Season 3 Week No: 21 - 25

Weeks 21 - 25 saw a mixed bag of catches ranging from 5 carp caught to 56 carp caught, it also saw scorching heat down to a couple of frosty mornings.

• Total Anglers: 20
• Total number of Carp caught: 115
• Total Weight: 2980 lb 15 oz
• Of the 15 carp caught: 20 x 30’s & 88 x 20’s (of which 41 were upper 20’s).
• The top Carp were: 3 x 39 lb 8 oz, 2 x 36 lb 8 oz, 35 lb, 34 lb 12 oz & 34 lb 46 oz.

Week 21, after a two week break, saw the arrival of four guys from Stockton on Tees. Paul Dixon, Steven & John Beard and Ron Davidson. The guys were here to catch a few fish and also have a break and chill out, they didn’t fish during the nights and would start fishing after breakfast, usually their days fishing ended not long after dusk. The week started off sunny and by Wednesday had reached 35 degrees, not ideal for fishing just days, the weather changed late Wednesday and started to cool down, however the lake temperature stayed very warm. Between the four of them they landed just 5 carp totalling 116 lb 8 oz. They were all landed on Trigga (lake specials) topped with fake corn and the biggest weighed in at 26 lb and was landed by Steven. Advice was given on rig set ups and baiting up areas, when followed this seemed to pay off for two of the anglers. Steven Landed himself two carp, the largest being a 26 mirror. Ron landed himself three carp, the largest being a 25 lb common.

Week 22 saw the arrival of Nick Pinder and his dad David on their second visit, Chris Ayre on his third visit and Dennis Gouldthorp and his son Matthew on their first visit.

The week also saw the weather start to cool down a little and towards the end of the week we had some well needed rain.

Nick and David arrived on Friday and opted for the same swims that they had last year, Buzzard and Hawk. The fishing was slow and they both tried various set ups and had quite a few tentative takes, with a few runs where the fish were clearly picking up the boilies and dropping them without getting hooked. David ended the week with two fish, his biggest was 31 lb 8 oz which he was very pleased about as on his previous visit a 30 had eluded him. Nick ended his week with 3 carp, his biggest weighed in at 34 lb 4 oz which he caught when he cast to a showing fish.

Chris arrived on Sunday and was here on his third visit and this time he had come with Dennis and his son Matthew. Chris started his week in Owl and was off to a flying start when he was the first of the three to catch a fish, however his week slowed right down and he had missed a few runs over the week and decided to move to Kestrel for his last day. After the move he landed himself one more fish, which was a PB common for him and his biggest fish for the week weighing in at 27 lb 8 oz. Dennis and his son Matthew (13 yrs old) fished Harrier for the week, Matthew was keen to learn knots and rig tying and was often found talking to Nick or Chris getting hints and tips on fishing, unfortunately because of this he only landed one fish over the week but he was happy as it weighed in at 24 lb 8 oz, a new PB for him. Dennis had himself 3 fish over the week but none of which were actually on his rods, they all came to Matthew’s rods when he was off talking to Chris or Nick or even doing a bit of float fishing. His largest for the week weighed in at 36 lb 8 oz.

All of Dennis and Matthew’s fish were caught on Cell dumbbells topped with fake corn. All the guys had a great time and are looking to come back but probably not until 2015.

Week 23 saw the arrival of John Duncan and his wife Gail, Andy Maher, Wesley Jones and Phil Marshall. The week also saw a lot of tentative takes resulting in approximately 15 missed runs and about 5 lost fish.  John arrived Saturday with his wife Gail and their little terrier called Tess.  Gail settled herself into the Gite while John settled himself into Kestrel and Tess got to know Cookie and Leo. John has fished France a few times before and had brought his own boilies, he had Krill boilies and shellfish, crab and onion boilies.  All his fish were caught on these either on their own or topped with pink fake corn. Over the week John landed himself 12 fish totalling 302 lb 8 oz, 3 of which were 30’s and his biggest for the week weighed in at 36 lb 8 oz.

Andy and Wes came together on their first fishing trip in France, they were here for just 5 days and they both arrived with UK PB’s of around 24 lb. Andy settled in to Buzzard while Wes opted for Owl, both of them fished Trigga (lake specials)  or Rosehip topped with fake corn. Andy landed himself 5 fish totalling 123 lb 6 oz one of which was a 30 weighing it at 31 lb. Wes landed himself 6 fish totalling 142 lb 10 oz, unfortunately a 30 eluded him and his biggest was 29 lb 4 oz. Phil arrived on the same flight as Andy and Wes and was also only fishing 5 days.  Phil opted for Harrier and he tried various boilies, some he had brought with him and some he brought on site.

In front of Harrier there was a lot of activity and Phil had a lot of what he thought were line bites but he said due to his sweetcorn boilies being quite soft in the water the carp were managing to get them off without actually taking the whole rig. He ended up landing just one fish over the week which was a common and a PB for him when it weighed in at 29 lb, he caught it on Trigga (lake specials) and fake corn. All the guys had a great time and are looking to come back next year or sometime in the future.

Week 24 saw the arrival of Daniel Kelly on his third visit (second this year), Tom Mason on his second visit with his brother Ben on his first visit and Tolan Blackmore-Davey also on his first visit.

Despite being in the last week of September, this week also saw the temperature reach 35 degrees. Again there were some tentative takes which resulted in about four carp having been lost. 

Tom Mason came here last year with his girlfriend Natalie, they both slept in the bivvy last year but this year Natalie opted for the luxury of the Gite.  Tom also brought along his brother Ben on his first trip to France. Tom fished Harrier and Ben fished opposite him in Kestrel. Ben’s UK PB was around 19 lb and he was the first of the two to catch landing himself his first French carp at 22 lb, Tom followed suit and the game was on. The both fished various baits and they caught on Trigga (lake specials), monster Squid purple & and various coloured pop ups. Between the two of them they landed 12 carp. Tom landed 7 carp totalling 177 lb 14 oz, with his biggest weighing in at 34 lb 12 oz. Ben landed 5 carp totalling 128 lb 8 oz, with his biggest weighing in at 35 lb

Tolan was here on his first fishing trip to France, he opted for Owl and was looking to beat his UK PB of 27 lb. His first 3 fish arrived Sunday and two of them were bigger than his UK PB. He caught his carp on Cell pop ups or dumbells and he also caught on a Pineapple dumbell. He landed himself 5 carp over the week totalling 136 lb 14 oz, with his biggest weighing in at 32 lb 12 oz. Tolan has already booked to come back for two weeks next year with his brother.

Danny was here on his third visit and started in Hawk but moved to Buzzard after a couple of days. It seems luck was not with Danny on this visit and despite all his efforts he only managed to land 2 fish for the week with his biggest weighing in at 23 lb 8 oz.

There is no one on the lake for a week after the guys left.

Week 25 saw the arrival of Ross Clarke on his third visit and Colin Raggett and Mark Salmon on their second visit.  Ross, Colin & Mark met last year on the lake, they got on so well they decided that this year they would all come back the same week. They have also met up in the UK to go fishing. The week also saw ‘Sam’ make an appearance to every angler on the lake, she has lost a bit of weight over the summer but she is clearly back on the munch for winter. This meant each of the guys walked away with a new PB of 39 lb 8 oz. With the arrival of October the weather seemed to be perfect for fishing, a drop in temperature and quite a few overcast days with some rain. There were still a few tentative takes and between the guys they lost / missed approximately 15 carp.

Ross arrived on Saturday and set himself up in Kestrel but made a move to Hawk mid week. He had brought some Nash Monster squid purple with him but he also wanted to fish Trigga (lake specials).Last year Ross came for two weeks and set himself a target of five 30’s, but fell one short, this year he had no target for 30’s but he was targeting a specific fish, our common with the split tail. His fish over the week were mainly landed to Trigga (lake specials) topped with either fake corn or tutti fruiti mini pop ups, he also landed one on Rosehip topped with tutti fruit pop up and Monster squid topped with fake corn. Ross had to wait until his last night here before he landed his target fish, and let’s just say he was having a party in his bivvy when he caught it.  It weighed in at 34 lb 6 oz. Ross finished his week with 23 carp totalling 625 lb 8 oz, four of which were 30’s.  His biggest weighed in at 39 lb 8 oz.

After having last pick, Mark decided on Falcon for the week, he told us his tactics for the week, they were to do everything Ross did last year.

Mark was hoping to beat his biggest from last year (32 lb 12 oz) and as the week went on he also wanted to end the week with 18 carp or more, unfortunately he ended the week with 17 carp but he did manage to smash his biggest carp from last year when he landed Sam. Mark landed 17 carp totalling 439 lb 4 oz, three of which were 30’s.  His biggest weighed in at 39 lb 8 oz.

On Colin’s previous visit he had his girlfriend (Jayde) with him, Jayde had the biggest fish of the week last year so you can safely say Colin was looking to beat that this year. He started in Buzzard but things were a bit slow for a few days so he made a move to Owl and things picked up for him with his catches coming steadily right up until Saturday when he managed to almost double his catch for the week. Colin fished Trigga (lake specials) or Rosehip topped with fake corn, tutti fruiti or strawberry mini pop ups. He managed to not only beat Jayde’s biggest but also her total fish catch from last year. Colin landed 16 carp over the week totalling 410 lb 2 oz, three of which were 30’s.  His biggest weighed in at 39 lb 8 oz.

The guys enjoyed themselves over the week, constantly ribbing each other and Ross learnt not to run round corners when the grass is wet, hope. Ross is back in April next year and all three of them are back in May 2015.