No fewer than 80 teams, i.e. 160 competitors, met at the Col de Portet on Friday June 28, 2024.
Departure from Col de Portet
Before the start, we are obliged to go through the bag check, the safety check, the medical certificate check and the pre-event check-in.
There's a strong field on the starting line, with the inevitable Mathieu Cabar and Morgan Favard. There are also feared pairings such as Simon Scodavolpe and Matthieu Vieilhescazes, Clément Jouvet and Yvan Majorel (for us at least, knowing Clément and Yvan's level of fitness and preparation) and Pierre Gos and Maxime Cadene. We know that we're also among the favourites, with our two podium finishes in 2021 and 2023 for our team Morgan Calu and Thomas Vogels.
Other outsiders with a shot at the top of the table are present and ready to do battle, including Kevin Gueniot and Ghjuva Azara Mariani, who made the trip from Corsica with me, as well as Maxime Lochon and Guillaume Piermaria, Jeremy Seguin and Nico Vindret, Alain Foulon and Olivier Refus, and youngsters Etienne Rat PatronT PATRON and Noé Rapine... It promises to be a hotly contested edition!
For our part, we will be followed by a team from Arte, who have come from Germany and France to report on the Salmo Trek and our team in particular. It's an honor, but also a slight constraint to take into account. For my part, although I feel fit and physically ready, I have to deal with a serious last-minute injury. I "shattered" my tibia on the Sunday before the Salmo Trek and have to start with a gash and 6 stitches, which I could have done without...
After a thorough briefing, it's time to set off on the first special stage at 9:30 sharp!
Lots of walking on the first day...
Our prefishing and gamble paid off, as the Barèges slope is now part of the route. We decided to do a lot of walking on the first day to gain access to this slope, betting on the fact that since this side was new, few competitors would venture there on the first day.
You still have to climb two passes (Hourquette nère and Tracens) and walk no less than 25 km and 1200 m of ascent to reach station 5.
And a little peach all the same...
It's an almost successful calculation, as by opening several lakes, we manage to lure several brown trout. Many are caught on wobblers (Native Spoon in 3.5, 5 and 7 grams) or swimming fish (Tricorool Ryushin 53SHW). I also manage to lure a few brown trout on sight with soft lures mounted on leaded micro heads with tungsten balls.
We want to bivouac at Dets Coubous, post 5, at the end of the route. We also want to start advancing the char quota. But to no avail: the lake has risen at least two meters since our prefishing and the Arctic char seem to have deserted the area... In the end, we gave up and ended the day on a mixed note, with 13 brown trout on the counter. This probably puts us in the top 10 in the intermediate ranking.
In a last-minute twist, we know that our friends Jeremy Seguin and Nico Vindret are in the area, but we don't see them arrive despite the fact that it's past 10 p.m. (the hour after which you can't move), and our concern grows. A few minutes later, we see a headlamp moving around, hoping it's them. Fortunately, they arrived safe and sound, but unfortunately they received a red card, all the more regrettable as they had done some excellent fishing...
Now it's time to go to bed, get some rest, and put the first day's failures behind us.
