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

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