Somewhere on nearly every carp angler’s wish list sits the koi carp - a fish prized not just for its size, but for its striking, unmistakable appearance. Our user Anna can add exactly this kind of trophy to her fishing records. And it isn’t even the only koi she has ever caught.
But behind this extraordinary catch lies something bigger - years of passion, family roots, long journeys abroad and the kind of patience that carp fishing eventually rewards - often in the most unexpected moments.
From five years old to multi-day carp sessions
Anna’s fishing story began early, when she was barely five years old. Both of her parents introduced her to this sport, but the real turning point came a year later. At six, she entered her first fishing competition - and won! That single result sparked a desire to keep learning and delve deeper into the world of angling.
Childhood interests rarely stay the same, though. Fishing eventually took a back seat as horses, and later cars, captured her attention throughout her teenage years. The passion never fully disappeared, however. Everything changed again when Anna’s mother remarried and moved to a house with its own private pond. Regular visits to the water brought her old excitement back, and this time, fishing was here to stay.
Tents, carp and waiting for the alarm to sound
Among the many styles of fishing Anna enjoys, carp fishing holds a special place in her heart. She loves the atmosphere of multi-day sessions - the camping, the quiet of nature and above all, the ritual of loading the car with gear and heading out to the water. There’s something special she says about sitting in the tent in the evening, watching the rods through the open flap, waiting for that moment when the alarm goes off and it’s time to run.
It’s no surprise, then, that her favorite approach is traditional carp fishing - a style built for anglers willing to wait hours, sometimes even longer, for a single, perfect bite.
That said, not every trip calls for a full carp setup. On shorter outings, Anna increasingly reaches for a feeder rod instead. The full carp setup comes out for multi-day sessions; the feeder takes over when she has only a few hours to spend on the water.
When autumn arrives, so do the predators
Autumn brings another advantage: the water becomes quieter, making it easier to cover longer stretches of river without worrying about disturbing carp anglers in their swims.
Last year, Anna and her husband branched out even further. They bought an ultralight setup and took up trout fishing - a new chapter that has already brought some impressive results. This season, Anna broke her personal record with a 40-centimeter brown trout.
"The Best Fisheries Are the Ones With Fish"
Ask Anna about her favorite venues and she answers with a knowing smile: the best ones are simply those with fish in them. Ponds and lakes are her first choice; rivers, she admits, are still something she’s warming up to, as she finds them considerably harder to read. Rivers are her go-to when she’s targeting predators, but when it comes to carp, still waters win every time - even though she has occasionally caught carp from rivers too, none of them have been record-breakers.
Private fisheries hold particular appeal for Anna and her husband, both for the peace and quiet and for a very practical reason: the ability to park the car right next to their swim. On multi-day sessions, that convenience matters enormously. They never unload all their gear from the car, since between insects, mice, and other uninvited visitors, the vehicle doubles as a surprisingly reliable storage unit.
Public waters still make an appearance in their plans, but usually just for shorter trips.
The star of the story: an extraordinary koi carp
Now to the fish that makes this story worth telling. Anna landed this remarkably beautiful koi during a trip to Lake Ghiarinne in Italy. It wasn’t her or her husband’s first visit, so they already had a good idea of what to expect from the venue.
This time, the weather conditions weren’t ideal. Early July brought temperatures above 35°C that refused to let up. Fortunately, an earlier trip two years before had already taught them that the local fish don’t seem nearly as bothered by the heat as one might assume — the secret lies in the depth.
The fish hold in deeper water, where temperatures remain noticeably cooler and continue feeding actively even through the worst of the heat.
This particular koi came from a depth of 6.9 meters. Remarkably, it was only the third fish of the entire trip, following two days of complete silence on the water. That made the moment all the more electric, especially since koi carp aren’t a common catch there to begin with.
At first, Anna and her husband had no idea what they had hooked. The fish barely fought at all - more like dragging a piece of driftwood along the bottom than battling a living fish and its unusual coloring only added to the confusion. It wasn’t until the fish neared the bank that everything became clear - a koi carp and an exceptionally beautiful one at that.
Krill, a Ronnie Rig and a trusted setup
On longer trips, Anna and her husband rely mainly on protein boilies. For this particular koi, a krill-flavoured boilie from Mikbaits proved especially effective - a logical choice, given the presence of small aquatic organisms in the lake whose scent may resemble krill, potentially making the bait particularly appealing to the local fish.
To finish the rig, Anna chose a Ronnie Rig with a swivel, attaching the bait with bait floss. She has grown particularly fond of this rig this season, appreciating the freedom it gives her to experiment with different baits without having to tie a fresh rig each time.
The bait boat: their greatest ally
Precision matters enormously when fishing large, deep lakes, which is why Anna and her husband use a bait boat for most of their trips. As she puts it, on big, deep lakes where accurate baiting and precise rig placement on specific slopes or ledges can make all the difference, casting from the bank would be far too time-consuming and nowhere near as effective.
The boat typically carries a mix of pellets in different sizes and flavours. Anna values pellets for how quickly they break down and the distinctive cloud they create in the water. Boilies, by contrast, are used much more sparingly - usually just a handful, often cut in half. She jokes that this is more for her own satisfaction than out of necessity, since pellets alone have proven themselves time and again; cutting the boilies simply gives her the feeling of serving the fish a Michelin-starred meal.
And in carp fishing, it’s often those small details that make the hours of waiting feel worthwhile.
What Matters Most Comes After the Fight
Anna isn’t interested in handing out grand advice or playing the expert - she’s quick to say that she still feels she’s near the beginning of her angling journey, with plenty left to learn. But if there’s one thing she’d want other anglers to take away, it’s this: "Always treat fish with the greatest respect and care. Nothing beats catching a healthy, beautiful fish and meeting it again further down the line, simply because it was looked after properly the first time."
Anna has experienced this firsthand - or rather, felt it at the end of her own rod. One of the carp she had caught earlier turned up again just two days later, this time weighing an astonishing 20-plus kilograms. She jokes that it must have enjoyed her care so much that it wanted to say goodbye all over again.
It’s about as good a reminder as any that how we handle fish matters - not just for their safety, but for the encounters still waiting to happen. Every angler dreams of big fish, records, and rare trophies, but the real reward is returning to the same water and meeting an old, familiar fish once more.
So here’s to looking after our fishy friends. One day, they just might repay us with another unforgettable encounter.
