Location in the jungle
Another quick coffee on the side of the road, where I had been fishing directly from the lake last night from the car, and then we went on to a body of water that was at the top of my spring list this year. At this lake I wanted to be more mobile and far away from the van (there was no “car stop” anyway), so I first stocked up on groceries at the nearby Aldi. But just as important as the active fishing, in which I wanted to look for the carp and catch them directly, it was also important to me to immerse myself deeply in nature - to become one with it.
I reached my destination around lunchtime and took plenty of time for the location. On this day, the beautiful weather played into my favor and I set off on a little exploration tour with my bike, binoculars and polarized glasses. I climbed trees to find fish somewhere in this jungle of flooded trees, bushes and bushes. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful - the fish could simply be anywhere and I became increasingly unsure about my choice of job.
I like to find carp first and then adapt my fishing to the situation. So I always try to go to the fish and don't want to wait until the fish eventually find their way to my food. This has the great advantage that I usually get action very quickly, and I also don't use a huge amount of food because I only have to put my bait in front of the fish's noses. That's easy to say, but unfortunately in practice it often looks a little different. This was also the case on this body of water, where in the following 13 days I was only able to get a piece of fish weighing around 2kg in front of my polar glasses, despite a busy location and fish search.
Stranded on an island
So when I spent half the day jumping over trees like a monkey and couldn't find any carp apart from a few whitefish, I had to decide on one area. I chose a spot that gave me maximum opportunity to distribute the rods over a large area. And so I found myself stranded on a deserted island and immediately felt very comfortable. Here I had peace and quiet and was able to see a large area of the lake and, if necessary, adjust my actions accordingly. The panorama from where I was standing was also one of the most beautiful that I have ever had from my lounger, and it was hard to get enough of it. Who has the luxury of seeing the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees from their bed?!
I laid all the rods flat in the flooded weedy areas, as I suspected the fish were currently in the underwater jungle, which was bursting with food. I love it: Place the rod in front of a bush in the water where there are weed-free holes all around. It just had to work...
That evening I was surprised by a short but strong thunderstorm, which heralded a change in the weather that made me immediately question my chosen shallow water fishing strategy. The rain that continued all night and the following day forced me to move my brolly, which I placed in front of the rods as close to the water as possible, further up the island. The ground was so soft that I was just sliding around in my worn-out Crocs and the mud was sticking everywhere. Nothing new for me: Spring just continued as before.
Zero action
I sat on “my island” and could only hope for better weather. At the mercy of the bad weather front and rendered incapable of action by the wind, I had to wait it out... I simply left the rods lying there and trusted that they were all still “sharp” down there. I have gained this trust through several successful sessions recently and it is very important in such situations. A solid hookbait that can withstand white fish and crab attacks for a certain period of time plays a big role here.
The bad weather lasted for 3 days, I kept thinking “fishing weather” and I looked a little strangely at my rods, which were just lying on their banksticks, bent by the wind. During this time, a bream and a half-strong catfish attacked my rather selective 25mm snowman. However, there was no trace of the target fish.
An unknown sound
After 3 days of bad weather, the wind steadily died down and the sun peeked out from between the clouds more and more often. I wanted to give the spot another night and thus give the improving weather a little time to take effect. The fish activity in the evening increased noticeably and I was confident for the coming night. However, if nothing happened, I wanted to leave the island the next day because I was expecting a visit from Christoph, whom I had met last year at one of my last sessions at the Salagou. With him I wanted to reshuffle the cards and actively fish the lake in short time frames as initially planned. Out of nowhere, at five in the morning, I was woken from my sleep by an almost forgotten sound. I was completely taken by surprise, staggered towards the expiring rod and swung myself into the boat to follow the fish. I hoped he swam past the bushes. The fish had a lot of power and kept the line taut the whole time, no rewinding was necessary. On level 5 of the electric motor it went behind until I eventually reached the chalk line. No catfish…thank goodness. I noticed this straight away when the fish pulled constantly on the bottom without any beating. About 15 minutes later after a powerful fight I finally netted the fighter. After three nights of blank, I was relieved and satisfied to have caught a long and good mirror fish that had once again bitten on a rod that had lain untouched on the spot for many hours.
Emotional chaos
With a coffee and bright sunshine, I slowly packed my things to look for a new job and later meet Christoph on the water. While I was having coffee, a rod that I had placed dangerously close to a bush reported again. Using high pressure I kept the fish from swimming into the branches. I made contact and felt him following my train. But just a little later I noticed that he had gotten stuck somewhere. Under constant tension, I drove to the spot at full throttle. The fish was hanging in the weeds and the next moment my rig flicked towards me – without a hook. The thick mono was torn!!! Not yet realizing anything, a French predator angler drove towards me in his boat, who grumpily pointed out my disrespectful, selfish behavior in hogging half of the lake. A flood of negative feelings bombarded me and I found it difficult to maintain my relaxed demeanor. I understood the predator angler only too well and expressed this to him with understanding. The situation was still all too inappropriate... after all, I had just lost a fish due to a broken line and my thoughts were still somewhere else. If all that wasn't enough, I noticed shortly afterwards that another one was swimming about 50 meters next to my marker. Now where the fuck did it come from!? Two other carp anglers apparently sat down near me late in the evening and possibly unknowingly pushed themselves very close to my spot.
Just get out of here
Unfortunately, after this flood of negative events in quick succession, there was nothing left of the euphoria I had just felt from a carp and another bite in the really difficult water. I spontaneously packed my things. I just wanted to get out of here!! At least Christoph arrived straight away, but the loss of the fish kept popping up in my thoughts as the day went on.
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Best regards,
Daniel & Alex
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