5 days of action for Essex Angling on Bin el Ouidane

Paul Russell, Tony Bartram and Paul Manning – “The Essex Angling crew” flew over for a quick 5 day session at the end of August.

The baiting campaign had been running for 3 weeks and I was pretty confident that we would have immediate action. 3 times a week for the last 3 weeks I had been dropping 25 kg of maize on 6 main swims, and it was 1 of these swims, The Island, that I had decided to fish with the Essex Angling crew for the first weekend of their trip.

The island is a mind blowing place. Imagine being marooned on a tiny drop of land in the middle of a huge lake cupped in the mighty middle Atlas Mountains. The star filled night sky is like an IMAX theatre but better, much better – the crystal clear mountain air and the scale of the vistas just totally humbles you.

Due to a bit of a delay at the Airport we didn’t really get out to the island till dark had fallen and I could feel that the guys were a little worried, but we got the Nash double tops up and were just starting to think about our rumbling stomachs when Ishmael returned with the dinner run. After we had dined and drank like Kings under the stars the consensus was to get our heads down and be fresh for fist light. Huge carp were jumping and splashing all around, it was incredible, the night was still, hardly a ripple, the moon nearly full, the guys were snoring as my PVA bags splashed in.

I had gone to bed so confident of a run that I couldn’t quiet believe that nothing had happened during the night. The fish were there for sure, Id never seen so many fish crashing at any time but we really struggled for a take. Paul Russell had a nice common of 32.10lbs and Tony Bartram the smallest fish I had ever seen from the lake, a cute 3lb common plus another of around 23lbs. It was a slightly battle weary group that decided on the start of day 3 to up sticks and move to the hotel bank.

Final tally for the Island: 2 days, 4 anglers, 4 fish.

Verdict: I will be back

The Hotel Bank

The Essex angling crew decided on the twin waddies swim for the final 3 days of their trip, and it proved to be a good choice. 2 dried river beds feed either side of a headland and it’s a little like fishing an underwater bar on a gravel pit. The technique is to find the centre of the river bed with the sonar and drop your 3 rods at intervals along this river bed gulley. As you get further away from the bank in the river gulley it gets deeper so by fishing 3 rods and staggering them along the river bed you can quickly determine at which depth the fish are feeding and move the other two rods to the same depth.

Everything was quiet for the first day but at sunup the next morning the alarms started sounding. Paul Manning ended with the biggest fish an immaculate common of 39.10lbs. Close of play on the 5 day session was largest fish 39.10lbs common and total fish 15 with 1 PB to Tony Bartram at 28.10 common.

Hope to see you guys out here again soon.