 DIOBAS
The View From the Cabin Porch Early evening July 23rd. Finally on site, and I have to say that in spite of the awesome task of trying to both find and connect with the Carp, first impression of this place is that it's almost magical. For the first time in many years I can honestly say that I'm actually looking forward to going fishing. The trip over went quite well apart from the poor service on board the plane. Main thing is that all of our tackle survived intact and all of our baits were allowed in despite some very tough but justified security. We arrived at the lake just before dusk, walked through the cabin into the porch and there it was ................, the reason we had travelled over 4000 miles. The cabin is situated down a comparatively narrow creek, quiet, calm and somehow full of promise. So much so that if I had to, I'd happily spend the three weeks here, without moving to the main channel whether there's any fish here or not. This place immediately has that effect on you. Unfortunately though I'm not here to just laze around with a 2litre bottle of Jack Daniels even though the price was cheap enough to make alcoholism an extremely viable prospect. If the Carp don't happen to be right on our doorstep, which to be frank is highly unlikely, we'll have to go look for them. For now it's a few hours sleep, more Jack Daniels, purely to be sociable of course, and then we can begin the task of unpacking all the gear before spending the day looking around, ... can't wait ! Sunday July 25th After two days l guess we are about ready to start fishing. There has been little point in rushing to the bankside, throwing baits in at random here would be a complete waste of time so just about everything has to be thought through and analysed in far greater detail. The whole place seems to be bursting with a wide variety of fish but, as yet, we have only had one or two fleeting glimpses of Carp and they were just a pound or so in weight. When you look at the pictures below you'll see the scale of the problem and as yet we have only seen less than 10% of the main lake let alone the endless creeks and bays. 
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| |  | | Crossing the main lake reminds me of the view from a channel ferry ! | |
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| |  | | Searching for Carp with binoculars is next to impossible. | |
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| |  | | Anyone know how to sea fish for Carp ? | |
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| |  | | First catch of the trip. My daughter lands a small channel Catfish | |
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| |  | | The numerous creeks seem a much better prospect. | |
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| |  | | Right outside the cabin but less than a few feet deep. | |
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| |  | | The creeks tend to stay calm most of the time but no sign of any Carp. | |
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| |  | | Lots of overhanging trees and debris around the banks make the margins very difficult. | |
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| |  | | Jugging results ! See below. | |
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The diversity of habitat here is quite remarkable. The Carp have an endless choice and according to what little information we have there appears to be some very distinct seasonal preferences. The creek that we've made our base is certainly full of fish but despite keeping a fairly constant watch doesn't seem to hold any Carp. Apparently they are only seen in the creeks during spring but no-one has reported seeing any spawning activity and whilst the seasonal theory has obvious appeal I cannot see any reason why the Carp would prefer the wild and turbulent main channel whatever the time of year. I am inclined to think that any locational preferences are due to water level variation rather than the seasons as there has to be far more food for the Carp in the creeks than the comparatively barren main channel. We have put a couple of rods out today to look for snags, contours etc but only connected with a couple of Blue Catfish in the 2lb range. I've a feeling that the Catfish will turn out to be our biggest problem as they are ferocious feeders and will eat almost anything. So, after some debate, we have decided to lightly bait an area in the Creek for a few days whilst roaming around trying to locate the Carp in the main channel ............ spread the odds a bit .......... and concentrate on our behavioural triggers and a few fruit recipes to try and deter the cats. Tomorrow we'll begin to fish seriously, can't wait ! Tuesday 27th Having had the baits in the water for around six hours I connected with the first Carp, despite having to continually try different baits to deter the Catfish that seem to eat almost anything. As yet we haven't tried the behavioural triggers as we don't have that many and are saving them until we know the larger Carp are present. The first Carp fell to a strawberry base mix in two feet of water close in to some overhanging trees on the far bank. It's around an 80metre cast and any breeze makes hitting the target difficult Only six pounds but it's a big relief to know that the creek outside our door does hold Carp. One of the problems is that there is so much feeding activity due to the large numbers of Catfish, various Sunfish, Shad, Bass etc that I can't as yet differentiate between them. The creek itself has a fairly flat bottom which, except for a narrow channel, averages just three feet deep and free of most hazards in open water but the margins are murderous. Groups of bubbles are common across the