It could be a real frost trap too.
Compare that with the good old summertime.
Koi snatching was something of a competitive sport when things were slow, cold and tough. An evening or two on a betalight float and sweetcorn would bring steady fun action with the kois, which averaged about 5lb. Pretty as a picture they were too.
Tat and I have some very happy memories of our Clawford days. With the change of ownership from private into corporate hands one wonders what the future will hold. Certainly there are still some big carp in the lakes and as long as the 'suits' understand what they have got then the potential for great carp fishing is there. If the offspring of the originals is anything to go by there will be some lovely carp in there to target.
So it's so long to Clawford and John & Wanda and all the crew. Have a happy retirement.
Here are a few parting shots. H goes in for one!
I'll get the Emperor lake pix scanned soon and we'll head to the South Hams for more reminiscences.
In reply to Post #434
Sarulesti 2003
OK, I know I was going to talk about my couple of years on the Emperor Lake Syndicate (ELS) but that can wait for a while, as instead I want to revisit the two trips I made to the famous Romanian lake at Sarulesti. This is a huge lake some 45 miles east of Bucharest, capital of Romania. The country was once part of the Iron Curtain countries, very much under the thumb of the Russian bear and ruled by the hated dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. This man was as feared and despised every bit as much as were Stalin and Hitler, ruling Romania from 1965 until his death in 1989. He became infamous for his lavish lifestyle, and started to build a palace for himself in the 1980s with miles of marble floors and thousands of crystal chandeliers with gold lavished upon the interior while his countrymen starved. He was overthrown in the popular revolution of December 1989 and together with his wife was summarily executed by firing squad on Christmas Day of that year.
Often called 'The Last Stalinist' Ceausescu was cruelty personified but strangely enough the lake at Sarulesti is a direct consequence of his plans for a vast self-sustaining infrastructure. Part of those plans called for the construction of dams along the course of a large tributary of the Danube and these created vast reservoirs that were used for irrigation, fish farming and other commercial fresh water activities. This is just a tiny part of the Sarulesti Lake (Raduta Lake) seen from the dam wall.
And this is a nice common caught in the small Dam Bay (if you call 100 acres small!)
The lake is 1,200 acres in size and was created when the valley was flooded to create one of the five huge lakes that lie along the river's course. The reservoir below Sarulesti is even bigger, being over six miles long and measuring 2,000 acres!
As an historical footnote, the water also flooded several villages on the river bank and the residents were offered no alternative accommodation nor given sufficient time to relocate their monuments, churches and graveyards. Consequently human remains could be seen washed up on the banks.
You can more or less split the lake into distinct, almost separate zones, the canals and the bays. Naturally enough the canals connect the bays, most of which are huge in themselves. They are all huge but one of the largest is Preasna Bay, which is 700 acres. It is named after the village that lies on the western side of the bay and overlooks it. Other bays are the so-called World Cup Bay, Sandulita Bay, the Hotel Bay and Magureni Bay. On my first visit we fished initially in Sandulita and our swim is marked with a red dot. We moved from there to Preasna Bay, again indicated by the red dot. The hotel is marked with a blue dot.
Fish are caught all over the lake and while each bay and channel seems to hold a resident population, they are also pretty nomadic and they wander from one end of the lake to the other is a surprisingly short time. For instance, the fish shown below was initially caught in Preasna Bay and was then recaptured the following day in Magureni Bay, a distance of some four miles. No wonder it was hungry!
Back in the early noughties Raduta was famous for its carp but nowadays there seems to be more emphasis put on the Beluga sturgeon that go to over 300lb. That's not to say that the carp fishing takes a back seat, far from it. The carp fishing has come on it leaps and bounds since the fish kill in 2004 and once again there are several fish in the 60-70 lb bracket.
In addition the predator fishing is as good as ever with some enormous perch, black bass, zander and pike being the prime species. The lake is absolutely crammed with bait fish so it is small wonder that the predator fishing is so good. The zander in particular are great fun.
Sarulesti 2003
OK, I know I was going to talk about my couple of years on the Emperor Lake Syndicate (ELS) but that can wait for a while, as instead I want to revisit the two trips I made to the famous Romanian lake at Sarulesti. This is a huge lake some 45 miles east of Bucharest, capital of Romania. The country was once part of the Iron Curtain countries, very much under the thumb of the Russian bear and ruled by the hated dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. This man was as feared and despised every bit as much as were Stalin and Hitler, ruling Romania from 1965 until his death in 1989. He became infamous for his lavish lifestyle, and started to build a palace for himself in the 1980s with miles of marble floors and thousands of crystal chandeliers with gold lavished upon the interior while his countrymen starved. He was overthrown in the popular revolution of December 1989 and together with his wife was summarily executed by firing squad on Christmas Day of that year.
Often called 'The Last Stalinist' Ceausescu was cruelty personified but strangely enough the lake at Sarulesti is a direct consequence of his plans for a vast self-sustaining infrastructure. Part of those plans called for the construction of dams along the course of a large tributary of the Danube and these created vast reservoirs that were used for irrigation, fish farming and other commercial fresh water activities. This is just a tiny part of the Sarulesti Lake (Raduta Lake) seen from the dam wall.
And this is a nice common caught in the small Dam Bay (if you call 100 acres small!)
The lake is 1,200 acres in size and was created when the valley was flooded to create one of the five huge lakes that lie along the river's course. The reservoir below Sarulesti is even bigger, being over six miles long and measuring 2,000 acres!
As an historical footnote, the water also flooded several villages on the river bank and the residents were offered no alternative accommodation nor given sufficient time to relocate their monuments, churches and graveyards. Consequently human remains could be seen washed up on the banks.
You can more or less split the lake into distinct, almost separate zones, the canals and the bays. Naturally enough the canals connect the bays, most of which are huge in themselves. They are all huge but one of the largest is Preasna Bay, which is 700 acres. It is named after the village that lies on the western side of the bay and overlooks it. Other bays are the so-called World Cup Bay, Sandulita Bay, the Hotel Bay and Magureni Bay. On my first visit we fished initially in Sandulita and our swim is marked with a red dot. We moved from there to Preasna Bay, again indicated by the red dot. The hotel is marked with a blue dot.
Fish are caught all over the lake and while each bay and channel seems to hold a resident population, they are also pretty nomadic and they wander from one end of the lake to the other is a surprisingly short time. For instance, the fish shown below was initially caught in Preasna Bay and was then recaptured the following day in Magureni Bay, a distance of some four miles. No wonder it was hungry!
Back in the early noughties Raduta was famous for its carp but nowadays there seems to be more emphasis put on the Beluga sturgeon that go to over 300lb. That's not to say that the carp fishing takes a back seat, far from it. The carp fishing has come on it leaps and bounds since the fish kill in 2004 and once again there are several fish in the 60-70 lb bracket.
In addition the predator fishing is as good as ever with some enormous perch, black bass, zander and pike being the prime species. The lake is absolutely crammed with bait fish so it is small wonder that the predator fishing is so good. The zander in particular are great fun.
In reply to Post #435
Anyway, back to the story (incidentally this is an expanded repeat of one of my blogs for Haith's).
