Good Evening.
I am very tired and not much sleep was had last night. I actually retired to bed quite early after a great homemade soup was made by my rival angler! I drifted off to sleep and was woken by a drop back on a rod placed on the top of a hard hump in 2.3m. I wound down and could feel a kick. The usual drill took place and I was accompanied by Danilo in the Bandiga. On reaching the spot the carp had slipped the hook. Oh well…you win some you lose some!
On returning to the bank and after downing a quick decaf coffee, I retired to bed again. I made a comment to my friend that we could be in for a busy night? No sooner had the words left my mouth, one of his rods beeped and the tip arched a little. A second later another one of his rods ripped off. We took a rod each and off we went again in the boat. Danilo’s line on the rod that he was holding suddenly went slack – the hook had pulled! I carried on with his other rod (I said it is a friendly competition!) and a common of about 4kg was netted. His final rod sparked into life back on the bank and now we had to return to shore in double quick time!
After a quick landing net swap and hopping back into the boat we were off again. I steered and controlled the motor as he reeled in the line as we quickly neared the hooked carp. I mentioned Danilo had run out of boilies and the hookbait was a 26mm Mussel and Oyster beauty – go Dynamite Baits! The commentary was relentlessly carried on by Danilo as he played the carp. “I think possibly a good fish. I don’t know. Perhaps?” Now I should point out here that Danilo’s landing net has more holes in it than a sieve, and I am not talking about the mesh. It needs replacing and doesn’t open properly. It is an embarrassment to landing nets. I was in charge of netting the common and after about four attempts (it kept swimming out of the hole in the side mesh as the carp was so long!), and much laughter and complaining from the Italian; the carp was finally subdued and impounded. A lovely looking fish and so far the biggest of the competition at 11.8kg.
Biggest Fish of the competition...wait and see!!
I took some night-time shots immediately and then it was my turn for the final run of the mad half-hour. A seven kilo common was my reward and my bigger baits were starting to catch a better stamp of carp. Our camp now resembled a bomb-shell and Danilo had three rods to replace and I had just the one, as I had redropped my first rod after the initial start to the crazy proceedings. The moon was full and the sky was bright. The temperature was very mild and we figured the action was going to continue. The interesting thing was the fact that the action came from a very wide area indeed and whether something triggered the fish into a sudden feeding frenzy; I just don’t know.
What a setting for sleepless nights!
Nothing else occurred surprisingly for the rest of the night but I could not sleep as I expected a run at any moment. It did happen eventually but not until 7am in the morning. An eight kilo carp was responsible this time and it was a classic Nanocarp. This is the name we have given the odd-looking carp with the big heads and funny proportioned bodies. They fight very hard and until you see it is in fact a Nanocarp, you are often misled into thinking you have something a lot bigger on the end of your line!
The species known as the Nanocarp!!
I redropped the rod immediately after the capture, and after an agonising hour wait, I had another run from the same spot. A very hard fighting carp was pulling for all its worth and this one really did go some. A long beautiful carp appeared fifty yards past my marker and although its power did not match its size, it was a fight that made me grin for the whole duration.
Dawn breaks on a stunning Italian lake.
A carp called Andrex...strong and very very long!
We have had daytime action for the past few days but nothing has happened today. I am actually glad, as Danilo has nipped home to get his boilie supply and even though the mood is jovial and the competition is light-hearted, I don’t want to catch when he isn’t here. I need to see the look on his face as I get closer to his total weight!!!
I have spent the day writing diary pieces for Sonik and Trakker and tying rigs. No sleep unfortunately as there was work to be done. My rods have been dropped on their spots and I am expecting a night with more battles against these super carp. I think there is a very good chance that one of us might land something special in the next few days, but you will have to keep reading to find out.
The results after day two are as follows: with six carp and a weight of 49kg is the Italian man aka Danilo, and with five carp and a weight of 30kg is the Brit they call Jake!
Return tomorrow won’t you!
Cheers
Jake and the dogs!
