Good Evening.

I thought I would write one more post before I leave for the UK tomorrow evening. A few twists and turns happened in the last twenty-four hours at the lake and I feel I must tell you what happened as it was amusing, yet it caused a great deal of problems. You may remember I said I was going to stop fishing in my last post and just enjoy my final night at the lake. I still had two rods in the water so I decided I may as well leave them where they were to see what happened. This is what happened!

We even had our own ducks for company!

I explained earlier in the week that my mate had to go off to work every day as he works in a garage. It was a shame for him because he missed the morning feeding period, and most mornings when he got up to reel in his rods, I was out in the boat playing a carp. I am sure it was rather frustrating for him, knowing he would be at work, and I would either be sleeping or hauling – both beat working! Chesa incidentally had managed to catch twelve carp during the session and I was really hoping he would catch a few more on the last night. Only time would tell.

I began clearing up and had a take!

I had begun to have a clear up during the afternoon when one of my rods took off. It was the 20kg rod so I had a good tug of war before taking to the boat. I noticed the wind had begun to pick up a little before the take, and I had to drop my anchor to keep me steady, once I neared the fish. The carp put up an amazing fight and I was relieved when I glided the golden creature into my net. The increasing chop made netting it quite difficult but I took advantage of the tiring carp and the swell, and steered it on the surface into my waiting net. As I returned to shore my friend had just arrived. “Everytime I arrive or go, you are in that boat with a carp,” he laughed! “Get the rods out mate, this wind is going to get them on the munch big time,” I shouted back!

Kite surfing winds!

Now I should explain here that my friend is much younger than me. He is a nice lad, he has a good heart, he speaks good English, but he talks far too much! He would strongly agree with that statement by the way. He has grown up by the lake and loves his fishing and has been undertaking the sport for about four years. On a recent trip to Morocco’s Bin El Quidane he managed to catch 15 carp to 22kg, and in fact caught the biggest carp in his group of Italian anglers. He is a fairly competent angler but he would catch more if he heeded some advice and stopped nattering all the time! I am sure any Italians reading this, who know the guy, are probably laughing and nodding their heads in agreement.

Rather than get his rods out immediately, he started telling me about the morning at work etc… “Chesa, get your rods out!” By the time he had got two out, which took him two hours, the wind had now picked up to epic proportions. It was now unsafe to go out in the boat, and in a way I was relieved for myself, as it did mean my session had come to a premature, but welcome end. I knew it was the type of wind that wasn’t going to die down, and although my friend kept hoping it would, I told him it wasn’t, and he should feel lucky that he at least had two rods out in the water. “If you get a take, you will have to play the carp from the land,” I said. “So be prepared.”

I had to carefully play it from the bank!

Take to the water...

Pick the right moment...

And somehow get it in the net!!!

The final carp of an incredible week's fishing!

Just as it was getting dark, my final rod registered a take. I played the fish very carefully and much to my surprise the carp fortunately did not kite to the left or right. I manage to guide it all the way across the bay, and then had to jump into the choppy water in the deep margins, in my waders, and get the fish into the net. It was tricky but reminded me of a time when I was playing a 49lb leather at Cassien in very similar windy conditions. I had to angle the net against the direction of the strong winds, and allow the carp to float in on the top. It worked, and I was pleased with the final outcome of a carp caught in conditions when you would certainly expect to lose them. Once again I think my pilot float helped keep the line away from the many snags in the bay. Incredibly out of all the fish I caught I only lost four carp. Two were down to hook pulls and two were from takes whilst I was out in the boat, and the fish managed to drop the hook, before I had any chance. This really proves how effective my pilot float idea was.

The wind was now at what I would class gale force. No boats, no fishing, take cover in a safe place away from trees, and watch out for flying objects. The wind continued all night and in the morning, if anything, was getting stronger. We now had a serious and annoying problem. Packing up and getting our equipment to our vehicles was going to be a logistical nightmare. The distance from the swim to the vans was over two hundred yards. The water was too dangerous to even consider a boat trip, and the wind was also against us – we had to go right, the winds were blowing left! I told my friend to get a wheelbarrow from home and we would have to take all the stuff by hand and in the barrow (don’t forget we had several massive lorry batteries). We had no other choice and it was going to take ages. To make matters worse, with the waterlogged ground, and all the flood debris, littering the ground between ourselves and our vans, travelling the distance was a complete headache. The wheel of the barrow kept sinking in the mud, getting stuck in debris, and as we were both exhausted from the very demanding week, it was a final ‘kick in the teeth’ that we could have done without. The lake had the last laugh for sure, as we started packing up at 9am and we got home,a mile away, at 5pm. I ate some food and then fell asleep within minutes on the settee in my studio flat, and woke up at 8pm this morning with a dog lying on top of me!

Despite the final drama that has to go down in history as my best ever week’s fishing. There was certainly nothing easy about the tough conditions, continuous rain, and rising water, and I am sure many people would have given up and gone home (as most people on the lake actually did). My stubborn will, and sheer fight to the end got me the carp I have been trying to get since I arrived in Italy last year. It is not a personal best common, but it has to rate as my most deserving common, and the multitude of marvellous mirrors I landed, just made the week an unforgettable one in my eyes. Why did I catch so many? I was obviously in the best part of the lake where the fish were holding up. The actual fishing itself wasn’t that difficult. I wasn’t using an echo sounder, I was just casually dropping my rig a couple of metres from the reeds, but the timing was impeccable. The fish clearly liked the bait I was using, but hand on heart, I don’t think the bait mattered too much this week. The carp were going crazy and scoffing anything in their wake. To put it bluntly they were being suicidal!

They just could not resist it!

I will see you all again very soon. I will be fishing again, starting on the 30th of May. Make a note in your diaries, or better still, if you haven’t registered to the RSS feed, do so now, as you will be automatically notified when I post the next blog, or alternatively follow me on Twitter which also informs you of new posts, and brings you short live statements, during my sessions.

Cheers

Jake and the dogs.