Good Evening.

I am sat on my bedchair with the rumble of aeroplanes in the distance and the pitter patter of rain on my shelter. The lake I am now fishing at is typically British by all accounts; small in size, an interesting shape, plenty of features, and overhanging bushes and trees surrounding the edges. The tiny pool is about 3-4 acres and the clarity of the water is simply out of this world. While out in the boat earlier I was peering down to the lakebed from a depth of 20 feet. It is like looking into an aquarium. The pond itself holds a head of approximately one hundred carp and the biggest is said to be around the 18-20kg mark. I am not going to beat any personal bests here but I am fishing and to be quite frank that was all I wanted to do – I needed my fix! I have till Sunday to try and catch a carp and I am also joined for a couple of nights by my Italian friend Nicholas Holzer. Nicholas caught a 25.5 kg common from another water not too far from here on Saturday evening, and he is still clearly buzzing from the capture. He tempted the super carp on one of Dynamite Bait’s new range: the Rod Hutchinson Peach and Mango with Maplecream boilie. The lake in question has many large carp swimming in it and hopefully I might get the chance to fish at it before I leave Italy.

It has been raining all day since I left my base at 8.30am this morning. I had a drive of 73km to a meeting point and then we drove the short distance to the lake. It is in the middle of nowhere really and set in mature woodland. There are two small lakes in the complex, one is public, the other is private; after a mutual decision we chose to fish the public lake. My tactics here are fairly straightforward and I have picked four different depths to begin with, from 30 to six feet, and I am using single 20mm pop ups with size 4 Kurvs 360 style. I have chosen a 25lb flurocarbon as my hooklink, so it blends in with the lakebed, and it is quite a sight to peer down from the boat and see your pop up wafting on the coral like bottom. The depth seems quite deceiving when you can see the lakebed clearly from the boat. I thought the depth was about ten foot and it was in fact 18. My pop up looked like a bright pin head! Incidentally, the water temperature is a healthy 5-6 degrees.

One of the nice aspects of this little water is the access. Our vehicles are parked behind our bivvies and as another bonus, we are the only people fishing. Fortunately I have also managed to pick up an internet connection so the blog will be written for the next few days. I am now shattered and it is time for bed, unless of course I get woken during the night by the welcome sound of my ATT.

Cheers

Jake and the dogs.