5 FAVOURITE CAPTURES

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R O Y VA N G O O R

FAVOURITE CAPTURES Roy is an accomplished angler, so sorting out his top five favourite fish has been much harder than he thought. He’s managed it though, so read on …

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Five Favourite Captures by Roy Von Goor

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n a cold night in February I was going through my emails; one of them was from Carpworld’s Nigel Banks, who gave me some good news about an article I had sent in. He was planning to use it in the March edition of International Carper. Great news!

But after reading on there was a second surprise he wanted to talk about. He asked if I would do an article on my five favourite captures. I hesitated (only for a second or two!) then agreed to do it.

I emailed him back that I’d get on with it and would get back to him when I got it down on paper. This shouldn’t be too hard. Right? Well, how wrong can a man be? Thinking back to which fish would deserve a place in my top five, so many good stories came to mind and I really struggled to choose the five that meant the most to me.

For me, every capture is special but, like every angler, there’s always a couple of fish that make a memory to keep talking about again and again.

Sometimes it’s due to the size of the fish, or the way it evaded getting caught, or simply the looks of a certain fish that made it a special capture. I managed to select five that mean a lot to me, and probably a lot of readers will recognize some of the elements that led to the captures of these five magnificent fish.

1

The Big Belly Mirror

Etang Laroussi is situated in the Le Mans area of France, about an hour’s drive from Paris.

It’s one of the nicest commercial venues I have fished and is the home of some breathtaking carp. At the time (in 2008), it already had a very impressive stock of carp up to 60lb in weight. In the shower block there is a wall with pictures of captures and one of them was a very big-framed fish with an enormous belly, which was named The Big Belly Mirror, for obvious reasons.

Two friends and I were booked on the lake for a week in May 2008. The draw was at 1.00 p.m. and it is always an exciting moment. I had fished the lake on two occasions before, and had my heart set on a swim called Le Anse. I had fished that swim twice on previous occasions, so I knew what to expect.

The numbers went into a bucket and everybody took a number out. Luck was on my side, because the drawn ticket allowed me first choice of swim.

Getting everything sorted didn’t take long and around 5.00 that evening all the traps were set. Two rods went out on the big plateau that was a good 70yd cast. The plateau had only 4ft of

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Five Favourite Captures by Roy Von Goor

water on top and 10ft around it. The third rod was placed to the left-hand margin where the most takes came from on my previous sessions. During those sessions nothing happened until the Sunday afternoon, so it would be interesting to see what this year’s scenario would be. It was not a big surprise when I opened my eyes in the morning and found the bobbins in the same position as when I left them the evening before. After breakfast and a nice brew I decided to recast the two plateau rods. The fluorocarbon IQ hooklinks, armed with Korda Wide Gapes in Size 8 went back on the spots with some new hookbaits attached. I hadn’t baited up the evening before when casting out the rods, just a stringer with three boilies.

This was purely down to the fact that on these kind of fisheries you never know what the person before you put in, and if there is one thing I don’t do it’s put extra bait in while there is still plenty left. I decided to put around 30 freebies around each rig to boost the confidence a bit after recasting the rods. A north wind started to pick up and made me feel a bit uncomfortable, so I decided to turn my umbrella a bit

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“I LOOKED OVER THE UMBRELLA TO SEE THE LEFT-HAND ROD IN A DANGEROUS CURVE, THE BOBBIN DANCING AGAINST THE DELKIM” so I had my back against the wind.

The time passed slowly and with the sun shining and warming me up underneath the umbrella, I started to fall asleep. I don’t know how long I had my eyes closed, but some kind of noise caught my attention. I looked over the umbrella to see the left-hand rod in a dangerous curve, the bobbin dancing against the Delkim and the spool spinning like mad. After picking up the rod I realised I had forgotten to turn on the alarm. It’s a good thing my old Tournament 6000s make a lot of noise when the spool starts spinning.

The fish was already a long way out and

ABOVE The Sunday morning, after a quiet night where nothing had happened.

LEFT My favourite rig components for open water fishing: Korda IQ 15lb, a Wide Gape Size 8 and some sinkers to pin it all down.

Now you know why she’s called The Big Belly Mirror!

BELOW

ploughing around at full speed. It took a good 20 minutes to gain control over the hard-fighting fish and at that point I was sure one of the massive sturgeons was attached to the other end. I finally got to the point where the fish was just swimming up and down in front of my feet and it just felt like it was attached to the bottom. I kept telling myself that it couldn’t be a carp, and decided to increase the pressure on the fish.

Still convinced it was a sturgeon, which require landing by hand, I got myself in position close to the water’s edge. Slowly, the prehistoric monster started to come up from the depths. The first sign was a big white spot coming up, but that spot kept getting bigger and finally made me realise that it wasn’t a sturgeon on the other end but a carp.

The clutch was set looser because this was a fish I certainly didn’t want to lose. By the second time it came up, the net was underneath it and it was in. The decision was made to cut the main line to make lifting the fish a bit easier. Finally, I managed to get the fish onto the mat and it was then I realised what I had caught. Knowing most of the bigger residents it could only be one fish – The Big Belly Mirror. All the commotion in my swim drew the attention of my friends and together we weighed and photographed this stunning creature. The scales settled on 57lb and at that time this was my PB. After releasing the big girl I had two more fish, weighing 37lb and 42lb, the same afternoon, making it a very memorable afternoon’s fishing, catching a 30, a 40 and a 50 in a few hours.

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In 2010, I concentrated on a large river system around my hometown. It’s a huge amount of water and the fish can be literally anywhere. The main body of this large water system is the mighty River Meuse, but there are numerous gravel pits with feeder canals that join the main river.

Fishing can be very rewarding, but also very frustrating at times. The fish can be anywhere and are hard to locate.

One year they can be found in one of the gravel pits, the next year the same area seems to be completely dead.

One of the most memorable captures was a fish I named The Nomad. It must have been around the end of July when I was fishing one of the large gravel pits.

There was a massive weedbed in a shallow bay and a lot of fish had gathered there to enjoy the sunny days. The weed was so thick that fishing in it was not an option because it would mean losing any fish instantly. I needed to find the edge of the weedbed where there was a good possibility of presenting a bait and still having a good chance of banking one without too many problems. I found some nice clean areas and started baiting up for a few days to give the fish some confidence in my bait.

The first sessions I had were very productive, resulting in four fish in a short

ABOVE Looking out over a windswept gravel pit.

The Nomad in all her glory.

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Releasing the big girl back to her home. Where will she show up next time?!

INSET

four-hour session and catching two and losing one in the second session. The third session was already coming to an end and hadn’t produced a take yet. This was strange, because I could still see some fish moving around on top of the weedbed. I walked up to that area and after standing there for a few minutes without spotting any fish, I walked back to my rods. As I approached the rods I noticed that the right-hand bobbin was tight against the alarm. This could have been caused by weed drifting in my lines, but after picking up the rod I noticed the angle of the line was completely different to where the rig was placed. It must have been a take and somehow the sounder box hadn’t signalled it. I pulled the rod in a dangerous curve to see if there was any movement, but without result. I then assumed the fish

must have gone straight into the weedbed and had managed to shed the hook. I increased the tension a bit more to see if there would be any response. Suddenly, I felt a firm thump on the rod tip. It was still on! I decided to keep the tension on the fish to get it moving again. Slowly, the clutch was giving line and I could see a fish turning at the surface just on the edge of the weedbed. It came free and it wasn’t long before I could get my landing net underneath the big bowl of weed with the fish inside it, but getting it on the unhooking mat was a different story.

It was impossible to lift due to the weight of the weed. I went in and managed to remove most of the weed.

That’s when I finally had a closer look at my prize. A big mirror with a significant yellow eye and dark flanks was weighed and settled at 44lb 4oz. I called my girlfriend to take some pictures and soon the creature was released back in his home.

That fish was the highlight of my summer period on that particular pit.

Later on in the year I recognised the fish in a photo album from another angler; he caught it at least 15km away from where I had it. He also told me two other anglers caught the same fish, once from the river and on another occasion from a different gravel pit to where I had it. It seems to be a real nomad and it will be nice to see where it turns up next.

Five Favourite Captures by Roy Von Goor

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The Nomad

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The First 40

It was the last week of February 2006 when I decided to do my first session of the year.

After buying some new rods and reels I really needed to get these out and get back on the banks. There was a small gravel pit close to my home, which I had never fished before. I did walk around it a couple of times in the summer and had even seen a small carp jump, so I knew there was at least one fish in there! However, for some reason I never bothered to give it a proper chance. My thoughts were that it was a good option to do an early-season session because of the smaller size. Having said that, my confidence wasn’t high after arriving on the bank and I started to prepare the rods.

I cast the first rod and catapulted a few freebies around it. The indicator was attached and the alarm turned on. Just as I was about to get out the second rod, a few bleeps sounded from the alarm on the first rod. I looked at it and I could see the bobbin just twitching a bit, dropping a few inches and rising again.

‘Damn bream’ were my first thoughts.

I walked down to the rod and, feeling a bit annoyed, I picked up the rod and started to play the fish. Something was on, but the resistance was so small that I had the fish in front of my feet in less then a minute. I knelt down

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The Perfect Linear

A few times each year I fish abroad. Most sessions are fished in France, but occasionally it’s Belgium where I fish. One lake has had my attention for several years, but even being on the banks for sessions that have lasted for more than a week, results have been very poor.

The lake itself is around 80 acres and the bottom is very diverse. Some areas are very deep and flat, while other sections are shallow with a lot of bars and plateaux.

The size of the fish population is hard to estimate, but I think the stock level is very low. Night fishing isn’t allowed and because there are always people around, it’s hard to hide and not get caught.

In October 2009 I was fishing a swim in the middle of the woods that gave me a good view over most of the lake. I was already in my fifth day of a seven-day session and I’d had no action at all. I was

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in the water to unhook what I still thought was a bream, when suddenly a big head came up. At this point the fish finally seemed to realise what was going on. One angry carp then turned and sped off, leaving me standing there in disbelief at what just happened.

