This week saw the return of one of our guests from last year, except this time he had bought 2 mates along with him rather than his family (although he is coming back again with them in August). So there was hope for some new PBs and more buckets of water.
The three of them arrived on Saturday afternoon fully attired in personalised t-shirts with our logo on as a memento of their trip
After getting unpacked they got themselves quickly set up before their tea and then managed to get at least one rod out for the night. Chris set up on the 1st swim on the dam wall, with Paul O in the Hilton Executive Suite on the 1st swim near the chalet and Paul A next to him by the social area, using the picnic bench as extra sorting out space.
Fishing was really hard this week with temperatures over 30 degrees some days and very little rain. You would have thought we would all have been thrilled by that but the carp seemed to have gone off their food but the cats seemed to be hungry. None of them seemed to mind about this too much but a few more carp over the week would have been nicer, or just one for Chris would have been good.
Saturday night saw Paul A catch the first carp, only 6lbs but it was a start. If only we had remembered to tell him to keep it for us it would have been another addition to our stock pond but it will have to stay with the big fish until it is caught again. Chris had a cat of 41lbs and the two of them were pleased to have beaten Paul O off of the mark. Chris had another catfish of 64lbs on Sunday afternoon and then managed to lose one. He told us that it was on a 25lb line and was bigger than the 64 as it rolled away and lost the hook.
On Monday there was nothing to be seen apart from Paul A losing another cat. Chris moved round to the 3rd swim along in the hopes that there might be some more action towards the shallows and they all did a bit of stalking down there during the week.
On Tuesday Paul A told us that he had had a 20lb cat in the night and there were several signs of possible spawning along the far bank, and we also saw this over the next few days on Lac Lucie so it is quite likely given the funny temperatures we have had this year. Chris was also throwing some bait in on the top near to him and there loads of little fry going for that which is unusual also.
When they came up for their tea on Wednesday evening we were expecting more news of cats and heat but they had at last had some carp take their bait, with Paul A catching a 35lb common and Paul O getting off the mark by catching 2 mirrors weighing 23lb 4oz and 25lbs. Chris had still not caught a carp but he was still hopeful. What he had found in his bait buckets were 2 mice though, having climbed in to see what goodies they could find.
Thursday was another very hot day but with some cloud so it felt a bit better. Chris managed to lose another catfish which completely shredded his end tackle somehow and Paul O caught this stunning 31lb common
We had a walk round at about 2pm and it all seemed very quiet with Paul O away from his bivvy. When we got to Paul A’s swim he was playing a fish with Chris helping out. One of his other lines got in a bit of a tangle and Nigel and Paul did a little dance trying to untangle it. We all thought it was another cat as it was obviously quite big but as it got closer we saw it was a big mirror and the excitement levels grew. Finally it was landed and weighed and Paul O decided to join us for the weigh in. A lovely mirror at 49lb 7oz. Paul A was delighted and with a new PB, was on the receiving end of a very large bucket of water.
They were all thrilled that they had had some good fish out, on what was a very difficult week and Friday continued with another 4 cats, 2 caught by Chris and 2 by Paul O but unfortunately no carp for Chris all week. Chris did however manage to land the biggest cat of the week at 65lb and Paul O had a 57lb on Friday.
Given their style of photography, when we discussed what their headline should be, it was decided that they would be the calendar boys. Whether you would like any of these photos up in your kitchen for a year is a question of taste but they appeared to have had a great week, with lots of laughter and lots of stories to take back home with them.
We will not mention the sore heads we came across on Saturday morning as they were packing up but they got off ok with Chris catching the most weight of fish for the week at 216lb out of their total of 606lb and Paul winning the booby prize for drinking the most on Friday night and struggling to pack everything down on Saturday morning.
We look forward to welcoming Paul O back in August with another friend, his sons and nephew where hopefully we will see some more carp.
Final scores of the week were 1 baby, 0 at 10lb+, 2 at 20lb+, 2 at 30lb+ and 1 at 40lb+ along with 13 catfish up to 65lb.