|
If
you read episode 3 of Jock’s Dinton
Diariesyou will remember that after my big
July hit at Dinton, comprising 8 fish to 50lb 14oz, I
was due to head for Mirror Pool near Limoges in
central France for a week’s
fishing. The fishing was to be the
first part of a 2 week holiday for my wife and I,
with the 2nd week spent sightseeing in the
splendid scenery of the French
Pyrenees. This chapter sketches out
the week’s fishing, how I learnt a thing or two
about big French carp and how my wife discovered some
of the joys of carp fishing for the first
time.
Saturday
July 15
Arriving
at Mirror Pool we get the week off to a great start
by getting the car stuck in the gravel car
park. Sue’s Audi estate,
loaded with fishing stuff for a week and holiday
stuff too, gets trapped against a small buried rock,
and we have to unload the vehicle and leave the
smoking clutch to cool
down. I’ve also
got a massive migraine headache and can hardly see or
stand.
Walking
round the lake, it’s clear there has been some
very hot weather recently.
During our drive down through France, temperatures
varied between 33°C-37°C and it looks as
though it has been like it in Limoges for some
days. The water has turned that
horrid neon green colour that suggested alga bloom,
and on closer inspection large lumps of green gunk
were floating about in the
lake. After sorting out the
swims, I settled for one of the shallow end swims,
with access to both shallow water and the far
margins, and some deep water on my
right. I couldn’t go too far
to my right as another angler (Ian) was fishing
across from the Suicide swim, but on the left hand
side I had about an acre of shallow tree lined water,
with only 1 other (unfished)
swim. Talking to the bailiff,
Wayne, he suggested fishing at least 1 rod under a
big dead white tree on the extreme left of the far
margin, while the other rods could be fished along
the far margin or in the deeper
water. Getting bait out
shouldn’t be a problem as a narrow path follows
the far margin, and I’ve got an exceedingly
nice new ESP Spod Rod to try out.
Bait will be Hinders
Nutz Sludge, Sweetcorn, Chopped Nutz
and Blitz
boilies, spodded out as close to the tree as I
can get it. The ESP rod is
phenomenal and deposits the spod unerringly on
target. Truth be told I chucked the first
few spods about 30 yards up into the far margin
trees, so unexpectedly powerful is the
rod. Part of the problem is that 90% of
my fishing is done with X-line these days, which
doesn’t cast for toffee, whereas my spod rod is
equipped with 25lb braid and a Daiwa Emblem Spod
reel. It’s a devastating
combination, and once I get the range right
it’s bang on target every time.
Walking
round the far margin path late in the afternoon, I
spot a couple of dozen huge carp under the
overhanging trees. They’re only a
few feet from the bank, and about 25 yards from the
dead tree hotspot, so I’m hopeful they will
find the bait I’ve piled in just a little
further along the bank. With the
sun shining strongly through the trees I can see
these fish clearly, and they are probably the biggest
fish I’ve ever seen! Certainly a
couple of them appear well over
50lb.
That
night I get a screamer from under the dead tree and
it turns out to be a 19lb common. Oh! Well,
it’s my first fish so I shouldn’t
complain.
Sunday
July 16th
Nothing
else during the night, (which was stiflingly hot by
the way). Under the far bank trees, the
big fish of yesterday afternoon have disappeared, and
they are not to be found anywhere. Temperature
gets up to 36°C-37°C, so in the afternoon I
creep into the back bay with the rods, where I can
see a fish feeding near the inlet stream.
From here I can get my baits right onto the spot
where the big lumps were sat yesterday
afternoon. It’s very
hot, and after yesterday’s migraine
I’m pretty tired so I doze off in my
chair. 20 minutes later the
left hand rod screams off and scares the crap out of
me. The fish has picked up a
double Blitz boilie hookbait, cast onto the sandy
gravel near the inlet, and turns out to be a very
pretty 16lb mirror.
Now,
the stock of carp in Mirror Pool has a top weight of
75lb, and an average weight of 35lb, so you’ve
probably already gathered that I’m not on the
biggies. I know the
fish are in here because I’ve seen them, and
the lodge is full of photos of huge
carp. The log book has some
tremendous catches in it, mostly in spring, but it
should still be possible to catch a couple of
biggies. The certainty
that I’m not on big fish is confirmed when I
catch a 23lb mirror just after dark.
It’s clear that some fish are present and love
the bait, but it’s just that they’re much
smaller than average!
