Confessions of a Rainbow virgin - day 4.

Day 4 Blues!

Doesn’t time just roll on so fast when you’re out fishing…days in the office never seem to past this fast! As I’m writing this I’m just through the half-way point of the trip and on one hand it seems like I’ve been here for ever – caught up in the Rainbow bubble, and then, in terms of days – it’s but a blink of an eye! Last night felt cold, really cold and the resident coypu paid me several visits during the night. Somehow they managed to savage some boilies that were air-drying in the tree on a make-shift washing line. I deliberately put some decoy baits (leftovers from last weeks’ anglers) on the lowest point of the line and soon after dark my long-tailed friends were feasting. They’ve become more tame as time has gone on this week but they still aren’t tame enough to get their photo taken properly - yet!

Tricky to see but there is a large greedy rodent-creature here!

Fishing wise I’ve still not been seeing much fish activity and last night (Tuesday night) passed without so much as a bleep on the alarms. At 8.30pm last night I was seriously starting to flag. I’d been up most of the previous night listening and trying to figure out if the carp were coming through into my side of the swim under the cover of darkness. By 9pm I was ready to crash but I fuelled myself with some French rocket fuel coffee, stuck on my jacket (as it was chilly) and stood on the top bank up to my left poised with the headtorch on full power to zap any areas where I heard any fish activity. I did hear enough activity to keep me interested, even though it was difficult to pinpoint exactly where the swirls were coming from. By 11pm I’d made a decision that in the morning I was going to move one rod off of one of my four main spots and investigate the bay down to my left – there seemed to be enough activity to warrant giving it a go at least! 

Chilli...con...carne!

 By 6.30am I gradually dragged myself out of the sleeping bag and whacked the kettle on for my first caffeine hit of the day. With one coffee down the hatch, I pulled on the jacket and stood once more on the high bank. I saw nothing but strangely, and almost in an eerie manner, the mist started to drift in engulfing everything around it. Then the mist then because a thick bank of fog...spooky times! By 8am the mist started to burn off and the sun once again reigned supreme and confirmed we were in for another cracking late-November morning. 

My carp house seemed more appealing than being stood outside...the sun was coming!

By 9am I was deliberating what the hell to do with the rods. Three of the rods I was happy with but I had made up my mind to move one down to my left. Then completely unexpectedly a couple of sharp bleeps sounded from my 4^th rod, the one positioned where the hookbait was positioned some 200yds away close to a small dot island. After the initial burst from the alarm, the clip pulled, the tip bounced and bent over…fish on! I legged it to the rod, picked it up like a demon and lifted into whatever was on the end. For a split second I was convinced I’d hit into thin air but thankfully I felt a kick from a carp on the end – come on!

After a bit of navigating under the other rods I was out in the boat winding down to the fish. In my head I was cool and focussed but for some reason my right leg was shaking uncontrollably and it wouldn’t stop! What the hell was I attached to? With a deep breath I passed over the first shallow bar some 30 yards out in front of me and turned the boat round and whacked on the engine and steered myself out to the fish, reeling steadily and dropping my rod on a tight line, either left or right to steer myself out to the carp zone! I was only a few yards away from the spot when I lost the tension in the line and momentarily I thought I’d dropped the fish. Fortunately I needn’t have worried as the fish kicked hard as my leader knot passed onto the reel…this was now battle time! I kept on winding and wound down to the top of my leadcore leader – now was the time to hold on and keep my nerve. The fish surfaced and I caught a glimpse of a golden-flanked common – not a massive one, but big enough to keep my right leg shaking like an epileptic baboon! Once more the fish tried to spin the boat but I just steered her left or right to keep myself straight. After five minutes of plodding around up she came and after a bit of a scramble with the net in she went! Yessssssss…..I so wanted to shout it out aloud but not wanting to sound like I Rainbow virgin who’d just netted his first fish, this shout only sounded inside my head! Relief was draped all over me – a fish in the net after getting a bite on a hookbait that had been in position for nearly 72 hours! With my leg returning to normal I grinned from ear to ear as I made my way back to terra firma with my prize. 

Get in there - 40lb of November carp! Nice tache too!

   

On the scales she went 40lb 10oz – not massive by Rainbow standards but for me it was a massive personal achievement and a huge sense of relief that I’d actually managed to catch one from a swim devoid of fish! Never give up – too damn right. 

Until tomorrow, Jerry.

Confessions of a Rainbow virgin - day 3.

