River Lot report for the last couple of years

[Pelamid]

Forgot my password for a while so never got round to putting up a report of my 2020 carp. This year a few problems distracted me but here finally are a few recent carp photos. 

I was fishing for barbel, but always take my carp rod. When I saw the river at perfect flow and felt it was warming in the sun I felt confident there might be carp about. Put the heavy rod out at long range downriver whilst I fished the feeder rod for barbel.

The 26lb fully scaled came first, then the 29lb "ugly" carp took on my feeder rod. Last was a massive 42lb fully scaled river carp - Dream Fish! I did not take that last one up the bank, released quickly as it had put up a really good fight in the current.

 

I will find a few photos after lunch of last years carp.

 

[Pelamid]

Just got a few minutes, here are last years. All between 14lb and 20lb for me.

But my friend wanted to catch a carp so I had set him up with tackle and he got the biggie at 34lb.

Fishing with friends not always recommended!!!!!

 

[gagnaccarp]

Hi pelamid  , i haven't spent the time to do any serious fishing in France for the last 3 years , how has the restocking of the Lot gone  , are you noticing any increase in numbers yet , i fish around figeac down to St cirq Lapopie ,when i get the time .

 

[Pelamid]

Hi gagnaccarp, no idea how the restocking went but I did see a video where it was mentioned. This is a video showing an angler who really knows what he is doing, fishing my local stretch of river......

 

My fishing has been very much a "mixed-bag" this year. Spring started well but lockdowns have allowed some of my best swims to be vastly overgrown by japanese knotweed, much now over 4 metres high and 30 metres+ depth. my health hiccups this year have not allowed me to do major cut-backs into that.....

Away back in March I had a brilliant short 4 hr session on the Lot about a 14 minute drive from my home. Three wonderful carp of 26lb, 29lb and 44lb in the first three hours and then , after the carp had moved through, finished off with a nice barbel. So, if I counted the ounces, about 100 lb of wild river fish during a morning sat in the Spring sun. If I did not have photos I would now think it a dream!

The summer was a hard shift with variable weather and river flow generally poor. As I mostly fish for the barbel (carp are my by-catch) I had little to talk about. I did catch a 13 lb after losing two to the rocks in my nearest weir, I have been using barbless hooks due to the carp! Even when fishing for barbel you never know if a carp will snaffle your bait. As this stretch has many in the 50lb-70lb range you can guess how that ends on a 1.5lb tc barbel outfit!

Having said that I have had the 29 lb carp and 13 lb carp on the barbel rod!

Now it is autumn the river has a little more flow, nightime temperatures have dropped and the barbel are feeding again. Many are under 2lbs and the only way to avoid them is bigger baits. Unfortunately, although that keeps the average barbel caught at around 4 lbs, the carp like a 20 mm boilie just fine! I hooked on a couple of weeks ago that took about 60 metres of line across the river, then the same downriver - all in seconds! I pumped it back slowly hoping it would head back mid-stream....but it decided to go into fallen trees to my right! 

So many snags, if you want the carp here you really must have an inflatable boat to follow the fish! Follow all the best advice on building rigs that allow the weight to be lost first and the line to fail at the hook-length. No harm in using barbless hooks, these river carp fight so hard these hooks will not fall out during the fight!

I am planning a longer than usual daytime session soon - with the heaviest tackle I have. Best I take my inflatable canoe as well!

 

 

 

[gagnaccarp]

Yep , your mate sure knows what he is doing , some crackers  , dedication paying off there ,The Lot is a magical place for fishing , how many cats are there now , it's been a few years since i got to the Lot ,the last time i went i got beaten up by a big cat ,  i have been just fishing on my local river for the last couple of years , only managed a few short sessions though this year , next year i'm going out for longer so i am hoping for a few more sessions and should manage a trip to the Lot again .

[gagnaccarp]

Also , regarding the barbel , i remember a session i had around ten years ago when i got them going on frolic , i made my own boilies from frolic and chucked some frolic ground bait in that had soaked overnight in water , both rods were going constantly for over an hour , i lost count of how many i caught  but , i think they are called "iberian barbel " i have never caught one over around 4 n 1/2 lb on the Lot , fun though on light tackle , the dordogne river is the place for good size barbel , up to 20 lb on there !

[Pelamid]

one of my better barbel from the Lot, caught about a year ago......

 

[Pelamid]

On 07/10/2021 at 11:44, gagnaccarp said:

Yep , your mate sure knows what he is doing , some crackers  , dedication paying off there ,The Lot is a magical place for fishing , how many cats are there now , it's been a few years since i got to the Lot ,the last time i went i got beaten up by a big cat ,  i have been just fishing on my local river for the last couple of years , only managed a few short sessions though this year , next year i'm going out for longer so i am hoping for a few more sessions and should manage a trip to the Lot again .

Not too many catfish, fortunately!

Yesterday I took my inflatable canoe upriver of Carjac. Lovely afternoon on the river.....

The boat has not been used this last couple of years, still looks good....

and had one silure, taken on a big yellow/black shad lure fished under a shear cliff amongst fallen trees. I was lucky to land it!

