Hakkemosen

In the suburb area of Copenhagen, lies this small green oasis. It has through time, been a target for a little bit of everything.
My first memory from Hakkemosen, is a fishing-trip along with my class, in the first school-years.
Back home at afternoon, I could proudly display 3 stinking trophy Roach.
During loud protest from my otherwise patient mother, they ended up in the garbage.

The population: Several associations/unions, have over time been involved in the fishing. “ISK/Ishøj Sportfishing Club” got fishing-rights since 2012.
In 1980-90s, a few releases of fish-fry from Pikes and eels were made.
These have been supplemented with carps of various sizes and origins.
After turn of the millennium, I think this lake stock only had carps added.

Fishing for Pike, Perch, Bream and Crucian-Carp is slow. Most of these specie’s stock, are simply removed by people of doubtful character. Besides that, this old 6m deep gravel-pit, contain some serious Tench and monster eels.

The carp-fishing is not the easiest thing. Large areas are covered in weed, which makes fishing difficult. At the same time, it provides the loved ones with a lot of food and place to hide.
Largest carp that housed Hakkemosen is “Fat One/The ball” it topped at 16-17kg. For the last three years, I haven’t heard of fish above 14kg. But who know what’s hiding, in a deep green forest under the surface.

Pressured nature: I lived close to the lake since 2013. When weather allows, the area is frequently used by a lot of people. Anglers, family walks, Dog walks and various pick-nick gatherings, is a big bite to swallow for this little nature-gem.
My angling in Hakkemosen, are usually planed to a weekday. It starts a few hours before sunrise, and ends before noon. Peace and quiet have the clear advantage in this period of time. With a little preparation up for such a morning-trip, it’s expected to rap 1-3 carps in the net.

Below the rod tip: Sunday morning, is a good time for a walk round the lake. I can then have a chat, with those spending the weekend behind their rods. These carps seen everything. If there’s a lot of anglers at lake-side, the fish gets very restrained. After a busy weekend, you will be able to experience the carp’s activity-level steadily increasing. During Sunday, just like morning-dew, lines and hooks disappears. In the coming days, all feeding-spots can be cleared out in good order.

Many birds can make it difficult to bait up effectively. Eurasian Coots, dive without problems 4-5m to the bottom. Since small, they had boilies and particles on the menu. You can only dry your eyes, when they greedily clean it all up.
With a little luck, I can get around bird problems, by feeding in the gloom darkness of night. No other curious eyes, are watching at this time either.

For the most part, I prepare short-distance with 2 rods. It intensifies the fishing a whole lot, when everything unfolds close-up. Once a spot is picked, I usually feed about 1kg boilies/particles for each tackle. The bait is well spread, so the carps have to mussel before it’s cleaned out completely.
3 days later, I supplement with 0.5kg on each rod. This is added late in the evening, just before start of trip next morning. Before sunrise, the gear is un-packed.
To avoid disturbance, is this done at an appropriate distance from chosen spot. A minimum of gear is carefully prepared, and the tackles are laid at first light.

I wait for the first take, without any baiting at all.
If a fish takes off, a handful will be supplied when the tackle gets bag in place.

It rarely takes long, before a carp is on the matt.
But Hakkemosen got its moods, and it will happen I turn for home with unresolved matter.
The approach had paid off in some nice fish, and the most memorable has to be
“The Beak/The Parrot 14kg+” and
“Fat One/The Ball 16kg+”.
Both target-fish were outwitted, less than 10m from the rod-tip.

September 2019: One obvious hot-spot for the carps, is the point on a long and narrow strip of reed-forest, placed in the lakes middle. It is located on top of steep slopes, that falls towards the deepest area in the lake at 6m.
In late august, I met a guy who had chosen this spot to target. A big spomb, feed in large quantities throughout the weekend, with nothing noticeable being caught.
It seemed like a perfect time, to drop by later in the week. At some point, carps will shove on this well-covered food-table.

4 days after food-rain stopped, there were clear signs of activity. A small gathering of carps, had found themselves feeding confidently. That evening, I throw in 1kg home-rolled boilies with a spomb. Then the bait wouldn’t be completely foreign, when I’ll start the session tomorrow morning.
Even later same evening, 2 anglers arrived at the lake. They also were interested in the reed-forest-point. To lure the carps, a prober amount of feed hits the bottom hard. Next 3 days they caught a few nice fish, but none of them falls at the narrow reed-forest.

Tuesday 3 September 2019: There had been bait on site for 9 days. The weather-forecast for coming days, promised a nice mix of sun, rain and light wind.

During the season, it had only become a single trip to Hakkemosen. It should be interesting, to see the result, of this massive feeding-campaign.
Early morning 2 tackles are baited with a sinking 18mm boilie on each.

Two 100g leads, lands only 3m apart at the foot of the slope. In case of a take, there would still be one tackle fishing. A very effective tactic, to squeeze the maximum from an active spot. 5 small Breams, two 2.5kg Tench and a 5kg common, were caught before noon. After each bite, the feeding was supplemented with 2 small spombs of boilies/tiger-nuts.

Wednesday morning, the hook-bait was replaced with a 22mm sinking, to keep some of the small-fish from interfering. Two 9kg+ mirror-carps got banked.
Convinced that better fishing would appear, I decided to give it one more shot.

Thursday, after just 20min a 6.2kg mirror came out. Rest of the day was hectic, with 7 more carps on the bank. 4 of these exceeded 10kg, and they topped with a 13.5kg mirror. The activity ranged from dawn till dusk, when I turned home the spot was still containing active carps.

2 weeks later, I had 3 quick morning-trips in a row. The lake delivered four 6-8kg commons, and a 10+ mirror.
The 16 carps caught on these 6 day-trips, represent a fine average of what to expect, when the bite-alarm calls in Hakkemosen.

Martin Stormly 2020