Good Morning.

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.