Gran Canaria Carping.

 Gran Canaria Carping - Part One 

Here is my fist account of many for my new and very exciting excursion on Gran Canarias Lake Chira. I had done a bit of work experience for Kevin Nash at Nash HQ it was great spending a lot of time with some good characters and also making some good friends. I had been informed there was a chance of a young apprentice to go out to the Canaries and help out Dave and Alison Beecham for a few weeks. I fired off my CV and got an instantaneous response which lets be honest, on the phone I was shocked and speechless, what a great experience to add something like this to my portfolio, not many people my age can say they've done something like this, if your still young get on as many trips abroad because when you have a full family, you have various restraints, or even come out and fish with us for a couple of days?

 

I make way to the canaries after a lot of preparation. I got dropped off at Stansted by my parents and boarded the flight at 14:00hrs to arrive at Las Palmas Airport around 18:40hrs.

With backing from Nash Tackle, my parents and my sponsoring bait company, I set out with a few goals in mind, try and see how many fish I can catch to try and create a good new scrap book of captures. I also would like to catch 5 fish over 30lb. It may not seem like a challenge but its a safe goal to go for before setting a new challenge. This sort of fishing is new to me, big hooks, big leads loads of bait and one thing I love using.... A boat to get the rods out. I have gone fully gunned up with updated end tackle and even braided mainline instead of mono or fluorocarbon. This is because I require the abrasion resistance because of rocks and various other hazards. 

I had done a bit of research and followed catch reports and lets say its fishing really well at the moment, the fish that are being caught are all different fish, one thing that people haven't come to terms with is that these are all wild carp and have been stocked hundreds of years ago specially in the right climate to grow as well, a fast metabolism means the fish can really divulge in to numerous feasts making them far from difficult to catch. Im not saying I'm fishing it because its far from difficult, I'm fishing it as these places don't really get approached nowhere near as much as many fisheries in France and other european countries. One thing that I love about this lake is that there are a whole host of stunning fish, proper apple slice mirrors and the very rare and by rare I mean like rocking horse .. I won't go into that one but the commons are few and far between compared to the mirrors, maybe that's another challenge to catch one of the lakes resident big commons? Who knows what may happen..! 

My flight landed at Las Palmas airport to be greeted by David Beecham, we went straight back to his apartment where I met his wife Alison and son Joe, I spent the night at their apartment so I can get settled in and have a bit of a chat over a few tinnies and a lovely spaghetti bolognese. 

The next days clients arrived 4 anglers, 2 fishing the day and 2 fishing the night, everything was going well after having a chat with them, one rod had rocketed off which was a small apple sliced mirror, then merely seconds after he'd got that fish in the net, a young lad called dan had a fiery take resulting in a 17lb mirror, absolute stunner this one, the rods were soon back out and more bait spread around it, both fish came to different presentations, 2x20mm boilies and 2 tiger nuts. 

The rigs being used are 18 inches of 35lb Nash Missing Link Braid in Gravel, a size 4 Fang Twister hook tied on with a 7-9 turn knotless knot with a 2 cm gap between the bend of the hook and the hookbait this is coupled with a fluorocarbon leader with a 5oz Lead on a safety bolt bead. How simple can it get, these rigs are as complicated as it goes really, no need for hinged stiff rigs, choddys anything like that, it can be used but it won't bring any more bites than these particular setups. When being dropped from a boat, everything lays out right and set for the fish to come and pick it up, half a dozen balls of a really smelly fermented munga is all it takes to draw the fish in. 

Tigers still are the best bait on the market, there isn't a fish that
doesn't like them.

Later on that afternoon, one of the night fisherman had an absolute roaring take whilst we were stood talking about the lake and all things fishing(how good can it get?) he hooked into a more powerful fish than what was hooked earlier on in the day it went 20lb exactly on the scales such a stunning fish. 

Later on that very evening, just as the sun was going down, we moved the rods in closer and I even braved getting in the boat and lowering the rigs down also putting out a few big balls of munga to interest the fish when they move in closer. The odd snapping turtles head popping out and the squawking of the wild life is all that can be heard as well as the odd barking house dog. Lying reading a magazine with a can made it easier to settle down for the evening and let's just say I despise the smell of mozzi repellent! Lets see what the morning brings. 

