I have probably just covered more miles in my van in the last week, than I did in the last eight months in Italy! I have literally driven the length and breadth of the UK, visiting a few of my sponsors to have meetings about the coming year, and to pick up some new products too. I even had a chance to wet a line for a couple of hours, so that was an added bonus, and the hardcore road trip all started last Tuesday.

I left Wiltshire with a short 150 mile drive to Sheffield. I had a meeting planned with Dynamite Baits the following day in Nottingham, so Martin Ford, and his lovely wife Caroline, put me up, once again, for the night. This makes three nights in the last year, and I may have to give them the vote for the best B & B in the North! Last time I stayed with MF we popped down to his local water to have a dabble. It proved unsuccessful. This time round we popped down to see if we could sneak one off the top. I had a slight chance after getting them cagily taking DB mixers of the top in the ripple, but once again we left without getting the net wet. Martin swears he catches every time he pops down for a couple of hours, so either I jinx him, or he is a liar!!

The following morning, and with my bait-sponsor meeting done and dusted, it was then time to clock up another 120 miles, and travel north-west to Lancaster, to stay with my good mate Matt Dent. Matt recently wrote a two-part Orellana piece for International Carper, and is someone I met at Cassien in 2008. After popping to a couple of rivers to check for salmon and sea trout – (he is an Environmental Agency worker), we nipped out for a few pints at his local, where I managed to persuade a George Formby impersonator to play “When I’m Cleaning Windows” at the weekly open-mic night. I had a very early start the following day as I had to drive east towards Northumberland where SONIK are based, so I got quite a shock when I noticed the time was 1.30am!

With four and a half hours sleep under my belt I left Lancaster and was soon driving across the top of the lake district before veering right and cutting cross-country towards Newcastle. I made good time covering the 130 miles and was in the north-east by 8ish. The Little Thief (Chef) breakfast went down well, and before I knew it I was sat having a coffee in the Blyth based company office belonging to SONIK. After discussing a few products with them and looking at some new things in the pipeline, I left armed with some new rods, including the SK3 2.5lb tc carp rods, and a 9ft 2.5lb tc margin rod. The SK3′s are perfect for close range snag fishing of which I am a big fan, and I look forward to using them as soon as possible.

If you remember reading my early blog chapters about Cassien in 2009 when I fished at Aviron, you might recall a female came to visit me for a week. Well…it just so happens that Heidi, the shower girl, lives in Newcastle, so I figured it would be rude not to look her up, and a wise decision it was!

The following morning dawned, quicker than I would have liked, and I was back on the road again, heading 150 miles down the A1/M1 towards Sheffield. I had a meeting organised with Trakker, and I was keen to see how the pictures for the catalogue had come out – very well as it turns out! I picked up some new products whilst I was there, and within thirty minutes I was back on the road, covering the short 50 mile trip towards Nottingham.

I had some bait to pick up, so a healthy amount of the Fresh Fish, Mussel and Oyster boilies, were carefully loaded onto my van. I will use these on my way down to Spain, as I have a few waters in mind that I would like to fish before crossing the Spanish border. In Spain I will be back on the Carp-Tec range.

After the bait was on board I now had to make it over to the Forest of Dean – another 120 mile journey! Through the magic of the Dynamite Baits website, an old school friend had tracked me down, and it was twenty-three years since we had seen each other! My friend James has three children, two of which are mad-keen match anglers, and in fact, Ethan and Blake had a match the very next morning, so after a quick chat with my generous bait sponsor, the two young lads were kitted out with matching DB caps, and a few bags and tubs of match fishing bait. Naturally they were chuffed to bits, and I must say a personal thanks to Chris and Jonathan for sorting that out.

Two happy chappies!!

Four mornings after beginning my road trip I arrived back in one piece at my parents house in Wiltshire, after covering approximately 1000 miles. Where am I now you may ask? In Surrey of all places, as I still have a few important things to do before I return to France, including a meeting down in Southampton with Ross Honey (aka WCC promoter) to discuss the upcoming carp-competition. One of my other sponsors Edgar Brothers Outdoor have kindly agreed to supply some great products for the event for the Marshals and for prizes. These will include products from the BlackHawk and Surefire brands. I am really looking forward to the event – in fact I can’t wait!

