37.08
Hi all,
just a quick report after coming back from France where I fished for a week. It was a really tough week with really cold temperatures and hardly any sun! I had to resort to wearing four layers most days as the North Easterly wind that’s been around for ages was really nasty.
I was fishing into thick tall weed in 12′ of water and it was impossible to find the clear spots without full sun, making life really hard. The sun came out briefly Monday afternoon, I found a gorgeous tiny gravely spot and had this lovely 37+ common from it.
I then spent two days trying to find that spot again with a prodding stick. I had two takes off it and had this 32 common – fought like a demon – just look at the paddle on it. Lost the other one and managed a 28 from open water. There were some really big fish caught that week on the lake but I wasn’t lucky to get in amongst them.
Home made rhaja spice pop ups did the job. With a lot of time on my hands I was playing around with a rig I’ve been developing for a while now. I tied a few up on the bank for use on a weedy water when I got back. I really liked the look of what I’d come up with and was itching to try it when I got back. Next time I’ll let you know how I got on, suffice to say my season just got better and better.
Tight Lines, Elie Godsi



When I am in France, I usually select one area and fish all my rods on or at the side of the baited area. I had seen carp moving just below the surface on the shallows so I decided to change my approach to tackle this venue.
I put my rods in the boat and rowed my baits out to 2.5m of water near the dead wood on the opposite shore. Bait was 20mm boilies above a bed of hempseed with boilies cut into pieces – a great mix that I like very much early in the year.




