11th and 12th October 2023
As Jo had a couple of family members over from the UK for a couple of weeks and there were no guests on Kingfisher Nigel decided to spend a couple of nights in the bivvy, away from the women and escaping the jobs. He set himself up on the furthest swim at the shallow end of the lake and baited up his key spots on the far bank. He cracked open a beer, got his book out and sat and enjoyed the comfort of his new chair, happy to be out amongst the stars and rutting deer and listen to the owls calling to each other.
Following a challenging week the week before he was not expecting great things but with a slight warming up of the nights the fish started to show signs of wanting to feed again. Wednesday night he heard lots of splashing at both ends of the lake, with some pretty big fish crashing about but not in the middle where his rods were.
Thursday afternoon brought this small common at 5lb 8oz but a nice looking fish.
Thursday night he settled down again with a few beers and his book and at about 10pm landed a 26lb catfish. Not a bad start to the night and there were not as many fish jumping so he sat and listened to the noises coming from the woods, the tawny owls, deer, and the hedgehogs rustling in the undergrowth. He was also a bit bombarded by the chestnuts falling frequently from the trees.
At around midnight his line ran and a 46lb catfish was landed. Not a bad nights fishing with 2 cats in the bag so he zipped himself up in the bivvy, preparing for a good nights sleep.
At 2pm his alarms woke him up and he leapt out of bed (or would have done if he had got out the right side of the bed) and and grabbed his rod. He thought that it was a nice gentle carp coming in for the first 15 minutes but then the line ran, and ran, and ran. A good 100yds down the lake and the fish fought for a good 45 minutes, resulting in a new catfish PB for Nigel at approximately 72lbs. Not an easy fish to land single handedly and with no one on hand to help with a photo (there is no way Jo would get up to do it!) he had to settle for a photo in the cradle. But he was a happy man with a new PB.
And this brief 36 hour session did not end there with this 38lb common in the net at 5.30am.
So 2 carp and 3 catfish out in a 36 hour session. All caught on Nigel’s new experimental crayfish boilies and using Pallatrax Stonze and Gripz hooks.
15th, 16th, 17th October
With Jo and her mum off to see old pen pals in Dijon and Lyon for a few days, Nigel decided to fish again for a few nights but moved to the right hand bank on Kingfisher, near the aerator. This has always been his favourite swim with a great view of the lake from here. Maisie went with him and enjoyed camping out for a few days with her own bed in the bivvy (although she did prefer Nigel’s during the day!)
Before dark Nigel managed to land another catfish – this time at 44lb 8oz. Maisie managed to get in the photo as she often does
Not much happened over night and Nigel rested the lake in the morning for a few hours, heading back to the house to restock his food and beer supplies. Back at the lake he had not had his rods in for long when he caught this 32lb 8oz common, at around 5pm
With his firepit alight there was no chance of Maisie or him going cold, and he managed to get rid of some of the smaller branches from his pruning the week before. What a great way to spend an autumn evening, even if the trees are all still very much in leaf!
Again in the early evening he landed this 35lb mirror
Not much happened on Tuesday until nearly 9pm when he caught a 68lb catfish but did not manage to get a photo this time. As the weather forecast was not good for that night Nigel decided to call an end to this autumn session there and get back in the dry. Not a bad few days though and good to see some nice fish come out of the lake. Maisie had a great time as well!
Final catch report for the 5 days was 1 baby and 3 at 30lb+ as well as 4 cats up to 72lb.