Good Evening.

Well it has been another tough week at Gigantica and the end result was my one fish. I could have left the rods in all morning and considering ‘Tree Line’ bite time was shortly arriving; it was tempting! However, Tim, Steve and Joan had already packed up and it was important that I said my farewells before they left. November can be a difficult time of year and although we had the weather, certainly at the start of the week, the fish failed to respond and it does seem that they are slowly shutting up shop. There are still quite a few bookings through till Christmas from a few hardy carpers and I wish you all the best. Fish can still be caught and I hope you prove that by the time you leave.

One for the photo album!!

The wind did really pick up last night and the temperatures certainly dropped a few degrees. Poor Steve and Joan have been in the Alamo all week and have had their door shut for most of the week. The winds have been hitting them head on as opposed to my swim, where the wind blew straight over me. It was quite pleasant where I was camped out for the week! My final view of the rods this morning through the slit in my bivvy door (I just had one side zipped down) was worthy of a picture as daylight slowly arrived. The next time I stare at my rods will be at an Italian lake and I can’t wait to bring you that shot too!

A picture with a difference...

This just leaves the big sort out to do now. A pallet of bait arrives on Monday which I will then need to cram into the converted floor of my van. I won’t talk about or mention what bait I have chosen for my trip; I shall leave that for Italy once I am set up. I have also received a final winter 5.11 product from Edgar Brothers Outdoor which will certainly keep me warm and dry, and that is a new jacket called the Agressor Parka. I have several great jackets in my vast range of clothing and as an angler who is faced with some brutal elements from time to time, it is always good to have plenty of spares in reserve. I remember fishing American Beach at Cassien last December when it was pouring with rain for days. I was literally wearing four or five different jackets every day and drying them out in rotation in the back of my van. Believe me, you need spares!

I have found in the past with some supposedly good clothing that it just does not cut the mustard when it comes to keeping out the cold and wet. For example I was once given a jacket called the Raptor and it was the worst jacket I have ever worn. It worked more like a sponge and was really disappointing. I always give an honest opinion of anything I am asked to test/try out and wherever possible I will evaluate the product for improvements so the manufacturer can hopefully get it right. Another fine example is the 5.11 Urban boots I was given to use. As a boot they are fantastically comfortable and in warm weather they don’t make your feet hot due to CoolMax technology. However, for putting on quickly in the event of a take, they were not good. The solution for this problem was to use the Advance or the ATAC boots with the zips in the side and for a boot for carp anglers, I would definitely recommend these over the Urban boot.

I am now going to go and sleep in my bivvy tonight for the last time in France. I will pack up my kit tomorrow and then get started on having a good clean of my gear and start getting it into some sort of order. My inflatable needs to be deflated and rolled up which will then sit inside my other boat on the trailer. Packing is just the start of my trip and I look forward to completing that first challenge that lays ahead.

Be back over the weekend.

Jake and the dogs.

Tags: 5.11, american beach, cassien, Edgar Brothers Outdoor, jake langley-hobbs

This entry was posted on November 27, 2009 at 9:42 pm and is filed under Gigantica. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.