“God, that was massive!” I said to myself whilst playing the fish.

I managed to get control again and got it back to the same point where we’d been a few minutes before. While searching

just making myself some coffee when I saw a fish crashing out near the opposite bank.

I knew that particular area was shallow and there were some plateaux where the fish showed. Then a second fish came out, so I reeled in my rods and walked round to take a closer look at the area. I watched the lake for a few hours and saw a couple more fish show. I decided to bait up a bit and give it a go in the early

You never know what’s going to pick up your hookbait! I thought it was a bream.

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for my landing net I realised I had just made the big mistake that happens to everybody at some stage in their fishing career – the net was still in the holdall!

With the rod between my legs I somehow managed to get the arms in place and land the fish. ‘That will smash my PB’, were my thoughts after looking at the size and build of the fish. The verdict was 45lb 1oz . This shows that you never know what’s going to pick up your hookbait, and surprises are still there to be caught.

“I WAS JUST MAKING MYSELF SOME COFFEE WHEN I SAW A FISH CRASHING OUT NEAR THE OPPOSITE BANK” In all her beauty, the dark chocolate colour linear was a fish I’ll always remember.

CUTOUT

hours of the next morning.

Around 0430 I had three rigs in place, two were fished with boilies whilst the third I fished with some tiger nuts over hemp. It was still dark when the tiger nut rod bleeped a few times. I jumped up and the clutch started to give line and the alarm started singing. I instantly noticed my opponent wasn’t a massive fish, but after two blank sessions this was very welcome, whatever it was. After landing it and turning my headtorch onto the flanks of the fish I was stunned by the beauty of this creature. It was a perfect linear with a dark chocolate colour. Never before had I seen a fish that looked as perfect as this one. I sacked the fish for a few hours to wait until daylight to take some pictures. The weight was only just above 20lb but with it being my first fish from this rock-hard water and the impression it made on me, it had to be in my top five list. I managed to catch the same fish last year in September, but three years on it had only gained 200gm in weight.

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The last fish I have selected for this feature is a real warrior. I found out about it some time in the ’90s, when I was still a teenager. I was told about this fish by more experienced anglers, who told me how they targeted it. It was, and still is, the biggest mirror in a lake that’s situated in a small forest.

On one flank she had a scale pattern that looked like a half moon – and that’s where her name came from. The anglers showed me pictures of it and, at that time it weighed around 36lb and looked huge.

In 2005 it was my turn to make a serious attempt to catch this fabulous creature.

I fished the lake hard and caught most of the fish in it, including Half Moon.

The night I banked her it was getting dark and time to pack up, but just before reeling in, the rod was away and I was fighting what proved to be Half Moon.

After landing the fish it was dark and there were no other anglers in sight. There was no other option but to let her go after making a poor attempt at a self-take picture. Sacking the old girl was not an option and as I released her I watched her swim off into the depths of the lake.

In the summer of 2009, when a friend of mine was fishing that particular lake, and after visiting him a few times, I decided to fish it again for the remainder of the season. Again, luck was on my side, and I started to catch my fair share of fish. Tactics that worked in the past still

did the job and I used a short braided hooklink with Size 8 hook in combination with a Snowman presentation over a bed of particles and some freebies. In the back of my mind I often thought about Half Moon, but she seemed to have become very hard to catch and she wasn’t seen for more than a year.

It must have been some time towards the end of September that my boss said I could be spared from work and I planned a week’s fishing. The conditions were spot on, a strong southwest wind, bit of rain, cloudy. Due to the lake not being open for overnighters, fishing it outside the weekends was a big advantage.

Often the place was completely empty on working days, which made it a bit easier to trick the wary carp. I had already caught commons up to 41lb that week and things were really going well. I could fish the same spot every day without anybody noticing me catching fish and I knew that if there was a chance of catching her again it would be this week.

At 10.15 on the Friday morning, the bobbin went up in a flash and stayed there.

After playing the fish for 15 minutes I could tell it was a good one; it stayed deep and just circled under the rod tip. Trying to catch a glimpse of my opponent, I put some more pressure on it and slowly the dark flank of a big mirror broke surface, confirming my thoughts. It was Half Moon I was playing! A few breathtaking moments later the fish was safely in my

Five Favourite Captures by Roy Von Goor

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Half Moon

ABOVE Beds of particles work well for me and it was no exception when I caught Half Moon.

The large half moon-shaped scale on the side gave the fish its name.

BELOW

net. After I carefully removed the hook and weighed her at 41lb 2oz, for a short period she was placed in the weigh sling and I called one of my friends. While waiting for him to get to the lake I just stood there with this magnificent fish in my weigh sling. After the photos, she was released, leaving me the happiest man in the world at that moment.

I hope you enjoyed my five favourite captures and I must admit, it was a hard task to select five carp out of the many I’ve had in my fishing career. I am sure, when you think about your favourite captures, you will have had similar experiences. This is what makes fishing for carp the most exciting and satisfying hobby in the world!

Tight lines. IC

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