Well that time of year had come again and it was time to get sorted for the annual France trip. As usual everything had been left to the last minute and between exams at college and general life chores not a lot was being accomplished on the ‘getting the gear ready’ front.  I awoke at 06.30 on the Friday knowing that the next time I would put my head on a pillow would be on Saturday night in France (note to self, be more organised and leave on the Friday so we wouldn’t be so tired at the start of the week).

After college, exams, picking Bob up and packing we were finally on our way at midnight on the Friday to pick Steve up from Southampton and then onto Dover for the ferry. We arrived at Dover around 06:40 Saturday morning and were told we could go on the earlier ferry which in hindsight would be a bit of a godsend when we turned the sat nav on in France.  After a calm crossing we departed Calais and turned the sat nav on, (this is where the earlier ferry comes in to play).  All along I had been telling the lads it was around 4½ hours to the lake so when the sat nav was turned on and it said 7+ hours to Etang De Brigueuil we were a bit confused and thought it must be the wrong address.Anyway after checking and double checking and then going on the internet to check again we discovered this was correct and I was slightly wrong with travelling times (oops sorry lads!!) lucky we caught that earlier ferry.  We arrived at the lake at 16:45 and by now we were starting to get a bit delirious with lack of sleep and were looking forward to getting our bivvies up and heads down.

After a very warm welcome from Andy and Tracey and the obligatory couple of stubbies we were transported to our swims by quad and trailer so the draw could be done to see who was going in what swim for the week. Steve won first choice and went in peg 8 (the swim we all wanted) Bob was out next and went in 6 and I went in 7.  We all set about getting the bivvies up and beds out as quick as possible so we could get in them and get some much needed sleep. The group decision was that one rod with a solid bag was going out and then bed.

I woke in the early hours of Sunday morning to the sound of hippos crashing out in the lake and this was enough for me to be up and get the kettle on.  I sat tying some rigs and getting baits balanced ready to go at first light.  Well first light came and we all reeled in to discover that all of the baits had been removed from the rigs. This was a bit of a surprise as we hadn’t been informed of any major problems with Crays.  Not to worry some new blow back rigs were tied and two drilled out tigers with a cork insert and an 8mm yellow slow sinking plastic dumbbell put on.

With this done I set about mapping the swim out with a marker rod and finding some likely spots for the week ahead. Luckily for me the swim opposite me was not being fished so even though I was pinned in either side I could go further across the lake. This actually turned out to be my saviour as the two spots I found at 111yrds and 104yrds at the back of the lilies which were in peg 11’s water turned out to be my banker spots. Well with the spots found and an hour or two of spombing to prime them I dispatched the rods to their marks (cough…. mighthave used Bob’s bait boat for that bit) and I was ready to sit down and enjoy the huge breakfast bap that had just been delivered to the swim by Andy and also enjoy the stunning scenery, lake and sunshine, it was nice to be back in France.

We discovered after a chat with Andy that it was more likely to be Poisson-Chat than Crays that were stripping our rigs. We sat enjoying the warmth of the sun on the Sunday and we were in good spirits and expecting fish at any moment. No fish came during the day and after another amazing dinner (a full roast with pudding) we re-did a couple of rods ready for the night ahead.  The first fish came on the Sunday evening and it was a cracking 27.08lb long common to Steve’s rods.

This was a great start to our first proper night of fishing and also proved that the fish would take the tigers fishing over the Contrast boilies.  The next rod to go just before midnight was my long range rod at the back of the lilies and after a strange fight a lovely clean looking 37.04lb mirror was in the back of the net.

What a great start to the week and more evidence that the Crays and Poisson-Chat were struggling to remove the tigers from our rigs. Nothing more came to anyone’s rods during the night but I had been getting loads of liners on my left hand long range rod. With this in mind and after the morning feeding spell was over I set to work looking for a closer in spot for one of my other rods to see if I could intercept what had been giving me the liners during the night. I found a lovely soft silt area at 48yrds and set about putting a bit of bait out with the throwing stick ready for the rod to go onto it that evening.

Monday turned out to be an “overcast with showers affair” sort of day.  We were more than happy with this as they hadn’t had any rain in the region for over 7 weeks now and we hoped this would bring them on the feed.  Whilst I had been finding my new area closer in and baiting up one of Steve’s rods had torn off again and after a prolonged battle a chunk of a common at 39.10lb was landed.  I took some photos of Steve’s fish and then returned to my swim to dispatch the yet again huge breakfast roll which had been delivered to the swim.  I was hopeful of a fish during Monday as the conditions were perfect but yet again nothing happened to anyone’s rods during the day.I was all set for the night ahead and after the cooler day the fish decided to put their acrobatic show on a bit earlier this evening which was nice as it was light enough to

see where they actually were. Most were up in the lilies to my right which was Steve’s swim but unlike other nights some were out in open water and around the lilies on the far side that I was fishing to. Encouraged by this I sat up into the night and at nearly the exact same time as my first fish just before midnight my long range rod was away again.  This was a much harder fight and I was hoping it was going to be one of the A team as it was going so well. As it turned out it was another mint 37.06lb mirror that had eaten 4 Weetabix for breakfast.

