Another fantastic couple of weeks with over 50 carp to 48lbs banked in just two weeks!
On the 5th of April, we welcomed back Jules, Rick & Andy for their 7th visit to us. Jules seems to have a knack for being the first one out the blocks and this trip was no exception. This year he took things to the extreme and caught 10 by the time I rocked up for my Tuesday visit!
There was a bit of head scratching going round for Rick and Andy but with all the guys fishing in a very similar style it was mostly a question of right time, right place.
Not wanting to have all the fun, Jules moved to the Point swims and gave Andy and Rick a clear line of attack to the carp. It didn’t take long for Andy, then Rick, to join the party.
Socializing is as important as the fishing for the guys and they don’t do the nights and don’t really get going until mid morning most mornings. With limited fishing hours, they caught steadily throughout the week, including a couple of 40s and had a lot of fun doing it.
On the bait and rig front, the guys used 20mm Scopex Squid boilies and flake presented in small traps either in solid PVA bags or dropped from a bait boat. Rigs were a variety of Beausoleil favourites including the blowback multi, slip D and the mono D. All rigs were fished on a running inline lead. We are delighted that we’ll be seeing them next year and look forward to more of the same!
Catch report:
15x Mirror: 48lbs, 39lbs, 37lbs, 37lbs, 35lbs, 35lbs, 34lbs, 33lbs, 31lbs, 30lbs, 29lbs, 28lbs, 27lbs, 26lbs, 23lbs
9x Commons: 33lbs, 32lbs, 31lbs, 30lbs, 29lbs, 27lbs, 24lbs, 22lbs, 21lbs
3x Catfish: 61lbs, 12lbs, 10lbs
Check out our Spring 2025 fish gallery here.
On the 12th of April, we welcomed back the Normans and Gavan who’ve been here four times. Phillip also has a knack of being the first off the blocks and he’d banked two by Sunday morning.
Phillip supports Gavan and his dad with some of the rig prep so it’s a busy week for him.
With a little help Dave and Gavan were soon on the score board and the party could really get started.
Phillip seems to really have the midas touch this year as everywhere he went, golden carp leapt into his net! When I called round on Friday for a final catchup he was on 13 carp. Last year, he caught 17. Based on the fact that on his last day last year he caught six, he was actually ahead of schedule!
They were planning on fishing until 10:30pm so he still had a full day’s angling ahead of him.
Keeping light and mobile, he’d found a large number of carp had stirred the silt to soup around the back of the island. Using one rod only, he underarmed a single bait into position and it ripped off within minutes.
He was using a basic Slip D rig tied with supple braid (Armourlink 25lbs) on a running lead and using the rigs at a rate of one a chuck which is essential here in order to keep your hooks razor sharp.
By mid afternoon he’d banked 5 in an hour… which is just incredible fishing (and a new record), especially when Dave and Gavan were sitting behind motionless bobbins. Fishing can be cruel sometimes 😬
Gavan and Dave caught steadily all week but Phillip was just on another level. The lake was fishing at its best with multiple 40s banked.
Luck had absolutely nothing to do with the result, each bite here is still hard won. But Philip experienced what can happen when you do the right thing at the right time, in the right place. Big congrats mate for a superbly executed plan 👏
All this fun is only made possible thanks to the tireless efforts of the wonderful Rose who ensures the team is well fed and watered and wants for nothing. They do take Rose out to lunch mid week as a thank you at their favorite restaurant in Vitré. It was wonderful to see the guys again and I’m sure we’ll see them back on the banks in the future.
Bait was either Scopex Squid bottom baits, or a little Scopex snowman but they also did very well on yellow popups. TBH I don’t think it matters much what they used as they caught on everything they tried. For feed, they did use a lot of the Nash Particles (oily hemp and small seed mix) and 25kg of our veggie pellets.
Weather
The conditions were very mixed over the two weeks with some cold nights, warm days along with some overcast skies and rain for good measure. The thing that stood out for me though during this week and every week so far is that the oxygen levels are fantastic! A reading of 11mg/l is high. I’d expect to see that during a sunny afternoon but as a morning reading, that’s higher than normal which is great news! More oxygen means the carp can digest a lot of food and this definitely has a direct effect on the fishing. You still have to be doing the right thing in the right place but get those details right and it really is “fill your boots time!”.
Catch report:
19x Mirrors: 44lbs 12oz, 40lbs 12oz, 38lbs, 36lbs, 34lbs, 34lbs, 32lbs 12oz, 33 lbs 8oz, 32lbs 12oz, 32 lbs 12oz, 31 lbs, 28lbs, 28lbs 3oz, 27lb 6oz, 27lbs 4oz, 25 lbs, 22 lbs 6oz, 20lbs 2oz, 20lbs
5x Commons: 43lbs 4oz, 34lbs 12oz, 31lbs, 30lbs, 19lbs 6oz
1x Grass carp: 41lbs 14oz
