Valvert 02/01/07

Venue- Valvert - Noyal Pontivy, Brittany.
Many French towns and villages have their own lake or plan d" eau and Valvert is fairly typical although I must mention that it is one of the few locally that can be fished on a general licence without the need of an additional day ticket and is open all the year round. I would estimate the lake at between 4 - 6 acres. fairly shallow , 1- 2 metres with the deeper water at the car park end. In summer and autumn there is often margin weed which can be troublesome. It is a venue I have fished on a number of
occasions and it seems fairly consistent. We have been grateful for this little lake when the Blavet has been flooded or out of sorts. In May 06 Vince Stuckey of Langport had a superb 17 kilos of skimmers, bream and tench. But that was May and the reality I face is a chill wind facing me and the threat of a soaking. To be honest this was a last chance to fish on this visit but I felt the odds were against me and I feared a blank, the wind howled into my face as I set up 11metres of pole. Ideally I would have opted for 13 metres but in this wind 11 was likely to be a handful. I carefully mixed a half kilo of sensas etang and set up a 0,4 fly barbetta float 012 to 08 hooklength shogun line and size 20 b511, elastic was a lightly tensioned 4 , this is as light as I like to risk here as have encountered some bream tench and hybrids that certainly do not mind mixing it a bit. Well time to have a go. I cupped in two smallish balls of groundbait laced with just a few casters and maggots and huddled against the first shower of the session. The shower was much worse than the apparent threat and I cursed my decision to fish. Just to add to my misery a group of teenagers arrived in the opposite car park and began the usual wheelspin and braking tricks with which I am sure you are all familiar. They then got out of their vehicles and began messing about on the kids slides, added irritation ! For company I had about 5 French anglers all fishing for predators. The first 15 mins were spent trying to hold on to the pole and I was tempted to feed another shorter line, however as I mulled this over the wind dropped just a little and the rain eased, even better! The float lifted a little. Bingo! A bleak, not exciting but blank avoided. Over the next hour 3 more small fish followed still not exciting but bites, I was feeding very frugally by cup and with such little response felt my options were very limited. I do not know why the youngsters opposite were making such a noise but one scream was so loud that I looked across, looking back, no float and the elastic tensioned nicely on the strike and a 12oz skimmer was guided to the net. 6 more followed steadily until the last fish pulled out at the net. The light was fading now and Heather arrived with some seriously calorie laden confectionary. French patisseries! Bunter cakes! Chris and I were both addicts! To be honest the session was better than I expected the weather did sort of improve and I suppose nearly 6lbs of fish in these conditions is ok. The French anglers returned, one of them proudly carrying a pike of no more than two pounds, someones supper was assured. After a short but friendly chat with them it was back to the cottage to make sure that French wine standards are being maintained. Well it is a tough life but someone has to do it and I look forward to my next visit.