4 October 2020 – Carp fishing report from father and son

Where do I start with this! Everything was fantastic from arriving, the fishing conditions to the up most hospitality provided by Matt and Ren!! Fishing was excellent! Matt pointed us in the right directions and let us be. Smashed both mine and my dad’s PB which currently sits at 92lbs catfish! And my dad’s with a 43lbs carp! Will certainly be revisiting in the near future! Lodge was spotlessly clean and couldn’t ask for anything more for the trip! What a fantastic lake and owners ??

Starting the week with a PB catfish!

On the first night Ryan hooked the fish of a lifetime from the tip of the island. He came here with a PB carp of 23lbs. After an epic 40mn battle, his first catfish weighed in at 92lbs! Now that is a mahoosive step up. On Sunday he also banked Nicky at 38lbs so needless to say he was a very happy bunny when I rocked up on Monday. Gary hadn’t had much (any) luck so I offered to have a look at what was going on as the conditions were good so they both should have been catching.

The guys were open to my suggestions so we set about putting things straight. They were really surprised by how different my approach is to the manner in which they usually go about their fishing, but fair play they stayed with me and after a couple of hours Gary said to me,”To be honest Matt I’ve learnt more about carp fishing in 2 hrs than in 5 years on my own ”. The guys soaked it up like sponges and in the end I spent most of the day with them for a mini-tutorial. This is one of the best things about Beausoleil, if you come here to learn and experience fishing on a new level, you’ll go home a more complete angler.

Theory into practice

With conditions absolutely bob on for a bite or three, the guys set about applying their “new” approach with vigour and the results came thick and fast. Ryan banked a hat full of stunning specimen carp but it was his dad that banked two of our finest gems. Pepe the big common is possibly one of the most desirable of our carp. Weighing in at an impressive 43lbs, this slab of flawless scales is truly a sight to behold on the bank. To back that up, Gary also banked the Sub at 40lbs. This heavily scaled chestnut coloured carp is an absolute cracker and one that I’ve still not banked myself 🙂

Set up to make the most of the lake

Gary and Ryan didn’t have much time to get ready for their session but they came fully prepared to make the most of the lake. From the lake map, they’d worked out that it would be ideal to have dual camps So they set up a two man bivvy in the Point swims and then had two stripped down one man bivvies in the Big Double and Island. This is a great tactic and one I’ve used myself over the years. If you’ve got the gear and the space (or you can rent an extra bivvy from us), it really opens up your options and enables you to make the most of the conditions.

With the water temperature now down to around the 16 degree mark, oxygen levels were excellent during the whole week and the fish were really on it over most of the lake.

Gary goes vegetarian

Gary really wanted to focus on the carp this week so he opted for our veggie pack which combines the Garlic Specials and veggie carp pellets. This is a killer combination that can be applied in a number of ways. Again a light scattering of the 7mm pellets with some garlic specials dotted about proved to be a killer tactic. Ryan had bought some spice crab boilies from home but after his rig was nailed by a massive catfish he decided to steer clear of these in favour of the Garlic Specials. Big catfish are fun but sometimes one is enough!

Taking things to the next level

One of the fundamental differences with my approach is the level of attention I pay to locating and then accurately fishing features that the carp are happy to feed on. There are a number of ways to put in place this technique. You can do everything from the rowing boat but if you’re not the greatest oarsman in the world then this can be challenging. Another option is to put a pair of waders on and use your feet to find the features. This is a brilliant method and one that always goes down well during my tuition sessions. Ryan and Garry decided to combine the use of waders and the bait boat to place rigs with absolute accuracy onto small dessert plate sized marginal spots. They also discovered just how variable mainline knots can be and why it’s so important to test everyone.

PB’s galore

Every angler dreams of breaking their PB but this is only possible if you put enough hours into a water that contains fish bigger than you’ve already caught. For many anglers a visit to Beausoleil is a chance to smash every PB they’ve ever had clean out of the water and this is exactly what the guys did this week. Ryan broke his PB for catfish, common carp, mirror carp and sturgeon. Gary broke his PB for common carp, mirror carp and sturgeon. This was no accident or good fortune at work here. It was the consistent and correct application of the right method and when it’s done right it looks easy ? Congrats guys, very well angled!

With storm Alex forecast to hit on Thursday night and a very full work calendar to juggle, the guys decided to hit the road early but they just can’t wait to return. It was an absolute pleasure to meet the guys and they totally get what Beausoleil is about. They learned a huge amount about the sport they love in a very short period of time and return home more complete anglers, ready for their next adventure.

If you are interested in learning more about what made Gary and Ryan’s session successful, you can book a Beausoleil tutorial which covers all the techniques they used that you can then take with you wherever you fish.