Denmark- Carp Fishing

Mads & A 12kg Carp he Already Had In The Sack Upon My Arrival At The Lake. The Signs were Looking Good....

The Secret Carp Lake. Serene & Beautiful In This Mood. Little Did We Know What Was To Come!

Mads plays a fat one in, has a snap, and lets her go.

Bringing a pretty little Mirror Carp ashore to have his picture taken.

Luckily The Rain Stopped For Long Enough To Let Us Pack Up And Dry Out In The Morning.

During our Comizo trip to Spain, Mads and myself had discussed carp fishing numerous times, and during one of these conversations, he invited me over to Denmark to spend a weekend fishing for carp on one of his local waters. Needless to say, I didn't need asking twice, and the deal was done when I offered to either take him on a pike or barbel fishing trip over in England by way of return favour. We eventually managed to get the trip arranged, and I travelled over to spend a 3 night session (I wish I could have stayed longer, but there we go) fishing with him. Mads was there to meet me at arrivals- all smiles because he had fished the night before and already had a 12 kilo plus mirror carp in the sack to be photographed, and about 2 hours after leaving Copenhagen Airport- laden with rucksacks and rod tubes enough for 3 weeks let alone 3 nights- we arrived at the side of the lake; and what a sight greeted us. It was a large sheet of water some 3km long and perhaps 1km wide- and it looked soooo fishy that I couldn't hardly wait to get started. But first there was a long trip across and down the lake to negotiate first, which was ok going with the help of the electric outboard... but coming back with a flat battery was a different matter!

After the long haul to the swim, we photographed the immaculate carp Mads had already caught- a lovely deep mirror in top A1condition, and I then rigged up 3 rods with the Big Baitrunners, 16lb Line, 30 feet of Kryston Quicksilver as a leader (there were bars and rocks everywhere under the surface), 4oz flattened leads, 25lb Kryston Mantis hooklengths and size 6 Owner C7 hooks. Mads had supplied the boilies via his friends at Danish Delight Baits to save me carrying them over, and he had cooked a vat of mixed particles (hemp, tigers, maize & various beans). Everything set, we had a scout around one of the markers he had already positioned with the sounder and he showed me there was around 2m of water on top of a rock covered plateau of about 10mx10m at some 150m from the bank. This sloped away down to a depth of 4.5 to 5m in the surrounding areas. I decided to drop one bait on the slope to each side of the plateau in 3m of water since the very top of it was covered in boulders, then cast the other rod a bit shorter into the deeper water. Mads had already got two markers out and baited, and fished 4 rods- 2 to one of the markers on a 3m deep hump, one to a tiny little 2m deep bar, and the other right over the back of the features in deeper water of 5m+ depth. Once all the work was out of the way, he got into his bag and slept for the rest of the afternoon- his normal mode I was soon to find out!

The lake looked perfect, with broken cloud cover and a gentle south westerly breeze blowing into our bank. Surely the carp must feed in this? However, the first cock up occurred when I was wading out to my rods in my chesties, as I tripped over one of the sunken roots and fell head first into the drink, filling my waders up in the process... great. Luckily I had some spare clothes to put on while the bushes around our swim were festooned with my soaking threads to dry. As it happened the first night passed with just one take in the early hours for Mads, which he lost in some sunken tree stumps and rocks about 20m out (these things were a pain in so many ways...).Perhaps this was no bad thing though, because I would have been wading out into the cold water all the time in just a T-shirt and underpants. Not a pretty sight, and one which would have have put off any fish from visiting the swim for the next 48 hours.

The next day and night, however, were much more productive, and as the clouds came in, the wind picked up pace, and the carp started to go on the chew. I just wish I could land them! In one hour long spell that morning I lost three: a really good one which cut me off half way in on some rocks (again), another smaller one which, well, just dropped off (which lead me to change all my hooks to size 4 Drennan Continental Boilie Hooks- no messing), then finally my bad luck continued, when I had a screaming take and the lead had become lodged between some rocks (the Korda clip had failed to eject- even though it was tied to the swivel with 12lb mono). So we took to the boat, eventually freed it, and the battle was on! What I hadn't noticed was that the lead clip had slid above the leader knot and had become stuck, so I swung the rod tip round to Mads who pinged it free... which must have caused a second's slackness in the line allowing it to wrap around one of the rod rings. The carp charged off, the powerful rod doubled over alarmingly... and I stood looking confused, as I wondered why the drag wasn't giving line- even though I had slackened it right off?? Ping!!!! The lead swung back over our heads as the hooklength parted. Shit! Another one bites the dust. After the dunking and the lost fish, I was beginning to think the trip was cursed. Still, we got a few more runs between us, with Mads taking a total of 4 carp (I think) and losing 2, whilst 'rubber hooks' Pearson managed to lose 4 and land 2 in the end! Not a good statistic for yours truly- but I was delighted to catch a big, chunky mirror of 31lb 10oz from the deeper water rod right at the height of the storm as the wind and rain lashed it down.

That was definitely worth a soaking, and the highlight of my trip into the Danish countryside.

There were a couple of things worth noting, I thought. The first was that I had started the session using my typically 'English' carp rigs- with relatively small hooks, tubing, and balanced baits etc- and by the end of it (after watching what Mads was up to) I was using what we would consider over here to be pretty crude rigs- and yet the couple of carp I did land came on such rigs. It soon became apparent that the sensitive type of approach used over here is neither necessary- or man enough- to do the job when fishing for virgin carp in the large expanses of wild continental water. A lesson learned. The second item was that as the waves got higher, we got less action from on or next to the bars and plateaux, but then started to pick up runs from the 5m water surrounding. Maybe it was too uncomfortable for the fish to feed in the shallow water? Or had all the free offerings been washed over into the deep water by the undertow taking the hungry carp with them? After all we ended up clipping additional 1.5 and 2oz leads to the existing 4oz models just to stop them moving, and markers that were held down by 12oz Sturgeon leads were creeping off the bars!

At the end of our session we were lucky for an hour when the rain stopped for long enough to dry the gear a little and get everything packed away- which was a right result... Although we got soaked again when Mads was rowing back through the waves (somewhat hairily for a while) and intermittent rain squalls. It's a good job he likes rowing though, cos the outboard battery had long since given up- 'It is very good exercise for the heart!' he kept reminding me. I, on the other hand, was quite happy to leave him to it.

It seemed to take ages to pack the gear away and get it back in the car. And how we managed to fit in there with all the tackle is anyone's guess, but we managed it, and finally we were on our way. We stopped off at Johnny's house on the way to the airport where thankfully I had a welcome shower and a nice meal with him and the lovely Charlotte (just the meal that is, not the shower). And anyway, if I'd smelled like I did in the sleeping bag on the plane they'd probably have dropped me off over the North Sea.

I eventually fell into bed back home at one the next morning and was away with the fairies in seconds... "Aw sod it, I'll unload the car in the morning.... zzzzzzzzzzzz".

Thanks Mads for a really enjoyable few days- despite any of the little meteorological 'problems'!

Mads Takes A Nap. His Normal Mode For 18 Hours Out Of Every 24...

And The Carp Began To Feed As The Wind Began To Pick Up- Another 9kg Plus Mirror For Mads (While I Sat Round The Corner Losing Them!!).

A lovely day by the water... To begin with.

Home Sweet Home. Luckily My Brolly Started To Leak First So I Had Already Claimed And Staked Down The Tarpaulin When Mads' Started To Piss Through Too. Still, It Didn't Matter Cos He Could Sleep Through Anything.

But As Nasty As The Weather turned, The Carp kept feeding, And this 31lb 10oz Mirror fell to a Boilie at 100 yards plus as the storm thrashed us about. Excellent- at least one of them didn't fall off my rubber hooks

Saddle it, Mads.

It started as a breeze.

Turned into a hooligan.

And then just got downright miserable.