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What an exciting week for our 4 anglers this week with fish coming out from all corners of the lake and a very nice catch sheet with 1 x 40lbs, 5 x 35lbs, 4 x 30’s, along with 2 x 98lbs + catfish!

This week we welcomed back a lovely group of guys on their third fishing trip to Beausoleil. They have their own way of allocating swims: each time, they do a swim rotation so everyone gets a different set of features to target. This year, Dean was in Point ‘A’, Alex in Point ‘C’, Wayne in The Big Double and Tony was in Island Point. It would be the first time this year we’d have 4 anglers on and fortunately the newly seeded bank is coming on nicely.

Click here to see all the fish from this session.

Wayne opens the batting

Beausoleil is not an easy venue and Wayne’s first trip was a bit of a baptism of fire. On his 2nd trip, he booked a day’s tuition and made a massive amount of progress with his fishing. He went on to bank some very large carp from other venues and he tells me that he still applies everything we covered during that session.

wayne carp fishing in france with a mirror carp of 32lbs

It was great to see Wayne lead the way this year. In fact he’d banked a near three figure cat and upper 30 before anyone else had had a run!

Wayne loves his carp fishing and the joy was clear to see. He did confess to handing the rod to Tony after 10 minutes of battling one of our big boys, quite frankly he’d had enough! Fortunately it was only carp after that which is much more his style. Wayne banked a 98lb catfish and four carp from 32lbs to 37lbs 10oz! Well done mate.

Getting it right in point ‘A’

It’s fair to say that point ‘A’ is not the easiest swim to fish. It’s relatively shallow, and very very spotty. You’ve also got the hazards of the bridge to contend with and the aerator. From past experience, Dean knew he’d have his work cut out to bank a few this year.

dean carp fishing in france with a common carp of 27lbs

Undeterred, he’d set himself a target of three fish for the week which seemed very reasonable to me. After Wayne lead the way, it was Dean who was in next. The fish were clearly active down there and he had his first pickup from the stream mouth. By Wednesday it was job done for Dean with a nice 31lb+ common and his objective of three fish achieved. He made it to four in the end including another 30lb common and two upper twenties… very nice!

dean carp fishing in france with a common carp of 31lbs

Getting smashed

Alex was in point ‘C’. After a tough time the previous year in point ’A’ he was looking forward to having a different piece of water to fish. Unfortunately, he didn’t exactly get the start he wanted… He hooked a good fish (probably a massive catfish) and after a decent tussle, it moved towards the island but before it reached there he felt a strange sensation travel up the line and it all went slack. He was gutted of course but these things happen. To make matters worse, the same thing happened the next night.

We had a good chat on Wednesday and I went through his set up which was rock solid. He was spooled up with 30lbs Big game and every knot was tested to 8kg (that’s an easy pass for 30lb Big Game but not for other so called 30lbs lines!). He’d glued the rig tubing into the silicone sleeve so there was no way it was moving. Mystified, I had nothing further to offer other than my commiserations but Alex was unfazed and was confident his luck would change.

alex carp fishing in france with a 39lbs mirror carp

Battling giants

Fortunately, Alex’s run of bad luck ended and he went on to bank three PB’s!

He’d never had a sturgeon before and was amazed by their speed and agility. They can come towards you so fast you think you’ve lost it then run as hard as a mid sized cat for short bursts. He also banked The Sub at a shade under 40lbs which was also a new PB. He even managed to even up the score with the catfish and had specimens of 51lbs, 75lbs and 99lbs! He was delighted of course but gutted to have missed the three figure mark by a measly pound… Unlucky mate! He banked the big cat in under 30 minutes which is pretty quick. He is well over 6ft tall and nearly half as wide mind!

alex carp fishing in france caught a mirror carp of 32 pounds

A visit from Sonic

Not long after returning his monster catfish to the water, Alex’s alarm was beeping away again. Alex was very surprised he’d got a take so fast but then realised what was causing the bobbin to dance…. Poor Sonic the hedgehog was out for a midnight stroll along the swim margin and managed to get tangled up in the line and bobbin! After a bit of knit one pearl one and a good deal of grunting and snorting from Sonic, he was freed and trundled, rather disgruntled, off to the bushes.

