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.

I thought it was a little unfair to finish the blog of my long Christmas and January session without a final briefing. I am now sat on a settee, in a flat, not too far from the lake, and it is here I will rest for a few days before heading off to the Carp Italy show. My new friend Marco has very kindly let me and the dogs stay in his spare flat (!) and it is a very kind and much appreciated gesture. I met Marco at Cassien last year when he was fishing with my mate Danilo. Such is the nature and generosity of most carp anglers, through the simple pleasure of fishing we have struck up a good friendship of which I am sure will last for years to come. I said this before in the past about my friend at Cassien, Dick, who would often arrive first thing on a cold spring morning to take pictures of a carp I had caught that morning. I think carp anglers enjoy the fishing even if they aren’t actually participating themselves, and sometimes just being sat by a lake in the presence of another carp angler, can be just as good as the fishing itself.

Everything has a place in my life!

Three bivvies became two...

The packing up went smoothly. I did it in various stages which made it much more manageable. It actually started snowing on Friday evening and although it wasn’t heavy, there was a small layer on the ground and on my bivvies come Saturday morning. Later that day the wind really picked up and by the evening there was a real chop on the lake pushing into the bay area I was fishing in and around. The conditions looked good and apart from the fact it was still very cold, my optimism was raised that night.

Throughout the night all my rods beeped at one stage or another, however,  it was more due to the build up of weed on the braid and eventually the added weight slowly shifted the leads in the strong swell. I have mentioned the advantages of using mono when the lake is rough as it acts as a spring and stops this happening, but then you can’t suddenly change spools once the sudden change in weather appears!

I got busy on Sunday and put everything into their respective bags. I put all of these packed bags into my food storage bivvy and then packed away my large two-man bivvy that I use for sleeping in. The overwraps were then taken off both my other bivvies, which just left two simple bivvies to take down the following morning. One of the slow aspects of packing up can sometimes be the lugging of bags and equipment down to your boat or boats in my case. The journey was only forty yards but it still took about an hour! I then took the bivvies down and cleared up the swim area. Part of the lake had frozen over during the night and typically the night I chose to sleep in a small bivvy without an overwrap, it chose to be one of the coldest nights of the session. Fortunately I had some gas left in  my bottle and my bivvy heater saved the day. Without an overwrap the heat does not stay in the shelter long, but it still made a difference.

I have told Charley I am giving up but she keeps hiding my cigarettes!

Sponsored by Trakker Products!

My friend had kindly agreed to come and pick up the dogs before I set sail with my heavily loaded boats? If that sounds confusing I will explain. It is possible to park your vehicle about 400 yards behind the swim I was occupying, but it is not advisable as the area is a bit dodgy and your vehicle would be unsafe. Four hundred yards is a long way to walk with two tonnes of equipment, so it is easier to boat a kilometre across the lake to an area where you can park your vehicle for unloading/loading. I did not have enough room for all of my equipment plus two dogs, so it made sense for Marco to put the dogs in the van first, and then drive round to the loading area so I could meet him with my two boats. It is not possible to park right next to the water so the boats have to be unloaded and the equipment has to be carried fifty yards to the vehicle – again this took an hour! It always amazes me how long things take. You have an idea in your head how long things will take and I now always add two hours onto this estimate. By three pm I was nearly ready to leave the lake; I had started at 8.30am. My final important job involved boating back to my swim to pick up two large bin bags of rubbish and four big leisure batteries. As I am going to my next lake with my inflatable boat for a recce after Carp Italy, I decided not to deflate this craft. I called my friend who popped down to meet me and he gave me the essential lift with my inflatable to put it on top of my other boat on my trailer. The batteries were put in the back of his landrover for recharging and that was that. Goodbye lake one!

My final evening...what a view!

Something special!

It was typical that on my final evening at the lake (Sunday evening) that the sun shone brightly and it was a magnificent sight. The mountains opposite me reflected the sun and it truly was a sight to behold. I felt very insignificant with this unbelievable spectacle in front of me and I felt extremely privileged. My final night in front of my fire was a night mixed with emotions. I had plenty of wood left to burn so it was a furnace more than a fire, and the two pieces of thick cut on the bone beef, that I had saved, tasted magnificent after I char-grilled them. My two salivating dogs both got a piece for their good behaviour and for guarding the swim so well. By the end of the session it was truly their territory, and although they aren’t aggressive, their bark is all they need; boy are they a good deterrent!!!

