Bon Noel

Good evening fellow bloggids.

First and foremost we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Myself and Monsieur Jones spent most of the afternoon and evening drinking, eating, more drinking, more eating, and worrying about all the people back in Blighty having to fight their way through the much reported snow drifts and suchlike just to get to a bit of turkey. There were no such obstacles here as the cold snap that was documented in the last post has now subsided with xmas day itself being a day of lovely sunshine with temperatures around 15 c. Its been a similar story since so its all quite comfortable in that respect at the moment.

This is the biggest piece of turkey we could fit in a Coleman oven so in that respect its a fcuk-in big bird.

Not quite on xmas day but at 3 am on the 26th, the largest carp of the session so far picked up the wrong bait and had a visit to the bank.

At 51lb 4oz its a big fish.

I lost a fish the day after from the same spot - it chaffed the hooklink on a snag and Paul had this 17lb fish on the first night in his new swim in the bay so there are a few fish around the general area. We've both done well to get some action as we're not aware of much else coming out of the lake at the moment.

Unfortunately I can't fish at the moment because a reoccurring problem that is known in medical circles as Dodgyious Bastardious Backious and its likely that your average 93 year old could get out of bed and get their shoes on quicker than I could at the moment although I'm hoping to fish the days from tomorrow if things keep improving. Very frustrating when kippers are about I tell thee.

The lake is full to the brim with anglers for the xmas period and its musical swim time. I used to hate that game as a kid and its not much better watching it at Cassien. Two chaps fishing opposite to where we are had moved out this morning at 10 am and by 10-15 am there were three other anglers moved in, its crazy really but with probably one hundred carpers here it'll be the same for the next week or so but should then return to some sort of normality.

Levels

The levels at this place are up and down like a fiddler's elbow. After the lake rising quickly because of two days of heavy rain before xmas, forcing Paul into moving swims, the lake has now dropped 3 feet in a very short space of time although there is more rain forecast later this week so hopefully it won't be going down much further. Its hard to tell what will happen next here because if the turbines for the hydro electric dam are put into use then the water can go down a few feet in one night.

See you soon

Its Gone Cold.

Good evening fellow bloggites.

As you can see, I've got the snood on, and as the reason being isn't that I'm trying to hide from the wild boar that are in my swim every night, it would be a fair statement to say its gone cold, both in the climatic sense of the word and metaphorically speaking. Most nights are into minus figures down to -6, the daytime temperature has dropped 3 or 4 degrees, as has the water temperature and the fish are doing their level best to make us out to be fools. This may be the case of course, because our seemingly well thought out plan of sitting it out for a big 'un in what is historically a known big fish area is not paying any dividends as yet, although one big fish will obviously put a different complexion on matters and I suppose the eleven nights that we've spent in the area isn't a vast amount of time but things are very quiet. Marcus Lamprecht has been down in the next swim along for a few nights and not had any joy so he's gone to fish the west arm and even Steve Briggs is struggling up at the other end of the south arm, and between them they've got forty or more years experience of fishing here so it shows how tricky it is at the moment. We shall spend another few days here though before making a decision on things because the busy period will be on us soon and if we are moving then it will be before Christmas.

As far as captures around the lake go there are a few small fish coming out of the north and west arms although we haven't heard of anything decent for a while, but as always this doesn't mean that there hasn't been, but its a fair assumption. All in all, apart from the Poison Dwarf snapping a rod, my boat getting a puncture and the half broken oarlock finally breaking its been

an uneventful week.

Levels

The great lake has continued to reclaim its banks and at the moment is only a few feet off being at full capacity, and although the forecast rains never materialised right above us we could see them to the north and these have added to the amount of water coming in here this last few days.

See you soon

Heading South...

Good evening fellow bloggingtons

After spending another few days on what became an island, and no more fish, we've headed a little further south and I'm now fishing La Banane and Paul is on La Pointe au Steph. The swim sketch gives you an idea of whats in front of us, not as deep and all in all its a lot less snaggy than the last area.

Vinnie says carping is boring..

The weather has been settled and sunny, around 15 c most days this week and with the odd bit of decent wind, until last night when we had blizzards to the north and a storm to the west but not much of interest happened right here, although there is some rain forecast in the next few days and we've had a few showers today. The levels on the lake are still rising at a rate of around four inches a day and although we haven't had a period where the level comes up quickly for almost two weeks, we feel that we should now be better placed to take advantage when this sort of situation comes again. It also seems like a good area to stay for a while which may be needed with the predictions of the busy Christmas period when there will be mayhem in some parts of the lake I suppose - our new found German friend Floris caught a 52lb common in the North arm yesterday then four Italian chaps kindly asked him to move on and fish elsewhere. Floris has worked his socks off since arriving ten days ago, fishing five different swims all over the lake and he's had six fish with the 50 common being the biggest and obviously a very big fish, and maybe the Italians will catch a 60, but its a sorry state of affairs and by all accounts, not irregular down at Cassien.

From the reports we've heard the fish that are being caught in the very busy north arm are mainly small with the exception of the 50 common, and the west arm has produced a high 40 and a few small fish. In the south arm the biggest fish we know of this week was caught by Dave the Englishman at 37lb and its got busier as there has been a few anglers moved into the arm in the last few days so in total there are now probably ten or twelve here.

Well thats the state of play at the moment, quiet on the carp front although hopefully that will change with our new surroundings and for now, the expectation is enough.

See you soon

Opened th'account

Good evening fellow blooggenfiles.

Whilst nursing a heavy head brought on by Floris the German and his bottle of Scotch, I've at last opened my account with this pretty but slightly lightweight common. Still a Cassien carp but after what is now two weeks fishing, a 20lb common doesn't elevate the session into the successful category but its nice to get off the mark.

The weather since the last post has been a mixture of frosty nights, sunny days, and some that have been constant rain which has helped out the water levels and the lake has risen another four feet in the last five days so that can only be a good situation. The lake has not been prolific but there have been a few small fish plus a 37lb mirror out of the north arm and its been similar in the west arm but a 53lb fish has been landed a couple of days ago. There are four anglers at the end of the south arm and they've had a few fish out with the biggest being a 37lb common out of the shallows yesterday afternoon. All in all, the fish are slowly getting on the feed but sadly they aren't in front of us in any great numbers so at the moment we've been spending a bit of time rowing around various parts of the south arm with the echo sounder so that we can make a better judgement on where to move to in a few days if things don't pick up here.

Seen as things are a little slow on the carp side of things, if there is any of you that fancy a spot of French public water fishing and want to know a bit of the language, then over the session we'll guide you through a selection of fishing related and other useful Frenchy bits and bobs. I've done my best to give you a pronunciation on the right of each word - just imagine them with a French accent and you won't be far off.

Carpers French Lesson 1 - Tackle

rod - canne/canne a peche - can

reel - moulinet - moolinay

line - fille/ligne - fee/leen

bobbin/hanger - bobine - bobeen

rig - montage/badling

lead - plomb - plom

hook - hamecon - hamson

alarm - detecteur

pod - rodpod

net - puisette - pweezet

scales - balance - balonse

unhooking mat - tapis de reception - tapee de raysepshon

bivvy - biwwy - bewee

bedchair - bedchair

chair - chaise - shez

sleeping bag - duvet/sac

throwing stick - stick

boat - bateaux - bat-oh

echo sounder - sonder

battery - battery

Thats lesson one done and dusted with twenty items of tackle - simples, as that annoying little bas**rd meerkat says.

See you soon