Pelamid

seaguar abrazx fluorocarbon fishing line
Not sure if this available in Europe yet. I bought some off ebay from a US supplier. Postage was not cheap but it still worked out cheaper than other Seaguar fluorocarbon lines here.
I have been using the 15lb in rocky swims for barbel, it's proving very tough and has taken a few carp between 14lb - 19lb as well.
 
The braid hook length materials do not work for me here on the river Lot, France. Tried a few now, but few bites and no fish!
   

I think a lot of the problem with braid hook links is due to crayfish, and for you poisson chat fiddling with rigs. 

seaguar abrazx fluorocarbon fishing line
Not sure if this available in Europe yet. I bought some off ebay from a US supplier. Postage was not cheap but it still worked out cheaper than other Seaguar fluorocarbon lines here.
I have been using the 15lb in rocky swims for barbel, it's proving very tough and has taken a few carp between 14lb - 19lb as well.
 
The braid hook length materials do not work for me here on the river Lot, France. Tried a few now, but few bites and no fish!
   

seaguar abrazx fluorocarbon fishing line
Not sure if this available in Europe yet. I bought some off ebay from a US supplier. Postage was not cheap but it still worked out cheaper than other Seaguar fluorocarbon lines here.
I have been using the 15lb in rocky swims for barbel, it's proving very tough and has taken a few carp between 14lb - 19lb as well.
 
The braid hook length materials do not work for me here on the river Lot, France. Tried a few now, but few bites and no fish!
   

seaguar abrazx fluorocarbon fishing line
Not sure if this available in Europe yet. I bought some off ebay from a US supplier. Postage was not cheap but it still worked out cheaper than other Seaguar fluorocarbon lines here.
I have been using the 15lb in rocky swims for barbel, it's proving very tough and has taken a few carp between 14lb - 19lb as well.
 
The braid hook length materials do not work for me here on the river Lot, France. Tried a few now, but few bites and no fish!
   

Hi there. I've been looking for information regarding Barbel fishing on the Dordogne as I'm often in that area. I've fished a couple of times on the Dordogne near Gluges but with little success although I've seen plenty of fish there. I was just dabbling as normally I visit the region to dive the caves in the region which spans as far north as the Dordogne and south to the Lot. The Cele is between these two rivers. Many of the cave entrances are in the rivers and diving there I've seen loads of fish particularly when I'm in the water in winter as the cave water temperature is a contant 12c-13c all year around. In the main Chub although a few Barbel too. I once decided to put some boilies on the Cele river bed, go dive and take a look on my return a couple of hours later. The boilies were all gone and it ceratinly wasn't the flow and at a depth of maybe six feet. I then tried another experiment putting mixed groundbait in comprising crushed boilies, hemp, mini pellets, meat etc and then left a GoPro to film what happended. In 90 minutes of footage I saw plenty of Chub then a big Pike came through and scared all off. A while later the Chub returned and a couple of Barbel paid a visit too. I've canoed down the Dordogne too and seen a few Barbel as well as a couple of small Carp maybe 8 lbs to 10 lbs. So the fish are there and the signs by the river describing the species in the river refer to Barbel. 

This year (if Covid allows) I plan to go to the Dordogne area again diving but will give fishing the river a proper go rathan just a dabble. I do feel natural baits might work better unless one does plenty of pre-baiting. I used to drop ground bait from a bridge I often used to cross and see what fish it attracted. After a few days and baiting a couple of times a day the bridge supports had loads of fish feeding! But it took a while and not just hours. 

The similarities between us Pelamid continue. I too have a “Tarpon that got away” story relating to a visit to the Republique de Guinea. I have copied and pasted the story from a book I am writing (but will probably never publish). Like you, I am no longer inclined to travel and look forward to making the best of the opportunities which surround me here near the Pyrenees SW of Toulouse. If you are ever down this way, make contact, and I will buy you une pression. As this is really a carp forum perhaps we should keep other hair raising fishing stories for then.
 
