First trout of the day
After a first untouched spot, we climb to the top of the lake, notably at the Trieux inlet. Kévin came to fish two weeks ago with his friend Fabien. They had found trout mainly on the upper part of the lake and had caught quite a few trout that day, especially on boobies.
We set the anchor and I attack with intermediate silk, because on this part of the lake, the depth is between 1 m and 1.5 m maximum. I rarely fish this spot, but I trust Kévin.
I've rigged up a small white streamer with an orange helmet, a classic, and a booby sparkler in the stem. On the second cast, I took a light touch and hooked up. Here comes the first trout of the day. A male with a beautiful coat.
Then nothing in the intermediate silk after throwing in different directions.
I see several trout rising on chiros, but my floating silk rod is still in the car. It's a pity, because even if the gobbles are quite sporadic, it's a type of fishing that I enjoy and makes a change from "traditional" streamer and sinker fishing. On this reservoir, hatchings are not very regular and the tinted waters are rarely conducive to this type of fishing.
Kévin is with the boobies, and I set up my S5 sinking silk rod on which I have mounted a single black booby with a leader of about 1.20 m, following his advice, as it had worked well for them last time. Usually, I use two or three boobies, but sometimes using just one helps to make trout a little more wary, as they're used to seeing several flies in a row.
After a few casts, a second trout took the rod gently. A heaviness on the rod, like a hook on the bottom! It finally starts and takes my line! A pleasure!
I'll continue with this fly and catch several trout. Sometimes the taps are violent, and sometimes gentle. Trout behave very differently. The animations with accelerations will pay off the most. The trout would tap the fly during acceleration and hardly ever on the pause. Most of them will have cased the fly, a sign that they like the pattern. Still, we looked for fishing and tested different animations, and Kévin's pattern had no results.
At the end of the morning, Kévin caught his first trout with a black booby. It seems to be a color that's working today.
Localized fish
After a lunch break in the special room, where you can eat inside and drink a hot beverage, we set off again for the same area. The fish were there and we had to make the most of it. Sometimes they are very localized and some areas seem empty. Two float tube anglers we know are only fishing up there today, and maybe that's a reason. They're regulars who know the lake. Personally, I come here 4/5 times a year, during the winter.
I set up my rod for the chiro, but no more gobbling. By late morning the easterly wind had picked up and must have cooled the water. In any case, it stopped the gobbles, as we won't see another one all afternoon except at the end of the day when the wind dies down.
I go back to the black booby and quickly catch three trout that always respond well to the morning's animation. They're nice and fit, and bend the rods well. A pleasure!
Kévin looks for and changes flies several times, but they just ignore him!
After these fish, I decide to try floating silk with a train of two chiros. I'm fed up with fishing the same way and I'm already glad to have caught these fish.
After about 30 minutes without a hit, when it was time to stop, I took a small pull on the silk and missed the shoeing because I didn't believe in it anymore! What a shame! I try a few more casts, but I get the feeling I'm not fishing!
We move on to try the other inlet, but there's no sign of the floating silk chiro or the "inter" silk streamer, and no sign of the booby either. I'm feeling a bit tired, as the jet lag from my recent trip is still present and digestion is rather long!
We move the boat again and try for a tree-lined edge well fished by our float tube buddies. This is one of my favorite spots.
After several tries, still nothing, I take a big bite near the boat. I hooked it, but the fish flew off! It's infuriating, especially as it's been a while since we've caught a fish.
Then I decide to try a rolly polly with my plunging line and booby. On the first cast, I get a superb tap. The bites when reeling in this way are really violent, as the line is taut and reeled in quite quickly. Just great!
We insist a little but nothing more!
We decide to go in front of the restaurant and the local, where the trout generally like to hang out as it's the deepest part of the lake. It's often one of the best areas of the lake in winter. But Kévin tells me he didn't catch any trout there last time. I'd like to give it a try, as we've had some great fishing here in the past. In fact, there were no bites here today either. What a surprise!
You don't have to do the right thing, because there must be a few fish in there after all!
It's easy to miss out on fishing when you're in a reservoir. You need to have the mental strength and motivation to try out different densities of lines, animations and flies. We're often lazy, and that can be costly!
We make one last boat trip to the edge opposite, where the trees overhang the lake. This is often a good spot too, as trout like to maraud under the branches that provide room and board.
Kévin took a good slap and landed a nice trout on a dark booby. This fish is a real treat, as it's been a long afternoon!
As for me, I haven't tapped my booby, even though it's been working fine for most of the day. The float tube anglers are catching fish on the upper part of the lake. Maybe we made the wrong choice in leaving this area.
A few chiro hatchlings will bring up the trout
The wind drops and we see several trout taking a few chiros here and there. I'm so keen to fish this way that I try again, even though the gobbles are much smaller than this morning. I remove one of my nymphs and set up a shipman buzzer and a small unweighted nymph 60 cm below. The gobbles are a long way off, but I wait and slowly knit my train of flies.
At last, a gobbler nearby. I cast quickly at it. The trout moves to the left and I try to intercept its trajectory, as it has only gobbled once!
Nothing. Then I cast even further left, set my leader and turn my head for two seconds to try and find another gobble when I feel a slight tension. I turn around and see the eddy! It had gone up. She's still there and following, but she'll refuse this time! I stay another ten minutes waiting for a gobage, but they'll be too far away and very rare. Kévin has folded his "gaules" and I don't want to keep him waiting.
I should have fished with a chiro this morning, because this evening hatchings and gobbles are very rare! Too bad! That's for another time.
The next reservoir outing will certainly be at the end of the year. We'll be fishing for trout in the river in a few weeks' time, and for sea bass from the beginning of April!
