Lake Ekete in a Boat and The ekete Overflow Drain

Rod Races can be fun although they can also turn your typical session of relaxation and recharge upside down, taking you on a mad dash charge into mayhem. This year Myself and good friend Marius are taking part in two season along events but find ourselves some way back in the field. With this in mind we decide to spend a day as fishing nomads, willing to uproots from a swim even when the fish are feeding as we travel from place to place trying to score points.

For those unfamiliar with Rod Racing the principle is simple, for each species you catch you score one point with bonus points some times being offered for additional criteria, such as a club record, depending on the competition. The rules always demand a photo of the fish be taken, some even insist that the photo show the captor holding the fish. Great for the proud moment the camera captures you holding a personal best Tench, Carp or other prize specimen but a little embarrassing when the fish you are holding is little larger than your middle finger.

We start this adventure on the banks of Lake Ekete inflating a 3 man dinghy. We know it's a three man boat because it says so on the box. In actual fact what it should say is three very small men, provided they don't bring anything with them and are willing to sit on one another's laps. Of course we do have things with us, lots of things... it's a three man boat and there are only two of us, we want value for money so we have brought everything, all of our tackle, our lunch, our supper and anything else we could grab on the way out of the door as we tried to make up the weight of the missing third sailor.



We are a couple of hours late, the tackle shop, which always opens at six, didn't open at all and it's now after eight, we only have white maggots and I'm nearly out of hemp. My knees up and my feet pushed back towards me to make room for the ground bait bucket we bob into the water and push out towards our first destination, a shady corner with about 5 feet of water and a margin filled with lily's.



It doesn't take long to record our first species, the unmistakable golden flanks of a small Rudd nestles in my hand and the first point is on the board. It's a hot day, the sun pours from a crystal blue sky and most of the lake is already bathed in bright sunlight. With this in mind we decide to stay a while, perhaps the shade offered by the Oak, Birch and Willow that line the banks here will offer a bonus fish from the early morning gloom lingers in this isolated corner of Ekete.



Of course the closed tackle shop and late start were a clue to the track on which I day now hurtled and soon after deciding to stay we felt the boat shifting position. The anchors, superbly designed to hold the boat fast in the strong currents of the Curonian Lagoon, have broken loose from the silty bottom of these still waters and we are now drifting back and fourth with the wind.



Annoyed but not beaten we up anchor and make for our next destination, a head of water choked with lily's and hidden from the banks by thick undergrowth and woodland. It's idyllic, there are few other words that seem suitable. If you were to program a computer to search the world for a perfect swim, this would surely be it. Surrounded by pads you have around six to eight feet of water. The lake bed here has a smattering of weed, not so dense as to make fishing hard but dense enough to offer additional cover. This is virgin water, you simply can't fish it without a boat and those that have boats are two busy spinning in open water to try their look here.



I am soon into a nice Roach but we already have this species from an earlier session so I rebate cast again. Another Roach and then a Rudd, it seems we are becoming expert at catching species we already have. Finally though a small Perch pops from the water's surface and we score our second point of the day.



The photo calls over and the boat again drifting our discomfort finally wins the day and we decide to relocate to the banks of the nearby Ekete overflow drain where we will target the diminutive Bleak, the hard fighting Silver Bream and the elusive Gibel Carp.



Our adventure afloat upon the waters of Ekete lake were not a total waste, our eventual aim is to launch the boat, together with small outboard motor on the vast expanse of the Curonian lagoon and from this experience we have learned some valuable lessons about keeping tackle and supplies to a minimum as well as how not to moor a boat.



We arrive to the rather odd site of empty banks. It is not unusual to go fishing in Lithuania and not see another soul, but not here... here the banks are always lined with anglers and holiday dwellers with BBQ's and even tents. This is a hot Sunday, the middle day of a holiday weekend and the banks are empty? Perhaps we were not the only ones who found buying bait difficult this morning?



Closer inspection perhaps gives some clue as to the true reason for the absence of other anglers. The water is gin clear and perhaps as much as 6 inches down on normal levels while the weed has continued to grow unchallenged rendering large areas virtually un-fishable. This is going to be hard, but I am actually quite excited by the challenge.



We settle in our usual spots but the weed is causing me real problems, the water is pulling off from Lake Ekete above and shooting through the drain and down into the Dane valley. As the faster than usual current catches my waggler my hook is catching the weed on the drains bed making bite indication difficult and hiding my bait from any would be feeding fish. I shallow up by a few inches and the adjustment brings a string of Bleak and another point for the rod race.



Now it's time for a Silver Bream. Usually the Dane would be my first choice for this species but we have caught them in the drain and as I can't easily make bottom in my chosen swim I take advantage of the empty banks and wander down to a spot where I have seen Silver Bream playing on the surface. I deepen up and take advantage of the weed free concrete bed that lines the near bank, trotting down to a bush that overhangs the water. I don't have to wait long, the bites start to come almost immediately and I soon have a Silver Bream on the bank.



That only leaves the Gibel Carp and for this I decide to move back to my regular swim. Gibel Carp are a lot like Crucians in that they are careful feeders but I know from experience that you don't need to fish on the deck in order to catch them. For two hours I persevere, I keep the feed going and stick to the task of trotting down over it. I watch as the Carp move into the swim, their tales up, the weed parting as they feed on my free offerings and yet some how always seem to manage to miss my hook bait. I am catching Bleak, Roach and even the odd Silver Bream, but it starts to seem as if the Gibel Carp just wont come.



With the time almost gone and the session all but over I make one last change to my tactic. I surmise that the fish must be missing my bait because it is still becoming hidden by the weed. With this in mind I shallow up by just two inches and cast again. I almost immediately get a bite but miss but heartened again bait with two white maggots and cast to the same spot... and I am in, a Gibel Carp takes the bait and a few moments later its in the net, another point scored and it's time for home.



In all this would not be my first choice for a session, I prefer to settle on a swim and make it my 'home from home' but a change is a good as a rest and scoring a Gibel Carp on what turned out to be my very last cast of the day was an excellent way to end a session. In all I ended up with 93 fish comprising Roach, Rudd, Bleak, Perch, Silver Bream and Gibel Carp. I also managed two bonus points on one rod race scoring a total seven (5 new species and two bonus points). Sadly on the other rod race I score only 4 points because we fail to photograph the Bleak with me holding it, but there will be many many more Bleak before the season ends.

You certainly went all out on that one huh, even bording a vessel in order to bag a few, I have the image of laurel and hardy in that boat tho for some reason,all but falling in or sinking
Well done

what a cracking read with fantastic pics... what a beautiful place too..

have some rep for that....

sardarel wrote:what a cracking read with fantastic pics... what a beautiful place too..

have some rep for that....

top job again lads

nixon wrote:You certainly went all out on that one huh, even bording a vessel in order to bag a few, I have the image of laurel and hardy in that boat tho for some reason,all but falling in or sinking
Well done

Thanks as always guys

you really are the wandering angler ain't you, that read as before fantastic well done !

Cheers Dad :)

WanderingAngler wrote:Cheers Dad :)

Something you want to tell us

:D :D :D :D :D :D Whoops :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Sorry Dan, thats fopa of the year isn't it?