Wednesday, 11th.September 2019
Moulin de Gassas, Cahuzac nr. Bergerac, Dordogne, France
22.30Just got back from a fantastic welcome meal with our hosts Peter and Madeline Bartholemew at their little gem of a home on the Dropt river in the Dordogne region of France. I am so full, my stomach is fit to bursting! A gorgeous steak, foie gras, green beans, wine…. ah! The decadence of it all!
I managed to get some baits out before we went to the Moulin for dinner and had my first fish, a common of 26lbs. thirty minutes after starting.
This was a spectacular fight from a common I was convinced was going to go thirty - but was a long, skinny, lean example of its type that went like a train before I managed to get it in the net, weighed, photographed, and back in the water before the middle rod went! This time, the fish got hung up in a bed of lilies and despite going out in the boat the fish managed to transfer the hook to a lily stem. How do they do that?
I came to the lake with a Plan. Previous trips had shown that the carp were definitely spooked by lines going out through the water and I decided that I would try to keep all three baits as close to each other as possible to maximise the amount of ‘free space’ the carp could move around in before encountering them. I also decided to fish them dead slack to keep everything as close to the bottom as possible.
So fourteen wraps and one foot to the far island; two bottom baits (20mm. ‘Sticky Baits’ Bloodworm) on multi-rigs and a simple fluorocarbon rig, and a wafter on a third rod. It was the fluorocarbon rig which was the first to go and resulted in the common, closely followed by the centre rod (also a bottom bait) on the multi-rig. Although I was unfortunate enough to lose the second one in the lilies I was well pleased with getting off to a good start.
We’re off and running!
Thursday, 12th.September 2019
09.00We had so much to eat and drink last night, an early start this morning was out of the question but I managed a fish which I have just put back soon after casting out. At 27lbs. 8ozs. It was one of the new stock Peter has put in and boy did it go! I have always said these fish are the hardest fighting fish I have caught anywhere and this fish proved it!
This is one of the newer stock of fish Peter and Madeline have put in the water; these fish have made an enormous difference to the fishing both in terms of average size and quality.
Changed the rod support system over to a ‘Solar Mini Boss’ pod I found amongst the kit supplied by Peter. This is an excellent stainless steel system which I shall be looking out for on eBay for myself. It seems extremely stable due to the 120 degree splay of the legs unlike my own pod which is only ninety degrees, the legs not splaying out so much.
This pod is one of the best I have ever used, rigid, stable, and not too long - which many commercially available pods are.
I shall continue my rig experiments. currently, I have a very simple Fluorocarbon Rig fishing against a vastly more complicated Multi-Rig and at the moment it seems the fluorocarbon rig is doing the business.
I’m thinking ahead to my tactics I shall be using on Pollard. Confidence is always the best factor you can have in your armoury getting some here will give me a head start when I get back on there in the coming months. A basic shank-tied Hair Rig seems to be all that is required at the moment so I think I shall try variations on the theme.
This rig is tied with 15lbs. BS ESP Soft Ghost to a size 4 Nash Chod Twister hook. The 'hair' is formed from the line, the boily tied tight to the eye of the hook. This latter is an essential part of the rig's success because when a fish sucks the bait in, the hook goes in its mouth too. Baits tied off the bend of the hook run the risk of not entering the fish's mouth.
10.00
And I’m away! A lovely 26 pounder on the complicated rig. So at the moment, yes, the complicated rig does work, but is there any need for such complication? Do simpler rigs catch just as well?
Another version of the Simple Rig involves a ‘Hydrolink’ hook-length from which three inches of the inner fluorocarbon has been removed. This forms the ‘hair’ and a break is made an inch and a half from the hook to form a ‘hinge’. A number 4 ‘Stott’ is located at the hinge to ensure everything sits flush to the bottom and the hook aligns properly in the fish’ mouth.
13.00
Bait Attachment - with the three-bait stringers I have been using there is the likelihood of the fish picking up the baits and eating them on the spot. This not only suggests the rigs need to be on the short side but that the bait should be aligned off the shank - rather than off the bend, of the hook. Don’t want the fish picking the bait up and the point of the hook is still outside its mouth!
14.30
Off on the r.h. rod (the ‘Hydrolink’ rod) and it’s another fine looking common of 21lbs. 12ozs. Like all the fish I’ve caught, on 20mm. ‘Krill’ boilies (the first fish was on a ‘Bloodworm’ boily).
