Summertime

I have just returned from a week in Brittany and have used much of the time to sort out some back up venues for Allezbaz. Possibly the most interesting one was the lake at Corlay which despite being shallow holds a good head of roach, perch & tench. I look forward to having a go on the waggler here for the roach , maybe later on in the year. This time I fished for tench and had a couple on heavier gear. But I still had some decent roach.

The lake at Corlay

Nice tench from Corlay.

My two visits to the canal were much less successful. The conditions were not great with the sun very bright on both occasions, not a sniff of a turtle either. A few roach , rudd, dace, bleak & hybrids .The best hybrid below.

An evening on lake Pontoir at Cleguerec was pleasant enough with roach coming steadily but not fast. I failed to get into the bigger fish so I think maybe I returned a little disappointed having maybe 6lbs of the smaller ones.

There is a stretch of the canal near Glomel where it widens into a huge bay. I always think that it looks perfect for bream but the problem is that its very shallow. I have fished it once before but it took ages for the bream to arrive. When they did I had 5 in 5 casts then nothing. I was fairly sure they just spooked in the shallow, clearish water.The session this time wasn't quite the same because I had plenty of skimmers up to a pound, but when the bigger bream arrived again they spooked after 3 or 4 fish. Got to get the thinking cap on about this area!

Cannot get to grips with this area!

Finally I had to have a go at those mullet. On a non fishing day I talked Heather into at least having a look at Lochrist , just to confirm that my tormentors were still about. Well not only were they still about but a Frenchman was having a go for them. I was fascinated by his set up. It was a surface controller with a small silver spinner some 2ft 6ins behind it , on the trebles was a small ragworm. The cast and retrieve was slow and I must admit I was very doubtful about this technique . 2nd cast he had one about about 2lbs and another a bit bigger shortly after . When the next retrieve was followed by 3 good fish jostling for the bait I bet my eyes were the size of saucers. Well I don't know the french for" lets ave a go mate "but by bribing him with a bulk spool of ironsilk I cadged a go. 2 in 2 chucks no problem. I asked his name and then Arnaud and I were soon in deep discussion about various species and how to catch them . Arnaud is a mine of information and an absolute gentleman.

Got one at last then fatty!

gotcha!

The following day I rang Arnaud hoping he might show me more about this sort of fishing. I had that feeling you get on Christmas eve when I was a kid when he said "qui monsieur". Full of anticipation I drove down to Lochrist hoping to get some serious mullet fishing in. Something had got lost in translation because despite being introduced to his charming wife Jane and all the neighbours, Arnaud seemed in no rush to go fishing. It was while he was showing me an Aladins Cave of fishing tackle [ much hand made ] that he suddenly asked if I wanted to go now. Of course , I replied. Have you any worms? He asked and when I replied no he looked in despair.He explained that he had no worms but these were essential to the rig and the tide was wrong for digging any. Sensing my disappointment he took me to where he gathers these harbour rag and despite his 76 years we scrabbled among the rocks until there was enough for an evenings fishing,I don't think Arnaud was over impressed with my driving and this place has some very odd road junctions. Fully kitted up and full of confidence we returned to the river. Within 10 casts Arnaud shrugged and said they are gone simply not here. We tried another spot further up with the same result.Arnaud then explained that he had spent as much time with me as he could but it was now meal time. Never been a quitter so I returned to the original spot trying to locate the fish and after a long walk I found them on the surface just above a weir.I cast the rig among them time and again but I had a feeling that they were preoccupied with some other food and I did not get a take. Its still brilliant and I would have another go tomorrow. Possibly because I am barking mad.

Arnaud Nicholas a gentleman!