In all honesty I never had the slightest intention of fishing the lake, not even when the press was being flooded with articles and pictures of huge fish caught in true adventure-style conditions, complete with marauding mice, plague dogs, humans bones and gypsy villages. That's being a bit unkind to the dogs, as they were usually loveable old rogues who only wanted a bit of love shown to them. Once you had befriended any one of the hundreds of dogs you had a friend for the entirety of your stay. This one adopted Philippe and me when we fished close to the village of Sandulita.
Come the early noughties and Sarulesti, to give it its proper name, was well entrenched on the ‘circuit' and not being one for following the crowds to such venues I steered clear. And that's how things would have stayed had I not got caught up in the French carp protection group the UNCM run by Philippe Lagabbe and Eric Deboutrois, both of whom had been to the lake at least once and were raving about it. At the same time I had started writing for a Romanian publication submitting words and pix to the carp editor of the magazine Vlad Pavlovici.
Back in France, Phil had teamed up with a couple of well known carp anglers, Leon Hoogendijk and Xavier Paolozzi and the three of them had started doing trips to Sarulesti. Meanwhile Vlad was on about me going out there to fish the huge lake and maybe do some TV...Hang on a minute, this is me you're talking about; me...Ken Townley. Are you sure?
I remained rather reluctant to go out there until finally Phil twisted my arm. He said that he, Xavier and Leon were taking a group of French guys to the lake for a fortnight's trip and did I want to come? I could fish for free and all he asked was that I make myself available and maybe give a few tips on carp fishing and generally make myself useful. Oh yes...and he'd pay my expenses too! Well a man can only put up so much resistance and so it was that I found myself in the heady company of a group of French carpists drinking cold beers in the lakeside hotel in the red-hot May of 2003. This Robert Raduta's hotel situated on the banks of the lake that is popularly known by his surname, Lake Raduta.
I believe Robert himself was quite well connected and he moved in pretty impressive and exclusive circles. In particular he was apparently an excellent tennis player and coached the Romanian team that included Ilie Nastase.
I flew into Bucharest airport and met up with a few French guys who had just arrived. A battered fleet of minibuses was on hand to take us out to the lake where I met up with the rest of the party, as well as Leon, Xav and Philippe. Here the trio is outlining the areas to be fished, briefing them as the group drew for swims.
Me and Phil ended up right at the top of the lake in a swim beside a rubbish dump - I kid you not - at the mouth of Sandulita Bay. Home for the trip was a huge canvas tent that had been erected for us by a couple of the lake's bailiffs...they could have chosen a bit more of a salubrious spot!
Anyway, back to the story (incidentally this is an expanded repeat of one of my blogs for Haith's).
In all honesty I never had the slightest intention of fishing the lake, not even when the press was being flooded with articles and pictures of huge fish caught in true adventure-style conditions, complete with marauding mice, plague dogs, humans bones and gypsy villages. That's being a bit unkind to the dogs, as they were usually loveable old rogues who only wanted a bit of love shown to them. Once you had befriended any one of the hundreds of dogs you had a friend for the entirety of your stay. This one adopted Philippe and me when we fished close to the village of Sandulita.
Come the early noughties and Sarulesti, to give it its proper name, was well entrenched on the ‘circuit' and not being one for following the crowds to such venues I steered clear. And that's how things would have stayed had I not got caught up in the French carp protection group the UNCM run by Philippe Lagabbe and Eric Deboutrois, both of whom had been to the lake at least once and were raving about it. At the same time I had started writing for a Romanian publication submitting words and pix to the carp editor of the magazine Vlad Pavlovici.
Back in France, Phil had teamed up with a couple of well known carp anglers, Leon Hoogendijk and Xavier Paolozzi and the three of them had started doing trips to Sarulesti. Meanwhile Vlad was on about me going out there to fish the huge lake and maybe do some TV...Hang on a minute, this is me you're talking about; me...Ken Townley. Are you sure?
I remained rather reluctant to go out there until finally Phil twisted my arm. He said that he, Xavier and Leon were taking a group of French guys to the lake for a fortnight's trip and did I want to come? I could fish for free and all he asked was that I make myself available and maybe give a few tips on carp fishing and generally make myself useful. Oh yes...and he'd pay my expenses too! Well a man can only put up so much resistance and so it was that I found myself in the heady company of a group of French carpists drinking cold beers in the lakeside hotel in the red-hot May of 2003. This Robert Raduta's hotel situated on the banks of the lake that is popularly known by his surname, Lake Raduta.
I believe Robert himself was quite well connected and he moved in pretty impressive and exclusive circles. In particular he was apparently an excellent tennis player and coached the Romanian team that included Ilie Nastase.
I flew into Bucharest airport and met up with a few French guys who had just arrived. A battered fleet of minibuses was on hand to take us out to the lake where I met up with the rest of the party, as well as Leon, Xav and Philippe. Here the trio is outlining the areas to be fished, briefing them as the group drew for swims.
Me and Phil ended up right at the top of the lake in a swim beside a rubbish dump - I kid you not - at the mouth of Sandulita Bay. Home for the trip was a huge canvas tent that had been erected for us by a couple of the lake's bailiffs...they could have chosen a bit more of a salubrious spot!
In reply to Post #436
Now while it was supposed to be a 2-week trip a strange set of bizarre circumstances conspired to limit me to just eight days proper fishing. Basically what happened was this. I was working for Fox International at the time and the gear I wanted to use was sent out for me by Fox, as was the Nutrabaits gear Phil and I were going to use. The whole shebang was flown out in three pallet loads by FedEx and was supposed to complete the journey to the hotel by road transport. Romania was adapting slowly to the idea that they would have to abide by the rules and regulations of the EU in less than four years time, Union having announced that together with Bulgaria the country would join in 2007, however, in 2003 corruption was rife in the customs and excise service. Surprise, surprise, my gear was impounded at customs until the relevant 'import duty' was paid, something in the region of $500! I didn't have that amount to hand and anyway, I was buggered if I was going to give in to bribery and corruption.
So I ended up with no rods, reels, end gear, leads, bedchair sleeping bag and worst of all, no bait. Luckily for Phil all his gear had arrived thanks to the company for whom he worked, the tyre company Michelin. They had sent his tackle and bulky items via their own contract with DHL and because they had a few irons in the fire in Romania no such 'duty' was necessary and his gear made it to the hotel without having to cough up the 'duty'.
As for me, well there was nothing for it but to wait until Monday and then go in to try to sort things out at Customs. Meanwhile I slept under a blanket of the floor of the tent while in the village a huge party went on through the Saturday night and into the Sunday. The noise was raucous and continued unabated more or less for the whole weekend. I stuck this out for the Saturday night but come Sunday I was tearing my hair out. Luckily Robert offered me a room in the hotel which meant I could get an early start in retrieving my gear. Phil meanwhile had cadged a bag of Leon's bait off him so at least he could fish. Here an old church dominates the far side of the bay, which dwarfs Phil's rods.
I slept like a log that Sunday night after enjoying a very nice dinner and a few ales as well as a bit of a party with some German hunters who were breaking their stay at the hotel while on a hunting party shooting wild bore. To be honest I think the wine, women and song was more important than the wild bore! If you've ever been to Robert's hotel you may know what I mean!
