Fishing report from Rob and Brad

Rigs & Bait
Rob then went on to steadily bank carp after carp all week long. By Wednesday he was already low on Scopex Squid and took an extra 5kg to see him through the rest of the session. I’d put Rob onto my classic double 18mm supple bottom bait rig with my “Shock and Run” system and it all worked wonderfully together. He also caught on a basic snowman presentation and had a couple on the Scopex Squid popups.

It was great to see such a simple yet classic rig still do the business here. If you can tie your own rigs and you like a supple hooklink then it’s tough to beat even after all these years. The Scopex Squid is proving to be a popular seller among anglers booked in this year with most anglers opting for our carp food pack. Although I’ve tested this thoroughly and had every confidence in it, it was a big thrill to watch guests use this pack to its full effect and be so successful.

Hindsight is always 20 x 20
I don’t consider Beausoleil to be a hard water, it’s just that it’s not easy and if you only get some tiny details wrong, you can be in for a very quiet week. Halfway through the week Rob confessed that he was kicking himself a little as he felt that the first few days were wasted but I really don’t think they were. The experience helped him up his game and time spent learning is always beneficial.

The night fishing buzz
For me carp fishing is all about the night fishing and TBH I rarely fish much during the days. We always advocate anglers to do the nights and although Brad had decided initially to spend the nights in the gite, by mid week it was clear that he was missing out on some serious action. Luckily I had my old bivvy and bedchair handy so for the last couple of days he slept out with his dad. Brad got to meet some lovely carp and did well to achieve such good catch shots for such a young carp angler.

Home from home
Combining a successful carp fishing holiday with a family holiday is not easy, but it can be done and the whole family had multiple day trips out to various local towns. Karen really enjoyed her time here as it was the perfect mix of total relaxation, a little exercise and quality family time. It was also her birthday on Sunday and it was lovely to see how the family celebrated it and made Beausoleil their very own home from home.

The one that got away
No proper fishing holiday would be complete if there wasn’t a tale of the one that got away. One of Rob’s hopes for the trip was to meet one of our large catfish. He’d set himself a very reasonable target of 50lbs (all of our twelve remaining specimens are larger than this) so the odds were certainly stacked in his favour. On the very last evening he hooked a very powerful fish from the shallower end of the lake. There are two main hazards in this zone. One is the aerator, the other is the bridge and if a fish reaches either of these, 9 times out of 10 it’s game over. Rob knew exactly what he was up against here and he took the best course of action he could in the circumstances…. hold on for grim death.  This approach often leads to a failure somewhere in the system. It’s normally the mainline that goes but the Nash Bullet held up really well, as did the size 6 hook and the hooklink. No, the final straw was the hook hold. It was a real shame of course and Rob was gutted but sometimes there’s nothing much that can be done. At least he has a proper fishing tale to tell!