Dave and his son, Alex had visited us for the first time last year https://carpfrance.com/04-05-2024-lac-lucie-off-to-a-flyer/ and despite the weather then they had had a fantastic week with a 50lber in the first hour of fishing and 9 fish out in total over the week. They decided to bring Dave’s brother, Matt, with them this year. Matt has done a bit of carp fishing in the UK but with a PB of just under 20lb he was hoping to beat this.
As previously, Nigel picked them up from Limoges and went to the supermarket to stock up on supplies for the week on their way back to the lakes. They soon got settled into the chalet and setting the tackle up. As last year they had no intention of fishing all through the nights, preferring the comfort of the chalet, but as rain was forecast on and off through the week they still set the bivvies up to offer some shelter. After tea on Saturday they were ready to get the rods out for a few hours and they fished until about midnight.
They were all down by the lake by 7.30 the next morning ready to sit and enjoy the view and listen to the birds singing and the frogs. They had set themselves up on the main bank with Matt fishing to the left hand side and the shallows, Alex in the middle and Dave to the right hand bank and the deepest part of the lake by the aerator. With no bait boat, they relied on their casting skills. About ten minutes after their breakfast baguettes had been delivered, Alex landed the first fish of the week, a 36lb 10oz mirror, and they were off the mark. By the time they came back up for their tea on Sunday Alex had had three carp out in total. And this set the theme for the week or as we like to call it The Alex Show.
Monday was a chilly start with temperatures climbing up to 15 degrees during the day but with no rain so they were quite happy to sit with a few beers just waiting for the rods to go. And it was Alex who again stole the show on Monday with three more carp out the lake, a 23lb 15oz mirror at 10.15, a 38lb 14oz common at 14.50 and then fifteen minutes later a 9lb 3oz mirror which we didn’t even know was in there. Remember we had drained the lake completely during our first winter and the smallest known fish that went back in was a 3lb common so this was a lovely surprise and great scale patterns.
Dave and Matt were wondering what they were doing wrong at this point. Their bait was the same, their rigs were the same but the banks appeared to be closed. After much discussion over tea, they decided to all move along the dam wall so they all got a section of the middle of the lake to fish with the hope that . Dave set up at the far end, under the willow tree, with Matt in the middle and Alex at the main bank end. And before the night was out it seemed that it had been a good plan as Dave landed his first fish around 8.30pm
Tuesday was very quiet all over the lake. The temperatures were rising and we all wondered if the fish were thinking of a bit of jiggy jiggy rather than being interested in food. May is always an unpredictable month for fishing as, depending on the water temperatures the fish definitely have spawning on their minds once the lake water is at the optimum temperatures. Some of the fish had moved right into the shallows, where they often go to spawn, and there was not a lot happening in the rest of the lake. Alex lost a couple during the day but there were no fish seen on the bank.
Although the temperatures continued to rise throughout the week on Wednesday the fish seemed to be wanting to eat again and Alex caught a 41lb 12oz mirror at about 3pm and Matt had his first fish out half an hour later, a 33lb 2oz mirror – his first ever mirror and he was chuffed to bits. Alex had another mirror at about 5pm weighing 27lb 12oz and Matt had another baby mirror during the evening weighing just 7lb 1oz – another fish we didn’t know was there but another one to look out for in the future.
Thursday was another quiet day with a few fish lost but nothing on the bank. Alex commented that although he had had more fish out than last year the fishing was harder and he had lost a lot of fish despite fishing in the same way as he had done previously. It was beginning to look as if it was just Matt who would have a new PB for the week, until Friday when we were all pleasantly surprised. We were just dropping off their breakfast baguettes when Alex’s rod went screaming off. After a good twenty five minutes Matt netted it for him and they were all thrilled to see one of the biggest commons in the cradle. Possibly the same fish that Dave had caught last year which had been a new PB for him. A very healthy, spawning ready common weighing 51lb 9oz, up by 1lb 8oz from last year if it is the same fish. A very happy Alex.
But that wasn’t the end of The Alex Show. Having caught 9 of the 12 fish so far during the week, you would have thought he could have given the other two a chance for the final fish out but no, he went on to catch three more on Friday afternoon, a 37lb 9oz common, a 37lb 12oz mirror and a 35lb 10oz mirror and this finished their session.
The final summary was 15 fish on the bank with 2 babies, 0 at 10lb+, 2 at 20lb+, 8 at 30lb+, 2 at 40lb+ and 1 at 50lb+ with new PBs for both Alex and Matt
The forecast before they came was for sunshine and showers all week but we ended up with only the weather was not too bad in the end with only about 2mm of rain over the week. Temperatures were up to just over 21.5°C during the day and dropping to 5.3°C at night. Wind speeds were up to 21.9km/h with gusts of 27.7km/h and the pressure was higher than it had been the week before between 979hPa and 986hPa.
Thank you all for another great week, we have enjoyed your company again and all three of us will look forward to next May when you visit us again
Until then bonne journée et à bientôt….