Dave and Sue returned for two weeks on Lac Lucie – their 16th visit to the fishery in total and how different the weather was this year compared to their previous trip. Last year we had had 108mm of rain during June and double that in the May. The ground was saturated and the lovely couple were just wet for the whole two weeks. This year the weather has been completely different with only 24mm of rain during May and 9 days of their trip with daytime temperatures over 25°C.
Dave’s previous catch reports with us can be read here https://carpfrance.com/25-05-2024-lac-lucie-the-gentleman-and-his-woman-servant/ and https://carpfrance.com/17-06-2023-kingfisher-gentlemans-hours/
Dave fancied the same swim as last year and after getting all the gear down the dam wall, Sue quickly got the bivvie up and all the tackle ready for him. She had already double wrapped a whole pot of hook bait in shrink wrap to keep ‘Ronnie and Reggie’ from being able to have a nibble and all the tackle boxes were lined up, clean and organised. Sue really is the best fishing gillie a man can have.
Dave chooses not to fish nights and prefers a good evening session generally although does also fish at various other points in the day. By early evening, after a few issues with the hob and oven, they had had their tea and headed down to the lakeside. It was not long before the first fish was landed, expertly assisted by Sue, a 29lb 8oz mirror and he was a happy man.
On Sunday they were down at the lake earlyish and by midday Dave had had two lovely mirrors out, a 25lb 6oz mirror which Dave described as a beautiful fish with a massive tail (photo to follow) and a 28lb 10oz mirror – a nice fish in great condition
Monday afternoon bought two commons into the cradle within an hour. A 31lber nicknamed Stumpy by Dave as it had a tiny dorsal fin (photo to follow) and a 32lb 10oz common in pristine condition (photo to follow)
On Tuesday Dave blanked and with temperatures rising Dave did not fish on Wednesday as it was just too hot. Sue normally drags Dave to the market in Piegut Pluviers but it was too hot even for that.
On Thursday despite the temperatures still climbing up to 28°C during the daytime, the couple fished in the evening and caught a 25lb 2oz mirror on a boilie with a hat on (photo to follow)
On Friday they were down by the lake early, knowing that the temperatures were still rising and it paid off as by 9.30am, Dave caught a 19lb 3oz common which Dave described as like a ‘wood carving’ on a snowman rig. By lunchtime temperatures had risen to over 30°C so they went out for lunch at the local pizza bar by the public lake just ten minutes from us.
Those people who have fished here this year will be aware that we seem to have a few cats hanging about. We do not deter these as they play an important part in our pest control but they do seem to hang about the anglers, not surprising when pellets are dropped or pilchards are bought for them. Sue and Dave have cats back home and so had a few treats for them as well and as they do they were given names. The black and white cat was originally called T-bone by Dave as she has a ‘T’ mark on her head but this got changed during the week to Humbug (maybe because Sue and Dave are big Everton fans). The white cat that we see around sometimes was christened Stumpy too as she has lost her tail at some stage. The only issue with a cat around the lakes is Maisie and one evening when we went down to see Sue and Dave, Humbug was chased up a tree where she stayed for the duration.
One week into their trip and Dave landed what was to be the biggest fish of this year’s trip a 34lb mirror caught on a wafter (photo to follow)
By Sunday the lake temperatures were over 25°C and the fish were nowhere to be seen so it was another blanking day but Monday saw another fish out, a 22lb 8oz mirror caught on a snowman rig.
Monday was the most eventful day of the trip where Dave managed to stab himself with his baiting needle, easily done when you have double wrapped your hookbaits. With two caring women by his side Dave was saved from a trip to hospital by Nigel who managed to save the day. Dave has written Nigel ‘the nocturnal legend’ a short poem to commemorate the occasion
The rest of the week was very non eventful and was very, very hot with temperatures up to 33°C. It was too hot for the fish to be eating and too hot to be moving around too much. The pool and the hot tub beckoned again instead with another trip out for lunch. Friday is always pack up day as the couple head off early on Saturday morning and all the tackle is packed away neatly by Sue, ready for another day.
Dave caught 9 fish in total 0 babies, 1 at 10lb+, 5 at 20lb+, 3 at 30lb+. Not a bad fortnight considering it has been exceedingly hot.
So why sponsored by Savlon, we hear you ask….. this is what Dave wrote on our feedback sheet
“Great fishery superbly maintained. To be fair made even better by the hosts Jo, Maisy and of course the man, the legend “Nocturnal Nigel”. Two other hosts this year “Stumpy” and “Humbug”, feral cats partial to Carp Pellets!! Loved every minute (well apart from impaling myself on a baiting needle and mistaking French Deep Heat for Savlon – “OUCH” Keep it off your boilies!”
The three of us will look forward to hopefully seeing Dave and Sue again in 2026 for more fun and laughter. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt….