Loaded the camper van up on Sunday for a trip to the coast. Just before we were about to set off our new Russian neighbour came to the van and held up his shopping bag; "Shop" he said. The only English word he knows. I had taken his work mate Alexander to Angouleme railway station the previous day so he could get back to Riga where his son is in hospital and expected to die any day. Egor ( his description fits his name) has no transport, no French or English and we are 8km from the nearest shop, so I took him to the local supermarket expecting him to fill the shopping bag with enough provisions to get though the 5 days that Alexander will be away. He bought two items; one 5 litre barrel of cheap plonk and a bottle of Wodka. That'll teach me!
So a delayed start but we ended up south of Bordeaux on a farm camp site for the night and then hit IKEA for a spot of shopping on Monday morning. After which we drove over to the Isle D'Oleron for a a couple of nights.
Oleron is a small island off the Atlantic coast and is famous for its oyster farms. Over 50% of the French market is grown there. What that means for me is that the island is riddled with salt creeks and lagoons that hold mullet in their thousands. The harbour at Boyaville is stuffed full of them. But as usual in these cases fishing is banned so I watched 4lb fish cruising between the yachts while I was enjoying a warm goat's cheese salad followed by Moules Roquefort with frites and a honey crepe to finish at a harbour restaurant. Fishing research isn't usually as enjoyable as that
High tide was in the evening and again next morning and I'd sussed a good spot while cycling around the town. Mullet are very territorial. You can walk fifty metres and not see one then you'll find a great shoal of them all feeding at the same place and they'll be there every day at that state of tide. Along the road was a tidal channel and I found a good shoal feeding as the channel flooded.
Fishing is simple. JW Travel Avon, small Shimano reel (I'd forgotten my Trudex), quill float set 12" deep over a size 12 hook baited with bread flake. Attraction is breadcrumb groundbait added little and often. The fish weren't as big as the protected fish in the harbour, but up to 2lb were good sport on light tackle. They fight like hell and take yards of line in a succession of unstoppable runs. The local anglers jig small jelly lures under 7 metre poles in the lagoons, but I didn't see them catch that many and they were only small. I prefer trotting the incoming current 'Anglais style' as they call it.
I had three sessions of about 2 to 3 hours each. Caught loads of mullet from around 1/2lb to over 2lb and had a really good time.
We're back home now and I've only got 6 days before relatives arrive for a 9 day visit then we get the keys for our new house so fishing time is going to be severely restricted for the next few weeks.