French barbel fishing

[Clive Kenyon]

Steve, this is not a normal estuarine situation. There are some tidal barrages that hold back the flow on the extremes of the tidal range and then, once they open, it releases a massive amount of water so the flow goes from almost stationary downhill to jogging speed uphill in a matter of seconds bringing along with it floating trees, chocolate colour and weed rafts the size of Wales. As the location itself is only 3 metres above sea level and Monday's tides were 7 metres, well you can imagine the situation.

Also, as it is about 40km or so from the actual river mouth the tide tables are only a rough guide. As well as the distance the tidal barrage timings will be affected by the height of the tide and the amount of river water wanting to go the other way. I didn't make it easy for myself.

Alex has counselled me and given me some tips on how he fishes the mighty Tidal Trent and as I now have some personal observations to relate to the tide tables I should be able to predict the situation to within half an hour or so in future.

The second venue is an old favourite and only an hour from the tidal stretch. I tried a few new swims that I had previously reccied, but not actually fished. I do like to catch different fish rather than the same ones over and over again.

 

[Deleted member 2708]

Steve, this is not a normal estuarine situation. There are some tidal barrages that hold back the flow on the extremes of the tidal range and then, once they open, it releases a massive amount of water so the flow goes from almost stationary downhill to jogging speed uphill in a matter of seconds bringing along with it floating trees, chocolate colour and weed rafts the size of Wales. As the location itself is only 3 metres above sea level and Monday's tides were 7 metres, well you can imagine the situation.

Also, as it is about 40km or so from the actual river mouth the tide tables are only a rough guide. As well as the distance the tidal barrage timings will be affected by the height of the tide and the amount of river water wanting to go the other way. I didn't make it easy for myself.

Alex has counselled me and given me some tips on how he fishes the mighty Tidal Trent and as I now have some personal observations to relate to the tide tables I should be able to predict the situation to within half an hour or so in future.

The second venue is an old favourite and only an hour from the tidal stretch. I tried a few new swims that I had previously reccied, but not actually fished. I do like to catch different fish rather than the same ones over and over again.

Sounds awful!

My stretch of the Lot is a problem just now. Plenty of rain has filled the river and various barrages and hydroelectric dams are taking turns letting water through. I have River App on my phone and the flow downstream at Bouzies is bouncing between 5 m3/s and 150 m3/s over a 12 hour period. It's been up and down constantly like that all week, trying to judge where to fish and what rods to take is quite difficult!

I noticed when I looked at several spots yesterday that someone had cleared an area for a couple of bivvies, this section is not far downstream of the barrage and power station. Simply not a good way to approach this river just now, need to keep options open and travel reasonably light. "Base camp" carp fishing seems a bad idea in these conditions to me, guess these guys either know a lot more than me (quite possible!) or have a very fixed idea of carp fishing!

Hope they thought better of this spot, they may get wet tonight!

 

[Clive Kenyon]

There are people who think this French fishing is a doddle.

Fortunately 'my' rivers aren't quite so temperamental. The source of the Charente is only about 20 minutes from here and in the first 100km or so it is a small river having no hydro dams, just the normal weirs that were historically linked to milling. Ideal for chub and perch. The river twists and turns and splits into smaller channels that reform further downstream and that first 100 km is all within about 40 - 50 minutes travelling from home. Further downstream it runs into limestone country and not much further downstream from there becomes navigable so the river is punctuated with locks and weirs. The biggest problem is the weed associated with the rich chalky water. The big advantage is that there is a historic towpath so access to many areas is easy. Yet outside the carpe de nuit parcourse there is rarely an angler in sight.

The Vienne however rises much further away and is already a large river when it passes this way. A few million years ago a huge meteorite hit the ground causing a crater 14km in diameter. The site of this crater coincides with the Vienne changing direction and it arcs from westerly to northerly again giving me access to over 100km of river within 40 minute's drive. Much of the Vienne though runs through terrain that is not accessible so sometimes there might only be three or four accessible swims in ten kilometres of river. A 4X4 is invaluable for getting to some places and others demand a 3 or 4km walk each way. The Vienne has hydro barrages but we don't experience the Yo-Yo levels that the Lot is famous for.

If I lived where you do I would be exploring the Célé. It is a beautiful river and looks very barbelly in the lower section.