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.

Canal du Berry 09 Chattilon sur cher.

This canal is a very interesting stretch of water . I have fished it a couple of times now and the + side is the amount of different species that I have caught or seen here.The down side is the lack of depth in some sections. It is coloured, but a colour I have never seen before, a sort of milky grey I could best describe it as. There is also variable flow in different sections. The section at Chattilon sur Cher is deeper than any I had fished previously at about 3 feet and about 15 yards wide. The downside was that there was little flow. I fed 2 lines, down the middle with chopped worm and 12metres with hemp and caster. I fished the far line for 45mins with no response at all. Coming in to the middle line on worm I had a pound skimmer after a couple of minutes. Next put in, a solid thump and I was in to a good fish., this turned out to be a bream of about 3lbs but it was clearly foulhooked. I thought I was going to be lucky, but lost it at the net.The next 2 put ins produced 2 tiny perch but after that nothing for ages. I switched from line to line but it was tough going now. Just when I was wondering if that was it for the day the float went down and I had a bream of about 2lbs. This was followed next cast by the tiniest zander I have ever seen, about the size of a matchbox. It was obviously the day for miniature specimens because next put in I had a silure catfish of no more than 8 ozs. My 1st silure but not a specimen. After this flurry of action the swim died completely. It was too nice a day to pack up and Heather seemed content relaxing in the shade, reading. The next excitement was a madcap dog that looked a bit dodgy with an owner that seemed to have lost control .Luckily her ladyship gave it her " Teacher " glare and the poor mutt passed respectfully by with its head bowed. Bright sun and a northerly wind coupled with no bites made it a bit dull so I decided on a stroll. The Cher runs parallel to the canal so I walked by the river for about 1/2 a mile . There were plenty of fish moving but not a swim fishable from the bank. A french angler asked how I was doing and when I said I had caught a silure he made a big fuss that I should kill it. Despite having mixed feeling about some species I only kill a fish if I or someone is going to eat it. Returning to my swim I decided on another hour and I'm glad I did because some crucian carp turned up out of nowhere they were all well over 11/2lbs and the best about 2lbs. Lovely to catch a few crucians I hadn't caught any for years except in commercial fisheries. I landed 5 and bumped a couple when the light made it difficult to see the bites. This was a pleasant way to finish in this region for now and tomorrow its off to Burgundy.

Love to see these fish.

My first silure is not a specimen.

Canal du Berry ay Chatillon sur Cher.

Back in Selles thursday 10/09/09

Heather and I are just beginning to get really settled in Selles now. Our French hosts Jean -Paul & Josianne have been charming and helpful. Each morning we have had a stroll down to the river and have made friends with a greedy little sausage dog on our way. Well , this morning it is so hot that even Fred the dog seemed half hearted about the treats we gave him. All " summer " we have been waiting for a bit of sun so shouldn't complain, but its not the best fishing weather. This in mind I took her ladyship out for the day hoping to find a restaurant posh enough for her. This left me just a couple hours to fish the Cher in Selles during the evening. The water is so clear here you can see every detail in 4 ft of water and every ring on the keepnet. I am very content here, the swims are comfortable and there are good fish moving. There was still not a cloud in the sky but the wind was increasing from the north east. The other annoyance was that the French youngsters seem as determined as their British counterparts to share their poxy muzak with me at full volume. Of course with car windows open in this heat. I must confess had I been at home I wouldn't bother fishing in these conditions but I'm here so I'm going to. The session was ok with plenty of bites and I caught mostly little barbel, however just one chuck on the feeder and I was snagged. Disappointingly the fishing didn't improve towards dark . The final tally was 24 barbel , 10 bleak , 4 chublets , 1 roach and a perch, interesting that small barbel seem to be the dominant species. Good for the future maybe. Had an interesting chat with Jean-Paul that evening , he regards the spread of the Silure catfish as an absolute catastrophe for fishing in the area claiming that they eat everything . To my eyes though the river seemed to have a fairly healthy fish population in various age groups.

Lots of tiny barbel like these.

The Cher in Selles.

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,