Monday
July 17th
The
weather is still exceedingly hot and a large group of
big fish is now holed up in the middle of the lake,
cruising around just under the
surface. They are in about 15ft of
water in front of Ian and his buddy Gary, but they
are completely out of my reach.
There are no fish of the size I’ve been
catching in this shoal, so it seems clear these big
fish are sticking together and not
feeding. I’ve never seen
large and small carp so clearly polarised in
different areas of a lake. By
mid-afternoon the shoal of big carp has drifted a
little closer to my end of the lake, but Sue and I
need to go to the shops for some food and
beer. As we walk down the
path I can see through the trees along the high bank
that the carp are still milling about in the
middle.
Two
hours later, laden down with beer, steaks, fresh
salad and fruit, we are back and I’m keen to
get fishing again. Not for carp you
understand, but for roach and bits with the whip and
maggots I bought at
Intermarché!
Walking
back along the high bank, I instantly spot that the
shoal of lumps that were in the middle have
disappeared, and I know instinctively where they have
gone. Dumping the shopping for my
long-suffering wife to sort out I creep round to the
far margin shallows, and there, spread along the bank
under the trees are 40-50
carp. They are just
milling about under the trees in about 3ft of water,
and despite chucking in some corn, the fish stay on
the top or in
mid-water. They are not
interested in feeding. The
fish show no sign of knowing I am watching them, even
though I’m only 6ft or so away, but they
probably don’t feel threatened since they are
not feeding. For over an hour I am able to
watch them until I realise it’s time to get the
rods out and get the barbecue going.
About
9.30pm and we are sitting enjoying the warm evening,
when one of the dead tree rods is
away. After a tough
battle a gnarled old mirror of 26lb is in the
net. It’s a slightly manky fish,
but it’s my biggest so far so I won’t
complain. 10 minutes
later the other dead tree rod screams off, and, after
a tough fight, a very large pale fish rolls into the
net. It’s a
lovely looking mirror of 37lb, and I’m hoping
that the biggies have at last moved
in. The baiting strategy
I’m using has been very successful on big fish
elsewhere, so I’m confident that if the 40s and
50s hang around for a bit I’ll catch a
few
|
|
Tuesday
July 18
Early
morning and a 19½lb mirror breaks the run of
larger fish. With the sun up
and the heat rising fast, I creep round to look in
the shallows and under the far margin
trees. The fish have gone, and as
the sun rises higher, it is obvious they have moved
back into the middle of the
lake. In fact they have moved
further down the lake towards the dam wall and a
large number of fish are holed up in various snag
trees to the left of the dam wall.
The
fish I’ve been catching have been munching
their way daily through about 5 kilos dry weight of
Nutz Sludge, 2 catering tins sweetcorn, and
½kilo Nutz and Blitz boilies, but I only
seem able to get them feeding in that critical 5-6
hour period just before dusk and around dawn.
Tuesday
evening and night is a blank and I’m worried
that the smaller fish have now moved out as
well.
Wednesday
July 19
Wednesday
night I lose a fish in a near bank
snag. Almost every fish in
the lake is now clearly visible on the top in front
of the Suicide and Boathouse swims, and in the little
snaggy corner between the lodge and the
boathouse. The
situation is pretty frustrating, as I know that I can
catch them if they are in front of
me.
Thursday
July
20
During the
afternoon I crept round beside one of the snag trees
to see if I could stalk one of the fish holed up
there. There are perhaps 25
carp in and around the tree, and with the heat
continuing to build, the alga bloom has produced huge
mats of disgusting green slime.
Like tea leaves from a burst tea bag, or bits of
stuff in some skanky old soup, lumps of green scum
are boiling around under the fallen trees as huge
carp tails waft around amongst the
branches.
Some
of the fish are huge, and I can see them clearly if
they are high in the water but it’s 6ft deep in
the edge and the bank is undercut
here. Many of the fish are right in
the snags, but plenty of others are just on the
edge. I fish on the bottom for a
while but I’m not confident of a
take. Instead, I set up a simple
float rig, using a plastic peanut as a
float. It’s an idea shown me by my
good friend Richard Prince, and it’s simple to
use and ideal for stalking. Simply
pierce the plastic nut with a baiting needle and
slide it up the main line to make an unobtrusive
float for stalking.
What
I really wanted to try was a slow sinking bait I
could flick in front of the fish as they cruised
around beside the snag. Most carp are not
afraid of slow sinking baits dropping through the
water column – after all the safest time for
them to take anglers bait is when it’s falling
through the water.
