Steve Arnold
Well-known member
My first post on this forum for some time, been a bit busy this last couple of years moving to France and learning some river fishing skills!
Fishing buddy Alistair and myself decided to fish one of the few swims likely to be out of the main flow on a very full river Lot. We had missed the worst of the rain that SE France has had so at least there was a possibility of fishing!
The swim was the confluence of a small stream and the main river. Plan A was to catch some bleak and roach for bait and then float fish the eddy for predators.
The small fish obliged but then no sign of pike, zander of perch!
So, try Plan B
Heavy rain the previous day had forced a 15" garden worm to seek refuge under my front door mat, I gave it better shelter in my baitbox! So it was sacrificed to see if there was a barbel in the swim. It did not take long......
My first barbel from this swim, so another spot added to my growing knowledge of this lovely river.
The worm was still attached to the hook so back into the river it went. A few minutes later a small silure took the worm, just over 5 lbs and it put up a good fight on my travel telescopic rod.
The day after this it rained .....a lot! The flow at the monitoring station had been around 370 cu metres a second (just about fishable!) shot up to 1700 (massive torrent!).
Today, three days later, it is down to 520. Sunshine again and I think there may be one place that may be out of the flow and not under flood water. So I think a short session this afternoon!
Fishing buddy Alistair and myself decided to fish one of the few swims likely to be out of the main flow on a very full river Lot. We had missed the worst of the rain that SE France has had so at least there was a possibility of fishing!
The swim was the confluence of a small stream and the main river. Plan A was to catch some bleak and roach for bait and then float fish the eddy for predators.
The small fish obliged but then no sign of pike, zander of perch!
So, try Plan B
Heavy rain the previous day had forced a 15" garden worm to seek refuge under my front door mat, I gave it better shelter in my baitbox! So it was sacrificed to see if there was a barbel in the swim. It did not take long......
My first barbel from this swim, so another spot added to my growing knowledge of this lovely river.
The worm was still attached to the hook so back into the river it went. A few minutes later a small silure took the worm, just over 5 lbs and it put up a good fight on my travel telescopic rod.
The day after this it rained .....a lot! The flow at the monitoring station had been around 370 cu metres a second (just about fishable!) shot up to 1700 (massive torrent!).
Today, three days later, it is down to 520. Sunshine again and I think there may be one place that may be out of the flow and not under flood water. So I think a short session this afternoon!