19.00
An experimental rig is out - a ‘Simple Rig’ tied in fluorocarbon but tied only four inches long. This is because of the accompanying stringer boilies causing the carp to eat on the spot.
But it’s the ‘normal’ length Simple Rig that’s away resulting in a great looking 21 pounder.
(Sadly, there were problems with the focussing of the camera and the image was unusable).
Another take on exactly the same rod ten minutes after casting out saw me attached to another fish. sadly, after a short battle, it fell off…
21.00
And then, just as it was “last orders please!” I had a take on the r.h. rod again - the third this evening on that rod.
This fish, although coming to the bank like a lamb, felt really heavy and I had high hopes it was a thirty, but no, 26 pounds on the dot.
The fish must have deeply resented being dragged from its watery home because it beat me to a pulp royally while it was on the mat! It just wouldn’t stop flapping and jumping! At one point I had to lay on top of it to subdue it but all I got for my trouble were cuts and bruises from its flayling tail and the spines on its fins. I wasn’t exactly covered in blood after this un-hooking mat punch-up but I certainly needed sticking-plasters!
I needed sticking-plasters after literally fighting with this fish on the mat, the spines on its fins drawing blood on my hands and arms!
These fish are just solid muscle from head to foot and are a testament to the good husbandry Peter uses to bring them on.
And so to bed…
Friday 13th.September 2019
16.10A late start due to an all-day visit to the delightful town of Bergerac. I have wanted to have a trip down the river since we were here last year and I have to say it was well worth it. Part of the river is a designated Nature Reserve - no boats, swimmers, houses, or anything. Simply stunningly beautiful.
All three rods are out on change rigs. I’ve kept with the Simple Fluorocarbon Rig but on the other two I’ve tied up my version of the ‘German Rig’. This incorporates a ‘Hydrolink’ boom, broken at one-and-a-half inches from the hook eye. This acts as a pivotal joint and right behind it is a number 4 ‘Stott’ to keep everything down on the bottom.
I have been embarked on my endless search for a simple, effective rig and it seems to me that I am just about as near to it as I’m going to get. Slightly more complex than the Simple Fluorocarbon Rig (but only just) the only difficult bit is getting the hook beads on the shank of the hook. In the grand scheme of things this is a long way from being ‘complex’.
So they’re out there, all fishing within a few feet of one another and I have every confidence at least one of them will go this evening.
20.30
So it’s starting to get dark. The mosquitos are out and I notice my bare legs are itching with their bites. In the distance I hear an Owl hoot and then three yards to my right the bite alarm to the centre rod is screaming!…
I’m fast into a fish which is kiting to the right - straight into the danger zone in the vicinity of the lily pads and although I reel as fast and as hard as I can, it’s in them, throwing up clouds of bubbles… and then suddenly everything goes solid. There’s nothing for it; I have to take to the boat…
This is no easy task because the boat is moored the other side of the jetty and there is a large tree between it and me! It’s a good job I have Christine with me to help - she leans out along the tree-trunk and passes the rod around it while I am on the other side grabbing the rod by the spigot.
I’m back in contact! I can feel a fish on the end, but the line is disappearing down through the lilies. I can not afford to risk hauling the fish and the hook pulling out so I am in the boat with the landing-net, reeling down to where the line disappears through the pad leaves. I don’t have to row at all; line tension and the bend in the rod are sufficient to pull me in the direction of the fish and I am soon directly over the top of it.
After a few kicks and lunges the fish is free and I am in direct contact… off goes the fish, making for the far bank, towing the boat with me in it behind it! The fish makes some enormous splashes on the surface as it desperately makes a bid for freedom and I catch sight of an enormous flank! Convinced I’m into a forty-pounder my heart is in my mouth as I am towed hither and yon about this end of the lake!
After some brief excursions into and out of the pads it eventually surfaces and I slip the net under it and row back to shore where Christine and Madeline wait excitedly to see what I’d got.
Disappointedly it turns the scales to only 29:12. I was convinced it was a lot bigger than that and put it at 35 minimum. The scales as they say, don’t lie; a few ounces short of the magic thirty it is.
I had to go out in the boat to get this fish which buried itself in the lilies. I was convinced it was a forty when I saw it in the water - but no, not even thirty!
