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Appreciating the finer details

After two fish in two sessions, I was understandably keen to get back out on the bank as soon as possible. The hectic social schedule of an eligible young man in the rural Dordogne meant I had to wait fully 24 hours until a window opened up.

Passing the lake on the way to and from work, I decided to call in at lunchtime to show my Dad exactly where I had been catching these fish from, and just why I always sounded so pleased with myself. Whilst I was there, it seemed foolish not to top up the spot with a little more bait, and 100 boilies were put out in the throwing stick (which i’ve yet to master, but the results are improving…).

Arriving that evening to fish, I quickly had the rods out on their spots and before the third lead had even touched down I was getting attention from the bream on the other rods. I eventually got all three settled and pondered what to do about bait. I had some hemp and pellet ready to spod out, but if fish were already in the swim was it worth it? I mulled it over for a while and decided to go for it, since I didn’t want to be ‘cleaned out’ by the time the carp arrived later on. 15 spods of pellet and hemp later and then each rod recast with a small PVA bag of the same, and I was confident of another bite.

2008 06 21

And the feat goes on

It was fully 16 days after my first capture from the barrage, before i could wet a line there again. The absence was enforced by the broken down car, followed by a week away for my birthday. However, I still found time to visit the lake and out a bit of bait into the spot to try and keep it as a regular feeding zone for the carp - this time solely with boilies simply due to convenience.

After one of these visits on monday, when the conditions were perfect and I was really kicking myself for not getting organised in time to take the rods along, I arrived on tuesday evening at about 6pm. By half past i was getting the rods re-rigged with fresh hooks after my exploits elsewhere led me to question the use of a barbless curved shank hook (see here for more info), and by 7pm I was finally cast out and baited up with a few boilies and around 15 spods of pellet and hemp mix.

2008 06 19

An ever deepening obsession

The end of that first session gave me a taste of what was to come over the following weeks, when just before packing up, the swinger on my right rod dropped sharply. It was only once the rod was in my hand with the familiar ‘nodding’ of bream on the other end, that I realised every beep on this lake was going to give me a small heart attack.

This is the kind of fishing I love, and reminds of my early years on a large, low stocked and difficult gravel pit, where each night I used to will the buzzers to go, knowing that those few seconds between hearing a bite and picking up the rod held the most exquisite anticipation. The barrage held that same mystique, and where any resitance stronger than a bream would mean I had realised my goal.

2008 06 15

Will The Barrage
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The Barrage: Back for more

After the previous session on this monstrous lake had left me feeling a little battered, I’m not ashamed it took me a while to work up towards fishing it again. When the chance for some easier fishing on Rouge came along the following week, I snatched it and temporarily let myself forget about the barrage and the huge challenge of it. However, being the sort to beat myself up about ducking out of something simply because it’s difficult, I knew I’d be back.

After a couple of weekend sessions on the river, and having guests stay for a little while, I was finally able to get back to where I should be: scratching my head by the side of the lake and forcing myself to fish harder and better. I hadn’t been able to keep away from the lake, and even though not fishing it I had been down another four or five times for a look around (guests in tow!). One of these occasions was somewhat surreal, when I arrived to find 14 teams of carp anglers bivvied up and fishing a four-day competition on the lake. I knew the ‘Enduro’ was taking place, but it was hard to imagine the scale of it. I was used to seeing the lake largely deserted, with perhaps an occasional French trout angler. So you can imagine the shock when I walked round to chat to some of the guys - one thing I will say is that ‘Continental Carping’ is a different beast altogether to the sport that I know.

2008 06 04

Will The Barrage
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Pastures new: The Barrage

For the last couple of months I’ve been searching for a regular venue to fish. Now that the season has started on our Etangs Des Papillon complex I’m in need of something local to get my regular fix of bank-time. As you can read on this blog, I’ve started taking weekends away to get into a bit of river fishing which has been very exciting so far, if unproductive. However, the fact remains that there’s very little to do round here other than work or study of an evening, so fishing is the obvious answer - but travelling an hour each way just isn’t practical for short sessions.

