Maiden French fishing trip...lessons learned.

It was packing up morning and nothing else  happened on the other 2 rods. Fenlon woke up at 6.45am to find me watching the water once again. With the middle rod left out after my loss he asked if I was packing them up not realising what had happened. It had passed over me already and I was back on cloud 9 after the week I'd had. The beds were packed down and loaded into the van. Bivvy was soon following along with the rods. 2 cups of tea polished off and we were venturing round the lake to meet the others. No one caught on the last night and I was the only 1 to get a bite. Karl asked if I knew what I had lost and I quickly said it was a 40lb carp. Andy wondered how I knew it was a 40lb considering it was no where near to netting and I said "I had a 30, 50, 60 and a 70....40 was the missing number in the sequence". We all laughed and took 1 last look at the lake and headed off in the vans. What a week we had encountered. A truly special place and the return trip is already booked for 2020. The weather was seasonal with cold winds, hot sun and heavy downpours. Snow and ice were the only experiences we did not fish through. The company was on top form and there were plenty of laughs. A good group of blokes to go with. A week away from my son was hard but keeping in touch with him daily made it easier. I couldn't wait to get home and see him.

The journey seemed to take forever. On the way to Island lakes we were on motorway after motorway. The home journey was for some reason travelled parallel to motorways give or take a mile in between us. The sat nav me and Fenlon were using kept asking us to make many U-turns yet Andy, convoy leader, continued driving the scenic route as best described. I started to feel sorry for Fenlon who was once again driving as his clutch foot was in full use. A lot of roundabouts and a lot of gear changing every few hundred yards must have been tiring but he didn't make a fuss about it. A couple of hours passed and we pulled over at a service station for food and a break. It gave us all a chance to sit and talk about the week. Unfortunately Alan never got to land a carp or even go into battle for that matter. I wish he would have made the move sooner and I could have pinpointed where the carp socialise during the morning hours. He was probably in 2 minds whether to move or stay put. My little blue book has positions written down to look at should swim 6 be fished in the future. We were soon back on the road after McDonald's and toilet break.
Fenlon was still beaming with excitement and we chatted about what we had learned over the week. Neither of us had ever had the opportunity to go out in a boat to view a fishing spot. I was personally pleased with the knowledge of feature finding with my marker rod. The feeling of casting a rod and landing a lead on gravel is the easy part. Knowing you are dragging a lead up, over and down a gravel bar has only ever been described and I suppose guess work when using a marker rod. Having the chance to look down from a boat clarified I am capable of finding spots. Presenting rigs that I use in England were effective and no tweaks were made. A lot of anglers go to France and use new rigs or make many changes to their rigs with the mindset that French carp are harder to catch. This can result in lost fish and not knowing which difference hindered the rig mechanics can ruin the chance of landing that fish of a lifetime. Both Fenlon and I stuck to what we know and it paid off. The biggest challenge we both had was how weedy the lake was. Weed is daunting at the best of times and in places Island lake looked like a flooded football pitch. We have both fished weedy lakes but the weed at Island Lakes was on another level. Fenlons biggest accomplishment was changing swims. This is a guy who likes to setup in a swim and wait for the fish to come to him. But he knew that staying in swim 10+11 was a bait and wait swim and not what he wanted this week. The move would have to be done and early in the week was perfect excuse. That and the fact I ran off with his rods probably. When fishing I try and watch the water a lot. This week though I took this to another level. Either in my swim or standing in other anglers swims I was fully concentrating on the water. Another milestone was playing and landing such big creatures and doing so with no one to help me. There is 1 thing that really put the cherry on top of our achievements. Bailiff Mick spoke to Andy soon after Fenlon caught his 29lb. All lakes have rules and at Island lakes there is a rule that any angler that has never fished France must fish as a pair. We were not aware of this rule and we chatted to Mick about people saying we were heading to such a hard lake for our 1st trip to France. Mick never mentioned to us and went to see Andy. He said that if this information should have been brought up on arrival day. Andy had visited this lake a few times and didn't think about the rule. He apologised and said they would all help me and Fenlon pack down and move. Mick was quick to say that there was no need. He had watched us both setting up, finding spots, helping each other, moving Fenlon together and catching the biggest carp caught that week on our own. He had 100% confidence in our ability and said we were both good anglers. That comment was amazing to hear and be passed on. A truly proud moment in my fishing journey to date!!

The time flew by and all of a sudden the road ended and we parked up at the channel tunnel. We didn't have long until boarding the train so a quick toilet break and coffee purchased. Sitting in the van we were directed to our carriage and it was time to say Bon Voyage to France. 35 minutes later we said goodbye to our fellow anglers and we were home bound. We were on the home stretch and already planning the next outing. After catching the 69lb and 59lb carp we were both told that our English fishing was ruined. Neither me or Fenlon go fishing for target fish or big fish only. Being on the bank next to a lake is what we personally enjoy. The surroundings, the peace and quiet, the time to relax and get away from day to day life is what we go fishing for. A bend in the rod is always the fun part and landing a fish no matter the size is the prize. But the biggest quest of each session is to learn lessons and the week in France taught us some of the most valuable lessons to use in the future outings.

'till next time...

Carper Dee