Catch Report – 21 April 2024

Paul and Kath on the lake this week for what was going to prove to be another difficult session, Paul normally finds the fish wherever they are, but not this week. He gave it his best shot but in the end he had to settle for a much lower catch rate than is normal:

11 Big Carp to 68lb

11 big carp may not sound much when compared to his previous visits but Paul was happy, he knew it was going to be a difficult session so he had set himself a target of 10, number 11 came when his rod screamed off on Friday afternoon just as he was packing up for an early finish, he knew he had beaten his target, Happy Days.

Those 11 fish weighed in at over 470lb giving him an average weight of 43lb 12oz.

The high and low points of his session came together as he was getting to grips with Casper who weighed in at an all-time best of 68lb:

Paul was over the moon with the catch (the high), but then went and put his back out during the struggle to weigh him (the low). Actually we have studied Casper’s previous catch weights and we do now suspect that He is actually a She.

Paul struggled to do much of anything for a day or two after that but a trip to the local pharmacy for some extra strength pain killers eventually sorted him out.

Those of you that read these reports will know that last week’s session was ending on a low as we moved towards a mini-heatwave and that heatwave was severe and continued through to Monday of this week. The fish were happy to sunbathe and just proved impossible to tempt.

It was all change again by Monday, as the heat started to dissipate, and as the sun clouded over, things cooled down and the fish were on the munch once again.

But then, as has been the case all season, we swung full circle, from high summer to low winter, from Wednesday onwards we had freezing frosty mornings, freezing cold northerly winds, the coats went on, the hoods went up, and the gloves were never far away.

You really could not make this stuff up if you tried.

Thankfully, Paul is not put off easily and he chipped away as best he could to produce a very commendable result. Here are just a couple of them:

The final tally was:

Zero Babies, Zero Doubles, 1 @ 29lb, 1 @ 32lb, 1 @ 37lb, 3 @ 38lb, 1 @ 39lb, 2 @ 48lb, 1 @ 54lb, and 1 @ 68lb

Paul is all ready looking forward to a rematch next season and is hoping for slightly steadier weather, lets hope he’s lucky.

We have a group of 4 on the lake this week but only 2 anglers, the weather is set to be less-extreme but it will be going full circle once again. Watch this space and I will let you know how they get on next weekend.

Till then, take care.

Catch Report – 14 April 2024

Four anglers on the lake this week for what was going to prove to be a challenging session, the end result was not fantastic but it was a 150% improvement on their last visit. Like all groups they would have liked to have found one or two more but in the end they had to settle for what is a very respectable catch :

17 Big Carp to 54lb

Although not massive in number The Boys did find some stonking fish and those 17 big carp weighed in at over 736lb with an average weight of over 43lb, I reckon that is a great session by most measures.

Ashley and his better half Jeanette were here for their first visit and Ashley was taking his lead from the other guys, Justin, Simon and Will who have been before. The Boys elected to draw for swims and the result of that was Simon in swim 2, Ashley in swim 3, Will in swim 5 and Justin in swim 6.

Little did The Boys know but they were going to have to contend with all sorts of challenges from the weather which would see some terrific swings in conditions from frosty lows through to tropical sunshine with temperatures in to the 30sC, freezing cold northerly winds through to balmy southerlies creating shirt-off sunbathing conditions. And although the weather has been dryer we have had several downpours which were full of ice.

The worst thing about this isn’t what the weather is doing it is the change in conditions, big carp do not cope well with change.

Just to set the scene we had a storm blow through on Friday night which resulted in this:

And that was followed on Saturday by the warmest ever recorded April day on record. It was going to be fun !!

Things were looking hopeful when Simon got the ball rolling at 9.30pm on Saturday evening with a gorgeous Mirror out of swim 2 that weighed in at 44lb 10oz, lovely.

Will found himself in to a 38lb Mirror at 9am on Sunday morning from swim 5.

A slow steady start which suggested great promise.

Despite the weather chucking all sorts down The Boys found another 5 on Monday and by now everyone had caught, that is what we like, no dry nets.

Tuesday saw another 5 on the bank and things were on for the first big catch of the season, but it was not going to last.

On Wednesday the sun came out and for most people that is a positive change but for carp fishing it often proves to be a negative one.

As The Boys started to take their shirts off to catch a few rays the fish were doing the same and by the afternoon all the fish were coming to the surface to bask in the sun. Not good !

The sun stayed out for the rest of the week and as we know now we were heading in to a mini heat-wave. This was quickly reflected in the catch rate as Wednesday saw 2 in the net, Thursday 3, but all day Friday and Saturday morning resulted in a big fat zero.

There was another issue to contend with as well, tadpoles and snails. The lake water has been so cold that Mother Nature is behind the curve this year and she has suddenly decided to play catch-up.

