When we were contacted in January by Chris who was looking for venue for 8 anglers for a stag week we were slightly unsure as to what to expect but agreed that we could make both of our lakes available to them. As we often see, when you try to organise a big group of people things change and life gets in the way and there ended up just being 5 of them. But what a lovely week it turned out to be and we will not be so quick to jump to conclusions next time.
Chris has been coming to France fishing with Will and some other mates for many years and they both have excellent PBs already. These days they prefer just to fish, not worrying too much about the size of the fish but just escaping from the day to day routine and enjoying each others company. So our lakes were ideal, peace and quiet with plenty of fish. The only job they were meant to complete by the end of the week were their speeches ready for the wedding in a few weeks time.
Chris and Will arrived in the pouring rain on Saturday afternoon in a van they had hired and by the time they came for their tea they were soaked but just about organised with Will in swim 1 and Chris in 2.
On Sunday morning when we took their baguettes round to them, they had had 3 carp from Kingfisher weighing 28lb, 30lb and 35lb with Will taking the lead with 2 carp on the bank. In the afternoon Jo went to the airport to collect Richard, Chris’ dad and Jim, his uncle. Richard had never caught a carp before but had done some other types of fishing and Jim has recently got into carp fishing and only caught small carp in the UK before.
Having both lakes meant that they could spread out and fish a bit in both lakes if they wanted. On Sunday afternoon Will moved across to Lac Lucie and on Monday morning he had caught a 40lb mirror and 20lb mirror. We saw that he had a fish on in the afternoon and went down to see it reach the bank. Weighing in at 42lb 8oz, Will was feeling very pleased with himself.
On our Tuesday morning trip round to see them all Will reported that he had had a 44lb common and 46lb 8oz mirror overnight from Lac Lucie and Jim had had a small catfish weighing 15lb but no one else had caught but at least Richard was off the mark. Will had a 30lb common on Lac Lucie on Tuesday afternoon and then had this 25lb 8oz mirror on Tuesday evening, again we were there to see it and take the photos for him. This was just after Nigel had returned from the airport to collect Chris’ brother, James, who again had not been carp fishing before.
On Wednesday morning Chris said that he had had 2 overnight a 40lb+ and a 20lb+ from Will’s spot in swim 1 on Kingfisher but had also lost a big one (it is always the big ones that get away). Will had another 4 overnight on Lac Lucie. The guys had decided that as Kingfisher was proving rather challenging for them the ‘novices’ would take it in turns with Will on Lac Lucie for the next few days with Jim first to go and by teatime on Wednesday, Jim was at last off the mark with 28lb so just James left to catch (and Richard for a carp).
Jim beat his new PB again with a 38lb common from Lac Lucie just as it was going dark on Wednesday evening. Will lost one but had 3 or 4 more overnight and Richard lost one overnight on Kingfisher and at tea on Thursday there was nothing to report apart from Jim losing one on Kingfisher.
Richard finally landed his first carp after tea on Thursday, a 38lb common after spending the day on Lac Lucie with Will and Chris had another at 34lb on Thursday night on Kingfisher.
Teatime came early on Friday as Richard and Jim were flying back to Stansted and Will told us he had had another 2 from Lac Lucie with one 40lb+ and Chris had had a further 2 from Kingfisher. We decided we would hand over their magnets there and then as they were all together, with Richard and Jim receiving a PB magnet and the others a CFF one. James decided he would leave his with us, just in case he happened to catch that evening. We were not feeling hopeful but were delighted when we went round on Saturday morning to wave Chris and Will off that he had finally caught, a lovely common so his magnet was swapped when he came round to wait for his lift back to the airport on Saturday afternoon.
The weather started off bad but we had no more rain for the week. It was chilly overnight with temperatures down to 1°C but by the end of the week the daytime temperatures had risen from 10°C on Sunday to over 26°C on the Friday. The guys had chosen to bring their own bait, including some maggots and worms, but did have a few of Nigel’s maple syrup pop-ups for hook bait
So a quick summary of their week, Will had 26 carp on the bank, mostly from Lac Lucie, including 4 x 40s, a 39lb and a 38lb. Chris caught 7, Jim had 2, Richard had 2 and James one on the last night after not having anything all week so 38 carp on the bank in total for the week including more than 4 x 40lb+ from both lakes.
No speeches were written but the guys did all pose for a group photo and with a bit of ChatGPT magic they ended up as the below.
They all seemed to have had a lovely week and we enjoyed their company and hope to see them again someday. We wish Chris and his wife-to-be a very happy wedding day and for their future together. Until the next time bonne journée et à bientôt…
These are their best photos of the week.
