Kingfisher has not had anyone fishing it for the last three weeks and with temperatures having been in the low 40s for a week the water temperature was high and it was anyone’s guess whether the fish would be feeding or not. We were hopeful though as there had been bubbles rising in the middle of the lake and the forecast was for the temperatures to drop to the low 30s, with night time being a lot cooler than it had been.
Our four anglers from Leicestershire arrived mid afternoon and we went round to have a beer with them and give them a tour of the lake. Now, in our experience, the discussion about swims can take various forms. It might be that whoever won at darts on the overnight ferry gets first pick, a number is drawn for which swim each has, the youngest, oldest, ugliest and so on. These guys decided that as Steve had organised the trip he would get first choice of swim, and then Phil, as he was doing all the cooking. We are not sure, even now, what roles Phil and Lee played but they had done all the driving so just as important.
Usually, our anglers all stay in the same swim for the week, although occasionally we might find groups that swap mid week for a change. But this lot did something we have not experienced before. Every day they had a different swim along the main bank, firstly trying all the swims and then going to ones they had not caught in yet. As they were only fishing the daylight hours this meant they only had to pick up their chairs and rods etc every morning. Most days they were down by the lake by 8am and packed up anytime between 5pm and 10pm depending on what Phil was cooking for dinner and which football game was on the TV.
It certainly led to an interesting week and it was definitely not without enormous success. We will try to summarise each anglers catches below.
Arriving on Saturday afternoon, with rain and storms forecast for that night, we had a beer with them and gave them a tour of the lake. They got themselves unloaded and ready for an early start the next day. We had more rain overnight than we had had throughout June and we welcomed it. There were lightening strikes throughout the early hours keeping us awake but then the temperatures cooled down a bit, and a week of breeze across the lake helped the oxygen levels and gave us a short reprieve from the high temperatures.
Steve
Steve has been to France fishing twice now and had a PB in the high 30lb bracket so was itching for a 40. He started on Sunday in swim 2 and was first off the mark with an 18lb 3oz mirror. On Monday he moved to swim 1 and managed to land 3 carp, a 14lb 7oz common, a 16lb 9oz common and a 26lb 1oz mirror. Tuesday saw a blankish day on swim 4 which up until then had been quite prolific. He only managed a little roach though. Wednesday from swim 3 he caught a 26lb 2oz common and Thursday saw a small 13lb 4oz common from swim 2, only an hour after Lee had caught it from swim 1. Friday was his best day of the week with a common and a mirror, both weighing 31lb 5oz and both coming to the bank in swim 1.
Over the week Steve landed 10 carp up to 31lb 5oz and no catfish. 5 of these came from swim 1 and he blanked (apart from a roach) in swim 4. Unfortunately no new PB but some cracking looking fish and it is not all about the numbers.
Lee
Lee, who has been to France with Steve fishing before, started on swim 1, the deepest part of the lake but whilst everyone else was managing to catch, he blanked on the first day. On Monday he swapped with Steve and went onto swim 2 and managed a new PB carp and catfish with a 40lb 1oz mirror as his first fish of the week and then a 63lb catfish before the day was over. On Tuesday he landed a 15lb 1oz common and a 27lb 4oz mirror from Swim 3 so was catching up. Wednesday he moved to swim 4 and had a 27lb 7oz common but Thursday was his best day. Having blanked in swim 1 at the start of the week he was back there and landed 8 fish, including a 37lb common and a 62lb 3oz catfish which Nigel helped with, jumping in the lake and leading it away from the trees and the aerator. On Friday he was back in swim 3 but had no luck.
Lee landed 13 fish in total including new PBs for carp and catfish. Lee had 7 on the bank at swim 1 and didn’t blank on any swim
Phil
Phil started in swim 3 and managed a small catfish on Sunday morning and a 27lb 9oz common in the early evening. Monday he moved to swim 4 where he blanked but had lost one. On Tuesday he moved to swim 2 and saw his best day where he had 3 mirrors up to 33lb 6oz and another 2 catfish on the bank up to 39lb 8oz. Nigel was walking back through the woods after seeing them on Wednesday morning when he heard an alarm and it was Phil who had caught the biggest catfish of the week, weighing 71lb 12oz. He also had a 31lb 5oz common and a 25lb 5oz catfish from there. Thursday saw him back in swim 4 where he had blanked on Monday but he had nothing then either. But Friday, back on swim 2 he landed two lovely mirrors weighing 17lb mirror and 21lb.
In total Phil had 12 in the net and new PBs for carp and catfish with 7 of his landings coming from swim 2.
Dan
Last but by no means least, Dan who kicked off the week on swim 4 in the morning sunshine. It seemed all of the carp were up this end at the start of the week and he landed 5 in his first session up to 31lb mirror and lost a big cat whilst Nigel was round chatting to them. On Monday he moved to swim 3 and blanked and then Tuesday to swim 1 where he caught a 34lb 2oz catfish as well as 4 carp over the day. Wednesday he moved to swim 2 and landed his biggest carp of the week, a new PB mirror at 41lb as well as another couple. Thursday he was back in swim 3 where he had blanked and ended up with two lovely mirrors weighing 22lb 1oz and 39lb 10oz and then Friday was back in swim 4 but blanked again.
He had the largest number of fish on the bank with a total of 15 as well as his first catfish and a new PB at 41lb.
In summary, from what we have been told the individual totals – Dan 15, Lee 13, Phil had 12 and Steve 10. A massive 50 fish on the bank between them weighing a staggering 1235.22lbs. From photos we have 17 on the bank at swim 1, 10 at swim 2, 7 at swim 3 and 5 at swim 4. There were zero babies, 8 at 10lb+, 15 at 20lb+, 8 at 30lb+ and 2 at 40lb+. What a fantastic week, finished off with a dip in the pool. We hope to see these lovely guys again someday but until then bonne journée et à bientôt…..