CarpQuest – S1E30 – Pikeview Carp Fishing – A great pair of fat twenties!

I have been working nights/swings since getting back from my Utah vacation and I could not believe it had been a month since I last went fishing. I finally managed to get some time in my hectic schedule to once again venture to the shores of my local lake, Pikeview Reservoir. Sunday morning I had planned to meet up with one of the “Carp Crew” here and get some lines out. Sadly he had to bail at the last minute and I almost stayed in bed – as it turned out, I am glad I didn’t.

Last week the temps overnight were down into the mid/low-20’s and we had our first snow Friday morning. I had checked the weather reports and Sunday morning at least would be sunny with temps getting up towards 50. I arrived at the lake and was setting up just after first light, around 7am in my “usual” spot. The water level was down slightly which was surprising given the torrential flooding we have had in and around the area the past month. Thankfully the choking weeds appeared to be dying back – a good thing as I had lost a couple of real nice fish to their green clutches earlier in the season.

As I had the “spot” to myself I was able to get both lines out – when fishing with a partner here there really is only room to get a rod out apiece fishing and with the 30 deg sloped bank, it’s not the best of spots to setup with all the gear. I was armed with my steadfast panko/oats pack though today I went with the K1 Baits giant fruit corn/peach flavored as hookbait. I had some of the K1 leftover from my Utah trip and wanted to see if the Pikeview carp found it appealing. I also wanted to try a different hookbait as I am pretty sure the carp here have become accustomed to my usual sweet corn, or big-bobs mussel corn and have become wary of it.

Lines were out by 7:30 and I sat back to enjoy the morning. I literally had the whole place to myself. Very peaceful. I had a few tentative knocks on both rods after perhaps 30 minutes and one very short fast run – likely the resident trout chomping down on the pack. Around 9am it was time to get stuck into my coffee supplies, after all, I had been up all night and much caffeine is required to keep me awake – also, I am a coffee addict, must have my coffee !

So, I am pouring some of the brown wake-up juice from my thermos into the mug when off screams the left hand rod. Jumping with surprise I promptly poured hot steaming coffee all over myself, trousers, hands, feet – coffee everywhere ! Tossing the mug aside I grabbed the rod and hooked into a fine fish. I could tell right away she was a beauty, line ripping off against the drag as the fish kited a good 50 yards left-right across the lake. After her initial run I slowly brought her in. She made one last run about 10 yards from the shore then in the net she went. Lifting her from the water I knew I had gotten one of the Pikeview beasts that lurk in those waters. Oh Yes ! She was a long fish, between 33.5 to 34″ and clocked in on the scale at 22 lbs and 12 oz. My best common carp from Pikeview this year.

What I did not realize, until I got home, was that final fish was my 100th carp of the year !

After this session was filmed my camcorder literally died, pieces falling out of the magazine slot. I thought this episode was lost forever. I was, once you see the film, gutted for sure! Luckily this year I as able to acquire another Mini-DV camcorder and retrieve the footage, get it edited and uploaded for view.

I am now a “Happy Man” !

Tight-Lines
John
CarpQuest