Well, this will be the last blog till I return to France in a week or so.

See you then, in the mean time ”enjoy” your carping, wherever you may be!

Jake and the dogs.

Last week saw me arrive at Churnpool in the Cotswolds for a three-day stint to combine a catalogue shoot with hopefully, a spot of fishing. Trakker had booked the whole fishery for the event. I arrived through the secure gates on Tuesday morning, to find that Mark Bryant already had his rods out (he wasn’t wasting anytime!) and, who was being kept company by Mark ‘Kodak’ Dean. I hadn’t met either of these good guys before, so it was pleasant to chit-chat whilst we waited for the others to turn up.

Churnpool itself is situated outside the village of Cerney Wick. It is a trout fishery by nature, but is also available for carp fishing at set periods of the year, and it can be booked in advance. All the details for this beautiful lake can be found at www.churnpool.co.uk

As I said in my last post, the lake holds some truly stunning specimens, which are partly made up of the original stock, of which there are about thirty left. This stock is further backed up by two fairly recent introductions of prime carp sourced from Simon Scott’s fishery. You can therefore imagine what these fish look like. The first crew of stockies are now approaching the upper double barrier, and the more recent posse are fast-growing singles. As for the originals – “wow” is all I can say. Here we have a collection of some of the finest looking carp in the Cotswolds. The pictures on the clubhouse wall literally jump out at you, and the lake’s two largest inhabitants are 30+ commons that any self-respecting angler would dearly love to catch.

Playing a carp at Churnpool.

I also mentioned I didn’t have any tackle with me as I wasn’t expecting to do any dangling whilst back in blighty. Cash Farnham kindly bought a spare pair of rods, reels, alarms, and buzz bars with him, and as Matt Quibble was set up next to me, his tackle box was raided and pillaged at every available opportunity. Bait was also missing from my list, so once again, I nabbed what I could!

Everything went smoothly with regards to the photo shoot. Rain did hamper the beginning, but by the time the camera had made it round to my pretty face, the photographer had his eye in, and the sun was even shining. The Colossus caused a stir sitting proudly in my swim, and we all agreed that it truly is a humongous and stylish shelter, which not only gives plenty of room, it also sports some unique and well-thought out features. The group shots were done in the huge porch area where a dozen people could easily sit!

Wednesday evening was spent very wisely. I took on the duty of head-chef and manned the gas-fired bbq. Once everyone was fed sufficiently it was time to get the rods out to see if I could make up for the lack of carp in the first twenty-four hours.

I didn’t have to wait long and a minute after casting out I got off the mark with one of the lakes rare treaures. A 17lb 4oz koi was the netted result, and this is one of three koi that reside in the lake. My capture is apparently the most elusive, so it was a lucky capture indeed.

A Churnpool koi!

My tactics were nothing more than a scaled down version of what I use abroad. A 360 rig combining a seven-inch stiff fluro-carbon hooklink with a size six barbless Kurv and a 15mm pop-up.

The following morning I added one of the young stockies to my tally, and a beautiful linear of five or six pounds was gently cradled in my hand, before I slipped it back into the edge. These stockies are incredibly special and four or five of them were caught during the session. This lake has a very positive future with these fantastic looking carp lurking in its depths.

I now have a few days out on the road. I am off ‘up north’ to see some sponsors and a few contacts, and in no time I will be back in France.

Till then.

Cheers

Jake and the dogs.

I thought I would give you all a short update. My first week in the UK has not surprisingly flown by. A lovely weekend was spent with friends, and the boat regatta, in and around the docks of Bristol, was thoroughly enjoyed. The house party afterwards went on into the early hours and my only regret was not getting the blonds’ telephone number!!

