The last day of October dawned cold and clear and this fish screamed off at 8 am giving me a right workout. I was standing about 300 yards down the bank chatting to a French fisherman when the distant whine of an alarm finally reached my ear. After a flatout sprint (at 2400 feet of altitude your on your knees I assure you) I reached the rod just as the last 50 yards or so of backing were peeling off. The fish must have taken 150 yards in one long powerful continous run.
I jumped straight in the boat, wheezing and feeling sick from the sprint and tried to get the backing line, only 10lbs mono to get me extra distance, back on the spool. It wasnt till I hit the reliable green of 18lbs Nash bullet that I felt I could give the fish any stick.
Anyway it put up a hell of a fight considering it had already taken so much line and I happily slipped the net under a beautiful 34lbs common carp, built like a dustpan lid.
I think this is a German strain of common - can anyone enlighten me?
Ishmael Morocco Carps head boat man with a 28lbs fully scaled
This slightly deformed fish fell to 4 grains of maize fished over the back of the old river bed at around 350 meters from the bank. Its Ishmaels second fish this month and he is really getting the hang of Carp fishing. He won the fish of the month competition in August with a fine 32 lbs common and he is now experimenting with different baits and getting the hang of the sonar.
Ishmael pulled it out the bag when it was needed when we had the pleasure of a group of 40 school children and their hard working teachers from the Casablanca American international school. A local exchange with a school just down the road was made and many of the local bigwigs attended, I think it was a real eye opener for the children from both sides and they ended their day with a tree planting ceremony.
The children also got the chance to see how we fish for Carp and it was this fine 28lbs common that Ishmael managed to land just as the kids arrived at our camp.
The carp gods also shone for me with this beautiful 36lbs mirror
The students get up close with a big mirror
The best bit was that the kids got to see the Carp returned unharmed and with respect.
