A proper Zander

[Mole-Patrol]

Have you eve been up there CM?

We have been a few times in the motorhome just holidaying, not fishing. It is really strange with all the anglers fishing for predators despite the lake holding good stocks of bait fish which run to a good size. The boat anglers have all the modern gadgetry and trolling gear whilst some of the old anglers fishing off the bridge are proper (French) old-school. Five or six rods leaning against the railings over a distance of 50 or more metres from the angler who will be paying no notice to his rods and busy chatting with other anglers who are fishing the same way. The bite indication is old-school too. Each rod has a loop of line wound around a large pebble that is then placed on the railings. When the pebble falls 20 feet into the water the angler ambles over to the rod followed by everybody else of course and by the time he has wound in the fish has left the bait or is gut hooked. And of course every fish is taken for the pot. I have no idea how they land larger fish as there were no drop nets that I could see.

A friend of ours was up there a few years ago and an angler fishing for pike from the shore landed a good sized salmon. It may have travelled up the Creuse system as they are stocking the tributaries.

If there was somewhere nearby to park the MH I think that I would have a couple of days up there after roach. I bet there are some crackers in Vassiviere.

[Coral Maestro]

Have you eve been up there CM?

We have been a few times in the motorhome just holidaying, not fishing. It is really strange with all the anglers fishing for predators despite the lake holding good stocks of bait fish which run to a good size. The boat anglers have all the modern gadgetry and trolling gear whilst some of the old anglers fishing off the bridge are proper (French) old-school. Five or six rods leaning against the railings over a distance of 50 or more metres from the angler who will be paying no notice to his rods and busy chatting with other anglers who are fishing the same way. The bite indication is old-school too. Each rod has a loop of line wound around a large pebble that is then placed on the railings. When the pebble falls 20 feet into the water the angler ambles over to the rod followed by everybody else of course and by the time he has wound in the fish has left the bait or is gut hooked. And of course every fish is taken for the pot. I have no idea how they land larger fish as there were no drop nets that I could see.

A friend of ours was up there a few years ago and an angler fishing for pike from the shore landed a good sized salmon. It may have travelled up the Creuse system as they are stocking the tributaries.

If there was somewhere nearby to park the MH I think that I would have a couple of days up there after roach. I bet there are some crackers in Vassiviere.

I drove around the shores of Vassaviere when I was house hunting about 3-4 years ago. I saw a couple of guys fishing a large bay and they seemed to be set up for carp. It looks like the sort of water where there could be some enormous fish but locating them could be problematic.
Are there any bream there? It looks like a big bream water.

[Mole-Patrol]

Have you eve been up there CM?

We have been a few times in the motorhome just holidaying, not fishing. It is really strange with all the anglers fishing for predators despite the lake holding good stocks of bait fish which run to a good size. The boat anglers have all the modern gadgetry and trolling gear whilst some of the old anglers fishing off the bridge are proper (French) old-school. Five or six rods leaning against the railings over a distance of 50 or more metres from the angler who will be paying no notice to his rods and busy chatting with other anglers who are fishing the same way. The bite indication is old-school too. Each rod has a loop of line wound around a large pebble that is then placed on the railings. When the pebble falls 20 feet into the water the angler ambles over to the rod followed by everybody else of course and by the time he has wound in the fish has left the bait or is gut hooked. And of course every fish is taken for the pot. I have no idea how they land larger fish as there were no drop nets that I could see.

A friend of ours was up there a few years ago and an angler fishing for pike from the shore landed a good sized salmon. It may have travelled up the Creuse system as they are stocking the tributaries.

If there was somewhere nearby to park the MH I think that I would have a couple of days up there after roach. I bet there are some crackers in Vassiviere.

I drove around the shores of Vassaviere when I was house hunting about 3-4 years ago. I saw a couple of guys fishing a large bay and they seemed to be set up for carp. It looks like the sort of water where there could be some enormous fish but locating them could be problematic.
Are there any bream there? It looks like a big bream water.

It does look like a big roach and bream water and those pike and zander don't get that big eating themselves. But the only anglers that I have seen were all to a man and boy, fishing for predators.

Where to fish? A couple of times that we were up there I got chance to plumb the depth and do a bit of fish spotting (I always have my plumbing rod, bino's and polaroids even on non fishing holidays). If I do get up there I will head for the northern shore between Auphelle and Masgrangeas. Those two bays will collect the warm water from a southerly wind and the depth increases more gradually than some of the other areas. Also, you can get to the point of the headland between the two bays and I think that might be a good place to ambush fish passing from one bay to the other.

The problem for me is that it is almost two hours travelling to get there and there are no lakeside places to stay in the MH. I found an old, derelict camp site right on the shore, but there are signs prohibiting overnight stays so it means driving to and from a nearby town each day.

[Dave Burr]

This one was caught by 'Small Hand Luke' at Lac Vassiviere. Recorded as 105cm



https://www.gite-location-vassiviere.co ... vassiviere

Undoubtably a fine zander but it does beg the old question, will his finger go up his nostril? I suspect not. Why do people hold fish out for the camera? especially phone cameras which exaggerate the foreground. I've seen people holding 50 and 60lb carp at arm's length - why and how?

[Mole-Patrol]

His left hand is in the same plane as the tail. You should be able to judge from comparing the two that the fish is huge.

[Kev D]

This one was caught by 'Small Hand Luke' at Lac Vassiviere. Recorded as 105cm



https://www.gite-location-vassiviere.co ... vassiviere

Undoubtably a fine zander but it does beg the old question, will his finger go up his nostril? I suspect not. Why do people hold fish out for the camera? especially phone cameras which exaggerate the foreground. I've seen people holding 50 and 60lb carp at arm's length - why and how?

I think with a fish this length it is legitimate as it ensures the fish fills the frame without looking like an attempt to exagerate its size and minimises the amount of background around the fish and angler.
No need to do that with a stumpy pig- like carp. I totally agree though about the optimists who send arms length pictures of claimed specimen roach and the like to the angling press. The fish may look bigger that way but so does the tip of the thumb they forgot to hide
Coincidentally , I am using lock down to develop a
" Hands-Free Captive Fish Support System " that minimises the risk of wayward digits appearing in the photograph. Mainly aimed at the Named Fish carp and barbel sector, it consists of a chest harness worn by the angler ; from which protrudes an adjustable ,barbed harpoon on which the fish is impaled.

[Dave Burr]

This one was caught by 'Small Hand Luke' at Lac Vassiviere. Recorded as 105cm


Coincidentally , I am using lock down to develop a
" Hands-Free Captive Fish Support System " that minimises the risk of wayward digits appearing in the photograph. Mainly aimed at the Named Fish carp and barbel sector, it consists of a chest harness worn by the angler ; from which protrudes an adjustable ,barbed harpoon on which the fish is impaled.

Sounds like a winner

[Liphook]

The chest trident!

[Shaun Harrison]

This zander was caught from a reservoir in the Correze, France. I've seen an english zander over 16lbs which was impressive but this one weighed 25lbs!

It was caught 1st February 2012 on one of my Rahja Spice boilies during a carp match and officially weighed.

[Coral Maestro]

This zander was caught from a reservoir in the Correze, France. I've seen an english zander over 16lbs which was impressive but this one weighed 25lbs!

It was caught 1st February 2012 on one of my Rahja Spice boilies during a carp match and officially weighed.

Thanks for confirming the weight Shaun. I did actually fish the water with deadbaits for zander following the publication of this picture but all I could catch was small pike. Perhaps I should use Rahja Spice boilies!