We don’t usually take bookings for day fishing but as both lakes were available for half term week and we had had an enquiry we decided that we had nothing to lose. Glynn, Jo and their sons, Ben and Josh we staying in a château in the Dordogne, about half an hour away from us. They had done a bit of carp fishing in the UK and a lot of river and course fishing but wanted to have a go at catching a famous French carp.
Arriving at 8.30am on Monday morning they came armed with the end tackle they needed and hired chairs, rods etc from us as well as having one of our maple syrup bait packages. They soon got baited up and their rods were in the water, mainly along the left hand bank, but they were also trying a bit of surface fishing with some floating pellets they had bought with them. They had decided to take it in turns to reel the fish in should one of the alarms go off and they did not have to wait very long. Within half an hour Glynn was playing a fish and ended up with a 29lb common on the bank – a new PB for him and they were all delighted to say the least.
Josh, aged 10, had lots of questions for us, about the lake, the fish and everything else in between, a real thirst for knowledge. He was next up and was over the moon to have beaten his dad with a 35lb common.
He was not feeling great though and spent a lot of the afternoon asleep on the picnic rug they had bought with them and did not make it to their Tuesday session unfortunately. But with a new PB for two of them in the bag they were a happy family when they left us at about 6.30pm.
It was Ben’s turn next and at 13 he was happy sitting watching the water and enjoying the peace and quiet. He lost one on Tuesday morning and then when we went down to see them at lunchtime, very nearly had one in the net when the line caught and the fish became unhooked. Nigel pointed out to him that the bigger carp can take quite a while to come into the bank and it is important not to rush them but let them take the line if they need to.
We spotted quite a few fish up at the other end near the valve and under the willow tree and in the afternoon Glynn and Ben decided they would move up there with their rods and chairs, having seen quite a few fish in that direction when they had had a walk round themselves. And it wasn’t long after they had moved that Ben caught, what turned out to be the biggest fish of their session, a 42lb 10oz common. Ben’s patience with letting his brother have a turn first had paid off.
Glynn ended up with another common before they packed up at about 9pm, a 37lb 4oz common (no picture) and with 4 fish out between them over a two day period they were a very happy family. We hope that they enjoyed the rest of their holiday and that Josh is feeling better now. We hope to see some or all of them back here some day, maybe even with Glynn’s regular fishing partner, who was apparently very jealous of the photos they were sending him.
Catch summary 0 babies, 0 at 10lb+, 1 at 20lb+, 2 at 30lb+ and 1 at 40lb+.
Until next time bonne journée et à bientôt…..