Kristof Cuderman makes it a 50lb+ carp from 8 different nations

30 May, 2013 | Carp | Articles | News

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Carp bagging machine Kristof Cuderman reached new heights this week when he caught his a 50lb to make it eight different countries where he has taken carp over that weight. The Dynamite backed angler achieved what was his ultimate goal in Italy catching a 72lb specimen on a lake called Parco del Brenta.

Read the astonishing story of his journey to eight nations here…..

By Krištof Cuderman

 

The beginning

I first held a fishing rod in my hands when I was just four years old. Ten years later, at the age of fourteen, I began to pursue modern carp fishing for the first time and before long it had taken over me and become a huge part of my life.

 

I caught my first big carp weighing 18kg in 2003. Then two years later I got to know one of the best carp anglers in the world and now my best fishing buddy – Emir Caro. He started to pass on his breath of knowledge and experience and before long I was starting to have more success and catching bigger carp.

 

By 2008 I had caught carp over 50lb (22,7kg) from 3 different countries including a 50lb+ carp from Slovenia, a record I would later beat. I realized then that I had the chance to set a record for catching 50lb carp from different countries. The next year I did everything possible to reach this goal. By joining the Dynamite Baits team my desire to achieve this goal increased and with their help my dream seemed even closer.

 

In May 2013, at the age of 25, I finally did it. 8 – 50lb+ carp from 8 different countries: Germany (2007; 50lb 3oz), Belgium (2008; 50lb 3oz), France (2010; 56lb 7oz), Croatia (2011; 52lb), Slovenia (2011; 67lb 7oz), Austria (2012; 75lb), Hungary (2012; 53lb 1oz) and Italy (2013; 71lb 2oz). I have caught more than one carp over 50lb in some of these countries but here’s just the biggest in each starting at the beginning.

 

Germany 2007 (50lb 3oz)

In 2007 I went on my first river carping session on the river Neckar with my friend Emir Caro. The river is known historically as an important transport route and the fishing there can be very unpredictable which is why I was so excited about this new challenge.

 

It was late October and the nature around me was painted in autumn colours as I drove by the river to get to my fishing station. Emir and I fed the spot before-hand in the hope of having more chance of landing a carp. We fed Squid & Octopus Hi-Attract boilies and only used 26mm as the river was full of barbel and chub. In fact that was all we caught for the next few days and there was no sign of carp.

 

A day later Emir caught his first carp of 16,8kg. This catch gave us hope that the carp had found our food. It was confirmed the next day when I also had my first river Neckar carp weighing 17,1kg.

 

My wishes came true on 7^th night when my alarm beeped on my left rod at 1 o’clock in the morning. My rig was put on the bottom of a shelf at a depth of four metres. My grip was very strong and so was the battle that followed. After fifteen minutes of hard fighting I saw a beautiful mirror carp. At the second attempt I managed to get him into the landing net. I put the carp on my unhooking mat and Emir immediately recognized it. The carp was called Parrot because of the shape of his mouth. The scales showed 22,8kg (50lb 3oz), and measured 104cm. This had been my first ever river carping trip and I was very happy to have managed a big river carp from this session.

 

Belgium 2008 (50lb 3oz)

On 20^th of September 2008 I began a 10 day fishing session in France. With my friend Rouven from Germany we agreed to go fishing at a well-known lake – Lac de Madine. Things didn’t go as planned as the lake was completely full when we got there. We checked out some other lakes in the area but couldn’t find anywhere suitable that was available so we decided to test our luck in Belgium.

 

We drove through Luxembourg to Belgium, a country well known for carp fishing with many good lakes and particularly ones holding big carp. After a long drive we came to a small 5 hectare lake. We knew there weren’t many carp in this lake but there are some really big ones.

 

The low number of carp, lots of weed in the water and plenty of natural carp food made the fishing even harder. Even strong rain and a long drive could not dampen my desire to fish. It went on to rain all seven days we fished. I took a little more time and carefully researched my fishing position and fed Dynamite Baits 26mm Monster Tiger Nut boilies convinced this micro location would bring me success.

 

The results of hard work showed the next night. I got a grip on my left rod at 3 o’clock in the morning. My alarm had beeped and I hurried to the rod. I grabbed it but the carp was already in the dense weed. I jumped into the boat and tried to free the fish and as I managed to do this I saw an amazing mirror in front of me. I knew that it was one of the biggest in the lake. Rouven was waiting for me on the shore to weigh the fish. The scales showed 22,8kg (50lb 3oz) and it was 103cm in length. It was a truly gorgeous fish! I lay back in my sleeping bag and fell to sleep with a smile on my face. The long drive, the stress and the hard work had paid off. This was one of my favourite catches.

 

France 2010 (56lb 7oz)

Rainbow Lake is one of the most well-known locations of carp fishing, located not far away from the town of Bordeaux. In the summer of 2010 my dreams came true during a seven day fishing session with Emir and Nermin Caro.

 

The temperatures were between 33 and 38 degrees Celsius which were not ideal for fishing. There was no shadow on peg 18 where Nermin and I were fishing so we spent a lot of time in the water cooling down. We had to keep an eye on our rods at all times as the carp had a habit of quickly finding trees under the water to hide in.

 

We didn’t catch anything the first day but come the second Nermin had some action. His carp weighed 15,8kg and it was great encouragement for the days that followed. Over the next few days we caught quite a few fish up to 21kg and on the 6^th day I finally caught what I was waiting for.

 

My alarm beeped and I quickly grabbed the rod, it was a tough fight but I won after half hour. I had caught a big mirror and was more than happy when the scales showed 25,7kg (56lb 7oz). The carp was caught on Robin Red® 20mm boilie in combination with a 15mm Fluro Pop-up. I had achieved this goal but one day I’d like to catch a carp over 30kg from this lake.

 

 

Croatia 2011 (52lb)

Carp fishing is very popular in Croatia, mainly due to three big lakes located there; lakes Zajarki, Finzula and Šumbar. I chose the lake Šumbar as the destination where I hoped to achieve my goal of a Croatian 50.

 

I visited the lake in September, it is 30 hectares big but the spots are taken all year round so it is very hard to get a free peg. The carp are constantly under pressure which makes it more difficult to trick them.

 

At the time I was testing Dynamites new GLM boilies and these were perfect for this lake. As it turned out my father and I had a lot of luck and we got one of the best positions on the lake. I grabbed my Spod rod and three hours of feeding began, I was sure that a big amount of good quality food would attract the carp.

 

The carp reacted quickly as I caught three carp weighing up to 16,4kg in the first night. I continued to land fish he next day the and on the second morning I caught what I was after – a mirror carp over the magical 50lb. This time the scales showed 23,6kg (52lb). Despite trying various bait combinations most of the carp were caught on GLM 20mm tipped with a Tutti Frutti & Pineapple pop-up. I put this down to the interesting colours. We caught a few more decent fish before the end of this trip and came home very happy and satisfied.

 

 

Slovenia 2011 (67lb 7oz)

Due to work commitments I could not go fishing abroad in autumn 2011 so I decided to fully dedicate myself to my hometown lake. This represented the only option of catching a carp after a day at work. The lake is 145 hectares and its deepest point is 32 metres. I have been fishing on that lake since 2003 and managed to catch most of its largest known inhabitants, some of them more than once. The biggest known carp in the lake is a common named Babyface. I have known this fish for a very long time and caught him before in 2007 and 2008 at 24,2kg and 24,4kg.

 

Three years later I saw him again. It was cold but a sunny autumn day. My girlfriend Marina and I were on one of our last days fishing that year. At half past three my new ACE I-3 alarm went off as the carp furiously began peeling off the line. I picked-up my rod and felt a strong opponent on the end of the line. It was more than half an hour before I could see the carp for the first time. I immediately recognized my old friend Babyface and was relieved when I had him in the landing net.

