Wonderful Spam

This week I had the opportunity to again do some floatfishing for small carp. The lake I have been fishing has a good head of these fish and they are very partial to some Spam. Whilst not the biggest carp in the world it is great sport and the sight of the float sharply drifting away is one of the great buzzes that angling provides. The fish in this water are all very lean and not what I would refer to as pellet pigs in any way.

This small mirror put up a great account of itself and I should have got a better picture of the scale pattern which was most pleasing. Although now widespread this has not always been the case and the carp is still somewhat of a novelty for me. Having done most of my full on coarse fishing in my teens around Derby carp at this time were few and far between.

There was always the stories of so and so who had caught a ten pounder on a tinned potato from the canal but this was before the days of mass stocking and the carp was not common to my local area. Nowadays of course this fish is popular throughout the country and I do wonder whether it has devalued slightly what is a magnificent fish.

My first encounter with the carp was in one of the many pools at Woburn Abbey whilst on holiday. I badgered Dad into agreeing to stump up for the day ticket if the baliff came round but as it was late in the afternoon his beer money was safe. Even then I caught similar fish on a vitually identical 'rig'; a waggler locked with all the shot and then just a cube of meat on the hook.
My old Avonmaster rod revelled in the battle with the leather below that made several good runs before it came to the net. This rod is very enjoyable to fish with and I wonder how many other great fibreglass rods now sit in shed and attics unused. I am happy to help bring any back to life and put them to good use so all donations gratefully received.