You may remember last August we had a young angler on Lac Lucie who had never done any carp fishing before and had come out with his family and Jo’s sister, who was a friend of his mums. This year, Oscar returned for another week on Lac Lucie with his dad, Gary who also enjoyed a bit of fishing, his mum, Nic who came to enjoy the peace and quiet and this year with his girlfriend, Chloe who also goes fishing with Oscar back home in North Wales. Chloe had also never really been carp fishing before but was definitely up for the challenge.
Arriving on the Manchester flight Saturday lunchtime Nigel took them to the supermarket and bought them back to the lake where they settled themselves into the chalet and looked at the rods that Nigel had set up for them. Again they had no real plans to fish nights and with rain and storms forecast for the week they were happy to just fish days. Luckily for us the weather had changed, with temperatures in the mid 20s rather than the high 30s as it had been for the preceding few weeks. It was still sunny enough for everyone to use the pool and the hot tub but not too hot for the fish and they had definitely been feeding the week before.
It did not take long for the first fish to be landed by Oscar, who was fishing to the left off the main bank. A lovely 27lb mirror on the first day and he was pleased that he was first off the mark and showing Chloe how it was done.
The guys all got a good night’s sleep in the chalet and the two teenagers were down by the lake again at about 9am on Sunday and Oscar caught a 26lb common at about 10am. Nic sent us a message an hour or so later to say that Chloe had a fish on and we went down to watch. There were clear signs that it was a big fish and we were pleased that these were also feeding again now. Unfortunately after playing it for a good 30 minutes it came off but Chloe was quick to get her rod back out.
On Sunday night Oscar and Chloe decided they would have a go at fishing the night and had only a few beeps overnight to disturb them until 4 in the morning when Oscar landed another 22lb mirror. It seemed only the 20s were going to be caught this week. They started to feel a bit chilly after this as they had not got any sleeping bags with them so went in the chalet and slept for a few hours before coming back out to fish through the day. Gary set his chair and rods up at the far end of the lake and fished for a few hours during the day but always made sure he was on hand to help them land any fish as needed.
There were no more fish out on Monday but they did enjoy the pool and the hot tub and made friends with the black and white cat that has been hanging around the lakes this summer. It was previously known as Humbug but Chloe and Oscar have renamed it Steve. It seems to have become tamer and tamer over the last few months but definitely knows it will get some food when near our guests.
On Tuesday Oscar decided to let Chloe have a turn at catching. Bearing in mind that Chloe’s PB previously was under 10lb she was thrilled with this 23lb mirror. But they did forget to give her the bucket of water treatment! As it was supposed to be the last sunny afternoon of their trip we dropped them off at the local lake for a few hours so that they could go paddleboarding, have a swim in the lake and grab a pizza from Le 16 Beach.
We had a few storms around us on Tuesday night so they decided to get indoors for the night and grab a good nights sleep. We were still desperate for rain though as up until this week there had been next to no rain. The temperatures were starting to fall though and there were signs that autumn was on its way, particularly at night when temperatures were dropping to around 10°C although day time temperatures were still over 25°C. Perfect for Nic to be lying in the sun and reading her book and for everyone to enjoy the last few days of summer in the pool.
On Wednesday Oscar managed to lose a fish that had got snagged up around the aerator. Luckily Nigel was at home and jumped in the lake to rescue the fish, and the line, losing his shoe in the process but luckily getting that back. A short time later the bait boat batteries died half way across the lake but this time Gary came to the rescue and swam across to it! He was rewarded though and had his first carp of the week, a 22lb mirror in the middle of the afternoon.
Oscar and Chloe slept out until the early hours, having borrowed a couple of sleeping bags from us with the nights turning colder, and lasted until Oscar had his fish at about 4.30am, a 26lb common.
On Thursday the air pressure started to drop dramatically and as Oscar had had the majority of the fish out so far he chivalrously offered to swap sides with Chloe so she could catch up a bit. Later in the day she managed to land two lovely mirrors, weighing 20lb 13oz and 25lb.
Finally overnight on Thursday we got what we have been waiting for for months, some rain! Not enough to get the stream running but enough to put some more water and oxygen in the lake. Chloe had a great night, catching 3 more carp, weighing 10lb, 27lb and 8lb. This little mirror is destined to be a stunning big fish in the future.
Oscar was beginning to regret his decision to swap swims with Chloe but he has been bought up to be a charming young man and him and Chloe are obviously a good team, supporting each other with each catch and calling Nic and Gary down to the lake to help and be photographers.
On Friday afternoon, having spent the morning catching up on some sleep, Chloe caught yet again, a 17lb 5oz mirror. It had a bit of a drama though as the line got tangled with her other rod and when they picked that up to untangle it they realised that there was a fish on that one too, but unfortunately by the time they got it to the bank it had come off. Oscar also landed another 18lb mirror at about 6pm and they thought that would be it for the week.
It has been a funny few weeks fishing on Lac Lucie with oxygen issues and not many fish over 30lb on the bank and we have all been desperate to see some of the bigger fish feeding and back out. We thought we would have to continue to be patient as this lovely family starting packing things away ready to go home.
We were sat out on our decking on Friday evening when we heard the alarms go at about 6pm so decided we would go and see what would probably be the last fish of the week. Again it was Chloe who was on and she was working hard to pull the fish in. As it was putting up quite a fight we assumed it was another one of mid 20s weight, as it would come close and then dart off again. Imagine everyone’s excitement when Gary got it in the net and realised it was bigger than we had thought. Everyone had a guess and we roughly estimated a high 30s so were even more pleased when it weighed in at 42lb and 14oz. A new PB for Chloe and the biggest fish we have had out for several weeks and a lovely photo to finish the week, when the fish had eventually calmed down enough to have it’s picture taken.
A lovely week for this lovely family and a new PB for Chloe. The final summary of the week is 1 baby, 3 at 10lb+, 9 at 20lb+, 0 at 30lb+ an 1 at 40lb+. We hope that you will all come back another day and until then bonne journée et à bientôt….