Monday I telephoned Vlad Pavlovici who worked for the British Council, though he was also a consultant to various tackle companies including Fox, Solar, Nash and Nutrabaits...He had some clout in other words, and this clout extended to him having a quiet word in the necessary ears, as a result of which my gear mysteriously was released with no 'duty' owning. Thanks, Vlad!
Phil fished the weekend to no avail and had decided to move so on Monday morning he arrived at the hotel with much of his gear. The bailiffs (they were more ghillies than bailiffs to be honest) were bringing the rest of his gear by boat. Leon and Xav had not started fishing yet but by Tuesday we were all set up in various swims in the Hotel Bay. My gear had by now arrived thanks in part to Vlad's intervention and perhaps also thanks to a quiet word from Robert, who had even more clout than Vlad. I set up on a point looking down the channel towards World Cup Bay. It was a tasty swim that looked very promising as it covered a huge area of the lake, which I had all to myself.
Thirty six hours into the trip and reports from the various pair of French anglers spread out around the lake began to trickle in. It seems that the two largest bays were providing the action, that is if you could call six fish between twenty anglers 'action'. It was nice and warm in the spring sunshine and the hotel was in easy walking distance...the bar beckoned and as Phil has the breaking strain of a Kit-Kat it didn't take much arm twisting to persuade him that a glass or two would be a great idea. Certainly we weren't missing much as nobody in the Hotel Bay had so much as a sniff. However, it was nice to watch the storks stalking!
...and then getting fed up and flying away!
Now while it was supposed to be a 2-week trip a strange set of bizarre circumstances conspired to limit me to just eight days proper fishing. Basically what happened was this. I was working for Fox International at the time and the gear I wanted to use was sent out for me by Fox, as was the Nutrabaits gear Phil and I were going to use. The whole shebang was flown out in three pallet loads by FedEx and was supposed to complete the journey to the hotel by road transport. Romania was adapting slowly to the idea that they would have to abide by the rules and regulations of the EU in less than four years time, Union having announced that together with Bulgaria the country would join in 2007, however, in 2003 corruption was rife in the customs and excise service. Surprise, surprise, my gear was impounded at customs until the relevant 'import duty' was paid, something in the region of $500! I didn't have that amount to hand and anyway, I was buggered if I was going to give in to bribery and corruption.
So I ended up with no rods, reels, end gear, leads, bedchair sleeping bag and worst of all, no bait. Luckily for Phil all his gear had arrived thanks to the company for whom he worked, the tyre company Michelin. They had sent his tackle and bulky items via their own contract with DHL and because they had a few irons in the fire in Romania no such 'duty' was necessary and his gear made it to the hotel without having to cough up the 'duty'.
As for me, well there was nothing for it but to wait until Monday and then go in to try to sort things out at Customs. Meanwhile I slept under a blanket of the floor of the tent while in the village a huge party went on through the Saturday night and into the Sunday. The noise was raucous and continued unabated more or less for the whole weekend. I stuck this out for the Saturday night but come Sunday I was tearing my hair out. Luckily Robert offered me a room in the hotel which meant I could get an early start in retrieving my gear. Phil meanwhile had cadged a bag of Leon's bait off him so at least he could fish. Here an old church dominates the far side of the bay, which dwarfs Phil's rods.
I slept like a log that Sunday night after enjoying a very nice dinner and a few ales as well as a bit of a party with some German hunters who were breaking their stay at the hotel while on a hunting party shooting wild bore. To be honest I think the wine, women and song was more important than the wild bore! If you've ever been to Robert's hotel you may know what I mean!
Monday I telephoned Vlad Pavlovici who worked for the British Council, though he was also a consultant to various tackle companies including Fox, Solar, Nash and Nutrabaits...He had some clout in other words, and this clout extended to him having a quiet word in the necessary ears, as a result of which my gear mysteriously was released with no 'duty' owning. Thanks, Vlad!
Phil fished the weekend to no avail and had decided to move so on Monday morning he arrived at the hotel with much of his gear. The bailiffs (they were more ghillies than bailiffs to be honest) were bringing the rest of his gear by boat. Leon and Xav had not started fishing yet but by Tuesday we were all set up in various swims in the Hotel Bay. My gear had by now arrived thanks in part to Vlad's intervention and perhaps also thanks to a quiet word from Robert, who had even more clout than Vlad. I set up on a point looking down the channel towards World Cup Bay. It was a tasty swim that looked very promising as it covered a huge area of the lake, which I had all to myself.
Thirty six hours into the trip and reports from the various pair of French anglers spread out around the lake began to trickle in. It seems that the two largest bays were providing the action, that is if you could call six fish between twenty anglers 'action'. It was nice and warm in the spring sunshine and the hotel was in easy walking distance...the bar beckoned and as Phil has the breaking strain of a Kit-Kat it didn't take much arm twisting to persuade him that a glass or two would be a great idea. Certainly we weren't missing much as nobody in the Hotel Bay had so much as a sniff. However, it was nice to watch the storks stalking!
...and then getting fed up and flying away!
In reply to Post #437
So long story short, the signs all seemed to suggest that the fish were grouped up in the bigger bays so after a quick scout around we all decided to head for Water Tower Bay where a few fish had been caught by the rest of the party. Now here we were in our third swim, a beach-like affair not far from the eponymous water tower in the massive bay. There were just three other anglers fishing the bay before Phil, Xav and me arrived so we doubled the number of anglers fishing there. Mind you, in 700 acres you could never call it crowded! That red dot indicates our swim.
After setting up camp in two substantial canvas tents we went out in the boat for a look-see. The bay was 700 acres and the swim itself was about four miles from the base camp at the hotel so we also needed to shop for food and other victuals. The whole lake is more than 1,200 acres in size so you can imagine how essential it was to have access by boat as the roads were non-existent!
With the outboard engine chugging along happily we used the echo sounder to scan the lake bed. The underwater topography looked perfect. From the margins in front of the tents the bottom dropped away quickly to about 25 feet, then shelved gently as we moved out further into the lake. Then about two hundred yards from the swim a large plateau began to show on the sounder, the bottom climbing steeply from thirty feet to about 15 feet in a matter of yards. Further exploration showed that the plateau itself was huge stretching out over an area the size of several tennis courts. It was roughly rectangular in shape and the depth to the top varied between 15-18 feet, the surrounding water being an average of thirty feet deep. The red line shows the distance and rough size of the plateau.
Using a donking rod (a six foot long sea fishing rod carrying a reel loaded with braid with a ten ounce lead on the end) we found that the lake bed on the top of the plateau was pretty solid and by dragging the lead over the lake bed we could feel the distinctive pluck-pluck of mussel beds,
In close, no more than 30-40 yards from the bank, the bottom plunged steeply down in an acute drop-off, falling quickly to about 25-30 feet and half way down the drop-off a narrow ledge some two yards wide seemed to run along its length. Depth to the ledge was also about 15 feet. This looked as if it would be an ideal spot to fish after dark or in big onshore winds when the fish would almost certainly patrol the drop-off. We baited the plateau and the margins with tiger nuts and boilies; lots of boilies; about 10 kg of boilies...!
How much! Well there was method in what may seem at first to be madness. All three of the guys had fished the lake before and they knew full well the size of the shoals that formed in some of the bays and just how much bait these fish could go through. Luckily we had a lot!
So long story short, the signs all seemed to suggest that the fish were grouped up in the bigger bays so after a quick scout around we all decided to head for Water Tower Bay where a few fish had been caught by the rest of the party. Now here we were in our third swim, a beach-like affair not far from the eponymous water tower in the massive bay. There were just three other anglers fishing the bay before Phil, Xav and me arrived so we doubled the number of anglers fishing there. Mind you, in 700 acres you could never call it crowded! That red dot indicates our swim.
After setting up camp in two substantial canvas tents we went out in the boat for a look-see. The bay was 700 acres and the swim itself was about four miles from the base camp at the hotel so we also needed to shop for food and other victuals. The whole lake is more than 1,200 acres in size so you can imagine how essential it was to have access by boat as the roads were non-existent!
With the outboard engine chugging along happily we used the echo sounder to scan the lake bed. The underwater topography looked perfect. From the margins in front of the tents the bottom dropped away quickly to about 25 feet, then shelved gently as we moved out further into the lake. Then about two hundred yards from the swim a large plateau began to show on the sounder, the bottom climbing steeply from thirty feet to about 15 feet in a matter of yards. Further exploration showed that the plateau itself was huge stretching out over an area the size of several tennis courts. It was roughly rectangular in shape and the depth to the top varied between 15-18 feet, the surrounding water being an average of thirty feet deep. The red line shows the distance and rough size of the plateau.
Using a donking rod (a six foot long sea fishing rod carrying a reel loaded with braid with a ten ounce lead on the end) we found that the lake bed on the top of the plateau was pretty solid and by dragging the lead over the lake bed we could feel the distinctive pluck-pluck of mussel beds,
In close, no more than 30-40 yards from the bank, the bottom plunged steeply down in an acute drop-off, falling quickly to about 25-30 feet and half way down the drop-off a narrow ledge some two yards wide seemed to run along its length. Depth to the ledge was also about 15 feet. This looked as if it would be an ideal spot to fish after dark or in big onshore winds when the fish would almost certainly patrol the drop-off. We baited the plateau and the margins with tiger nuts and boilies; lots of boilies; about 10 kg of boilies...!
How much! Well there was method in what may seem at first to be madness. All three of the guys had fished the lake before and they knew full well the size of the shoals that formed in some of the bays and just how much bait these fish could go through. Luckily we had a lot!
In reply to Post #438
Obviously we would need to use the boat to take the baited rods out to the plateau as it was too far for us to cast. We decided to fish two rods each on the top of the plateau and two each on the drop-off. Twelve rods on a feature may sound like too many but remember this was no small tiddly little plateau you might find in a home counties gravel pit, it was a massive one the size of a small field...
...well, that was the plan; what I had not allowed for was the highly competitive nature of my two French companions. Philippe and Xav had already established themselves, sharing a bivvy in the middle of the swim, Philippe's rods to the centre and right, Xav's to the centre and left. This left me precious little room to put my baits on the feature, huge though it was. My bivvy was on the left hand side of the swim, which meant my rods were squeezed out to the extreme left hand side. I was hard pushed to get a bait anywhere on the plateau. In the end I had to resign myself to dropping my baits way off to my left on open ground with no discernible features to be found. Here Philippe sets off in the boat to bait the plateau and drop a hookbait on it.
Bait for the trip was Trigga in both shelf life and fresh, as well as some home mades Big Fish Mix boilies that had been home-rolled prior to the trip. They were heavily loaded with additional Robin Red to compliment the RR already present in the original base mix. The finished baits were then air dried until they were rock-hard.
The boiled baits were backed up with preserved tiger nuts and hempseed from Dynamite Baits, the preserved version one can buy in the large jars. Dynamite had sent out a dozen 2.5kg jars of the nuts along with some of their preserved Frenzied hempseed.
At last we had some semblance of order in the swim, though I cannot say I was to delighted with my tail-end-Charlie position shoved out on the left of the swim. Still at least I had some rods in the water...at last!
The darkness brought a gale force wind from the east...I hate and wind with east in it, all they ever bring me are blanks! Little did I know that my dislike, on this occasion anyway, was ill informed! We sat in Philippe and Xav's tent sharing a brew, the door flap done up tight, the porch flapping in the fierce wind.
That first night, the Thursday and apparently 'big fish Thursday' according to the French guys, Xav caught a nice common of about 35lb and a grass carp, while Philippe caught two what I would call very decent commons of around 25lb or so. He didn't weight them but then he would not have done so even if they had been double that size. Philippe has never weighed a carp in his life claiming that it demeans them He likens it to you going out on the pull, scoring with a drop-dead gorgeous girl, taking her home, making her breakfast in bed, then as she is leaving you ask her to..."pop-up on these scales for us for a minute would you?"
Mid twenties are apparently considered small for the lake! They looked big enough to me; I would have given a king's ransom for either of those fish at the time. Little did I know what was to come later!
The weather was totally unpredictable, one minute white calm, the next blowing a hoolie. Meanwhile it had become rather lively, to say the least with three foot waves crashing onto the shoreline at our feet, spray flying everywhere. It was like being on the beach at Brighton and I couldn't help thinking that the gale force onshore wind would push the carp in to our bank, even into casting range. That would be nice, as taking the baits out 200+ yards to the plateau was rather wearing, especially if you had to bail out the boat first!
Obviously we would need to use the boat to take the baited rods out to the plateau as it was too far for us to cast. We decided to fish two rods each on the top of the plateau and two each on the drop-off. Twelve rods on a feature may sound like too many but remember this was no small tiddly little plateau you might find in a home counties gravel pit, it was a massive one the size of a small field...
...well, that was the plan; what I had not allowed for was the highly competitive nature of my two French companions. Philippe and Xav had already established themselves, sharing a bivvy in the middle of the swim, Philippe's rods to the centre and right, Xav's to the centre and left. This left me precious little room to put my baits on the feature, huge though it was. My bivvy was on the left hand side of the swim, which meant my rods were squeezed out to the extreme left hand side. I was hard pushed to get a bait anywhere on the plateau. In the end I had to resign myself to dropping my baits way off to my left on open ground with no discernible features to be found. Here Philippe sets off in the boat to bait the plateau and drop a hookbait on it.
Bait for the trip was Trigga in both shelf life and fresh, as well as some home mades Big Fish Mix boilies that had been home-rolled prior to the trip. They were heavily loaded with additional Robin Red to compliment the RR already present in the original base mix. The finished baits were then air dried until they were rock-hard.
The boiled baits were backed up with preserved tiger nuts and hempseed from Dynamite Baits, the preserved version one can buy in the large jars. Dynamite had sent out a dozen 2.5kg jars of the nuts along with some of their preserved Frenzied hempseed.
At last we had some semblance of order in the swim, though I cannot say I was to delighted with my tail-end-Charlie position shoved out on the left of the swim. Still at least I had some rods in the water...at last!
