25 July 2015 – Catch Report from: Stuart & Lindsey

Another record breaking week’s carp fishing for a very well travelled angler: 19 carp out including 9 x 30lbs+

This week we welcomed a new couple to the venue that know a thing or two about fishing holidays. Stuart has been travelling to France for his carp angling for the last twelve years and normally does at least three weeks a year at various venues. As you can imagine he’s fished a lot of venues and certainly knows how to catch carp! His wife Lindsey is just getting into fishing but loves just being lakeside and devouring a good book! Stuart describes himself as a leisure angler. I think this comes from the fact that he prefers not to fish the nights. I don’t think leisure angler is a very accurate description of a man that is technically competent and tactically astute. The fact is, despite his modesty, he’s a very good angler. He just does doesn’t do much night fishing. I knew as soon as we met them that they were perfect clients for the venue and that we would get on very well. I first called back to see them on Monday to have a quick chat and do my oxygen survey which has now become a thrice weekly part of our management program. So I asked how they were getting on and Stuart explained that they didn’t fish Saturday as they were too tired and they didn’t exactly start at the crack of dawn on Sunday either! He also said that they didn’t fish Sunday night. OK I thought, that’s the excuses out of the way, he’s about to tell me he’s blanked…. OK come on then how many? 13…… what do mean 13? We’ve had 13 beamed Stuart. 13 what, I stammered (expecting him to say roach!), carp he said! What do you mean you’ve had 13 carp…. that’s not….. 13 you say. I fell into stunned silence, my chin literally hit the floor, bounced a few times and failed to return to its proper position for what seemed like an age. My face must have been quite a picture. A twisted composition of shock, disbelief and confusion….. We’ve written them all down said Lindsey chirpily…. and we’ve got photos of all of them…. Rocking back and forth on my heels and stammering I was offered a seat. I really needed to sit down! I took first the phone and then the catch report that was lovingly written in full detail by Lindsey. The evidence didn’t lessen the shock, he’d caught some absolute stunners at very good weights and set a record that may never be beaten!

We had a wonderful time talking about what spots were producing, baits, rigs and tactics etc. Stuart was delighted with my Blue Oyster as it had accounted for a good number of the carp caught. In fact he’d used so much of the 10kg he’d ordered, he asked me to roll another 10kg…. not a problem mate, I’ll buy some eggs on the way home! He’d also had a lot of success on a couple of grains of popped up fake maize that were very carefully critically balanced. Stuart takes a lot of time and trouble over this, soaking the rigs in a bucket so that all components are able to absorb as much water as possible so that when he tests the balance he’s testing what he’s actually fishing with after a few hours not a dry rig that is just quickly dipped in the margin with air bubbles in the braid etc. Now that’s attention to detail! The fake maize was fished over real maize and all rigs were bait boated out. The carp at Beausoleil love the margins and Stuart noticed how very tight they hug them so he literally bumped the boat into the margin prior to dropping the rig.

As far as bait strategy went it was text book stuff. Boilies where spread along the entire margin to get the carp moving from bait to bait making them far more cacheable. The maize rig was fished over two handles of real maize and a little pellet. Stuart did try for the cats and fished Blue Oyster over large beds of pellets. The tactic worked but unfortunately he hooked and lost two monsters. Nothing can prepare you for the power of these beasts. Stuart really wanted to land one but it wasn’t to be this trip. After studying the videos and blogs Stuart had decided to put his faith in my Beausoleil rig as he understood exactly how and why it worked so well. The rig accounted for all his fish which was great to hear. He’d also invested in some hook sharpening kit and had obviously gotten the hang of the technique very well indeed. That being said he was still blown away when I showed him what could be achieved after you’ve had a little practice (many 100’s of sharpened hooks!)

It was an absolute pleasure to meet Stuart and Lindsey and to be fair we are still processing just how well they did! We are delighted that they are in the early stages of planning a return trip and that they rated our venue as the best they’ve been too in twelve years of fishing in France….