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Ade Kiddell - August 2018
I was back in England early August and, as always, a visit to see the guys at Angling Direct in Norwich; friendly faces, a good catch up over a cuppa and some cracking fresh bait. A gallon of best fresh reds and 50 big lobworms safely packed away for export to France. I hear and read a lot of anglers commenting about lack of atmosphere in tackle shops; I am pleased to say that all the AD tackle shops I visit still have a great atmosphere, along with top quality bait and the very best and latest information and advice.
Back in France the barbel were being a bit cagey and normal barbel tactics of pellet feed and boilies or pellets for hookbait were producing, but with only limited success. I switched to a simple feeder approach, but with a beefed up hook-link and simple baits of corn or maggot and have had a great few weeks' fishing, plenty of barbel and chub but also some very nice roach have come to the corn, with 20lb plus bags for only a few hours' fishing. The most interesting thing has been the number of small carp I have caught, a mixture of mirrors, commons and Prussians, yes you read it correct; Prussian carp (Carassius Gibelio) are much like a crucian but almost look F1 like, they don't grow that big and are caught a lot in mainland Europe. I can only think the commons and mirrors are a result of successful spawning from the river's residential carp stock. Between 1 and 4lb, there are some stunning fish among them and hopefully I will meet them again when they weigh nearer 40lb.
I haven't fished for carp for a few weeks now but one guest who did manage a few days was rewarded with a cracking fish of 34lb from the garden of the house. I have been keeping an eye out for signs of carp and just this morning saw a huge fish turn on one of my spots. I think the carp rods might get dusted off this weekend.
After winning the first match I had entered for several years I decided I would enter another feeder only match on the French-Belgium border, this would be a much tougher affair with a much higher class of angler. Running alongside the feeder match was a pole only competition, again with a high class field including some anglers that have represented their countries at international level. Most competitions in the UK allow the angler to choose the method they want to fish and of course you can switch during the match; here it's a bit different and not many competitions exist for feeder anglers as most are pole only with an 11 metre pole limit. I had a practice on the match length and caught well, but only at range. Fishing a feeder at 80 metres clipped up is not for everyone, but I caught well in practice, using braid as main line with a shock leader I was all set for the comp.
The competition itself consisted of 2, 3 hour sessions with a weigh in at the end, stopping for a lunch break and picnic barbecue at the mid point, not something I have ever experienced before. The atmosphere was very friendly and my attendance was well accepted.
At the mid way point I couldn't have been happier, in pole position with a few bites and a decent barbel, with most other anglers struggling for a bite. Only myself and one other were fishing at distance with everyone else fishing at around 30 metres. The after lunch session was a completely different affair, my line just didn't produce, but the closer line did and quite a few barbel were caught along with a few bream and chub. I struggled for a bite and a switch inside for the last hour didn't produce. The few bites I did manage to add to the morning tally left me in third and in the frame; with 5 minutes to go, the angler to my right hooked and landed a good barbel, netting it on the whistle to knock me back into 4th and first out of the coin. A most enjoyable day and a cold beer with some new found friends as the prizes were awarded topped off the day. The future of our sport needs youngsters to put down their phones and joypads and take up fishing; we all as anglers need to do our bit to encourage youngsters to fish. I have always, whenever possible, tried with my own family to get the youngsters involved and over the last few weeks it's been very rewarding.
Firstly my partner's nieces and nephew cam from Holland for a few days. The girls were happy with a small whip and really enjoyed catching loads of bleak and an odd better rudd. Their brother however had been before and was keen for a barbel or two, happy to sit it out for a bite rather then the constant action with the bleak, he got his reward with half a dozen barbel in an enjoyable afternoon and evening session. By making it interesting and trying to explain why, where, what and when and giving him some hands on rig tying, casting etc he left even keener than when he arrived.
Next over was granddaughter Florence who is well into her fishing, has her own pink rods and reels in the tackle shed, and I think has the makings of a future angler; her mum was, but let it go; hopefully I can keep Florence interested. At 8 she is still a bit young to do a lot of things but she has already mastered whip fishing and can put bait on and unhook the bleak. As long as sessions are limited to a couple of hours she is fine. This year for the first time we did an overnight carp session in the bivvy, she slept through the night and the half a dozen or so runs we had from barbel and bream never woke her, only me! She told me in the morning how good it was, even though she slept all night bless her.