The darkness brought a gale force wind from the east...I hate and wind with east in it, all they ever bring me are blanks! Little did I know that my dislike, on this occasion anyway, was ill informed! We sat in Philippe and Xav's tent sharing a brew, the door flap done up tight, the porch flapping in the fierce wind.
That first night, the Thursday and apparently 'big fish Thursday' according to the French guys, Xav caught a nice common of about 35lb and a grass carp, while Philippe caught two what I would call very decent commons of around 25lb or so. He didn't weight them but then he would not have done so even if they had been double that size. Philippe has never weighed a carp in his life claiming that it demeans them He likens it to you going out on the pull, scoring with a drop-dead gorgeous girl, taking her home, making her breakfast in bed, then as she is leaving you ask her to..."pop-up on these scales for us for a minute would you?"
Mid twenties are apparently considered small for the lake! They looked big enough to me; I would have given a king's ransom for either of those fish at the time. Little did I know what was to come later!
The weather was totally unpredictable, one minute white calm, the next blowing a hoolie. Meanwhile it had become rather lively, to say the least with three foot waves crashing onto the shoreline at our feet, spray flying everywhere. It was like being on the beach at Brighton and I couldn't help thinking that the gale force onshore wind would push the carp in to our bank, even into casting range. That would be nice, as taking the baits out 200+ yards to the plateau was rather wearing, especially if you had to bail out the boat first!
In reply to Post #439
Saturday morning came and the wind blew even harder. It was an onshore wind and the waves marched in serried ranks towards us, the wind blowing the tops off the waves and sending spray flying. Waves were crashing onto the beach and as expected the fish seemed to like the lively weather. With the wind came two exceptional fish. First Philippe latched into a fish on one of his margin rods less than 30 yards from the bank at first light. Here Xav (with the bucket) and Leon, help Philippe get ready for the pix.
The fish picked up his hookbait on the fifteen foot shelf on the drop-off and at such close range it really tore off. It was an incredible fight from an incredible fish. According to Philippe it was one of the originals, a mirror we put at about 20kg or so we guesstimated.
That fish was to result in some of the most spectacular photos I have ever taken and they have been used many times in magazines over the years. The waves and the swell we not conducive to photos of a guy trying to put back a large carp, but I thank the fishing gods that Philippe decided it was worth a try. He found out the hard way that such a task in a rising sea is not easy!
Not to be outdone Xav latched into another amazing looking fish, again from the drop-off at very close range a near fully-scaled mirror, a big round fish with massive 'apple tart'-like scaling. (Incidentally, that is what the French call these big heavily scaled fish, "tarte au pomme" - apple tarts.) It was the most gorgeous fish you could imagine, and the photos don't really do it justice. It weighed just over 35lb.
Two amazing fish in a brief early morning feeding spell from a spot really close to the bank. It seemed amazing that you could catch just a few rod lengths out in such an enormous expanse of water, but Xavier, Leon and Philippe have caught stacks of big Sarulesti fish well within casting range and you would be wrong to imagine that all the fishing is at extreme range, taking the baits out by boat. The conditions helped no end, of course.
In fact it was blowing so strongly that a huge zone of highly coloured water began to form as sand and silt was disturbed from the lake bed an swirled into suspension in the water in front of us. I'd say this disturbed, coloured water reached out some thirty yards into the lake and obviously a lot of natural food was getting swirled around at the same time, drawing in carp to feed in the coloured water.
Surprisingly Xav decided to move across the lake to a swim more or less opposite the cove where we were fishing. Philippe had fished this swim before in very similar conditions and had caught well, strange given that the wind would be behind the angler. I think Xav was feeling a bit cramped fishing as he was between Philippe and myself, but so far I had not had a sniff while he had caught! Odd! Anyway, he packed up and moved his rods which would mean I could now get some rods onto the distant plateau.
Xavier, Leon and Philippe had to pull off the lake for the Saturday evening to say goodbye to some of their French tour anglers who were going home after a week, and to greet others who were arriving for their week. This left the swim entirely to me and I was going to make the most of it! That afternoon I caught my first Romanian carp, a common of 28lb. Nice start and who cares if mid-twenties are considered 'small'.
Saturday morning came and the wind blew even harder. It was an onshore wind and the waves marched in serried ranks towards us, the wind blowing the tops off the waves and sending spray flying. Waves were crashing onto the beach and as expected the fish seemed to like the lively weather. With the wind came two exceptional fish. First Philippe latched into a fish on one of his margin rods less than 30 yards from the bank at first light. Here Xav (with the bucket) and Leon, help Philippe get ready for the pix.
The fish picked up his hookbait on the fifteen foot shelf on the drop-off and at such close range it really tore off. It was an incredible fight from an incredible fish. According to Philippe it was one of the originals, a mirror we put at about 20kg or so we guesstimated.
That fish was to result in some of the most spectacular photos I have ever taken and they have been used many times in magazines over the years. The waves and the swell we not conducive to photos of a guy trying to put back a large carp, but I thank the fishing gods that Philippe decided it was worth a try. He found out the hard way that such a task in a rising sea is not easy!
Not to be outdone Xav latched into another amazing looking fish, again from the drop-off at very close range a near fully-scaled mirror, a big round fish with massive 'apple tart'-like scaling. (Incidentally, that is what the French call these big heavily scaled fish, "tarte au pomme" - apple tarts.) It was the most gorgeous fish you could imagine, and the photos don't really do it justice. It weighed just over 35lb.
Two amazing fish in a brief early morning feeding spell from a spot really close to the bank. It seemed amazing that you could catch just a few rod lengths out in such an enormous expanse of water, but Xavier, Leon and Philippe have caught stacks of big Sarulesti fish well within casting range and you would be wrong to imagine that all the fishing is at extreme range, taking the baits out by boat. The conditions helped no end, of course.
In fact it was blowing so strongly that a huge zone of highly coloured water began to form as sand and silt was disturbed from the lake bed an swirled into suspension in the water in front of us. I'd say this disturbed, coloured water reached out some thirty yards into the lake and obviously a lot of natural food was getting swirled around at the same time, drawing in carp to feed in the coloured water.
Surprisingly Xav decided to move across the lake to a swim more or less opposite the cove where we were fishing. Philippe had fished this swim before in very similar conditions and had caught well, strange given that the wind would be behind the angler. I think Xav was feeling a bit cramped fishing as he was between Philippe and myself, but so far I had not had a sniff while he had caught! Odd! Anyway, he packed up and moved his rods which would mean I could now get some rods onto the distant plateau.
Xavier, Leon and Philippe had to pull off the lake for the Saturday evening to say goodbye to some of their French tour anglers who were going home after a week, and to greet others who were arriving for their week. This left the swim entirely to me and I was going to make the most of it! That afternoon I caught my first Romanian carp, a common of 28lb. Nice start and who cares if mid-twenties are considered 'small'.
In reply to Post #440
It was hard graft getting the baits in position on the plateau on my own in the rough conditions so in the end gave up on the long range rods deciding instead to concentrate on the margins, where thanks to the continuing onshore wind the fish continued to feed at throwing stick distance.
