Good evening fellow bloggtops

After moving out of the south last Sunday, we are now fishing the north arm and pleased to report the traffic noise is now a distant memory and almost as much of a distant sound. C'est bon. I've pitched up on La Pointe A Olle while Paul is in La Baie Des Tanches and the almost obligatory swim sketch is below so you can see the generalities of what is in front of us. In short, its close range stuff, virtually off the rods tips in some cases, the depths are dictating that but there are some margins across the bays to be fished also.

There are half a dozen other anglers up this end of the arm, plus a good few more down at the bridge who all seem to be fishing together and the barrage swim itself has been rotated this morning, a few pack up and a few more arrive and its all done with military precision so nobody else gets the swim and its clear now that probably 80% or more of the fish that have reportedly been caught from the north arm recently have come from the barrage area and there's more chance of seeing me and Paul on this weeks 'strictly come dancing' than there is of getting on that swim. Having said all that, obviously not the whole carp stock of the lake are in there and if the fish that are there decide to come out to play then we've a chance, but fish moving about at Cassien is something we've not seen, nor have we seen anything to makes us think that they're moving at all and amazingly, in nine weeks of fishing, we haven't seen a carp clear the water - not a head, shoulder, tail, or dorsal, nothing, and after our first week in this arm, it doesn't seem any different up here but time will tell. With the lake nowhere near as busy now, at least if we do see something there is more chance of being able to move into an area close by.

Whilst on the subject of moving, for those readers that are planning a trip here or maybe thinking of doing a long session somewhere similar we'll take you through a few points of the logistical variety. If fishing close to your vehicle is a priority, then apart from one or two swims at Cassien (and some other big lakes) that are generally stitched up anyway, then, your struggling. At the moment we're probably more than 2 miles rowing from the vans so a trip to the supermarket isn't a quick one and will take up most of your day, and while we were fishing at the bottom of the south arm it was about 1.5 miles which could be rowed or walked, either way it was a 30 mins each way journey - we took the walking option to save battery power. All this is easier when your fishing with a mate because there is no worry in leaving your tackle for the time it takes to get done what needs to be done. If you're moving swims on a long session its generally a two boat or a two trip affair and if its more than 500 yards or so, then obviously the two boat option is the best and similar to a trip to the shops, moving swims on a big lake can take you all day when you take into consideration the packing up and setting up time. I pack up all the tackle and load the boat in about an hour and a half where as Paul takes an hour longer, partly I think due to his age, and partly due to the amount of gear he carries around. Mind you, when you're 110 years old you've had time enough to get a fair collection of tackle together. Joking aside, Paul has the generator, solar panel - which we both use, … generator, solar panel, erm…. generator, solar panel, erm…….

The weather this week hasn't been the best carping weather with the high pressure but might help us out in the long run because it has been warm during the days, a few of which have been 16c and most have been sunny and the clear nights have been getting down to -2c but nothing too bad, with the cloudy nights being 5 or 6 degrees warmer, all resulting in the water temperature not going down any, which can't be a bad thing and if these sort of day temperatures keep coming then the water temperature will start to creep up which is probably our main hope of getting a few more fish moving about. There has been no rain so the levels are pretty much staying put , just going down a little each day as the hydro-electric dam does its stuff.

See you soon

Its A Grueller

Good evening fellow bloggerts.

As the title of this post says, the session has now been put into the grueller category. When the number of weeks you've been fishing is greater than the total number of fish landed, its a grueller, and seen as we've landed only six carp in eight weeks it is certainly in that category. Apart from the fish count, its still enjoyable and its more than exciting knowing that there are some very big fish to be had out of this famous old lake. Its not through want of trying that we haven't had more fish, all sorts of variations in presentation, areas, depths, baits and so on have all been given a go in some favourable and not so favourable conditions and because of the length of the session, things have been tried for a few days and not a few hours but the bottom line is that there haven't been loads of fish in the south arm.

Since the last post, Paul moved up to the top of the south arm and I moved opposite him a few days later to again what looks like a very good area, and I'm sure at times it is but all its produced is a 14lb common for Jonesy and a slimey slab for myself. The north arm has eventually got slightly less manic than it normally is so the plan is to move in there tomorrow and try to get the old averages up. From what we've heard its producing a fish per day, which isn't a lot between all the anglers in there but we are sure that there are more fish up there than in the south.

The south arm itself is virtually devoid of carpers apart from myself and the Poisoned One so its been a peaceful period in that respect but both of us will be glad to see the back of the south arm road which, if you're fishing on that side of the arm, can be like some sort of interrogation technique, from 5am up to midnight its constant traffic and something we weren't expecting before arriving at Cassien. As you can see from the photo of the swim, and those of you that have been here will know, the lake is set in wonderful surroundings but some things here can be testing and eight weeks of that south arm road is certainly that. Saying that, we'll probably end up next to the bridge or one of the swims near to the road in the west arm, you really need to be half way up the north arm to escape it completely.

The weather has been changing all the time recently, we've had snow, sun, rain, lots of rain, cold days and not so cold nights, so we've had the lot in the last ten days or so although the levels in the lake aren't changing that much from day to day and if anything the water temperature has risen ever so slightly.

See you soon

Bon Fete

Good evening and happy new year fellow bloggniks.

Its been a carpless week but Mr Jones had a bream and as much as I keep telling him they don't count, I'm sure I saw him logging it in his big fish book but he won't admit it.

The south arm is comparatively empty when compared to a few days ago with a lot of anglers packing up after their xmas hols and the west arm is much the same. The north arm is as usual full of carpers. Another reason for the west arm being quieter is the lake has risen another few feet after some more rain and snow melting in the hills to the north, so some of the swims between Kevin Ellis and Les Plages are un-fishable at the

moment. With the rising levels come the snags and apart from your standard natural stuff, here at Cassien you get surf boards, pedals, boats, pallets, fridge doors, oil drums, all sorts of stuff. If any of you are planning a trip here, don't bother bringing a second boat, just row around for half an hour and take your pick. They may need a bit of duck tape here and there but for moving swims they're good as gold. Apart from mine being Man City blue its done me proud.

Young Jones is having a move today, probably to somewhere further up towards the top of the south arm in search of fish, although its taking him an age to pack up because he's sprouted another thumb on his right hand. We've thought long and hard and the most plausible explanation is that we've been drinking lake water for four or five weeks so if you're planning on visiting Cassien, then it might be something to take into consideration because it has cost a small fortune to get all his gloves customised.

After not fishing for four nights I started again on new years eve but all things considered I'm staying put at La Banane for a bit more r + r and I'll see how things pan out in the next few days. Mind you, I'm fairing better than Vinnie, poor sod has lost his eyes.

Reports of other fish coming out have been hit and miss with so many anglers on the lake this last few weeks but there has been a few 40's out of the north arm and we've been told that Briggsy had a few before he left up 50lb and two French fellas had a 30 each from further up the south arm.

After a request from MadMickeyOneLeg, whose moving to France this year, we've got some more homework for you all. Again, can't guarantee all the spellings are 100% but you've got the pronunciations to the right.

Carpers French Lesson 2 - Bait

Boilie - Bouillette - boo-yet

Pop-Up - Flotant - flotont

Pellet - Pellet - pellay

Hemp - Cheneve - shen-vee

Maize - Maize - mice

Tiger Nuts - Tiger Nuit - tee-gair nwee

Lupin - Lupin - loo-pan

Wheat - Ble - blay

Bait - Appats

Bait up - Amorce - amorsay

See you soon