Tomorrow I am off to a location in the Cotswolds. I am joining other members of Trakkers’ outfit to do a shoot for a future catalogue. My dogs will be trying to sneak into a few pictures no doubt and we have been given a Colossus and other equipment for the three day jolly!

I only found out about this event whilst staying at Gigantica for three nights. Richard Farnham and Matt Quibble were fishing alongside Neil Spooner and company. I am eager to find out how Trakkers’ intrepid duo got on at the French lake, as when I left, they had both yet to score!

I will write a blog of the three-day Trakker event when I return. There are some stunning carp in this water; whether I fish or not will be a different matter though, as unfortunately I have no tackle with me. However, I am hoping someone will have a spare rod and reel with them, and a spot of stalking will definitely have to be done. I can’t wait!

Back soon.

Jake and the dogs.

Apologies for not finishing off my final session in Italy with a concluding update… so here it is. On the Friday night I was wiped out on all three rods, within minutes of each other, by the wretched cats. If you like fishing for cats, then you would probably be happy with the outcome; but as my rods were put out for carp, and the resulting Salure wrecked my chances for the night, I wasn’t best pleased to say the least. With three rods to redrop in the dark, and with a distance of approximately 450m x 6 (there and back), I left the rods on the pod and decided to sleep instead!

Saturday morning saw me scratching my head for an hour, so for the last two nights, I decided to fish solely, with tigers and hemp. I also took off the coloured plastic corn from the hookbait set-up, as after catching a catfish on ‘tigers’, I was convinced the bright colour was probably the reason for the capture, rather than a catfish deliberately feeding on particle! I got the rods in position as the wind eased on Saturday evening, dropping one rod along with two tubs of garlic flavoured hemp, and the other rod with chilli hemp as the accompaniment. The third rod was once again dropped in slightly closer, away from my line of markers.

Saturday night saw a few friends arrive in the swim for a farewell barbeque. As midnight approached thunder and lightning hit the surrounding mountains and very strong winds moved in. Within minutes, extremely powerful winds were battering my swim, and waves crashed the shoreline. I quickly put large rocks on the pegs of my bivvies to keep them safe, and then took shelter.

It came as no surprise that my rods slowly became affected by the weather, and the first thing that happened was weed, moving in the waves, starting to cling to my braid. The added weight bought my captive backleads to the surface, and within minutes the lines had starting intertwining with each other. Even with waders on, I was getting soaked, so I had no choice but to leave the rods, and it seemed my chances for the final night had been scuppered; a shame really.

Once morning arrived I sorted out the mess. I removed the dried weed, untangled the twisted lines, and then retrieved my rods. On reaching one hookbait’s position, a chub was wriggling on the other end – nailed on the tiger nuts. I started to retrieve my final rod and as I got 100 yards from its drop position the line suddenly went off in another direction. As I approached the position where the line seemed to go to the bottom, I could tell the rig was caught up in something. I had received a take during the night, and as my lines were twisted up, the fish could not take line, nor register a take on my alarms, and it had therefore kited right, into the sanctuary of an underwater obstacle – the obstacle being a large tree/branch.

Using a treble hook and a weight attached to some braid, I managed to find a length of my line coming away from the snag. Still unsure whether or not a fish was still attached, I carefully cut my line and tied the ends back together. I reeled down and found the line was once again caught. This time however, it was the hook caught in a branch. I managed to free it, and my lead had indeed released. After already catching a catfish on tigers, it could well have been a cat; however, in light of the strong winds, I am sure it was a carp I lost, and as for the size – I will never know. It may have been the fish to cap my Italian dream, but that challenge will continue another day.

I slowly packed up my kit in blistering heat, and by the evening I was back at my base. I chilled out for a day, and then began the process of sorting through all of my equipment, in my flat, my van, and my storage facility. It was like packing up the contents of a house when you move, and it took considerable time. My friend was given a few items I no longer need, as a thankyou for his hospitality over the last few months, and on Thursday evening at 11pm, I left Italy with an 800km drive to tackle through the night.I prefer driving at night, as with empty roads, and a cool temperature, it is more comfortable for my dogs in the back of the van.