It was a decision that paid off in style; I caught eight carp in the first 24 hours while I was on my jack in the swim, all bright silver or gold commons like peas in a pod. That's more like it!
Sunday morning and the wind began to die down and the fish drifted off into the deeper water, probably heading back out to the plateau. I rowed all four rods out to the plateau and baited up heavily with tigers and hemp plus several kilos of shelf life Trigga. I also added the last of my Big Fish Mix to the bait carpet for good measure. It felt odd to be out there in the boat throwing in kilo after kilo of bait but it was clear there were a lot of carp in front of me now so there was no good reason to be frugal with the bait.
Sure enough the fish kept me awake all night. No rest for the wicked; again I caught another eight commons of between twenty-five and thirty-five pounds including a long, lean, bright silver common of 35lb 8oz.. What a night!
After a brief lull in the proceedings while I caught up on some sleep the fish came back with a vengeance any by nightfall Sunday I had landed another five thirties including this thirty pound beauty.
I looked in the bait chest. The level was dropping alarmingly and It was frightening to see just how much bait those Sarulesti carp could devour. In fact I don't think I was putting in anything like enough but if I didn't want to run out of bait I would have to start rationing!
Xav and Philippe spent another night in the hotel so again I felt pretty confident it would all kick off during the coming Sunday night. And I wasn't wrong! I had a further nine fish during darkness including all thirties, all over 15kg in weight, magnificent looking beasts, immensely long and totally virgin, never caught before. As the night was calm I took each bait back to the plateau after every fish landed. Hard work, but worth it.
Monday morning and I felt totally knackered! The swim looked like it had been shelled, gear scattered everywhere, the tent a mess and my sleeping bag damp and cold - too much getting in and out of it to land fish! In three the nights fishing that I had the swim to myself I had caught thirty-one carp, all commons, most over thirty pounds in weight. That's the stuff of dreams and no mistake. In fact I was having trouble convincing myself that this was actually happening...I was having an outstanding session.
Philippe got back Monday mid-morning and immediately took the boat out to rebait the plateau after I had told him of my astonishing run of big fish that had been caught from the area while he was away. There was no doubting the effectiveness of the baits we were using as some of the fish were excreting the Robin Red-boosted Big Fish Mix in the sack.
It was hard graft getting the baits in position on the plateau on my own in the rough conditions so in the end gave up on the long range rods deciding instead to concentrate on the margins, where thanks to the continuing onshore wind the fish continued to feed at throwing stick distance.
It was a decision that paid off in style; I caught eight carp in the first 24 hours while I was on my jack in the swim, all bright silver or gold commons like peas in a pod. That's more like it!
Sunday morning and the wind began to die down and the fish drifted off into the deeper water, probably heading back out to the plateau. I rowed all four rods out to the plateau and baited up heavily with tigers and hemp plus several kilos of shelf life Trigga. I also added the last of my Big Fish Mix to the bait carpet for good measure. It felt odd to be out there in the boat throwing in kilo after kilo of bait but it was clear there were a lot of carp in front of me now so there was no good reason to be frugal with the bait.
Sure enough the fish kept me awake all night. No rest for the wicked; again I caught another eight commons of between twenty-five and thirty-five pounds including a long, lean, bright silver common of 35lb 8oz.. What a night!
After a brief lull in the proceedings while I caught up on some sleep the fish came back with a vengeance any by nightfall Sunday I had landed another five thirties including this thirty pound beauty.
I looked in the bait chest. The level was dropping alarmingly and It was frightening to see just how much bait those Sarulesti carp could devour. In fact I don't think I was putting in anything like enough but if I didn't want to run out of bait I would have to start rationing!
Xav and Philippe spent another night in the hotel so again I felt pretty confident it would all kick off during the coming Sunday night. And I wasn't wrong! I had a further nine fish during darkness including all thirties, all over 15kg in weight, magnificent looking beasts, immensely long and totally virgin, never caught before. As the night was calm I took each bait back to the plateau after every fish landed. Hard work, but worth it.
Monday morning and I felt totally knackered! The swim looked like it had been shelled, gear scattered everywhere, the tent a mess and my sleeping bag damp and cold - too much getting in and out of it to land fish! In three the nights fishing that I had the swim to myself I had caught thirty-one carp, all commons, most over thirty pounds in weight. That's the stuff of dreams and no mistake. In fact I was having trouble convincing myself that this was actually happening...I was having an outstanding session.
Philippe got back Monday mid-morning and immediately took the boat out to rebait the plateau after I had told him of my astonishing run of big fish that had been caught from the area while he was away. There was no doubting the effectiveness of the baits we were using as some of the fish were excreting the Robin Red-boosted Big Fish Mix in the sack.
In reply to Post #441
Across the bay I could see Xav busily baiting up his swim. From when I was standing it looked as if he was fishing the same plateau as us, but from the other side...Perhaps I needed a shower!
Meanwhile Philippe put two rods out onto the plateau and two off to the right on the drop-off ledge. That left me a large bit of the plateau to go at, and as I was not having any action in close I decided to put all four rods out long again.
Tuesday morning arrived and with it came a Romania film crew. They wanted to shoot several 30-minute shows dealing with tackle, bait and tactics for the lake. Vlad was fronting the show for Romanian television and he conducted his first interview with me on the lawn of the hotel overlooking the lake. I don't know why they were asking me about tactics as it was only my first visit to the lake, but I was flattered to be asked, however for this first interview Vlad wanted to quiz me about bait as my articles in the Romanian magazine has established me as some kind of bait buff. ('E don't know me too well, do 'e?).
Philippe and I had again caught well during the night and we had a couple of decent fish to show them for the filming. I must admit, it did feel strange but apparently the programs were very well received when they aired at prime time on Saturday mornings. In fact I've been asked to go back and do some more. Whatever is the carp world coming too? Here's we are I in true pose mode!
Filming and interviewing took up most of the morning. The interviewer was my old mate Vlad Pavlovici who at the time worked for the British Council. His spoken English and French was immaculate so asking questions in either language was easy for him.
While we were being filmed a young French guy rowed across to chat to us. His arrival was well timed as one of my rods went off almost the minute he arrived. He'd blanked so far so I said he could have the honour...
By now I had caught over fifty fish and was getting exhausted! The majority of the fish were commons, many of them over thirty pounds. Sadly I had yet to catch one of the lakes really huge fish which ran to over seventy pounds, but I was more than happy with my lot and everyone agreed that given the numbers of fish I was catching it was only a matter of time before something a bit better came along. Philippe was catching plenty too but by contrast he was working less hard for his fish as 90% of his takes were coming from the margins. He kept on at me to leave at least one rod in close but I wasn't confident about it. The fact was that even though Philippe was catching well from in close, whenever I put a rod close in on the left hand side of the swim it remained untouched. I wanted runs, the more the merrier, so it was the plateau or nothing for me.
Across the bay I could see Xav busily baiting up his swim. From when I was standing it looked as if he was fishing the same plateau as us, but from the other side...Perhaps I needed a shower!
Meanwhile Philippe put two rods out onto the plateau and two off to the right on the drop-off ledge. That left me a large bit of the plateau to go at, and as I was not having any action in close I decided to put all four rods out long again.
