What’s the first thing that comes into your mind when someone mentions Australia and carp fishing in the same sentence?
I’ll tell you something it won’t be and that’s boilies, the tackle shop down in Manly Vale would wonder what the heck I was talking about if I asked for boilies and I would probably have been sent packing back to the UK if I had tried to bring a few bags of the magic balls in with my luggage!
Most anglers know that carp are not particularly welcomed down under, in fact they are pretty much despised by most of the local fishos and in some states the law says you must kill any carp you catch. That’s all a bit different to the UK where the species is revered by some and provides the main quarry for the majority of anglers.
In New South Wales carp are currently listed as a Class 3 noxious species under the Fisheries Management Act 1994. Currently it is not illegal for recreational fishers to return carp to the water where they were captured, however, Industry and Investment NSW strongly encourages fishers to retain and utilise them, in plain speak that means use them for fertiliser!
Carp Outs, Carp Culls, Carp Kills, Carp Musters etc. – such events are all held in Australia. According to some, one of the benefits of these popular family attended events is that they introduce kids to fishing. They are also shown that the carp is an undesirable species that should be removed from rivers and lakes in the short term. It all sounds a bit too bloodthirsty for me but that’s how it is.
However I sense the mood is changing just a little, due in no small part to the expat community of carp anglers.
Paul Worsterling, the most recognisable face in Australian recreational fishing, and the man who presents the very popular fishing programme on television titled IFISH, has even visited the UK and made a programme showing how specimen carp fishing is practiced here. Carp as a proper quarry are included in the fishing books I have read in Oz and there now appears to be an understanding that ‘they are here to stay so let’s make the most of it’.
So as I say, carp have developed a following although some anglers are in complete denial!
As the fish is so prolific carp are also known as ‘Cod Lolly’, a major food source for that most iconic of Australian fish, the Murray cod. I’ve seen it written that they pop carp down like aspirin! The knock on effect of that is that the popular species like golden and silver perch are more plentiful! At least the Aussies understand that when you rejuvenate a species like the Murray cod into the Murray Darling system through breeding and stocking they have to be fed…
So now that I’ve given you just a little background information let’s take a trip down to the river and see just what carp fishing is all about, Aussie style. Well as done by a proper Norfolk carp man now domiciled in the land of plenty.
The drive from Seaforth to Richmond takes no more than an hour, it does help having the use of my daughter’s rather nice SUV, but then that’s only fair as I’ve spent the best part of six months helping out – and loving every single minute of it I have to say! The roadside signs along the highway are full of familiar names, Epping, Richmond, Liverpool and Windsor, it can play tricks with your mind, but it just confirms our strong ties with Australia – I wonder if it will still be that way in another hundred years?
As I arrive in Richmond, earlier than expected, I decide to pull into the ubiquitous McDonald’s car park and set myself up for the day with an Aussie Brekkie and I have to say it puts the old McMuffin into the shade!
I drove around to the station car park and twenty minutes later my good pal and guide for the day, Joe, arrived. It was good to see him again; a year had gone by since we last met for a fishing session. During that time Joe has been back to Norfolk and found he was totally surprised and bewildered by the UK carp fishing scene, he certainly has no regrets about leaving it all behind. His enthusiasm, and mine too, for the Aussie carp fishing had not diminished though and we were both eager to get started! I jumped into Joe’s vehicle and off we went to the farm where Joe has his own very private and secluded stretch of river all to himself.
As we drove down the track that leads to the water’s edge I couldn’t help but notice the two large vats which housed Joe’s secret weapon that the carp are simply unable to resist – maize! Each container held 150kg of the yellow grains, soaking in water with a couple of sachets of yeast added to accelerate the fermentation process. When the lid is removed the pong is something else but the process works, and Joe is quite happy with the finished product after it has been fermenting away for three weeks.
A dozen or so large scoops of maize were quickly fed into our swim and it wasn’t too long before the tell-tale bubbles on the surface told us that the carp had discovered the free food.
Joe had another trick up his sleeve, one that I had thought about many years ago when trying to come up with a more efficient way of getting hemp down on to the river bed for the barbel.
Basically this carp feeder device consists of a 1.5 metre length of 90mm plastic pipe with a 30 degree bend fitted on the end and a screwed cap on the top. This is attached to a length of scaffold tube which has been driven into the river bed. The pipe is then regularly filled with maize and Joe reckons it gets emptied by the feeding carp within a week, that’s about 10kg of maize. It certainly keeps the carp in the area, coming back for more, just as the birds do in any English garden once you get the feeders established.
Joe used to rely on the young chap who lives on the farm; he would top up the swim every few days with the scoop but since his attentions were diverted by more important matters – that means women – the pipe carp feeder has become the means for keeping the carp reasonably close by in what is a massive river.
Last time I fished this spot with Joe we were freelining very close to the bank but even though the carp would come in close to pick up the free offerings Joe has found that since the big floods last year the carp are happier picking up a baited hook just that little bit further out so now a small weight has been incorporated into the rig.
Joe prefers a very short hook link, no more than 75mm with an interesting hair arrangement as well, coming off the hook just below the eye. Hours spent just watching how these virgin carp react to rigs has led Joe to this set up and having got to know the man very well I’ve realised that he gets a great deal of satisfaction by tweaking what appear to be simple rigs to a state of perfection.
Keeping the hook point as sharp as possible is another key element in the equation and Joe religiously checks the hook after every retrieve, and it’s amazing to note how blunt the hook becomes after what would appear to be little use.
Another interesting trick and one I wanted to see incorporated into the rig because I will be using it in certain barbel fishing situations is the main line tag end where it is attached to the swivel. By taking the tag back through the bead and weight swivel it’s possible to determine whether you are getting liners or missed pick-ups. If it’s a liner the tag end will stay in place, if it’s a missed take the tag will come free and then you know you have to make the necessary rig adjustments. Very simple and something that will come in very handy in one or two of my favourite barbel swims.
The actual hook bait is a piece of artificial corn, Joe has found that its buoyancy keeps the hook in exactly the right position and the carp then have great difficulty in ejecting the hook once the bait is sucked in.
And he was right, half an hour was all it took before the first fish made a mistake and as the sun continued to beat down from a cloudless sky the beautiful golden body of an Aussie river carp rolled into the landing net and we were off and running.
Joe reckons the carp here could go up to 40lb, he is yet to land a thirty but he’s come close many times. Carp fishing ‘Aussie style’ is all about having fun, the weight of the fish almost irrelevant, although I have to admit I was hoping that a few twenties would pay us a visit during the afternoon; and that’s another thing, the sessions here are pretty short, not much more than seven hours’ fishing so while the thought process is serious the actual fishing is far from it!
The eight or nine fish I landed averaged out at around fifteen pounds, obviously a big shoal of similar sized fish had taken up residence for the afternoon, but it was tremendous fun, as close to barbel fishing as I’m going to get within a sensible drive from Sydney and it was a happy man who drove back along the highway, safe in the knowledge that I would be back with Joe in a fortnight’s time to give it another go, and hopefully connect with a twenty before returning to the UK.
While we were fishing we talked about many things and Joe came out with a comment that warrants repeating on here, he said that fishing is “how we express ourselves”. A very simple comment but a profound one, it really does cover the spectrum of how and why we do it. It also explains why there is such diverse opinion on what really is a pretty basic hobby!
After a two week spell of toil down on the beach I was back on the river. This time though I had taken out extra insurance by giving a few dollars to the guy who was collecting outside Maccy D’s for the Salvos – that’s the Salvation Army in English speak – and the Aussies are big supporters of this institution. As we started fishing, in exactly the same way as we had the last time, I was hoping my benevolence would reap some kind of dividend.
Having cast out it happened even quicker than on the previous visit; the buzzer rudely interrupted our conversation on the pros and cons of living down under and a nice carp fought hard for its freedom in the gentle flow. This time we knew we had a fish over twenty pounds and so it proved when 22lb 4oz registered on the big dial scales – a very nice start indeed.
And that wasn’t the only one; another fish of a similar size came along within half an hour and so the pattern for the afternoon emerged with another half dozen just a little smaller but great fun to catch falling for the fake corn, it made for a very pleasant day. My donation to the Sally Army had obviously done the trick and as we said our goodbyes I knew I would be back in the not too distant future for more river carping in great company.
I’m now back in the UK after spending a wonderful six months in Australia, struggling to acclimatise I have to say. The new river season is now under way and I’m as excited as anyone about the prospect of getting out there catching barbel once again. From what I’ve picked up it seems the barbel have been rather late in spawning this year so it’s worth bearing that in mind if you’re fishing the first couple of weeks.
The Barbel Society Show was rather good this year, I’ll tell you all about that and how my day on the Wye with Martin Salter went and lots more in my next diary.
Have a great season, see you soon.
