Tom and Luke made the 18 hour drive from Huddersfield last Saturday with their better halves. Lauren and Jen. Luke is an avid carp angler, both in the UK and overseas, having had several trips to France in the past and also done a bit of serious catfishing on the Ebro. Tom is a relative newcomer but with Luke as his mentor was looking at smashing his PB here with us.
They arrived mid afternoon to a nice cool 19°C but with a blanket of smoke all around us. Even though Bordeaux is 140 miles from us and a good 2 hour drive, the wind had changed direction and the smoke from the massive wildfires that they have had down there was managing to blow across us. It had been worse in the morning so the air quality was slowly improving and the lads quickly got the van unpacked and decided that they were going to get a good nights sleep before starting fishing on the Sunday morning.
The forecast was good for the week, with temperatures climbing and not much in the way of rain or cloud until later in the week when a storm was forecast. The Fishing Points app reckoned that there would be very high fish activity mid week, maybe coinciding with the full ‘Buck’ moon and so the guys were hopeful of catching and getting some new PBs. The girls were planning on chilling with their books and hopefully going out to do a bit of shopping.
They were also in no rush to get sorted on Sunday and when we went round to see them Luke was still getting himself set up on swim 1 with Tom on the next swim down in the cabin. They had chosen to have boilies of each flavour with matching wafters – bait that the fish know and love.
It was Monday morning around 6am when Jo received this great photo from Luke – he was first off the mark with a 15lb+ common in swim 1
And then at lunchtime, Tom in swim 2 had a 21lb common with some great shoulders and a new PB for him.
A couple of hours later he beat this with a 32lb mirror
Tom finished the day with a 17lb common and there were no more on the bank for Luke but he was just enjoying sitting in the peace and quiet, away from work and every day stresses and appreciating the wildlife and nature around him.
It was Tuesday afternoon before the first catfish was landed, a first for Tom at 44lb. And this was followed by a 29lb common on Tuesday evening.
So by the close of Tuesday Tom had managed to land 5 and lose a catfish. Luke had just had one on the bank and lost another one overnight. He had moved back up to swim 1 after having tried swim 4 on Monday.
The luck changed round again, like it so often does, with the fish moving from one end of the lake to the other, depending on what, who knows! Tuesday night was definitely Luke’s night and we were thrilled to hear that he had had four on the bank overnight. Three mirrors weighing 41lb – a new PB, a 32lb, a 28lb and a 10lb catfish.
Wednesday was a no fishing day and the two couples went off out for the day. They spent the morning at the market at Piegut Pluviers. This is always something we recommend if our anglers are driving as it is a great example of a traditional French market, with loads of stalls meandering through the town, selling anything from mattresses to chickens and loads of seasonal fruit and vegetables. It is very popular both with local people and tourists and the guys really enjoyed it. In the afternoon they went to Oradour-sur-Glâne to visit the small town where 643 people were killed at the end of WWII. Another must if you are in the locality. They finished the day off at Le 16 Beach, a favourite of ours, for a beer and some food and hopefully this was not spoilt by the fact we were also there with Nigel’s son, daughter and partner and 3 grandchildren. It was a good day to be away from the lake as temperatures had risen to over 39°C.
The rods were quickly back in when they returned though and overnight Luke caught a 26lb 6oz catfish, followed up on Thursday morning by one slightly bigger at 30lb.
When we went round to see them on Friday afternoon they were stalking in the shallows, as had been their plan. Luke told us he had had a 30lb mirror on Thursday night that was quite marked. We are not sure what has caused this but will be keeping a close eye out for any other issues. It may just be a result of a late spawning.
The stalking produced 4 catfish on the bank, surprisingly as they do not often hang out in the shallows. There were 2 for Tom, weighing 10lb and 16lb and 2 for Luke at 24lb and 29lb. They were not unhappy with the fish they had had on the bank over the week.
So in summary, a great week was had by these two anglers, and their partners enjoyed relaxing too. There were a total of 17 fish on the bank including zero babies, 2 at 10lb+, 3 at 20lb+, 3 at 30lb+, 1 at 40lb+ and 8 catfish up to 44lb. We hope the drive back was not as long and would like to thank them for the beer and wine (much needed after the grandchildren had left) and hope they will be back someday to enjoy the peace again. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt….