Good Morning!

Carp Italy was a fantastic event. It was held at a venue in Gonzaga and there was a really good turn out. Apart from myself, Frank Warwick, Ardy VeltKamp and Pete Castle were also in attendance and the Dynamite Bait’s stand was incredibly busy. The boilies proved very popular, so much in fact that the sample dishes had to be refilled every hour as the baits kept disappearing into people’s bags! The new Rod Hutchinson Peach and Mango boilie seemed very desirable as did Terry’s Banana Nut Crunch offering. The most popular pop up seemed to be the new violet/purple Mulberry flavoured beauty. People just could not keep their hands off these!!

The calm before the storm!

Mick, Myself and Pete Castle.

The smellathon began!

Such was the busy nature of the show I did not have time to actually walk round the whole event. There were several halls and many stands and simply hoards of people. It was great to catch up with some of the old and new Italian friends that I have made over the last two years fishing around Europe. I managed to do my bit for Trakker each day and their small display in the Big Fish section was very impressive. They had interpreters available and it was great to be able to talk freely to potential customers about the displayed products, without the obvious language barrier!

Ardy with the Rod Pod Experts!!

I did have a chance to catch up with my good friend Daniele Palillo at the Nick ’95 stand where they had a very nice selection from the range of Meccanica Vadese rod pods. I think these pods have to be one of the best in Europe/World for their quality engineering, stability, durability and weight, and fantastic looks, and I certainly look forward to using mine later in the year. Cheers Guys!!

On Tuesday I drove North to have a look at my next venue. I went with my friend Emmanuele and the plan was to find a swim that offered shallow and deep water and a place that fishes well in the spring. On arriving at the lake with my inflatable and a petrol outboard motor we were surprised to see that the 1800 acre lake was frozen over. The ice looked quite thick in places and there was no way we could launch the boat. It wasn’t a completely wasted exercise as it saved me a disappointing trip with all my equipment in a few days time. possibly have also found myself a very secure place to park my van and trailer when I am able to fish the lake in a couple of weeks time. Sometimes trying to find out information like this can save you valuable time in the future, rather than flapping and stressing after you have unloaded all your equipment and you then can’t find anywhere safe to park for the duration of your trip. I think there is nothing worse than fishing a long session when you are constantly worrying about whether your van is still there or it has a broken window from a vandal/thief.

Oh Dear!!

Fortunately I have a back-up plan!

I have decided that as a back-up I am going to go and fish the river Po for approximately ten days to a couple of weeks. The plan is to leave after the weekend and drive the 3-400km required to reach the area I plan to fish. I spoke to a friend at Carp Italy who has been fishing there since the New Year and he has had some success taking carp to 21kg. I also asked him which he would rather fish at the moment, my frozen lake of choice or the Po…he laughed at me and said I was crazy and answered with the Po!!

The weather in Italy is still quite severe and more snow is forecast in this region in the next 24 hours. The Po is further south however and although this does not guarantee warmer weather at this time of year, it may be slightly more comfortable fishing conditions and there will certainly be more chance of banking a carp.

See you soon.

Jake and the dogs.