Fishing report from: Phil & Emma

A tricky week but a sun filled holiday with carp to 34lbs

This week we welcomed Phil and Emma to the venue. It was Emma’s first trip to France and Phil’s first French carp fishing adventure so excitement levels were rather high! Phil knew that Beausoleil was going to be a step up for him so he booked me for the tuition session on Sunday. As always we covered a lot of ground. His rig game was excellent and thanks to our YouTube channel he was one of the best prepared anglers I’ve ever worked with. He’s used to fishing “runs waters” where 20-30 fish in a day is possible. Beausoleil was going to be very different to what he was used to. Phil was very shocked by the intricate and savage nature of the lake bed and knew that he’d have to take his game to the next level to be in with a shout.

It was Wednesday morning when he had his first taste of success in the shape of a 34lb mirror named Claws. This carp beat his PB so that box was ticked. He caught it by using a combination of wading and bait boat use. It’s been used successfully here before and it’s a very effective way of ensuring the pinpoint accuracy that’s required when targeting certain features. It was a solid piece of angling so congratulations! Phil managed another bite from that spot but unfortunately suffered a hook pull. He also met Sammy twice.

To finish the week, Phil decided to make the move from the Big Double down to Home Swim for the last night. On the rig front Phil stuck with a simple Beausoleil supple snowman rig all session. It was a tough week on the fishing front and it was a similar story for a number of other tougher venues. Fair play to Phil though, he stuck at it and fished hard. If the conditions were more favourable, I’m sure he’d have banked a good few fish but this week it just didn’t happen.

Phil and Emma also ventured out to Vitré for the day. It’s a lovely medieval city and only 20 minutes away so if you like to add a touch of sight seeing to a fishing trip then it’s a nice place to go.

Well done to Phil on his efforts, congrats on the PB and we’re already looking forward to welcoming them back next year for another crack at the challenge!