Thursday, 29th.June
Le Moulin du Paradis
Chris and I decided to have ten days at this invitation only venue in the Dordogne region of France. This is a record of our holiday and these are the notes I took at the time:
My initial thoughts about the fishing
Aside from the fact this is one of the most beautiful locations on planet Earth for fishing, I thought I’d chronical my impressions as we go along.
Thunderstorms as we step off the plane! Everything soaked so hung up to dry. Peter and Madeline fantastic hosts, plying us with champagne, red wine, and whisky before feeding us with wonderful food. However…
When I first put the rods out, there were fish half way towards the island (Duck Island), smoking and bubbling up amid great brown clouds. As soon as the lines were in the water however, they ske-daddled off - they’re line-shy!
Plan B. They probably hang out on the far side of the lake, the other side of the island and at various times, circuit the margins of the island. I used the little bridge to get out to Duck Island and put some boilies in the margins - this requires clipping-up to get the required clipping-distance.
Clipping up
I don’t like using marker elastic as it seems to ‘catch’ on the line when you cast out and I always use ‘distance sticks’ to get exactly the right distance. There aren’t any here (Richard, please note. You might like to bring some next time you are out here) so what I did was place a stick in the ground at the right mark.
Place the butt of the rod against the smaller of the two bushes (to the right of the cabin as you look out) and pace out the distance to the stick pushed in the ground at the end of the bank (past the pontoon).
My first fish
I got my first fish on a simple single boily bottom bait cast to the right-hand mark at the island. (See Kevin and Luke’s excellent map in the Notes folder held in the cabin. It should be with the “Good Things Come to Those Who Bait” fish Recording Log). Currently changing the other rigs to the bottom bait rig. (Started off with a ‘Ronnie’ and a Wafter on the other rods).
Fish number two came similarly to the single bottom bait presentation. I now have two baits out on the single ‘Spicy Crab’ and the third, a ‘snowman’ presentation using a pineapple pop-up as the ‘topper’.
So it’s now the first evening. The weather has been most unkind today with blustery winds and showers - this evening however, the sun threatens to make an appearance and the winds have dropped.
The evening kicked off with a 27:08 to the middle rod. This rod is aimed at the ‘fat’ tree trunk 2/3 of the way along Duck Island, confirming my thoughts that at the moment, the right-hand side of the island is the most favoured. To this end, I have switched the rod-pod to aim at the end of the island. What was the middle rod is now the left-hand (at the fat tree trunk), the middle rod is aimed at the end of the island, and the right-hand rod is to the right of the island. Initially, this rod was intended to cover the open water - but I over-cast it and it now fishes the far margin, covering any fish which do not circuit the island but carry straight on up the lake to my right.
Friday, 30th.June
We awoke to hear the sound of the rain once again rapping on the roof of the cabin. The weather is pretty grim but I still have high hopes of fish.Three baits are out. Two single bottom baits and one snowman. The left-hand bait is cast at the ‘fat’ tree and the right-hand, to the right of the island into the open water. The last of my ‘Spicy Crab’ is scattered along the margin of ‘Duck Island’ and I have asked Peter for another bag which he’ll bring over at some point.
Chris has gone off with Peter and Madeline to do some shopping and I am left on my own here. Although the rain is falling, I am entirely at ease and enjoying the wonderful beauty and solitude of the place. I know that at some point one of the rods will go and it will be a big carp! Oh how I love carp fishing!
Just as the rain intensified and was at its heaviest since we got here - I had a take! (at 10.00 a.m.) on the right-hand rod in the open water! This was an epic battle amid the deluge and by the time I got the fish to the bank I was soaked through to the skin! Not only that, I got some fidgety takes on the middle rod which I assumed to be Bream. I left it alone while I played the fish and got on with the business of landing the first fish. After I had got it back in the water, I picked up the ‘Bream’ rod and found myself attached to a carp! This fish had gone right into the patch of lilies without taking line from the ‘baitrunner’ and I thought I’d be lucky to land it without going out in the boat but fortunately I managed to get it through the lilies and to the bank quite nicely.
Oh how the fish fight here! I’ve never encountered such hard fighting fish anywhere! They just refuse to get in the net! Not so much splash and dash, darting around all over the place, but pure dogged, grumpy, resistance! I’m the carp in here resent anglers as they put up the most bad-tempered resistance of any fish I have ever known!
Back at the cabin I can’t wait for the rain to ease so I can re-cast the two rods: I daren’t go out in it yet…it’s heaving it down!
Half past one and Chris is back from shopping. Just as everything is put away, the right-hand rod is ticking off! This is an eighteen and a quarter which has taken the single ‘Spicy Crab’ on my version of Steve Renyard’s “Basic Complicated Rig”. This is probably the most simple carp rig it is possible to construct - a length of fluorocarbon with a knotless-knotted hair, carrying a 20mm. boily I know some anglers think a rig so simple cannot possibly be a match for (say) a modern ‘Ronnie Rig’ for instance. The truth of the matter is that it produced fish because the fish wanted it, in the right place.
[I have had time to reflect on the possible rig-shyness of the Le Moulin du Paradis carp and it has been suggested that they are relatively naive fish which are not caught very often and therefore will pick up baits on any rig. I don’t believe this to be the case as I had other rigs out which produced no action whatsoever. The bottom bait presentation was the one they wanted; pop-up rigs elicited no response whatsoever.]
It seems to me that the right-hand side of the island is much to be preferred; this opinion was reinforced this evening when a twelve pound fish picked up a bait well off the end of the island. Like the other fish hooked in this area it gained the sanctuary of the lily pads - but these particular ones do not seem too injurious to the tackle and some less than gentle ‘persuasion’ seems to get them through without too much trouble.
Chris has called me in for tea so I think I’ll call that ‘stumps’ for the night; yet another torrential shower is thundering down so my anticipated ‘evening session’ I’ve had to cancel. I wish this damn rain would stop!
Saturday, 1st.July
Chris and I are going to the market this morning so the fishing will have to wait until we come back.Bait change! ‘Stickybaits Krill’ is now on the menu. I seem to be getting fish on the ‘Basic Complicated Rig’ so my intention is to change the other two rods to this presentation.
Went round to ‘Duck Island’ and baited the margins with the Krill. The intention is to let the fish pick up baits confidently, with no lines in the water, so that when we return from the market the fish should be up for it!
Began fishing again on our return. Blow me if the baits hadn’t been out long before the right-hand rod was away again and this time I knew it was a good fish as soon as I hooked it… This fish put up a tremendously dogged resistance and simply would not come to the net! No splash and dash with this one, it just beat me up with a series of incredibly powerful plunges that left my arms aching with the effort! Thirty pounds, dead on the money!
As soon as the photographs were taken I was aware that the centre rod had pulled up tight, although there was no sound from the bite alarm… I had forgotten to turn it on! This resulted in a very nicely proportioned fish of seventeen pounds which made the previous fish seem like Mike Tyson!
At this point it was rods in as it was time to greet my sister and brother-in-law, Chris and Geoff, who are spending the rest of the week with us. They are stopping in the gite next door to Peter and Madeline and as it turns out it is very comfortable; a good solution enabling us to spend our holiday together.
While Chris and Geoff settle themselves in, I’m back at the lake for an hours fishing before dinner. All three baits are back on their spots and just before I am due to reel in and go and collect our dinner guests the right-hand rod is away! It’s a hard fighting fish (as always) which makes it into the lilies and I have to really have to haul to get it out. On the scales it goes twenty-six eight bringing the total number of fish caught to double figures.
Sunday, 2nd.July
Off to Issigeac with Chris and Geoff this morning so I’m going to introduce some bait off Duck Island for them to eat while we are away, with a view to fishing the afternoon or this evening.
On returning, I got a couple of rods out. One in the right-hand hotspot and the other in the middle rod position. At 13.15 I had a very fidgety take and hit a fish which I had very little trouble in bringing to the net. “It’s only a small fish” says I, thinking the relatively feeble performance of the fish characterised its size. When I got it in the net however, I realised it was another ‘thirty’. On the scales though it proved to be the biggest fish of the trip so far - thirty four pounds on the money! This was great news indeed and as far as I was concerned was the biggest fish in the lake. Not according to Peter and Madeline though! They say a fish much bigger exists and their hope is I will catch it! Them and me both!
Monday, 3rd.July
Morning session; fished until eleven o’clock but failed to produce a fish. My first blank! Conditions were good with occasional sunshine and as a bonus, the rain held off (for once).I noticed a brown, muddy cloud emanating from the island, stretching out about ten yards. Was this the Bream feasting on the boilies I’d put out just before I started fishing? I think it may have been because when I reeled in, the two baits fished in the island margin had been whittled down, a sure sign the small fish had been having a go. I noticed this muddy cloud yesterday and at first, thought it may have been a trick of the light. I don’t think it was however.
Off to Miramont for lunch and back in the afternoon before tea. I made a trial cast towards the left of the island (having blanked on the right this morning) and I doubt the bait had been in the water half an hour before there was a take. I hooked the fish and it set off to the right, hugging the island margin.
As soon as I hooked it I knew it was a big fish; it had that heavy, unstoppable feel to it and it was a while before I was able to gain any line on it at all. The fish ploughed on to the right and it was a while before I was able to get any line on the reel, by which time, it was in the danger area in the vicinity of the lily pads in which it gained sanctuary easily. After a bit of ‘horsing’ with the rod I managed to get it moving towards me but it got stuck again. This time it transferred the hook to a lily stem and it was gone… A tragic loss for I feel it could well have been ‘Moby Dick’ - the mythical monster named by Peter as what he believes is the biggest fish in the lake. A real shame. Seems it may not be a myth after all.
In compensation (of sorts), I bagged a little lean and long seven pound common which came to the bank easily. At least it saved a blank.
Tuesday, 4th.July
Chris has gone shopping with Madeline and I am left at the lake alone. It is serenely beautiful in the golden light of dawn. Great long beams of sunlight pierce the early morning mist and I’m just loving it!At a quarter to ten, the middle rod is away and a hard fighting twenty-four pounder comes to the net. This fish has found the 20mm. Krill boilies I have distributed along the island first thing this morning - but I notice it has been whittled down to about 14mm. Bream no doubt.
Peter put a lot of pellets out last night and this no doubt attracted them.
Chris and Geoff came to lunch and we were half way through the quiche and salad when the right-hand rod (cast un-clipped to the right of the island) was away on a fast run! My geriatric lollop got me to the rods in about thirty seconds and I was into a fish which was way down the lake. Obligingly, it came to the bank with minimal fuss (unlike some I had hooked) and pulled the scales round to twenty two pounds four ounces.
The two Chris’ and Geoff have taken the boat out on the river while I have been left on my own to fish. It is very hot; in fact it is the hottest it has been all week - so hot in fact you crave the shade. There have been no bites this afternoon and I suspect the fish have found some shade on the other side of the island and are having ‘forty winks’. If I was any kind of an angler I would be round the lake looking for them. The thing is, I’m not; and I can’t be arsed. So there…
When the intrepid three mariners returned it was the beginning of the evening feeding spell and I had high hopes of a fish. These hopes were realised when there was a take to the middle rod! This fish set off up the island to my right like the previous fish and felt very big and heavy. This fish ploughed its way onward, making its way in the direction of the lily pads. These lilies have proved a real nuisance and on this occasion proved also. Bending into the fish to try and turn it away, everything suddenly went slack… Hook pull.
Once again I feel I’ve lost one of the better fish; certainly, at least one of them must have been a thirty-pounder and as such, the loss is tragic. However, out with fresh bait again and a wait of an hour or so (and an interruption to the bar-be-queue) resulted in a fish landed with no problems - seventeen twelve, once again on the centre rod.
By now it was very hot, so hot in fact it was too hot to stand out in it under the sun. Still we can not complain. Earlier in the week we had enough rain to float a battleship!
At ten past nine, just as I was thinking of hauling in for the night, the middle rod was away again - and what a fish it turned out to be. I knew it was a good one because the fight was both protracted as well as doggedly powerful. For the next thirty minutes he and I fought toe to toe in a battle of attrition. I skinned my knuckles as the fish tore line from the back-wind - it just would NOT come to the net! I have fought many a tense battle with big fish in my time but I can honestly say this was the toughest ever for sheer physical aggression. It was like being on the end of one punch after another as the fish repeatedly made desperate efforts to find its freedom, beating me up in the process! Bitten to death all over our bodies by the dreaded mosquitos, Chris and I couldn’t wait to get this fish weighed, photographed, and back in the water.
We were both convinced it was ‘Moby Dick’ and were ever so slightly disappointed for the scales to read only thirty pounds! But how can you be disappointed with a thirty after having the fight of your life?
Wednesday, 5th.July
Once again a blank morning session even though conditions seemed perfect once again. A clear sky heralded a steaming hot day; we had lunch at a gorgeous gastronomic restaurant and when we returned, I got baits out on all the favoured marks.The afternoon was blank apart from some Breamy twitches but just before we were due to pack up for our trip on ‘The African Queen’ I had a steady run to the right-hand rod, resulting in a well-proportioned thirteen-four.
The African Queen
This was one of the highlights of the week, laid on by Madeline and Peter. Champagne and beer flowed, nibbles were munched, and a most glorious trip down the river was made by we four - ‘Barty’ at the front, keeping guard to repel all borders! This was an unbelievably beautiful trip showing the river totally unseen by anyone else. It was like taking a trip down an Amazonian tributary; the branches lay in our path, fish surfaced near the boat; a Heron flew down-river as we motored gently along. This was an unforgettable experience and one we shall treasure for it was a privilege granted to only a few. Total bliss.
This what I have caught most of my fish on. On the centre rod I put out the same bait and rig - but with a piece of rubber pink corn. My thinking was that maybe the pink would be seen better in the murky water. On the left-hand rod I did something completely different - a ‘Ronnie Rig’ armed with a yellow pineapple pop-up. Neither of these two different rigs elicited any response at all. Tomorrow I shall go back to the simple fluorocarbon rig to try and maximise catches before departure.
Thursday, 6th.July
I’m going to try a different strategy today. Every morning I have been baiting the island and fishing until late morning. This tactic has not been very successful of late, so today I’m going to start off by fishing over no bait to see what happens.
To a degree, this tactic was successful; it yielded two fish - eleven and twenty three pounds but the rest of the afternoon and into the late evening was complete blank with only Bream to show to the rods. I didn’t see a carp anywhere this side of the island although there were fish the far side in the pads.
The weather has been extremely hot and close with cloud cover, but an intense, muggy feel to the atmosphere. With the remains of my 5kgs. bag of Krill I have baited the island margin and I shall put the remainder of it in tomorrow. So my change in tactic has gone from no bait to medium baiting of the three island marks.
Sadly, this tactic failed as no fish were forthcoming, although I am not surprised. it was blisteringly hot and we were all suffering in the intense heat. No wonder the fish weren’t interested.
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