Eliza and Stanley bought their mum and dad, Jess and Alan, and granny and grandad, Anne and Dave with them from North Yorkshire for a family holiday on Lac Lucie last week. With Alan and Dave fishing the others enjoyed the comfort of the chalet as well as the dip pool and hot tub and made the most of all the facilities we have here.
It was evident from the Saturday when they arrived that Alan and Dave are quite competitive and soon got themselves set up after tossing a coin for swims. With Dave on the dam wall swim and Alan at the bottom of the steps, they were both hopeful that they were in the right places. They had chosen our bait package with a mix of spicy fish and maple syrup boilies to go with the pellets and parti-blend and Nigel suggested they had a couple of pots of hard hookers to try and keep the bait from the crayfish. They tended to use the hookers at nighttime and also had some wafters that they switched to during the day.
Alan was first off the mark with a 27lb 9oz common at 9pm on the Saturday night, closely followed by a 36lb 5oz common at half past midnight, a 35lb 11oz mirror at 2.45am and a 40lb 4oz common at 5.00am. As you can imagine we were very surprised to hear that Alan had had four fish within 12 hours of putting his rods out and Dave was starting to think that he had picked the wrong swim and wondered if he would ever catch up. (Unfortunately we don’t have a photo of the 40lb 4oz common but this one is a lovely looking fish.)
On Sunday afternoon Dave landed three in very quick succession, a 23lb 13oz mirror at 5pm, a 23lb 8oz common at 6pm and a 26lb common at 7.15pm and luckily enough Nigel was there to help as in between Dave’s three, Alan also had another one out a 24lb 6oz mirror at 7.10pm. Dave went on to have another two over night and Alan another one so by breakfast on Monday morning Alan had caught 6 fish and Dave was on 5.
Dave carried on on Monday morning and landed his biggest of the week at 9.45am and they did get a photo of this lovely 45lb 10oz common.
He then went onto have a 30lb 4oz common at 10.15am and a 42lb 4oz common at 7pm with Alan just having this 27lb 9oz mirror at 6.50pm.
By 8am on Tuesday morning, with Dave having a 26lb 1oz mirror at 5.30am the scores were Dave on 9 and Alan on 7 so the lead had changed.
They managed another 5 each over the next 24 hours and Alan had been up onto the dam wall bank and fished a bit up there as well to spend some time with his dad and not miss out on the fish that were feeding around there.
And so the week swapped and turned. The children were having a great time with Eliza mesmerized by the wildlife and collecting ants to feed the tiny lizard she had found and Stan loving the hot tub and throwing the ball for Maisie when she visited. They enjoyed some time away from the lakes at the château at Rochechouart and at the Plage la Guerlie, swimming in the lake and having a pizza at Le 16 Beach.
By 8am on Thursday morning things were starting to even up a bit and Dave had had 14 carp, including little Matty, the baby of the lake and Alan was on 15. What a stunning mirror Dave has here. Both Eliza and Stanley spent a night in the bivvy with their dad and thoroughly enjoyed it the excitement and looking at the stars.
Thursday evening saw some more fish landed, another two for Alan and three for Dave which made it 17 all going into the last day as Alan and Jess and the children were heading home very early on Saturday morning. Alan had this 28lb 2oz mirror and Dave a good 24lb 14oz mirror before the children went to bed.
So with both anglers on 17 carp on Friday morning they sat and waited to have another good day but nothing happened until later in the afternoon when Alan had a 25lb 14oz mirror and a 23lb 10oz common both within 15 minutes of each other which took him 2 in the lead. They were both reluctant to pack up and hung on for a few more hours, despite the ladies wanting to get tea sorted and the packing up done. At 7pm Dave caught a 19lb 1oz common and they decided to call it a day with Dave letting his son beat him by 1 fish.
This is the most carp caught by any group of anglers since we bought the property last May and was great to be a witness to a lovely family enjoying the lake and the fishing.
Final catch summary was 37 fish in total 1 baby, 2 at 10lb+, 20 at 20lb+, 11 at 30lb+ and 3 at 40lb+ with the largest being 45lb 10oz.
Thank you for an amazing week and with Alan only having one more fish than Dave we hope that one day you will return for a rematch. Until the next time à bientôt