I am now sat at Gigantica. My dogs have just been to the vets for their imminent return to the UK. Tapeworm and Tick treatments have to be carried out within 48 hours of your return, in order to comply with the DEFRA rules of owning a pet passport. I am now off to buy two new tyres for my van, as my MOT has to be carried out, once I return to England, and then I have three and a half weeks at my disposal. One of my jobs when back in the UK, will be pictures for the Trakker’s new Autumn/Winter catalogue, so I best get my moody catalogue pose practised!

I personally would like to thank all of my readers for the support I have received in Italy over the last seven months. I thoroughly enjoyed Italy, the fishing was superb, I recommend Italy to anyone, and I will certainly return one day. In total I probably fished for over 140 nights and I actually finished with approximately the same number of fantastic public water carp – a carp a day certainly keeps a carp angler smiling!

Look out for my final ‘No Fixed Abode’ in International Carper, out next Friday, and I will be back soon with more blogs.

Cheers

Jake and the dogs.

It is very hot today, well into the thirties in fact, and I am sat in the shade of my shelter’s porch looking at the distant mountains. Nothing happened last night, apart from two annoying incidents from the cats within five minutes of each other. It seems they haven’t departed, so I have moved one rod to a new position about 80 metres in front of my existing marker. The depth here is 10m and sometimes positioning your hookbait away from your main baited area can do the trick in snaffling a big lone carp.

What scenery!

Apart from today’s activity moving the rod, I have left the other two where they are. Tomorrow I will make a start sorting through some of my equipment, ready for Sundays departure off the lake. I will then have a couple of days left in Italy, before I drive back to France, through stunning Switzerland.

Dragonflies are hatching at the moment.

I am now going to take a quick dip in the lake to cool down, and then think about some dinner.

Have a good weekend.

Jake and the dogs.

Thanks for your patience! My writing is done and I am now very relaxed. My final chapter of No Fixed Abode was sent to Angling Publications today with a slight tinge of sadness, mixed a sense of relief. Two years of writing for a magazine is a two-year long committment, and although I am positive I will return to the pages of Carpworld, I am looking forward to a few months off. My European magazine contributions will continue, and as I am now using the Carp-Tec range of bait that Dynamite produce, it makes more sense for me to focus on promotion where it counts.

A repellent that really works.

The move to tiger nuts was a good idea and yesterday morning my middle rod took off. A common almost exactly the same as the first carp of the session was on the other end, so I released it immediately, straight from the boat. The cats have not bothered me since the change of bait, although this morning something did manage to pull my lead from the clip on one of my rods. Interestingly when I put the rods out on Tuesday I tipped each tiger nut presentation with imitation corn. Green, orange, and pink, was used as a visual aid to help produce a take. The carp was caught on the pink rod! So far all my takes have come to presentations with pink involved. Pink pop-ups, a snowman with a pink pop-up, and now pink corn along with the tigers. I don’t know whether the depth makes this certain colour stand out better than others, or it is just a coincidence, but then I had a take this evening on the pink rod again. What is it with these Italian carp? They love pink!

Pink baits work well in Italy!

Unfortunately the carp I hooked this evening was not landed. As I made my way out in the boat to my distant marker I could feel the fish occasionally tugging. As I got about 100 metres from my marker the braid was caught around an underwater obstacle – probably a large branch or log sat on the lakebed. As I neared the spot I felt the fish pull a little, and I suspect I pulled it into the snag and it then shed the hook. In the end I could feel nothing on the end, so I had to wrap my braid around my arm and pull for a break. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. To be realistic, at this particular lake, this is par for the course, and you will never land every carp. The lakebed is littered with snags, and I would use my pike controller idea to try and keep the braid off the bottom, but then the frequent canoeists and boats that literally pass your rod tips would catch your line, especially if the pike controller bought it up to the surface.

A large rock used as a lead substitue to achieve more weight.

