Alan and his son, John, joined us for 2 weeks on Lac Lucie for their first carp fishing trip to France. They were accompanied by Jo, Alan’s daughter and Kim, his partner. The ladies came for the peace and quiet, to do a bit of shopping and to cook for the anglers.
They arrived at about 4pm, after a long trip from Somerset, using the Newhaven to Dieppe crossing and then driving the 6 hours from the port. It was raining heavily on the Saturday so they joined us for an evening meal, watched the Euros and then got themselves off to bed, ready for an early start on the Sunday.
By Sunday afternoon they had set their bivvies up and got some rods out. John started on the main bank with Alan up on the far swim near the ‘dead/live’ tree. Over tea we discussed the crayfish and how best to tackle them nibbling at the boilies and Nigel showed Jo how to put the shrink wrap on the boilies. John had been told by a tackle shop not to bother with this and you could do just as well wrapping the boilies in some old tights…..we were interested to see if this worked.
On Monday we were surprised to learn that John had caught a 10oz common. Bearing in mind that Lac Lucie had been completely drained and left empty for 6 weeks over the winter whilst the compliance works were being done we had no idea how it had got in the lake. Had it lived in the stream all winter? Had a bird dropped it? But it was quickly put into our stock pond, to be allowed to grow on in peace without too much competition for food.
On Monday afternoon when we went to the lake to see them we were thrilled to hear that Alan had had two fish from the far end. Two commons weighing 29lb and 44lb, which he struggled to hold. Not a bad start and PBs smashed already. John then hoped that the fish would start to move down the lake nearer his bait after that so he could have a proper fish out. The verdict on the old tights was negative, the crays had managed to destroy them so John switched to a plastic bait instead.
The fish did move down to John’s part of the lake on Tuesday and after a quiet morning starting at 6am he finally had two carp out in the afternoon. A lovely 31lb common followed by another common weighing 14lb.
The ladies were enjoying the peace and quiet and the hot tub on the decking and although they had been out to the shops a few times they decided that Wednesday would be a day off of fishing and they would go to the market at Piegut Pluviers. This town has an infamous market every Wednesday and you can buy all sorts there, from chickens to mattresses as well as seasonal fruit and vegetables and gifts and food. John bought Alan a lovely box of red wine and then they went to the château at La Rochefoucauld and enjoyed the marble staircase and the 14th century keep.
John had another common on Thursday weighing 34lb but the next two days were pretty quiet despite being down by the lake early in the morning. Friday night saw some bad storms and parts of France were hit by 50mm of rain in a very short period but we did not see too much rain. We notice that storms seem to change the nature of the lake, with more fresh water running through them and fish moving about more as the temperatures drop slightly. Saturday was their last day in their current swims as they had decided to have a change round and Alan caught his last fish from the far end. A lovely 32lb 8oz mirror which he was very happy with.
On Sunday they went out for the day again, to our départment town, Angoulême for a mooch around the cathedral and ramparts and then to the big lake there. When they got back they swapped their gear over and decided they were going to fish all night, especially as Nigel was fishing on the Kingfisher dam wall so would be able to listen out for them. Alan got lucky again with a 38lb 12oz mirror at 10.30pm and then another 44lb common during the night.
On Monday John said that even though he hadn’t caught anything during the night he wished he had fished a few nights the first week as he slept well and there was definitely more activity on the lake. We notice that if it is very hot during the day then the fish tend to be more active after dark, or around dusk and dawn. And Monday was very hot but Alan did manage to catch a 27lb mirror.
John finally had a 21lb 4oz mirror at 2am on Tuesday morning and stopped worrying that the fish preferred his dad to him.
Alan had his final fish on Tuesday morning, a 41lb mirror and John also caught on Tuesday, a 26lb common.
The rest of the week was very quiet and despite fishing half days for the rest of the week there were no further fish on the bank. But the four of them really enjoyed the week, described the fishing hard but rewarding and were pleased it wasn’t too easy for them. They praised the fish for being in such a great condition and really enjoyed the comfort of the chalet at night time and being able to watch the Euros.
Final score for the two weeks was 1 baby, 1 at 10lb+, 4 at 20lb+, 4 at 30lb+ and 3 at 40lb+. Not a bad result for fishing most days, some half days, one full day and two nights. We hope that they had a safe journey home and will see them again one day…until then à bientôt.