Everywhere you look there are tadpoles swimming around and snails crawling up the grasses and reeds. There were hundreds and thousands as the sun came out on Wednesday, millions by Thursday, trillions by Friday and simply too many to put a number on today, but all of that is food for carp.

Ashley had the last of the action on Friday with a missed take and another which he dropped at the net, not the best of ways to finish a session but that’s fishing for you.

Ashley had to be content with just the 2 fish but his best went to over 49lb, things could have been a whole lot different had he not dropped a couple but he is now up for a future challenge and is booked for a return match in 2026:

Simon slipped in to 3rd place with a total of three but his third fish gave him the Big Carp award at 54lb:

Justin had a steady session up until the sun came out when things just ground to a halt but he still held on to second place with 5 fish, his best of which went to 47lb, and what a fish !! I love a big common:

Will was top rod on their last visit and he has managed it again with a total of 7 fish and his best went over 48lb:

He also chucked in a little jack-pike for good measure, well done Will:

All in all it was a challenging session but the end result was very successful, the final tally was :

Zero Babies, zero doubles, zero 20s, 1 pike, 1 @ 30lb, 1 @ 35lb, 1 @ 38lb, 2 @ 39lb, 1 @ 40lb, 1 @ 41lb, 1 @ 42lb, 1 @ 44lb, 2 @ 45lb, 3 @ 47lb, 1 @ 48lb, 1 @ 49lb and one at 54lb.

Only one angler on the lake this week, the weather is going to go full circle again so the result will be interesting. Keep your eye on this space and I will let you know how he gets on next weekend.

For now we are enjoying the mini heatwave, Helen is galivanting around the French country side on horseback and as soon as she gets home we are off to one of the local pubs to sit on their terrace and enjoy Sunday lunch.

Till next week, take care.

Catch Report – 07 April 2024

My season started yesterday with the arrival of a group of 5, only 4 fishing and 3 have been before, hopefully they will have a good session, I will let you know how they get on next weekend.

Meanwhile Simon has been over from the UK for 6 days for a pre-season-tester, he brought his good friend Jamie along for the ride, my hope was that they would provide an indication of how the season was going to start.

If you have been reading my winter SITREPs you will know just how bad the weather has been for the last several months, and it did not improve this week, it was going to take a monumental effort to drag a few of my fish out of this very disturbed lake.

Over the course of their 6 days the sun did shine occasionally and it showered a lot but it actually rained twice, the problem was that this was rain in biblical proportions and on both occasions the lake flooded with freezing cold rain and river water !!!!! The water level would rise 6 inches and its temperature would drop back down to around 7 degrees C.

This shock was enough to put the fish down in an instant, but then, 24hours later, the level would drop back to normal, the sun would come out, and the fish would come back out to play.

Thankfully The Boys were up for the challenge and they treated it just as they would a winter session in the UK. They spent a lot of time trying to find their fish and that was not easy, they were shoaled up really tight and changed location every time the conditions changed.

Given the conditions the result was pleasantly surprising; 17 big carp to 51lb 10oz. No monsters but some stonking fish.

A combined weight of over 650 lb with an average weight of 38lb 8oz. Not bad.

For those of you who do not remember the stats from the 2023 catch report summary the average catch per angler last year for a 7 day session was 10.66 fish with an average weight of 39lb 8oz.

The season can only improve on what we are having to contend with at the moment so I am expecting some great catches to come.

Jamie managed 8 gorgeous fish and smashed his PB on numerous occasions with his best going to 50lb 8oz

Simon went a tad better with 9 stunning fish with his best going to 51lb 10oz:

All in all I am sure that most of you will agree that that was a great result.

Simon and Jamie headed home on Thursday morning and over the course of Friday night and Saturday morning we had another bit of a blow come through, thankfully there was not much rain but a combination of big trees, soft ground, and high winds can result in all sorts of problems:

Oh well, another job just added to the list.

Full catch report next Sunday so watch this space.

Till then, take care.

March SITREP – 2024

I hope you are all enjoying a nice Easter break, we are trying to use it as an excuse to do less than normal but I am not sure it is working out that well.

I have normally got all of my pre-season jobs done by now and waiting for our first guests to arrive but the weather has been so bad this year that we are behind schedule. The weather for the last 3 months has varied between showers and torrential downpours, I can count the number of dry days so far in 2024 on one hand and still get change from 5 fingers, we are saturated !!!!

This shot of one of my tracks gives you an idea of the state we are in :

I would prefer not to have to take my quad down to the lake but there are still jobs that need to be done so I have little choice. There are always trees and bushes to cut back and move and there are plenty of jobs around the swims to finish, I have repaired the concrete floor in cabin 6, completely refurbished swim 5, and hung another couple of sets of new doors :

That is cabin numbers 2, 3 and 5 complete and although these doors on swim 3 look very pretty the state of the swim shows you what we are up against:

The only bonus from the bad weather is that it is forcing me to stay indoors so what better excuse than to get on with some of my indoor tasks. I have slapped a coat of paint on most of our upstairs accommodation and as well as repainting the usual parts of the Gite such as around the hob, the kitchen sink, the toilet, etc, the main bedroom has also had a refresh. That has gone from this:

To this:

And looks all the better for it, I must say.

