Carp fishing report from Scott & Linda – 29 September 2019

The perfect late summer carp fishing holiday for husband and wife, Scott and Linda, with carp to 40lb + and plenty of stunning 30’s

This week we welcomed back Scott and Linda for their 2nd visit to the venue. Scott is a French carp fishing regular clocking up two or three trips most years and his wife Linda only accompanies him to venues with quality accommodation. They loved Beausoleil so much last year that they’d re-booked this trip before they left us!

It was great to see them back and after after a quick catch up we headed off round the lake for a tour. The deeper into the year we get, the fewer the signs of fish movement but we still found a few good un’s during our lap of the lake.

A fabulous start

The weather was bang on a for a bite or three this week with a nice south westerly and showers forecast for most of the week. Despite the fatigue from the journey, Scott was still able to get fishing the first night and make the most of the conditions. Before breakfast on Sunday morning, we heard from a very happy Scott with his first capture… a pristine 40lb mirror! This one’s named Single Scale and is a hard carp to catch. He’s only made one mistake so far this year and some years he’s dodged all the bullets! It was a fabulous start and Scott was absolutely delighted.

The runs continue

When I called round Monday morning, Scott had had two more carp and been snapped up by a monster moggie. Fishing Beausoleil as a solo angler (even with a partner on site) is no easy challenge and if you do hook into a massive catfish, your safety comes first. Scott had very few options apart from hanging on for grim death but this cat disappeared round the back of the island and the inevitable mainline failure occurred.

Rig safety

Scott takes his fishing very seriously and we spent time during his first trip reviewing the benefits of the Beausoleil lead set up. Since his visit, he’s been successfully applying these tips to plenty of other venues he’s fished and it was obvious that his rig setup was textbook Beausoleil and totally safe so I wasn’t worried about the lost catfish.

Despite our very best efforts, mainline failures still occur and sometimes they are unavoidable. This is why we take rig safety so seriously here. If you are new to the venue or even if you’ve been before but it’s been a while, please don’t be offended if I ask you to pull a rod in to review your setup. I still find mistakes and I’d much rather find them than miss them and risk fish safety.

Racking them up Beausoleil style

By Wednesday, Scott had racked up six nice carp including a number of mid 30’s. Scott prefers the Ronnie Rig version of the Beausoleil rig but tied as a snowman rather than a popup. He also swaps to a widegape pattern rather than the normal curve shank in order to comply with our rules. Personally I’ve never used the Ronnie Rig but if that’s what you’re confident in, then as long as you use the Beausoleil lead setup than I have no issues with the rig. Scott loves our Beausoleil bait and uses it exclusively here. 10kg of 20mm per angler is enough to have a very good week’s fishing here.

The action slows down

Towards the end of the week, things slowed up a bit for Scott. It can be difficult as a solo angler to keep those runs coming if you stick to the same swim all week. I tend to find three or four days in one spot is about the max you can do before the action slows or stops completely. The fish will have sussed you out by then. Sometimes they will move away from the area. Other times they’ll still be there but feed with such caution that getting pickups becomes nigh on impossible. Scott had already had a great week’s fishing and was happy to wait it out and see what occurred. He did pickup another fabulous mid thirty pound mirror from a spot he hadn’t tried yet.

Home from home

Linda is not into the fishing as such but she loves the total peace and tranquility and is happiest when she’s knitting back at the lodge. She also takes good photos and got wet a few times this week all in the name of a decent trophy shot! Thanks Linda, much appreciated! They also managed a trip out to Vitré and had a fabulous steak lunch so it wasn’t all about the fishing.

2nd time lucky

We were delighted that this 2nd visit was so much more successful than the first for Scott. Beausoleil is a challenging venue even for a well travelled angler. Scott chose to take the venue on himself and learnt the hard way how tricky these fish can be. The tips he learnt last year have made a big difference to his results on other tricky waters as well. There is no luck in fishing, only good prep, and Scott got everything just right, well done mate!

Ticking all the boxes

There are very few venues that Scott and Linda have found that tick all the boxes for them and fortunately Beausoleil is one of them. Scott is a well travelled and highly competent angler and has no interest in wasting his holiday time on a run a chuck venue. For him Beausoleil provides the perfect mix of serious carp fishing in a stunning environment. For Linda, the lodge is a warm, comfortable, home from home that has everything she needs for an escape from normal everyday life. Thanks guys, it’s been a pleasure!