A good week’s fishing with 1 x 100lb catfish and 5 x 30lbs+ carp being the highlights of the show!
This week we welcomed Arun & wife Teresa back to the venue along with new guests Ben, Paul & Craig. For the new anglers, it was their first trip to France which is always an exciting experience.
Arun got off to a flyer with a 97lb catfish PB taken on a baby squid popped 6” off the bottom and a 30lb mirror. Arun is a purist when it comes to cat fishing. He had a clear plan in mind and was happy to see how his methods would work here. As our regular visitors know, traditional cat fishing techniques are rarely rewarded at Beausoleil unfortunately as our moggies love pellet and boilie traps.
The other guys hadn’t seen a fish yet by Monday and with the conditions looking bang on for a bite or three, maybe some things needed looking into.
Ben was fishing with razor sharp hooks but his favoured 14” long helicopter rigs presented onto rock hard spots gave the carp far too much rope to do the rig. He’d had a couple of pull ups but by the time he’d hit it, Mr. Carp was long gone.
I suggested a change to my inline setup but as he had no in-lines he went for a simple running arrangement with 8″ rigs for the rest of the session. It was only a matter of time before he got off the mark and started with a 75lb catfish which we was really buzzing about!
Over in the point swims, Paul and Craig started the week fishing all their rods out of Point B with a loose clutch. They were fishing with pods so were much less able to spread their rigs about and angle each rod at the spot.
After a good chat and a hook sharpening demo, they decided to purchase some of our Beausoleil rigs after they were able to see the difference with their own eyes…. the usual word is wow!
For many first visitors to Beausoleil, fishing with a tight clutch is a completely new concept but it’s a vital technique to use here: you can be sure that the carp is properly hooked before you even get to the rod! Paul then opened his account with a 101lbs 12oz catfish taken on one of ours rigs…. not bad for a first fish!
After another bit of re-jig, the rods were moved and 24hrs later Paul was into his first carp, a mirror of 32lbs and once the sun warmed up the shallows enough, Craig started with a nice mirror of 26lbs from point ‘A’, followed by a 29lbs mirror.
After catching the catfish he so badly wanted, Arun decided that he wanted to up sticks, move to the channel swims and target the carp which left Ben with the Big Double all to himself. Even if things didn’t quite work out for him in that swim, Arun was happy to enjoy the place, have a play and relax.
With Ben now able to target productive far marginal spots, he met the sturgeon and then early on Thursday his first carp of 32lbs which he badly wanted! Ben finished with another nice 30 and then lost a very good carp to a hook pull in the corner. He was gutted but you can’t win them all!
Beausoleil can feel like a steep learning curve when you come for the first time but it was great to see the group enjoy the place and “work the problem”. Good angling guys!
Catch report & Feedback from:
Arun and friendsDates at Beausoleil: 31st March to the 7th April 2018
Number of anglers: 4
Brief details of your catches:
6 x Mirror Carp: 33lbs, 32lbs, 30lbs 14oz, 30lbs 8oz, 29lbs, 26lbs4 x Catfish: 101lbs 12oz, 97lbs, 77lbs 8oz, 75lbs
1 x Sturgeon: 23lbs
1 kitten
