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I recently joined the CCG , firstly to try and learn how they behave, and secondly to read up on how to catch them in various situations. After having spoken to Tony, Big Ron Woodward and a few others, I have come to one very decisive conclusion that joining the CCG was money well spent, and what a nice load of blokes into the bargain.

The carp fishing lad’s that have come to Bley Lakes have had the odd night here and there on my cat lake and have banked a few nice cat’s to 50lb or so, and like my self some have caught not only cats but the dreaded bug for a real biggie.

Now as my lakes are only ten minutes from the River Saone, which most of you I'm sure will already know holds some good cats, it seemed a good idea to have a few nights on the river to see if we could catch a big cat fish, and guess what…“No, we blanked.”

'...in the heat of the afternoon sun we set up all the gear, and after a few glasses of wine and the odd beer or two, - purely to replace our fluid levels of course!'

Now the Saone is a mighty big river and a bit daunting to say the least, so a trip to the local tackle shops was the order of the day to see if they could help me locate the said species. Although they did give me some information and maps of a few places to try for the cats, the odd day here and there still didn’t produce any fish.

On a day out earlier this year and whilst looking along the Saone for more likely spots to try, I managed to speak to a couple of French lads who said that they fish for cats locally, and then mentioned a small river reputed to contain big cats called the Ognon.

A quick look on the map soon told me that the Ognon flows into the Saone not too far from the lakes, and so, like you do, I went for a recce and found the prettiest little river I have ever seen, lily pads, little islands and plenty of fishy looking spots, but were there any cats to be found?

Its September now and I can still manage to get away from the lakes for one or two nights each month, so Martin Brown, a regular visitor to the carp Lakes, and yours truly set off for the Ognon in the small hope of catching a fish or two. Now Martin’s no stranger to big cat’s, as last year on a visit to Spain’s Ebro with Colin Bun he picked up a beast of a cat at a staggering 183 lb, not bad for his first attempt in Spain, but let’s get back to the plot.

We arrived at the river armed with plenty of food, a very reasonable amount of wine and beer,- well, probably more than a reasonable amount! and some trout baits that we borrowed from the fish farm at Bley. Then in the heat of the afternoon sun we set up all the gear, and after a few glasses of wine and the odd beer or two, - purely to replace our fluid levels of course!, we awaited the first evening’s hopeful action.

It was one of those warm, fiery red sunset evening’s, you know the ones, when the red sun light dance’s on the leaves as the trees gently sway in the breeze, and the insects are all you can hear as they buzz around in the air above you. We were miles from the nearest town and there was a very quiet calm about the place. The fiery red sun dipped below the horizon as the day light gently turned to darkness.

'...I was awoken by what I would normally describe as a one noter, and falling out of the titan and on to the bank , I found the line on one of my cat rod reels disappearing at a most alarming rate...'

The river shone silver and glittered in the moon light, and there was that expectancy that you feel when you have hopefully got it right.
Alas it was not to be and the first night pasted without incident on the cat rod’s, although we did have a few big chub to around the five or six pound mark take our double 20 mm carp baits. It’s a crying shame to catch them on carp gear, but when they take your bait’s, there is nothing much that you can do.

The next day, evening and night saw a similar pattern, apart from a couple of decent pike that took our trout bait’s intended for the cats. We also had more takes from our chubby friends on the carp rods, and by now they were really getting onto the carp baits big time.

On the morning of the third and last day, and over a real big heart attack breakfast, Martin and I talked over what was to be the last night’s tactics, and decided on the following. So as to get a bit of shut eye on the last night and not be pestered by the chub any more, it was agreed that the carp rods would be reeled in at dusk and only the cat rods would be left out all night in a last attempt to catch a river cat, that’s if there were any, and by now I had started to doubt what the French lad’s had told me.

Now I expect that some of you will be wondering what on earth are these guys doing fishing for cats and carp at the same time. Well, it’s one thing to fish in a proven cat or carp water where you know for sure that there are fish of the desired species, but quite another thing to fish in waters where none may exist at all, and hedging our bet’s a little bit did help us with the waiting, as did a few bottles of the local French wine.

At approximately 4 a.m. in the morning I was awoken by what I would normally describe as a one noter, and falling out of the titan and on to the bank , I found the line on one of my cat rod reels disappearing at a most alarming rate. Hardly daring to pick up the rod I eventually struck into what seemed to me like hooking on to a passing car or lorry, I must have hooked a boat or barge or some thing! - Or may be, just may be a cat ???

'...At 6.30 a. m. we reweighed it at 77lb dead on...'

Martin was soon on the bank beside me and after kicking over all the pots and pans in a bid to get to the gear, like some thing resembling Linford Christie, yelling, “give it some welly Tone, give it some welly”, as he had remembered that our swim, like most swims on the river, had some major snags in it, there were huge sunken rocks just under the rod tops and sunken trees every where, and they resembled some thing like the New Forest.

After a few minutes, that at the time seemed to go on for ever and a lot of swearing, the fish that had given me some serious stick was now in the margins, and in the torch light it looked like I felt, knackered, and yes it was a cat.

The fight it gave me was incredible and although I have caught a lot of big carp in France over the past years, this powerful lump was what I can only describe as a real heavy weight scraper. Martin gloved the cat into our big cat weigh sling and dragged it up the bank where there was still more swearing, this time the bad language was due to the excitement and feeling of achievement more than any thing else,” well that’s my storey and I m sticking to it.”

We weighed it at almost 80 lb but as it was soon to be light we thought it might be a good idea to put it in to a cat tube for an hour or so, so that we could take pictures and reweigh it in the daylight properly. At 6.30 a. m. we reweighed it at 77lb dead on, and agreed that this was its correct weight. We then took some pictures and returned the cat back into the river to fight another day.

Now I m fortunate to have had some very memorable captures of carp in France and in the UK, and whilst I understand that in French cat fish terms a fish of this size is probably quite a small one, It never the less gave me an amazing feeling of achievement. Not just to catch a fish like this, but to catch it on a truly wild and beautiful river such as the river Ognon, which I will be returning to again next year hopefully for some more rod bending lessons.

My thanks to Martin Brown for his part in helping me with the fish, and also my thanks go to Big Ron for introducing me to Catfish Conservation Group and for all of his help in general.

If any one is interested in any more details with regards to the River Ognon, you can email me on the following address: tony@carpruns.co.uk

and for those interested in a mini bus trip to the Bley or a Drive and Survive you can visit me on www.carpruns.co.uk - I will answer every email, but please remember that I spend a lot of time in France, so I ask that you are patient with me. I hope that you have enjoyed my story about our trip to the river Ognon and all that’s to be said now is...

Bon Peche a’ Bon Chance avec le silurs

Tony Underwood