I was now  buzzing and wide awake so I topped up the swim with another kilo of Contrast with the throwing stick and got the rod back out to the spot as I was sure there were fish still in the area. 01:40 in the morning and I was still awake as the long range bobbin started to lift slowly towards the rod. It got to the rod and stopped, I waited a couple more seconds and nothing else had happened so I turned my head torch on and looked at my line which by now was kiting right at an alarming rate towards the big lily bed. I quickly lifted into it and had to put the brakes on to stop the fish reaching the sanctuary of the lilies. It just kept pulling and nearly flattened the rod out and as quick as that the rod sprang back and the line went limp. Gutted was not the word, how had it kited so far without any real indication on the alarm and how had it done it without taking any line from the spool? I know I was fishing tight spools but not that tight.  The hook had pulled due to the pressure that I had to put on it to stop the fish reaching the lilies. I tied a new rig and dispatched it back to the banker spot and sat trying to work out what had happened, oh and the Delkims were turned up to + 5 sensitivity.   Steve had managed another upper twenty during the night and poor old Bob was still waiting for any action, the fish just didn’t seem to want to move that far out into open water yet.

Tuesday passed without a lot to write about apart from Steve having the first day time run and landing a nice scaly 17lb stocky. I didn’t get a photo of that one as I was down having a shower and getting more Contrast from the on-site freezers.  On the Wednesday we decided to give ourselves and the swims a bit of a rest and reeled in and went to the local town for a few beers and a bit of lunch. We returned about 16:00 and set about getting our rods out.

That night when the daily show started the carp seemed to have moved out in greater numbers in front of me and further into open water so maybe the lines out during the day had given them more confidence to move down the lake, further away from the lilies. Once again I was confident and sat out near my rods gazing at the stars and playing our crazy game of ‘first to spot a satellite gets the first run’.  Nuts I know but we all did it, so basically we must all be nuts!!

Anyway at around 22:20, a little earlier than usual, my long range rod was off and straight away I knew it was a smaller fish. It fought well and went on darting runs all the way in but eventually it was in the folds of the net and hoisted onto the tripod to be weighed in at 27.10lb.  It was quickly returned to the water.

I quickly checked the rig and everything was fine so on went some fresh bait and out it went to the spot. For me to put a rig out after a fish has been caught on it is very unusual but everything seemed fine and I wanted the rod back out as quickly as possible as I sensed that there were more fish to be had from the spot. At 01:20 the same rod was away again and from the moment I lifted into it I knew it was a different league to anything else I had hooked to date. I played it for around 20mins and it was wallowing in the margin to my left so I put my torch on to have a look at what it was doing and to see if I could figure out how big it was. A huge frame of a mirror was illuminated and my knees went a bit weak.

At this point I started shouting for Bob to come and help as I had a net between my legs, a mahoosive fish on the other end of my rod and shallow water in front of me.  Basically everything you wouldn’t want at night on your own when your mind has now gone into major melt down.  No reply came from Bob so I had to try and jiggle thenet myself and get it out into deeper water and at this point the fish woke up again and tore off round to the left picking up my right hand line which was on a tight drag….  short story the hooked pulled…..  Once again a broken man stood in disbelief and all the “what ifs” crept in; including the “what if I had put a new rig on after the last fish”.

This time a new rig was tied and after a little cry and a cup of coffee,oh and a go and wake Bob up and tell him how much I loved him at that exact moment lol, the rig was put back on the spot in hope of more action.

For the first time that week I received a run on the banker rod at first light which I really wanted to land somy confidence could be replenished and so I could get some day time shots. It was a lovely 32.14lb mirror and Bob managed some cracking shots so he redeemed himself a little (just a little though!!).

After the success of leaving the rods out during the day and resting the swim I decided to do it again on the Thursday afternoon. I also decided to move my middle rod which was fishing 20 yrds to the left of my banker rod further away and on the other end of the lilies.  That evening the rods went back out to the banker spot, the new spot on the other end of the lilies and the rod I had stuck with on the close in spot.  At around 22:30 that evening the middle rod which I had moved to the other end of the lilies was away for the first time and again this felt a different league to the others, Bob was still in my swim so I needn’t worry about having to try and wake him (cough).  It fought well but eventually Bob bundled it into the net.

A quick look and an upper thirty was determined. Whilst sorting its fins out ready for the lift to the mat it soon became a low forty and on the lift it miraculously became a definite mid forty, up on the tripod a weight of 46.02lb was agreed on.  I was now on cloud nine and ready for the rest of the night ahead but strangely no more action came.

I rested my swim on the Friday (apart from one rod that I had put a zig on and cast to the edge of the lilies) and sat and enjoyed the last full day in the nice warm sun. That evening the fish really seemed to wake up and for the first time all week there were fish fizzing all over the place. This obviously put us all in a confident mood for the last night ahead and the fish didn’t disappoint.  In fact we all had runs; two each to be exact and we all lost them due to hook pulls.  What had changed? Why had we lost them all? We will never know… maybe they had changed the way that they were feeding. The biggest gutter in all of this was that Bob had lost his only two chances of the week and there wasn’t a lot he could have done about it.

Overallit was a fantastic week and we were looked after extremely well by Andy and Tracey, so much so that we are going back for round two April next year. I will sign off with a big thank you to Andy and Tracey and also to Bob and Steve who made it a very enjoyable week.

I will leave you with the image of a bonding moment between Steve and Bob.

Until next time tight lines and remember, enjoy it all along the way.

Cheers Arron Fisher.