After a busy week on Kingfisher with 15 fish on the bank between them, Richard and Mick moved across to Lac Lucie for their second week here at Carp France Fishing. With the water levels down they chose to set up on the dam wall bank with Richard fishing towards the main bank and Mick to the top corner. As we said last week Richard likes to fish close in. It was set to be another warm week but there is lots of shade on that bank and there was possibly some rain in the forecast for Friday morning.
It was definitely going to be a noisy week with September being rutting season for the deer around us. We are very lucky to live in this part of France and in particular right next door to the Domaine des Etangs, a 1000 acre estate of forests, pastures, and prairies which becomes filled with the powerful, guttural roars of stags (le brame) as they compete to attract hinds and mark their territory. Starting at dusk the air is filled with their calls and some nights last week they were shouting all night. It would appear that people come to try to photograph them and park up at the bottom of Lac Lucie with their night vision cameras, hoping to catch a shot. Richard did manage to take a photograph of one just before dusk, which when cleaned up with AI has become the feature image for this post.
So the competition continued between Carp France baits and Carp Chaser UK baits, as well as between Richard and Mick and it was Richard who was first off the mark on Lac Lucie with a 34lb 10oz common on his cinnamon zest flavour. A stunning big common.
Mick had nothing on Saturday during the day but landed two during the night, a 21lb 4oz mirror and a 24lb 2oz common. The first on Carp Chaser garlic mussel and the second on Carp France maple syrup. Richard had a 10lb mirror overnight also on cinnamon zest flavour.
Around lunchtime Richard lost one after playing it for a good 25 minutes. Nothing worse than losing a fish that close to the net but they only count if you get them on the bank. Mick had a lovely scaley 25lb mirror mid afternoon on garlic mussel.
Richard spent the afternoon taking a few nature photos (see end) and just before tea time they managed to rescue a fish that had been tethered when he hooked the line, for which we thank him.
Mick had a 35lb 7oz common overnight on Sunday on maple syrup flavour and this was followed by another one on cinnamon zest for Richard, a 26lb common.
Jo spent some time on Monday trying to hunt down some vape refills for Richard, who has learned that although Google might tell you that certain brands are widely available in France, they are not that common around here!
There was only one more carp on the bank for the pair on Monday, a pretty little mirror weighing 10lb 10oz. We made the decision to leave this in Lac Lucie rather than moving it to the stock pond. It must have been bred in here and it will be great to see it grow bigger.
Richard spent Monday afternoon watching a Kingfisher who kept landing on one of the posts of the new jetty and eventually managed to get a great shot of it. This has not been sharpened up with AI so he should be proud of that one!
Tuesday was a blanking day for Richard and the pair had decided to have the breakfast baguettes down by the bank for the rest of their stay, so as not to miss out on an hour or so fishing in the morning. And it paid off with Mick catching the first fish of the day at a time when they would have been pulling their rods in for breakfast, a 24lb 7oz mirror caught on maple syrup. This was followed half an hour later with a 22lb 8oz common, also on the maple syrup.
An hour later he had a 16lb 2oz common on garlic mussel and a couple of hours after that a 25lb 7oz common on maple syrup. A great Tuesday for him.
Richard spent the day asleep, undisturbed by his bite alarms!
So by the end of Tuesday it was 9 carp to Mick and 3 for Richard and bait wise 7 for Carp Chaser UK and 5 for Carp France Fishing.
Mick had another smallish 12lb 13oz common overnight on Tuesday night and Richard decided he was going to back lead his rigs, hoping he might stand a better chance of landing one. And it paid off with 2 commons on the bank for him on Wednesday, a lovely 32lb 7oz and a smaller 21lb 8oz. Both fish were caught straight after the other at lunchtime so a mad half hour and then it went quiet again. With no beers down by the lake they decided they would have the cakes we got them in the morning to celebrate.
That was it for Wednesday and Thursday morning we were greeted with a few photos of birds from Mick. What better way to spend some time, rods in the lake and just watching nature do it’s thing. The heron was ever present by the lake all week and they managed to get some great shots.
Thursday saw two fish for each of them with Richard first off the mark at breakfast time with a 18lb 8oz common on cinnamon zest followed by Mick at lunchtime with a 22lb 8oz common
Richard had a 25lb common a couple of hours later and Mick followed this around 3pm with a 34lb 8oz common.
On Friday morning, just as we were getting up the power went off and it started raining. Not that we think they were related but it was the first rain we had had for a couple of weeks so whilst we were celebrating that and hoping it would last all day we were also trying to get breakfast and deal with power related issues! The power stayed off all morning and the rain stopped at lunchtime but we had just under 5mm so not to be sniffed at.
Again at breakfast time Richard managed to land a lovely 21lb 8oz mirror and then a couple of hours later a 28lb 7oz common. Both caught on Carp Chaser baits.
Mick finished their holiday off with the final carp of the session. Not the biggest but another stunning 29lb mirror caught on cinnamon zest
We would like to thank Mick for giving our bait a try and showing that you can have some great fish out on it. There were 22 carp on the bank in total, 15 of which were caught on Carp Chaser UK bait but Richard did have all of his rods set up with this and Mick had one or two at all times so not a really fair match! But they work so why not check them out if you have not done so already https://carpchaseruk.co.uk/
So the final summary for this pair’s week on Lac Lucie was zero babies, 5 at 10lb+, 13 at 20lb+ and 4 at 30lb+. Richard and Mick have already booked for next September, next time with Lac Lucie first followed by Kingfisher. We have enjoyed their company and competition this last two weeks and will look forward to seeing them again. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt…
Here are a few more of their wildlife photographs from this week
