When Darren made the booking to come to fish on Kingfisher there was something a bit different on his booking form which details the names of who are coming, if they are fishing and whether or not they are under 16 years of age. It said ‘baby due in June’. A first for us, our youngest ever guest!
It was hot when this lovely family arrived, in the mid 30s and they had a car packed with everything they needed to make their holiday as easy as possible, including several fans! As well as 11 week old baby Arlo, Darren also brought with him his wife, Emma and son, Ollie and Emma’s mum, Sherry who, it seemed, had come to help with everything from looking after the baby, providing food and drinks and getting up in the middle of the night to help Darren with the fishing.
The car was quickly unpacked and everyone had a chance to cool down a bit before Nigel took Darren and Ollie round the lake, showing them the lay out, the swims and where the fish were often seen. Jo spent some time with Emma and Sherry, getting to know them and introducing them to the chalet and then they were left to unpack the car.
Darren got himself set up on swim 1 very quickly with a couple of rods out for Ollie as well. He ended up sleeping in the chalet on Saturday night as, although it was very warm (18°C) there was a big storm right overhead and we had some much needed rain (23.7mm in an hour). The storm even tripped the power in the chalet but they managed to keep the fans working and stay cool. The storm did not have as much impact on the daytime temperatures as we had hoped and it was still 32°C during the day on Sunday. But this was perfect for Ollie who seemed to be more interested in the pool than he was in the fishing.
When we walked round on Sunday morning Darren was having a few issues with the bait boat which was getting so far out into the lake and then stopping. He was desperate to get his lines under the trees on the far bank as he had seen the fish splashing there. We got onto a chat with Angling Technics and explained that it kept losing range. Even on a Sunday someone was available to chat to and we soon discovered that the aerial was not working. Luckily we keep some spares here so once that was changed over Darren was good to go.
On Monday morning Darren told us that he had fished until about midnight and then noticed that red lights were lighting up on his bite alarms which on Googling he found out was low battery. Unfortunately they were not standard batteries so we didn’t have any and when they went to a couple of shops on Monday they were unable to find some so he put in a next day collection to a shop near Limoges and went on Tuesday to replace them. They also paid a visit to Decathlon which, in France, has a very good fishing section and bought a shelter from there that packs up really small and is perfect for warm night.
We were starting to get a bit concerned about the lack of fish from Kingfisher so far this week but Lac Lucie was also very slow from the fishing perspective up until then and this completely matched Jo’s Fishing Points app which said that fishing was not going to be great this week. Why? Who knows!
We were relieved when on Wednesday morning we woke up to a message from Darren, he had at last caught something with two commons getting in the net over night. One at 27lb at 1am and one at 19lb at 5am. And he said that he had also lost two more. Thank you Sherry for getting up for the fish!
We always recommend Piegut Pluviers market to our guests if they fancy getting out and experiencing a really good French market. It winds through the town and sells anything from live chickens to bed mattresses, as well as lots of local, seasonal produce and gifts and food. They had a lovely morning and even found somewhere for Darren to have his coffee. Arlo behaved himself for the most part and got a bit of attention from both French and English people around the market.
The afternoon was spent fishing and chilling and Ollie spent most of it in the pool. Darren took his rod off to the far bank next to the stream for a bit of stalking and said that all of the fish were huddled up in the snags under the trees.
Another fish was bought to the bank on Wednesday night, not the big cat that he lost unfortunately but a kitten weighing about 20lb+ but a fish was a fish and Darren told us that he had lost another carp overnight as well so they were evidently feeding.
Nigel and Darren chatted for ages Thursday morning about where all the fish were and Nigel suggested he tried a bit of stalking down at the shallow end of the lake as he had seen some fish mooching around there the day before when he was doing some digging in the stream.
By Thursday the temperatures had dropped by 10°C to the mid 20s so was a lot more comfortable for everyone and night time temperatures were also down to 13°C rather than 18°C when they arrived. There was still some sun to enjoy, and the oak tree provided some lovely shade for Arlo’s pram.
In the evening we went round and had a few drinks with them as they told us that they were possibly considering moving to France and having a lake themselves in a few years time. We discussed what it was like to live in France, house buying, taxes, food, wine, and the lovely roads and told them how much we love it here and how we wished we had done it 10 years earlier. While we were sat there Darren’s rods went off and everyone got involved in watching this 24lb 10oz mirror bought to the bank. It was the perfect opportunity to have a photo taken with Arlo in it as well as although he may have been awake feeding when the other fish were landed he was kept in the chalet whilst nanny took the photos.
And Friday came around again. They fancied getting out again on Friday morning for a few hours and went down to the Lac Lavaud to spend some time at the big public lake, having a walk near the man made beach and enjoying a drink at le 16 Beach pizza bar.
There were sadly no more fish to come out for Darren even though he fished until around midnight ready for the early start the next day.
The family were planning on slowly making their way back up the country to Calais before they headed home on Sunday so they popped to the château at La Rochefoucauld on the way and enjoyed their visit there before heading to Alençon for the night.
Final summary zero babies, 1 at 10lb+, 2 at 20lb+ and 1 catfish at 20lb+. Not a very productive week from a fishing perspective but a great family holiday, with lots of trips out to enjoy the surrounding area and a wonderful first holiday for baby Arlo. We wish this lovely family all the best for their future, wherever that may be and would welcome them back here any time should they want to come. Until the next time bonne journée et à bientôt…