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Lake Geneve - Lure fishing - 2013

The articles
Coregone/fera April 2014

Coregone April 2014

Coregone Avril 2013

Pike March 2013

Pike February 2013

Perch December 2012

Holiday fish trips

May 2013 - Boa Vista Cape Verde

One year later and the ‘féras’ are back on the same spot

Easter falls three weeks later this year! I was just reading my last year’s article from April 1st again and I realize that I learnt again new habits from the whitefish, coregone or féras from Lake Geneva.

March 30th was my first fishing day this year ; I really couldn’t find the time to get out in my bellyboat and I completely missed the beginning of the season. As March and April are always very good months for Fera-fishing, I spend a few hours on my favorite spot and I managed to catch two nice Féras of 57cm and 52 cm.

Sunday April 13th I went back again, first in the morning for a few hours (8-10h) and later on in the afternoon from 16-19h…

There is not a lot of wind today and the lake is flat like a mirror. During the last days a Nord-East wind ran over the lake and I feel that there is still some remaining current going toward the South-West. Logically I think that there will be more insects grouped together at the slopes which are faced towards this current, and that is where the Féras are heading for in these months. As I find myself on the other side of the slope first, I take some time to try this side first. I armed myself with two rods both equipped with three nymphs, different variations of red on the first rod, black or other dark colors on the second rod.

Féra lake geneva

I am looking between 15 to 30m depth and I see that banks of little perches are already between 20 to 25m; this is really early for the time of the year but with such a nice spring it is not much of a surprise.

So in order not to be disturbed by the perches, I need to find some other depths and despite that I do not see a lot on the sonar at 30m depth, I try my luck here. Quickly I move to 10-15m as nothing is moving here.

As also here I do not get any bite and as I do not see any fish passing the sonar, I decide to go to the other side of the slope. I pass over 2m and from here I look for more depth. This is a place where the depth quickly falls from 3 to 15m and at 6-8m I get my first touch. It is a nice coregone of 52cm. Nothing as nice as sitting on a calm lake with a rod in the hand and keeping slight contact with the bottom and then out of a blue the aggression and energy of the féra who makes runs of 20 to 30 meters, turns around and comes at full speed to your direction. At moments you think you lost it as all resistance is gone and you are only turning your reel as fast as you can.

But then suddenly you feel it taking again another direction and you cannot do anything but giving it again another 10 meters of line. This is the type of fights that I like so much, the adrenaline which makes your heart beat faster, the concentration and patience in order not to lose it…

Immediately after the first one, I catch a second, this one is even stronger.

There is a boat in the neighborhood with two anglers who saw me catching these nice feras. They come closer and install themselves at 10 meters from where I am fishing. They catch also two feras and then the area is so much disturbed that no signs of life are given any further… It is a pity on a lake big like this that they install themselves so closely and that they ruin my spot where I startedmy peaceful morning. So I decide to go back home with my two whitefish and I cook my lunch : A filet of fresh féra in the oven with a crust of fresh herbs. This is so nice, even more when it is so fresh without having been frozen.

Féra lake geneva

In the afternoon around 16h, I return to my same spot, at the same side of the slope, at the same depths between 8 and 10m. The red nymphs were working best this morning so I have equipped both rods with 3 red nymphs. In less than 20 minutes I caught 2 féras of 54 cm. And again, the same boat as from the morning has spotted me and comes again to install right next to me. I am still trying for another hour but beside one bite that I missed calm turns down in this area. I decide to move slowly to the Nord-East, still remaining at 8-10m depth. At less than 30 meters from my initial spot, I have another touch and what a sensation this time, this must be a big one. The fera comes up to the surface very quickly and jumps, full body out of the water, splashes like a bomb in the water and takes off again. It takes immediately 40meters of line until there is not a lot of line left on my reel. Luckily then it turns at as moment it could have easily broken my line but as often happens, it turns and swims full speed in my direction. Once it sees me, at less than 5 meters, it starts off again and takes another 15 m into the deeper waters. My drop shot rod is taken to its limits. Once the head of the fera gets above the waterline the fight is over, under the conditions that you can keep the head up in the air. I always use a net to take it out as it would not be my first that would slip out of my hand and escapes from me. It measures 55cm, the biggest one of the day. Not a record, although the fight felt like it would have been a 60+cm fera.

So, the day is over and it is time to go home and start the cleaning of the afternoon catches. It has been a very nice day. The weather conditions were completely different than one year ago but the big feras were again at the same spot. As the lake was so calm, fishes were quickly disturbed today and the message was to quickly find a new spot after having caught a few in a same spot.

Last year they were less disturbed, probably because I was drifting quickly away from my spot when I hooked one as the waves and the wind were taking me away, or due to the higher amounts of insects the feeding was more aggressive and therefore they did not get disturbed by taking one more out of the spot.

Bonne pęche - Roel

Féra lake geneva