What would I have done without my fire?

Onwards and Upwards into the Night, My Dreams will continue with Big Carp to Fight!!

Last night I took my first electric hot shower for nearly six weeks. It felt like heaven and I am now not quite sure what felt better, catching my one carp, or taking that shower! I suppose both had equal feelings of happiness and I felt I worked hard for both rewards. I went to a local Italian bar yesterday evening and drank an apéritif before I sat down for dinner with his family. I think I ate one of the best pastas I have ever eaten last night – nothing complicated, just good food and a cross between cannelloni and lasagna. The Italians are really into their apéritif before dinner and Campari is very popular, as is Martini; both together make a very good apéritif, if not a killer drink, and as they say: When in Rome…

I had the pleasure of taking another shower this morning – I have to make the most of it! I then  took my dogs for a walk. Now you might think what is the big deal, but when I am fishing my dogs take care of themselves. They play together and they run around when they want. I have missed watching my dogs run and run free and I took great pleasure in admiring them both, as Charley would occasionally stop, roll on her back and kick her legs in the air, and Flash would have to stop and sniff at everything and occasionally would gallop past me, showing off as he does so well. I think a few days break will do me and the dogs the world of good. They are both flat out as I write this, and apart from some other writing I have little else to do till Friday morning when I leave for the big show.

Today I made a small breakthrough with my camera. I own a Canon EOS 20D and I bought it second-hand. I have never owned the Utility software, which you need to upload pictures straight from the camera onto your PC, because you only get this on a disc when you buy the camera new. It is not possible to download this software because of Canon’s software distribution policy. You can get updates from Canon’s website, but they won’t upload because you don’t have the original Utility software. On this website: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/install_canon_software.html I found a method to override this problem and it actually fools your PC into thinking you already have the utility software installed by copying and pasting some code into your computer’s registery. I would like to add that I am not a computer whizz kid and I managed to follow the simple instructions. Please do not blame me if anything goes wrong with your computer if you try it!  Just follow the instructions if you think you might find this useful. I have always used a card reader in the past but I really wanted to be able to just plug straight from my camera to my laptop and download that way, and now I can. I also downloaded a manual for my camera model so hopefully my pictures may improve slightly with a few new tricks.

Finally, I want to leave you with an Italian tradition and an Italian legend that I have recently been told about. The tradition is something that takes place on the 28th of January. It is traditional in Italy to eat rice and pork sausages on this particular day. One of the powers it is supposed to give you is stronger resistance to mosquito bites in the summer months. It may be too late now but it is always worth a go; my friend swears it works!

The second one is the legend of the Black Crow. This takes place over the last three days of January leading up to the beginning  of the new month. The crow used to be a white bird but it got too close to a chimney and became black from the smoke. This period is supposed to be the coldest part of the year and it may come as no surprise when I mention something incredible. The river that enters the lake I just had the pleasure of fishing at, has actually frozen over. It is the first time in twenty-five years – maybe Italian legends can come true and hopefully at my next Italian lake I may just catch one!

The next blog will be written next week after my recce to my next lake.

Catch you then.

Jake and the dogs.

Today I have begun the slow task of cleaning up my equipment for the imminent finish on Monday. You may think I have ages left and what is the rush? If you could see the pace I am working at, then you would understand that I have started today as there is lots to organise, plenty of stuff to clean and put away, bags to pack, bivvies to break down etc… I don’t want to suddenly be faced with a mountain of work on Monday morning and this way it means the whole process is more manageable and more enjoyable; most importantly it means everything is ready to go for my next session and it means I don’t have to go through everything first. There is method to my madness!

I use a Coleman stove for the majority of my cooking. The fire has provided a great alternative for char grilling meat on countless evenings but the Coleman does the majority. I use normal unleaded petrol fuel and the problem with this is the black residue it leaves on everything, which in turn gets everywhere if it is not cleaned off prior to packing away. A strong green scourer and Jif is the best method and I found the cleaning process quite therapeutic as I watched my pots and pans turn from black to silver. My Trakker three piece cookware set cleans very quickly but my professional stainless cookware takes a bit more rubbing! I am actually looking forward to finishing my current session and as I cleaned my pots and pans, my mind was wandering away to my next venue and I was daydreaming about night-time battles with carp and basking in the Italian spring sunshine during the day, watching the lake come to life.

