Moulin-de-Gassas, Part 2
Monday, 11th.June
08.00More overnight rain (and a forecast of more to come) has forced us into fishing from directly outside the front of the cabin.
One rod is short, on the lily-spot; the middle rod way over to the far corner at the entrance of the channel. This looks to be my best chance of a fish and I am quietly confident this will produce at some point. The left-hand rod is fishing at 12 + 3 wraps to one of the trees on the island.
Light rain is falling and although it has put a damper on things - we’re fishing, and that’s never a bad state of affairs!
09.30
Lost fish!.. A drop-back on the long range rod cast to the far corner and a fish is on! I got it as far as the lily-pads where I had to give it a bit of ‘welly’ to get it through - and the hook fell out! The unfortunate thing about these lilies is that although it is possible to get them through it, unless the hook-hold is extremely solid, a certain number of fish are going to be lost. Shame. It felt a good ‘un.
10.15
We’re away!…The rod at the island is away and conveniently, the fish swims into ‘safe’ water. Twenty eight pounds ten ounces. I think this might be the same fish I had on Saturday. I’m not complaining, a fish is a fish and it’s another in the bag.
15.00
There’s a Hornet keeps visiting our cabin, trying to get in; he’s coming back every day and Chris has been going frantic, thinking it’ll get inside and we can’t get rid of it.
You don’t want to get stung by one of these things. Hornets are three times the size of a Wasp (although they look just like them) and have been known to hospitalize victims. Apparently, their sting is excruciating and can cause anaphylactic shock. ( Not too sure what that is but it doesn’t sound good.)
Lake quiet and I’m not surprised. One minute the sun is out shining, the next, it’s cloudy and grey with a light drizzle falling; occasionally the rain’s been a bit heavier. Forecast is terrible for the next 24 hrs. With more thunderstorms. Peter our host says it is most unusual for the time of year. (Just our luck!)
16.00
There were a couple of bleeps on the middle rod and when I got up to investigate I noticed the bobbin had dropped back a little. Not only that, but the line was going slack above the rod-tip. I picked up the rod and started to reel-down, but felt only a dull resistance of the lead dragging along the bottom.
After I’d got about twenty yards of line on the reel I suddenly felt a fish kicking on the end! The little so-and-so had run straight towards me!
This felt like a very good fish which got stuck a couple of times in the lilies in front of me, but I was very happy to net one of (what Chris refers to as) the ‘dinner plates’ weighing a nice twenty-seven pounds four ounces. A fish that was ‘a proper looking carp’ rather than one of the heavier, though emaciated original stock. Still no thirty-pounder yet. Time left though.
You have to 'wet' the fish of course during the unhooking process and a pool tends to form in the bottom of the cradle. When the fish starts flapping!...
Tuesday, 12th.June
08.00Awoke to the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the roof of the cabin; not in itself a problem - it just makes everything so damp.
All three baits out on their spots at 12 + 3 wraps, 17, and 18. One thing I have done this morning is make sure the baits are not too tight to the island margin. Last evening I cast them to within a couple of feet of the grass and I think this was a little too tight!
19.00
Today has flown by. This morning Peter decided to he would cut the lilies in front of the cabin using the boat and a sub-surface strimmer. We had discussed this earlier in the trip: it was difficult to cast to the island spots (or indeed anywhere else) from directly in front of the cabin because your line lays across the top of the lily leaves. Peter is keen to make the fishing as easy and enjoyable as he can and is keen guests can use the cabin as a giant ‘bivvy’, having their rods outside the front door.
It poured with rain. Peter (and his ‘oppo’) got saturated out in the boat but managed to thin them sufficiently to make the fishing a lot easier and hopefully, we won’t lose so many fish. We didn’t have the rods out while all this was going on, and later, left the lake to go and have lunch at a fancy restaurant (which was absolutely gorgeous) not returning until the afternoon when hopefully things should have quietened down sufficiently for the carp to be in the mood for picking up baits. So far, no joy.
This certainly put the 'mockers' on things for quite some time and I don't know if the fishing ever really recovered.
I have two baits cast to the far corner at 17 wraps; these are real ‘banker’ spots and I’ve caught loads of fish from them. The third rod is now able to be fished across to the far lily bed at 13 wraps. So far, nothing to report.
21.10
It seems that all the shenanigins that has gone on today has put the kibosh on the fishing. Two Bream this evening means they’ve moved in on the area and experience shows a take from a carp is unlikely. No sign of carp anywhere this side of the lake. Will have to just wait until they arrive. Tomorrow?…
Wednesday, 13th.June
06.00It’s not yet six o’clock and Chris’s alarm is going on her ‘phone. Why has she set the alarm?
“Come on, get up, you’re going to catch a fish!”
“Really? I’m on holiday for God’s sake woman! What’s all this getting me out of bed in the middle of the night?”
Chris is right about one thing; the daylight hours don’t seem to have been as productive as I remember on our last trip here and perhaps an early start is what is required.
All three baits out in perfect position - 12 + 3 wraps to the tree off the island, 17 wraps down in the corner, and 13 wraps off the lilies straight across. Come on fish! It’s now down to you!
08.00
It’s blowing hot and cold. All this week we have swung from spells of hot sun to cold, chilly episodes where the wind has got up and we’ve needed to put coats on. Weird weather.
The grounds of the estate are waterlogged, so much rain has fallen. Peter has had to keep the gates of the weir almost permanently open there’s been so much water coming down the river. Undoubtedly, the weather has played a significant role in the lack of consistent sport this trip.
Nothing is happening out there and it should be.