Here is the rock lead I am using for my long-range fishing. It is a simple method, which means you can get a very tight line back to your pod, you can also tighten up any bow, if you were unable to return in a straight line, without the fear of moving a lighter lead; and the hookhold you obtain from the rock is much more secure. You can also guarantee that the rock will release after the take bringing the carp straight to the surface.

My braid of choice and with the 25lb version it is possible to get 600m on a big baitrunner spool.

I now have three of four nights left of my session. The rods are all in position, but I have stuck boilies back on two rods, leaving the middle rod sporting the pink tipped tigers. I am hoping the cats have buggered off, and I won’t be bothered by them anymore. To try some old tricks, and tempt a final big fish, I have stuck a big bait presentation on one rod, consisting of two 26mm Mussel and Oyster bottom baits, tipped with a 15mm pink Squid and Octopus pop-up. I caught a 23kg common from here in 2008 on a similar sized offering; so you never quite know do you?

Happily, my mate got off the mark this morning with this pretty common.

I will be back tomorrow with a Friday afternoon post.

Cheers

Jake and the dogs.

Since Sunday’s stunning common, there has been more action, but unfortunately it seems the lake’s population of catfish have moved onto my spot. This is probably down to the amount of small species the Halibut Pellet has attracted, but it does not have to be seen as a negative. I have fish out there, and as the catfish in this lake are not of a size to threaten the carp, I don’t think the carp will get pushed out of the way. I now just need to use a bait that the cats won’t eat or try to pick up before the carp have a chance to find it, so it has to be the humble tiger nut. That’s exactly what I have done.

Three cats have so far been banked and they took a liking to my pink Squid and Octopus pop-ups, and my orange Tutti Frutti pop-ups. I have also had the rock lead ejected a few times as the aquatic feline species attacks my bait without getting hooked. This has been rather annoying, especially when fishing at such ranges, and it was definitely time to come up with another game plan. The biggest cat has been about 10kg and they don’t really go much bigger in here. They are what you might call an irritating nuisance!

I suppose I could move all of my rods to a brand new area but it seems a shame to have to move after finding some fish. Today I went and fed some more bait, but I put this several metres behind my line of markers to keep the fish activity to the other side of my actual drop positions. I still want to draw in fish of all species as I think the continued activity will keep the carp coming back. I have now dropped three rods all sporting three corked tiger nuts from the Frenzied range, and I have sprinkled tiger nuts of various sizes around each drop position. One thing I did was to make up some tiger nut stringers after first drying out some nuts in the sun. I then looped this over a PVA nugget wrapped around the hook, and tied it off with an additional nugget at the end of the stringer. This extra nugget conveniently pops up to the surface so accurate baiting up can be carried out.

I have a little writing to finish in the next couple of days so I am hoping the switch to tigers will allow me to get on with it, apart from, hopefully, only being interrupted for a carp or two. I am about to start my last ‘No Fixed Abode’ feature, for International Carper, as after two years of contribution, I feel I now need a break from that magazine; plus I have run out of material for the time being. I need a fresh country, some new water, and a new scene. I may return to International Carper – that will remain to be seen. My writing for European magazines, and the blog, will continue in earnest, as they are both things that I still really enjoy doing.

That’s all for tonight.

Cheers

Jake and the dogs.

Yesterday flew by and by late afternoon I had done most of my planned work. I had gone out to my distant bottle marker and placed two more to its right, to create a line about 50m long. The three rods were to be placed in front of each and the depth was around the 12m mark. I then fed along and around the line with 15kg of Halibut pellet and 15kg of Mussel and Shellfish and bright orange Tutti Frutti boilies. A couple of days ago I put the same amount of bait in, around and to the left, of my original 450m marker, and it obviously worked in getting the fish down and feeding. The reason incidentally I have now gone to the right hand side with my new markers, is so my friend can stick a rod out there too, if his spots fail to produce, and he can therefore put a rod to the left of my original marker.