Spot on

Round the back of the island for this year was Tony. It was actually Tony’s fourth trip as he’d been back before with his lovely wife Jo and had a dream holiday. Tony’s always done well at the venue and his hook sharpening skills are up there with some of the best work I’ve seen. Island point had seen virtually no angling pressure all year and therefore it was a bit of a surprise when it took Tony until Monday to actually catch a carp.

tony carp fishing in france with a common carp of 37lbs
Tony with Nicky at 37lbs 4oz

We had a good chat on Wednesday and I suggested he take things to the next level in terms of rig placement accuracy. The very best feature finding tool I’ve found for the shallow margins of Beausoleil is your feet! Yep, just don a pair of waders and get paddling! (always take a prodding stick or landing net pole with you when you do this as there as some massive boulders and you may well stumble… I know where most are and they still catch me out!).

Tony was amazed how quickly the depth changes. 6“ either way makes a massive difference on some spots! He worked out that the best method of getting them absolutely bang in the middle of these holes was to put the rig in the bait boat, drive it over and walk round onto the island in waders and climb in. Once the spot had been pinpointed to within a matter of inches he was able to pick the rig out the boat and lower it right on the money. This might sound like an extraordinary amount of effort to go to, but on some days, in certain areas, it can make all the difference in the world. On Thursday going the extra mile paid off big style for Tony with the elusive and utterly mint Nicky at 37lbs.

Friday night social + last chance saloon

Friday night is social night but this year Tony was going to sit this one out and go until the final whistle. The guys really do like their food and this Friday it was going to be a selection of home cooked curries washed down with a beer or three… and why not! Tony’s not anti social, far from it but he’d had a tough week on the fishing front and was utterly determined to correct this situation. With everyone else wound in, packed down and back at the lodge, it was an ideal opportunity for Tony to drop a few rigs on some more familiar spots.

tony carp fishing in france with a mirror carp od 42lbs in the middle of the night

As is often the case, it was very much a case of effort equals reward as at 3am the next morning he was in! After a tense battle he slid the net cord under the mighty Cut Tail! This is a brute of a mirror and he span the scales round to a new top weight of 42lbs 2oz! Tony was actually the first angler to catch Cut Tail at 40lbs last year. What a result.

What makes this a really impressive piece of angling is that they were due to roll out the door around 8am, it had been raining all afternoon and most of the night so it was a dawn packdown in the rain… not for the faint hearted I can tell you!

Bait and rigs

On the bait front, all the guys used our Beausoleil bait along with some of their own freezer baits. Many also used our cork ball popups as they’d proved highly effective both here and at other venues. This year was no exception with plenty more carp (including the 42lbs mirror) falling for them. Both Alex and Wayne bought a few rigs from me and they outwitted some wily carp and tamed some massive cats with no problems. If you’re thinking about buying some rigs for your trip, do email or message me as I’m happy to advise you.

Until next time boys, as always, it was a pleasure.

Catch report & Feedback from:

Alex, Wayne, Tony and Dean
Dates at Beausoleil: 4th to the 11th May 2019
Number of anglers: 4

Brief details of your catches:

Brief details of your catches:
18 fish
9 x Mirror Carp: 42lbs 2oz, 39lbs 10oz, 37lbs 10oz, 37lbs 8oz, 37lbs 6oz, 32lbs, 32lbs, 27lbs 8oz, 27lbs 8oz,
4 x Common Carp: 37lbs 4oz, 31lbs 10oz, 30lbs, 28lbs 8oz,
4 x Catfish: 99lbs, 98lbs, 75lbs 12oz, 51lbs 12oz,
1 x Sturgeon: 22lbs

plus 1 low double mirror

What did you find were the best swims/tactics/baits?

Big double + point C. Mainly caught on popups. Matt’s and various.

How was the weather?

Mixed, sun and rain.

How did you find the accommodation?

Excellent

What could we do to improve your holiday?

Label recycling bins

Would you recommend our venue to a friend?

Yes

General comments

Another good week enjoyed by all. Glad I done the last night :) (Tony)

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