Last Friday evening Andrew and his son, Jacob, joined us from the Wiltshire area for their first taste of carp fishing in France. They had taken the ferry to Cherbourg and made their way down to us but as they were planning on stopping somewhere overnight, we said that they may as well come to us a day early as the lake had been unoccupied the week before. Arriving about 9pm, Jacob made straight for the hot tub to cool off.
On their first day they took it slow and steady, taking their day bivvies down by the lake and slowly getting their rods set up and into the water. They knew that they had a few hours head start on what they should have had and having the whole week by the lake means that nothing needs to be rushed. The forecast was good for the week with more high temperatures and Jo’s fishing app said that the chances of catching were average to very high. They were very optimistic about beating their PBs which were in the 20s from the UK.
We popped down to see them on Saturday evening at around 9.30pm and were pleased that Jacob was already off the mark with a 25lb 10oz common and he was just putting a 24lb 15oz mirror in the cradle when we arrived.
Saturday night saw an amazing storm which rolled in right overhead and bought with it a little bit of rain for a very short period, but we are grateful for a drop at the moment! Andrew had made sure that every thing was safe in the chalet before they had stopped for the night but still enjoyed seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder. The storm was so bad it caused the electrics to trip but that was easily sorted the next morning.
Sunday saw 5 fish in the net, with 3 of them coming within an hour of each other. Jacob had a 21lb 6oz mirror at 11.25am, then a 28lb 4oz mirror at 12.10pm, followed by Andrew with a 34lb 1oz mirror at 12.30pm. Andrew landed a 27lb 1oz mirror around 2.20pm and Jacob had a further mirror, weighing 27lb 11oz around 9pm – and this became the most popular time on the right hand bank. So they had both got new PBs and it was only Sunday. Jacob also managed to land a sun bass (pumpkinseed fish) in the same net as one of his carp and was concerned it was going to get squashed, but these tiny fish are very resilient.
The pair soon got into a good routine with Jacob setting his alarm for between 6am and 7am and then getting up around 10ish and heading down to the lake. Andrew was generally down there by 9am. They would come back up to the chalet for lunch, a dip in the pool and a lounge in the hot tub before heading back down for a few hours. Back up to the chalet for tea and maybe another cooling off before they headed into their evening session when most of the fish were caught. Obviously there was always time for another soak in the hot tub before bed around midnight. The pool was a much needed relief this week with temperatures not falling below 30°C during the day and tipping just over 40°C on 2 of the days.
Monday lunchtime saw Jacob in a bit of a quandry as 2 of his rods went off at once so Andrew had to play one of them for him. Unfortunately we were not around to take a ‘double take’ photo but they managed to get both carp on the bank, a 27lb 1oz common and a 29lb mirror.
We all know that carp fishing requires a lot of patience and long periods between takes so the pair found their own amusement in between bites and invented a new game – The Acorn Game’. Our oak trees on the main bank are dropping acorns much earlier this year, probably due to the lack of water. Andrew and Jacob put a bucket between their chairs and passed the time trying to get the acorns in the bucket.
Monday proved to be Jacob’s best day, with a further 2 carp in the net before the evening was out, a 30lb mirror (new PB) at around 8.45pm and a 27lb 6oz mirror at 11pm. Monday also saw the biggest fish of the week on the bank and Andrew hitting the 40s club with a 40lb 9oz common coming in nice and calmly at 8.30pm – a happy man with another new PB but he managed to break his scales in the process so we lent him some of ours for the rest of the week. So after 3 days fishing Jacob was on 9 fish and Andrew on 3, but he had got the biggest and Jacob was sticking with his new discovery, a spicy fish boilie dipped into maple syrup glug.
Tuesday was a relatively quiet day with Andrew catching a 21lb 6oz common at 8.35am and then nothing until the evening when Jacob landed this lovely 17lb 5oz mirror around 9pm and Andrew catching the last fish of the day, a 26lb 5oz common.
Wednesday turned out to be even quieter with temperatures creeping up again but nothing happening by the lake before their evening session, just after the solar eclipse had happened. They had pulled their rods in with the hopes of seeing something but even though the eclipse was just about 98% here the 2% of sun still showing was too bright to see it without the special glasses. We had been out at a friends though and managed to take some relatively good photos with a filter across the phone camera
They had just got their rods back in the water when Jacob’s bite alarm beeped and he managed to land another common weighing 18lb 3oz. at 8.30pm, with Andrew catching a 21lb 4oz mirror just 40 minutes later.
Even thought they had not seen much of the eclipse they did comment about the stars and how clear they are here and being able to see the Milky Way. They also saw numerous shooting stars during the week with the height of the Perseids meteor shower taking place this week. These should apparently still be visible until August 24th so there is still time yet to catch them.
Thursday was a busy day for Andrew on the left hand side of the lake with a 25lb 2oz common at 3.25pm and then a further 2 for him in the evening with a 21lb 3oz common at 8.40pm and the smallest fish of the week, a 12lb 6oz common at 10pm. Jacob just had the one on Thursday, a 21lb mirror.
Andrew was down on the bank early on Friday morning, just after sunrise, enjoying the peace and quiet and the sound of the birds singing. They spent the day sorting their tackle out, packing up slowly and leaving the rods in for as long as possible. Andrew had a bite around 4.45pm and landed a 21lb 2oz mirror and just as he thought he had had his biggest fish on Monday, Jacob finished the week off with his 13th carp, a lovely 31lb 2oz common and another new PB.
These two anglers finished the week with 23 carp on the bank between them. Jacob had the most fish, 13 altogether and Andrew had the biggest, 40lb 9oz common and the smallest, a 12lb 6oz common. All fish were caught on our spicy fish or maple syrup house boilies and using our pellets and parti-blend. Hook baits were a combination of boilies, wafters with a dip in either the spicy fish or maple syrup glug.
The final summary is therefore zero babies, 3 at 10lb+, 16 at 20lb+, 3 at 30lb+ and 1 at 40lb+. Jacob fancies a go at catching a catfish so we will hopefully see this pair on Kingfisher lake at some point in the future so that Maisie can have some more tummy rubs. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt…
