An incredible week’s fishing with 7 x 40s and loads of 30s!
This week we welcome back Steve and his son Charlie along with long time friend Carl. Ever since their first visit 5 years ago, they’ve wanted to return. Charlie was a young lad when I first met him and he’s now taller than me! Carl is a coarse angler but as he had no carp fishing experience (or gear) he elected to sit this one out and just enjoy the place.
Steve and Charlie did the tuition session with me on their first visit and they did well in the tricky conditions they were faced with back then. This August, things are very different as the water quality is the best it’s ever been. I asked them whether they’d fished anywhere else in France since their last trip and they said no. The reason? They simply don’t want to fish anywhere else but here! The only question remaining was, after 5 long years away, had they remembered everything?
After settling down, they started fishing at 9pm on Saturday night. What they really needed was a quiet night to catch up on their sleep. They did not get this.
Going off their previous experience, they set three traps and all three produced a carp on the very first night! They didn’t even get time to set a 4th rod up between them. Things did not calm down during the day and 4 more carp hurled themselves into their nets. At 9pm the following day, they wound in, exhausted but extremely happy and went to bed 😂
When I rocked up on Monday morning they were still reeling from the last 24hrs: 7 carp in total including 2 x mid 40s. The smallest was 32lbs. They picked up a few bream and kittens of course but who cares when the fishing is that good!
By Wednesday, they’d upped the tally to 14 carp with two more 40s. They were starting late, winding in early and not even doing the nights. They were only using two rods each (4 in total) as anymore would have been insane. Wherever they set a trap, it was tripped. They simply couldn’t miss. In total, they caught 27 carp.
Over the whole week, Steve tied over 50 rigs and they landed every carp they hooked. The only loss they had to report was a massive catfish that snapped the mainline. Sometimes there’s not much you can do TBH.
The carp were caught from all over the lake, from one end to the other. They caught well from spots that literally never get fished or baited but they also caught from the more obvious features (although they fished them differently to most).
They were very tired, very happy and totally blown away by their success. I’m not sure it’s really sunk in how well they’ve done. This is certainly a trip that they are going to remember for a very long time indeed. Congratulations boys, that was amazing 🏆
Masters of the Method
Okay so that’s a really good week’s fishing but what were they doing differently?
Well, Steve is a massive fan of my original classic Beausoleil rig (the one with double bottom baits on a trick running in-line system) and has created his own tweaked version of that.
They replaced the 25 lbs Kryston Supernova with the 35lbs Armourlink and they switched old size 4 Korda wide gape X for the size 6 Nash Twisters. He also used a German rig variant and both worked equally well. We know that the Twisters are sharper out of the packet and the Armourlink is more abrasion resistant but the mechanics of Steve’s rig are very similar to my original.
Since I released the blowback multi rig, not many guests use my original rig but Steve uses what he’s confident with. Even if it means a lot of rig tying. He uses the rigs at a rate of one per cast, with a fresh new hook each time, which means that he has to do a lot of rig tying (even more so because he does that for the group!).
Most rigs were rowed and dropped from the boat, one or two were cast and some were shipped out with a bushwhacker. Baits were the Scopex Squid boilie, flakes, pellets mixed with some oily hemp and mixed seeds thrown in for good measure.
Okay so all of the above is very standard stuff with no stand-out differences but the results suggest Steve and the boys were doing something differently. I’ve been coaching anglers for years and what normally separates them is the level of attention to detail they put into all these different aspects.
Some anglers just operate on a different level and think outside the box. They also don’t know the meaning of the phrase, ‘ah, that’ll do”. It goes to show that if you do pay attention to all of this stuff, the results can be seemingly miraculous.
You still need the conditions to be with you of course, oxygen, temperature and air pressure will still positively and negatively affect your results but if the conditions are right and you are doing everything right, at the right time in the right place, then you can catch more carp than your mind and body can cope with 😅
After so long away from the only lake they want to fish in France, I cannot really imagine the emotional roller coaster that they’ve experienced this week. If this is the first catch report you’ve read from us then please read some more because sessions like these are rare. As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, even with good oxygen levels, unless your approach is spot on in every single area, you can struggle to catch more than two or three carp in total.
We are so delighted that Steve and Charlie were able to return and that Carl also had the chance of experiencing this incredible venue at its very best. It’s great to know that they are planning to return to us, and a lot sooner than in 5 years!
Catches:
23 x Mirrors: 46 lbs, 44 lbs 3oz, 43 lbs, 40lbs, 40lbs, 38 lbs 10oz, 37 lbs 4oz, 37 lbs, 36 lbs, 36 lbs, 35 lbs 7oz, 34 lbs 10oz, 34 lbs, 33 lbs, 32 lbs 6oz, 32 lbs 4oz, 28 lbs, 25 lbs 5oz, 20 lbs 10oz, 20 lbs 7oz, 20 lbs, 15 lbs 8oz
3 x Commons: 43 lbs, 32 lbs 5oz, 29 lbs 6oz
Grass carp: 42lbs 8oz
2 x Sturgeon: 28 lbs
12 x Kittens. Biggest was 32 lbs
9 x Bream
One large catfish lost
How was the weather?
Warm & dry
How did you find the accommodation?
Homely
What could we do to improve your holiday?
More black mats for fish safety
Would you recommend our venue to a friend?
Yes
General comments:
Smashed it!!!
