Steve and I had been invited by our lifelong friend Martin Locke on his annual Solar trip to Teillates , I thought it was a bit early as the lake can by quite moody at this time of the year. The Nogent had already been caught at a great weight of 77 pound by new bailiff Martin and the previous weeks party had struggled with a dozen or so fish to 12 anglers. There would be seven anglers on the lake Martin Locke , Dave the Wave , Dave Hyham , Pete " Bomber" , Martin the new bailiff , Steve and I . All competent anglers in the own right with a list of huge fish behind them . The scene was set.
Steve had just moved to his new job as bailiff on the new Korda Road Lake so I went down on the Friday to pick him up and have a bit of a social with Dan Turtle and young Martin from Sparsholt College , a young Italian angler was there too waiting to get on Gigantica for the Freespirit week . We had a nice meal of steak and rice and a few red wines before getting some sleep ready for the 4am start and drive to Noyen Sur Siene , about 50 miles.
We arrived at the lake early and phoned Martin who was asleep in the hut, he sounded awful as they had been drinking until 4am with Jake the bailiff , always a mistake to drink with Jake as I have fallen foul to his antics in the past . We went down to Bray to get a coffee and some food to pass the time . All exciting stuff as the lake looked fantastic in the early morning spring sun.
A quick walk around and the low down on all the swims , Martin had ended up paying for two places on the trip so we let him have first choice of swim , New Biffos was a predictable option as it has early season form . I went to the bag of balls first and got 1 for the first time and Steve pulled 2 . Great news , Bailiff's point for me and the Rock on the field for Steve .
The first day was a long one , I went out with a sounder and found the features and decided to go for a short spot at 80yds to the back of a plateaux and a long spot in 18ft at 120yds in the middle.
Steve fished the back of the feature in the Rock at 100 yds a known early season hotspot where Tim Oatley had caught 16 fish on an April trip. I got my baits out by 4pm and started on the house etc , Dinner turned up and I stuffed that down . I then noticed Steve playing a fish , the bait had been in the water less than 20 mins and a 46 mirror was on the end . Great start.
I awoke at first light , got on the radio to Steve who had caught a 43 common in the night , Martin caught a 25 also . What happened to my carefully placed traps, not a bleep. Crash a fish jumps to my left in the mouth of a bay, then another and another. I get a rod on them and so does Steve from the field bank. No action all day . What's going on mate?
Steve and I have a chat about tactic , the stringers at jumping fish isn't working as the area has weed and chod so time to find some spots and set the traps . I go for a short clear area close in with half a kilo of Boilies , Steve a known hotspot where we have done well on at the foot of a feature 80 yds from the Stump swim.
All is set , first light Monday morning and only Martin has had a fish at 20lbs . Steve and I meet at Mannys and chat , another fish rolls . What's occurring here then ??? I walk back to my swim and as I get close one of the 80 yd rods is away , a short spirited fight and I have a 20 something in the net 5 mins later the other rod is off and a 30 something is in the net , then one of the long rods goes and I have another 20 in the net . Lucky I brought 3 nets.
The day is slow and warm , I have a re bait with a couple of kilo and reposition the rods . The sun dips and i'm confident of a bite again , 7pm and the short rod is away , a fast fight and a 32 linear in the net , great . I put him back and get a drop back on one of the long rods and another 30 , cast it back out and I'm off agian with another 30 . Can't be bad , I'm off to bed .
I'm awake to another slow take from the 80yd spot , the fish takes line steadily until its well out in the lake 5 mins go by and I have still haven't gained line and it's moving very slowly right , I get two pumps in and the hooks pulls , gutted , it felt like a big un . Back out with the rod I go back to bed to sulk but I'm away again on the same rod , another slow ponderous fight in the morning light and I net a big Common that looks all day 50 it goes 47.8. Steve comes round to do the photos and the short rod is away and a spirited fight results in a 44 common . A great morning angling and 8 fish in 24 hours , bring it on . Steve has also had two in the night 27 and 30.
Dave the wave who is at the other end of the lake makes the move to Mannys , who can blame him and first chuck has a lovely 48 common . Lockie comes over in the boat to see what's going on and I have a mid afternoon take in 18ft of water on the long rods , another 20 something! Things are looking good my old friend , we have a chat about all the Bream Martin is catching , dump the seed I say and you can see he's thinking about tactics.
The week pretty much went to the same routine with morning bites for Steve and I and a few in the night , by Thursday we had clocked up 21 fish but had no bites that morning , the fish had gone and I had found them down in the Crescent and Andys at 2 am , I walked up and down the bank thinking I should move and then went to bed!
I get up and talk to Martin the Balliff who has caught 3 fish in the night , I move to Nice Andys on the edge of the fish , Martin Locke moves to the Shithouse Corner . Traps set, Lockie get a lovely 44 common just like Richard Walker's record. I manage 2 by midnight at 29 and 31 but it's Martin the Bailiff's night 3 fish including a couple of 40s. Steve has a lovely 47 in the middle of the day which looked all day a 50.
The last night was productive , I had another 30 , Martin Locke a Scaley 47, Steve 3 fish to 35 and Martin the Bailiff 4 fish including a 49 and a 50 common." A great week to blow away the winter cobwebs " as Lockie nicely put it. We will be back for the big uns next year.
We pack up and leave it to the Sticky bait crew.
48 fish caught by 7 anglers . 14x40 2x50 . I managed 14 fish and Steve 13.
