N AFFAIR
LARYSA SWITLYK AN AMERICAN ABROAD
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I had the privilege of representing Team Carp Connections at the World Carp Classic 2014 at Lake Bolsena, Italy. It was my third year fishing for Team USA,
but this was the first time I ended up on the stage during the prize giving ceremony. Despite having a tough swim and only pulling out one fish, Team USA came in second in the team event thanks to the help of the other two teams from Holland and United Kingdom making up team Carp Connections. Part of the prize was a week fishing holiday on the Fishing Resort Du Der in France. Since I was already in Europe I decided to
cash in this prize right away. So, two days later I found myself in France with all my left over carp gear and Livingston Lures just in case I had time to sneak away to a close by Lake to go after some pike or perch.
French Lessons
I’ve never fished in France before so I was excited to be able to spend a week at the Fishing Resort Du Der thanks to Carp Connections. Staying in one of the cabins on the lake
fully equipped with a kitchen felt like a 5 star hotel coming from camping on the bank of Lake Bolsena. I brought my left over Dynamite Baits with
me and decided to try what I thought would work on the lake. I wanted to see if these carp
were hungry for the spicy vs. sweet challenge. The nice thing about the Fishing Resort Du
Der is that the lakes were built specifically for carp fishing, so when searching for spots, you don’t have to worry about unknown snags on the bottom. I went out in the boat and decided to mark some spots. After putting one rod out a storm rolled in. I feel like it is always my luck when trying to get rods out to start fishing, a storm rolls though, but that didn’t stop me from putting the rest of my rods out. I was abruptly awakened at 2 am by the
beeping of the alarm. With no hesitation I ran right out the door without any shoes, straight to the rod with its screaming reel. That is what carp fishing is all about, being woken up from a dead sleep one moment and the next you are fighting a monster fish while you’re half asleep and half dressed. But nothing matters because right then, you know all your preparation led you to this special moment. I’ve caught all sorts of species of fish and I
get asked all the time in America why I fish for carp. My response is, until you catch one on a rod and reel only then will you understand. Carp are a strong fighting fish and, in my opinion, smart and sometimes stubborn. You get a sense of accomplishment when you can outsmart a carp and get to admire them on the bank. That first carp was hooked on a 20mm
Dynamite white chocolate coconut cream with a 15mm fluoro two-tone strawberry and
coconut popup. That right there told me these carp were digging the sweet, but it wasn’t until I got another two hits on that same rig, that I was convinced enough to change my spicy set ups to sweet. Over the course of five days I caught a ton
of carp including my PB Mirror, but I got the majority of my runs in the middle of the night. That definitely made it hard to get any good sleep, but that’s what makes carp fishing so addictive and fun. I learned a lot while fishing in France and it was the perfect lake for me to brush up on my carp skills. I figured it also didn’t hurt to get in tune with these French carp, so I can get a head start on pre-fishing for World Carp Classic 2015.
Czech Mates
Ross Honey rang me earlier this year and started excitingly telling me about a new junior carp tournament he had in the works, all planned to help raise money for cancer research and help donate much needed equipment to the local children’s hospital. At the end of him explaining the whole
deal, I was sceptical of him being able to pull it off in such a short amount of time, so I asked him, “Okay, why are you telling me about this?” He replies with, “Think about it.” I quickly thought about who I knew in the United States that carp fished, but more
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