Douglas and his wife, Rita, visited us for the first time fishing in France this week and it was set to be very, very hot and like most of the lakes in the area, a tough one for catching fish. On their arrival at Limoges airport it was over 35°C and Nigel took them straight to the supermarket for supplies before bringing them back to the lake where they were shown around and left to settle in.
Despite the temperatures Doug chose to set himself up on the house swim so that he could fish in the deeper water. Rita loves the sun and came fully prepared with sun cream and a lovely hat so she could sit and watch the lake and enjoy the wildlife. But even for sun lovers swim 1 was scorching and very little shade to be found there during the day.
On Sunday morning we had to pop out to get a TV to replace the one in the chalet as the power supply board had blown and when we got back we were thrilled to hear that Doug had caught two catfish – one weighing 88lb and the other a little kitten. Never having caught a catfish before Doug was delighted with this and that he had managed to get it curled up in the net and onto the bank. And then later in the day he had a further catfish weighing 47lb. Unfortunately he only had a video of these so we have nothing to show you.
We knew that the temperatures were still set to be hot for the next few days so first thing on Monday Jo took them to the supermarket again to restock the supplies so that they could have a barbecue or two during the week and by this time they had a better idea what they needed. By the end of the day temperatures had nearly hit the record for this part of France and at 39.7°C the carp were just no where to be seen and were certainly not feeding. Doug had to make do with another two catfish on this day, weighing 24lb and 47lb.
As swim 2 is generally in the shade the couple decided to move their chairs to there as the heat was just too much, even for sun lovers, but the lake was very quiet and no fish were caught on Tuesday but then the pressure rose and the temperatures dropped and the carp were on the move again. Wednesday evening Doug saw his first carp of the trip, a 39lb 6oz mirror and he was thrilled to have smashed his PB.
Temperatures were still in the high 20s during the latter part of the week but Doug made sure he got up early and down to the lake by 6.30am most mornings and stayed there for most of the day and into the evening. On Thursday he moved back to swim 1 and managed to land another carp, this time a 30lb mirror but that was to be the final fish of the week as there were no catches on Friday.
A very difficult week for a single angler on Kingfisher as temperatures had just put the fish off of the food. Final summary 2 at 30lb+ and4 catfish to 88lb.
We have loved having you here this week and hope to see you again some day. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt…