We first met Dave and his son, Alex in May 2024 when they caught nine carp between the two of them up to 50lb+ and both had new PBs. They returned in May 2025 with Dave’s brother, Matt and landed fifteen carp last year, again with new PBs for Alex and Matt. Read their catch reports below
On their very first visit here Dave asked us to reserve the first week in May forever more and the trio returned again this year to enjoy a week relaxing together and see what they could get onto the bank this time. They are related to our guests who came with Opal, the rottie, from a few weeks ago and having read their catch report and seen their visitor’s log they were determined to beat them. And that was a challenge as they had had over 30 carp out in our first hot period of the season.
Arriving at Limoges airport they sailed through the new biometrics system and were waiting for Nigel to bring them back to the lake via the supermarket. After a quick tea and catch up with us they went and got themselves set up on the main bank. The plan was that this year they would fish a few nights, not having braved it before. They got two bivvies up but decided to get a good first night’s sleep in the chalet, especially as it was pretty wet most of the evening.
Renewed and refreshed on Sunday morning they headed down to the main bank, with Dave fishing to the left bank, Alex in the middle and Matt on the right bank and up into the deeper water. Alex has managed to catch the biggest fish on each of his visits here and was determined that he was going to beat the other two again and hopefully get another photo on the wall in the chalet. And he was first off the mark as predicted with a 39lb 1oz mirror to get the ball rolling just before 2pm and a second mirror in the net 45 minutes later weighing 25lb 2oz. It felt like it was going to be The Alex Show again.
On Sunday they decided that they would do a full night session and there was a story to tell when we saw them the next morning, as we asked them if they had had caught something at around 10.30pm as we had heard some shouting as we were going to bed. They told us that it was carnage as all three of them had a fish on at the same time, in the pouring rain and Alex had shouted for Nigel hoping we would hear. Unfortunately we hadn’t heard what they were shouting, but they had managed on their own, although Dave’s description was that he was running round like a tit in a trance made us laugh. Dave had a 25lb 11oz mirror, Alex landed a 46lb 1oz mirror (which turned out to be his biggest of the week) and Matt beat his PB with a 34lb 7oz mirror. Due to the chaos they did not manage to get any pictures with them holding them but it was great to hear that they were now all off the mark.
They very nearly made it right through the night to breakfast, except that Alex’s feet got very chilly and with all three of them landing a fish in the dark and rain, they were all feeling a bit damp and smelly so headed up to the chalet in the early hours to get a few hours sleep before heading back down after breakfast.
They all cast their rods out so it was tough going for Alex in the middle, with the furthest to cast so Nigel suggested he should go up to the side swim but being the social animal that he is, Alex decided to stop with his dad and uncle for the day. He still managed a 36lb 10oz mirror though around midday and Dave caught a a lovely new baby mirror for our stock pond weighing 7lb 6oz and a 25lb common just before it got dark.
They had another good nights sleep in the chalet on Monday night and were back down by the lake at first light on Tuesday morning. Alex decided to take Nigel’s advice and moved down to the side swim. The carp had been seen milling around in the shallows under the willow tree and Alex was hopeful. But it was a pretty quiet day for all of them, with only Matt landing one, improving his PB yet again with this 35lb 6oz common.
Alex did not manage to prove Nigel right until midday on Wednesday when he landed two in very quick succession. A 30lb 7oz common, closely followed by a 32lb 8oz common
Before the day was over Matt landed yet another new PB, a 38lb common and Alex had one just after dark, a 22lb 4oz mirror.
So by the midway point of the week the scores on the door were Alex – 7, Dave – 3 and Matt – 3. Not that they were competing with each other of course!
Thursday morning saw Alex with another fish from the shallows and we were there just as it reached the bank, having heard them calling each other when we were round visiting the Kingfisher anglers. He had landed a 36lb 10oz common and a few hours later Dave had another out, a mirror weighing 37lb 8oz.
They decided to have another night under the stars on Thursday as although it was the coldest night of the week there was no rain forecast and the skies were clear so the stars were amazing. Alex made sure he had plenty of layers on and got this 25lb 10oz mirror to the bank just as it was getting dark.
Matt landed yet another PB and went well over the magical 40lb mark just before 11pm with this 45lb common from the deep part of the lake.
And Dave ended the night with a 43lb 9oz mirror just before it started to get light.
And their last day arrived and it was very quiet on the bank, but lovely and warm so the guys made the most of the sunshine. Sadly only one fish reached the net on Friday, another new baby for our stock pond, weighing just 7lb 6oz but a very lovely looking common caught by Dave and we will enjoy seeing this one again when it comes back into our lakes in a few years time.
So for their third year with us these lovely chaps managed to land 18 carp between them with Alex winning again with 9 fish, Dave catching 6 and Matt smashing his PB every time with 4 carp. Each of them had a 40lb+ so they were all very happy with how their week had been.
Their final summary was 2 babies, 0 at 10lb+, 5 at 20lb+, 8 at 30lb+ and 3 at 40lb+. They have already booked for next year and then will have a week on Lac Lucie and a week on Kingfisher. We will look forward to seeing them again next May and until then bonne journée et à bientôt……