First arrive...
When I arrived at “Lac du Diable” almost 2 weeks ago and met up with my buddy Aurelien and his buddy Guilhem, I didn’t really feel like fishing. The weather didn't seem lucrative to me and the high temperatures attracted many people to the water. It was still almost 30 degrees and there was hardly a breeze. My motivation to fixate myself in one place under these conditions was limited. I explored the surrounding area again, found nice new places and stayed there for a while without fishing. Four days after Aurelien and Guilhem moved into a place, I joined them with my sack and pack. They had just had a visit from friends who were sleeping at the lake for three days, so there was a lot of action going on at the place.
In the company of French people
I spread my rods around the large open water area we were in, but didn't have the best feeling about choosing a spot. The large body of water, high depths, few shallow water areas with weeds and the summer weather were not the best indicators of catch for me. In this case, however, the social part was clearly in the foreground. We spent the evening in the French style: we grilled until late into the night, drank rosé, had nice conversations and played board games. A conviviality that I was only used to in Germany at family celebrations. Unfortunately, it was incredibly difficult for me to keep up with the language in a group of French people because the pace and topics were too high for my basic French.
Things could be going better...
During the time the three of us were fishing, not much happened in terms of fishing. Aurelien and Guilhem caught 3 fish together in about 1.5 weeks, nothing happened to me. This wasn't the lake as I knew it and so I became increasingly jittery and dissatisfied. I wanted to change location to sit out the predicted change in weather with wind, rain and lower temperatures somewhere else. After a week of fishing together in the French circle, I looked for a new place on the lake alone. I took into account the wind, which was predicted to be over 70 km/h, and looked for a place where I could pitch my tent out of the wind. I didn't want to hit the wind head-on because I knew from the past that fishing would no longer be possible and, depending on the extent, all the material could be dismantled. Especially with a folding boat you are completely ineffective anyway.
Change of place
When I moved into my chosen spot in the early evening, I kept hearing fish jumping in my area. A good sign, as I could hardly locate any jumping carp at our old spot. I prepared the rods in the dark and listened to the still prevailing silence. I rowed carefully over the shallow weed areas to find weed-free spots and possibly see fish feeding. Unfortunately I didn't see any fish, but the rods were quickly spread out at different depths. This time I fished much shallower and hoped to get some fish. On the first night my rod ran off a small edge about 5 meters deep. It was an extremely slim, long Schuppi - the typical “Salagouschuppi”. “It was about time”… I thought. After this action there was peace and quiet and the next day was sunny and calm - the calm before the storm.
Storm
The wind became strong on the third night as predicted. I set the rods to casting distances shortly beforehand so that I could still fish and feed fairly effectively. None of that helped, the wind threw spray over the water with every gust that came up. Fishing was no longer an option. I was busy securing the tent, which was always on the verge of taking off due to the gusts because the pegs didn't hold in the sand. The cords were caught by the driving weed so that the assemblies were somewhere but no longer at the actual spots. The markers were moved bit by bit by the waves and gradually drifted past my place, hoping that I could collect them again somewhere on the shore. The Teufelssee once again showed its true face! I kept trying to throw the rods to the previously marked places and, thanks to the tailwind, fed a few particles over a large area.
It was frustrating because I was sure that the weather would make the fish much more active, but the rods just weren't laying clean. So I planned to pack up the next day. On this last evening, like the evening before, I sat for dinner with my German neighbor René and his girlfriend. My radio box was almost annoying because it constantly made individual tones from the wind until they suddenly turned into a continuous tone. After a sprint to my spot, I found myself completely out of breath in the raging wind, with my tail bent. After applying heavy pressure, I pumped the fish out of the weeds and a nice scale landed in my landing net shortly afterwards. I was happy and almost didn't believe I could run in these conditions anymore. Another Schuppi and a catfish followed during the night on this only active rod, which was not blown away by the wind due to its somewhat sheltered position. The next afternoon I took advantage of a brief lull in the wind to take the boat to the car.
Peter doesn't mean well
My current tour has been very mixed so far. It seemed like I had lost a bit of my intuition and the right feeling for getting fish. In the near future I will probably reduce my fishing and travel around in the van more. Let’s see where it takes me…;)
During the two weeks at the lake, as in the past, I made wonderful new acquaintances and had an unforgettable time. This place is always magical for me and I hope it retains this magic for a long time. We anglers can do our part by acting respectfully towards the fish and nature and keeping them clean! This should always be a top priority, unfortunately many people, whether anglers or non-anglers, still lack a healthy awareness of our environment.
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