CornaCarpio's Carp Culling Capers!

Good idea blair, might have to take the unprecedented step of going down to the creek without my fishing rods!

CC
Law-abiding citizen!

 

I can report that the creek has changed from black to brown and the dead Carp (along with the petrochemicals) that the authorities didn't pick up are well and truly on their way to the Yarra...

 

I have been out to TNA once or twice this summer, coming back from Lilydale and the FTG quarry - not so much to fish, but to have a sticky-beak and reminisce about the halcyon days! These days it's changed into a water treatment plant or something, and is just a weedy wasteland, although I have seen a couple of goldfish swimming around.

Man, I wish I could find another TNA where the Carp are in untold numbers and always 'on'. There must be another TNA out there somewhere...


Top Pond, which formerly housed 'the Colonel', a 100+cm Carp


Bottom Pond, which is now shallow and almost fishless

 

It seems the recent Carp kill down at Gardiners has done little to quash their numbers...

CC
Poaching Carp!

 

Well...in addition to a general dislike of the cold, I am generally busy with work during the AFL season and can't get out much anyway - not this year though!

The water was rank as today, as it rained in the morning and looked like muddy dam water. Didn't think I'd get one, but they're still biting!

CC
Accepts Benders advice over the PM and Chief Medical Officer!

 

I went to the Doctors today to get the results of the ultrasound for my troublesome hamstring. Five years ago I went through a running phase and developed 'ishiogluteal' bursitis in my butt. I have never run since. Despite this, I continue to have a constant pain in the butt, so followed up with another ultrasound. The result, I guess, is good. The report reads: "Focal hamstring origin tenderness. The study is otherwise unremarkable". So the Doctor sent me on my merry way...

With that good news, I headed down the creek. I didn't bother with the worms, as they are too messy and I had enough bread crust anyway. It was another day of cat-and-mouse. The Carp were there, but they didn't appear to be biting. Finally, I got a strike. A fairly decent model, and I had to wade in to try and retrieve him, but the line had got stuck under (around) a rock. As I went to de-snag it you know what happened - the line went poof - and the Carp thanked me for the bread and swam inbetween my legs.

This kind of put me in a bad mood, because it was a decent fish (around 60cms) and a chance for me to break my recent run of doughnuts down at the creek. When I got back to the bank, I couldn't believe my other rod was having inquires, despite me just wading out into the very shallow pool I was fishing. On the end was a very lightly hooked Carp around the 30cm mark. This lifted my spirits immensely. Not the Carp I wanted, but better than nothing nevertheless.

A few days of relatively good weather coming up might suggest I have one - or two - Carp left in me yet!

+1

CC
Any month with a 'r' in it is Carp month!

 

Just 2 days before winter and Cornchips is still going strong!

Headed out to Taylor's Lake in the state's west with the father in tow for a spot of good old fashioned fishing. The weather, while not cold, was absolutely atrocious, with gale force winds! 3 foot waves were breaking on an inland lake and I was wondering if I should have brought the surfboards instead of the rods! It didn't seem to perturb the Carp though, with a steady stream of bites all day, all of a good size too! Not like those finicky urban creek Carp that just 'tap' the bait. Today it was just sit in the (relative) comfort of the car, wait for the rod to 'load up' and reel in an easily and deeply hooked fish. Easy.

Ended up with 5 all up, with the biggest going just under 70cm!

P.S. I forgot to add that the 'big' one was caught on chicken, which I was using in search of a native. Never caught a Carp on chicken before...

+5

CC
A man for all season's!

 

First Carp of the winter! Not quite as productive as the other day, but the conditions were better in a way; still cool, but not as windy as the other day, although that may have proven to be a double-edged sword, as there was no Carp fossicking close to shore! It was the only bite I had all day, so I made the most of it. A corn/scrubworm combo did the damage.

I've got this winter Carp fishing sorted, 'drive thru' style: drive up to the shore chuck the rods out and sit back in the relative luxury of the car waiting for an inevitable bite! Easy.

CC
Nothing's going to stop me now!

 

Snuck out today in almost perfect conditions - not cold and hardly any wind! Unfortunately, the fishing was a little slow, as is to be expected this time of year, but I did manage to land a small one on my 'lucky red rod'. A little while after that I got a more substantial bite, a Carp to the tune of 4-5lb, but it swam away with my hook! That is the trouble with catching 'too many' fish. About 90% of the fish I have caught in the last week have been on that rod, and I fear it may have weakened the knot just a little bit.

+1

CC
Pics to come...currently experiencing technical difficulties

Bait - How and Where to Get It
There's an old expression in fishing and that is "he's a good fisherman", but perhaps it should be relayed "he's got good bait, because good bait catches good fish. We have all, at one stage or another, been frustrated by a fellow angler catching all the fish and this is usually a result with an angler having a superior variety of fresh bait.

Fishing Wimmera Waters (1989), by Gary Knight, Sportfish Australia Publications, Noorat, Vic, 3265, p.57



A majestic Taylors Lake in the heart of the Wimmera

 

I know the feeling all too well MB. In fact, I was fishing this exact same spot when I lost the Carp of a lifetime many years ago. Easily 1m+ with the head the size of a bicycle helmet!

When will I learn?