We were contacted by Adam and Chaddy in June as the lake they have been going to for the last 20+ years had had to close due to issues with the water quality and fish health. Not an easy decision for any lake owner to make when your livelihood depends on anglers having their holidays with you but fish health always comes first. Luckily for these guys we had both of the weeks free on Kingfisher lake and so they snapped it up. It has been unusual for us not to have August fully booked but this year seems to have been a bit different.
Usually there are five of them who meet up for two weeks fishing every August for a fishing social, but some people like what they like and that is fine. Adam and Chaddy were supposed to be coming with one other person who unfortunately was unable to make it due to health issues so they came on their own and had the whole of Kingfisher to themselves. The lake they usually go to has a good head of carp in the 50s as well as some 60s, as well as huts on every swim with proper beds and power, in so we were concerned that they may be disappointed with our lakes and were slightly apprehensive about them coming.
How wrong we were. From the moment Jo collected them at the airport it was clear that the duo were excited about trying somewhere new and spent the whole journey home asking lots of questions. A quick stop at the supermarket to stock up on beer and meat for Chaddy and vodka and lots of healthy foods for Adam and they were soon at the lake where they were greeted by Nigel and Maisie of course.
Being used to sleeping by the lake for two weeks the guys opted for a cabin each with Chaddy taking swim 2 and Adam in swim 3 and a loose agreement that they would swap the following week so they both got to fish the deeper end of the lake. The water level has been low for several months now, with no new water coming into the lake, apart from the few rain showers we have had. We sat and had a few drinks with them into the early part of the evening and they agreed they were going to get unpacked and start fishing the next day after breakfast, the beauty of having a two week break.
Sunday was spent getting themselves sorted out and eventually they got their rods in the water. Chaddy was first off the mark on Sunday evening with a 36lb mirror and this was followed with a 40lb common overnight on Sunday.
These were followed by a 30lb common for Chaddy on Monday evening and a 31lb common on Tuesday afternoon in the sunshine. Adam had had two bites overnight but when he struck into them they did not pick up. He was starting to get the feeling he had picked the wrong swim and on Tuesday afternoon decided to move into swim 1 and got his bivvy set up.
Now the lads have busy jobs in the UK, Chaddy is a postman (or that’s what he told us when Jo asked Nigel to get the downstairs cloakroom decorated) and Adam is a site manager so they know their trades and they are not good at just sitting by a lake when there are things they feel need doing. Those of you who have been here will know that we never ask anyone to do anything for us when they have paid to come fishing but if someone volunteers it is a different story! The lads thought that swims 2 and 3 in particular needed a step down into the lake to make netting and releasing the fish safer. So armed with all they needed from Nigel they set to and sorted them. We hope that they will soon be under water again
Swim 1 is good for fishing off the dam wall whilst remaining sociable but Adam was not happy only having a bivvy to sleep in. Whether Chaddy was trying to get further away from Adam or was just being the bigger person we will never know but he decided he was going to move down to swim 3 and Adam then jumped at moving into swim 2. He could still fish the dam wall as well as the far bank but had a hut to sleep in so all was good.
On Wednesday Chaddy had a 12lb common at 5am and then a 26lb mirror and on Thursday evening a 23lb mirror. He was now on 7 fish in the 4 days they had been fishing and Adam had not managed to bring one to the bank. Chaddy had had 4 on a tiger nut hook bait and 3 on a halibut pellet and he was a happy man. (Chaddy had asked Nigel if he could use the tiger nuts as a hook bait only.) Adam had had nothing from swims 3, 1 or 2 and was half way through his first week already. But he was enjoying his view, the company of Chaddy and throwing the ball for Maisie at breakfast and whenever we went round.
We could not work out what Adam was doing wrong and were sat discussing it when we had a message from Chaddy saying that Adam had caught a 13lb common and it was about to be on the news…..at last! By 10pm he had had 2 out and by the next morning he had caught 5 altogether, a 13lb kitten, a 13lb common, a 15lb common, a 9lb common and a 22lb mirror. Nothing of any great size but a fish is a fish as he said and they can only get bigger. So there was Chaddy thinking he was way out in front and Adam then started to charge up behind him.
We were not aware that there were so many smaller fish in the lake as we had not had anything less than 10lb out for a couple of years but Adam reckoned they must have been avoiding capture as they fought like mad. Late on Friday morning he had another one, a 14lb mirror, making it 7 to Chaddy and 6 to Adam. The gap was closing fast.
Adam decided to set Nigel a challenge and asked him if he could make some bigger boilies, donkey chokers he called them so Nigel got straight onto the challenge. Chaddy on the other hand had decided to try some garlic, which has worked for him previously. Jo had given him a bulb that morning and by 2pm he had his first fish on it, a 28lb common. Half an hour later Adam was into his next fish, a 20lb mirror and then at about 3.30pm got his first 30lber out of the lake. A lovely common and he was still just 1 fish behind Chaddy.
Their first week on the lake was coming to a close and at 6.15pm Adam drew even with a 33lb mirror.
