"Fishy tales" - The Quest

The quest was to introduce my son Adam to the delights of cat fishing! Adam is infatuated with the pursuit of carp, how had I, a pike angler and more recently a catfish convert, "spawned a carp angler"?
The plans were made, I was to visit Lyon in July on business and Adam was to join me later. Lyon sits astride the two mighty rivers Saone and Rhone both noted for their catfish.
Having sampled the delights of the river Saone previously in the company of angling guide Luke Moffat I decided to enlist his help again in my quest. Based at Tournus just north of Macon about 50 km from Lyon Luke would supply all the tackle and 'guide' us on our trip.

We arrived in sweltering temperatures, thank goodness our hire car had "air conditioning", with the heat came humidity, followed by thunder and lightning storms which gave us an astonishing night time spectacle. Not ideal fishing conditions, but with only two days fishing available, we had to make the best of the situation.

The first afternoon we launched some 20 km downstream of Tournus, looking for less "pressured" fishing. Luke attracts a lot of attention from Europe 's growing band of do-it-yourself cat anglers who concentrate their fishing near his base.

We start to drift downstream with the flow as Luke "clonks". This unusual method, for those unfamiliar, is a technique that requires a wooden stick like instrument with a plunger on one end, this is flicked through the waters surface creating a "bloopping" sound, which induces the catfish, to wake from their daytime resting mode and take your bait! Strange or what?
The bait, directly under the "clonk" is in the prime position, as Luke was clonking his bait would be the most likely to be taken first. Adam's was close to Luke keeping his bait near to the attracting area as possible, whilst I'm positioned at the other end of the boat hand lining my eel live bait and following the bottom contours as instructed by our guide. The next few hours produce a handful of "iffy" takes to both Adam and Luke. The eels are only hooked with a large single hook in the tail, to prevent tangles, most of the takes are missed. This hooking arrangement doesn't normally cause any problems when the cats are feeding but today the fish are not swallowing the bait, they're swimming off a short distance while holding the eel in the middle or by the head, in fact anywhere that hasn't got a hook and then proceed to drop the bait! Adam makes contact with one fish which gives a couple of nods on the rod tip before falling off! We finally concede defeat as yet another storm closes in on us and Adam and Luke decide that it's too risky to continue fishing, pussies!

Next day Luke isn't too optimistic as the unsettled weather continues. Plan A, we fish a deep hole near the town centre of Macon which is full of small fish to 35lbs. Plan B, we can fish the more sheltered, but smaller river Saile, which only has two possible catfish holding spots. I plumb for the latter. Adam and I are already resigned to struggling again but a change of scenery on a new river might just be the right move?

The Saile is much like our local river Medway in size. As promised the strong wind hardly effects our fishing. We anchor up and fish our float fished eel live baits into a deep hole for a couple of hours without any success. A move to the only other spot saw us negotiate the locks which give us access to a beautiful weirpool. First approach, was to drift through the pool whilst "clonking". Luke has a take which he gives to Adam but unfortunately the cat drops the bait before he can strike. Another drift through and Adam has a chance, his float zooms under and line spills from his reel, slowly the line straightens then falls slack, before he can strike! What has he got to do to join the club? We anchor for a while to rest the spot, the time is slipping by and it seems Adam's chance of a fish are also slipping away. A short bust of rain doesn't dampen our appetite. We decide to give it another try at "clonking" and drifting the pool. I raise my eel and then slowly allow the bait to swim off to the bottom but this time something's different maybe its found yet another snag? I'm not sure why but very gently I lower my rod and feed line out, just in case. Suddenly the float is dragged under and line fizzes through the rod, "Adam grab this rod it's a take"! A pause, the float surfaces we all look at each other, not another dropped run? Then I notice the floats riding too high in the water, the cats still got the bait, once more the float submerges, "strike now we both shout in unison". A firm strike meets solid resistance and finally Adam's hooked his first catfish. Much grunting and straining later and Luke expertly grabs the fish and heaves it into the boat. The expression on my sons face is priceless, thank you Luke.
Its weight? Well at 54lbs it was no monster but to Adam it's a memory he'll cherish forever.
Andy Lush.