 

I wanted to weigh him but the scales I had with me only go up to 30kg and I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I phoned my father and my friend Srečko and they both came to the lake with another set of scales. The weighing showed 30,7kg (67lb 7oz), this meant that I had improved the lake’s record by over 500g.

 

We were all extremely happy, we took some photos and released the carp back into the lake. This time Babyface fell to a 26mm Spicy Peanut boilie tipped with 20mm Coconut Cream pop-up. Along with the boilies I fed a mixture of my favourite pellets including The Source pellets, Robin Red® pellets and Monster Tiger Nut pellets.

 

 

Austria 2012 (75lb)

In 2012 my friend Srečko and I had a dream fishing session on a lake in Austria in which we caught 24 carp over 20kg in only nine days. It all happened on an 8 hectare old gravel pit. At its deepest point it was 7 metres however the average depth is around 4 metres. Even though this lake is small it is known as a challenging location among fisherman as the carp behave very cautiously.

 

In the middle of September I came with my girlfriend Marina and friend Srečko to this lake for the 4^th time. This time my bait of choice was the Squid Liver & Black Pepper boilies and Spicy Crab & Garlic boilies. All nine days the weather was great with warm autumn temperatures and just the one storm in between.

 

The first night was absolutely amazing. I managed to catch four carp between 21,1kg and 23,3kg and Srečko also added another one of 21,6kg.

 

I could not have dreamt the result I’d have on my 3^rd day of fishing. I caught the biggest mirror in the lake (28,1kg) and the biggest common in the lake…both in the same day. Weighing the common was very exciting as I expected him to be a new record. I was right, the scales showed a new lake record weight and my personal best. It was exactly 34kg (75lb). I can’t describe how happy I was back then as one of my goals was to catch a carp over 70lb. I had been really close to reaching this goal twice before and now I’d finally made it.

 

The record carp was caught on Hi-Attract Spicy Crab & Garlic 20mm boilies combined with 15mm pop-up from the same range. I used a very strong ACE 35lb Camo Core Coated Hooklink.

 

Hungary 2012 (53lb 1oz)

In the month of November my friend Emir Caro and I went on a well-known private lake in Hungary. The water was already cold and our position was in the shallow part of the lake at a depth of between 2.6 and 2.8 metres. The lake gets deeper around 130 metres from the shore. I placed my rig onto a shelf as I thought this would improve my chances.

 

The seven day fishing session went by really fast and my biggest carp weighed 24,1kg (53lb 1oz). The carp was caught on The Source 20mm 50/50 Hookbait. In this session I used ACE Razorpoint hooks for the first time and I was thrilled with them.

 

 

Italy 2013 (71lb 2oz)

I achieved my ultimate goal in Italy in May on a lake called Parco del Brenta. The lake is 15 hectares and is located near the city of Padova. I’d heard about the gorgeous big carp in this lake and this convinced me to go there with my father and girlfriend Marina.

 

The carp were very active throughout all seven days we were there and we had a lot of fish. On the fourth day of fishing I caught the biggest common in the lake. The scales showed 32,3kg which was only 300g less than the carp’s weight seven months earlier. This carp couldn’t resist my Robin Red® 20mm boilie with a 15mm Robin Red® pop-up. ACE – BBP hooks and 35lb Camo Core Coated Hooklink proved to be excellent once again.

 

I would also like to thank the owner of the lake Antonio for his hospitality and great company during this trip.

 

Ending

I am very proud of this achievement; it took a lot of effort, time, hard work, dedication, patience and love of carp fishing. I wouldn’t trade all the good and bad moments for anything in the world. I also wouldn’t have achieved this without the help and support of my father and mother, my sister Marcela, girlfriend Marina and best friends Emir, Nermin and Srečko. I would like to thank them all.

 

Also special thanks go to the Dynamite Baits team for their amazing cooperation and support over the past few years. I would also like to thank ACE and all other people that have supported and helped me along my ten year path….