Fishing report from: Michael & Sandra

A super relaxing fishing holiday with a carp everyday!

This week we welcomed Michael & Sandra to the venue for the first time. Although they’d done a few fishing holidays prior to this, this would be their first fishing holiday in France. Although Michael is a keen and experienced angler, he’d lost his way a little with carp fishing over the last 15 years and was in need of a reset. He first discovered us through YouTube and he took the opportunity to take the tuition to make the most of this experience.

His wife Sandra was a touch nervous as she really wanted him to catch something this time as the other trips they’d made were not terribly successful. After a quick tour round the lake, I knew that he was a perfect fit for the venue and I assured Sandra that he was going to have a good week. I could tell from the look on her face that she was sceptical!

After we got started on Sunday, we had to nip back to the house mid morning to make sure that the F1 was programmed to record and Sandra made us both laugh when she asked us whether we’d caught anything yet… hmm, no not yet 🤣

I meet very few, okay no, anglers who have previous experience of taking oxygen readings but Michael has a background in the commercial fishing industry and used to be responsible for the health of the salmon at a Scottish fish farm. This job involved taking oxygen reading multiple times per day and controlling the levels of phytoplankton through the use of a diffused aeration system, sounds very familiar… and what was interesting was that he’d never related what he knew to carp fishing so it was great to take him on that journey.

In his current profession he’s a marine engineer so he was well prepared when it comes to rig prep and mechanics. The missing piece from the jigsaw was what to do when and why.

What Michael really loved was that the approach I gave him can be used on his local waters so that he’s no longer fumbling in the dark, chopping and changing and following the latest trend. Nothing I do is complicated and anyone can learn it. 

We had a great day together and even had time to play with his RT7 bait boat. Michael’s had a major operation and technology like this enables him to fish effectively. I love the old school methods of a prodding pole and a rowing boat but this modern technology has come a very long way in recent years. However, you still need good rigs and good hooks. Here’s a short video of the RT7 with a bait hopper attachment.

We also worked out a method whereby I could combine my old school techniques with the new technology and that helped Michael program the boat onto some good spots that he could target consistently. Once we were done, Michael enjoyed Silverstone (get in Lewis!) before he got back to the fishing. Sammy didn’t take long to find the first trap and then just on dusk he banked his first carp. He’d only fished for 3 hours… brilliant 😁

Michael continued to fish when he could but by no means fished full time. He did a few mornings, some afternoons, some evenings and caught a carp a day. He wound in at 9:30pm most evenings and shared a glass of wine with Sandra. There was even enough time for a couple of trips out. Lovely ❤️

More storms

There was yet another storm forecast to pass through. Nothing massive but after the last one, we are a tad nervous. This time I decided to pre-empt any negative effects by placing a control board over the road to limit the amount of runoff we’d get from the lake above. I also removed the summer board from our main sluice and turned one splash aerator unit on. When I returned the next morning, all was well and my changes had balanced out the negative effects of the storm. We got off lightly this time but I’d rather be proactive than reactive now that we understand what a massive difference the live bacteria treatments have made to the water quality. We didn’t realise just how accustomed we’d become to arriving at the lake in the summer to hear the constant drone of two large aerators. Now, when we arrive, the only noise you can hear are the birds and the occasional tractor in a nearby field. Marvellous. 

Crayfish cooking lessons!

Not only does Michael have a background in salmon farming, it turns out he also used to be a lobster fisherman so he knows a thing or two about their freshwater cousin, the crayfish. That’s handy as we are still running the crayfish traps (only a few coming out per week). On Wednesday, we caught what has to be the largest crayfish I’d ever seen, it was the size of my hand! After 24hrs purging in clean water, Michael wasted no time turning it into a rather splendid crayfish salad. It was delicious! 

Boom, it’s a chunk!

Although Michael had caught steadily all week and was very happy with the stamp of fish, he’d not managed anything larger than a low thirty. On the last morning, he got the rods in early and after a couple of hours he received a savage take from the open water plateau. Michael took his time with this one because it was obviously a very good fish and his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the width of it… As soon as I saw the photo I knew he’d had Pepe. It’s the first mistake Pepe has made this year. He’d picked up a lifted scale during spawning, but other than that he was looking immaculate. Micahel said it was a lot of fun to play him on his 9ft Scopes… (I know exactly what he means!). It was a fabulous capture to finish the session and when I met Michael later that morning, he had a smile a mile wide.

Can we do that again please?

It was an absolute pleasure to meet them both, they were able to have the holiday they wanted and they are already booked in for next year.