It’s not work, work, work here all the time and if there is a lake free and the weather conditions are not too bad Nigel likes to fish a night or two. We thought we would run a blog through the year of Nigel’s best catches…apart from Jo of course!
When he goes fishing he tends to head off just after tea and bring his rods back in again between 9am and 11am the next day so not complete 24 hour sessions. His favourite time for the fish to start feeding is a few hours either side of sunset and sunrise. Obviously when he goes fishing he uses our boilies and hook baits and tends to prefer the maple syrup ones as he says that if he likes the smell of them better then so will the fish.
25 – 27 March 2025 Kingfisher
With the son in law and his mate fishing on Lac Lucie and the majority of the jobs done, Nigel decided to have a couple of nights on Kingfisher to get that lake warmed up for the season too. Setting up on the house swim with a nice fire going it was only a couple of hours before he saw his first rod go. He knew it was a catfish straight away and knew it would take a while to get it in. Whilst he was playing it another rod started running so he put the cat rod down and landed a 27lb 1oz mirror before picking the cat up again. It had obviously been trying to spit the hook out whilst he was dealing with the carp and ended up losing it but a great start to his mini session. He then had another at 2am, this time a common weighing about 25lb. Not great photos, but it is not easy when you are fishing on your own!
Wednesday night was chilly but with our firepit and plenty of old wood to be burned he enjoyed sitting outside the bivvy watching the stars. Only one fish in the night though, a 27lb 9oz mirror.
Finished session on 3 fish at 20lb+ in 3 nights
03 – 05 April Lac Lucie
With our first paying guests of the season having a good week on Kingfisher, and having seen at least 5 fish jumping on Lac Lucie from the house, Nigel decided he would have a couple of nights on the main bank, with the firepit in tow and his new rod mascot that Stefan had given him the week before. After only a couple of hours he landed a 25lb 8oz mirror but there were no other beeps all night. The next morning he sat listening to the first cuckoo of the year before packing up for the day and doing a few bits of maintenance. During the day on Friday temperatures rose to over 20°C and that evening the frogs mating calls could be heard on our neighbour’s lake. Nigel had another 37lb 6oz mirror that evening.
Saturdays are always busy during the season and with new guests expected on both lakes Nigel knew that it would be a short night on Friday so he could get packed up ready for them. He finished his session well though with two more mirrors over night, a 38lb 9oz at ten past two in the morning and a 22lb 6oz at twenty to six.
Three night session finished with 2 at 20lb+ and 2 at 30lb+
7 – 10 April 2025 Kingfisher
We were expecting guests on both lakes this week but our visitors on Kingfisher were unable to come for personal reasons and so Nigel jumped at the chance. The forecast was looking great and he set his gear up on swim one at about 6pm before realising he had forgotten his bite alarms so summoned Jo down with them. He had just started to set up his second rod and the first one went off and after about 20 minutes he managed to land this 56lb catfish.
The rest of the night was quiet, although he did lose another catfish around 9pm and there were several fish jumping and the next night was no better. He lost another catfish at 5am and his line ended up getting caught around a branch so that was sorted during the day.
On the Tuesday night Nigel had two carp on the bank, a common around midnight weighing 16lb 2oz and another common at 6.30am weighing 17lb 9oz. We think these are two fish we bought over from the stock pond and are destined to be biggies one day. He ended the night down to one rod as the other one had been caught up with another catfish during the night and he did not bother putting it back out.
With the Villa vs PSG game on the radio on Wednesday night Nigel was quite happy by the lake listening to the football, the owls and just watching the sky. He had a run on his middle rod but nothing there when he struck into it. But at 7.04 the next morning he was woken up by his alarms and managed to land a 38lb 6oz common
This 3 nighter ended with 3 carp, 2 at 10lb+, 1 at 30lb+ and a catfish of 56lb
14 – 16 April 2025
We had a family on Lac Lucie this week who had fished Kingfisher twice previously and were very competent anglers. With the forecast originally set to be poor Nigel thought he was going to have the week at home but as is often the case the weather changed for the between and on the Monday night Nigel headed back off to Kingfisher and got his rods set up. Thunder was threatened but as is often the case here it managed to miss us and he had beeps on all rods during the evening. He lost a big catfish at 10.30pm when the hook link broke but did manage to land a common about 20lb at 1am and a small catfish half an hour later but didn’t photograph them. He always struggles to get back off to sleep after he has caught a fish and he sat in his chair for a good couple of hours listening to the nightingales singing in the trees.