Plastic
corn was ignored, but as soon as I tried plastic
maggots with a few real maggots for movement, I got 2
takes. Both of which I missed on
the strike. Furious with
myself I persisted with the maggots for a while
without further
success. At the
supermarket I had bought a couple of packs of
crayfish tails for the barbecue, and I’d
chucked a few of these (chopped up) into the
snags. They sink surprisingly
slowly, and one on a size 6 hook looked and smelled
pretty appetising. I stood
patiently waiting for the right moment to swing the
bait out and intercept a cruising
carp. Several times I tried
to drop the crayfish bait in front of moving carp,
but visibility was so poor due to the green scum I
couldn’t see well enough to be sure where the
fish were. I
couldn’t make out the head end from the
tail!
A
huge mirror probably 55lb+ with a broad head and back
cruised in from the open water just a few inches
under the surface, heading for the snag, and I swung
the crayfish bait gently out so that as it sank it
would pass in front of the fish’s
nose. I dropped the bait directly under
the rod tip. Without hesitation the
carp sucked in the bait, the little plastic float
shot away and a firm strike upwards met with solid
resistance. For a few moments the fish
circled round under the rod tip, trying to work out
what had happened, and then it went berserk, and shot
under the snag
trees. The
branches don’t reach right to the bottom, so I
know if I can get the fish to swim right through the
snag into the open water beyond it should swing out
to the middle of the lake, and I might have a chance
to land it. This fish
is unstoppable though, and it’s not stupid
either. It’s thrashing on the
surface in the middle of the snag, trying to dump the
hook on a
branch.
After 5
minutes I get it out into open water, where I might
have a chance of landing it.
But it’s back under the snag almost straight
away and there’s nothing I can do about
it. Now the fish is really
motoring and it’s suddenly ripping line against
the clutch. Down the bank it goes
under the snag, and before I know it the fish is 40
yards down the margins. It’s
thrashing and boiling on the top right under the
bank, and to keep the line out of the snag tree I
plunge the rod under the water right down to the
reel. I can feel the
rod tip grating on the bottom, but I’ve managed
to stop the fish. Now it
swings back out into open water, allowing me to get a
bit of line back on the
reel. Carefully I pump
the fish back into netting range, but it sticks to
the bottom and I can’t get it up in the
water.
It’s
now 15 minutes since I hooked the fish and I’m
tiring while the fish appears to be full of fight
still. Again it rockets down the
margin into the snags, and despite me trying to stop
it the fish is back in the middle of the
snag. For
the 3rd time I get the fish back into open
water, and for the 4th time the fish makes
it back into the snag!
Unbelievably, it powers off again through the snag
and 40 yards down the bank. It’s
back on the top and I sink the rod tip again but to
my horror the hook
pulls. My
legs are shaking and I feel sick after this
encounter.
Back
at the bivvy, all I can do now is prepare the rods
for the night, even though I am certain that the vast
majority of the fish are down the far
end. Sue tries her best to
console me over the lost fish, but the pain of it
gnaws deeply at my
confidence.
Casting to the dead tree seems extraordinarily
difficult that evening, despite the fact I’ve
been chucking them right in there all
week. Eventually, all 3
rods are in position, and to my surprise I get a
screamer at about 10pm. After a short
sharp fight a pristine 22lb 4oz common is in the
net. Later that night I
get another fish weighing 19½lb
|
|
This
pristine 22lb 4oz common was the last fish of the
week at Mirror Pool, and demonstrates clearly the
fact that I wasn’t on the biggies!
Friday
July 21
This
is bizarre! Here I am at
Mirror Pool in France, where the fish average
35lb-36lb, I’ve caught 8 carp so far and only
one is of the average
weight. Looking
in the log book at the start of the week, I could not
find any captures of fish of such a low average size,
and in fact I can find only a few captures of 20lb
fish and none of doubles.
What’s going on?
Anyway,
it’s been a fascinating week’s fishing,
I’ve seen and hooked some huge
carp. I can understand a little of
the reason why some anglers return here year after
year. Sue has thoroughly enjoyed
the week, except when she had to get up in the middle
of the night to photograph a fish for me.
Sue called it a weeks camping while I called it a
weeks fishing!
It’s
a beautiful lake set in lovely surroundings, and I am
keen to come back, but you can be sure of one thing
– it probably won’t be in July!
|