Rr Vienne 09/09

It was watching a guy fishing this tributary of the Loire that inspired me to return and fish this area. That day, sometime last year , the chap was having terrific sport catching chub, mullet, roach and bream. We did look at some promising swims upstream but I eventually found the very swim he had been fishing at St Germain. Access to the venue here is very limited and it was a bit of a scramble down the bank but comfortable when I got there. Lady Morgan prepared some tucker then rather reluctantly set off for the chateau at Chinon. It's not that her ladyship minds going on her own but she has the worst sense of direction in the world and refused to venture the 5 miles without a mobile phone, pre programmed sat nav, map and a goodbye kiss. The swim I'd chosen is quickish and I started on an avon float about 4grams holding back hard. I loose fed caster and maggot and had a chublet 2nd trot. The next two hours produced just a similar sized chublet and I began to get frustrated, again the sun just beat down relentlessly and the mercury was rising fast. A switch to the feeder did bring limited success in the shape of 2 chub a couple of pounds apiece plus 3 bream up to the same size and a couple of roach. Not a fantastic catch but enjoyable. Heather enjoyed her day out and , to my astonishment , was only lost briefly on the way back from Chinon. We packed up early because it is a long way back. I like this river and hope to come back to it. I imagine it has a lot to offer for anglers interested in predators. Some of the attacks on fish near the banks was something to behold!

Chub from the Vienne.

The Vienne

Chaumont sur Loire 09

All the way from the depths of Somerset to fish the Loire in September and it's just too hot. 34 c and not a breath of wind .I just can't handle fishing in these conditions. Lady Morgan didn't seem too fazed by this so instead we sipped coffee in the garden of an hotel that was far too posh for riff raff like me. I can't believe that my wife is happy to pay these sort of prices for coffee. I could have got 4pts of casters for that money. Even more outrageous was that we were made to pay 10 euros each just to look around the gardens of the Chateau nearby. This didn't include wine and cheese with his lordship or whatever the french equivalent is. Really! We had to pay just to see the garden, not even allowed indoors. I'm just working out what the postman owes me as he looks at my garden six days a week and has done for over 20 years, When it cooled I had a short spell on the canal du Berry. The canal is very coloured and the first place I tried was less than a foot deep. Not a touch! I packed up quickly and managed the last hour on the canal in Selles. Just when it seemed that I'd manage 2 blanks in the same day a couple of skimmers and a poisson chat took pity on me.

Hot & Grumpy.

Bless all 3 of you!

Saumur 09

I didn,t look hard enough on the maps at distances and didn,t realise that Saumur is the best part of a 2 hour drive from Selles, but undeterred we made the trip to fish the glorious river Loire, I say glorious ! It just is ! .The water looks clean and pacey, in fact very fast in places. The depth varies and much of it is shallow but there are deeper and slower glides that look fishy. It was one of these swims that I chose. The famous Chateau is just behind but I ignored this culture nonsense and got the kit out without paying any attention to it. But it is there if anyone is this way and wants to see it. Nick Hughes from Street had fished this swim weeks before and had some decent barbel & chub on corn. I started on a maggot feeder and 3rd chuck had a decent sized chub. What was noticeable was the amount of mullet that were close in but I wasn't interested in these today. To be honest sport was very slow. I kept getting little indications after switching to a groundbait feeder but a lot were just liners and I am fairly sure it was just the mullet nudging the feeder around. I was putting a lot of faith in groundbait and corn because this had been the successful method for Nick. I did have 2 really good chub and a bream + a small perch . I also hooked something that just was not coming out on 4lb maxima to 020 bottom. All in all I was a bit disappointed but it was seriously hot and not a cloud in the sky. This river just captivates me . I'd go back tommorow if I could. The whole feel of the place and some of the fish topping means you kind of know that one day these swims will really come good.

Good chub . Beautiful river.

Selles sur Cher 06 09 09

Heather and I had decided on our main break in 09 to be in the Loire region for a week and then in Burgundy for a second week. When we arrived at our cottage the weather was blistering hot and I decided not to fish the first day. The river Cher is an interesting venue , shallow and fast but also gin clear and there are not many fishable swims because of the access. From the town bridge in Selles sur Cher I saw shoals of roach and chub plus a few barbel and the odd carp. Between the two town bridges there are about 3 fishable swims and on the second evening I sat down to fish one of them. The fishing part of the holiday couldn't have got off to a much worse start! 3 chucks with a maggot feeder, solid each time! snagged and cracked the line. Bloody fantastic! I chucked around with a little lead until I found what appeared to be a clear spot, changed to a feeder, had a bite, hooked a fish and everything went solid again. Nightmare! I set up a float rod and was able to trot at about 3ft, feeding caster & hemp and fishing maggot I had a bite most put ins but was pestered a bit by bleak. It was frustrating not being able to fish the feeder for barbel but I still enjoyed it. I ended up with 19 small barbel to a pound, 5 roach up to 8ozs , a rudd and 5 chub to 1 1/2lbs plus bleak, a pleasant evening . The only downside after the frustrating start was that I lost the best fish I hooked when, just as I seemed to be controlling some powerful runs everything went solid and I pulled out. Beautiful evening still 28 c after dark.

