Steve has fished at Carp France many times before with weeks on both of our lakes but had never bought his family with him before. August is an ideal time to combine fishing with a family holiday and we are ideally located for a bit of sightseeing and fun during the day and some night fishing when the children are in bed. Julie, Steve’s wife, does not fish but was hoping for a bit of peace and quiet and relaxation. Their 3 daughters, Cassidy, age 9, Darcy, age 7 and Elodie, age 2 were looking forward to the pool and the space and meeting Maisie.
After a long drive to us on the Saturday the family arrived at about 7pm and got themselves unpacked and sorted in the chalet and a quick cool off in the pool. Everyone was too hot and tired to be bothered about fishing so Steve got himself sorted out on Sunday morning ready to fish that night.
If you have read our report from last week you will know that it had been a very difficult week with low dissolved oxygen levels but it had picked up again at the end of the week and the fish had started feeding again so we were hopeful that Steve would have a good week.
And so it started. Having set up on the main bank so that he could also be on hand for their children if needed, Steve had 3 fish on the bank on his first session weighing 37lb, 24lb and 10lb so he felt he could relax now he was off the mark. This is a photo of the baby with Darcy who certainly seemed very enthusiastic about her dad’s fishing. Unfortunately, what turned out to be the biggest of the week, the 37lb common, he only managed to get a photo of in the cradle.
Over the next couple of days, Steve had a further 3 fish out all weighing in the 20s and had great fun in the pool and playing boules on the grass with the girls. They had a few trips out to the supermarket, the street market at Piegut Pluviers where the girls got some pretty bracelets, and to the lake for everyone to go swimming
On Wednesday evening we heard Steve’s bite alarms go off at about 7.30pm so went down to join in the fun. It was only a small common weighing 15lb but put up quite a fight and again Darcy joined in on the action. She was desperate for her dad to catch a big fish so he could have his photo on the wall next year. A couple of hours later and his rods went again and he managed to land a 32lb common in the only bit of rain we have had all month.
Steve was concerned that he had been doing something wrong as he had lost a few fish, he would check that his hooks were sharp enough and look at his rigs but came to the conclusion that there was nothing else he could really do and as he had managed to net a fair few already he decided to stick with what he was doing.
We heard the alarms go again on Thursday morning at about 10.30am and were on hand to help Steve net this lovely scaled 27lb 8oz mirror.
On Friday evening Steve almost got a double take. He had just landed a 35lb common and given his phone to Julie to put on charge when his other rod went off and he caught a 25lb mirror – so unfortunately no photo of this one.
Final summary 12 fish caught and at least 7 further runs. zero babies, 2 at 10lb+, 7 at 20lb+ and 3 at 30lb+.
The girls did us a very lovely picture to go on our shop fridge and we hope that they had a good second weeks holiday at Eurocamp by the seaside. We hope to see this lovely family again someday and until then bonne journée et à bientôt…
