9 July 2017 – Catch report from: Jay and friends

On Monday, it was virtually smiles all round with Stuart banking The Big Apple at 34lbs, Jay with a 27lb common and Mark with cats of 78lbs and 102lbs and the sturgeon! What a start for early July! Mark already had a UK PB catfish of 50+ and was delighted that he’d smashed that out of the park on his first attempt. Your first trip to France is always a nervy experience and nothing settles the nerves better than breaking your PB twice over!

One of the cats locked him up solid but the lads took to the boat and got towed round for a bit before it was safely netted. Excellent work lads! What a start for first timer Mark… get in boy! Dave over in point ‘A’ had had a mysterious occurrence which left his lead stick between some rocks but as yet had not actually connected with anything despite a few enquiries.

By Wednesday, Jay was well in the lead with cats of 88lbs & 103lbs and four mid/upper twenties. Jay had both cats from the same spot underneath the little cherry tree on the Island. He was based in Island point and had a battle royal with both of these fish.

Again team work was the key to success with anglers positioned on the tip of the island and the bridge to spook the catfish away from danger. Jay also had to pass the rod round a few trees to get himself into a position where it could be safely netted. Fortunately Jay is big and strong but it took all he had to bank these two. 103lbs is a record for the Island point swim. It’s also the 10th three digit catfish this year and the third brace of 100’s this year. Phenomenal fishing!

Mark had also kept the score card ticking along nicely with a low twenty and the sturgeon again (he definitely prefers some anglers does Social Dave!). Stuart really wanted a big cat and was well pleased with his 88lb specimen. He also had the snub nosed common at 29lbs 8oz.

Dave had yet to make an impression on the score card but had moved over to the Big Double to try his luck over there. With Jay checking his rigs and hooks, I flicked the marker out and found something rock hard for him to drop a bait onto.

As always Saturday came round too soon and Dave reported that he’d managed to bag the sturgeon avoiding the dreaded blank. Jay had had a couple more carp and Stuart had also had another. The fishing had slowed down in the hotter temperatures but the guys had had a great week already!

On the mainline front, Mark had gone for the bargain option of 30lb Daiwa Sensor and the others had opted for the more expensive Hyper Sensor in 30lbs… who’d made the better choice? Well it was Mark! We’d tested both lines thoroughly and if you don’t go with our no. 1 recommendation of Big Game in 25lbs or 30lbs then Daiwa Sensor is a reasonable choice and miles better than Hyper Sensor! The Hyper Sensor has poor and unreliable knot strength with a variety of knots and it breaks regularly at 15lbs… Our minimum pass bucket test is set at 20lbs. Although this line might be fine for carp fishing back in the UK, it is not suitable for this venue or any other that contains large and powerful catfish. After seeing the results for himself, Jay bought two spools of the 25lbs Big Game which we now carry in stock.

I was a real pleasure to meet the group and we look forward to seeing them making some more Beausoleil magic next year!