Finally a chance to do a bit of spinning for these bass, a small spinning rod with a small sinking lure did the job. Fishing off a small rock casting to a small bed of weed was where a majority of the bites came from, I managed to catch 7 Bass to 8-10oz which was good for a first attempt. 

2x20mm Hookbaits basic as you like but it works!

A couple of carp rods were also left out until the evening before I get my head down for a couple of hours ready for tomorrow's clients, using the basic rigs explained above with tigers and a bit of ground bait type mix to try and entice a bite before I head off. It is around 25-28 degrees out here again today but the fish are being a bit picky and not really getting on the munch at all at the moment, I'll give it a couple of hours and see what the rest of the afternoon/evening brings. 

Just as I'm having a bit of a snooze, the rod on the long spot goes into absolute meltdown, even the smaller fish in here fight just as hard as the bigger fish, the fish kited towards a big boulder in the water, but a bit of steady pressure steers the fish away, it surges off one last time and soon the wily double figure common sits in the folds of the landing net, first fish on the tally, only a low double but its a fish. This fish was taken on double tiger nuts on the Size 4 Nash Fang Twister hooks. This was one of 2 commons I have seen out of a couple of fish this week. 

What a day, as I lay writing this, I have the rods out and bang on a spodded area which I piled in before I went for some dinner with Dave and Alison, one of the guys on for the day managed 2 fish but to my shock, chatting to a very nice guy from Cornwall(my families neck of the woods) he had given me a €10 tip, it brings a tear to my eye, we were  chatting about all things fishing and life, I could have spoken to him for hours, if your reading this now mate, many thanks! 

Just as I'm laying reading the rotary letter and an article about Pringles pool in this months carpology, our 24hr visitor had a lovely looking mirror nestling in the net, out she came, unhooked and pictures taken, she looked stunning a good upper double 19lb maybe a scraper 20lber. I buzz back round to my rods and hear some proper kippers jump, a couple over my spot lets hope something gets rocking during the night, it's good I have a buzz to bag a fish albeit I had one yesterday afternoon!

Had this stunning common before packing away, absolute torpedo.

After a fruitless night turned out to be a real head banger, no fish during the night for the reason that I have been done over by the turtles, they are just as much of a pain as the Crays back in England but what can you do, after chilling out for the day and sinking a pucka tuna steak, at €4 you really can't go wrong it was lovely! Freshly caught off of one of the boats that go off the coast here in Puerto Rico. From talking to Dave, the turtles don't tend to go down into the deeper water so where we have placed 4 rods for tonight they won't stand a chance of getting hold of the baits, I really can't explain how good the surroundings are and how stunning the lake is although losing a bit of water or have I already mentioned? Anyway, this experience has added a whole new angle on my own fishing, why sit there fishing for fish with names? Don't get me wrong fishing on a lake to target a fish isn't wrong or anything like that, what interests me more is unknown stocking, and also an unknown average, lets just see what happens, I'm sure you understand the point I'm trying to put across. 

Look at that for a 30lber!

After a long chat that evening it's time for some kip, Dave was soon awoken at 23:35 to a belting run off of one of his rods with 3x20mm boilies which were dipped in a really potent glug, that fish was 24-25lb one of the many pretty scaley fish that reside in these depths. As I was half in a doze able to hear everything going on around me, I am awoken at 1am to a toner on one of the rods, I latch into a fish that doesn't feel like no pasty! Cranking the fish in from the long spot which is 120/130 yards, she's plodding around in the margins and in the net she goes, she's soon unhooked, again on the 3x20mm baits, your probably thinking why so many? We're trying to pick up the bigger fish and that's exactly what we have achieved, this fish is most definitely around the 30lb mark for sure! She's in the sack for some pictures in the morning as we're off at first light, typing this I can't say how happy I am to finally land a unit of a fish, this fishes mouth is like the size of a small orange it was huge, it made the triple 20 millers look like a 10 miller in its mouth. Happy days! 

 

Keep An Eye Out For Part 2!

Be Lucky, Ross.

A better shot of her, lovely fish full of energy!