08.30
I haven’t mentioned the Bream much; I’ve just put another one back. Catching them is a sure sign there are no carp about. It seems that when you’re catching Bream the chances of carp are small.
14.15
The water is definitely a milky colour and I am sure this accounts for the lack of action. I’ve just been talking to Peter about this and he says it’s the run-off from the surrounding fields. The extreme colour is putting the carp off for sure and that’s all down to the rain we’ve had.
17.45
Chris and I have a plan… We will leave baits out tonight and get out of bed and come running should there be a take. It could be they are feeding at night.
20.00
Bream a real nuisance; all baits missing when I reeled in to re-bait. ‘The Krill’ is a very good bait but I think it resists the attentions of the Bream not at all well.
21.00
Changed all baits to ‘Mainline Peaches and Cream” as I think that a) they will be less attractive to the Bream than The Krill and b) they are a bit more ‘solid’ and less liable to breaking down.
Went on the island and baited up my spot - the first tree. Can’t do any more than what I’ve done.
Thursday, 14th.June
08.00Awoke to a grey, slightly misty morn. At least the bait’s stayed on all night and we were fishing. My guess that the Bream would have a go at them - but wouldn’t be able to remove them was correct. I’ve changed all three rigs on what has now become an extremely challenging session. Moulin de Gassas is very much an ‘easy’ water where multiple catches are made in a day, but at the moment the place has gone into a right old mood and is not giving up its residents at all.
09.15
There’s a drop-back on the left-hand rod cast at the first tree on the island. Bream? I wind down to take up the slack and the bobbin stays tight - but then starts dropping back again. Winding down I find myself attached to what I think is a Bream, but when it’s halfway to the bank, the rod hoops over and I realise there’s a carp on the end! The fish eventually puts up a real struggle after a somewhat feeble start and I slip the net under a fine 21:06. This fish took a ‘Peaches and Cream’ on a change rig so I think I shall continue using it.
Has the rig made a difference? Who knows. It’s certainly easier to tie and less obvious than the ‘D’ rig with its accompanying paraphernalia. As Leon (Bartrup) is always saying, “…all it takes is one bite”. We’re back on it.
14.30
Back out with the rods having spent the morning in the medieval town of Bergerac. What a lovely place! All half-timbered houses and statues of Cyrano de Bergerac. (Actually, he was nothing to do with Bergerac - but he’s useful for the tourist industry). Great seventeenth to eighteenth century bridge from which there are magnificent views up and down the river Dordogne. Next time we come there’s a boat trip and guided tour of the town.
The lake is looking much more like it and I am looking to add to the tally. Not had a thirty yet; everyone who fishes here gets one. Time yet.
18.30
We’re away! On the centre rod to the far corner. This fish was a real scrapper - it was all over the place, boring and making such long runs I was convinced I’d got a thirty on at last. It wasn’t to be however and the scales showed a disappointing 21:08. Disappointing! You’ve got to be joking! How can you be disappointed with a capture that felt for all the world like a thirty?! Just goes to show. Sometimes we can’t appreciate just how good we’ve got it. Fish number ten for the trip.
12 Midnight
Chris and I went to bed and left the remote sounder box inside the cabin should a take occur. After several tests to ensure the signal could be detected I went to bed dressed in only my underpants (to preserve some semblance of dignity should a night-shot be required).
At just before midnight the alarm was going!… Out of bed, glasses on, groping around in the pitch black trying to find my shoes; shoes on, undo the locks on the door and out into the chill night air and there is the red glow of the LED on the left-hand rod shining in the darkness.
I don’t know how far the fish had gone when I hooked it but it was certainly a long way as it took several minutes to bring to the net. When I netted a a very long fish and lifted it out of the water I thought I had finally got a thirty - but no 28:10 once again. My old mate ‘the moth-eaten skinny one’ again. No complaints though; another fish in the bag.
Friday, 15th.June - The Final Day
07.00Up at six to make an early start. Six! That’s not early! It’s mid-morning! Anyway… it felt early.
It took me six attempts at getting a bait onto the first tree spot; for some unknown reason I just couldn’t get the direction right and kept falling too far to the left or too far to the right. I’m only talking a matter of feet either way but I felt the baits had to be dropped in exactly the right spot to get a take. I got it dead on eventually and put the rod in the rest and clipped on the bobbin.
Picking up the third of the three rods, I was half way marking-up on the distance sticks when the first rod was going! I hooked the fish which dashed straight across in front of the cabin to the right, picking up the centre rod as it went. Fortunately I managed to free it of this… and then it fell off. Bugger. It felt a good ‘un, but there again they all do in here. Oh well.
Well that's what it feels like anyway!
12.00
Back fishing again after a morning trip to Castillones. I had a bait-up before we left, putting Krill and Peaches and Cream boilies out off the tree. P & C boilies on the hook to obviate the Bream.
We have just 24 hrs. Left of the session in which to not only catch another carp but to catch a thirty. Bit of a tall order but who knows? There’s time yet.
18.45
It’s hard to believe it’s ten days since we arrived - the time has gone so fast. Who would think, just sitting here, waiting for a bite, that Time would pass so quickly.
It’s getting a bit late for one last fish now and although it is theoretically possible I am not hopeful. The weather has not been great this week - temperatures have yo-yoed up and down like… a thing that goes up and down. Once again today it’s been that cold we have had to put coats on. This is the Dordogne for goodness sake! It’s supposed to be hot!
Still. I can make all the excuses under the sun but at the end of the day it’s carp-fishing and this has been a record of our trip as faithful as I can record it with notes made at the time. I hope you have enjoyed the reading as much as we enjoyed the fishing.
Bon Appetit!
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