Well I’m three nights into my eight night session and neither myself or Tim have managed to open our accounts. I had a weird occurrence yesterday morning when my rod tipped slammed down the alarm went mental and I struck what I thought was a take. Immediately the braid fell limp and my heart sank when I realised I’d been cut off. Later that morning I went out to the spot in the boat and dragged the it to see if the terminal gear was still down there. I was still unsure whether it had been a pick-up or whether one of the resident coypu had taken a liking to my line entering the water and had bitten it off! Either way I was a gutted – I’d said at the start of the trip that I wanted a bite…well I’d had one and now I wanted a fish! 

The prodding stick has been invaluable to find the hard spots.

The remainder of the day passed quickly and I managed to capture the early-morning sunrise and also the burning end-of-day when the sun quickly disappeared behind the trees directly in front of Tim’s swim. In short not much happened so it was a case of re-doing the rods and sitting on our hands waiting for the fish to arrive, which they hadn’t as yet! Tactically I’ve decided to not go mad with the bait as the guys who we followed into the swim hadn’t experienced a prolific week – perhaps three or so fished hooked.

Kebab anyone? Tigers and an Enterprise Immortal in the middle.

Tiger nuts seemed to be on the wanted list for hookbaits so I edged my bets and ‘tigered up’ on two rods and fished boilie on the other two with a mixture of oily hemp, pellets, crushed tigers and mixed-sized boilies in the mix I introduced over the top. Prior to the trip I’d been advised to go easy with the bait and to only introduce a pint of bait over each rod – that’d I’d done, plus a small scattering (for good luck) in the general area around where I was dropping the rigs. 

My remaining bait all labelled up and rationed for use each day.

 There have been several fish caught around the lake with the biggest reported so far being 67lb, a true monster, but not massive by Rainbow standards. So there you have it, the search for a carp continues from what really is the most incredible carp lake I’ve ever visited! Until tomorrow, Jerry. 

The view from Tim's swim as the sun sets on another late-November day.

Confessions of a Rainbow virgin - day 1.

After leaving Sheffield at 5.30am I knew that we had a long journey in front us – close to 1000 miles to be precise. I was joining Carpworld editor Tim Paisley for my first ever trip to the lake where dreams are made, that lake is Rainbow Lake in the south of France. With the driving shared between us and the luxury of picking up the earlier ferry our destination arrival time was 11.30pm, a long old day considering we left in darkness and would be arriving in darkness. With those miles behind us we finally pulled up at the Rainbow clubhouse and were greeted by several familiar faces including Martin Locke, Steve Broad and Nick Helleur. After a quick beer and a natter with the lads there was already that expectant buzz by all the lads who were moving onto the lake the following day – me included, despite the tiredness I was buzzing. After a surprisingly good nights’ kip in the clubhouse I was greeted by an incredible sunrise and the November sun made it feel like it was like an English early-autumn morning. It seemed an age before we were given the nod to make our way into our swim for the week – swim 21 to be precise.

 Swim 21 is a snaggy little peninsula that is best accessed by boat – so with all the gear laden into the vessels I made my first trip around into the swim. I was told that 21 was one of the most technically difficult swims to fish and I could see why immediately! A multitude of bars, islands and snags was certainly going to test this Rainbow virgin to the max. (Above: this is what my left-hand rod looks like - eeeek, it's hairy!)

By 4pm I was actually fishing with three rods. After some tense moments in the boat I’d managed to find some nice spots and dropped the rigs and a pint of mixed seeds and chopped boilies around each of them. Totally shattered I enjoyed my first Rainbow sunset and crashed out. What would the night and early morning bring eh! Time will tell! (Above: rods were locked safely into place!)

Until later, Jerry.

Darrell's book has just arrived!

Darrell Peck's first-ever book My Misspent Youth has just arrived at the AP offices this morning.

Click here to order your copy now and get it delivered in time for Christmas. The book is tipped to sell out fast so don't hesitate to place your order.

Team CC

PS - nice 'tache Gaz! :)

Bustin' Some Moves!

Here Crafty's very own James Tuner bustin' some moves!

Carnage!

We're currently in the process of having a clear out and a bit of a re-arrangement of desks! At the moment it's an absolute tip and Saz has over 20 years of hoarding to contend with.

Adam

Team CC

Team CC's Grow & Show for Movember!

Some members of Team Crafty Carper are participating in Movember – a moustache-growing charity event held in November to raise funds and awareness for men's health.

Here's Production Manager & Head of Design Gaz Hood's current stage of 'tache growth:

We'd love to see some of your 'taches! Send your entries to adam@craftycarper.co and we'll create a gallery of some of the best 'taches in support of Movember 2011!

Visit http://uk.movember.com/ for more information on the awareness cause and how you can get involved.

Team CC