Fishing report from: Tom & friends

Another fantastic week’s fishing with carp to 44 lbs and cats to 60lbs

This week we welcomed Thomas, Simon, Steve & Dan to the venue for their first crack at Beausoleil. After two years of waiting, the lads were chomping at the bit and they were really interested to tie in what they knew of the lake from YouTube. 

Loved it. Can’t recommend it enough. We will be back!

As they’d booked me for the day’s tuition, I arrived early the next morning as we had a lot of material to get through! It was great to watch the guys’ response as the session progressed as I went through loads of really important knowledge that will literally make or break any session in any country and truly transform your angling ability. We had a really good day together and the guys learnt an awful lot in a very short space of time.

On the fishing front, Dan managed to winkle out a carp on the first night. From Island Point, he had a cast around along the island margin and once he found an area he liked, clipped up to 5.5 wraps and landed a rig perfectly on the money, clipping the foliage on the way in. Confident that all was well, he only fished the one rod and was rewarded with a 34 lbs mirror. Excellent work mate 👏 Sometimes all you need is one rod in the right place at the right time 😉

Down in point ‘A’, Thomas was working the problem after a slightly slow start. With his first carp safely in the back of the net, it settled the nerves and he went on to bank a few from this trickier end of the lake. On Wednesday and Thursday, the wind really picked up from the SW and many of the carp moved out which left Thomas little to fish for. Not that it stopped him from helping Simon to catch his first carp and being key to the final night success. As party leader Thomas did a great job organising the trip and did everything he could to ensure it was a success. Well done mate. I know you felt the pressure but it all came good in the end!

Over in Island Point, Dan was ticking along nicely with 5 under his belt by Friday morning. Most of his fish had come from a spot in front of an old submerged tree. I’d pointed the feature out to the guys during the tuition and Dan put the extra effort in, mapped the feature carefully and worked the spot well. Beausoleil is literally littered with features like this. Finding then and then targeting them successfully is what the game is about.

Dan was also the only angler to bank one of our massive catfish. Guessed to be 5ft with a 14 inch wide mouth, after a 30 minutes battle on his Scope black ops, Dan slipped the barbless hook out in the water and returned him to the deep. On the catch report they estimated it at 60lbs but to be honest I’d be very surprised if it was only 60lbs. Prior to visiting us, Dan was the only angler to have caught a big catfish (87 lbs) and experience like this helps on a venue like ours.

Dan’s neighbour for the week was Steve in the Big Double. Steve’s name came out last in the draw and the Big Double felt like the swim no one else wanted so Steve felt disappointed. The feeling of disappointment didn’t exactly last long though as he banked four by Tuesday and looked to be taking to the place like a duck to water. 

For a group of 4, I cover the whole lake when we go exploring. This way, no matter who fishes where, everyone has got somewhere to start from. With the wind blowing all of the carp into Steve’s corner, all of the spots I’d highlighted produced carp. It was simply a question of reset, repeat.

By Friday morning, he’d caught 15 carp and while I was there he caught two more! He was having a field day! Steve had quickly grasped the playbook I’d presented and was executing every move with military precision. Beausoleil rewards effort and he was working his arse off to make all he could of the situation.

On the last night, with just one rod a piece from home swim, Thomas and Simon had three out between them in the last few hours before they headed off to the ferry (very early!). Simon covered himself in glory with a stunning 42lbs common name Jess. It was a brilliant piece of angling and thoroughly deserved after a bit of a tough session.

Bait & Rigs

During the session we covered the blow-back multi rig which still proves to be worth its weight in gold for guests and most of the carp caught fell to this simple but deadly setup. On the bait front, the lads got through plenty of Scopex Squid boilies, flakes, pellets and some jars of oily hemp and some tigers. The grubbing mix was either bait boated or rowed into position. Most of the carp fell to simple bottom baits straight out of the bag.

Dan and Steve were quick to see the potential and the power of the rowing boats. They were also quick to master the delicate art of dropping rigs from the boat. This is not an easy skill to learn (hint: 9ft rods really help). The only trouble is once you understand just how incredibly useful a rowing boat is in carp angling, you will miss them when you get back home!

It’s a new dawn

In previous years, a big low pressure system with lots of wind and rain can spell disaster at this time of year when there’s green algae in the lake and the oxygen levels are already low. This year, all that seems a distant memory. Despite the low pressure systems reducing oxygen levels this week, they were high and healthy to start with and the lake fished very well all week. 

In fact this is the third week this month where over 20 carp have been caught which is just nuts when you look back at Septembers gone by. 

All of the guys said they never worked so hard at their fishing. Even if we have made gains in stabilising the oxygen levels and improving the fishing, Beausoleil will always be a challenging water that will test anglers of all levels. Overall the guys smashed it but I can’t finish this report without mentioning Steve who has equalled the largest number of carp ever caught (19x 🐟). If you count the sturgeon then it’s the largest number of specimen fish caught in one week by one angler. Simply amazing 🏆

Congratulations guys! It was great to meet you and help you along your carping journey.