Angling Lines Blog

Dave and the Molyneux lake record catfish of 45lb

There has been two lake record catfish caught at Molyneux this August.

The first was a 41lb cat caught from swim 5 and whilst waiting for the photos a 45lb cat fish was caught from the cabin swim by Dave on a Baitcraft T1.

Another great article from Andrew at Molyneux;

So you’ve just caught your personal best, you know how to use the camera but now it’s time to pick the fish up.

1. Control the carp on the mat, if the fish is playing up then keep it in the sling and lift it off the mat so it has nothing to kick against, let the carp calm down before you try to take a picture. Don’t hold the carp out as far as you can in order to make the carp look big, a big carp looks big because it is big! Holding the carp out as far as you can gives you no control if it decides to play up. The best way to hold the fish is to keep your elbow bent, if the carp starts to tense up which usually happens before it start to act up simply allow the carp to roll back on to your fore-arms whilst you bend over the carp and place it back on the mat. Holding the carp out can also give the camera a hard time, it doesn’t know what to focus in on, the carp or the angler. This can lead to the carp or the angler being slightly out of focus and the picture not as sharp as it should be.

2. Hold the carp correctly, don‘t wrap your arms around it. Your strongest arm and hand, usually your right if right handed, should hold the head end which is the heaviest. The hand should be under the carp with the pectoral fin grasped between the index and middle finger, pay attention to the gills you don‘t want your fingers going into the gills as you could do the carp some real damage. The left hand should be holding the carp down near the anal fin. If the fish is very heavy and you find you’re wobbling then use your knees to support your elbows and in turn the carp.

3. Keep the carp low to the mat at all times. You should never drop a carp as you can do a lot of damage, sometimes the carp can appear fine but is damaged internally. If you do drop a carp then a thickly padded mat and from a low height is going to cause least damage. When taking the carp back to the water don’t carry it back but transport it back in the sling.

4. Keep the carp damp during the photo shoot. Before the carp is placed on the mat the mat should be damped down, this helps to prevent the carp losing mucus and particularly in summer if you’ve left the mat in the sun water will cool the mat down. Keep the carp damp whilst taking the pictures, it helps keep the gills damp, calms the fish and has it looking it best for the pictures. Don’t pour water directly into the gills, the gills are delicate and can be damaged by doing this particularly as water doesn’t normally flow in that direction over the gills.

5. Use clinic or something similar. It the least you can do after catching a carp is to make sure it goes back as healthily as possible. A bit of clinic on all wounds including the hook mark in the mouth can help prevent infections. Just apply the clinic after you have taken the pictures as a big yellow mark on the fish from clinic doesn’t look the best.

Andrew @ Molyneux

Great photo of Paul Cooper with a Molyneux mirror

A really useful article from Andrew at Molyneux;

After all the time and effort we anglers put in to catching carp I do find the quality of some of the trophy shots surprising, after all it’s all we have to remember the capture of a personal best. Taking a photo with a modern digital camera isn’t difficult even at night as long as you follow a few simple rules.

1. Get everything ready before you catch, it stops you having to rush around in a blind panic to find things. Have the mat on a nice flat surface along with a bucket of water to hand to keep the fish damp. I tend to have another empty bucket in which I keep my clinic, scales and forceps, that way I know where everything is.

2. Chose a nice background. A bad background can ruin an otherwise good trophy shot and a good background can make a shot even more special. You’ll need to pay particular attention to the background at night, a solid background allows the flash to rebound providing more light for the camera.

3. Learn the settings on the camera. There are lots of settings on modern cameras and it’s worth playing around with them in different light conditions to see which gives the best results. The auto setting is the most useful but sometimes night mode will give a better picture in low light conditions. Having the flash on even during the day can enhance the colours of the fish and make the shot better, I tend to take pictures with the flash and without, I see which is better and delete the ones I don’t want.

4. Probably the best tip, fill the photo with the fish and angler. A photo which is all background with the angler and carp somewhere in the middle doesn’t make a good trophy shot and equally a photo in which the anglers head is missing or the carp’s tail has been cut off isn’t a good trophy shot either. I don’t tend to use the view finder anymore, I tend to view the picture via the display on the back of the camera.

5. Allow the camera to focus. On most modern digital auto focus cameras to get the best results half push the shutter button, this allows the camera to focus on the shot. Once the camera has focused push the button all the way down and the camera will take the shot.

6. Position of the camera. Have the person holding the camera straight on to the carp with the camera roughly at the same height as the middle of the carp – this will give good pictures time after time. You can make the fish appear longer and deeper by positioning the camera slightly off centre and lower towards the ground, although be careful as if you position the camera too low or too far off centre it will ruin the photo.

All the best, Andrew @ Molyneux

A good 30 from Molyneux

There’s no doubt that Molyneux has produced a very high average size of carp this year.  The latest catch by Mr Napolitano proves the point;

18 carp to 33.08, including 5 x 30s, 3 x 29′s and 2 x 28′s with only 3 under 23lb.

It’s quite clear that many of the mid 20′s have pushed on this year which is testament to the intensive feeding program Andrew the owner has introduced.

A cracking 40.04 mirror from Molyneux

As I left the gates of Etang Molyneux in March 2007, having fished through temperatures ranging from 1 degree to 18 degrees in the same week, I hoped that I would once again get the opportunity to visit this beautiful and picturesque lake under better conditions… but it was not until June of 2010 that this opportunity came along.

Pat Gillet and myself arrived at the lake on the Saturday morning and once again received a warm welcome from Andrew, the lake owner. The temperature was well into the high 20’s and the lakes flora was in full bloom. The banks were now richly matured and spectacular with tall weeping willows surrounding the lake.
The forecast for the week was for mixed weather with temperatures ranging from 30C to 18C and thunder storms coming in from the West on the Sunday…. click here to read more