Le nant des vaches

After I had left Ardèche I did go to Haute-Savoie where I had planned to meet a very good friend of mine who is as passionate about tenkara as I am but I did spend my first day in the area by myself hiking to the Chalets de Sales . The hike up there was wonderful, a bit difficult but the view at the summit is really worth getting tired. I did a peaceful nap on Le Grand Pré before I walked down back to Sixt Fer à Cheval from where I had to drive to my next destination. 

I did take my time when walking back to the valley to really appreciate this gorgeous landscapes, it was still early in the morning and everything was quiet and peaceful. I have known Christophe through social media and phone calls only until now but I was sure that it was going to be a summit meeting as we have always seemed to have common opinions about some of the best things in life: tenkara, wine and women. We did wake up very early to drive to our first destination: the Haut Chéran.After about half an hour of drive Christophe parked his vehicle on the edge of the road and cut the engine. I was a little bit disconcerted, even asking myself if it was not a joke, because the only stream crossing the road was only a tiny trickle. Christophe invited me to rig my Oni type II rod with a short line and a dry fly. With the rod ready for action in hand I did follow my friend approaching the "stream" as discreetly as possible and I did see several small trouts fleeing to the closest shelter! I was approaching the first trout spot where Christophe had already caught a nice sized trout for this water and as I was trying to make my dry fly land on the water a trout jumped out of it to catch the fly! We could not believe what we had just witnessed and burst out laughing like kids. I truly think that this memory will always be in our mind.

After a memorable laughter we did cross the road to try our chance our other spots that were wider than on the other side. If if I was invited to rig my rod with a short (7 feet) line it is because in this kind of trickle my friend is used to delicately land his fly on the water without casting and this for the reason of the power lines above his head. I did miss the first trout because of a really too slow hook setting. I got very concentrated because I knew that trouts were very fast on this kind of water. Once again I made my fly land on a tiny spot and the trout reaction was ultra fast. I have never been a great dry fly fan but I must admit that I was really happy to have fooled this trout on a dry pattern in such an unlikely stream.

I did lend my rod to Christophe but he did not meet success so after trying a few spots he did collapse the rod down. Walking back to the van we did stop at the jumping trout spot. Great memory!

I had passed this friendly challenge and it is with a smile on our faces that we took back the road to our next destination...