A magical place
There was hardly a better place for me to wait for parts to repair the car. Fortunately, the damage occurred shortly before the intended destination in southern France, the magical lake in the red country. Since I was still able to drive with my leaky exhaust manifold, I looked for a place at “Teufelssee” to wait for a friend who was supposed to bring me the parts from Germany. After my arrival I didn't get into the fishing flow straight away, so I spent a few days in different places on the lake, together with other "vanlifers" I met there. Admittedly, it's not difficult for me to give up fishing in such situations. I like to stay “mobile” and be able to move. Carp fishing tends to limit me a bit in phases when I'm feeling more adventurous. Be it just taking long walks with the dog, going on hikes or just changing places quickly to meet new people.
Finally fishing!
Since the lake was already heavily frequented by carp anglers at that time, I looked for a spot from which I could watch the action from a distance. A spot far above the lake with a breathtaking view.
When the hustle and bustle at the lake died down after a busy weekend, I finally found a free spot from which I could fish from the car. Certainly not a hot spot, but I still wanted to give it a chance. I fished weed fields at short distances and medium depths. Absolutely nothing happened for three days so I decided to change jobs for the last night. At the new location the average depth was significantly lower and the weeds were literally overgrown. I fished in front of the feet at a distance of 10-30 meters. Based on the feeding holes I found in the soft ground, I was pretty sure my chances were good. In the evening my assumption was confirmed and I was given a procedure that ended with a “weed recovery”. The fish fled into a thick carpet of weeds. It took several minutes of weeding the line before I was able to simply rake off the weeds and the carp. A beautiful mirror that I photographed in the light of the full moon.
The repair at the lake
The next day I met Janette, who had my spare parts on board. Now the focus was on repairing my car. We looked for a quiet corner by the lake where I carried out the repairs. To my surprise, I was able to replace the exhaust manifold on site without any complications using the resources I had available. So the journey could continue. But somehow I didn't want to leave the place yet. It didn’t feel like the right time to continue traveling. According to the weather report, the weather should get worse in the following days. What for me meant that there would be fewer anglers on the lake and therefore the chance of finding an easily accessible spot would be increased. That's exactly how it was, with the newly repaired car we walked around the lake until we found a suitable spot from which I could fish.
Extreme conditions = fishing weather
Again I looked for a place with the possibility of very shallow fishing. Luckily the predicted rain didn't start until after I set my rods. The first morning I was able to land a small, slender scaly that had bitten again in a weed hole. This action was followed by two days of constant rain and a terrible storm. – Really bad weather – but at the same time also ideal conditions on this lake for catching fish. Fishing wasn't necessarily easy under these conditions, but I adapted my approach to the circumstances: I chose bait that definitely lasted a long time on the hair and was resistant to cancer and whitefish attacks. I also fished at short distances so that a fight from the bank was possible. And sure enough, in the following days I was able to catch three fish during the most violent weather. The storm made boat drilling impossible. Even taking photos became a challenge and was only possible in the slipstream of my car. But it was during these extremes that I felt extremely alive. The weather shows you its true power and brings you back down to earth. This grounds you and shows you that you are not the center of the universe. That life is not just about the self-created, small, often self-centered self.
After the weather calmed down, fish activity stopped.
A good moment to continue the journey…
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