LARYSA SWITLYK TAKING ON THE BIG BOYS
down my bait. Waves started crashing over the inflatable JRC boat and to make things worse, the battery on the motor died so I had to row back. I was fighting against the wind and rowing with all my might, by this time I was soaking wet and exhausted trying not to get blown into the next swim. However, on the bank, James wasn’t worried one bit. He knew I would make it back but couldn’t help to laugh when he saw what a hot mess everything turned into. That was when I realized, okay, this is a big boy’s game and I need to step up my game! I Just needed more practice and to spruce up my skills because there is nothing I can’t do! Unfortunately we picked a peg that
produced no fish in the whole section we were in. But we still made the best of the situation even though we caught nothing. I was blown away with the closing
ceremony and was still really proud of myself for representing Team USA at such an incredible fishing tournament! I swore to myself next time I would be prepared and my eyes were already set on 2013! I soon got busy fishing in the United States
for Carp. The Austin Team Championship with Ken Keene was a great place to start just a few months later. However, fishing for carp in the United States uses a different technique from Europe. Lots of corn and tiger nuts seemed to do the trick but it was still a really great experience. To get more practice on European Carp
I flew out to Mequinenza, Spain and fished the Ebro River for a week in April. The weather was brutally cold and stormy but I spent a whole week fishing from a boat with Eric Torres and Jason Cann. I brought my Cameraman, Casey Woody, along for the ride to film the whole experience with the help of Gary Allen as camera boat. I sought out to break my Personal Best (‘PB’) and it took me until the last day to achieve my goal. I caught a 21kilo Carp. I also learned the ins and outs of Carp fishing that week. There is always more to learn but I filmed the whole experience and produced a TV show. I am passionate about showing the United States the beauty of carp fishing. I was thrilled when I was invited to come
fish Lake Bolsena in July. It was to film a Live Streaming TV show with Ross Honey and crew. What better way to prepare for the World Carp Classic than getting practice on the huge lake itself. This was the trip to figure out how to catch these Italian carp and it had nothing to do with Pasta or Pizza flavored boilies!
The three days I spent on Lake Bolsena marked the turning point in my carp- fishing career where I officially felt like a carp fisherwoman. I was tying my own rigs and even started
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strategizing on how to catch them. It was finally time to rely on experience and gut feelings. I made sure to listen to the Italian’s input and applied it to my own decisions. Cann and I put out our baits and it took us about a day to figure out where we wanted to fish. Once we did, we were catching carp non-stop. I remember wanting to try a fruit juice boilie and Jason disagreed. I said, I don’t care, this is my rod and I’m putting it out. Turned out it ended up catching the biggest fish of the trip and it was the fish that broke my Personal Best! Of course the celebration bucket of water toppled over my head for breaking my PB, thanks to the one
and only Ross Honey. By this point, I was ready for the World
Carp Classic 2013! It felt good to be back in Italy representing Team USA and knowing that this time I was prepared! I love being a part of this event – not only because of the scale of the tournament, but it’s a time to catch up with old friends from all over the world and meet new friends who all share a love for carp fishing. The parade is also special to me because it’s where each competitor gets to represent their country by flying their flag high. It makes me proud to be from the United States and wave the Stars and Stripes! The opening ceremony went smoothly,
but I get so nervous during peg draw – it is the moment that predicts your future. The spot you pick out of that bag determines where you will spend the next five days even if you can’t pull fish out of that spot.
We were off to a slow start. From the look of the spot, we could tell it held fish, but how many was the question. It wouldn’t be the start of a World Carp
Classic if it didn’t start with strong winds and weather blowing across the lake. While Jason and our runner Fernado set up camp, I sat down and started tying rigs to get them ready. I used a Maple & Nut boilie with a fruit juice pop up, it is what caught us carp last time in Italy. We figured we might as well use what we knew had worked and what these carp were eating. That’s half the battle – trying to figure out what these carp will feed on. Now it was time to find a spot and scope
out our swim. We went out in the boat with our view finder and Raymarine Kit. Mainly trying to avoid weeds and find a depth to fish in. We did have weed, which I was afraid of and it took about an hour or two in the boat to find 4 decent spots that had a clearing. We decided to fish two rods more close, about 100 yards out and in 3 meters of water. The other two rods were out further, about 200 yards and in 5 meters of water. It was about two days into the
tournament that we got our first run. It felt good to bring in that first fish and know that our swim was producing results! We caught that carp close so we decided to bring in one of the far rods. Our spirits were high and we were focused on the fishing and trying to get more runs! The live leader board helped to keep track of what other teams were catching and in what sections. We fished our spot the best we could.
The carp were definitely there but they were not feeding heavy as there wasn’t enough pressure and there were only a few – not a ton like we had hoped. It was extremely frustrating watching them on the underwater camera from
CarpSpot.De, as they grazed like cows, getting so close to picking up our bait but just missing it by a few inches and then swimming off. The way they were feeding, we knew we would be lucky to get one more run before the tournament was over. We had one more run at about 4 in the
morning. It was nice to catch that last fish because it pushed us into 19th place out of 160 teams and I’ll take that. We put our best effort into the swim and I felt I made Team USA proud. We fished our hearts out and put every effort into catching fish. We switched up our strategy a few times and it paid off in the end.
The 2013 WCC tournament was a special
one for me as it was the first time in history that an all female team had won the event. The night before I had dinner with Lizette and Bianca and I told them, if I don’t win or come close, I want you guys to win! I’m cheering for you to do well! Their win proves to the world that
females can fish just as hard as the boys and we have what it takes to end up on top. I couldn’t be happier for them ... Girl Power!
I’m looking forward to the World Carp
Classic and feel very well prepared for this year’s event. Thanks to the help of Hans Sissingh, Team USA will be representing Carp Connections. My fishing partner in crime, Captain
Patrick Crawford and I fished for Team USA in the World Predator Classic representing Livingston Lures and finished 5th place. It was our first time fishing for Pike, Zander, and Perch and we rose to the challenge exceeding everyone’s expectations. That is the plan this year at the World Carp Classic. We have our order in for Dynamite baits. We are also going to put the Livingston Lures to the test on Lake Bolsena’s bass! Big thanks to Hangel Discount Gigant/
Plons Water-en Hengelsport, (a big tackle store in the Netherlands that you can also place orders online) for supporting Team USA as well! Can’t wait to see you all in Italy on the banks of Lake Bolsena! Xo Larysa
LarysaUnleashed@gmail.com
WORLDCARPCLASSIC.COM
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