My annual autumn France trip quickly approached this year after having it booked for nearly 18 months. The venue was Eau de Vie North lake which is situated in North-West France. The lake is 3.5 acres in size and is only booked out as a lake exclusive for up to 4 people. It is a fairly heavily stocked venue for the size of the water but as with most small waters they can still be tricky on their day. We planned to go with only 2 people to give us more room and choice of swims to stand a better chance of getting on fish especially with the distance we were travelling to get there we didn’t want anyone to be sat behind motionless rods. The journey was nearly 680 miles and 13 hours long including the Eurotunnel crossing, having over a 5-hour journey from Yorkshire to the tunnel, and then a further 6 hours on France side to the lake.
On arrival we were faced with far from ideal conditions with temperatures touching 30 degrees, bright sunshine, high pressure and not a cloud in the sky. Far from what we expect for autumn fishing in early October. Not wanting to rush into the so-called going swims, a lap of the lake was done. We were told the previous week had 3 anglers on and 19 fish were caught between them. Once we had done a couple of laps, I found several fish feeding in shallow water, so decided to try and nick a few quick bites instead of committing large beds of bait to an area. My usual approach of 12mm pop ups fishing over small beds of crumbed Trigga boilies, Trigga 4mm pellet, and the lake’s own particle heavily glugged in Trigga liquid booster was the starting point. All three rods were placed in shallow water where I’d seen fish feeding. After getting a couple of quick bites from smaller stockies, it went very quiet. After closer inspection I noticed to my surprise the fish were spooking off my pop ups in the shallow water as they fed heavily on the deck and a change in tactic was required.
After seeing this happen at least 5 different occasions, a change was needed and quick, if I hadn’t been able to observe the feeding fish at close quarters, I would have never guessed they would spook on the blatant approach of 12mm pop ups, especially considering this is how I fish 95% of the time and it has always been so successful for me. So, the switch was made on all the rods over to snowmen rigs, using Trigga hard hookers topped with 12mm pop ups, so that my hook baits sat hard on the deck along with my free offerings. This did the trick from the off. By Tuesday, the temperatures finally started to cool off, still warm for October at low 20 degrees but far more bearable than 30 degrees. Cloud cover started rolling in and the pressure dropped giving far more favourable fishing conditions. With steady baiting the action then started coming thick and fast along with getting through to the better fish the lake holds including a couple of heavily scaled mirrors between 39-41lb
With a couple of days left of the trip, it was noticeable the bites had slowed up once again but noticing fish still visiting my spots. Closer inspection was again needed and after watching them in the shallow water I noticed a couple of fish spook off the pink pop ups topping my snowmen hook baits. So, a second change was in order and switching once again. After giving it some thought a change over to a slip D rig with a heavily glugged Trigga corkie wafter was my chosen approach this time.
This again proved a fruitful change as the bites quickly came, with another 40lb mirror on the last morning ending my week session with 40 fish from 41 bites. Baiting little and often with the Trigga solubles throughout the week kept the bites coming.
Being lucky enough to observe the feeding fish at close quarters and how they spooked off different rigs, and also how the feeding habits changed during the week was definitely an eye opener. Without making the effort to check would I have had action eventually or would the week have been a slow week and the long drive home been put down to the weather being the reason for little action. It has now made me more aware that when fishing deeper water and not being able to observe the fish feeding on my spots, how often we have fish feeding on our baits and the wrong rig or hook bait choice for the occasion.
Perhaps the next time I have fish showing on my spots and the conditions look perfect yet no action it could simply be rig choice ?
Tight Lines
Rob Gainer