Overnight saw Chaddy take the lead again with two mirrors weighing 33lb and 23lb and then he was woken up at 6.50am with a 32lb common, again caught on garlic.
This was the end of their first week here. Chaddy had caught 11 and Adam was on 9. With our lake average being 6.3 fish per angler they were both doing really well, had managed to read the lake and settled in nicely into the huts, with the occasional night or half night up in the chalet in the comfy beds.
The summary of their first week 1 baby, 4 at 10lb+, 6 at 20lb+, 7 at 30lb+, 1 at 40lb+ and 1 cat to 13lb. Not a bad week and hopefully more of that to follow for their second week here.
Week 2
Saturdays are usually a busy day for us with two lakes changing over so it was nice just having new people arriving on Lac Lucie and we pretty much left the lads to it for the day. It was Adam’s turn to take the lead on Saturday with a 69lb catfish at 11.45am, followed 10 minutes later by a 43lb mirror.
We popped over to have a drink with them in the afternoon when Adam had his third fish of the day out – a 42lb mirror. Not a bad days fishing when you have had 154lb of fish on the bank! And this has to be the photo of the week
Now he was ahead and having had his line snapped twice in the night Adam decided to spend the night in the chalet. Chaddy stayed out all night though and was rewarded with a 32lb common as it was just starting to get light.
There was a bit of rain on Sunday but not enough to keep these lads sitting still and their rods stayed in the water all day. Chaddy had another common overnight weighing 41lb and Adam was woken up at 2am but a 36lb common.
This was followed by two more in quick succession by Adam, a catfish weighing 51lb and a 34lb nicely scaled mirror
Nigel went off to play golf early on Tuesday morning, leaving Jo to sort breakfast (they said it was the best they had had all week). They had not had a peep from the fish all night so managed a good nights sleep. The day time was good going though with a 43lb cat for Chaddy, followed by a 19lb common for Adam and then a 26lb common for Chaddy all before tea. When we went round to see them around 6pm Chaddy had just caught a 44lb mirror and then later in the evening he finished the day off with the biggest catfish of the week weighing 73lb. A proper result for Chaddy as he was excited about the fact that there were catfish in the lake. The problem was the left sleeve of his jumper got really wet so he had to cut it off so he could get to sleep – we are sure most people would’ve just taken their jumper off!
Temperatures climbed again slowly over the second week, with the hottest day being Friday at 33.9°C. Jo’s Fishing Points App said that fishing would be slowing down towards the end of the week but these guys did not really notice a lot of change in the catching.
Nigel took the lads out to the tackle shop in St Junien on Wednesday morning as Adam couldn’t find the new line he thought he had bought with him ad he had lost 3 big cats in the night. This meant that it was early afternoon before they got their rods in the water. Once again though Adam had two in quick succession. Two mirrors weighing 24lb and 26lb, which had a mega set of shoulders on it. Chaddy blanked on Wednesday in swim 3.
We often find it a long week for anglers who have flown in, especially when they have no transport so we arranged to take them to Mamie’s bar in Montamboeuf for some tea. Nice chippy style fish and chips, which even Chaddy ate. They enjoyed sitting in the square with a few drinks and hearing about the history of the bullet holes in the church clock and the reason why the clock strikes several times at 7pm.
Thursday saw another four carp landed for this pair. Adam had three commons weighing 12lb, 11lb and 22lb and Chaddy also had a common weighing 27lb. We never knew that there were so many young fish just over 10lb in there as we have not had anything caught under 10lb for our stock pond for a couple of years now so a nice surprise for us even if they were not the biggest fish of the week.
Chaddy had a further two fish in the early hours of Friday morning a common weighing 19lb and a 30lb mirror. Unfortunately Ada was not up to take photos of him holding them though. Adam then had a 30lb mirror at around 11.30am
As their flight was not until Saturday afternoon the guys decided they would have one last night by the lake, just so they could fish until the last minute and it paid off with 2 more carp in the net for both of them. A 26lb and a 44lb mirror for Chaddy overnight and a 33lb common and a 26lb 8oz mirror for Adam. This meant the final scores on the doors for the two weeks were 22 carp for Chaddy and 24 for Adam. A pretty even match and this has increased our average catch rate for Kingfisher lake to 6.7 fish per angler
The summary of their second week was zero babies, 4 at 10lb+, 7 at 20lb+, 6 at 30lb+ and 5 at 40lb+.
We would like to thank Adam and Chaddy for trusting us with their holiday after so many years going to the same place. It has been an absolute pleasure having them here, they have done a few jobs and made lots of suggestions, some, like a shelf in the huts, that we have already put in place whilst they have been here. Adam also managed to eat some of our produce, courgette chutney, figs straight from the tree and some of our long tomatoes – we hope he manages to grow some himself next year.
The final summary for their two week was 1 baby, 8 at 10lb+, 13 at 20lb+, 13 at 30lb+ and 6 at 40lb+. All caught on a mixture of our home boilies, hook baits and maybe a little bit of garlic – but don’t tell everyone Chaddy’s secret!
We are hoping that they will both be back in 2028 and ‘to cut a long story short’ we will look forward to seeing you then. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt…