These boats are incredibly fast, powered by V6 engines these craft can cover wide areas looking for fish.	Dawn with yet another storm on the horizon and the fish could be anywhere.	Two of eight Stripers ........... not what we came here to catch but good fun none the less.
Fishing for these with deadbaits on very light line is an experience I personally would not want to have missed, and a great change from Carp.	A typical Bass boat with of course sonar and a dozen or so rods, livebait compartments complete with filters and airation plus iced fish boxes.	Jeff and two of his three kids. It was a great few hours fishing and I personally am really grateful to him for a memorable trip.

It was a great mornings fishing, stripers peel off line at an alarming rate with 60 to 70 yard runs that just don't stop when you hit the reel. What made it all the more enjoyable is that I had the two biggest fish of the day as well as two others that filled my allowable quota of four fish before returning to base at tingling speed. With so many species here it would be easy to forget the Carp which are infinitely more difficult to both locate and catch. I must say a really big thanks to Jeff, his knowledge of the lake and his ability to pinpoint the stripers was the sole reason we all had such a great few hours. Lets hope he comes over to the UK sometime and perhaps I can return the compliment.............................. Thanks Jeff.

Tomorrow it's back to the task of finding the bigger Carp although I must admit that, as yet, we haven't spotted any signs. I think that at least the various feeding patters are beginning to make sense although the differences are subtle. Unfortunately there has been one thunderstorm after the other with intermittent heavy rain that makes any detailed observations even more difficult. Understanding the movements of the various species is obviously just as important and it will help a great deal if this un-seasonal weather would settle into a calmer pattern. There is also a a tropical storm, the first of the year, just off the coast which is winding itself up alarmingly. The weather people issued flash flood warnings for tonight and the storm, named Alex, is due to hit land in the North Carolina area later this week so things aren't looking good for the next few days at least.

As predicted, the Catfish will add to the problem as they are even beginning to devour the strawberry boilies, as well as corn and just about everything else. Over the weekend we spent some time preparing peanuts, boiled complete in their shells until almost too soft to hair rig and then rolled in yeast powder. It's a recipe we've used many times in Europe with reasonable success so at some point during the week we'll give it a try. A guy at the local tackle store was amazed by the whole principle of hair rigging ............... he said  " Hell, no wonder it's so Goddam hard to catch the mothers, you ain't even put the friggin bait on the hook !"   Much explanation followed but it was to little effect. The general consensus of opinion is that Carp anglers are in need of therapy. When I asked the guy if he'd ever tried to catch Carp he replied  " Hell no .......... they taste like shit ".  Judging by the nods of agreement from everyone else present it was obvious that to pursue the issue was a little pointless. He did however wish us luck whilst muttering under his breath, " Goddam weirdo's, no wonder they ain't got no empire nomore "

Perhaps he has a point.

Tuesday 3rd August

Tropical storm Alex has been upgraded to Alex the hurricane and although the centre is well off-shore the peripheral effect is being felt here, it was quite a wild night with frequent bursts of torrential rain. The creek has risen another few inches and has turned a kind of brown clay colour. We have had a number of requests for more information on the tackle being used so at the risk of boring the non-technical anglers I'll give a brief description. As everyone knows, the choice of tackle in the UK is endless but when you fish for a living and the tackle has to cope with the most extreme conditions all over the world the choice becomes far less. Above all the gear has to be reliable and very versatile to cope with so many different species so I'll briefly run through my own. It is important to stress that as a company we do not have any product loyalties or obligations so we rely on experience only. If individual items work well we use them.  No tackle manufacturer gets everything right so any overall blind loyalty to a particular brand is pointless anyway.

My main three rods are unbranded 13ft carbon, two piece, with Kevlar inner and over-wraps, 2.5lb test fitted with Fuji ceramic rings and reel seats. They would cost around two thousand pounds each to replace but they are worth every penny. I know that six grand for three rods sounds excessive but they really do have to cope with more than it's reasonable to expect any rod to deal with. They are very flexible but with superb progressive power that has handled any fish they've had to deal with. The reels are modified Shimano 8010's with very precise ceramic clutches on both the main and baitrunner drags. The spools are from the later series, carbon with stainless steel leading rims. Line is usually Soft Steel at 8lb test or Big Game if I need 10lb which gives a capacity of about 320 yards per spool. I've landed some very big fish with this set up and do not believe that stronger line is really necessary except on vary rare occasions. Leaders vary and of course there's the occasional need for traces. I never use trebles of any sort whatever the species and of course all hooks are barbless, usually Starpoints.    Alarms are Fox micro's which have coped with some atrocious weather without ever failing so although they are a little worse for wear I see no need to upgrade or replace them. Electronic enabled swingers finish the main set up and the whole lot rests on a reinforced pod, again one of the Fox products that has been modified. The only spares I carry are bail arm assemblies, rings and a Kevlar repair kit.

The rest of the peripheral stuff is too varied to go in to and most of it is home made but the above should answer most enquiries. If you need specific info on rigs and stuff just drop me a line via any of the e-mail addresses on the 'contact us' page or via my laptop : steve@mobileone.fsworld.co.uk  and I'll do my best to answer.

In view of the conditions I doubt there will be any point in fishing today, we'll see how it goes. It will be the 5th day that the rods have been idle, at least for Carp, and time is running out. Lets hope things improve soon.

Wednesday 4th

Much better day in terms of weather, we actually had a full session without any rain !
The temperature was in the high 90's and the water itself was an amazing 83f and like a mirror. Not much was moving around except of course the catfish. I personally had 17, mostly in the 2 to 3lb range with one really fat double late in the day which took me completely by surprise. As for Carp, only 3 were caught and of no real size with the biggest at around 8lb. We threw everything we had at the catfish today from peanuts to marshmallows and they took everything with alarming speed. Much of the time the baits were taken before the rod could be set on the pod. The whole thing is a bit exasperating in the creek, the Carp just don't stand a chance of finding the baits before the catfish gobble them up.

One thing I am certain about is that the Carp here are harder to catch than any I have fished for all over the world. So nervous and wary. I guess it's due to the sheer volume of predators here. For a Carp to survive to the 10lb+ stage must be nothing short of a miracle. Apart from the various species of bass, ferocious catfish, gar and pike etc there are large numbers of Buzzards, huge blue Herons and even the odd Bald Eagle to cope with.  Living amongst that lot would make anything nervous !!! Even gently rowing along the margins with just a single oar is enough to spook small Carp from 60 yards away.

The view from the pod. Full of promise ....... and full of catfish !	Typical of these wonderfully clean and powerful Carp	Broad and very muscular they are a delight to catch	Some of the smaller Carp have a very deep shape.

Tomorrow is supposed to be stormy again, we'll see. What we need is a really settled spell of weather but until then things are mostly trial and error. The calm weather today has helped in many ways particularly with regards to being able to see every movement. I think we are almost at the point where we can finally put our own baits in the water. As they are fished singularly the location is obviously the key factor, throwing them in at random would be completely pointless hence the need to understand as much as possible about all aspects of the environment here. But there is still so much we just don't know and we haven't seen any sign of the larger Carp being present. We'll have to decide soon about whether to change location.

Thursday 5th

The expected storm has arrived so today is pretty much a write off.  There is good weather on the way according to the experts, maybe from Friday right through to the middle of next week. Fingers crossed.

Week Three and final analysis will go live on October 9th.

 DIOBAS

WELCOME

ABOUT US 

SERVICES

LAKE RELATED

SURVEYS

DESIGN

MANAGEMENT

RESTORATION

RESTORATION CONTINUED

ANGLING

CARP

AMERICAN CARP TRIP

BAITS

BOILIES

RESEARCH

PERCH

TACTICS

REWARD/CEFAS

CEFAS RESPONSE

PUBLICATIONS

INTERNATIONAL SPECIMEN HUNTERS ASSOCIATION

ON-LINE ISHA MEMBERSHIP FORM

OPPORTUNITIES

FOR SALE

SPECIMEN FISH FOR SALE

FAQs SECTION

FISH SALES & LEASE OPTIONS

NEW & EXISTING LAKES

FINANCE

CONTACT US

FEEDBACK FORM

Supafish/Splash