Nick, Ian, Paul and Richard flew in on the late Manchester flight on the Saturday and got their heads down when they got here so that they were fresh and raring to go on Sunday morning. After a full English breakfast up at the house they drew their swims and quickly got set up, with Richard round on the right bank near the aerator, Ian on the first swim by the chalet, then Paul and then Nick the furthest away.
With a good selection of our house boilies, pop ups, hookers and glug as well as a few buckets of party blend and pellets they soon got their lines in the water and so the challenge was on with a good bounty to fish for. It was looking like it was going to be a challenging week weather wise too with very little rain forecast and the temperatures getting up into the 30’s by the end of the week.
Paul has never been to France carp fishing before, and in fact had never flown before, so was the most likely to get a new PB this week and indeed kicked off the catching with a lovely 34lb common on the first day – a new PB from the start. He then topped this on the Monday with a 42lbs 8oz mirror in the early hours. Paul finished his week with 3 mirrors and 2 commons as well as 1 catfish (more to follow).
Richard had the benefit of the aerator which attracts the carp up in the corner, but the cats do also have a tendency to come along and push the carp out so he was wary. This swim is a lot quieter than the others but often produces some great results. He definitely landed the smallest fish, a 3lbs common which has lots of time to grow on, and the prettiest fish, a 28lbs common. Richard’s biggest was this 38lbs mirror.
Ian was on the point, as Nigel likes to call it, and got the full effects of the sun all week and it seemed like the carp were going between Richard and Paul so his carp count was only a couple, 2 commons at 12lbs and 30lbs but he did get the biggest catfish at 71lbs, which as you can see took a bit of handling.
And finally to Nick down at the shallower end of the lake. Probably because of the sun, there seemed to be very little feeding activity taking place down this end of the lake as the temperature of the water was rising to over 25 degrees. He did, however manage to land a couple of mirrors at 30lbs and 38lbs as well as a couple of small cats (more to follow).
So to summarise this catch report for these 4 gentleman we have – 1 not weighed, 1 baby, 2 at 10lbs+, 2 at 20lbs+, 8 at 30lbs+, 1 at 40lbs+ and 10 catfish up to 71lbs.
So, why have we called this the tale of two cats you may be asking….. On the second day, Paul managed to catch his first ever catfish, a large 54lbs 8oz and being vertically challenged the guys decided to get his photo laid next to it on the landing mat. And then during the week, Nick, who was the tallest of the group caught the smallest catfish…..we can assure you that no action men were used in the taking of these photos!
Hope to meet you all again one day, we have enjoyed your company at mealtimes and hope you managed to get back to Manchester safely.