BREAKING THE 30 POUNDS CEILING – AT LAST!

CARP MATTERS

Our Field Journalist/News Editor/Layout Artist/ Protea and World Champion angler par excellence, Neville Foord, who retired from international angling competition at an age when others are still attempting to break into the international competitive arena, has for several months now been engaged in compiling a series for our sister publication, The Bank Angler/Die Oewerhengelaar exploring how traditional bank angling techniques (fondly termed “papgooi”) can be utilised to capture carp heavier than those fish which are targeted by competitive bank anglers, namely fish heavier than 2kg or 3kg but not heavier than 10kg. His exploits so far can be followed in that publication – it makes for interesting reading!

But now he has climbed up a massive level by employing specimen tactics to capture not one but two PB carp of more than 17kg at Hartbeespoort last month (August). His detailed account of his memorable catch is in the September issue of The Bank Angler/Die Oewerhengelaar – get it on our digital platform, www.foranglers.co.za.

But at The Carp Angler we have an interest in a more personal account, namely: what did he all have to experience and accomplish to break that almost mythical barrier of 30 pounds-plus?

It’s not an easy question to answer, and most probably everyone who has done so will have a slightly different journey, but the one golden thread that surely binds all such Specimen Anglers in such an exclusive club are the trials and tribulations that have to be overcome to achieve such a catch.

A new personal best fish that graced my landing net after a very tough and long time. This fish pulled the scales to a respected 15,2kg and at that moment I felt like I owned the world.

BREAKING THE 30 POUNDS CEILING – AT LAST!

With my international and local competitive angling career being fundamental to any angling I do, it can sometimes be difficult for me to change my way of thinking, especially when it comes to solely fishing for big carp. I find myself too easily targeting numbers of fish with big hits being on my mind, where instead I should back track and change my thought process to make sure I don’t rush into doing things that I have done so consistently for the past 15 years.

However the last couple of years I set myself new targets and I started exploring new horizons, I first wanted to catch big hits of carp bigger than the average size, and by average I mean 1kg to 4kg (tiny in carp fishing terms I know). I first wanted to familiarize myself and get used to the style of bigger fish angling, such as for example gearing up from light to heavier tackle – switching over from lines as thin as 0.08mm to using something like 0.55mm is like going from 0 to 100 in milliseconds. Also I’m used to hooking bloodworm on a #20 hook fishing for skimmer bream or roach, and now suddenly I’ll be using bait floss to attach 20mm boilies to a hair rig. The jump is remarkable and that’s the reason why I wanted to ease my way into this “new” style of angling I was about to pursue. Even if I take my bank angling into the equation the tackle used for it would also be considered “light” compared to what’s being used in carp fishing.

My International feeder fishing days in short. I had awesome times with brilliant anglers from all over the world. The spirit to keep on fighting no matter how hard it gets evolved over the years through competitive fishing and cemented itself into my angling brain. Nowadays when I look back at it, these times and experiences made me who I am today and keeps me going no matter what.