I had two visitors yesterday afternoon, one of which lives near my next lake of choice. I was warned that it will still be cold and will be hard work – oh well, I am quite used to challenging conditions and hard fishing so it will be nothing new. On the other hand it will soon be spring, the carp will soon get much more active, they will soon be searching for food, and even if it is slow to begin with, I will have ten or so weeks to be there when it happens. I mentioned the other day about carp anglers having different opinions on everything. One angler has told me to fish one part of the lake and yesterday I was told conflicting thoughts. I am going to have a look for myself after Carp Italy with my boat and echo sounder so I will base my opinion on my own sights and look at both areas and a few other options. I am very excited at the prospect of fishing a new lake as you can all probably imagine. The next venue is bigger than this one and can be quite deep in some areas but there are also lots of shallow bays and in the late spring these bays are covered in lilies and are practically unfishable. My plan is to try and set up in an area where the carp often arrive as the water begins to get warmer. Call it a surprise attack if you like – I will be ready and waiting with some bait on the lakebed and some rigs in place.

My zigs have not worked wonders and no takes have come from trying. My friend Chris Appleby commented yesterday on FB that he would rather try and catch a carp by scooping around with his landing net, than use zigs, and to be honest I have to agree with him. I have caught on a zig in the past but I am more of a bottom bait, pop up, floater styled angler and as much as I know that zigs are deadly and I need to adopt them more into fishing, I would rather use them when the water is warmer, the weather is warmer, I am wearing polaroids, and I can actually see carp cruising around under the surface. I think the term for that would be exciting zig fishing. I personally think the carp are sat on the bottom at the moment in a trance like state in hibernation mode. People talk about water columns and differing temperatures and yes these obviously exist particularly during the winter months, but I am not fishing a three acre pool that is eight feet deep. My lake is 1200 acres with depths up to 50ft. I do have a shallow bay to my right which with some sunshine would be an obvious place for carp to come to, but the sun has not really shone in January, certainly not with enough regularity and power to warm the waters by a few degrees. I caught my only carp from this bay at 2am in the morning on a night with minus temperatures!

Yesterday evening as it got dark I had all my rods back in position for their final few days and nights. I have put a double pop up on a 360 rig but have ensured the lead shot to pin it down, is about three inches from the ring swivel to try a pop up that is sitting higher in the water. I have placed this onto the sediment at the base of a hard plateau. The other rods were put in new areas, just incase I have missed anything in the last four weeks. As far as the fishing has gone it has obviously been tough going. The time of year, the cold weather, the water temperatures and lack of carp activity have been to blame and it is another slow January’s carp fishing that I can happily cross of my list. Next January I will be carping in Spain – I can’t wait! I have however enjoyed the whole experience at my first lake and I am very glad I had the opportunity to fish here. One carp is a sad result but as you all know that carp was caught after lots of hard work and through listening during the evenings sat by the fire.

As you can tell from my words this is probably the last blog I will write for this session unless of course I have some very exciting news to tell you. Tomorrow I will start organising all my bags into one bivvy and I will break another one down. My batteries need to go back to Marco to be recharged for my next session and I have to start thinking about Carp Italy. A possible kennel has been found for the dogs, my hotel room is booked and then it all begins again at my next lake.

Thanks for reading part one of my Italian Job.

Cheers

Jake and the dogs

It seems that my pasta dish went down well with most of you yesterday and I have to tell you that it tasted great! I have eaten well during this session and it has certainly made the waiting more durable. The Parma ham that I enjoyed by the fire last night was even better and along with some bread sticks and a little vino, that was my evening meal sorted.

mmmm....

No action came during the night. I woke at 5am and could not get back to sleep however hard I tried; eventually I did and then it was time to get up anyway. I have spent part of the day editing some video footage that I have been meaning to do for some time. The connection on my Internet stick is so good that it means uploading them to YouTube only takes a short while. Go to My Videos in My Media and take a peek at the three latest uploads. The water at Gigantica really is that colour and the footage from Pusiano in 2008 was quite a morning, and a surprise!