With everything looking good, and the bait put in, I then dropped the rod in position that I had with me in the boat. This was put 10m in front of the middle marker, and the bottom, not surprisingly, felt soft as my rock lead touched down. I don’t have a problem fishing in soft lake beds, and with a bright pop-up – how could it fail! You may notice I mentioned rock leads. I have now made up some large rocks to be used as lead weight substitutes as these work better at range when fishing in soft bottoms; not only do they get a better hook hold, they enable a very tight line, and you can be sure they will release after a take!

I now just had one rod to put out so I returned to shore and returned with my made up rod. The earlier carp I had lost, when the lead did not release, was dropped back in position immediately after the loss. I had dropped it back down with an 8oz lead as I hadn’t made up the rocks yet, so I now wanted to replace the lead for a rock. As I went out with the final rod to drop, I also went in the direction of the rod that needed some swap-work doing to it, so I let this rods braid, run through my fingers, till I got to its drop position. I then lifted up the rig from the bottom, swapped the lead for a rock, replaced the hook, put on a fresh bait, and then lowered it carefully back into position. This is another trick you can do, when fishing at long-range, and it saves having to reel in or go out with the rod to undertake a task you can do with a little clever thinking.

I dropped the final rod in front of the far right hand side marker and then whacked on my motor to return to shore – nothing happened! My duff motor had packed up again and I was now faced with rowing back 450m in a slight crosswind that had just picked up. By the time I got back to shore I had a big bow in the line and the braid had now got caught on an underwater obstacle to my right about 100 yards out (probably a branch). I would now have to redo this rod, but first I needed to repair or try to repair the motor. I took the wretched thing apart and fortunately I managed to fathom out what the problem was. As I was putting it back together, I noticed the lake’s Tourist boat was doing its rounds. This cumbersome boat, now tends to stay away from the edges of the lake, as its driver had a reputation for destroying carp anglers lines, pods, and rods in the past. I watched as it chugged past and suddenly my right hand rod, that I needed to redo, took on an alarming bend, then suddenly dropped back. The boat’s undercarriage had caught my braid but fortunately it had sprung free. I decided to attempt to reel in this rod to prevent any further mishaps. From 450m, and with a rock on the other end, it took a while, and eventually it got caught on the branch to my right. I rowed out and freed everything and returned to the swim. At that moment dark clouds moved in and specks of rain dropped from the skies – we were in for a storm!

I put the motor back on my boat and decided I would wait till the storm passed before going back out to redrop the final rod – again! The rain progressively got harder and the winds picked up a little. Claps of thunder made us both jump, and flashes of lightning raced through the darkened skies. This was a typical Italian, out of the blue, thunder-storm, and I have experienced plenty of them this year. They are actually quite fun when you have a good bivvy and you know you are protected and after the heat of the last few weeks it was quite refreshing anyway. I was watching from my porch, when suddenly my middle rod signalled a take. Excellent!

Getting a take in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm is never the best news. The take is obviously a good thing, but you are suddenly faced with this dilemma; boat or play from the bank? I remember talking to Tim Paisley last year about exactly the same subject and comparing it to the Orient. When do you decide it is unsafe and do you really want to die for a carp!! Tim replied with “Well, if you have been waiting three weeks for take, then I guess you go out in the boat!” You have gotta love Tim!

I started to play the carp from the bank and surveyed the situation. The lake wasn’t actually too choppy, the rain was just pelting it down, and there were some fairly strong cross winds coming from my left. The lightning was my main concern as I would be waving a carbon rod around, like a wand, and combined with my carbon landing net handle, I was going to be a good conductor! I was trying to gauge the size of the fish, and as it wasn’t really doing much I figured it was probably a good fish. “Sod it,” I thought. “If I die at least they will say he died doing something he loved!”

My friend threw me my life jacket, and I handed him the made up rod that was ready to go in my inflatable. I walked out with the boat and clambered in, my friend wished me good luck, laughed, and ran back to the cover of his bivvy. “Cheers,” I laughed back.

