In July of last year, my wife Bev asked me what I would like for my 40th birthday present! She likes to plan ahead!
Not knowing what reaction I would receive, I jokingly replied,"just a weeks fishing in France!"
Given the fact that it would mean her being left at home for the week with our two young children, I was gob-smacked when she readily agreed!
Time to smart making plans. I've never fished in France before, so I posted the usual enquiries on the FW forum. I didn't really fancy the all-inclusive style holiday and would ideally have liked to make my own travel arrangements etc.
I
was therefore delighted when Paul (Selman) contacted me to tell me about his
two lakes in Brittany, Etangs de Breton. They sounded ideal, however, not
wanting to do the week on my own, I immediately contacted my friend, Sean
Leverett in Essex, to see if he fancied celebrating my 40th with me on the
banks of a carp lake in France. He really had to think about it as he is self
employed and didn't want his business to suffer, however, about a nano-second
later, he accepted my invitation! Deposits were paid and we were booked onto
Birch Lake for mid September 2002 - only 13 months to wait!
Friday 13th September 2002 saw me hurtling down the M1, Essex bound for Sean's house.
Etangs de Breton is just over an hour from the ferry port of St Malo so I did the obvious thing and booked a Dover to Dunkerque crossing! This saved us somewhere in the region of £200, but we were soon to find out that the saying "cheap is dear" is very, very true.
After
a smooth ferry crossing, we arrived in Dunkerque at half past midnight, expecting
a drive of about 4-5 hours to the lake, where we would find somewhere nearby
to park up and have a couple of hours kip in the van. WRONG!
We arrived at the lake over nine hours later, having endured some of the worst
fog I have ever seen. In the process we killed a very large owl that demolished
the overtaking mirror and managed to get lost at least twice! Both Sean and
myself had been awake since about 7am on the Friday and we were exhausted
to the point of illness!
On arrival, Paul's caretaker, Glen Miller, gave us a friendly welcome and showed us around.
Once he had gone, we flipped a coin for choice of swims. I won and opted for Selman' s Swim, which is the right- hand swim nearest the dam end, with Sean further left towards the Bush Swim. Two quick erections later (the bivvies that is!) we were all set for the week. No forethought went into where we placed the baits for the night, we were simply too knackered, so we intended to put them up against the far tree line for the time being and go out in the boat the next morning for a good look round.
It was a very warm afternoon and, needless to say, we were soon both unconscious on the bedchairs.
At
about 6.50pm, I was disturbed by the left hand Delkim emitting its battle
cry, a few minutes later, I netted my first ever grass carp. At 6lb it was
no monster, and not what I came for, but at least I wasn't going to blank!
Seeing as we were awake, we decided to put fresh baits on all six rods for
the night ahead, with all my rods being fished just off the far tree line
and Sean's placed similarly, but with his left hand rod in open water towards
the lake's narrow bottleneck.
Once the baits were out , it wasn't long before we were both comatose again and I didn't hear a thing until 12.50am when I was disturbed by Sean's Microns (two of them!) warbling merrily. His open water rod had received a take and he was playing a fish that had come straight back towards him and had picked up both his remaining lines! On with the moccasins (you're not the only one Paul!) and I helped him sort the mess out. The fish fought like a tiger but was eventually netted. Once on the mat, we realised it was a bit of a lump to say the least and the scales confirmed it with a weight of 35lb 4oz - an immaculate fish with a perfect mouth that looked as though it had never seen a hook. I did the David Bailey bit and Sean was justifiably elated.
What a start!
Due to the knit one, perl one situation, Sean had to start from scratch on all three rods with me brewing the celebration cuppa - something I would become use to over the next couple of days!
He eventually got the rods back out and we retired once more.
My
early morning call on the Sunday, came at 5.30am as the right hand rod screamed
off, I struck into it and, within twenty seconds or so, it had kited from
the sluice bank on my right to the near margin down to my left and didn't
seem to be doing a great deal.....
Sean was waiting with the net to my left just the other side of a small bush.
At this point, I felt the line catch on one of the overhanging branches, Sean
told me to tighten down to the fish and the line should come clear, so I did,
only to hear Sean cry out, "What the f*** is that?"
