The last week in May saw the arrival of Dave and Sue who have been to the fishery nearly every year for the last 15/16 years but have always been on the Kingfisher lake. Last year they were invited to have a walk round Lac Lucie and after not having caught very much last year, decided that it was time they had a little change. This year, they bought some new friends with them, three pink panther mascots, wearing Everton scarves, made by Sue obviously.
Having met them last year we knew that, although Dave was the carp angler, Sue had a wealth of knowledge about fishing and was very much the key player when it came to spending two weeks here. They are the true meaning of a team with Dave giving the instructions and Sue following them to the letter. Dave tells Sue to put the bait boat to a certain point and Sue does it, etc, etc. She knows how to set all the gear up as he likes it, does the laundry, the cooking and generally enables Dave to have the best possible fishing holiday possible. The highlight of Sue’s trip here is to see Maisie and she arrived armed with new balls and a ball thrower to save her keep bending down.
The weather forecast for their first week was not looking good, and in fact this May had been the wettest in history in this part of France. The far corner of Lac Lucie had been sodden for weeks and despite putting down some bark chippings it was not easy to walk round but the pair had bought lots of warm clothing and their raincoats and they needed them! Saying that on the day they arrived the weather was warmish and sunny at times so perfect for getting everything set up.
Sue had got everything ready for Dave to put the rods out after tea on the Saturday and it was not long before he managed to land his first fish a 32lb carp, followed by one at 26lb 2oz around midnight. On Sunday afternoon, just as we had left to go to the airport to collect Jo’s daughter, Dave had another one, a very round and hard to hold 41lb mirror. (Photos to follow)
On Monday they had no fish during the day and decided that they would sleep in the bivvy, not something they often did, preferring to fish gentleman’s hours on previous years. But they headed back indoors as dawn broke as they were chilly and damp.
Tuesday was dry for most of the day and Dave had a nice 31lb 2oz mirror around 12.30 and there was evidence that it was full of eggs. In the afternoon Jo took Sue for a walk around Kingfisher to see the changes that had been made there.
The Wednesday was wet and miserable and Dave reluctantly agreed to go to the market at Piegut Pluviers in the morning but they didn’t last long with the weather as it was. He fished for a while in the afternoon but only hooked one which he lost.
Thursday started with rain and ended with rain although we did have a bit of sunshine during the day and Dave managed to land two fish, a 28lb 10oz common and 37lb 2oz mirror.
Friday started sunny and the pair were hopeful but it started raining around 2pm and didn’t stop so they gave up and used the chalet for warmth and shelter.
Saturday still had some showers and it was still chilly and it was now June and we all hoped that summer was on the horizon. After a quiet day Dave caught this lovely common at 8.20pm weighing in at 39lb 6oz so was a happy man. 7 fish in 7 days so a good catch report for his first week.
The forecast was set to improve in the second week and the temperatures started to rise on the Sunday but no fish appeared. The couple joined us for a BBQ with the guys off of Kingfisher and Jo’s daughter in the evening. Monday was also dry and the sun even appeared in the afternoon, surprising us all!
Dave had a theory that every time Nigel had been round singing or whistling (like he does) he catches a fish and just before lunchtime on Monday Dave got lucky again just after we had left him. Another common at 31lb 4oz and at 10pm that evening he had his first ever common over 40lb and his heaviest fish of the trip, a lovely 47lb 3oz common. It had a bitter twist though as it wiped all of his lines out and he lost some line and tackle, a first ever for him and he has been fishing a long time so he really did not feel like celebrating.
The next morning at 7am Nigel got in the lake and started walking up and down trying to find the tackle, he did manage to find some old line which hadn’t materialised when we drained the lake but not Dave’s rig which is quite distinctive. Dave was gutted and worried about the fish finding it and causing some damage – if only every angler was that concerned.
Again Tuesday was a warm day and although Dave was still bothered about the tackle in the lake he put his rods out and around 10.30am hooked one. As he was bringing it in he knew where it was heading and he asked Sue to bring his second rod in, which of course she did, following Dave’s instructions as to how fast to wind it. And luckily she did as she managed to catch it on the tackle that he had lost the night before. Imagine his relief! And he landed a mirror at 46lb 5oz.
Another sunny day on Wednesday and another over 40lb common was landed in the evening. A very dark 47lb on the nose common which turned out to be the last fish of this years’ session.
As they had a wedding to get to in the Midlands on Saturday they were leaving on Friday so Thursday was spent getting everything packed away. Obviously this was Sue’s job and she did several trips up and down the bank and they got everything in the car somehow before they went off to Mamie’s bar in Montamboeuf for a nice meal.
We got up early to wave them off on Friday morning, sorry to see them go but looking forward to seeing them again next year. Maisie will miss them both, but especially Sue
FInal catch report zero babies, 0 at 10lb+, 2 at 20lb+, 5 at 30lb+, and 4 at 40lb+ with a new PB common.