Darren and Danny had fished with us on Lac Lucie in July 2023 with Sam, their chef and had already rebooked for August 2024 on Kingfisher but when they received an email from us to invite them to come and help us with a few winter jobs in return for free fishing and food they jumped at the chance. Unfortunately Sam couldn’t make it so they had to join us for meals but they certainly earned their keep and worked hard to make some further improvements at our lakes.
The biggest job they completed were the central steps going down to Lac Lucie. These were very uneven, too step and slanting in places and some of the logs need to be replaced. There was also a section that had been damaged by the digger that had gone between Lac Lucie and Kingfisher. After a good few hours digging to straighten them out and fixing the logs in place they distributed the gravel and the steps were revived.
They also fixed a window in the Kingfisher chalet which had a rotten piece of wood along the bottom….when we say they we really mean that Danny did it (he is a carpenter) but Darren was always on hand to offer his expert advice and act as the gofer. There were several other days spent moving branches that Nigel had been cutting, digging trenches to bury electric cables and divert water and they dug over Jo’s vegetable patch ready for her to get rid of some rocks and plant onions, tomatoes, cucumbers etc…..
So the down time…
With all of our fish currently residing in Kingfisher the chances of catching were obviously higher and it gave the lads a chance to work out their tactics and decide on which swims they liked ready for August. The nights were cold though and as Danny had forgotten his sleeping bag (he did buy a duvet at the supermarket) they decided to use one bivvy for sleeping and the other for sitting, so doubled up on the third swim along on the main bank. They also had the firepit by the swim to keep them warm and to help get rid of some of the wood that we had either cut down or had fallen.
Within a couple of hours on the first night we received a message from Darren as we had forgotten to give them some scales and he had caught a fish….. Nigel raced down with some in the pouring rain and managed to get a photo
As soon a Nigel saw it he knew that it was a fish that he had caught previously and it was the start of a good week, even though the lads said that they hadn’t really come for the fishing.
The week saw some rain and some sunshine and some chilly nights and some warmer nights. A right mixture but the lads were beaten some nights and ended up pulling their rods in around midnight and making the most of the heating in the chalet. With a few games of Monopoly played they were definitely not bored.
Danny also managed to get a new PB from the trip with this lovely common
By the end of the week Darren had had four good size fish out and Danny had had the one.
We are looking forward to seeing them both again in August, along with Sam and a couple more mates and will hope that some more PBs are beaten. We have really appreciated their help and expertise this week as well as their company. Thank you both and à bientôt….