creek but when we cast to them all we get are Catfish. A second Carp screamed off with a strawberry boilie during the late afternoon and weighed in at 14lbs 3ozs. Both fish were well muscled, bronze commons and very strong. Heavy rain and thunderstorms finished off the rest of the day with no more Carp being caught. I can't explain how it felt to catch those first two Carp. So okay they were hardly big but having been told that the chances of finding any were pretty slim it was brilliant to connect so early into the trip. Takes the pressure off I guess. Now we can concentrate on learning more about them and locating the bigger fish Tonight, courtesy of our host Larry, we are going 'jugging'. A weird food gathering ritual that involves the use of 15 or so plastic containers, 1 gallon milk jugs, coke bottles etc, and an expedition on the boat in the pitch dark to catch Catfish. Should be fun ............ I think. The not so ancient art of jugging. Requirements :- 15 plastic jugs rigged with 5ft of line, a small ledger and 1 or 2 hooks baited with chunks of fish plus plenty of canned beer and Bourbon. Method :- Bait the hooks and sling out the jugs. Drink beer or Bourbon. Float around a little and then search for the jugs that have spread all over the state of Carolina and Virginia with a powerful spot lamp. Drink more beer and Bourbon. Once a jug is located watch to see if it's zooming around in a weird manner. If it is you charge after it in the boat, net the jug, grab it then net the fish. All in the pitch dark. Essentially you must then drink more beer or Bourbon. This can carry on for many hours until either you've caught enough Catfish to stock the freezer or you've drunk enough beer and Bourbon to not give a shit anyway ! Thursday 29th The last two days have been a bit frustrating. Un-seasonal thunderstorms and torrential rain seem to have confused most of the lakes inhabitants and there have been no more Carp. I can't help thinking that, despite the weather, I haven't fished particularly well and could have missed Carp that should have been caught. I haven't actually seen any but as this place is so difficult to read I'm sure that with a better knowledge of the environment here I could have got better results. This morning, after yet another thunderstorm, the whole creek was different. The water level has risen around 6" and the usual patterns of fish movements had completely changed. The place has a kind of nervous feel about it that's difficult to describe. The Catfish however are still hungry and appear to be unaffected. There have been several aborted runs that may have been Carp but no serious takes. There is a dam at the end of the main reservoir and, according to several reports, large Carp have been seen over deep water. So we went to investigate but the dam gates were open and the flow was unbelievable. There are also huge rocks and boulders the size of trucks so it seems impossible to fish. Apparently the dam gates are unpredictable but when closed if may just be possible to cast a bait but quite how we could ever land a decent fish is beyond me. I think it's time to have a re-think and talk the whole thing through. As we come to the end of our first week it's clear that there is a lot to learn about this place. I guess that with all things considered the results have been reasonable, six Carp in total, but I'm sure we could do better. I personally have many trips all over the world under my belt, from Nile perch fishing to Muskies in Canada but there has always been some local knowledge to help. Here there is virtually nothing. A trip to the local tackle store earlier today was quite revealing. Hundreds of photo's of fish from Kerr lake including three species of Catfish, Gar, six varieties of Sunfish, Bass, Crappies, Pickerel and all sorts of other stuff including Drum but no Carp,.............. not one photo. It might be a good idea to take a break for a few days and start a fresh after the weekend, maybe try for some of the other species as this place really is an anglers paradise. Trouble is I really want to get to grips with the big Carp and trying to connect with them is becoming a consuming passion. Friday 30th Spent most of the day scanning the creek with binoculars trying to understand the place better. The bubbles and general movements are very difficult to read especially with so many types of fish prowling about and the gasses escaping from the margin debris. Saw two small snakes swimming around too. Incidentally, we will be publishing a separate section on anything that we have found that needs some care, snakes, spiders etc as well as travel arrangements, restrictions, costs and stuff. One thing our own Environment Agency should take note of is the way the local wildlife agency runs its operation. The fishing license costs just $30 per year, that's around 18 pounds, and you can use as many rods as you like ! What's more is that there are plenty of rangers and 93% of the money raised goes back into the environment. There are on-going studies, regular stocking programs and full species and diversity monitoring on a comparatively massive scale. It shows too. This place is an anglers dream with so many species in abundance, it would be fun to come back another time and try to catch every type of species here. For now though it's the Carp causing the problem ............... no sign of any again today. The rods were only out for a few hours but we did keep a careful watch and didn't see anything that could be confirmed as Carp. A weekends break is due I think, maybe try a few other species. It's easy to get trapped by a kind of mental block that has a way of blinding you to the obvious. Talk again later.
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