I’m caught in a trap....and I can't get out!

[Steve Arnold]

The river is still up and down, so much water in the system! With so many species at this point either spawning or close to it I have lost interest in fishing, but I still needed my "fix" of the river. It's a love thing, Baby! So I went to visit some old haunts with so many fond memories of previous encounters.....

....and although she was still full on my lovely river looked magnificent. Bewitched by this enticing sight I drove a few feet too close.....

My river had been up the night before, she looked dry and innocent but was soft, slippery and treacherous. I could not get out of the trap!

So it’s "phone a friend with a 4x4 time" and a little later Alistair arrived with his Freelander. He looked almost smug in his confidence in his big 4x4, but I thought best to forgive him that look at this point.

But it was a heavy car.....TOO heavy......

now we were both well stuck in the trap! That river silt on grass is as slippery as the slipperiest substance imaginable!

So, after spade work, sticks and stones wedged in and much swearing we had made little headway. Fortunately three guys from the nearby gite appeared and I asked the my poor french "Avez-vous un tracteur?". After a short conversation in poor french one of the guys said "are you English?"......so there was no language problem now! Not that language was really needed to describe our situation!

So shortly after a little tractor arrived and it dragged us out with little problem. I think we will be down to the gite today to deliver some wine and a good whisky as a well deserved "THANK-YOU" to our new friend with a tracteur!

You can love a river, but never "trust" her. You should always keep a "suspicious mind" and never be beguiled by her beauty!

Doh!

 

[Alan Whitty]

Better get a bivvy and some more bait and grub and pray there is no more rain eh ???

 

[@Clive]

In this region rain is forecast for the next ten days. It has been Wet, Wet, Wet since October and The River 's Too High for fishing. As for Caught in a Trap, the damned moles are running riot and I have more traps out now than at any time in the last 11 years. I'm only supposed to work 2 days a month, but I've done 5 days in the last 10. I've just driven on The Bridge Over Troubled Water at Chabanais and the colour and level doesn't bode well for a session on Friday. I'm torn between fishing one of the big lakes for roach and pike or trying a 2 acre pond owned by some neigbours up the road who are desperate for someone to fish it. They say that it contains bass, zander and pike, but no one has fished it in the last 11 years.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Better get a bivvy and some more bait and grub and pray there is no more rain eh ???

That little field is a flood plain, by this time of year it has normally dried out and you can drive the full length of it. But there is a HE plant about 4k upstream and a barrage about a further 4k onwards. When either is letting out water the field can be covered with a metre+ of river in just a few hours.

I remember there was a patch cleared for a bivvy a couple of years ago, I thought "I hope this angler has checked RiverApp before setting his pitch", he could easily have had a very wet dream during the night!