On Tuesday he set off after tea for another night and just got his three rods out when the first fish of the night interrupted his burger. He landed a 26lb 13oz mirror at 20.30 and then a 48lb 10oz mirror at 10pm and a 24lb 2oz common at 3am.
At 8.15 the next morning Nigel sent Jo a message saying he had a fish on, and thought it was a big one so she walked Maisie round to see what was happening. Twenty minutes later and after a bit of a struggle getting it into the net this 70lb 11oz catfish made it to the bank.
As Jo was out for the morning he decided to stop a bit longer and at 9.30am landed a mirror weighing 18lb 5oz.
Wednesday night was to be his last night of this session and he managed to get all of his rods out before one of them went off. There was a bit of rain and he was just sorting his stuff out in his bivvy when the first rod went off. He was thrilled to see this fish, one that we had put in from the stock pond last November weighing 45lb and was now tipping the scales at 46lb 5oz.
This was closely followed by its little sister, weighing 21lb 5oz half an hour later and a 18lb 5oz mirror at 10.45pm. As it was raining he never got all the rods back out and went to bed in the dry. The next morning he was just putting his second rod out when the first one went off again and he landed a 45lb catfish.
So this 3 night session ended with 2 at 10lb+, 4 at 20lb+, 2 at 40lb+ and 3 catfish to 70lb 11oz.
28 – 30 April Kingfisher
With no guests on either lake this week and all of the jobs under control, Nigel invited our friend, Paul over for a couple of nights fishing on Kingfisher, which has always been Nigel’s favourite lake and still holds some mysteries as we never drained and netted it completely. With the hope of some big fish all their rods were out by 7.45pm and they settled down with a few beers and to catch up on the joys of lake ownership. Paul has a drive and survive lake about 25 minutes away from us which he runs with his wife, Nicki. They have been a big part of our lives since we moved over here and have been a great help to us.
Jo went over to enjoy the last hour or so of the day and watch the sunsetting over the meadow and by 8.15pm the first rod went off. Paul had the first bite with a 25lb catfish. He then hooked another one an hour later, a lot lot bigger but unfortunately he lost it.
Overnight Nigel had another small cat, a 14lb common and a 36lb 3oz mirror and Paul had a 17lb common. The problem with using a bait boat at this time of year is that there is a lot of blossom falling on the lake and it had blown up to the second and third swims where they were fishing, either side of the social area. As daybreak dawned Nigel had a lovely 33lb 3oz common and Paul decided to put his rod back out in the old fashioned way and just 2 rod lengths away from the bank where he was fishing. Nigel questioned his placement and was therefore surprised when at about 7.30am Paul had one of the biggest mirrors in the lake weighing 48lb 8oz.
They carried on fishing through the morning, enjoying the sunshine and cooking themselves some bacon rolls on Nigel’s stove and Paul had another common at around 10am weighing 25lb but there was nothing else on the bank in the morning. Nigel stopped about midday to give his baited areas a rest and Paul stopped and managed to lose another couple of carp in the afternoon. At about 4ish he came over to the house to give Nigel a hand moving some wood up the bank from Lac Lucie ready for him to collect another day. Jo kindly cooked them a chilli for their tea (they thought they were paying guests!) and then they headed back over to the lake for another session.
Paul lost another big cat at around 8pm but there was nothing else to report Tuesday evening but the fish started feeding in their spots around midnight. Nigel had a 32lb 7oz mirror and then an hour later Paul had a 17lb 13oz common, followed by Nigel with another common at 2am weighing 37lb 8oz. Nigel then finished the session just before dawn with a 15lb 3oz common.
As the girls were dragging them to Le 16 Beach for lunch by the lake Paul packed up and left at around 8.30 to get himself cleaned up and Nigel also got everything tidied away ready for our paying guests on Saturday.
Final summary of 2 night session for 2 anglers 4 at 10lb+, 1 at 20lb+, 4 at 30lb+ and 1 at 40lb+ as well as 2 small cats