A dream fishing holiday for Tony with loads of stunning carp to 40lbs and top quality R&R for wife Jo!
This week we had the great pleasure of welcoming back Tony for his third visit to the venue. Normally he fishes with his mates but after a bit of arm twisting he managed to convince his lovely wife Jo that she’d really enjoy the place too! Luckily for Tony he’d made a good choice and Jo absolutely loved the place. She’d brought plenty to keep her busy and was going to enjoy spending time living life at a different pace, doing things she never has the time for.
Row for it!
Tony didn’t manage to get the rods on spots until 9pm so just selected three that he was familiar with and waited to see what would happen. The answer was nothing the first night but he’d had plenty of liners so the fish were active. On Sunday, he spent some time in the boat exploring some new areas and dropping markers. Boat work is an essential part of fishing Beausoleil and a good venue to practice something you don’t get the chance to do very often.
Tony had brought both pole markers and H-blocks but once the spots where marked for distance (using marker elastic) and direction using margin markers, the actual spot marker was removed so it didn’t spook the fish. Boat work done, it wasn’t long before he was into his first carp of the session with a pristine 33lb common, followed by a 26lbs 8oz mirror, nice work!
Sliced and diced
We called round to see them on Monday and nothing more had been out but they’d managed to get properly settled in and Jo was in raptures about the place which was great! Tony had had a fish dive into one of the caves underneath the island which resulted in a cut off on the rocks. Yes, even Big Game in 25lb and 0.48mm diameter is not capable of withstanding this kind of punishment! Fortunately, just after we left, Tony balanced the scales with another nice mirror from the exact spot.
Until Wednesday morning Tony was picking up two specimens a day from a variety of spots which is a nice steady pace. Then it all got a bit racy with multiple takes of which four good specimens were banked. Tony also ended up hand lining a carp after two lines got tangled and it all got a bit messy: the carp won the battle that time.
A brand new 40!
After seeing a few fish crash over one particular spot along the dam wall, Tony planned his attack and developed it over a number of days by baiting every two hours with chops, hemp, and a variety of pellets. In total he managed six carp from just this one spot all on our Nutty Banoffee popups over chops and pellet… Very nice work mate!
On Friday, Tony packed up most of his gear ready for the off on Saturday but was still going to fish through till the evening and Jo was even having a dabble from the Home swim. Tony was making it look easy so she thought if he can, so can I!
Tony’d already had a really good week’s fishing but why stop there? Why not finish with a bang? Why not bank a brand new 40lb mirror? Why not indeed! This one is named Cut Tail and was stocked at 30lbs in the winter of 2014. Four years on and he’s a 40… nice! Just for good measure he then banked Hyphen at 37lbs, when you’re hot, you’re hot!
Jo’s stunning photos
Jo describes herself as an amateur photographer with a very good camera. That might be true but she took some of the best images of the fish and the venue that we’ve seen for a long time! And just to make things extra special, the majority of the fish came out during the afternoon which meant 1) Jo could have a good night’s sleep and 2) the fish looked spectacular in the afternoon sun! Thank you so much Jo for sharing all your gorgeous pictures with us 🙂 You’ve got the job 🙂
To see all of Jo’s fish photos, click here
Bait, rigs and ultra sharp hooks
Tony is a big fan our Nutty Banoffee and all fish were caught on either double 20mm or one of our cork ball popups which he finds devastating wherever he takes them! Tony is a massive fan of the Beausoleil rig and hand sharpened hooks. Put the three together, and it’s a deadly combination.
Keeping it simple
The key to Tony’s success is that he keeps things simple. Proven rigs, proven bait and razor sharp hooks is all you need to catch carp. Then it’s just a matter of finding them, feeding them and catching them! It was a joy to watch him work and he thoroughly deserves the success he’s had this week.
It was so great to meet Jo and to see Tony again. Tony has already booked for 2019 with the boys and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Jo again in the future…
Catch report & Feedback from:
Tony and JoDates at Beausoleil: 12th to 19th May 2018
Number of anglers: 1, sometimes 2
Brief details of your catches:
16 fish in total13 x Mirror Carp: 40lbs, 37lbs, 35lbs, 30lbs, 30lbs, 28lbs, 28lbs, 27lbs 8oz, 26lbs 8oz, 26lbs 8oz, 26lbs 8oz, 26lbs, 25lbs
2 x Common Carp: 34lbs, 33lbs
1 x Sturgeon: 20lbs 8oz
8 kittens (all removed)
1 baby carp
