No trout on a muggy Sunday morning...

Unproductive morning down at the lake today. Nothing caught by Tom or myself. Tom is getting good at casting and with his little rod he easily gets the float out to the water lilies where the trout are lurking.

The weather was moderate with a roughly steady pressure of 1013.9 hPa. It started raining lightly at about 10am and we pushed off at 11am. We saw only one trout being caught early at 7.30am, but nothing after that.

We were using white Powerbait trout paste and 'ver de farine' (larval form of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor).

Here are a few photos of the trout lake taken this morning at 7.15am.

This Common Blue Damselfly was photographed yesterday when I was scouting the river for large trout. I'll upload some photos of the river at a later date.

The Complete Angler

On a wet and chilly public holiday afternoon, I've been fishing. Not for fish, but rather for some dry flies and other odds and ends on eBay. I came across a paperback copy of The Complete Angler by Isaac Walton published in 1886. Sure it is an edition published 233 years after the original that was written in 1653, but it's probably going to be one of the oldest books on my bookshelf at 121 years old.

If you are interested in reading the book, it is available online here (Project Gutenberg).

10 reasons to take up Fly Fishing

Why would anyone take up fly fishing?

• Reason N°1 - it attracts nice people

 

• Reason N°2 ...

... I'll try and think of 9 other reasons later ;-)

Stoneflies

When cleaning the last catch of trout, I opened up the stomach of one of the fish to see what had been on the menu in the trout lake. I pulled out what seemed to be small bits of dark brown bark and leaf. On closer inspection, I noticed a few legs and mandibles. Upon investigation in a great book that I have (The Complete Fly Fisher's Handbook - Malcolm Greenhalgh & Denys Ovenden - Dorling Kindersley - 1998) I deduced that the insects were stonefly. Perhaps a nymph, but also perhaps an adult. I didn't find any wings.

The stonefly Order Plecoptera is active from April to August. The small nymphs hatch from eggs and live for a year as nymphs (3 to 3 years for the large stoneflies). They emerge onto land and moult from the nymphal shuck. Females return to the water to lay eggs.

Here is a selection of flies that I have that mimic the stonefly nymph. They are fished deep and are sometimes weighted to get to the bottom if the lake or river. They range from black to brown. These are the wingless nymph imitations.

 

 

I'll test them on Thursday, which as a public holiday, is a fishing day. Tom and I are going to try the river and see what lurks in the shallows.

Tom's first fish

This will be a memorable day - and with the help of this blog, he'll be able to back up his story when telling the fishing tale to his buddies.

We were at the lake at 7am - quite rough this lark. A Thermos of hot chocolate helps sooth the soul. After about three hours of funny weather: intermittent rain and overcast on a falling barometer of 1003.3kPa; Not much wind and a calm murky lake; Tom caught his first Rainbow trout. A nice sized fish of about 35cm.

I had one earlier so it was one each for the day's fishing. Not many trout were biting and we only saw one other being landed across the lake. The falling pressure may have had something to do with it.

Tom actually fought quite a bit to land his trout. He had it over some reeds and the fish just wanted to go the other way. He was quite excited as he landed the trout between two clumps of rushes. Some other fishermen had been chatting to us at the time and were quite complimentary to Tom about his fish. He at least hooked one and they hadn't had a bite.

We had the trout that I caught yesterday for lunch. They had been in the marinade for 24 hours and I lightly cooked them in a pan with butter. They were still pink in the middle of the fillets. Everyone at lunch was impressed with the tender and flavoursome fish.

A few trout

I went out at 7am this morning to Conty to check out what the lake looked like under a windy and overcast sky with a little light rain falling. Rising barometer 1006.1hPa. at about 9am. When I arrived, there was a shoal of about 20 swirling trout - apparently working out their hierarchy. Too late for that, they were all caught in about half an hour as they didn't move. It didn't interest me to dip my hook, line and sinker into the fray. Too easy.
Since this Blog has started, these are the first three fish caught so here are a few photos. This is not catch and release. It is more like put-catch-cook...

 The trout lake at Conty, fishing from the SE side

 This is where I eventually started to catch fish

A fine Rainbow Trout

On the marble of the kitche

Update: 21:00

I have had these cleaned trout in a marinade all day.

Olive oil
Lemon juice
Crushed garlic
Fresh thyme from the garden
Salt & pepper

After 8 hours in the marinade, the meat is tender and easy to work with. I've filleted the meat and removed all bones. Some pieces have the skin off, but some still have skin. Back in the marinade for the night.

We'll lightly sauté the fillets in butter and serve on a bed of salad and toast as an entrée for Sunday lunch.

Rainbow trout (Truite arc-en-ciel)

Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, aka redband trout, is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. Introduced in other countries for sport fishing and breeding for food. Rainbows stay in fresh water their whole lives. Lake and stream dwellers tend to be lighter as well. River dwelling Rainbow Trout are generally darker and more brilliant. In all habitats, Rainbow's backs varies from blue or green to a yellow-green or brown. They always have dark spots on their heads, backs, bellies and across their dorsal fins and cadula fins, a famed attribute of true trout. (Rainbow Trout are considered to be the best example of true trout know at this time) Rainbows also have a red or pink streak that runs from the gill cover to the caudal fin, inspiring their name.

Rainbow trout is popular in Western cuisine and is often farmed for food. It has tender flesh and a mild, somewhat nutty flavour. However, farmed trout and those taken from certain lakes have a pronounced earthy flavour which many people find unappealing.

Cleaning, preparing and cooking info with recipe ideas for trout: BBC Food - Trout

More info:
Wikipedia (English): Rainbow trout
Wikipedia (French): Truite arc-en-ciel

Lure 2.70 m Fast 20/40g

Geologic (Decathlon) Carbon rod designed for regular fishing for predators from the shore in fresh- and/or sea-water.

Length: 2.70 m / 1.43m (broken)
Weight: 240g
Power / Action: 20/40g / Fast

This is our multi-purpose rod for use on the trout lake and the larger lakes hunting for predator fish.

Loading new line

Tom is helping me load up a couple of spools of new line.

For the Mitchell reel, we have two spools: One aluminium that is loaded with 150m 0.18mm 12.50Kg Xtress fluo braided line. The other is a graphite spool that is loaded with 200m 0.20mm 2.90Kg Fluo nylon line. Obviously the braided line is for the bigger predator fish and the nylon is for the trout.

 

To prevent twisting the line, always wind in the direction shown above with the line coming off the line spool and onto the reel spool in the same direction. Keep a constant tension when winding to prevent snagging.

The result is a couple of dedicated spools for the reel (above). The pike braid on the aluminium spool is on the left and the trout nylon on the graphite spool is on the right.

How to catch a Pike...? What about a lure?

We picked up this lure at Décathlon today. It is a nice little rattle lure that has bright colouration and hopefully will attract a sizeable predator of the deep. 5cm long and weighing 9g (about the size of the photo below), the darting movement at about 1.2m down and the sound of the thing apparently drives the pike wild. Instinct takes over and he ignores that this is made of balsa and resin.

 

Matt Hayes of Totally Fishing (Discovery Channel) has had excellent results with this type of lure and if the TV images are to be believed, it does work as described on the tin.

We'll be testing it on Sunday morning if we get a chance on the big lake so fingers crossed.

Mitchell 300 Xe

Whilst were on the subject of big fish (see post below), the largest rod we have is a 270cm carbon stiff rod with a Mitchell 300 Xe reel. With this rig we hope to work the trout lake as well as tempting some pike to the lure...

With 25 million Mitchell® 300 reels sold and counting, the new Mitchell® 300Xe exemplifies our heritage of innovation with advanced technology. The Mitchell® 300Xe enhances the joy of fishing through simple design, user-friendly features and proven quality. Anglers who like our family of Mitchell® 300 spinning reels will love the Mitchell® 300Xe for its smoother, stronger and lighter design.

 

• Advanced Polymeric Body and Rotor is stronger than conventional polymeric and graphite materials
• Comfort Touch™ body coating for comfortable handling during long hours of fishing
• Instant anti-reverse for immediate hooksets
• High performance gearing for perfect gear mesh, smoothness and durability
• Multi-disk drag system for precise adjustment and consistent performance
• Aluminum handle for strength and non-flex reliability
• Oversized bail wire and line roller for increased strength, durability and reduction of line twist
• NeverFail ™ compression bail spring

Model	Bearings	Capacity	Gear Ratio	Reel Weight
300Xe	8	0.30mm/185m	5.1:1	284g
Line retrieve per handle rotation: 0.74m

Pike (Brochet)

 

Pike, Esox lucius, can grow very large, up to a weight of 18kg (40lb) or more; they have firm, white flesh and lots of small bones. Large pike are usually sold cut into steaks, small ones as whole fish. The best recipes come from France, where pike is appreciated for its flavour and texture. The flesh can be dry, though, and benefits from being steamed, poached or shallow fried. Steaks should be marinated before being fried or grilled and a small pike, baked whole, is best coated in olive oil or butter inside and out, or filled with a stuffing made from moist ingredients, such as breadcrumbs, bacon, tomatoes, leafy herbs and onion.

Here are some recipe ideas for pike:
Walleyed pike pie by Graham Kerr from The Galloping Gourmet.
A collection of French recipes for Brochet from PêcheAquariophilie.

More info:
Wikipedia (English): Northern pike
Wikipedia (French): Grand brochet

Fishing in Conty - 6 May 2007

 

I took Tom out on our first fishing trip. We went via the Café in Conty to pick up our licences for the year and a day-pass for the trout lake (Etang N°4).

We met the Gard-de-Pêche at the lake and he gave us the Reglement 2007. After checking out how the other guys were fishing we set about fishing for some trout.

The place has some funny rules: such as closing for lunch between 12 and 2pm, so as we had arrived just before 12, we didn't have long to fish in the morning. Tom had a couple of casts (point 'a', below). We were able to go to the N°2 lake (point 'c', below) where Tom's junior licence allows him to fish there too. I gave some advice and made lunch. I think that I'm going to get him fishing for Pike (Brochet) next time.

2pm and we were back fishing at the N°4 trout lake at point 'a', below. We then moved on to another spot (point 'b', below).

We had a good day, but alas, no fish. We used our old trout paste as bait. Perhaps a little old... if this stuff does get old - it still stinks like fish.

We saw a giant trout patrolling the bank that swam right under out lines at out feet without a care to the world.

Tom has learnt to cast very well. He is using a light rig: 183cm graphite rod and Regal-S 1500T Daiwa ultralight reel.

I was using my 259cm carbon fly rod and a fly reel and sinking grey fly line - not the best tackle for a still water lake.

#10 hooks and orange Power Bait paste. The other guys were using red and white paste.

Tom is fishing in the Carp lake (N°2) during the pause for lunch on lake N°4:

 

Hello World

first post on the blog - just a test - hello to all!