My story:-
 
One day, we found it very hard to catch any bait in our net. We went to the market but, because of bad weather conditions, there were no fish for sale. Someone at the fish market suggested we might ask at a fishing village a little way down the coast.
We set off for that village and beached our modern survey launch alongside a motley collection of dugout canoes. We were taken to the head man and we explained, in the best French we could muster, that we needed some bait for fishing.
Before getting into a discussion about fishing, we were offered some food which it would have been impolite to refuse. Their main sustenance was of course fish. This was preserved by smoking it on a wooden platform covered with banana leaves under which a fire was lit. The fish were smoked whole, complete with eyes and teeth and fins etc and served whole. The smoking process turned the skin a black brown oily colour and it looked most unappetising. The fish did not resemble any edible species we were familiar with. However we had very little chance of refusing what had been placed before us. The fish is eaten cold and pulled off the bone with the fingers but to our complete surprise, that fish was the best tasting food I have ever eaten, before or since.
The head man said that all we had to do to catch fish was to make a lure out of a banana leaf. He then showed us how it was made. The final result was something that resembled a small imitation squid. In fact I had some plastic imitation squid in my tackle box and showed them to him asking if they were any good. He made a big joke of it and insisted that we must be professional fishermen to have such classy tackle and we would have no problem catching fish. I felt this was said in a rather tongue in cheek fashion but my linguistic skills were not up to the occasion.
He told us how to use the imitation squid and where to go to get fish. We thanked him profusely, repaid his hospitality with some cold cokes from our cool box and started to take our leave. Before we did, he said he was sending one of his men with us just to make sure we understood what to do. He was so delighted with the gift of a large supply ice cold cokes that he wanted to offer us something more and apologised for being so poor. I asked him if I could take one of the many turtle shells that were lying discarded around the village. The contents had long since been eaten and there are just so many that you can use as utensils.  I did think that it would polish up well and look rather nice on the wall at home. I was in for a shock as I will explain later!
We set off with his man and followed his rather dubious instructions. Instead of heading out to sea, he insisted on sticking close to the shore at a steady pace. We were to let our lines out behind the boat and let the imitation squid just flap along the surface of the water. I remarked that it was a very unlikely way to catch mackerel or whatever bait fish it was we were supposed to be catching. My suspicions were confirmed when the motor of the outdrive started banging against rocks showing that we were only fishing in a few feet of water. I pulled a face and grimaced at our guide shaking my head. He returned with a grin and nodding of his head urging us to continue.
It happened in a split second. A fish, that was much bigger than me, attacked the lure at speed. It jumped clear of the water and turned a graceful somersault before falling back on my line and breaking it immediately before getting away. When I recovered the power of speech, I asked him what type of fish it was. The answer was a Tarpon, a member of the herring family.  Some herring!
 When I got back to the fishing village I asked my new friend, the head man, if that was the type of fish he normally catches and if so how does he go about it. He confirmed it was their preferred catch and showed me his equipment. It was simply a long piece of very strong monofilament wound around a piece of wood. At one end of the line was his lure made from banana leaf and at the other a simple loop.
His fishing method was to paddle along in his dugout canoe with the loop of the line hooked around his elbow and the line streaming out behind with the lure flapping on the surface. As he paddled, this gave a certain jerking movement to the lure which proves extremely attractive to other fish.
I asked him how big the Tarpon were that he caught.
“Between 60 and 80 kilo” was the reply.
“But surely catching a fish that size on a length of line looped round your elbow must be very painful” I suggested.
“Oh yes” he replied and rolled up his sleeve to show deep scars etched into his skin!
 

Wow it seems that your fishing experiences parallel my own!
I fortunately had a job that meant I had to travel to many different countries. In 1983, not wanting to miss a fishing opportunity, I had a travel rod made for me. It was based on a powerful Zipplex blank that people were using for bass at that time. It is not telescopic like yours but is four sections kept in a length of plastic drainpipe.
It has caught me many many fish including a hammer head shark well into three figures taken using uptide casting methods.
 Although it is 36 years old, it is still being used. It makes a good spod rod and is just about to come into use on a new lake I have found where there are lots of submerged fallen trees. It has the muscle to bully a big fish away soon enough.
 
 

 
I have attached a photo of the only souvenir I have of those days. The photo witnesses a fish that was bigger than the one caught by the “Extreme Fishing” chap who set out to catch one in one of his TV programs. I know on a carp forum people are squeamish about killing fish but this one fed several hungry Africans
 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F302558070879
Not sure if this would help any of you may make it easier 👍

Welcome to Carp.com.
 

Thanks for the reply. Montluçon is an almost 4 hour drive north for me, interesting maybe? 
Yes, the B word might be considered "swearing" on some forums! Not trying to dwell on the politics, just gets me depressed!
I first read of the Lot fishing in the '70's I think. Somehow seem to have found my way here almost by accident! Anyway, it's a good place to be and glad to be into some fishing which is new to me. Just what I needed!
 

Carpepecheur, I shall follow your threads with interest! 
My wife and I moved to France two years ago and are near the river Lot. We have had some good fish but only a couple of tiny carp, still have a lot to learn!
 

Carpepecheur, I shall follow your threads with interest! 
My wife and I moved to France two years ago and are near the river Lot. We have had some good fish but only a couple of tiny carp, still have a lot to learn!
 

Thanks for the reply. Montluçon is an almost 4 hour drive north for me, interesting maybe? 
Yes, the B word might be considered "swearing" on some forums! Not trying to dwell on the politics, just gets me depressed!
I first read of the Lot fishing in the '70's I think. Somehow seem to have found my way here almost by accident! Anyway, it's a good place to be and glad to be into some fishing which is new to me. Just what I needed!