Our final guests of the 2026 had had to postpone their summer visit for personal reasons and the weather when they arrived was definitely not hot. After a long hot summer the rain had finally arrived but this did not deter these two anglers, Andrew and Ken, who were visiting our lakes for the 3rd time with their wives, Teresa and Liz. The last time they were here was 22 years ago, on the Kingfisher lake. That was their 2nd visit, after having blanked on Lac Lucie the year before. Back then they had their teenage daughters with them who were now grown up and doing their own thing. We even managed to find the record of their week on Kingfisher in an old visitors book where they had had a great week.
Since then Andrew and Ken have not done a great deal of fishing but have spent some time in France, with property in Northern France and they have done a lot of travelling around the country. Having recently got back into fishing, and having sold their French property they decided to revisit an old haunt. And we were pleased that they did as we had a great week getting to know them.
They arrived just as the rain started but quickly got the camper van unloaded and everything unpacked into the chalet. The plan was to hopefully get set up on Sunday and start fishing once the rain stopped but it didn’t stop until about 2pm on Sunday afternoon with a total of 33mm since the day before. Having spent all morning in the chalet the two of them took their stuff down to the lake and got a few spots baited up, deciding to make a good go of it on Monday instead, after a visit to the supermarket. They had enough to amuse themselves though, bringing with them books and card games etc and enjoying the chalet and each others company.
With Andrew fishing to the left bank and Ken to the right they were quickly set up on the main bank together with a bivvy to store their things in just in case it rained again. They were not planning on fishing the nights, preferring the warmth and dry of the chalet but intended to start first light and fish until it got dark, weather permitting. They were here to get away from everyday life as much as to catch fish.
We popped down to see them on Monday afternoon and they had only had their rods in the water for about an hour as they had been out and it had rained a little. As is often the way, we must be lucky charms, the first rod went off whilst we were there chatting to them and we enjoyed seeing them land the first fish of the week, a 22lb 10oz mirror for Andrew.
Nigel discussed using the bait boat and had popped up to get it whilst they were getting the fish back in the water. He was just giving them a quick lesson on how to use it when Ken’s rod went off and he landed a 19lb 8oz common
Neither of them were over keen on having photos taken with the fish, preferring to get them sorted out and back in the water as soon as possible. Andrew ended the day with another three commons on Monday, weighing 17lb 5oz, 20lb and 24lb. Ken didn’t have any more that day.
On Tuesday it was Ken’s day, catching a new PB after 20+ years with this 36lb 8oz common. Andrew had another 20lb common on Tuesday. It had been a nice morning with the sun out and only a little bit of rain around teatime when they had packed up for the day anyway.
Unfortunately on Wednesday Andrew was not feeling very well so the group spent the day in the chalet whilst he recovered. Ken is not keen on fishing on his own but they were all happy and Liz enjoyed a nice walk around both lakes in the afternoon looking at all of the different fungi that we have growing here at this time of year – but not picking any to eat.
Thursday and Friday were both beautiful days with the sun shining all day and temperatures up to 18°C on Friday. The ladies made the most of the sunshine and spent the days outside watching their husbands enjoy the fishing. Liz enjoyed collecting some of the thousands of chestnuts that had fallen from the trees and making us a nice picture on the picnic table.
They also got to witness the spectacle of the cranes that we enjoy at this time of year. During their journey south for the winter, we have flock after flock of cranes travelling in a classic V-formation and are incredibly noisy. Apparently they travel between Scandinavia and southern Spain and Portugal. For us it is a sign that winter is coming and we will have to wait until the spring before they fly across us again.
Andrew and Ken made the most of their last two days fishing and enjoyed the sunshine and the ladies company. They popped out for a few bits on Thursday morning and were straight down to the lake when they got back. We were just going out at around 3.30pm on Thursday when we saw some activity and Andrew had a fish on. The ladies were filming him from the top of the bank and he landed a new PB common weighing 36lb 3oz. Ken had two further fish on Thursday weighing 29lb 8oz and 28lb 8oz so a worthwhile day.
Friday comes around way too quickly and there were no further fish on the bank for Ken but Andrew had two more, a common weighing 26lb 3oz and a mirror 23lb 3oz.
Considering they had only really fished for 4 days in total they had had a very productive week with Andrew landing 8 carp in total (we don’t count the one that got away, the roach or the other tiny fish that was apparently stuck to one of the carp) and Ken with 4 on the bank.
We have really enjoyed getting to know these two lovely couples and will look forward to seeing Andrew and Ken next year when they fly out to us mid season, with Andrew’s twin bother as well.
Final summary was 12 carp on the bank with zero babies, 2 at 10lb+, 8 at 20lb+ and 2 at 30lb+. Until the next time bonne journée et à bientôt….