The Salmo Trek requires a great deal of preparation. Whether in terms of physical condition, strategy, logistics or fishing tackle.
A new fishing zone?
This year, I decided to do some prefishing, i.e. to fish before the competition in order to spot possible good spots, and find valid techniques and lures so as not to have to tattoo during the competition.
What's more, this year the course was delivered to competitors just a few days before the competition. And I'd like to cut through any rumours: we didn't get the course before the others, as may have been implied!
In fact, it was Clément Jouvet who noticed that on the administrative declaration of the event (where the communes where the event takes place are noted) that this year the commune of Barèges appeared... For the first time. So we took up the challenge of scouting out the Barèges side of the slope and the lakes there, without any certainty.
This side offers numerous lakes and streams where we were able to find brown trout and Arctic char, the latter appearing to be present only on Dets Coubous, which was very low when we scouted.
A journey before its time
The same Clément, my friend and colleague on the Illex team, picks me up in Toulouse after a stopover in Paris on his way from Corsica. The prefishing in itself is a bit of a journey, and well worth the effort.
Because even if we're not competing yet, we still have to live self-sufficiently for 3 days and 2 nights, bringing our fishing gear, tent, mattress, comforter, change of clothes and everything else we need to eat and face the mountains.
According to the locals, the season has slowed down and started 3 weeks later than in previous years. The lakes have just thawed, and there are still a lot of snow. The risk is of course that this will distort our analysis of the positions and fish behavior.
Clément and I set off at a brisk pace from the Col de Portet, to stretch our legs and meet up with other friends such as Thomas Vogels, Alain Foulon, Olivier Refus and Jerôme Morgado.
Observations and assessment of prefishing
Although I do a lot of competitions, I don't like prefishing. I often have the impression that the solutions found in prefishing diverge during the competition and distort my analysis...
And the least we can say is that this prefishing is no exception to the rule... Admittedly, I timed our walking times and gleaned some valuable information, but the fact of passing alone, and first, on all the spots ultimately offers little visibility on the spots that stand out and this effectively distorts the analysis. Everyone gave of the fish that was available and with all kinds of techniques...
In other words, it's not a great help in establishing a strategy for the day... It will just have enabled me to eliminate a few zones and limit the number of lures to take with me, even if it means running out of lures on the day of the competition, by concentrating only on my safe bet...
