Roger Coombes Oct 09.

Roger Coombes asked me to organize a holiday for him in October because he had so enjoyed the May trip. Well I could not think of a better compliment. Unfortunately neither Nick nor Tony could get away so it was just Roger and myself. Although I had heard that autumn had been dry in Brittany I must say I was still surprised and disappointed just how low and clear the Blavet was. While driving through Pontivy on our first day we spotted several anglers on the far bank. Just the fact that they were so close together and appeared to be floatfishing made me think they were English. Sure enough they were a very pleasant group of 5 from Kidderminster. They told us that they had struggled on the early part of the week and were sure that it was river conditions making fishing difficult. Further conversation led to them telling us that they have been coming to the region for a number of years and had enjoyed excellent sport. Although this trip had been a struggle. Today, however had been much better with excellent roach fishing and odd bream.

A bream for the Kidderminster lads!

Roger and I decided that as it was our first day we would just drop into Clegeurec on the way home for a few hours on the lake Pontoir. Roger fished the feeder for 2 hours with little response while I caught roach steadily on the pole. In 3 hours I had 10lbs of redfins which was fine and Roger switched to the whip and was getting a fish a chuck in the last hour.

A decent net of redfins and Roger's best shoes!

Canal du Centre

I have to say that this is possibly one of the most uninspiring venues that I have fished in all the times I have been to France. Certainly it was in this area , 20 metres wide featureless and piled both sides with a busy road running alongside. I only fished it because it was convenient. After 3 hours on the pole I managed 1 skimmer and 16 of those wretched poisson chat. That was enough for me. This was my last session on this holiday and the bait was getting dodgy by now , also I'd done a lot of fishing. A few points of interest .The Rr Saone is a huge river and I think will need a long session to get fish in the swim and feeding. I sort of regret not giving it a go but bait was an issue. The weather had been great for sunbathing but only on the last day did we get any rain. I will leave you with some idea why these poisson chat are such great colonisers of venues. I must have packed up on the last session about 7pm and thought I'd emptied my net.I left the net out to dry until noon the following day and in full sun during the morning. When I came to pack the net away I noticed a poisson chat hitched on about 2 rungs up . oops sorry mate! To my amazement it was not just still alive but within minutes of being put in water it was absolutely chipper, swimming around like nothing had happened. I returned it to home that afternoon. It deserved to live!

Not the best looking venue.

The great survivor

St Aubin sur Loire

The Rr Loire fascinates me, just the power and size of this river is so different from the rivers that I normally fish. I have often wondered what the river would be like a bit nearer to its source. With this in mind we set off for St Aubin sur Loire. The first frustration is access, some great looking swims but difficult to get at. Eventually we did find some fishy looking swims and I picked the best of them and set up on the feeder hoping for barbel & chub. Lady Morgan set off for the shops and all seemed set fair, even the temperature had dropped a little. The river here is still about 50 metres wide but its all within defined banks and less of a flood plain. There were plenty of bleak topping but few good fish. Also did not see any mullet. After about an hour I had a skimmer followed by 7 bream to 4lbs plus more skimmers and a roach. This was decent fishing but I really wanted barbel & chub so I was a bit disappointed. Lovely swim , lovely river! I,d love to come here again one day

What a swim!

These are ok but I really would like some chub & barbel.

loire & Saone Rr Grosne

Its a long time since the last blog ( too busy fishing ) I had moved down to the Loire & Saone region and after a look at the Rr Grosne I decided to give it a bash. Well I'm just not prepared to judge a venue in these conditions. The sun beat down from a cloudless sky and the wind was from the north. 3 suicidal chublets of 6ozs apiece spared me from the dreaded blank. But the river was gin clear and barely moving. A glass of the local white was a far more interesting prospect so I packed up early. There actually were some carp up to maybe 8lbs cruising in the swim below but even the sight of these didn't change my mind. It was simply too hot to want to fish.