Tony, Jake and Andy joined us on Lac Lucie last week which proved to be quite a challenge for all. Tony had never been to France fishing before but fishes a lot in the UK, Jake had been to France fishing when he was a lot younger and Andy lives to fish, preferring the catfish but happy to come along with his cousin and mate to do a bit of carp fishing.
Driving from East Anglia they arrived at the tail end of Storm Amy and with a fully packed car. Once unloaded they quickly got their tackle down to the lake and started getting themselves set up before their tea was ready. Andy decided to go down to the side swim with Jake and Tony on the main bank, Jake fishing to the right bank and in the middle and Tony to the left hand side of the lake.
With the forecast for the week to be sunny, in the mid 20s during the day but chilly at night we predicted that Andy would have the best swim as it can get a bit cool down on the main bank and the weather people said that they were in for some cold nights.
After tea on Saturday they headed back down to get their rods out for a few hours, before Tony and Jake came back up to the chalet for a good nights sleep after the long drive. And for the most part this was their pattern for the week, heading down to the lake after breakfast and stopping out until the evening. A couple of times Jake lasted a little longer, and did manage to pull one all-nighter mid week.
Andy on the other hand was fishing every second he could and was the first off the mark up in the shallows under the willow tree early on Saturday afternoon. A lovely looking mirror weighing 27lb 7oz.
Monday was quiet all day with not much happening on the lake and so Andy tucked into a nice bottle of red wine after his tea and hoped that he would catch something overnight. With his tripod and lights all set up in case he should catch one he was pleased to be able to use them at about 10.30pm when he landed a 31lb 8oz mirror. It’s not easy taking your own photos, especially at night so Nigel told them about the app he uses when he can’t get Jo to take his photo. It is called Sensory Voice Selfie and he just asks his phone to take his photo and it doesn’t do a bad job.
Tuesday was a bit of an eat, drink, fish and repeat as there were no signs all day and then at about 9.30pm Andy landed his first common of the session, at 18lb 1oz this is going to be a big beauty one day.
And then he had another 30lber out in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A mirror weighing 33lb 6oz
Tony was not feeling great on Wednesday and they popped out to the supermarket and try the little café in Montamboeuf which they thoroughly enjoyed. Jake decided he was going to stay out for the night and ended up catching his one and only fish of the session, a 24lb mirror. Unfortunately we do not have a photo of this as he could not manage to wake Andy up. We are sure if he had set his bite alarms off he would have woken!
Andy reported that he had lost one overnight on Wednesday that had slipped the hook but he did managed to land a 16lb 4oz common. There were no further fish out on Thursday and none overnight for Andy either and it was not until Friday afternoon that Andy landed his 6th fish of the week, a 27lb 4oz mirror with a great scale pattern, again destined to be a great fish to look out for in the future.
Nigel always reckons if you average one fish a day you have had a good session and Andy was determined to have another before his time was up. With the lads planning on leaving before dawn on Saturday morning Andy decided he would have one last night on the bank before everyday life called again. Braving the cold and promising to get packed up at 6am it was all made worth it with the biggest carp of the week in the net around 10.45pm, a stunning 43lb 8oz common. What a way to end a great week and even though Andy still prefers cat fishing he has still put the hours in and come up with the goods this week.
The final catch summary for these lovely gentlemen was zero babies, 3 at 10lb+, 2 at 20lb+, 2 at 30lb+ and 1 at 40lb+ with Andy catching 7 of the 8 fish, Jake having 1 and Tony unfortunately blanking, but not for want of trying. If it is any consolation we have read of a difficult weeks on other lakes in the region this week. Was it the change in water temperature form the 24 hours of rain, the full moon, the air pressure, who knows but that is fishing for you…. We have enjoyed your company this week and will hopefully see you again in the future. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt….