Our Obsession with Cassien
Alan has always loved and has many fond memories of his families French summer holidays. This combined with his love of angling led to him learning about Cassien in the mid 1980’s. Alan did not need to convince his wife Denise that a holiday in the south of France would be a nice idea in 1986. Two glassfibre North Western carp rods – SS5 and SS6 for you retro carp rod spotters, a couple of Mitchell 300’s and a small selection of items that might have been just about up to catching the UK’s biggest carp at the time were gathered together. These were squeezed into our little VW Polo with all our camping gear plans were in place to fish the famous lake. Finding anything out in advance in those pre internet days was impossible for me so it was going to be trial and error.
I can still remember and am getting the same goosebumps writing this after my first sight of the lake from the A8 motorway exit direction and how staggeringly beautiful the area was with the inviting blue lake containing huge carp sitting in the valley surrounded by the Oak and Pine tree lined hills. The areas landscape is breathtaking and is something that still astounds me today.
I caught my first Cassien fish from the south arm in 1986 – a 1/2lb roach on four pieces of hair rigged sweetcorn! No carp were caught for several summer holiday fishing trips that meant always exploring accessible areas on foot. It very soon became obvious that a boat is an enormous advantage for fishing on Cassien.
My breakthrough came in 2006 when Brian and I were fishing on another famous French carp water – Etang de la Horre in the champagne region. I met a guy who’s name I cannot remember and who after we had shared lots of stories of our Cassien trips said that he had a small aluminium punt kept on Cassien. He said I was welcome to use for free if I wanted. It was kept under the watchful eye of Martin Russell at Gerrards restaurant and I gradually got to know Martin and his family and the wonderful restaurant with the walls filled with poster size pictures of anglers and their prized carp. I remember my first morning that I went down to the boat in the pitch dark just before daybreak with thoughts going through my mind of what his young daughter had told me the previous afternoon about a family of wild boar that she had seen playing on their patio. I did not fancy bumping into any wild boar in the dark especially the larger male one that she had described!
With boat sorted I purchased a fishfinder and off I went in 2006 and I began to explore and fish quite a few of Cassien’s areas in the South arm, West arm and the central basin using this small punt that had been provided with two oars. The North arm seemed a bit daunting with two oars so that would have to wait for another time. Experimenting with different baits that would not be almost immediately devoured by the Poisson chat that were in the lake in huge numbers in those days took some time to hit on a bait that also would take a carps fancy and be ignored by the poison chat.
I persevered and eventually caught my first Cassien carp – a 35lb Mirror carp in 2007 from the West arm. I became a quivering wreck when that first fish was finally safely in the landing net. A friendly German angler fishing opposite me helped me weigh the fish and then took some quick pictures for me and we slipped the fish safely back. I returned to the campsite where we were staying in Frejus to my wife and daughter’s like the cat that had got the cream – I am not sure if they really understood the significance of that catch – it was only a fish! However, a bottle of champagne was opened and cork was marked with the details of my catch and the hook was inserted to make the trophy that I have always done with my “significant” catches. I was presented with a French “diplom de Pecheur” fishing certificate and attached plastic medal purchased from the local newsagents by my wife and daughters to mark the occasion. That carp had taken me years.
If ever the angler who lent me this boat reads this article and would like to contact me I will gladly repay his generosity by making a boat and all the gear available to him whenever he would like it for free.
The lake is a European melting pot of nationalities and you will often find French, Dutch, German, Italian and eastern European all of whom share the common addiction to Cassien. Join the Cassien addicts Facebook group to get a better understanding for the allure of Cassien.
Almost all of the anglers I have ever met have without exception have been very friendly and approachable and I have never had any problems when fishing on the great lake. Stick to the rules, be sensible and give the locals the respect they deserve and you will not go far wrong. Also, be aware that many others enjoy the lake – Rowers, pedalos, swimmers, hikers and try not to upset anyone else enjoying the lakes amenities.
Treat any fishery badly and it will bite you on the bum. Anglers often wonder why they can no longer night fish and I simply point to a number of fishing idiots who trashed the place in the early days. I once wandered along to see an angler who was bivvied up with his girlfriend on the west arm and disgustingly his bivvie was surrounded by literaly several dozen little piles of toilet white tissue. Wonder no more why the National park authority banned the night fishing.
Go with the mindset of taking away more than you bring and try to leave no trace of you being there and that is the sort of respect that we are finally coming to expect from real anglers wherever they fish on any lake, river or sea, home or abroad.
Fast forward a couple of years to 2010 and I was back again with my own 2.6m inflatable and a 55lb thrust electric outboard. With two 110 Amp hour leisure batteries I could go anywhere and I did.
However, my second Cassien carp was a 46lb mirror again from my favourite spot in the West arm. Just a word on taking pictures of your prized catches – in the excitement of the moment you do not always have the sense to think that a picture of you in your blue speedo’s with your prize carp is not a great idea! Get organised with your weighing and think a little about your pictures in advance and have a shirt nearby!
With a couple of fish under my belt I was working on my brother Brian who is a far better angler judged on his results over the years than me to come along for a Cassien adventure. This took place in 2012 and we spent two weeks exploring the north arm. Some French anglers were catching fish and they showed us their pictures. These anglers were always there when we packed up and were always there in the morning when we returned! We stuck to the rules and fished the permitted daylight hours and caught nothing!
We had a break from Cassien for a few years but returned for a summer holiday and then I went back with Brian for a very enjoyable month in September 2018 which mainly concentrated on Cassien but finished off with three nights on Salagou before returning home.