With my motor on full power I set off. I crouched down as low as possible and kneeled on my unhooking mat whilst reeling in as the boat plodded on. Every now and then the fish pulled hard, to a point where I should have given line, but I was getting soaked, I was expecting to get struck by lightning, so this fish was getting nothing. I was now about 400 metres away from the bank when I suddenly caught a glimpse of my braid cutting through the water to my left. I cut the motor to half to keep up with the carp. I was still half expecting to see a small common bobbing around on the surface but was relieved when this fish suddenly felt heavy and pulled hard. I was now in for a battle in the middle of the storm and only one of us would win. Every so often I caught a glimpse of a dark shape in the swell, but it would then dive back down and have another go. I knew netting the fish was going to be tricky and I didn’t want to mess it up after all the risk. The fish began to slowly tire but still had a little more energy in reserve. It was now just gliding slowly under the surface and precariously rolling in the chop. All the time my SK4 had a healthy bend as I held on for dear life and despite the terrible conditions, I did feel in control of the situation (that’s a terrible lie)!

Finally the carp came up and expelled a big sigh of defeat. I was still unsure of the type of species until I saw this long common bobbing from left to right. I reached out the net and half the fish was in and half was hanging over the net cord. “I wish I had longer arms,” I thought! I dropped my rod in the boat and grabbed the net, I heaved forwards with both hands and luck was on my side, the carp flopped forwards and was mine! I did let out a war cry… but I doubt anyone heard me!

I now had to get back to shore. I lifted the carp into the boat, which took two attempts, and secured it in my Armo mat. I dropped the motor on full, but I was now in the brunt of the storm. The wind had picked up and the rain was hitting me like bullets. I rowed as hard as I could and finally I hit the shoreline about 200 metres away from my swim. I had made it, I had my fish, I was still alive – boy, was I relieved!

My friend, who had been sheltering in his bivvy, and occasionally looking out to try to check I was still afloat, now couldn’t see me anywhere! Where was I? Apparently he presumed I had capsized, and was starting to panic; when I suddenly appeared with my boat to his right. I had walked up the rocky shoreline in the margins with my boat and now I was safely back. “I thought you had drowned,” he shouted! I lifted the carp from the boat and placed it in the water. I estimated 18kg and slipped it inside my Armo weigh sling. I found a good spot and secured it, so the fish could recover a little. I had been wearing only shorts the whole time and I was actually shivering from the cold. I dried myself off and put on my shell jacket. I looked at the rain; it didn’t look like it was going to stop, so I told my friend that we would do the pictures immediately, with him taking them from the porch of his bivvy. I weighed the fish and 17.8kg or 39lb 4oz was the recorded weight. This is actually my third largest carp during my Italian trip…hard to believe really with all the carp I have banked, but then it makes each capture more significant and more memorable. This is not France after all!

My big stormy common!

With the photos done I returned the carp. I held him in the water for a full five minutes till he was absolutely ready to go. He had probably had quite an ordeal too, and it was my responsibility to ensure he also came through it in one piece. Satisfied he was strong again, I watched as he slowly glided away with his pectorals fanning by his side. Thanks for the fight – it was an experience I won’t ever forget!

Pictures in the rain...I didn't notice!

Public water commons don't get much better than this!

The storm continued for a further two hours. It got dark, I cooked some food, and we both listened to the World Cup on ESPN radio. I was waiting for the weather to improve so I could get the other two rods back in position. Finally at 11pm the winds subsided and the storm seemed to shift into the next valley. I quickly emptied the copious amounts of water from my boat, put a guide light on my rod pod, and off I went to drop the rods. Fortunately the little wind that remained, was blowing in the direction of my swim, so it meant returning, in the all important straight line, was easily achievable, even in the cover of darkness. Having reflective tape on your markers also helps greatly meaning you can find them quickly with a good head torch. Thirty minutes later I was all done, and that was that for the night. I needed some sleep, I was rather chuffed with my earlier capture, and hopefully more action would arrive in the morning.

Nothing happened this morning, probably as a result of the change in weather; I actually suspect the fish may have gone on the move last night following the winds, but with more forecast heat, I am confident they will return to the deep spot soon.

