We had five work colleagues from Manchester on Kingfisher this week who had travelled over the channel on the overnight ferry on Thursday night and stayed the night in Cognac on route to us. Whilst they were there they had their annual card game to decide who had first pick of the swims and Andy came out top with Paul having last pick, but apparently this was not unusual. After tasting the wine and brandy there on the Friday evening they arrived at Carp France just before lunch on Saturday.
With no one on the lake the week before we took them on a tour of the lake, after a beer and a quick chat and then left them to unload the two high vans they had bought with them, which were packed to the rafters with nearly everything but the kitchen sink. It was a very warm afternoon so we didn’t envy them! They all had one of our bait packages each, with a mixture of spicy fish and maple syrup boilies between them as well as a varied selection of matching hook baits and glug. They ordered extra pellets and parti-blend through the week as needed.
Andy decided he was going to fish from the dam wall, nearest to the over flow with Phil setting up on the other dam wall swim. This meant that no one was really able to use the first swim so Charley set himself up on swim 2, with his dad, Mick on 3 and Paul on the 4th swim along. All were experienced anglers and Paul goes on several trips each year but had blanked on their last couple of fishing holidays so we all had high hopes for him this year.
Before Saturday was over both Paul and Andy were off the mark and the wine was flowing. By Sunday morning when we walked round they had all caught apart from Charley and so were all happy. Paul had another lovely fish in the night but Mick only managed to get a photo of Paul, and his own shadow covering the fish! Andy had lost a big cat overnight but had had a baby one as well as a couple of carp.
By Monday evening Phil was getting desperate as he had only caught one fish whereas Andy, right next to him had been waking him up constantly to take his photo so he was getting a bit miffed and took Nigel aside when we walked round to try and find out what he was doing wrong. We know that the fish can predominantly be found along the far bank but with everyone else fishing to there, Phil was mainly fishing into the corner where the main bank meets the dam wall. Nigel suggested that Andy/Charley give Phil one of the tree bays on the far bank so Phil put his bait boat out to there as well as having one rod to the middle and in the corner where he was.
On our walk round on Tuesday morning Phil was a happier man with two fish out over night, including a new PB common around 40lb and a small catfish. By this point Andy had had 10 carp out already and was feeling a bit worse for wear with so many disturbances during the night, both from his own rods and now Phil’s also now that he was catching a few. Paul also had another mirror out during the day on Tuesday weighing 34lb – a lovely colour and then in the early hours of Wednesday morning Phil managed to land a 78lb 7oz catfish. It was Phil’s turn to be waking Andy up for the photos.
During the day the group rested their swims periodically to sit and enjoy the space and also had frequent trips out to the supermarket or local wine shops. They were intending to make the most of their van space on the return trip home and enjoying the fine wines of the region, they bought a few cases to take back for their nearest and dearest. Paul and Mick took charge of the cooking and they had bought with them a great fire pit and a gas pizza oven and had a little social area set up by swim 1 so that they could all enjoy the view of the lake during dinner.
And so the week went on, with most of the fish being caught at either end by Paul and Andy with Phil doing not too badly. Mick and Charley in the middle of the lake seemed to be missing the most as the fish went from one end to the other. On Thursday Andy and Phil moved to swim 1 to be closer to the others and overnight Phil smashed his PB again twice within and hour with a 45lb 2oz mirror and then a 47lb 7oz mirror.
By the end of the week Andy had definitely come out top reporting around 24 decent fish on the bank and a new PB. He also had about 7 small catfish and had lost a couple of big ones but he was a happy man. Phil beat his PB on 3 occasions and had 10 fish on the bank, with Paul catching 6 carp. Charley was next with 2 carp and 2 cats out and Mick bought up the rear with 2 carp landed, one on the very last night. We have yet to receive all of the photos for these guys so do not have a final catch summary but they did say that they had had about 50 fish on the bank over the course of the 7 days. Not a bad week at all and Andy and Phil have booked to come to Lac Lucie next summer with their better halves and children. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt…
These are some other photos taken throughout the week
