Fishing Report: Where the Mandatory Equipment is a Helmet!

Wondering why you would need a helmet on any of the ponds?

Well, the Pivola pond is certainly one of those places where you never know when some "master" is going to throw lead at your head (partly by accident by partly… On purpose?!)!

To clarify - the pond is quite small (that's why it's a pond and not a lake) and in addition to float fishing, bottom fishing is also an option.

Some very ambitious anglers like to throw their lead across the whole pond instead of just walking on the other side. A bit dangerous practice, do you think?

But here comes a paradox - I fish for carp with my float 5m from the shore and his bite alarm only goes off while pulling out his boilies.

But hey, people are known for complicating things too much instead of enjoying simple things. So, if this got you interested in what happened on Pivola pond, read on!

Was Some Bad Brass Band the Only Thing Missing?

Make no mistake - there were two gentlemen bottom fishing next to me - they fished great, they caught quite a few fish, but they "used their heads". These guys were completely silent, no beeps could be heard at all, and they also casted to "normal" positions. Everything was perfect. Don’t you love fishing next to such people?

On the other side of the pond, there was a "party" - laughing, dancing, running by the water… in short, nothing was missing - I was just waiting for brass band to arrive to make this circus complete.

But, OK, I thought, let them have fun. The louder they are and the less time they focus on fishing is actually good for me as all the fish will come to “my” side of the pond. Cool I thought.

Why did I Fish There? [How I Choose the Location?]

I like this place and it is always a fun location. This is why I was there in the first place. But how did I choose the exact position?

There is a beautiful road leading to Pivola pond. If you have never been to Slovenia, I have to tell you that nature is stunning and scenic roads are a pleasure to drive on! If this sound good and you are planning a vacation, check it out here where I write about best carp fishing locations in Slovenia.

I really enjoyed the beautiful views. There was a small mist in the distance, the sun in the sky, and the weather forecast for that day was also great!

I reached the pond and as I looked at it, I knew why I love it so much. Nature is amazing.

I took my equipment out of the car, opened the front door to enter the area. They have a huge guard dog named Boki, who looks intimidating but trust me, he is a puppy in his heart.

I walked towards the cottage to buy my daily license (which is actually reasonably priced at 7€).

Immediately after that, I spoke a few words with one of the anglers. He explained to me how they solved the problem they had with the American catfish in the Pivola pond with lowering the water and using fishing traps.

Well done, boys, "good work" I said!

Then we talked something about the depth of the water and how it moves around the pond...

I looked at the pond, observed the position of the sun and where it shines to see where the water warms up first. And together with that I checked wind direction. All those factors determine the perfect position. To learn more, read this!

I found a place where the wind blew in my face and carried leaves and everything to "my shore". It was a great sign, for mixing the water and natural food in the water. If that doesn’t attract fish, nothing will!

I put down all the fishing equipment; I set up a chair, unpacked my Daiwa Procaster float rod, and I took a bucket with all the chum I already prepared. A mixture of wheat, a bit of hemp, and large corn is a great combination for the conditions there. I have some guidelines for carp fishing with corn here ...

To make everything a little more attractive to fish, I added a little "dip" (Scopex) to the bucket.

It smelled so good that I would eat it if I had a spoon! Hehe. :)

And here it begins. On “my” side carp fishing, and party on the opposite side!

How it Went Down?

Well, fishing went great!

With the chumming mixture described and vanilla corn as hook bait I had tremendous success!

In just 4 hours I caught one larger carp, two small ones, and 2 unfortunately escaped. As every angler will says, those two were huge haha!

And how the party went? Well, they became louder and louder, barely caught anything, and as you can assume they were on the wrong side of the pond and the wind. This is why their leads were flying like rockets towards us. At some point it looked like they were fishing for us! I don’t think it was really intentional, but you can never know!

Of course, they disturbed fish with huge splashes a bit, but it didn’t affect me a lot. And then I swear one of those guys almost hit me in the head! His lead landed barely in the water, almost on land, right in front of me! Wow, next time, I will use a helmet and ski googles to protect my eyes.

But despite some issues, I will definitely return to the Pivola pond! Maybe I didn’t catch a huge one, but every fish counts and I really enjoy smaller ones too!

The last words ...

If I draw a line under my few hours of fishing on the Pivola pond, I can say that I am extremely satisfied with it!

Considering fishing technique, while I was waiting for my float to sink, I was thinking a lot about trying to use boilies and pop ups for carp. I think something could be caught like that; do you agree? Check out here and tell me what you think ...

I would still use a float, but boilies instead of corn. Maybe to change it a bit and offer something else to local carp in Pivola.

Pivola pond, definitely see you again! It was a beautiful day, similar to other wonderful days mentioned in my fishing reports!