Nice little mixed net of fish,

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!

Every year Chinese Fred and his wife Judy spend a week in Silfiac. Here is an account of Freds fishing.

The first 5 days were baking hot, temps into the 30's C. Despite this I still had weights up to 20lbs.On the last day of this heat I had 20 bream on the feeder at Bon Repos one evening for some 70lbs. this despite a blank 1st 2 hours.

Some of Freds bream.

I intended going back the following day but an almighty storm put the river into flood so I had a go on the canal just north of Silfiac. This turned out to be an inspired move, as after a slow start I was sacking up on tench, bream, hybrids and rudd , some of these rudd up to 11/2 lbs. altogether about 45lbs.

The man himself.

I also enjoy fishing for the chub, you need to know where to go but there are some munters about and they scrap hard.

Nice chub to 4 1/2lbs

I have enjoyed the fishing in the area , some years have been better than others but it has never been crap. Most years are good and last year I had a huge catch of bream at Bon Repos. The area is so calm and you see hardly any other anglers.

Finally I suppose I will have to let you into my success with the terrapin fishing. Years of hard work , study of their habits and amazing skill have made me Brittany's top turtle catcher with 2 specimens while the rest of the Brits have yet to capture a single one. Just skill thats all folks.

How does he do it?

See you later readers!

3rd June 09

I decided to have a days fishing at the lake at Callac. There was a market and several shops that Heather wanted to visit so I thought I would try my luck. This lake is very attractive and to me just looks fishy with a nice tinge of colour. Access is excellent and the banks nice and flat. I have fished here before, but to be honest it was disappointing because I had just a few roach. I was told by the locals that there are no bream but a good head of roach and some good tench and carp. I thought a little hemp might be handy so how's this for last minute preparation.

I started on a light rig in 7ft of water at about 12 metres. The chap next to me said I wasn't really in the area for tench and carp so a 3 elastic seemed ok and I was soon catching some roach on caster. Then I was into a lump. I was fairly sure it was a tench but just couldn't get its head up. I had it on for some time but just as I thought I was winning the bloody elastic snapped. I was really annoyed with myself. I knew all the top sets for this pole need new elastics, but I just hadn't found time and now I had paid the price. The weather was again blazing hot with the wind easterly, in these conditions I didn't rate my chances of another. For the next couple of hours I picked off roach steadily but no pounders or anything. Heather rejoined me and just as we were thinking about packing up I was in to another lump. This time on an 8 elastic landing the fish was fairly straightforward because despite its strong runs the water is fairly open and snag free. I forgot my scales so couldn't weigh it but it was its colouring and condition that impressed me, a lovely fish! I ended with 27 roach and this tench.

5th June 09

I always said that in these blogs I will tell of bad days as well as good and they don't get much worse than this. Lets call it 3 bleak hours. I have always wanted to go back to Hennebont to fish for mullet on the lower Blavet because I caught a couple here a few years back.I have been interested in these powerful and difficult to catch fish ever since , but for whatever reasons have only fished for them once since at Pontrieux. Then I blanked in the most horrendous cloudburst. Well this time I had a cunning plan to fish a method feeder for them but within 2 casts, disaster! Despite the depth of 8 feet a slimy green algae covering the bottom and a foot above and just to make life difficult a rocky bottom meant I was losing feeder after feeder. The mullet were everywhere! hundreds of them. Within seconds of casting, liners galore. Well I popped baits up and put shot + foam in a maggot feeder to feather it down and hey presto I am into a good fish . YES! A good mullet 3 times to the rim of the net then bang, hook pulled out. Desperation , now down to 3 feeders which could be modified but confident I will get another fish. Lost next fish foulhooked and also feeder, 2 left! Had a go on the float but any reasonable bait just got murdered by bleak, I even caught 3 on a size 10! Back to those precious feeders.I was just modifying when the heavens opened. Despite my determination to carry on the water was running down the bank behind me and the first crack of lightning persuaded me that 12 foot of carbon wasn't the best thing to wave about. Totally defeated I packed the soggy kit up . You should have seen Heathers face when it was being loaded into her shiny new car. 2 miles up the road lovely evening sunshine and not a drop. Tell it like it was , awful!

Calm before the storm!