Dave has given us our heading this week. He says ‘This week’s fishing trip was like a Netflix series, a slow start…good bits in the middle but after thinking it would be a dull finish, a few twists bought it to a great ending. And just like a Netflix series can’t wait for the next season’.
Dave and Steve returned to Carp France this week, having fished Kingfisher in September 2023. That had not been a great week for them, Steve had one carp out and Dave blanked, our only one since we took over here. https://carpfrance.com/02-09-2023-kingfisher-dumb-and-dumber/ It was lovely that they thought they would give us another chance, albeit in Lac Lucie this time.
Arriving on a very hot Saturday afternoon they unloaded their gear and headed off to the supermarket to stock up on supplies for a few days. The plan was to get everything set up by the lake and then head down first thing Sunday morning to get their rods out. They have both been fishing for years together and come to France at least once a year. They have PBs of over 60lb for the mirrors so the main thing for both of them is to get away, to somewhere quiet and relaxing and make the most of a week together.
Their rods were out by 11ish on Sunday morning although Steve had an issue with his bait boat and was struggling. He blamed himself for not checking it before he left and so ended up hiring one of ours instead, after Nigel was not able to sort the problem with some WD40. He had similar issues in 2023 when he forgot his remote control but bought a bag of his wife’s washing instead!
There were no fish out Sunday morning and they broke off to have some lunch and a beer and then headed back down at 4pm. It was early evening before the first fish was landed, a 28lb mirror for Steve. A nice start to his week and hopefully a good sign for things to come. When Dave caught his first on the Monday morning he was hoping that the only way was up after that. What must be one of last years fry was landed, weighing about 2.5lb but it was a fish and more than Dave had caught the last time he was here. This is going to be a lovely mirror when it grows up we can tell.
A couple of hours later and Steve landed a 25lb common, which looked like it was still possibly full of eggs, so maybe all the fish have not spawned yet…
Tuesday arrived and the temperatures were still up in the mid 20s and the lads ordered some more of their pellet and parti-blend to keep their spots baited and interesting. They had nothing all day until about 8pm when they were thinking of stopping for the night and Steve had a lovely 34lb mirror, an old looking fish but a great scale pattern.
So they reached the halfway point of their trip with only 4 fish out between them and the biggest at 34lb and they thought it was going to be another slow week. But on Wednesday the weather changed and daytime temperatures dropped by 15°C, we had a bit of rain and the lake suddenly switched on. A total of eight fish were caught between the two of them in a day, including a PB common for Steve weighing 51lb and a chunky 38lb mirror for Dave. Dave managed two of his three fish within minutes of each other and despite the rain they were thrilled that the lake was starting to produce something for their efforts. Steve decided to wait until Dave had cooked his tea before going up to the chalet and was sat tying some new rigs when his rod went off and caught the last fish of the day.
Thursday saw a bit of chaos at lunchtime as they both had a double take around the same time. Once everything was under control Dave went to take Steve’s photo and whilst he was gone his fish, a 37lb common, managed to slide out of the weigh sling into the water. Dave was gutted as it would have been a new PB common.
On Thursday evening Steve had another couple out, including a 33lb mirror but there was nothing more for Dave.
Friday was another quieter day and in between the rain showers the guys got their stuff packed up ready to finish fishing at about 6pm and get packed up ready for their early start Saturday morning. However they finished this fishing adventure well with a new PB common for Dave weighing 41lb and a 31lb mirror for Steve.
So a final summary for their week is 4 babies, 1 at 10lb+, 6 at 20lb+, 6 at 30lb+, 2 at 40lb+ and 1 at 50lb+. A great weeks’ fishing.
We have really enjoyed the company of these fine anglers and will look forward to seeing you again next September, ready for ‘Kingfisher II – The Revenge’.
So until next time bonne journée et à bientôt….