I’ve just returned from the shower block feeling slightly refreshed, for the lake has been strangely quiet, possibly due to the hot and humid weather we’re ‘enjoying’. Oh, what would we give for a stiff breeze and a skyful of rain clouds. Instead, this morning we bask in the hot sun or the slightly cooler shade in shorts and tee-shirts whiling away the time either reading or watching the buzzards circling high in the sky. Okay, I don’t expect you to feel sorry for us, but believe me it isn’t the weather we want for catching carp.
But it’s not all bad news on the fishing front. Eddie has caught his personal best carp yesterday morning with a fish of 30lb 2oz, a lovely mirror that fought well but also served to remind him of the big lump that he lost the other day that fought just a little too well.
It’s the same old story for me, one run and one missed fish on Monday night, and one run that wasn’t connected with last night. Last night’s run was a little slow and I suspect it was a bream. The run on Monday night was straight at me, covering half the width of the bay, which is about 100yds across, before I caught up with it and tried to strike the hook home. I felt a brief resistance, but this was short-lived and I reeled in a baitless, fishless hook. The hook was sharp so I just don’t know what went wrong. Maybe it’s just a run of bad luck that will end before this trip is over and reward me with a special fish. Who knows?
One of the other lads had a low ’20’ and someone else lost a big fish they reckon was over 40lb. A low double grassie has been the only other fish caught.
Tomorrow, myself, Ed and Terry head off for the big house to have lunch with the owner of the estate, Bernard Caron. Bernard’s lunches are very special, for he and his son Jean Paul are master chefs, both having run large restaurants in France and America. The lunches last all afternoon and we usually return to the rods fit for nothing but the sleeping bags.
My god, it’s a hard life.
But I do wish this hot, still weather would end and a big blow would liven the lake up. If that doesn’t happen I can’t see things improving a great deal. But that’s fishing isn’t it, we’re always in the lap of the elements whether it’s here in France on the banks of a lake that holds giant carp, or back home on the local roach pond.
One little guy has gone home happy though – one of our resident hedgehogs. He dived into a bag of groundbait we left outside the cabin and scoffed about half of it. We caught him at it, but we didn’t disturb him. If the carp don’t want it then he’s welcome to it. Take note of that Mr Wriggles, hedgehogs love your groundbait as well! How about one called ‘Hedgehog Magic’?
