Good Evening.

No more fish to report unfortunately, but the work rate is being continued and will be till the end of the session. Yesterday I decided to have a little move around with some of the rods. I think as the water temp is around the 4-5 degree mark it is a case of finding the fish and not waiting for the carp to come to me. The last few nights have been very cold indeed, and as carp are cold blooded creatures, I see little reason why they would want to travel long distances to search for food; instead I am sure they would rather conserve what energy they have. For this train of thought I have decided to try new positions for a few days, primarily focussing on the shallow bay area and I will also play with one rod in deeper water.

I was about to write last night’s post when a friend arrived. He had obviously seen the previous day’s blog with the arrival of cakes and wanted to go one better. A bottle of Chianti and some fine Parma ham was enjoyed infront of the fire for a few hours, and as Parma ham is one of my favourite foods it would have been very rude to decline the offer! You did not miss anything yesterday, as the day was spent moving the rods around as I have already said, and while the water was calm this morning I went to have a look at my spots using my polaroids.

There are many tree stumps and other large branches in the bay that obviously find their way in during the floods from the river. I do think I need a couple of mild nights to bring some fish back into the bay as the last few nights since the capture have been very quiet. My hump spots in the plateau area have not produced at all, and even though changing the single pop ups stopped the chub captures, I have decided that shallow features in deep water might not be the answer at the moment. If the weather changed and it rained very hard for a few days and this bought lots of water into the lake via the river, then I think these spots would work better as the dirty water would pass over them. Ultimately it is still winter and the challenge of catching still remains tough. I do think the shallow bay might yet turn up a surprise in the next few days though. When I checked my spots today I noticed much of the bait remained on the bottom. I don’t mind seeing this as I just think it means the carp haven’t arrived yet. Smaller fish probably take the odd boilie depending on their numbers, and when you have been completely cleaned out I do then think the carp are responsible, especially when just your hook bait remains like the other day!

I now have to keep my motivation levels high and keep fighting for that one special carp. I have experienced times like this before on sessions when you can’t be bothered to redo your rods in the evening as they are already in the water. You somehow muster up the enthuisiasm and do it and then sometimes you are rewarded for your efforts with a big fish. You look back and realise that little bit of extra effort caught you that carp. Sometimes to catch that certain carp you have to soldier on regardless, however bleak it sometimes appears. I want to add that I am still full of positivity and I do think another carp is on the cards soon.

I wrote my Korda diary piece yesterday morning whilst sitting in the morning sunshine. I am limited to 1575 words with Korda’s diary layout and just seven pictures. It is quite a challenge sometimes to write such a short piece for a month’s fishing and picking seven pictures from hundreds takes some careful selection. I also used my Skype yesterday to call Sonik in the UK. My connection in Italy using my internet stick is actually fantastic and more reliable than my French one. My calls using a headset are crystal clear and it saves a fortune on mobile bills. I have mentioned this before but check out Skype if you don’t know it. For 4 Euros you get 10,000 minutes to landlines in 22 countries – what a bargain!

It is already getting cold as I write this sat by my fire. The past few nights have seen a thick frost on everything in the morning and my socks are still not quite dry! I am now going to prepare myself for another evening’s listening and watching, my evening meal will have to be thought about, and my fire will have to be fed too!

Cheers for now.

Jake and the dogs.