Tuesday morning arrived and with it came a Romania film crew. They wanted to shoot several 30-minute shows dealing with tackle, bait and tactics for the lake. Vlad was fronting the show for Romanian television and he conducted his first interview with me on the lawn of the hotel overlooking the lake. I don't know why they were asking me about tactics as it was only my first visit to the lake, but I was flattered to be asked, however for this first interview Vlad wanted to quiz me about bait as my articles in the Romanian magazine has established me as some kind of bait buff. ('E don't know me too well, do 'e?).
Philippe and I had again caught well during the night and we had a couple of decent fish to show them for the filming. I must admit, it did feel strange but apparently the programs were very well received when they aired at prime time on Saturday mornings. In fact I've been asked to go back and do some more. Whatever is the carp world coming too? Here's we are I in true pose mode!
Filming and interviewing took up most of the morning. The interviewer was my old mate Vlad Pavlovici who at the time worked for the British Council. His spoken English and French was immaculate so asking questions in either language was easy for him.
While we were being filmed a young French guy rowed across to chat to us. His arrival was well timed as one of my rods went off almost the minute he arrived. He'd blanked so far so I said he could have the honour...
By now I had caught over fifty fish and was getting exhausted! The majority of the fish were commons, many of them over thirty pounds. Sadly I had yet to catch one of the lakes really huge fish which ran to over seventy pounds, but I was more than happy with my lot and everyone agreed that given the numbers of fish I was catching it was only a matter of time before something a bit better came along. Philippe was catching plenty too but by contrast he was working less hard for his fish as 90% of his takes were coming from the margins. He kept on at me to leave at least one rod in close but I wasn't confident about it. The fact was that even though Philippe was catching well from in close, whenever I put a rod close in on the left hand side of the swim it remained untouched. I wanted runs, the more the merrier, so it was the plateau or nothing for me.
In reply to Post #442
Once again the weather fate lent a hand. Suddenly a repeat of that fierce wind sprang up, blowing straight into our bank with waves three feet high crashing onto the shingle beach at out feet. It was impossible to use the boat as it would have been swamped within a couple of yards of the shore. This meant that it was also impossible to take baits out to the plateau so I had no option other than cast into the wind dropping the baits only twenty to thirty yards out. I fished two rods on the shelf and two at the foot of the drop in about 28 feet of water. The wind was really hacking into out faces and once again the huge area of coloured water spread out into the lake.
I felt sure the fish would respond as they did in the previous big blow and sure enough, they did. Over the next 48 hours Philippe and I caught with almost predictable regularity, a fish an hour each! All our carp came to rods cast from the bank to the marginal shelf at depths between 15-28 feet of water. It was easy fishing, brilliant fishing, exhausting fishing, and with the fish averaging low thirties we were having a whale of a time. They were like peas in a pod, those long sleek commons. We must have hit on the Mother Lode!
The margin hot spots continued to produce and we picked up carp regularly in the onshore gale of wind. Here you can see just how rough it had become as Philippe plays a big carp in a lively surf.
It felt odd to be fishing such a massive expanse of water yet to be baiting up with a catapult or a throwing stick but the fish were in close. There must have been hundreds of them and they were on the feed and wanted bait and we were there to give it to them!
The weather continued to confuse...one minute blowing a hoolie, the next white calm. Now, as quickly as it had sprung up the wind died completely allowing me to take all four rods out to the plateau to the spots I had fished over the weekend some two hundred yards out from the bank. What a difference a day makes. Look at the lovely placid surface of the lake and compare it to the pix of the swim during the blow.
Moving them back to the long range feature paid off big style. Out on the plateau the big girls had come out to play! I caught three forty pound commons in less than 24 hours. First was a nice fish of just over the forty pound mark, followed by a 42lb 12oz common, a glorious fish a yard long and as sleek as a bullet.
The third forty was my biggest of the trip so far, a big dumpy lump of a common. It was hardly the most beautiful fish in the world but at 45lb 8oz, I wasn't complaining.
Meanwhile the blow came back with a vengeance and yet more big girls went on a feeding spree, spurred no doubt by the big wind. Across from us Xavier landed a gorgeous 25kg common, and Philippe and I both had commons of over 40lb. This is Xav's.
Once again the weather fate lent a hand. Suddenly a repeat of that fierce wind sprang up, blowing straight into our bank with waves three feet high crashing onto the shingle beach at out feet. It was impossible to use the boat as it would have been swamped within a couple of yards of the shore. This meant that it was also impossible to take baits out to the plateau so I had no option other than cast into the wind dropping the baits only twenty to thirty yards out. I fished two rods on the shelf and two at the foot of the drop in about 28 feet of water. The wind was really hacking into out faces and once again the huge area of coloured water spread out into the lake.
I felt sure the fish would respond as they did in the previous big blow and sure enough, they did. Over the next 48 hours Philippe and I caught with almost predictable regularity, a fish an hour each! All our carp came to rods cast from the bank to the marginal shelf at depths between 15-28 feet of water. It was easy fishing, brilliant fishing, exhausting fishing, and with the fish averaging low thirties we were having a whale of a time. They were like peas in a pod, those long sleek commons. We must have hit on the Mother Lode!
The margin hot spots continued to produce and we picked up carp regularly in the onshore gale of wind. Here you can see just how rough it had become as Philippe plays a big carp in a lively surf.
It felt odd to be fishing such a massive expanse of water yet to be baiting up with a catapult or a throwing stick but the fish were in close. There must have been hundreds of them and they were on the feed and wanted bait and we were there to give it to them!
The weather continued to confuse...one minute blowing a hoolie, the next white calm. Now, as quickly as it had sprung up the wind died completely allowing me to take all four rods out to the plateau to the spots I had fished over the weekend some two hundred yards out from the bank. What a difference a day makes. Look at the lovely placid surface of the lake and compare it to the pix of the swim during the blow.
Moving them back to the long range feature paid off big style. Out on the plateau the big girls had come out to play! I caught three forty pound commons in less than 24 hours. First was a nice fish of just over the forty pound mark, followed by a 42lb 12oz common, a glorious fish a yard long and as sleek as a bullet.
The third forty was my biggest of the trip so far, a big dumpy lump of a common. It was hardly the most beautiful fish in the world but at 45lb 8oz, I wasn't complaining.
Meanwhile the blow came back with a vengeance and yet more big girls went on a feeding spree, spurred no doubt by the big wind. Across from us Xavier landed a gorgeous 25kg common, and Philippe and I both had commons of over 40lb. This is Xav's.
In reply to Post #443
What a night! In our final 24 hours Philippe continued to catch. It got so that in the end we were both playing fish at the same time. For those last four days we had a gale of wind blowing right in our faces for 90% of the time. It was virtually impossible to get out to the plateau most of the time but with just as many fish coming at 30-40 yards, it wasn't a problem.
So that's the story of my first trip to Sarulesti. I cannot in all honesty tell you how many fish I caught as I simply lost count after a while. Philippe reckons we caught around 125 fish between us and he says I must have caught at least seventy of them! I'll take his word for it. All I know is I shall never forget that session on the wonderful lake.