 

 

 

[Pelamid]

Well, it has been some time since I caught a carp!

Summer drought conditions since mid-June and fishing has been a struggle. Very early morning sessions I managed a few barbel, mostly small. But I did have a couple of decent barbel just before the canicule heat spoiled my chances....

The weed growth did continue during the heatwave - both in the river and along the river banks. Long stretches covering my favourite swims solid with Japanese Knotweed making them unreachable!

I lost three big carp over a couple of sessions due to the river weed. It made me rethink my hook-length and leader materials. Having made a few changes I tried again, my next mistake was telling my friend where I was fishing. He of course caught a 31 lb carp and a nice barbel - I blanked!

But a few days later I noted some fresh flow in my local stretch, first for months. No idea where that came from! But I had a good idea where I might get a carp, unfortunately my friend came with me! This time I was determined to catch "MY" fish!

 

had a couple of good knocks on the rod tip about 15 minutes after casting to my favourite tiny "hot-spot" where two currents converge over a slight depression. A little while later this great fish took off towards the opposite bank.

A tremendous fight ensued, where the carp headed for every snag from boulders to sunken trees. My change of trace/leader material did its job and I got the carp to the net at the third attempt.

Weighed over the water in the net, wet net deducted, gave a weight of 38.5 lbs. I had lost a couple from this swim in previous years so it was a great relief to finally get it right. Between the two of us we put the net across my thighs to protect the fish during the "trophy shot" moment. No time wasted the fish was back in the river and after a little rest it was away from the net.

My tackle changes were not rocket science. I had to give up with mono, fluoro and uncoated braid and tried ESP tungsten loaded semi-stiff braid. Despite that fish going through the usual snags there was just one small area of coating damaged, the interior braid was still intact. That and changing my lead clip to a Korum type, it did its job and slipped the lead on the take.

Oh, my fishing buddy blanked this time! 😂

 

[ThaiTony]

I hope you dont mind me 'jumping in', I just stumbled accross your posts while Googling the Lot fishing...I havent been there for 20 years or so (while living in Thailand) but have great memories of it...wow, congratulations...nice fish and I miss the (what are now for me) cool summer days he he.

I fished the stretch at Casseneuil (spelling?) not far from VSL. We got quite a few runs/takes, banked a few, but got cut off by the mussels (?) SO MANY times grrrr. I even used Quicksilver I think it was and STILL got cut off lol. I'm thinking of a return there, possibly this summer, and have already ordered some Dressen, which has very good abrasion ratings! 

After the Lot we moved on a bit further and tried the Cabanac stretch but had no joy, even though it was beautiful there. We didnt have a boat or bait boat, which were kind of new back then, which could have helped. Anyway, after there I moved along, to a public water not too far away which looked very man made and I didnt hold out too much hope but at least it was a nice spot. By the next A.M. I had a 48lb'er in the keep sack!

Good memories! Ah and the 50p for 1.5L rose, while we were sceptical, was great too lol

Tight Lines!

 

[ThaiTony]

[Pelamid]

47 minutes ago, ThaiTony said:

Nice fish!

On the Lot recently the water has barely reached 7 centigrade! We had snow in January which actually lay for weeks, followed by hard frosts and temperatures down to -10c.

That has not helped the fishing at all!

But somehow I have scraped out a few barbel and a solitary chub. The chub looked dead when I reeled it in, but its gills were moving slowly. When I released this chub it hung around for minutes, like it was having a job waking up but it swam away OK eventually, Lot fish are not used to the cold, I guess. The barbel are much the same and I can only look forward to the Spring, not far away now, and March can be a wonderful month here.

About a week ago I was barbel fishing in the sun, afternoon temperatures reached 17c. As usual I had a second rod out at long range downstream with a double Shimano Isolate LM94 bait. With the water temperatures so low I did not expect a carp but I got a lovely 27 pound surprise.....

 

[Pelamid]

The river Lot is still flowing powerfully, the remains of snow on the Massif must still be finding its way through the bogs and feeder stream as the water temperature has risen a little - but very slowly. It's still only around 11c and I think that is holding back both feeding and spawning of various species.

But I continue to fish and amongst a few of the smaller barbel and chub a few specimens have turned up. First a carp of 21 lb which was followed by a couple of 4 lb barbel. Next trip it was an 8 lb 13 ozs barbel, about as big as they get here.

A week ago I went camping (in a camper-car!) about 30 miles upstream of my home patch, First afternoon I had a 6 lb 11 ozs bream and a lovely condition 4 lb 7 ozs chub. The next afternoon I had a 35 lb carp........

 

 

[B B]

Great pics the Chub look fantastique  👍

9 hours ago, Pelamid said:

The river Lot is still flowing powerfully, the remains of snow on the Massif must still be finding its way through the bogs and feeder stream as the water temperature has risen a little - but very slowly. It's still only around 11c and I think that is holding back both feeding and spawning of various species.

But I continue to fish and amongst a few of the smaller barbel and chub a few specimens have turned up. First a carp of 21 lb which was followed by a couple of 4 lb barbel. Next trip it was an 8 lb 13 ozs barbel, about as big as they get here.