Catch you all tomorrow.

Jake and the dogs.

I love it when a plan comes together! Use your eyes, and follow your hunches; sometimes it does work. After a good night’s sleep I was woken by my ATT at 8am. Similar to yesterday, the fish executed a stuttery, stop start run, and this time the hook hold was solid. This one was mine!

Sunday morning action.

Today will be spent capitalising on the situation, and I will be out in the boat getting everything sorted for tomorrow’s feeding period. I suppose there is a slim chance a take could come outside of this window, but if the carp want to be considerate, and let me have a full night’s sleep before action stations – I won’t be complaining.

Three rods will now be dropped at 450m range, and spread along the line I have created. With my ‘duff’ motor, this range can cause a few issues, so the rods ideally need to be done when the lake is flat calm. My motor, which I will replace when I return to the UK, now only functions by reversing the polarity of the connections. It means I have two forward gears which used to be the reverse direction, and five reverse gears which used to send me forwards; however, I am able to operate so that is the main thing!

One good trick you can do, to save time, and battery life, is to drop two rods on the same boat trip. You take one made up rod with you, and also one ready to go rig, out with you in the boat, which is attached to a rod left on the pod with the baitrunner open. Once at your drop position you carefully drop this rig by hand, ensuring you have enough slack line to let it hit the lakebed. Then you move to your other drop position and with the made up rod you are carrying in the boat you execute your other drop. Bingo – two rods dropped in one manoeurve.

When you arrive back at the swim you must carefully tighten up the free running rod as there will definitely be some slack line, or possibly a large bow if a breeze picked up whilst you were carrying out the task. If you are fishing with a friend, with some agreed hand signals or by using walkie talkies, he/she can control the rod back at your swim; they can tighten up before/after the drop, or give line when directed to do so. It is a very good technique for saving time and this morning’s carp was actually caught on this particular rod.

The fish itself fell to a single Dynamite Bait’s fluro 20mm Squid and Octopus pop-up. Along with the bait, my Korda Kurvs have successfully put another Italian common behind the camera, and despite yesterday’s unexpected hook pull, I continue to have the utmost faith in my size 2 friend!

I love my Kuvrs!!!

I am now going to get busy and prepare my spots, for the big one that has my name on it…somewhere in this 1200 acre lake!!!

Catch you tomorrow…

Jake and the dogs!

P.S Just had another take on the second long range rod I put out yesterday…my ‘bl**dy’ lead did not release, and this one managed to wriggle free before I got to it. Nevermind… have to look at it positively – I am on the money with regards to the deep spot!

Encouraging news but no carp landed unfortunately. Sadly the hook pulled at some point as I was on my way out in  the boat, and I ended up skimming my pink pop-up across the surface about 150m away from my marker. My 10oz grippa lead had released and I can only assume that the hookhold wasn’t nailed or the hook had caught the corner of the carp’s mouth and tore out. Either way it is encouraging news, and the move into deeper water was obviously a good one.

If I had landed this carp it would have been my deepest capture in the last 30 months. The depth I am fishing this spot is around 36ft; one night at Cassien back in 2008, I caught a 23kg mirror from 28ft. I do prefer the range from 13-21ft personally, as it covers a good range of temperature and depth, but if the fish are showing where the water’s deep, then it has to be worth a shot.

The run was quite amusing actually as the 6v battery in one of my ATTs heads is practically finished. I heard the low battery warning (a few quick and repetitive beeps) as the line moved the roller. This was all the indication I got but I then heard my baitrunner as the fish pulled line off in short spurts. Thankfully I have good ears, but the fish was lost so that makes little difference now! I have now ditched this alarm and am back to three rods. I have moved another rod out to join the deep spot rod so I have two hook baits in the area, and if I catch tonight or tomorrow morning, I will then put all my eggs in one basket, and stick all three out there!

I am off to sleep now, and lucky me – I have some dodgy restaurant music to send me off!

Cheers

Jake and the dogs.