As I was sat in my bivvy this afternoon I had a beep on my ATT – the first one for days. It quickly started to go off so I scrambled into my boots and shot out of the door. A yellow canoe complete with canoeist had come in too close and took out two of my lines. I was more disappointed that it wasn’t a carp and after directing him this way and that way, my lines became free and off he went…Pronto! Not even an apology. It was a classic case for shouting: “You should have gone to SpecSavers mate!”

I went out and duly recovered both rigs from their dragged position. It was getting dark as I made my way back with the second rod so I decided to tie up a couple of quick zig rigs, and launched these out into open water as day turned to night. I have not done the foam thing; instead I have gone for a little yellow pineapple pop up on one, and a 20mm Red Fish pop up on the other. I did not have time to tie up adjustable zig rigs with a controller, so one was set at about 3ft and the other one 4ft – from the lakebed and not the surface. Who knows? In the morning I may thank the canoeist next time I see him for doing me a favour!

Another fine meal is moments away...

Being a good chef I saved half of the pasta sauce from yesterday and used it for today’s lunch. Three small loins of pork were fried in olive oil whilst I deep fried some potatoes. The sauce was added to the frying pan once the pork was cooked and it complimented the meat and potatoes beautifully. I have deliberately not shown a picture of the finished dish as I don’t want to make you all hungry. I am staying on the pig tip and tonight’s meal is ribs cooked on the fire!

"Flash, do you like going to kennels?"

I think that is the answer!!

My friend very kindly did a quick search on the Italian equivalent of yellow pages, for a kennel to house my dogs during the Carp Italy weekend. He came up trumps and a good solution has been sourced. I am sure the dogs will hate it, but they have now stayed in kennels in France, Germany, the UK, and soon they will experience the Italian doggy hospitality service. I am finishing my session on Monday and the lovely job of packing up will begin during this weekend. I will then catch up on some writing before Carp Italy begins on the 6th and 7th of February. See the link on the right hand side of my site.

Enjoy the new videos and the rest of your evening.

Cheers

Jake and the dogs.

I am sat on my bedchair in the bivvy just finishing off a mug of steaming hot latte (two expresso shots/topped up with hot milk). The temperature and weather today have been very similar to one of those typical winter Sundays when you want to put the heating on, close the curtains and curl up on the settee to watch a film. Yesterday was a little better and a glimpse of sunshine broke through for a few hours in the afternoon, but today has been foggy, cold and rather miserable. I have made the best of it though and that is all one can do.

Saturday morning started off early. I noticed two pike anglers out in their little green boat and knew what was coming. One of my rods knocked as they just missed catching the line, but the middle rod was not so lucky. I hopped in my boat and reeled in the line as I steered towards the boat in distress. When I arrived the older of the two had a big tangled ball of traces, trebles, deadbaits, livebaits and lures in his hand. I could see my braid in amongst it and as I was only yards from my dropped rig, to their amazement, I pulled a pair of scissors from my boat and cut the braid either side of the tangled mess. I pulled my rig off the lakebed by hand, bundled it in the boat, said good morning, and returned to my swim. I was sure they expected me to be angry or annoyed with them and I even surprised myself. I must be getting slightly more mellow in my old age!

Before they had a chance to take out my next rod I went out and retrieved that one too. I now had to find two new positions for them so I decided to put one rod off some reeds to my left at the bottom of the steep shelf in 16ft. The other rod was put back out behind the plateau area in 22ft. I was now sorted again and could relax.

Lunchtime arrived just as the sun broke through the clouds. I got my fire started early as I was expecting some guests to arrive. While I was building up the heat I noticed my friendly Robin kept landing near me. This little character is a regular and quite cheeky. I decided to try and get a really good shot of him so I set up my camera with my remote control, I crumbed some boilies and put them on a perfect spot, and sat back and waited. Now it is always typical when you try to do something like this as the subject usually disappears for the rest of the day and this is exactly what happened. However, I kept the remote in my pocket just in case!

