I’ve been so busy since the beginning of the year that I haven’t got round to updating my blog. So here’s a round-up of what’s been happening. I’ve had shows and open days pretty much every weekend since January! The shows are a great opportunity to meet carp anglers and talk everything carpy and it gives me and the Big Carp Team the opportunity to show our new products and answer your questions. Have a look at the Team’s blogs and see what they have all been up to.
We changed the layout of our catalogue this year and the reaction has been very positive. We’ve also been working hard on the new website and particularly the Club and Big Carp TV sections of the website, which has video clips which we are organising into categories. It’s a work in progress and we will be adding a new clip every week, so that there is always new information coming into the site and it will keep it fresh and lively. The same applies to the News area which will be updated on a regular basis.
The open days started for me this year in Belgium at Hainaut Peche. Team Big Carp Belgium members Arnaud Minsart and Benoit Bruneau were with me on the stand to help. It is always a big show and there were over 6000 visitors over the weekend.
After that I went to a show at Terres et Eaux near Lille, in France. I was joined by Big Carp Team member Jean Philippe Provenzano and his wife Michelle. Again, lots of visitors and a busy and successful weekend.
This year we have taken on a distributor for the Czech Republic, called Carp Servis. I went to Prague for their annual carp show and the Carp Servis stand was very busy. I had a translator with me all the time as the Czech language is like Chinese to me! It went really well and the reaction from the Czech anglers was really positive. 
Next was a show at Vendee Peche Chasse on the 11/12 march with team member Jerome Herve. This was my first visit to this region and this shop does a great job selling Big Carp products in that area. Organisation was excellent and the sales team of Danny and Christophe are experienced carp anglers and did a great job over the 2 days.
April fools day turned out to be very memorable! I arrived at the Easyjet check in desk at precisely 06.h53. The Easy Jet rules say check-in latest 40 minutes before take-off. My plane was scheduled for 07.30, so I was 3 minutes late! Yes, you’ve guessed it. No way was I getting on that plane. I couldn’t believe it, and for just 3 minutes!
I called Thierry who was to meet me at Lyon airport. He thought it was an April fool – sorry Thierry, I had missed the plane.
All the other Easyjet flights were full but fortunately I was able to get on a British airways flight in the afternoon. It made it a very expensive trip, as there was no refund for the Easy Jet flight and I had to fork out for an expensive British Airways ticket. It was well worth making the effort though, as Nevers Peche had gone to a lot of effort to advertise and there were plenty of visitors which made the Saturday a very successful day.
Last weekend was the last show of the spring, at Fonisto near Valenciennes in France. Gerald and his team did a fantastic job of organising the show and carp anglers came from all over the north of France and the south of Belgium. We showed them the new products in the range and answered lots of questions on how to get the best from Big Carp products.
It was a very enjoyable weekend but I’m glad it’s over as that was the last show for this spring. I can finally relax, think about getting the rods out and enjoy the sunshine.
I did manage to find a few days for fishing the week before last and I flew down to Montpelier to spend a few days fishing with Thomas Flauger. Thomas is a really well known carp angler and he particularly likes fishing short sessions for carp or catfish from his small inflateable boat – right up my street.
The Rhone was in flood, so we fished another small river near his home. With the boat positioned just upstream of some fallen trees, we dropped in a handful of pellets and boilies and then drifted our float fished paste baits just in front of the fallen branches in about 8’ of water, only a couple of rod lengths from the boat. It wasn’t long before the first bite and a wild 15lb common was pulling really hard to get back in the snags. Several other carp followed during the morning and we caught some lovely fish up to mid 20s. it was great fun and exciting fishing. I’ll tell you all about it in a more detailed article.
Bye for now.
John
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