One week until the 2025 season starts and we welcomed son-in-law, Matt and his mate Adam onto Lac Lucie for a pre season fish. We were interested to see what might come out with the weather having been quite chilly, but also excited to see if any of the newly stocked carp would be tempted by the bait, especially as Nigel has been feeding them all winter.
After a short crossing from Newhaven to Dieppe the lads drove the 600km in about 6 hours and arrived ready to go. After catching up on the latest family news the lads got their bivvies set up on the main bank ready to cast out after tea. They both do a lot of carp fishing in the Oxford area and have been on trips to Ireland together many a time. Matt had a good PB of 47lb 7oz when he arrived, having been to the Champagne region with another mate last year but Adam’s best was around 20lb so he was hopeful of beating this with us.
They had their rods out by 7pm and we were surprised to get a photo from Matt an hour later with a lovely 28lb mirror. He had a few more runs in the night but it was Adam who landed the next one at about 7.30 the next morning. Another mirror weighing 24lb 3oz, a new PB for him within 12 hours of getting the rods in the water. Both of these, Nigel thinks are from the new stock.
As is usual when we have family staying we expect them to sing for their supper and we had a few jobs on the list for them to help with so they cracked on with them after breakfast, putting a further step in at the bottom of the bank on Lac Lucie to help with the mud and make it easier for people. The weather was a bit hit and miss but seeing as the whole week was originally forecast to be wet and that had changed to just the Sunday it was not too bad and there were some great rainbows to be seen throughout the day. Adam had another mirror out in the afternoon weighing 20lb 5oz with some lovely scale patterns near the tail.
Monday morning saw another 20lb+ mirror caught by Matt and they were beginning to think that they were going to stay with the 20s all week. With Jo’s daughter, Sophie and little Dorothy arriving in the afternoon the lads spent some more time during the day getting some wood chips moved to the muddier areas both around Lac Lucie and on the main bank at Kingfisher.
The lads caught up with Sophie and then went off to fish again for the night after Dot had gone to bed. It was a really clear night so they sat up watching the stars and the weird pattern caused by the SpaceX rocket. They were woken by Matt’s rods which went off at midnight and he landed this 25lb 8oz mirror.
Just as he was going back off to sleep his alarms went off again and it was just what he had been waiting for, and a new PB with this fantastic 48lb 13oz common.
So new PBs for them both and it was only Tuesday! Matt had another mirror at 28lb 9oz at 4am on Tuesday morning and then at 7.30am Adam went to try and match Matt with another of our big commons, this one weighing 45lb 15oz. A huge jump for his PB and a great photo with the mist on the lake in the early morning and one happy angler.
With the majority of the jobs done and feeling like he was missing out, Nigel decided to have a couple of nights on Kingfisher to get that lake warmed up for the season too. Setting up on the house swim with a nice fire going it was only a couple of hours before he saw his first rod go. He knew it was a catfish straight away and knew it would take a while to get it in. Whilst he was playing it another rod started running so he put the cat rod down and landed a 27lb 1oz mirror before picking the cat up again. It had obviously been trying to spit the hook out whilst he was dealing with the carp and ended up losing it but a great start to his mini session. He then had another at 2am, this time a common weighing about 25lb. Not great photos, but it is not easy when you are fishing on your own!
On Wednesday Jo and Sophie took Dot to the fabric shop in Javerlac and then to the market at Piegut Pluviers. Sophie makes children’s clothes in her spare time https://justsodesigns.co.uk/ and so could have spent all day in the shop but came away with some pretty fabrics to make Dot some clothes and Jo bought material for curtains for Kingfisher chalet.
With no more jobs to do the two lads stayed on Lac Lucie for the day just enjoying the peace and quiet and Matt caught another mirror at 11.30am, not knowing that this would be the last fish of their session.
Nigel went back over to Kingfisher after tea on Wednesday and at midnight landed another mirror weighing 27lb 9oz and then a 17lb mirror (no photograph) on Thursday afternoon as he was packing his tackle up.
Matt and Adam also packed all their gear away on Thursday ready to leave on Friday morning, whilst the girls went off to the beach for Dot to play on the equipment and have a paddle in the lake in her wellies. In the afternoon Dot helped Nana to make a chocolate mousse for tea…….and good fun was had by all!
Final catch report for the pre season warm up
Lac Lucie over 5 days, 8 at 20lb+ and 2 at 40lb+ All the fish were caught using Nigel’s Maple Syrup boilies with matching hookers and yellow toppers.
Kingfisher over 2 days, 1 at 10lb+ and 3 at 20lb+ Nigel was using our Spicy Fish boilies and hookers.
Our first paying guests arrived yesterday and the four anglers are all set up on Kingfisher with 2 commons and a catfish out already at the time of writing. Until next time bonne journée et à bientôt….