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Lake Bolsena 3rd - 9th September 2012

Into Spring 2010 tales of a big water carper

Well it’s been raining since early last night, so I thought it about time to start this sessions diary piece or ramblings from my bivvy would be more appropriate, I was hoping to start with some news of a carp but I’m still awaiting the first run.

I arrived at the lake late on the Wednesday afternoon having travelled overnight, and then made a quick stop off at the supermarket to pick up essentials. Last job was to stop off at the local bar to get the licence and also a much needed cold beer as it was by now very hot certainly in the eighties, miserable cow at the bar could just about be bothered to sort my licence out, and then it was off to the lake about 20 minutes away.

Water levels looked down compared to when I visited the previous a good 5-6 metres I would guess, there was 4 carp anglers fishing from what I could see, I had a chat with the nearest two who had been fishing 3 days but had yet to catch a fish although they had been moving about. I wished them luck before getting the gear all sorted in the boat ready for the off to a swim I fancied about a km up the lake. I had serviced the petrol outboard over the winter so was hoping it wouldn’t give me any more trouble after keep cutting out last year. Thankfully if I kept it at medium speed it was okay. It was good to be back fishing again it had been a long cold winter back in the UK the worst for 30 years, but looking at the trees it looked as if it hadn’t been so bad here.

I was cream crackered after the long trip so decided to get the bivvy set up and the gear stowed and get the rods out in the morning. One thing I wanted to do though was to get some bait out in the lake and so prebaited with some 4kg of the scopex squid livers. Half went straight in front of me in 10 metres of water and the other half down the margins to my right in 1/3 metres of water. If carp were about I wanted to give them a free meal with no lines in the water. I slept well during the night but was still woken up two or three times by carp crashing other the bait which is always a good sign.

Next morning fresh and ready I began the task of getting the rods ready for action, I have two main areas in the swim that have produced the goods over the last few years. Firstly the 10 metre depth area always seems to be a winner and secondly down the margin to the right in shallower water around some old tree stumps. For some other reason this area also seems to have a higher concentration of crayfish which attracts higher than average size of carp.

Rigs are fairly standard rigs mainly because of the attentions of the crayfish which will tangle up anything fancy. I’m also trying the Armour braid for the first time on the hooklinks and matched this up with the size 4 fang x’s again with the attentions of the crayfish other hooks can lose the sharpness very quickly whereas the fangs stay sharper longer which is a real bonus . I’m going to be using a snowman set up on the two 10 metre rods, a 25mm scopex squid matched with a 25mm flouro mutant. For the two margin rods I’m going to be using the Nash tiger nuts in a stack, generally speaking 3 tigers and a piece of cork again using a size 4 fang x.

Well that the rods sorted out and given the close ranges I’m fishing there is no need to use the boat I can cast both areas which makes a nice change. I do use the boat for a quick scout around to check the depths and where I need to casting also put half a bucket of chopped boilies/pellets and tigers that should keep anything in the area interested.

I’m confident first night the rods all went out nice, it has though clouded up a bit and the warm sun replaced with a few drops of rain. The night is however quiet I did hear one good fish crash over the baited area out in front, I was interested next morning to check the extent of the crayfish, the hardened 25mm had been attacked but were still okay. It might take a few days for the crays to really get on the bait; I’m not too worried about this as this will only attract for the carp especially the big kippers. It’s a Saturday but no other carp anglers turn up and the others have cleared off, there are some pike anglers fishing both from the bank and shore I’m guessing it’s the first day of their pike season. Weather is not brilliant with heavy rain and I’m bivvy bound in the confines of the viper, tying up a few rigs and looking for signs of carp. I do see one reasonable fish roll 3 times straight out to the right of my baited area but the just don’t seem to be in feeding mood.

Again I hear one fish crash during the night close to the baited area but only receive the odd bleep on the rods from the crayfish, the weather is certainly changing and is a lot colder and still wet at times which isn’t the best of conditions for on here. Bright, sunny conditions are what are needed, if I could have some of that then I’m sure I would start receiving some action. I make a few changes to the bait set ups, changing one of the snowman setups to 20mm monster squid and a white chocolate pop up. My French mate Franck raves about the Nash white chocolate pop ups so I got some for this trip to give them a go. I also try one of the tiger nut rods in deeper water moving it from 3 metres 5 metres out where I have seen some activity.

I also decide it’s time to get the crayfish trap in action, not least as I fancied some for lunch in the next few days and it would also show if there was as many out there as I suspected given the marked up baits. Water levels were starting to creep up and so I had no option but to move the bivvy up the slope, these aren’t the easiest banks being at a 45 degree angle and a bit of work is needed to make everything reasonably comfortable. Its takes an hour before I’m happy with everything but worth it, the viper certainly makes to job easier.

Wind changed last evening and I’m guessing its gone round to the east/north as it’s a lots colder but still as wet, not great conditions now although I did receive some action just on dark which I was sure was a carp. The slightly deeper tiger nut rod was off, the tip pulled round and line coming off the clutch, it felt like a carp on striking and the fish started to kite around to my left, not big but it was a start. Then the fish went mental and started darting all over the place I had doubts now and so it proved, a tench argh. I unhooked the tench and re cast the rod out, it was a quiet night in fact I hadn’t heard any carp crash out now for the last two nights, not a good sign but with the weather conditions to be expected.

You will notice that i have enclosed pictures of things i have seen around my swim whether they are snakes, butterflies, insects, flowers etc it is amazing the nature that we all fish amongst but i guess the majority of anglers don’t appreciate it. It really opened my eyes on this trip just how much is out there and so thought it would be good to share it.

Today’s on the bank tackle test – Nash weed clip and tail rubber

I just love these little beauties have been a fan ever since they came out, I’m a great believer that dropping the lead on the take increases your chances of landing a carp many times over. The main reason for this is that by dropping the lead the fish invariably rises and fights higher in the water. This is crucial on waters I fish and the lake I’m fishing whilst writing this is typical where the lake or river bed will be littered with tree stumps, rocks even old buildings. Even in the UK the clips will come into their own on weedy waters, the reason being that the clips and tail rubbers are very short and just hold the lead in place. I drop a great deal of my rigs off in a boat but if casting I will tie a piece of PVA tape around the clip to stop the lead coming off. I know a lot of people don’t want to lose a lead because of the expensive but I would rather be holding a decent carp upto the cameras than swearing at a lost fish that has been snagged and potentially tethered, there is the safety aspect to also think about. If you can’t afford to keep losing leads using this then do what I use to do and make your own, it’s very easy and very cost effective. The clips appear to have been improved this year in that my swivels fit much easier and first time into the clip a big improvement. A great little product that I make sure I have a plentiful supply of on my long foreign trips to ensure I don't run out.