Christmas and New Year's Eve on the Peloponnese Peninsula
After the visit to the lake, which I wrote about at the end of the last blog, I put the carp rods aside for the time being. At least for carp fishing, because they were used once or twice for sea fishing. When I didn't get the carp I longed for at the last lake I visited above Athens, I devoted the following time to saltwater fishing. In fact, I was able to land one or two fish that were previously unknown to me. However, the size of the fish still had room for improvement and the hoped-for fish for the pan did not materialize until further notice. Our travel route went further south via Athens to the Peloponnese peninsula. Alice and I spent the Christmas season and the New Year there in good company with other travelers. We visited pretty towns, stood in lonely places right by the sea and enjoyed the beautiful weather that accompanied us constantly.
New attempt at the new lake…
In mid-January, Alice decided to visit her home with her family in Germany, which was still open. When the flight date was set, we turned around and drove about two hours back towards Athens airport. For me that meant a week alone in the camper. So what could be better than using the time effectively for fishing?! I wanted to try my luck again in freshwater for carp. The lake that was still on my radar was within easy reach of Athens so let's go!
After dropping Alice off at the airport early in the morning, I stocked up on food for the week ahead and headed to the lake. Approximately in the middle of the over 1000 hectare body of water, a path led directly to the shore, which I first wanted to get an overview of with binoculars. The weather was ideal for the location: sunshine and a smooth water surface allowed me to spot jumping fish even in the distance. After initial indecision, I decided on the initial area of the lake, which was marked by many trees and bamboo sticks standing in the water. For me, such obstacles are always good fish indicators. Just as I suspected, shortly after my arrival some jumping fish made their presence known to me. That's exactly what I was hoping for!!
Finally carp!!
I quickly set up the folding boat and got an overview of the structure and especially of the dead wood under the water surface. Fortunately, most of the stalks sticking out of the water were brittle bamboo sticks, which shouldn't pose any problems in the fight. I placed my montages in front of and behind the underwater bamboo jungle. The first night was quiet; different than I would have expected after the fishing activity the day before. There was no action during the day either. Desperate, I loaded my spinning rod with a light lead and a small, neon-colored Poppi and threw it directly onto my own bank to exhaust all options. It was exactly the rod that produced the longed-for continuous sound on the second morning. After the powerful fight on the light spinning tackle, I netted my first Greek carp, I was super happy. Immediately after resetting, my distance rod responded with the slow click of the reel brake. The mono line had too much stretch to give a “clean” bite indication at almost 200 meters. So I got in the boat and rowed to the spot. Sure enough, carp number two was hanging at the other end. Sometimes it can be that simple!!
Above my expectations
The rising sun drove away the morning fog and I sat contentedly with a coffee in the warming light. I was recording a new video for YouTube when suddenly Mara ran to the rod before I even checked anything. I jumped up, grabbed the tripod and ran to the curved rod. I had the bite including the fight on video and in the end I landed a fish that exceeded my expectations for this lake. Things couldn't have gone better!! I use the rest of the sunny day to wash my dirty clothes. I also caught a small sculpin, which I put back straight from the boat. Contrary to expectations, the following night remained quiet and nothing more happened the next day and night. “Strange, that must have something to do with the change in the weather, I thought”: The fish were all biting in calm, sunny weather and there was no sign of jumping fish since the wind had picked up.
Spot change
Continuing to wait for new promotions was not an option, so I packed my things in the car and set off on a location tour around the lake. The wind was blowing across the lake to the other shore at times over 40 km/h. On such a large area of water, high waves could build up, which made rowing a folding boat not only very difficult but also dangerous. Nevertheless, I decided to go to the windward side of the lake, even though I could probably only cast the rods. I wanted to see if the carp would follow the wind. The wind was almost like a hair dryer due to the 19 degrees outside temperature. I found a new place relatively quickly, which was significantly less comfortable than the last one. Nevertheless, I didn't want to leave anything unturned.
Despite the waves, I set up my boat to try rowing and at least get an overview of the depth and the edge of the bank from the edge. The strong waves made me unable to maneuver and caused me to quickly turn around again. Too risky without a life jacket alone on such a large lake, the water temperature of which was only just over ten degrees. At least I knew afterwards that the bank dropped steeply to three to four meters. I feel for the rest with a basic lead on my carp rod. From the bank I used the feeding ladle to spread boilies over a large area about fifty meters away in a strip onto which I then threw my three rods. It was all pretty rough, but I knew that if the wind made the fish active (as I knew it did on other big lakes), accuracy no longer mattered.
The fish follow the wind!!
The next morning, the constant tone of my radio box pulled me out of my morning meditation. I stumbled across the rocky bank to the rods and made contact. Something was hanging in the cord and bang, the 50's mono was already gone. Fuck!! I was annoyed about the loss of fish but getting into the boat wasn't an option in the strong wind. I immediately reeled in my two other rods, and another line was cut through the mussels as I was retrieving. There was a mini barbel hanging on the other rod and the bite didn't come through at all. I also spooled all of my rods with a 60 gauge chalk line. I didn't bring any thicker material with me. In addition, I installed lead core for the first few meters and changed the inline lead for my tried and tested stone assembly. Since the wind died down a bit in the morning, I wanted to try to deploy the rods from the boat - which worked.
Sometime around lunchtime I got the next bite. I was able to play the fish from the bank in the storm - this time everything went smoothly!
So it was clear: the Greek carp also followed the wind - anything else would have surprised me too. The wind should continue to blow unchanged for the next few days. I used short “breaks in the wind” to re-lay the rods and feed them. All three of my rods drained at regular intervals and produced more scaled carp and barbel. I enjoyed the peace and quiet and successful fishing on this unknown body of water somewhere in the middle of nowhere - surrounded by beautiful nature. That was exactly my kind of fishing: no beaten paths, new paths to explore and explore without having the slightest idea about the fish population. This is adventure carp fishing!!
I caught my fish continuously until Alice arrived in three days. The majority of the fish were wild, small scale carp. But the size didn't matter to me, I was just happy.
If you would like to follow the trip and many other adventures of Alice and me as a video, subscribe to my channel @Vantasticoutdoorlife on YouTube.
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