Fish, ferries, falls and fun with Bob, Woody and Terry by
Terry Seymour, April 2003.
I couldn't believe that the end of March had arrived and we were on the ferry bound for Le Havre. Our team of 4 intrepid anglers was down to 3, Andy Underpants had to drop out at the last minute. I know he was gutted, but what can I say, some time life conspires to deal you a bum hand! What a fantastic crossing - the channel was like a mill pond and I was ready to get my head down for the night. Woody and Bob decided spend all night on the old Nelson Mandela as my snoring was shaking the cabin down, strange thing is I didn't hear a thing!
| We docked in France at around 06.30. Bob and Woody had a serious wobble on so I took the wheel and we were at the lake by 10.30, in what was probably our easiest run in France since we started. We parked up beside the mobile home and had a good look around both lakes. Although the lure of HUGE cats was appealing the water was still bloody cold and we didn't fancy our chances on the back lake. We decided to stick with the carp lake which has depths varying from 0.5 to 1.5 Metres and the water felt noticeably warmer. As we walked around the wind was pushing up the lake from the mobile home end, the fish were grouped up in the shallows following the wind in the top right hand corner of the lake. |
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Bob, being "eagle eye Bob", spotted the fish first and laid claim to this swim. Woody decided to fish the top left hand corner, I fished the straights, giving me access to the margins left and right of me, the margins at the mobile home end of the lake and a lovely shallow area in the bottom right hand corner opposite.
So out with the beer and the beer, oops sorry I meant gear, and set up home for the next 3 nights. I plumbed around my right hand margin which turned out to be the deepest point on the lake and found a wicked spot about 4 Metres out from the bank. So as quick as you like I got a pop-up on it, dropped the rod onto the awaiting Delkims and proceeded with the marker float to find the next hot spot. 20 minutes later and an alarm was screaming at me. Thinking that I had kicked the rod I ignored it for a couple of seconds but then heard the bait runner zip into overdrive and leaned into my first fish of the week. A few minutes later and I had a 20 lb common in the net ... I hadn't even had time to unpack the camera so slid the beauty back into the water, got my other rods positioned and started to get some pellets out in the spod.
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Bob was in next around an hour later. I didn't hear his alarm just a shout of "AVIT" and him leaning into what turned out to be our last fish the day. What a start ... another rare beauty at around the 20lb mark, but this time it was a mirror. The weather was spot on and as the sun set we got stuck into what we now call "Andy Underpants Bolognese".
It was a pretty quiet night apart from the Muskrats mooching about the lake, but I think Bob and Woody were pleased to catch up on a few hours sleep, although I have to say they were doing pretty good impressions of a fly catcher in the car on the journey down! The wind had completely changed directions during the night and was now pushing straight up towards the mobile home, the sun came up and as it dried our bivvies Woody and I decided to heave a bit of bait in the margins between us and put a rod at each end. Bob was also stirring and got his spod on the go! |
11.30am and I was in again ... an absolute belter from the shallow spot opposite and a 17 lb Mirror graced the net. After that we had no action until late in the afternoon when again my rod from the shallow spot was away and another mirror of around 22 lb battled into the awaiting net.
Woody and I were getting stuck into the Kronenbourg and soaking up the sun when I noticed Bob up the willows on the opposite bank... "no wonder your getting takes" he said "it looks like the fish have followed the wind and got up into your area" Well I wasn't complaining and with this new information got another bait out into the shallows.
Evening came and we got together for dinner wine and a review of the trip so far. To be honest we put the world to rights - in one evening 3 wise old men sat under a starry sky and solved the third world poverty problems, the war in Iraq and why your line always used to get trapped under the spool on Mitchell 300s when you had a fish on ... you know the sort of stuff?
Off to bed and at 02.30 I was in again. This time I had a pretty dogged fight on my hands and knew that there was a good fish on the other end. I piped up "AVIT" and Bob came around to slip the net under a 32 lb mirror!! I was grinning like a Cheshire cat as I slipped it back into the water. Well that called for a beer, the first thirty of the trip and a beauty to boot. Dawn was just breaking when Woody sprang into life and leaned into his first fish. He was well pleased with the result as the scales went past 32 lb to register our last 30 plus of the trip.
Morning arrived - Woody and I had nothing from our margin trap which was surprising as the fish had been crashing about there during the night, so we put a bit more bait in and waited. As soon as the sun was high enough Bob was back up the tree, he looked more at home shinning up that tree than he did on the ground, I reckon he must have a bit of monkey blood in those veins! Anyway, good news indeed ... the fish were still in the shallows, so Bob and I decided that a bit of stalking was the order of the day.
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We got around onto the high bank with a couple of rods and chanced our arm with some sweet corn fished into the clouds of mud that were coming up from the feeding fish. Not a sausage until my alarm sounded again and I attempted to run along the bank with shoes and no laces! 10 seconds later and I was rolling around on the floor like a beached whale to jeers of laughter from both Bob and Woody. Not put off by the banter I was up and at it leaning into another fish from the shallows. Snail shell and massalla boilies from M&B baits were definitely the order of the day. Woody slipped the net under another 20 plus common and Bob appeared with a shoe that had lost it's owner! |
We were just unhooking the Common and another alarm sounded, Woody was in! He legged it up the bank to pull a strange looking mirror over the lip of the net, I can't remember the weight but it looked more like a Sun fish than a carp. Bob was just getting ready for a bit of shut eye when his alarm sprang into life and yet another scaled beast succumbed and slipped into the net ... nice one Bob ... a 21 lb mirror.
| Our last afternoon moved on, we all had a few more fish to knock up on the score board and many a beer was sunk in celebration. Evening drew in and we cracked open a few bottles of red wine and sat down to sort out dinner. For sure we had too much of the old vino and started to prepare what would in the end become an inedible mess. We planned to have burgers and rice but ended up with something resembling the bottom of a pig sty! I can't remember all of the details but for sure there was Bombay bad boy, Ravioli, green beans and tomato sauce in there, it was BAD. We polished off the red wine and as is the way with these things moved onto the last of our beer, finished that and wobbled off to bed. |
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A quiet night followed not so much as a bleep, but I have to say it was cold ...there was even a ground frost. The next morning came and we started to contemplate our departure from what had been a very rewarding few days. Woody came down and showed me what we had cooked the night before - it was disgusting and having seen it in day light I can't believe that we tried to eat it! Unsurprisingly Woody told me that there was only one empty plate and that was Bob's ... now here's a man that will eat anything. I remember having a bet with him once that he wouldn't eat a bunch of roses, needless to say I lost the bet!
We packed up, showered and said our goodbyes to a very pretty and rewarding lake and headed off for Le Havre with what we believed to be an hour in hand. As we approached the port I saw a clock on one of the signs over the road and it was an hour different to mine!!! I had altered my watch for the UK time change but didn't realise that the French altered theirs as well, so we arrived only to find the gates to the port locked and the ferry gone! The next ferry was not until 23.30 and I had to be in work for 07.30 the next morning. Undeterred I phoned Bridget and all was arranged for our departure from Calais - only a 170 km drive but we managed it in around 2.5 hours!?
Straight on the boat and up to the bar. Nelson Mandela was calling - I could hear it saying "drink me drink me .. I'm in the fridge ... don't leave me here, it's all dark and lonely" as I sipped the 1st pint. I thought how it greets the palette like an old friend!
A few aid memoir's for prospective anglers.
1) The fish are relatively new to boilies having been exposed mainly to particles in the past - if you persevere they will get on them.
2) No snags to worry about so you could scale your tackle down a little for some real fun.
3) Watch out for the Muskrats - they like crossing your line in the dark so use back leads or be prepared for a few false runs.
4) Don't go to France when the clocks change!
Terry Seymour
terry.seymour@rodenstock.co.uk
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