16 May 2015 – Catch Report from: Lee and friends

The carp have started spawning this week and bites were very hard to find!

For me, and I suspect many other carp anglers, one of the most appealing things about carp fishing is never knowing how it’s going to pan out. One of the most unpredictable events in the carping calendar is spawning. In France, it can happen anytime from the end of April to early June. It can occur more than once as well. The important thing to know about spawning is that the carp don’t all spawn at the same time, small carp spawn with small carp, medium with medium, large with large. This is why is not uncommon to see multiple spawning events. Spawning times are affected by a number of factors but lake temperature and number of hours of daylight are the main ones. We’ve had a milder start to spring this year and the lake hit the magic 18°C degree mark quite a few weeks ago. The first species to spawn were the roach a few weeks ago. I’ve certainly noticed the carp change behaviour over the last few weeks and this week spawning started properly on the 12th May. Spawning continued on the 13th and 14th, then paused and started again on the 16th. I expect to hear reports of further spawning activity this week but we’ll just have to see what occurs.

As you can imagine this did nothing for the angling prospects of our clients this week. Even our resident catfish refused to play ball while all the commotion was going on in the shallows. That I’m afraid is the nature of holiday carp fishing. Fortunately most of this week’s group were French veterans and took it squarely on the chin. I know they know how to catch carp and catfish as they’ve been successful in the past at our venue. Sometimes there is nothing more one can do but smile and look forward to better luck next time.