A week ago I went camping (in a camper-car!) about 30 miles upstream of my home patch, First afternoon I had a 6 lb 11 ozs bream and a lovely condition 4 lb 7 ozs chub. The next afternoon I had a 35 lb carp........

 

 

[B B]

On 25/04/2023 at 12:43, Pelamid said:

The river Lot is still flowing powerfully, the remains of snow on the Massif must still be finding its way through the bogs and feeder stream as the water temperature has risen a little - but very slowly. It's still only around 11c and I think that is holding back both feeding and spawning of various species.

But I continue to fish and amongst a few of the smaller barbel and chub a few specimens have turned up. First a carp of 21 lb which was followed by a couple of 4 lb barbel. Next trip it was an 8 lb 13 ozs barbel, about as big as they get here.

A week ago I went camping (in a camper-car!) about 30 miles upstream of my home patch, First afternoon I had a 6 lb 11 ozs bream and a lovely condition 4 lb 7 ozs chub. The next afternoon I had a 35 lb carp........

 

 

I fish for Chub and Barbel occasionally on my local river and the Barbel never give up, a great fight..but to catch a large carp from a river I just can’t imagine it  👏

[Pelamid]

On 26/04/2023 at 22:09, B B said:

I fish for Chub and Barbel occasionally on my local river and the Barbel never give up, a great fight..but to catch a large carp from a river I just can’t imagine it  👏

In a river a hooked carp has plenty of opportunity to run you into snags. Part of the challenge is planning your approach to get your carp away from the bad stuff, I have usually worked out my strategy for a swim before my bait is even cast out.

That last carp I had worked out how to avoid an island, trees, boat channel buoys and how to land and return any big fish. The swim was an 8' almost vertical drop to the river,  I had spotted some little ledges I could get my feet onto sideways to climb part way down. I then had to feel confident I could do a difficult lift, at almost 71 I trusted a little adrenaline would get me through that. It did!

Quite a few of my carp captures have involved me getting soaked following big fish downriver. Of course, I had already planned the safe way and how to exit the river if I ended up downriver of my swim. 

Car keys, phone in a waterproof bag in my pocket - just in case this happens! On the river Lot there is always a realistic chance these big fish can turn up, plan for that!😅

[ThaiTony]

Looks great, and some lovely fish...Cold? I forgot what that is after 20 years in Thailand...mind you, a lovely summer's day fishing in Europe is missed. Here I lure fish for snakeheads and hampala barb from boats...and it's HOT!! Too hot now  Still I bet over there once the water warms up it will be much better for fishing

Actually, I'm dying to get back that way, at least for part of each year, for fishing and some more comfortable outside living  Luckily it should be happening soon  I'm watching your results with high interest

Keep up the good work...and be careful on those steep banks! No fish is worth an injury...or worse  

 

[Pelamid]

If you come to the Lot high summer it's too hot quite often. This last two years summers have seen 40c+ temperatures for weeks on end, the sun is cruel. You may be used to it now, but the summer river is low and the fish hiding!

Spring and Autumn can be lovely and the fishing generally good.

Winter can fish well.....it depends on how the weather pans out. You can often sit outside comfortably in December, but if the Massif has seen rain the river can be fierce! Not sure if I have put up this link here before but it is worth another look........

 

[Denverbay]

Curious if anyone has been out on the Lot in the past month. Very interested in any reports on flow, temp and predictions for later in the summer. Thanks!

[Pelamid]

The river Lot has been most peculiar this spring and early summer. At first I thought the colder than usual water temperatures were "snow water" as there was a late fall of snow on the Massif.

But the water is still a little coloured despite only a few thunderstorms. Well, my friend sent me a photo from about 50k upriver at the Truyer/Lot confluence....

Then the penny dropped, they were draining a dam for maintenance!

Still catching a few bream, barbel and occasional carp, but fishing slow.

 

 

[B B]

This could be of interest to you 

 

[B B]

On 30/04/2023 at 18:39, Pelamid said:

If you come to the Lot high summer it's too hot quite often. This last two years summers have seen 40c+ temperatures for weeks on end, the sun is cruel. You may be used to it now, but the summer river is low and the fish hiding!

Spring and Autumn can be lovely and the fishing generally good.

Winter can fish well.....it depends on how the weather pans out. You can often sit outside comfortably in December, but if the Massif has seen rain the river can be fierce! Not sure if I have put up this link here before but it is worth another look........

 

Imagine the owners checking their moorings and finding them empty very sad. 😔

[Pelamid]

It has been some time since I posted here but I still catch a few carp and other species.

The Lot still has been getting excess water from upstream dams, massive flows at times. I have heard that one large barrage is being drained for maintenance on the Truyer, a tributary of the Lot, that would explain the difficult conditions.

But the fish are still there, the carp are sometimes pushed by this extra flow to seek shelter in the canal sections joining the main river. At least that makes finding the carp a little easier, still a task to hook and land them though!

Some photos of this years better fish, the scenery is not bad either!