My posse of friends arrived so I got some coffees made and one of them opened a big bottle of red wine. I was actually striking a deal with one of them over four rods I own that I no longer use – my Imperial Legends! Once Ludwig had checked them over, run his fingers through the rings, given them all a quick swish in the air, he was satisfied and we shook hands! It is good news for me as it makes room for my new arrivals – my Soniks. I am currently using a Sonik prototype. This new blank utilises a new kind of carbon which is lighter, stiffer and stronger. I just have to give them some serious stick over the next few months to see how they cope with the work load and to see whether or not they are durable. The prototype I am testing may or may not go into production and it all depends on its performance and reliability.

One of the lads, Emanuele, bought a host of goodies for me which was very kind. An Italian apple cake which I (and the dogs) have been enjoying today. He also produced a very special jar of tomatoes which I can use for a sauce for pasta. They are his grandmothers secret recipe!! (I can just picture the Dolmio adverts now.) I was given strict instructions how to cook them so I explained that I actually used to teach cooking and I thought I would manage okay. It does make me laugh actually as the Italians do love their cooking and food and I do think they imagine the English are appalling at cooking and we eat awful food. Our coffee is a big joke to them and I have to say I agree with them there. I have always enjoyed strong coffee and I don’t think I could ever go back to instant ever again. The Italians drink expressos primarily, and very strong short ones at that which literally pick them up throughout the day. After visiting Italy before in 2008 I now have to admit the Italian food is definitely my favourite so far, with France in second place and Germany comes in last place…sorry Germany!

This brings me onto Spain. I will be going to Spain later this year. After I have worked at the WCC I may fish for a month or two somewhere in France and then I shall make my long way down to the Extremedura region. I am hoping that my third winter’s fishing will be more successful and slightly warmer. Saying all of that though, you have to experience these things or you will never know and I don’t have any regrets at all about fishing Cassien last January and fishing this lake for this January. I have to live somewhere through this cold time of year and it is that simple. I am getting through the weeks and days and it is nearly February already – Spring will soon be here. Time sure does fly and I remember fishing at Gigantica last year in August when I noticed the days were suddenly getting shorter. Compared to now the days were still very long and it was still light at 10pm, but by the end of the week it was getting dark by 9.45pm, a few days later and it was 9.30pm and I knew the dark long nights would soon be here. When I started fishing the Moselle in October that was when Autumn was in full swing and I knew then that I had a long journey ahead of me. I now feel I am coming out of the tunnel though and I can see the glimmer of light beckoning me forwards. Good times lay ahead and some good fishing too.

I made a plan with Emanuele yesterday to go and look at my next water of choice after the Carp Italy show. We will drive the short distance to the lake, taking with me my inflatable and outboard motor. The plan is then to bomb round the lake with my echo sounder and explore the place very quickly looking for a swim for my intended ten week session. If you thought this session was a long one, then think again, this was just the warm up! My friend knows the lake fairly well and it will be a great help to have some knowledge with me for the day. It will also be nice to be set up at the lake as winter turns to spring. I will be there to witness as everything begins to wake up from a long sleep. Aviron in the spring is one of my favourite places in the world. You begin to notice the buds on the trees, the fry in the shallows and the crayfish returning at night, the birds begin to get quite vocal and the carp begin to get more active. Spring is a magnificent season and by far my favourite.

Last night I had a small fish on one rod. The rod I put in 22ft at the back of the plateau. It was desperately cold last night by 9pm and I knew a small fish had hooked itself. The question was do I go out in the boat and free it or leave it to try to free itself? I tightened up the slack line and noticed the rod tip knocking every few seconds. I decided to give the fish the benefit of the doubt and returned to my warm bivvy; either unhook yourself or I may have a catfish run! In the morning at 9am the fish was clearly still on, so I rowed out and freed the greedy culprit. The rod is now back out and that is all the rod work I have done today.

Did I get my Robin picture? I ended up with a few…have a look. The speed of a Robin is lightning quick and he was very aware of the camera. I had to adjust my shutter speed to 1000th of a second and as a result I had to use some flash. As soon as I clicked the remote button he was gone but I got some interesting results.

Look at his eyes...he isn't too sure!

Nice wing action!

Looks like he is about to land!

At least someone is enjoying my boilies!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Catch you tomorrow

Jake and the dogs.