But how can I be disappointed with such a great-looking carp and the high excitement it has given me in landing it?
Saturday, 14th.September 2019
08.00(Reasonably) early start this morning. I decided to go ‘all in’ with all three rods on the Simple Fluorocarbon Rig which seems to have surpassed all the others I have tried. The other rigs undoubtedly catch fish as I have shown, but none possess the inherent simplicity characterised by this rig.
Rods one and two went out to the island opposite and I was just baiting rod three when I had a very slow take on the r.h. rod. I hooked the fish which didn’t seem all that big to start with - in fact I managed to ‘turn’ it before it made the sanctuary of the lily-pads. alternatively, it just couldn’t be arsed and came near the bank relatively easily.
Realising that it had got a sharp hook stuck in its chops it rather got ‘the hump’ and went crackers for the next ten minutes or so. I was beaten up royally by this fish which made several incredibly powerful unstoppable runs - in fact it almost made the lilies, but eventually it took pity on me and gave up whereupon Chris slipped the net under it.
The fish turned out to be well over my target weight and it was high-fives all round, recording 36:02 on the scales. Yippee! Job done!
Yes!... It was a good fish!
So Madeline wanted the SD card out of my camera because she wanted to print out some of the photos for her new ‘Honour Board’ that’s going up in the Cabin. No sooner had she left than I had a take to the middle rod…
I didn’t think this fish was all that big when I first hooked it; it made a half-hearted attempt at getting in the lilies, but I’ve had much smaller fish try - and do so. It got caught around the jetty support legs however and I only just managed to get it out and away from them; once it was in the clear water though I had a chance to get a good look at it, and what a fish it was!…
Quite clearly a Grass Carp, I knew immediately I was attached to an exceptional fish. There are only three ‘Grassies’ in the lake, the biggest going about 46 pounds!
As soon as we got it in the net Chris and I knew I had smashed my PB for the water! On the scales it registered 45:12, just ounces short of the lake record and only ounces short of my all-time PB. It was monstrous! It’s body just seemed to go on and on - the photographs (on Chris’ tablet not really doing it justice).
Nothing prepared me for the shock of seeing this beast in the net! My second-biggest fish ever by only four ounces!... Phew!!
Just when I needed my camera the most for a trophy shot of my best fish in years - it was out of action (no SD card - Madeline had got it). Nothing detracts from what for me is the catch of… a lifetime? Maybe not that, but certainly my biggest since my 46 from Les Clos des Lacs a few years ago.
Happy days!
12.00We’ve now changed swim. We’re fishing the other side of the jetty out to the ‘two trees’.
Peter has pointed this out to us as a spot much favoured by his other clients and I have to say we fancy it too for we have seen fish rolling and leaping in this area.
The right-hand channel is further along the Right Bank and it is through this channel that the carp pass; some carry on down the Right Bank where we are fishing whilst others turn right and move along the margins of the island. This is where I have picked up all my fish up to now.
14.00It’s raining, but in view of the recent hot weather I think this can only be a good thing. Looks perfect for a fish! 16.00
Changed back to my position opposite the island. Can’t say why I didn’t fancy it where we were - just didn’t.
Only here for a couple of hours as we are off out to a bistro this evening!
Sunday, 15th.September 2019
09.00All baits are now out on The Simple Fluorocarbon Rig. Chris and Madeline are off to the market in Issigeac presently so I am left to do battle on my own.
Running out of pva now so I am having to be very parsimonious with it if am not to be left short in the next couple of days. fortunately, there is a catapult in the kit that I can get bait out with although it’s not the same as the three-bait stringer which is proving such a success up to now.
Can not wait to take the tactic to Pollard to see if it will bag one of those forties!
09.50
I keep looking at my spool of ‘Hydrolink’ thinking “can I use that to make a rig as good as the fluorocarbon?” And once again I have fallen into the trap of thinking there is always something better than the one I’ve got on. But for the fact I have total confidence in the fluorocarbon rig now, I’d still be messing about tying up new rigs. I have to keep repeating myself - “there’s no need to keep faffing with different rigs! The one you’ve got on works perfectly well!”
11.45
Up to now I have been fishing my rods dead slack. I think this is a good tactic because I’m fishing my baits tight to the long island in front and with fish approaching from either side they’d have to cross over lines as they go up and down the margin. Better to have the lines right down on the bottom to avoid them picking them up. The drawback to this is if a fish picks up the lead and runs towards you then you’ll get no indication on the bobbin at all. This is what happened a few minutes ago. Not only did it run towards me but it crossed the other line and got in a right old mess!
Lesson learned. Don’t fish slack tight to a far margin!
12.30A bite to the l.h. rod!… this was a funny old fish. When I hooked it, I thought I was in a snag; the fish didn’t budge at all, it just stayed there stationary. In fact it seemed altogether confused by the whole experience; it made a half-hearted attempt to run towards the pads but never made it and allowed itself to be drawn over the net relatively easily. As soon as I got it on the mat however it was a different story - the fish went absolutely mental! It just would not let me pick it up for a photo! Absolutely not! I’ve never had a fish so stubbornly camera-shy and had to return it to avoid keeping it out of the water for too long! 20:08. Another twenty pound fish.
20:08 Common
18.30
Back fishing again after our afternoon trip out on ‘The African Queen’ - a lovely cruise on Peter’s boat up the river Dropt (pronounced Dro).
All three baits are in position. As I gain in casting accuracy confidence my baits are landing nearer and nearer to one another - so near in fact that I fear they may be crossing! I remember however that Tom Maker does this - casting baits to less than a foot from one another. At least it concentrates the stringer feed around all three rods.
20.45
We’re away!… the extreme l.h. rod was pretty near the centre rod and I thought maybe it had crossed over it, but no, a screamer of a run and once again a bemused carp that didn’t seem to know what was occurring! Unlike the last dazed and confused fish it made for the lilies and got in them. Fortunately it stayed high enough in the water and I managed to ‘horse’ it through without drama.
A very welcome 31:12, my second thirty of the trip.
I had a series of line bites on both left and right-hand rods, sometimes at the same time! Obviously carp activity and I determined to stay right until the ‘dot’ of ‘stumps’ at nine before pulling in.
At five minutes to, I had a run from another fish that didn’t seem to know how to react. It just felt a solid, immovable weight. Fortunately for me it ran neither left nor right, sort of dithering about, not knowing which way to go! I got him to the bank in pitch darkness and Chris was on hand to do the netting. A 21:12 Common, a long, skinny excuse of a thing that must have been one of the original stocking from way back. These are not like the new stocking which are short, fat, and plump as butter which I happen to think are more perfect examples of the carp species.
Like most (if not all of the fish) I have hooked on The Simple Fluorocarbon Rig it was hooked right in the ‘scissors’. This I deem to be a great advantage. With this rig there is none of this “the hook drops down and catches in the bottom lip” nonsense, as all the current authorities on such things assert. For that to happen, the hook-length, bait, hook, and the fish itself, must be perfectly aligned in a straight line - which of course never happens.
I think the rig works because the point of the hook is near the bait and when the fish moves with it or shakes its head, both hook and bait get naturally pulled to one side of the mouth or the other. When rigs are designed to only drop into the bottom lip?…
Monday, 16th.September 2019
08.00I was up early this morning (well, early for me anyway!) to catch the morning feeding spell and things couldn’t have gone worse. I just couldn’t get my baits to fly straight and they ended up all over the place! I don’t know what it was about my casting this morning but I was completely awry. I ran out of pva too so I’m having to fish single baits. I’ve got a catapult but they’re falling just short of where I would like them.
It’s a funny thing but I’ve spent a lot of time trying to improve my casting accuracy and yet even after all these years I still fall consistently to the right. There’s a fault in my casting action causing this but I’m blowed if I can correct it. I’m only fishing at 13-14 wraps so it’s not as if I’m fishing at massive distance?
10.30As we near the end of this morning’s session I’m contemplating whether the lack of pva and stringers has made a difference or not. I’ve now managed to catapult some Krill out to the mark but I’m even coming to the end of this bait. There’s some ‘Sticky Baits’ Manilla available so I shall go onto that for tomorrow’s last day - but it’s blank this morning. 16.30
Early start to the evening session.
We had a wonderful lunch in Issigeac - unquestionably the best food (and meal) I’ve had in years. Crayfish to start, followed by Cod with all kinds of fancy, tasty stuff, and a ‘chocolate bombe’ for dessert. Wow!
