Post by gui on Sept 1, 2018 18:16:11 GMT -6
It feels good to come home once in a while, see the old folks, eat the food that I have been growing up with and speak without an accent.
There is this river nearby my parent's place, just a short 15 minutes drive away. It's called "La Vézère".
It flows for about 200 km, making its way through the rugged mountainous plateaus in the center of France until it ends into the great Dordogne river famed for its big and elusive graylings.
I'm not that familiar with the Vezere, but I've fished it a few times and I've caught a few brown trout. We call them "fario" trout here.
Today It' a beautiful day and I'm in France, so I feel the need to put my skinny jeans on, get my fly eyes, grab my rod in one hand and head to the river euro style!
I have about an hour and a half of time before the raclette dinner at home (grilled cheese over potatoes with cured meat). You don't want to be late for that! So quickly, I tie on a copper john at the point, a dropper rainbow warrior and start prospecting. I'm still learning the euro nymphing thing, but I've have had some good success with it a few times in the US.
I'm realizing this is actually the first time that I'm Euro nymphing in ... Europe!
I'm trying to move fast and cover water to find active fish rather than doing multiple passes in a run.
I quickly get a hook up at the end of a drift. It was a good size fish, which unfortunately I did not expect... I pull hard with my hand clamped on the line, the fish takes off in the current and... slams the tippet. Damn it! It looked like a nice trout. At least I still have the dropper on...
I go on and catch a couple of small browns between 8 and 10 inches. I'm pretty happy because I've found the fishing to be always tough on this section of the river. Must be the euro style!
Not much happens for a bit. Maybe a few missed takes.
Then the line stops in the middle of the current. I set the hook, damn it I must be stuck. Wait a minute. It's moving! Big fish. Wow, I better not mess this one up. I carefully let the fish run this time. It's taking line, a lot of line. I manage to make it turn. Then it goes on another run.
It goes on for a while, but I'll have the last word.
The fish was hugging the bottom and for a bit I hoped it was a big brown. But then it felt way too heavy for a trout in this river.
And then comes this big reddish fin out of the water and it confirmed what I was thinking with more and more certitude: a river carp!
I only had my phone with me and it was getting dark, so these are not the best quality pics.
That thing was pretty lean but at the same time strong and muscular. It knew how to swim in and use the current. Took me on a hell of a ride on my 5-weight.
It took the size 14 copper john, which looked ridiculously small on these big lips but was solidly anchored on it.
Cheers to the disco carp!
There is this river nearby my parent's place, just a short 15 minutes drive away. It's called "La Vézère".
It flows for about 200 km, making its way through the rugged mountainous plateaus in the center of France until it ends into the great Dordogne river famed for its big and elusive graylings.
I'm not that familiar with the Vezere, but I've fished it a few times and I've caught a few brown trout. We call them "fario" trout here.
Today It' a beautiful day and I'm in France, so I feel the need to put my skinny jeans on, get my fly eyes, grab my rod in one hand and head to the river euro style!
I have about an hour and a half of time before the raclette dinner at home (grilled cheese over potatoes with cured meat). You don't want to be late for that! So quickly, I tie on a copper john at the point, a dropper rainbow warrior and start prospecting. I'm still learning the euro nymphing thing, but I've have had some good success with it a few times in the US.
I'm realizing this is actually the first time that I'm Euro nymphing in ... Europe!
I'm trying to move fast and cover water to find active fish rather than doing multiple passes in a run.
I quickly get a hook up at the end of a drift. It was a good size fish, which unfortunately I did not expect... I pull hard with my hand clamped on the line, the fish takes off in the current and... slams the tippet. Damn it! It looked like a nice trout. At least I still have the dropper on...
I go on and catch a couple of small browns between 8 and 10 inches. I'm pretty happy because I've found the fishing to be always tough on this section of the river. Must be the euro style!
Not much happens for a bit. Maybe a few missed takes.
Then the line stops in the middle of the current. I set the hook, damn it I must be stuck. Wait a minute. It's moving! Big fish. Wow, I better not mess this one up. I carefully let the fish run this time. It's taking line, a lot of line. I manage to make it turn. Then it goes on another run.
It goes on for a while, but I'll have the last word.
The fish was hugging the bottom and for a bit I hoped it was a big brown. But then it felt way too heavy for a trout in this river.
And then comes this big reddish fin out of the water and it confirmed what I was thinking with more and more certitude: a river carp!
I only had my phone with me and it was getting dark, so these are not the best quality pics.
That thing was pretty lean but at the same time strong and muscular. It knew how to swim in and use the current. Took me on a hell of a ride on my 5-weight.
It took the size 14 copper john, which looked ridiculously small on these big lips but was solidly anchored on it.
Cheers to the disco carp!
