Mike and Chris have never been fishing in France before but, along with their better halves, Marie and Donna, frequently go off in the UK for short fishing trips. Mike had originally booked to come to Kingfisher under the previous owners a few years ago, but his mates cancelled on him then and so he had very much been looking forward to this trip.
Choosing to fly to Limoges from Manchester, their trip did not get off to the best of starts with a two hour delay but they spent those two hours in the bar at the airport so all was not lost. By the time they landed and were settled in Nigel’s Range Rover they were very excited (and a little drunk) and had loads of questions for Nigel all the way here. They had a quick stop off at the supermarket to buy some essential provisions and arrived at the lake ready for a week of fun and fishing.
They arrived to temperatures of 26°C but the forecast for their week was poor to say the least with rain forecast every day and temperatures plummeting to single figures. Whilst Nigel was pleased that there was finally some rain passing through the lakes, it did not bode well, especially for the ladies.
Chris and Mike managed to get their bivvies and tackle set up in swims 1 and 2 on the Saturday afternoon but decided that they were not really in any fit state to start fishing responsibly so instead got a good night’s sleep in the chalet ready to tackle the lake on Sunday morning.
We had quite a bit of rain over night on Saturday and Sunday morning was showery on and off but the two men were up and down by the lake by 10am ready to see what they could catch. They were both very hopeful of beating their PBs and getting a catfish or two for the first time.
It was Sunday afternoon before they had their first bite and Chris in the first swim had hooked into a catfish which as usual led him a merry dance around the lake. He got it to the bank though and it was a good start at 20lb.
Monday was grey a wet and the temperatures dropped to just 15°C. Jo took the ladies off to the supermarket to pick up what they really needed for their week here, including some cat food for the black and white cat that appears to have adopted us this year, now named Doris by Marie. Donna went off in the afternoon on one of her long walks. She did well whilst she was here, walking to Montamboeuf and back on 3 occasions to get a few bits from the Spar and to Sauvagnac a couple of times to have a look at the church. In between shopping and walking the ladies settled themselves in the chalet to watch many episodes of Judge Judy. By the end of the week we reckoned they could run a courtroom themselves!
There was nothing further on the bank on Tuesday. Chris and Mike persisted throughout the day, choosing to spend the nights in the chalet instead, although on a couple of evenings they did stay out a little later.
Carp are funny creatures and when there is a dramatic change in the weather the lake can go either way, with either a full feeding frenzy or hunkering down in a shoal to protect themselves. This week it would appear that the latter was the case, even though we would be expecting them to be feeding like crazy at this time of year, preparing for the winter and the colder water. Maybe it was the sudden drop in temperatures that confused them…we will never know.
We had a dry morning here on Tuesday but it rained on and off most of the afternoon and the temperatures dropped even further to 11°C. Chris had another catfish on the bank, weighing only 7lb and Mike again saw nothing.
Jo had some beer kegs to collect for Nigel on Wednesday and Donna and Marie chose to go with her and to the Lidl for a few more bits of food and drink and in the afternoon Mike had his first, and only, fish on the bank, another catfish weighing 10lb.
The colder weather continued on Thursday and there was a little more rain around lunchtime but no further fish out of the lake, and despite there being loads of signs of fish feeding in the afternoon there was nothing out all day.
Their final days fishing arrived and the ladies decided that they had a few bottles of wine they needed to drink up before they got their packing done and enjoyed the drier weather. Chris managed a further two catfish out on Friday including the biggest of the week at 23lb but that was it and it was soon time for the tackle to be put away and the bags to be packed ready for home time on Saturday.
We were all really disappointed for the guys who were looking forward to catching some big French carp. But the dramatic change in the weather seemed to send all of the carp into hiding. Chris had come armed with lots of gadgetry, including a bait boat, fish detector and drone and the fish were certainly showing themselves at various depths on his Deeper when he took his bait boat across the lake but for whatever reason they were not taking the bait.
The group have certainly not been put off though and a walk down to look at Lac Lucie on Saturday morning before they headed to the airport has led them to provisionally book another week with us next year. We will look forward to welcoming them back as we enjoyed their company, but are hoping that their flight is not delayed by too much next time!
Not the best catch report we have had but reading other reports from local fisheries it is no great surprise. Final summary is 5 catfish up to 23lb…oh and a tiny roach caught by Chris! Until the next time bonne journée et à bientôt…..