Three ‘manilla’ bottom baits are out fished as singles (since I’ve run out of pva tape) and this time I’ve got them where I want them. No more than six baits catapulted out as I don’t want them taking two or three baits and leaving the rest. Especially the ones with the hook in them.
17.30
Just had a take on the rh rod. Unfortunately it got off after a few minutes. More may follow however.
Tuesday, 17th.September 2019
08.00The last full day of Angling (although we do have tomorrow morning).
A change of strategy… I now have baits at each end of the island - left and right. The lh bait is at just under 13½ wraps, whilst the rh bait is cast into the open channel between the island and the bank. This latter is a fairly perilous attempt since any hooked fish is going to make straight for the lilies - but hey ho, ‘desperate times’ and all that. Not that I’m particularly desperate, it’s just that my options are now severely limited; I’ve run out of pva and can’t fish stringers (an essential component of my approach) and I’m now running out of bait. It’s just not worth buying any more since I don’t feel I can fish it effectively anyway.
In truth, I feel I’m just hanging on a bit until the end of the holiday and any fish I get now is just a bonus. I’m more than happy with what I’ve caught though and have no complaints whatsoever.
09.30
A bonus fish did indeed arrive in the form of a 24:04 common - a fish on the Manilla and Helicopter rig. This is how I intend to fish at Pollard so it’s good to get a fish when things are disadvantageous. Number 13 for the week so we need another one to get off the unlucky number!
Another long, skinny one. An original. This time last year these fish were at least two pounds lighter, so they are all growing.
11.30
I recast the rh rod so I was inboard of the corner of the island at a fraction over 14 wraps. This bait is tight to the island margin and I feel this is a better location for it than the channel.
13.50
And the rh rod is away!… this change of tactic has proved most successful and given my lack of stringers I think I could be doing even better. 25:08 the single Manilla doing the business.
Very pleased with how Manilla is catching fish. It’s over thirty degrees yet again today - the sort of conditions you’d expect to ‘blow out’ in every situation. With it being so hot you wouldn’t expect fish to feed at all - and yet I’ve picked up a couple. Fair play to the Manilla.
New stock this time.
16.30
A screaming take on the rh rod, hooked, and off and away around to the right - this fish went like a train and was unstoppable; it even threatened to get into the Bottom Bay down to the right!
It was a cunning so-and-so, lurking behind the lilies, plotting its next move - which was straight into the back of the lily bed!
Hauling for all I was worth I managed to to get it all the way through the lilies as far as the near edge of the pads… and then the hook fell out!…
Nuff said. It was a big fish - maybe even another ‘Grassie’.
21.00
A short evening session tonight. Peter took us for a run in the ‘Kawasaki’ to see a new development he’s been working on the other side of the Moulin, consequently I only had a couple of hours in which to try to bag a fish.
I didn’t…
Wednesday, 18th.September 2019
07.30The last day…
Or morning I should say; I have until about one o’clock to bag a last-gasp fish before leaving for the airport so there should still be plenty of time to catch one. As long as the carp do the decent thing and co-operate with this plan!
09.00
As the week draws to an end I ponder what a great week’s fishing it has been, not because I’ve caught loads of fish, every one of which has been over twenty pounds, but the quality of which has been outstanding. Not only have I registered fish in numbers - but in size as well, a 45:12 Grassy and a 36:02 Mirror being the two biggest.
But the best thing to take away from the week has been the confidence I have gained in my boily tactics - the ‘Simple Fluorocarbon Rig’ and 20mm. Boily accompanied by a three-bait stringer. This has not only given me complete confidence in my fishing but I am convinced will work on the Pollard carp and it is the forty-pounders in there that now occupy my thoughts!
10.15
The rh rod’s away!… this is a long, skinny, moth-eaten common of 21:08 that simply wouldn’t give up under the rod-tip! It plunged away, swimming in circles, not doing any more than hanging about like a bad smell, Chris and I thinking we’d miss the flight home if it carried on like this!
I think it must have got bored, giddy, or both with all the swimming around in circles it was doing and it eventually popped into the net more out of self-defeat than exhaustion. Is this the last of the action?…
[Yes it was; there were no more takes after that and I had to reluctantly pack all the gear away ready for Peter and Madeline to pick us up and take us to Bergerac Airport. Another end to another wonderful week’s fishing at Moulin du Gassas].
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