| Ocean Fresh team on Lac Du Der. |
| Friday morning 17 September we left next with 2 cars from Holland to Lac du Der. We wer in hurry to get down and secure our per-booked night swims pegs 29 and 30 that Marc paid for ordered from his visit last season and with the success he had rebooked for our turn. After a shorten conversation with Belgian and French fishermen we concluded that the Belgians on peg 30 had nicely caught with two heavy fish of 40 Dutch ponds UK 44lbs. On peg 29 on the other hand it was a grim story with no fish captured the entire week. The Belgians on peg 30 said they were fishing with Ocean Fresh boilies and hadn’t caught anything, this was something we had never heard off or experience ourselves. After a night under the clear skies we slept in peg 28 until morning and then when our pegs were free, we took our zodiac on the main lake to explore the water in front of us with our echo. We became aware immediately that due to the heat wave there was a lot of water missing, the mud flat went onwards and we put our pods on places where the previous year would have been 3m below the water surface. We realized quickly that there was not much deep water in front of us. In fact we had to wade out with our rods as far as we could risk it, otherwise we would be fishing in water on a few feet deep and for Du Der in drought season this is a NO NO. We used the H-markers at either end of the bar we had found and indicated the spot that we would feed and fish from. After the first 6 hours of setting up and getting our 3 or 4 rods baited up and out in our zone. The first delkim alarm sang a sweet and pleasant tune to our eyes and Patrick below had the first run of the session. After a short and panic-stricken situation, Patrick and Marcel came quickly back to shore in the zodiac with one extra passenger. The first Du Der carp was a fine mirror of 33 pounds. UK 36.30lb. |
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After the dinner and with base camp set up, tiredness from the long haul set in quickly and we all turned in for the night. I dozed in my sleeping bag then I awake to a flyer, mine!!, “BEEEEEEEP” I ran with one foot half in a boot to my rods out in the water and hit the screaming rod, soon Patrick was standing next to me armed with the landing net. In the complete darkness we decided no to use the boat but to drill the carp to the bank instead. This resulted in a beautiful mirror of 28 pounds UK30.8lb, So we were content with our first days fishing. Both of us had caught carp instantly, firstly a 30 and now a 28 ponder. Early hours of the morning came andwe looked back at a very productive start. In Patrick and my spot we had 5 runs and landed 3 fish. Marc and Marcel in the peg net door had 3 small carps.
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After the customary ritual of weighing and photographs, we wanted to celebrate with the enjoyment of a golden brown brew, we could look back on a good 1st night. In the late afternoon came the preparations for the 2e night. Lucky for us the wind was again yet good, the sun in abundance present temperature was around 20 degrees and a calm southwest with a power of 2. In the early morning Patrick rod was the first to take to start and in a period of two hours we landed another three carp, one of the three caught carps with a brilliant 35lb UK38.5lb Mirror. Our neighbouring friends Marcel and Mark had pleasure also with few fish until just over the 20 pounds.
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On the third day the weather turned for the worst, the wind changed to a westerly and with it came the pouring rain. We were pacing up and down our bank consistently for security, we were out side trying to pin down the bivvi from blowing away. The seams of the tent were busting under the pressure of the rain and wind and with no solid ground we were frighten for our tents to stay down and not blowing away. Hen the bad weather finally past. We could relax once more. We were sitting in our bivvi when Patrick came running over with a big smile on his face. His fishing partner Marc had just landed in this bad weather a big common weighing 45lb UK49.5lb. Shortly after Marc came to us and I congratulated him with this tremendous catch.
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Further to this result Marcel had caught another few carp in the little channel of water in front of him, with the lake so empty all the underground features became visible, in the last three days the water level had dropped 10cms per day, even with the rain storm! The largest of his fish was UK40.7lb below. |
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On the last day, we started packing up and after all the great action we had and nice photographs we were all satisfied on a very product session in the night section of Lac Du Der. |
“Ocean Fresh on Lac du Der…“
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The team was well pleased with the results even with the harsh winds, rain and drought we still produced the most fish caught in that week. Look at where our boat is moored up and where we placed our rods. A lot different method of fishing than back home in Holland, but being prepared is the key to any foreign fishing trip.
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Peter Edelbroek |
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