Good Evening.

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.