Fishing report: Gary & Luan

A fantastic week of fishing in scorching conditions with big catfish and loads of carp to 53lb!

This week we welcomed Gary and Luan for their 3rd visit to us. They were super excited to be back and were really looking forward to some top quality R&R with some good fishing thrown in for good measure. As they’d been before and it was super hot we skipped the lake tour, had a quick chat and left them to get settled in. Gary did the tuition session two years ago and he’s been on the path to success ever since.

Gary didn’t fish the first night as it was all he could do to set up camp in the heat and then retire to the gite for a cold bath and some food. This weather we are having is no joke and you really need to pace yourself. 

The next morning he was up early and by 10am, he’d had a double take consisting of a big ol catfish and a nice mirror. With the water temperature in excess of 27°C, all fish are staying in the water again this week and that rule will remain until the lake cools. Luckily Gary came well prepared with a set of chesties and was happy to do water shots.

Check out all the catch pictures from this week here.

Even though Gary was familiar with my “bite at a time” tactics he was really shocked by how little bait I advised him to use this time around. His first carp fell for a single tiger nut over a spoonful of particles (I’m not talking bait scoop full… I’m talking about a few tablespoons).

The catfish fell for one of my home salt-cured Live System bottom baits that was fished with a tiny PVA sausage of Live System PVA bag mix. When the bait is good and you are doing everything else right, you do not need much to get a bite.

After a great first day, the rest of the week was more of the same. Gary only did 2 nights, and they fished from 7am to 5pm during the days, taking breaks along the way to cope with the heat. And each day, they caught multiple carp, up to 11 carp in one day. 

What is really incredible is that this was one of the hottest weeks we’ve ever experienced, with temperatures reaching 38deg C several days in a row. It was also our third heatwave event of the year. And yet again, the lake fished extremely well, each day (as long as you’re using the ‘Beausoleil book of tricks’).

In previous years, we’d never have had catch reports like these in weather like this. Fishing is expected to be super hard when it’s that hot. And this year, at Beausoleil, it’s not hard. There is no doubt that this is a result of the tweaks we’ve made to our lake management program. But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we’re not taking this for granted. We’ll continue to monitor the lake carefully, follow the program we’re on to the letter and see where it takes us.

I was back at the lake a few times to check things during the week and each time, I got to witness some very happy scenes. On one occasion, I arrived and found Luan unhooking a fish and she could see this one was quite a bit bigger. When I leaned over to lend a hand, I also knew this was big, in fact it was huge and Gary’s PB was about to get smacked out of the park. He’d only gone and caught Mr. Angry, last caught at 53lb and the one that everyone wants to catch. Gary couldn’t quite believe it! 

On Thursday, the morning session was all very normal and by normal I mean not normal at all. Gary had had 5 by 11am.

Then Luan decided that she fancied getting in on the action, and when the next rod went, she lifted into a powerful fish. Now Luan’s caught a carp before… the only trouble is that this time, what she’d hooked was at least 40lbs bigger! The additional twist here is that Luan is right handed and Gary is left handed, so she had to contend with the reel handle on the ‘wrong side’… I know how that feels because I can’t even wind Gary’s rods in. Feels so weird! After a good ten minute battle and with Gary by her side, they slipped the net under a rather nice mirror. I don’t think they realised what they’d got until I told them… she’d only gone and banked the mighty Magnum that was last out at 49lb! You should have seen the look on her face when I told her. You should have seen the look on Gary’s face when she told him 😂

On the bait front, Gary used some of my home cured 15mm Live System hookbaits that I wanted testing for resistance against crayfish (they passed, although we have very few crays). These caught the majority of the carp but he also used a single tiger nut on his other rod. In terms of feed, Gary only used 3 x 2.5 l jars of particles dosed at a rate of one very small spoonful per trap. That and a single hook bait was all that necessary to generate take after take.

For rigs, Gary stuck with what works which is the blowback multi and a running lead, and changed hooks religiously. In terms of location Gary targeted the spots where the fish were showing. He used a leading rod and a marker rod to find them again and then logged the position on the boat for repeatability.

We want to congratulate Gary and Luan on an amazing week of fishing, I know they loved every minute of it, they even felt ‘carp drunk’ at some point, if there’s such a thing! And many thanks for looking after the fish so well during these conditions. See you next year!