When Jerry first contacted us about having a week on Lac Lucie he thought we might be a bit far to drive all the way from Cheshire but we suggested flying into Limoges and he told us that his fishing mate actually lives near Limoges so it might be an option for him. It turned out that Pat now lives just 10 minutes from us so the week was booked, Jerry arranged to fly out and they were set up for a week on Lac Lucie. And what a week they had.
They have been friends for a very long time and fished for over 50 years so lots of experience between them. Pat called round to see us in June with his wife, Elaine to introduce himself and to purchase a few bits of tackle. He lives a short walk away from one of the big public lakes nearby and regularly goes fishing on there. He was very much looking forward to spending a week catching up with Jerry who he only gets to see every few years.
So Jerry flew in from Manchester on the Friday and enjoyed some home cooking at Pat’s on the Friday night before coming over to us on Saturday lunchtime. They unloaded the car and then whilst Jerry got the tackle taken down to the lake, Pat returned home for more supplies and Elaine who was going to have the car for the week. They got themselves set up on the main bank, side by side and had a few rods in before they stopped for the night. They have had previous fishing holidays 24/7 down by the lake and this time chose to spend the nights up in the chalet. Each morning they got up at first light, aiming to be down by the lake to watch the sun rise, always amazing when fishing on Lac Lucie.
The two guys spent the week putting in small amounts of bait in solid bags or a small bait boat hopper full. They used our own house boilies, both the spicy fish and maple syrup flavours with a pot of hook baits to match and a bed of pellets and parti-blend.
On their first night they had 3 carp on the bank, 2 in their 20s and 1 at 30lb+ so they were happy that they were off the mark. For the pair it was more about spending the week in the peace and quiet reminiscing about bygone days and discussing the trials a tribulations of getting older. We are imaging a bit of Mortimer and Whitehouse sat down there and we’re sure they put the world to rights!
On Sunday they had had another 6 carp in the nets and they were set to have a cracking week. The cold, wet weather from the week before had gone and the air pressure was rising with temperatures in the low 20s forecast all week. Perfect fishing weather even with the chilly mornings but Jerry had his hot water bottle so that was not a problem!
On Monday morning we were out taking Maisie for a walk round to see everyone and we heard the alarms go off on our way back. Pat managed to land a pretty mirror weighing 24lb 5oz.
The guys got into a nice routine, spending the morning by the lake, coming up to the chalet in the afternoon for a spot of lunch and a bit of time in the hot tub before going back down for a little fishing in the late afternoon. Early evening on Monday saw a flurry of activity. Pat had walked round the lake and seen some clouds of mud up towards the willow tree so put some bait in and sent his rods out in that direction. In the space of an hour all 6 of their alarms went off with all 6 ending up on the bank. At one point they had one on the bank, one in the sling and they were playing another, almost stressful! The biggest of these was a 38lb common. With 16 fish caught by this point we were thinking it might be a record week, with the most caught in a week before then 33 fish.
Tuesday morning saw Pat with another fish as we were doing our morning rounds, another 24lb mirror. There were a further 8 carp on the bank by close of play on Tuesday, including a 36lb common for Jerry and a 28lb for Pat, taking the total up to 25 carp.
Jerry wrote in our folder that the fish came out at all times of day but the early evening was the most productive and with a further 4 fish on Wednesday they were pleased that every day had bought them more on to the bank.
The guys had another 2 in the net on Thursday but no more on Friday when they got themselves packed up ready for an evening with Elaine on Friday before Jerry had to fly back home again. And whilst they had not had the record number of carp on the bank for the year they had beaten the average catch per angler which up until then had been 12.
Final summary was 31 fish in total up to 38lbs consisting of 2 babies, 8 at 10lb+, 18 at 20lb+ and 3 at 30lb+ with a good mixture of commons and mirrors.
Jerry and Pat have had a great week catching up and we are sure we will see a bit of Pat over the winter months and hopefully Jerry again some day. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt….