The Club Mouche de l'Étang Neuf, managed by Jean Le Panse, is once again organizing this event. Unlike last year, this time it will be held in teams of two.
The aim was to spend a good day with enthusiasts from all over Brittany. Members of various Breton fly fishing clubs met at 7:45 a.m. last Sunday to start the day in the reservoir's "Pêche" room for coffee and a croissant, and to listen to instructions and regulations before starting this friendly competition.
Represented were the Club Mouche d'Arzano (5 members), the local Club Mouche de l'Etang Neuf (6 members), the Club Mouche du Kreizh Breizh (6 members), 1 member from the Club Mouche de Quimper and St Brieux. I was the only non-club participant.
Regulations and organization of the event
3 flies allowed on the leader, single barbless hook.
2 fly rods maximum, whether on board or in a boat.
Each trout earns 1 point, and 2 points if it is 50 cm or larger.
6 boats will be provided for each pair, from two different teams, and 8 anglers will be on the pontoons set up around the reservoir.
3 boat-fishing zones delineated to distribute anglers across the lake.
Participants competed in 3 heats of 45 minutes each from the shore and 3 heats from the boat, with a draw for the positions to be fished in rotation. 15 minutes between legs to change sectors and, if necessary, change leaders.
Self-arbitration on the boat with a member of another team.
Several volunteer stewards from different clubs around the lake.
Nb: any trout that does not leave alive will not be counted.
Beginning of hostilities
It's barely dawn when the bugle sounds, and quickly dozens of flies take to the air.
The competitors, all armed with their favorite rods and rigs, are already waiting for the first hit. Diving silks are out and boobies, blobs and FABs are the order of the day. In winter, bottom fishing is often the most profitable, and let's face it, we're still here to catch fish, even if we have to knit bottom flies for most of the day!
In some areas, and later in the day, intermediate line fishing was carried out with some success, due to the slight warming of the water and the shallowness of the lake.
Finding the peach and knowing how to adapt
It doesn't take long for the first catches to be made, and here and there some participants shout "fish" to indicate to the stewards that a catch has been made and measure the trout before being released. The pressure mounts if the bites don't come, and it's not long before we're back on track.
Finding the right fishery can be time-consuming, as many factors come into play. The size and color of the flies, their positioning on the leader, the animations, but also the choice of position when you're on a boat. If, on the other hand, your catches and touches are regular, a certain confidence will help you fish even better. You have to be mentally strong, otherwise you can quickly miss out on the fishing. That's what competition is all about. You have to be efficient and quick to "bring in" fish. It's the complete opposite of my fishing philosophy, but once in a while I find it rather interesting and instructive. You have to deal with stress and find solutions.
The start is rather slow, but then certain positions, whether on board or in a boat, quickly seem to come alive and pay off.
The draw sometimes makes it possible to be a little luckier, as some pontoons are more regular and productive than others, but on the whole the trout are fairly well distributed around the lake. Trout were caught at all stations.
At lunchtime, the first part of the results came in. Some anglers have caught a good number of trout, others have had less success. A good snack allows you to recharge your batteries, catch up with your team-mates and chat a little with the other competitors. But few will reveal their strategies and techniques, or the flies that caught or interested a few fish.
The morning's frustrations can wipe you out, and if doubt sets in, you'll fish much less well. Confidence and serenity are the keys to catching fish, but it's not easy if you've caught few trout or a zero during a run. Which was my case, in a boat at one of my favorite spots: in front of the restaurant! It's hard on morale, even though I thought I'd be doing some of my fishing here for this edition, as I did last year.
Shy but present trout
You've got to catch fish again as soon as the first run of the afternoon, otherwise you can really lose it. Fortunately for me, the restart did me a world of good, with 5 trout and 2 unhooked. Phew, morale is back, but nothing's won. The catches are meagre and not very encouraging. The trout had a field day in the morning, to put it mildly, and we're going to have to find a solution, or keep calm and stay focused and confident.
Touches are sometimes violent and sometimes very timid. It depends on the area, the flies and the animation. Some flies work very well on one spot, then nothing on another. It's very destabilizing!
Sometimes the trout play with our nerves by tapping the fly or making a little tug or touch!
On the face of it, no color worked better than another. Pink, olive, bright yellow, black, orange and sparkler worked well, but I confess I didn't get feedback from everyone on this subject. The placement of the fly on the leader and the animation were, in my opinion, decisive. Knowing the lake and the flies of the moment also helped some of the locals do better.
Success too, as some participants, including myself, landed a good number of trout. This was not the case for Nicolas Jézéquel, the best performer this year, with 16 trout, none of which were caught. Well done to him!
In the mornings, the trout tended to fish close to the bottom in "deep" areas. Then the trout started to move into the water layer and some anglers made fish on intermediate or plunging lines, but by spreading the flies further apart and having the tip fly further from the end of the line. It was important to make the right choice of rods and line set-ups, as the time between runs is relatively short to change strategy quickly. A third rod could have offered other options, especially from the shore, and perhaps caught a few more fish. But everyone was in the same boat!
The trout were very combative despite an average size of around 45-50 cm. Some of them were broken at the touch! However, there were no really big trout in this reservoir. The biggest trout was 57 cm, I think.
The weather was fairly good, with a little wind, a few showers and a cool but sunny morning.
A successful day for enthusiasts
114 trout were caught during the event, well down on last year's total of 182. The individual winner alone caught 32 trout.
This gives an average of 5.7 trout per angler, but as always, there were big differences between participants. Nevertheless, there were no empty-handed anglers.
The first will take 16 trout and the last only 1.
The winning team (Nicolas and Sylvain) from the Étang Neuf club won the competition with 23 trout for 32 points, compared with 24 trout, but only 26 points for my teammate Kévin and myself. We only caught 2 trout over 50 cm, which penalized our result.
Dominique and Jean from the club de l'Étang Neuf finished third with 11 trout and 14 points, against all expectations, as a change in the ranking took place the day after the competition. A trout over 50 cm long (i.e. two points) that had not returned alive had been counted and thus truncated the results.
All in all, a successful day for the organizers. Participants had a great time, despite complicated fishing and low trout numbers.
A big thank you to the organizers and stewards, all volunteers, for putting on events that enable Breton fly fishermen to meet up in a convivial atmosphere. We look forward to the next one!
Thanks for inviting me, as I'm the only one outside the club. It's always a pleasure for me to take part in local events (quite rare in Brittany) and to put myself under pressure to give my best.
Thanks to all and see you soon!
NB: thanks to William Jegou for some of the photos illustrating this report.
