Lee, his dad, John and son, Owen joined us for their first week on Lac Lucie last week from North Wales. Friends of Gary and Oscar who have fished here the last two years, they had decided that it was their turn. Lee and John have done a fair bit of carp fishing on Moley’s lake in Wales, where Carl (Fishing with Carl, YouTube) has fished and made a video. Although John was previously an avid coarse angler, since his eyesight has failed he finds carp fishing easier to manage. They arrived on the Leeds/Bradford flight on Saturday lunchtime and Nigel bought them back to the fishery, via the supermarket so they could stock up on supplies.
When they got here the lake was shrouded in smoke and had been all morning, from the wildfires near Bordeaux. We were concerned that it was going to last but it wasn’t long before the air cleared and they were shown around the lake. They had selected some of our house bait in both flavours along with a variety of hook baits and some chilli hemp.
There was a mixed discussion about whether they were going to fish every night or not. Being in the military, Lee was the keenest, John less so due to some mobility crutches and Owen quite likes his bed (and the Wi-Fi in the chalet) but they had a couple of bivvies and 3 beds so the options were there if they wanted them. They were all set up on the main bank so that they could enjoy each others company and help each other out as needed.
John was first off the mark on Sunday with a new PB and the biggest fish of the session, a 40lb common caught on the far right of the lake.
We were out all the day on Monday as Nigel’s children were here with the grandchildren so went to a zoo near Limoges, Parc de Reynou, which we highly recommend. It certainly wore the kids (and the adults) out! When we got back we were pleased to see some of the catches they had had whilst we were out, John had caught a 30lb mirror, Lee two mirrors weighing 33lb mirror and 28lb, Owen managed to jump out of the swimming pool to go and take part in the photos. There was also a nice common later in the evening taking the total so far up to 5. Not bad for the first 24 hours.
The first fish out on Tuesday morning was a 35lb common for Lee at 0500hrs. All the fish so far had been caught on the spicy fish boilies and chilli hemp so Lee put in a request for some more spicy fish pop ups and glug and another 10kg of chilli hemp.
In need of some more supplies, Jo took Owen out to the supermarket with 7 year old, Mason on Tuesday morning and the two lads chatted about Manchester United all the way home. We popped down to the lake to see the anglers around 3om and what perfect timing. Owen was just putting a 25lb mirror back in the water off the jetty and Lee was playing another fish, knee deep in the water. We love being around when a fish is brought to the bank. They also had a 24lb mirror on Tuesday taking their total up to 9 and they were all clearly having a good time.
Lee and Owen slept out on Tuesday night and it was certainly worth being out for. With there being nearly a full moon, when fishing is said to be at its best, they managed 3 carp on the bank between 0100hrs and 0230hrs. Owen had a 21lb mirror on his left rod, Lee had a 34lb mirror from the middle swim and then a 24lb mirror from the dam wall. Not a bad night fishing.
At lunchtime on Wednesday Lee messaged us to say that Owen had decided to go round to the side swim for a while and they had just had another 34lb mirror (no photo).
On Thursday late morning when we went down to see them, they had landed 3 more with a 12lb, 14lb and 26lb all reaching the bank (no photos)
Having had a great week and plenty of fish on the bank they decided that they would get packed up on Friday morning and we offered to run them down to the big public lake for the afternoon. They are all keen swimmers so had a swim in the lake and then a few drinks and tea at Le 16 Beach afterwards. We expect that the lake was a bit warm for them as they are a bit partial to cold water swimming and ice baths and we are sure that the big lake has been a similar temperature to ours all summer and currently around 26°C.
The weather had been pretty good all week with daytime temperatures between 21°C and 39°C and a very little bit of rain on the Thursday. The shade was enough to keep them cool down by the lake and tempted to get in the water to land the fish as the level is quite low with next to no rainfall since the spring.
By our calculations the final tally was 16 carp on the bank, although we are sure they said they had had 20 altogether, with zero babies, 2 at 10lb+, 8 at 20lb+, 5 at 30lb+ and 1 at 40lb+. With new PBs for John and Owen the guys had a great week and Lee has already booked Kingfisher for a week in August next year. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt….