Today was bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky so I opted for the River Charente. This is a small river in the area where I live, but grows to become the major river in the department by the time it reaches Angouleme. Unlike the Vienne which I have to cross to reach the Charente it is not wide, fast and shallow over rocks and gravel. The Charente is more of a meandering river taking its time to wind through pastures.
Doobs and I set off after lunch and got to the village of Chantrezac around 1pm. We had a reccy and then went back to the car for the tackle. This is about the only place where the river has any pace and gravel.
Tackle is basic; a six foot, one piece 'River Don Special', 1500 reel, 4lb mono, a foam pad to sit on and a few bits and pieces......
End rig was a short length of 4lb flouro', two size 14 hooks and an 1/8 oz weight. Not seen is a float stop above the lead swivel that gives me the option to fish a fixed rig.
Bait equally simple. A handful of home made groundbait and a few red worms from the compost heap.
So, off we went, Doobs who is now as deaf as a post leading the way into the field where there were molehills nearly as big as she is. I left a business card on the gate. Hopefully the farmer might pay me to get rid of a few for him
. We selected a spot on the shallow side of the river and cast across into a deep channel. The church clock struck 1pm just after I cast and at the next strike half an hour later we moved upstream a few yards to be able to cast into an eddy under a tree. By the time the clock had struck twice we were into a nice chevin having had a classic drop back bite that you get when ledgering upstream.
It was hooked clean in the scissors on the bottom hook. Sorry about the disgorger. I had no forceps so had to improvise. I had a few more rattles but no proper bites so we returned to the car and got the Kelly Kettle fired up for a brew. After which we dropped downstream and fought our way through thick cover to get to the top of a pool where in the past I've seen a 4 - 5lb river carp and a brace of barbel. Strange how pappy the dog is when facing cover while fishing yet if there had been scent of pheasant or partridge she's have been all over the place.
There was no activity so I plopped a bit of groundbait in, returned to the car for another cuppa and went back for the last hour before dark.
Sadly, the fish weren't playing and by the time the sun had gone down it had dropped to about 4 C and the almost full moon was just showing above the tree tops.
So, that was my afternoon. I would have preferred to have had a go at the zander on the big lake especially as I'm running out of season, but the conditions weren't right with this high pressure sitting over us all week.