Here the sun rises above the village of Preasna. The wind is just beginning to ruffle the surface, typical of east winds that come up with the sun. We knew that it would strengthen as the daylight strengthened heralding another day's superb carp fishing.
The lake had got right under my skin and Philippe told me they were planning a repeat visit in early autumn. He asked casually, "fancy coming along?" I nearly kissed him.
What a night! In our final 24 hours Philippe continued to catch. It got so that in the end we were both playing fish at the same time. For those last four days we had a gale of wind blowing right in our faces for 90% of the time. It was virtually impossible to get out to the plateau most of the time but with just as many fish coming at 30-40 yards, it wasn't a problem.
So that's the story of my first trip to Sarulesti. I cannot in all honesty tell you how many fish I caught as I simply lost count after a while. Philippe reckons we caught around 125 fish between us and he says I must have caught at least seventy of them! I'll take his word for it. All I know is I shall never forget that session on the wonderful lake.
Here the sun rises above the village of Preasna. The wind is just beginning to ruffle the surface, typical of east winds that come up with the sun. We knew that it would strengthen as the daylight strengthened heralding another day's superb carp fishing.
The lake had got right under my skin and Philippe told me they were planning a repeat visit in early autumn. He asked casually, "fancy coming along?" I nearly kissed him.
In reply to Post #444
So we pick up the story a few months later and again I was a guest of Robert Raduta and Philippe Lagabbe. Sadly this time I was to fish on my own as Philippe had agreed to fish with a young French guy on his first visit abroad. He was a smashing fella so I hoped that maybe we could all squeeze into a swim together as had been the case in May. However, Philippe had decided to fish a totally new area of the lake, leaving me to do my own thing, whatever that might be.
Philippe and his young companion started the two week session way up the lake towards the Sandulita Bay are we had started on the May session. According to Robert a lot of fish were coming out from that area so the pair were naturally keen to take his advice. I thought I would err on the side of caution and take the easy option to begin with so decided to fish the same swim where we had done so well last time in the small cove swim near the water tower in Preasna Bay. The read dot is me, the white dot is Philippe and his mate. That's about four miles between the two swims.
When I finally got a boat (yes, there is no way to access the cove swim by road s a boat is essential) yet more delay hit me. Unfortunately the engine I was due to use had been used and abused by the party before me on the lake and it was in need of a few running repairs. The problem was caused by floating braid, which had entangled the prop seizing the engine solid. Luckily I am used to sorting out this kind of mess but I had no tools with which to remove the prop boss in order to get at the cotter pin. When I eventually found a tool box and removed the boss, I found that the cotter pin had been replaced with a nail! If the original pin had been in place it would have sheared off making the removal of the braid a lot easier. As it was the nail didn't shear and the prop kept spinning until many yards of braid ended up in the prop. It took me about an hour to get at the pin, remove it, then remove the many yards of braid that was entangled in around the drive shaft. Nightmare!
Finally I got to the swim as night was drawing in. With no time to loose I went out in the boat to find the plateau we had fished in May. I had with me a plentiful supply of Dynamite's Frenzied hempseed and tigers, which were to be the main bait on this session.
I also had some Techni Spice shelfies with me, which I intended to use as an alternative bait on a couple of rods. The one kilo bag had been kicking around in my rucksack for a year or more as it is my go-to bait when the going is tough. That bag had done some miles! It had come with me every on every trip and in all the years I have used it, they have never failed me! I don't use them every time, only when I am scratching for a take but when the chips are down they don't 'alf work!
As before I used simple set ups, mainly tough nylon or braid knotless knotted to a size one or two hook. The pix are pretty self explanatory.
As well and the Dynamite and Nutrabaits stuff, Vlad had got hold of some very decent high oil pellets that had done well at Raduta Lake over the summer months. He'd given me a 25kg sack of them. He told me to pile it in, the more the merrier as the carp loved them!
Baiting up finished, I set about getting some rods ready. It was near enough dark by now, and I was dog tired from the trip over. First the drive up from Cornwall to Heathrow then the long wait + flight with British Airways to Otopeni Airport, and finally the journey to the lake from Bucharest. This would normally take less than an hour but for some unknown reason the driver that came to pick me up got lost! Then there was the problem with the bait and the engine...I turned in...The rods can wait!
So we pick up the story a few months later and again I was a guest of Robert Raduta and Philippe Lagabbe. Sadly this time I was to fish on my own as Philippe had agreed to fish with a young French guy on his first visit abroad. He was a smashing fella so I hoped that maybe we could all squeeze into a swim together as had been the case in May. However, Philippe had decided to fish a totally new area of the lake, leaving me to do my own thing, whatever that might be.
Philippe and his young companion started the two week session way up the lake towards the Sandulita Bay are we had started on the May session. According to Robert a lot of fish were coming out from that area so the pair were naturally keen to take his advice. I thought I would err on the side of caution and take the easy option to begin with so decided to fish the same swim where we had done so well last time in the small cove swim near the water tower in Preasna Bay. The read dot is me, the white dot is Philippe and his mate. That's about four miles between the two swims.
When I finally got a boat (yes, there is no way to access the cove swim by road s a boat is essential) yet more delay hit me. Unfortunately the engine I was due to use had been used and abused by the party before me on the lake and it was in need of a few running repairs. The problem was caused by floating braid, which had entangled the prop seizing the engine solid. Luckily I am used to sorting out this kind of mess but I had no tools with which to remove the prop boss in order to get at the cotter pin. When I eventually found a tool box and removed the boss, I found that the cotter pin had been replaced with a nail! If the original pin had been in place it would have sheared off making the removal of the braid a lot easier. As it was the nail didn't shear and the prop kept spinning until many yards of braid ended up in the prop. It took me about an hour to get at the pin, remove it, then remove the many yards of braid that was entangled in around the drive shaft. Nightmare!
Finally I got to the swim as night was drawing in. With no time to loose I went out in the boat to find the plateau we had fished in May. I had with me a plentiful supply of Dynamite's Frenzied hempseed and tigers, which were to be the main bait on this session.
I also had some Techni Spice shelfies with me, which I intended to use as an alternative bait on a couple of rods. The one kilo bag had been kicking around in my rucksack for a year or more as it is my go-to bait when the going is tough. That bag had done some miles! It had come with me every on every trip and in all the years I have used it, they have never failed me! I don't use them every time, only when I am scratching for a take but when the chips are down they don't 'alf work!
As before I used simple set ups, mainly tough nylon or braid knotless knotted to a size one or two hook. The pix are pretty self explanatory.
As well and the Dynamite and Nutrabaits stuff, Vlad had got hold of some very decent high oil pellets that had done well at Raduta Lake over the summer months. He'd given me a 25kg sack of them. He told me to pile it in, the more the merrier as the carp loved them!
Baiting up finished, I set about getting some rods ready. It was near enough dark by now, and I was dog tired from the trip over. First the drive up from Cornwall to Heathrow then the long wait + flight with British Airways to Otopeni Airport, and finally the journey to the lake from Bucharest. This would normally take less than an hour but for some unknown reason the driver that came to pick me up got lost! Then there was the problem with the bait and the engine...I turned in...The rods can wait!