Self-take Photography Revisited

Last year I started to take my self-take photography seriously. After landing a 46lb Common at night and not being able to do adequate photos I decided to right things.

My first piece of equipment was the SRB Griturn air release. (See my previous blog post). The item was shown to me by Shaun Harrison and had loads of advantages over simple self timer shots. It worked well and let me take shots once the fish was calm and I was ready. No more dashing round and desperately trying to pose while the fish wriggled and flipped, and putting slimy fingers on an expensive SLR.

The Hanhel Giga T Pro 2…

But as good as the shots were that the system allowed me to get, it was somewhat flawed on a number of levels. Firstly it worked mechanically, an air release pushing a pin that would focus and trip the shutter when you stepped on the ball. On most modern SLR’s the shutter button is angled for ergonomy, and made of shiny plastic.This means that the pin can slip and not trip the shutter. Shaun’s idea of putting some velcro in the button went some way to solving this, but the very fact that the pin was not pressing directly down on the shutter made it very fiddly to set up and on more than one occasion it refused to fire.

It was very frustrating to set it all up pose with the fish but not be able to get a shot. When this happened I hadn’t much option but to release the fish (for its own well being) and forget a trophy shot.

I then read a piece by Elie Godsi on the Quest Baits blog about an electronic option made by Hanhel.

Interactive Brochure

After putting a downloadable PDF brochure on the website last week. I’ve been working on a flip book type interactive version, that can be posted on websites or sent out as an e-mail.

This simple online version of a paper brochure can be read on screen, with pages that turn just like a real glossy magazine.

Its quite simple, just click on the photo or the link: Interactive Brochure  in this post and you will open the brochure online.  All you need to do to read it, is to either drag the bottom right corner, to turn a page or simply click in the corner and the pages turns as well.

If you need a download version click on the PDF link. This can be printed out.  Downloadable Brochure

Weather forecast for Reims | Local | France

I found this site on the net which gives a pretty accurate weather forecast for our region.

Weather forecast for Reims | Local | France.

cheers

Gareth

I Guess Winter Finally Arrived!!

It’s amazing that in one week the weather can change so radically. Just one week ago I was packing up after landing my second biggest common ever. The outside temperatures were in the 5°C and it was fairly overcast. The water temp was 6°C during that weekend.

Last Session for January and my Second 40lb+ Common

41lb 8oz Second January Forty

With the weather forecast announcing the arrival of a prolonged cold snap next week, I felt that I had to get back out and do a couple more nights before the cold eventually put an end to the carp’s willingness to feed in winter.

The first few days of the week had been very wet so I was waiting for a 48 hours window of fairly dry weather in which I could wet a line. I really don’t like fishing in the rain. The odd shower is okay, but constant rain I just find depressing.
So Friday dawned bright and dry with a reasonable weekend in sight, and I loaded the car to drive down to the Tortue lake.
I elected to fish the same peg (14) where I’d caught all my fish so far this year. Why change, as the fish were obviously visiting this area? I know from experience they often don’t go far in winter. The water in the lakes was a fairly uniform 6°C.

Chilling in the Hammock

I’d made up a half a dozen PVA bags the night before, filled with 5mm carp pellets and broken Proline Red Devil boilies, so getting the lines out was a very quick affair this time. I had been using Quest Baits Pineapple, as I wanted a smaller  & instant bait for winter, but having run out, I only had the lake specials to use. My hook baits were hi viz tutti fruitti pops fished snowman style. I was hoping that a fluoro bait would give me a chance in the day time, as all the fish so far, had come at night.
With the baits in place and the hammock set up I made myself some dinner.  I climbed into the sack at around 8pm. I lay there reading before eventually dozing off.
At about 5am, a couple of bleeps and a steady run, on my left hand rod, signaled that I’d had a take. The fish did nothing special before rolling into the net. At 25lb it was a nice start. I did a couple of pictures and slipped her back.

What’s happened to Winter?

Croix Blanche 2010: What has happened to Winter this year?

Its funny how the years pass and are so different. One year we have a heatwave in the summer and the next it’s cold and wet.
Take the Winter; this time last year we were in the north pole, we had several feet of snow. In fact it was the heaviest in living memory for most of the people in my village. The temperatures plummeted well below freezing and the lakes were solid for well over a month.

So how different it is this year. 2012 comes in with the warmest start in over 100 years. In fact 2011 was the warmest year on average since records began. We are still yet to have a significant frost…
Its strange that we don’t seem to have regular and proper seasons any more. If proof were needed 2011 is a good case study. We had a spring that was not only exceptionally dry, but the hottest on record. Temperatures were up as high as the mid thirties by mid May.

The summer then quite simply didn’t happen. After a rainy, cold July, August was barely better. The Autumn however did give us some fine and sunny weather.

42lb 10oz Common from the Tortue.

Seddik with his new PB common at 42lb 10oz

Well the season is on us and most anglers are turning their thoughts to coming to France for a session. I’ve been busy preparing the venue but have been able to take some time out while I can to have a dabble myself. It’s just too tempting in the lovely weather we have been enjoying in northern France for the last few weeks.

So it was that when a French mate Seddik expressed interest in doing a 48 hours on the venue I thought I’d join him.
Now I’d seen a fair few fish moving down by pegs 11 & 12 so it was here we decided to start.  I set up in 11 while Seddik went into 12.
Straight away it was obvious there were fish in front of us. Some were cruising and odd one boshed out in front of our swims.
Seddik placed his baits along the left hand margin with one other straight out to the open water. One of his margin rods being a zig popped up about 1.5m. For my part I managed to find the gravel bar in front of peg 10 and place one bait there, another popped up too 1.5m on the plateau and the final bait dropped in the margins.
After a BBQ with my wife and step-daughter we turned in for the night. I’d not long climbed into the bag when I had a drop back on the gravel bar rod. Winding down I finally made contact with a fish and banked a nice clean mirror that weighed in at a tad under thirty at 29lb 10oz. Not a bad start after only a few hours. The night proved quiet on our rods but loads of fish were crashing out, even right over my margin rod. It was difficult to sleep.

Young Dutch Carpers get off to a cracking start

46lb 2oz Mirror from peg 13

Two young Dutch carpers braved the icy nights and frosty mornings to get off to a cracking start at the Croix Blanche Lakes complex.
Early March is often an uncertain time fishing wise as we are only just breaking into Spring. But Joey Boots & Nick Lemmen made the most of a quiet period at the venue to tempt some nice fish.

The duo set up on peg 6 in front of the mobile home, which they had decided to rent out to improve the comfort factor for the week, and managed a couple of smaller fish 14lb & 18lb in the early part of the week, despite night time temperatures that went down to -3 and heavy frosts that left the whole lake blanketed in white at dawn.

The weather picked up mid week after a short bout of rain and the temperatures remained positive round the clock. Fish began to show so they immediately placed lines on these areas. Their change of tactics was rewarded initially by a nice mirror just under 30lb at 29lb 7oz.

Spring is in the Air

Well despite the cold, the weather has a distinctly spring like feel to it this week. Here in northern France we’ve been bathed in bright sunshine  with clear blue skies for the last few days.
I took the opportunity to get the rods out, (my new Freespirit Hi S to be precise). The days, while warm in the sun, around 15°C, were very cold and night and both mornings I was out, I awoke with frost on my Trakker cover. I guess we were getting -3°C. (Kind of miss the old campervan, with its heating and cooker)

The fish showed a few signs of activity, and I heard a few very large swirl at night, but not more than the odd beep came to our rods over the two days at the water.The catfish don’t seem to be at all active yet if the frantic diving activity of the coots is anything to go by. They usually vaccate the premises once old whiskers wakes up.

I had been hopeful as a couple of Dutch anglers fishing the previous week for pike (they manage a good number too to mid double figures) had managed a couple of moderate sized commons as well, so I’d been hopeful for a run.

Croix Blanche Snow Gallery 2010