This led me to re-appraise a water I had previously written off. The lake in question sits right on my doorstep, but until recently had not been in my thoughts. There are a number of reasons not to fish this water, for starters there is no night fishing. More than that though, I think the biggest obstacle is a mental one - at 150 acres the lake is bigger than anything I have tackled before (Morocco aside) and is a hugely unknown quantity in terms of stock.

2008 06 03

Will The Barrage
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RIP Le Grand Etang

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will remember that last year I spent a lot of time fishing a public lake, where I had several small carp and a couple of high doubles. At the time I remember the euphoria surround the capture of these ‘wild’ carp, and looking back I regard them as some of my best fishing achievements of 2007, largely because they were the result of a plan which was considered and executed, and ultimately worked. Though the fish weren’t large by most standards, there were undoubtedly uncaught and very pretty.

Over the winter I was discouraged to hear that the lake was being drained, as is the the way with many French lakes. I’m not entirely sure why they do this: maintenance of the dams and monks is probably one of the principal reasons, along with management of the trout population. I was disappointed to hear the news of the impending ‘vidange’ for a number of reasons, the largest of which was that the carp may not be replaced. Officially, everything would go back in, but I had my doubts that the larger specimens I was certain resided within would make their way back. Other lakes I’ve heard of being drained have had their carp moved off to private waters or other public lakes without explanation.

Even so, I took advantage of the drain-down to go along and see exactly what the lake looked like empty. I knew it was snaggy, and full of stumps, but the extent of this blew me away. I had been fishing in a jungle! Obviously this wasn’t something I was exactly proud of, but I can say that I never lost a fish in these sngas - leads aplenty, but never a fish. In truth, what the photos below don’t show is the old river bed that I was fishing into, which remained relatively clear. This explained why most of the snags I hit were on the retrieve.

Anyway, I spied a few areas that were clear enough to fish, in particular, the area I had fished last November and managed one small carp from. So with a few photos as reference I was looking forward to another crack at the lake this season - whether or not the best of the stock would still exist was another matter. The facts are that this is a beautful lake, largely deserted and the only place I can legally night fish within an hour’s drive, so I was going to give it a go.

2008 06 02

Will Le Grand Etang
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A Tale of Two Rivers… Part II

Having gotten my first session on the river out of the way and gained a bit of confidence, I jumped at the chance to get out again. This time, I fancied a different stretch. Referring back to the google earth map I put together of all the local nigh fishing spots, I soon found the one I was looking for.

When going through the painstaking process of finding each stretch of river and adding it onto the map, one piece in particular caught my eye. Whereas most sections were located near towns, alongside major roads, and often opposite resedential or built up areas, one seemed to be in the middle of a huge forest and accessible only by a tiny track you could barely make out on the ariel photograph - perfect!

Once again armed with a sheaf of maps, directions, local regulations and the all important ‘drivetime’ playlist on the ipod, I set off in the car out into the wilderness. Of the hour and twenty minutes I spent winding my way through the French countryside, only 10 or 15 minutes was spent on roads that I couldn’t leap across with a fair run up, and where meeting another car involved a heart churning test of faith: swerving into the overgrown verges and hoping to god that there wasn’t a drainage ditch concealed beneath the vegetation. Exciting stuff.

2008 06 01

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A Tale of Two Rivers… Part I

Since I last fished on Rouge I’ve been out trying to broaden my horizons a little bit. This has involved taking up the challenge of fishing some of the superb French rivers, with the target of tyring to catch my first river carp. River fishing for carp is something I have never done before, and yet given the lack of decent stillwaters nearby where your can nightfish, they offer me the best chance of some sport.

I asked around a little here and got some great advice - but there was a sense that unless i actually got out there and had a go I wouldn’t start the process of ‘learning the rivers’. So with a few changes to my normal set up, an afternoon poring over maps, local regulations and more than a little ‘Google Earth-ing’, I set off on my first trip.

2008 05 27

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