I peered over the bush to see a 5lb (approx) coypu suspended from my line, having been hooked in the front paw when it had picked up my bait! Ever the coward, I immediately instructed Sean to cut the line!
We needn't have worried, the ugly little b****** started thrashing about and promptly fell off into the water and disappeared. Mmm, this is fun a 6lb grass carp and a 5lb coypu - deep joy!!
Over
the next forty hours or so, Sean's rods were the ones to receive action and
lots of it.....
3pm Sunday saw him take
a 27lb 6oz common with the longest barbules I had ever seen. At 1.30am on
Monday, he landed another immaculate common of 29lb 6oz!
8am Monday and he's in again with a deep bodied mirror of 26lb exactly Then
at 7pm Monday, he took his fifth fish, a chunky 17lb 8oz mirror. He had now
caught five fish with an average weight of 25lb, topped by the mid-30 and
I was genuinely pleased for him....but I was becoming a little dejected as
I had not received so much as a line bite in the last forty hours, despite
having fish in my swim. Most of Sean's fish had been taken from spots just
short of the far tree line and I was fishing exactly the same tactics.
I was, by now, a master
netsman and expert photographer and I was pretty p****d off!
I decided to spend half an hour tidying my bivvy (read sulking!) so the irony
didn't escape me as my minidisc player randomly selected the next track -
'Heaven knows I'm miserable now' by The Smiths! However, suicide was narrowly
avoided when, a few minutes later, my left hand rod screamed into life and
after a very hard ten minute fight, I was punching the air as Sean netted
my first 'proper' carp of the trip, a mirror weighing in at 26lb 12oz.
Throughout the next thirty hours, it was Sean's turn to take a back seat as I had all the action on my rods.
Tee he!
11.05pm
Monday and the middle rod produced a 20lb 12oz mirror, 4.40am Tuesday saw
the right hand rod (which I had placed in open water down by the sluice) throw
up a beautiful 25lb 8oz common and at 9.50am on Tuesday, I was away again
with 21lb 4oz mirror from the opposite tree line.
The lake then went very quiet until 1.05am Wednesday, when I took a 16lb 8oz mirror.
At 8.25am Wednesday, Sean's
fortunes changed, and he was 'back in business' with a lovely-looking 24lb
12oz mirror, which fought like a demon!That
was to be the last action for almost 24 hours as the rain moved in....
It was quite light at first, but overnight, it became torrential and the water
level rose by about ten inches!
The downpour ended at about 6am on the Thursday, but the lake looked lifeless, and I honestly thought that we had no further chance of fish.
However, at 7.30am, Sean's open water rod was flying again and, after a protracted scrap, he had another mid-twenty mirror in the net at 25lb 4oz. We'd no sooner got the photos done and the rod back out, when my left hand rod exploded into life with the fish ripping line from the reel. This was to be my last fish of the trip and it certainly fought the hardest with it taking line during several powerful lunges under the rod tip, it also proved to be my biggest fish of the week at 27lb 12oz.
The
lake had now become very moody and the previous fish was to be the last action
for almost 38 hours....
It got to 10.25pm on Friday
night when Sean landed the smallest fish of the week at 13lb 8oz. This fish
fell to the open water rod, as did the 24lb mirror at 2.05am Saturday and
the 26lb 4oz common at 5.10am!.... Yes, he took three fish on the final night
to complete a great week.
He also had a lot of finicky little lifts and drops on his right-hand rod
throughout the night. We put these down to coypu and this was proved to be
correct as evidenced by the fact that when Sean came to wind in his right-hand
rod on Saturday morning, the hooklink and lead were very dry, due to them
being left on the opposite bank by one of our furry friends!
So, that was the week that was at Etangs De Breton.....
The place is absolutely gorgeous and that goes for both lakes. The surrounding rolling French countryside is a joy to the eye. Throughout the week I saw red squirrels, massive hawks, coypu (!) and numerous kingfishers every single day, working the lake. The written word just cannot convey the beauty of this place!
I am not being paid by Paul to say any of this, I'm just telling it as it really is!
Saturday morning, Glen arrived to bid us a safe journey and, regretfully, we drove away from Etangs De Breton having enjoyed a magical weeks fishing.
Sean and myself definitely intend to return in the near future!
I, for one, cannot wait!
Merci beaucoup, Monsieur
Selman!
