Etang de Planchon’s first season started on the 18th March 2011, it opened its doors to three cracking guys, Dean Forster, Gary Johnson and Andy Bohane. The carp in the lake had never been caught before and the first line dropped into the lake at around 3pm, it was quite a tense time waiting for that first carp to come out. Within 30 minutes it happened and the first carp came out to Andy at 31lb, closely followed by Dean & Gary at 23.8 lb and 22lb. Another five came out in quick succession and the season was off to a great start.
The season saw 86 anglers gracing the banks, not all of whom did full weeks, and it also saw 1115 carp landed totalling over 11.5 ton of fish of which 173 were commons and 74 were 30's.
The biggest carp to come out in the first season was 39 lb and landed to both Gary Johnson on the first week and Trevor Horne on the fourth week.
The biggest common to come out also landed to Gary Johnson on the first week at 34 lb 10 oz.
The first season also saw a few memorable moments outside of the fishing, the first of which was on the first week. The guys wanted to meet the locals for a few drinks and Dean told us he would show the French how to drink, then proceeded to wobble back to his bivvy mumbling the phrase “they done me” no fishing was done that night. Let’s not forget that Gary also set the lake record at 39 lb & the Common record at 34.10 lb
Week 4 saw the Happyhookers arrive (a carp forum of course) and catch 68 carp 7 of which were 30’s. In that same week Steve (Roadie) was offered the stock pond if his luck didn’t change, Shirley (Mrs HH) stole John’s (Happyhookers) first 30+ from his rods while he was in the loo (I think he took his sounder box with him every time after that), Mark (Codger) ribbing everyone, Happyhooker telling jokes every time he was at the table, Jenni (Mrs Honka) telling a few stories maybe she shouldn’t have and of course we must not forget Trevor (Happy Honka), alongside matching the lake record, he also informed the locals that he caught a blow job (he was trying to say “Petit pike” and instead he said “Petit pipe”, let’s just say he may need to brush up on his French for next year.
Week 5 saw Chris and Paul Wenham smash the lake by landing 86 fish between them, this gave Chris the record for the most carp in one week by any one angler, he landed himself 56 fish and let’s just say he was very tired when he left and he was doing his best not to fall asleep in the car on the way back to the airport.
Week 11 had three lads from Cumbria caught 42 fish between them, but one of the lads managed to catch too much sun despite being advised to cover up or sit in shade, I think I must have gone through a couple of bottles of after sun.
Week 13 saw the first local French angler grace the banks of the lake, Johan Bonnefond from Limoges stayed for two nights and managed to land himself a 30 lb fish, a PB for Johan. He enjoyed himself so much he decided on another visit a few weeks later.
Week 15 (June) delivered the lake a mini heat wave, with the temperature steadily climbing to 40 Degrees, but despite the heat the five guys on the lake managed to land themselves 29 fish between them.
Following the hot spell, week 18 was very wet, it showered pretty much all week, in fact it rained so much that one of the lads on that week (Chris) needed me to take him to Decathlon for some waterproof clothing. That week also provided a few pranks between the guys, including Clinton hiding behind a bush and tugging on Jacks line, I have never seen anyone run so fast for a bite only to find out there was no fish.
Week 24 saw Andy Lane and his son Sam arrive for a second visit, he upped his catch from his first visit five weeks earlier and has booked for next year with his entire family.
It also saw Tom Suckling and Ian Dixon have a mad few days, their early evening catches went mad on two occasions when all four of their rods went screaming off within 30 minutes, at one point they were not in a position to land one of their fish and I had to land it for them.
Week 30 arrived along with four guys from Sheffield, one of which (Wim Snape) had been in the movie the full monty. The guys managed to land 107 fish in the week, the most fish caught by any one group. A fantastic time was had by all with some great banter, laughs to the point some of us got a belly ache (Wim and his imitation accents are to blame for that one and Mark Trippett (Trip) and his numerous costume changes). Trip almost managed to break the record for the most fish in a week with 52 fish, however a last night of celebrating meant he slept rather than cast his rods out.
A great year for the lakes first season, now the lake is closed the carp will be fed the maximum they need to continue growing as long as the weather permits and I can’t wait to see how next year starts and see how the carp have grown.
The lake opens its gates on the 31st of March next year and I can’t wait to see what the second season brings.
Thanks to everyone who supported the lake and to those of you who came and fished the lake, I couldn’t have asked for more for my first year.
Check out the catch reports for the year: http://www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/catch.htm
Check out the catch Gallery for the year: http://www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/gallery_catch.htm
Check out Previous news feeds for the catch report write ups over the year: http://www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/news.htm
Also check out the reviews the lake has received the first year: http://www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/comments.htm
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