Unfortunately I have not been able to paint the outside of the windows nor the shutters, that will have to wait until we dry out a bit.

My latest project. Next door to the shower block is a very unusual door, it opens in to a small room which is used for absolutely nothing and still contains some of the junk that was in it when we moved in over 12 years ago so I have decided to convert it in to a wine cellar, or La Cave a Vin as they are called locally. I will let you know how that progresses, but at least I have made a start. The old door must be hundreds of years old and is mostly rotten so I have just submitted my drawings for its replacement. You can’t buy one of these from a shelf in B&Q:

On a positive note Simon is over from the UK for a couple of days, he does like to keep up to speed with the place so that he has the correct information to pass on to people when they phone him up with their inquiries. On this trip he has brought his friend Jamie along for his first ever visit. And Jamie is having a blast as he has pushed his PB to over 50lb.

They have found some very nice fish between them but they are having to work very hard for the privilege, due to all of the very cold rain the water temperature in the lake is still quite low which has the affect of keeping the fish shoaled up quite tightly and when they move around they are doing so en-mass, keeping in contact with them is proving to be a challenge, but the rewards are worth the effort:

Simon’s smile says it all !!

That is about all for this month’s SITREP, the first group of the Season arrive on Saturday so I will be back to my weekly catch reports from the 14th.

Between now and then I will be posting an update to recycling in France, we do have some new and very strict rules that we have to conform to regarding recycling so you will need to be aware of them.

I might even post a catch report to let you know how Simon and Jamie have performed, that should provide a bit of an indicator as to how the official season is going to start.

If I have one word of warning for the first few groups of the season that would be; Bring Your Wellies !!

Till then, take care.

R.I.P Red

We had to say goodbye to the last of our cats yesterday, Red.

Red had been poorly for some considerable time with a whole variety of problems, generally attributed to old-age, after all he did manage nearly 18 years.

Red goes by many different names depending on what mood either of us are in and what he is getting up to at the time; Red, Redmond, Ginger Minger, Little Man, but my favourite has always been Squinty, it is a rare day when anyone saw Squinty with his eyes fully open.

Despite being a small cat he was ferocious and another one of his nicknames was Killer, if it had 4 legs and was furry it could be in trouble when Red was on the prowl. He is the only cat I have ever seen take out water snakes around the garden pond !!

The Boys enriched our lives but now they can all be together again in the great cat place in the sky, hope their next lives are not as stressful as this one:

RIP Red

February SITREP – 2024

The good weather that we ended January with did not continue as I had hoped, it has been very mild but once again we have had an abundance of rain in between the good stuff, and as I write this there is so much water entering the lake that it is actually in flood

The changes in the climate continue to be quite obvious, January was officially the wettest but warmest ever, and once the stats are gathered and compiled I feel sure that February will also break a whole load of rain-fall and temperature records.

It is that time of year when I am making sure that everything is done around the lake for the start of the season, and be the weather good or bad I am having to crack on with things. The ground is very wet though and I am having to be extra careful with the tools to limit the damage to the tracks around the lake.

It does not help when I am using my little digger in tight areas and having to turn on the spot:

The water in front of swims 2 and 3 has been getting shallower over the last several years due to a build up of leaf-fall, I originally dug them out about 10 years ago and it was definitely time to clean them out again.

A dirty job but the improvement will prove to be well worth the effort.

While I had the digger down on the lake it gave me the excuse to clean out a couple of the drainage ditches:

Nothing better than having your flow sorted out !!

The main job this month was to refurbish swim 5, the whole thing had been leaning forwards in to the water and for the last couple of years I had simply been adding more stone, it was time to do it properly.

Digging this lot out was just a little too complicated for my very old digger, because of its limited capabilities it would have done more harm than good so I decided it was going to have to be done the old-fashioned way, with a pick and shovel. It beats any workout in the gym and by the end of the day I had just about broken the back of the job, as well as mine :

A bit of a tidy up and the end result looks spiffo :

A new set of doors and new lighting for the cabin and swim 5 will be ready to rock and roll.

Still lots of little jobs to do though before we could call it ready for the season. A quick strim of the dam:

Some new oak timbers and a new grating in the monk system:

And of course lets not forget finishing the sluice gates. A good rub down with a wire brush and a couple of coats of black paint before sliding the new gates in to place, job done :

A shout out to Vince and his apprentice J-Jon for those gates as that little job was beyond my abilities.

I have had to drag out and cut up quite a few trees this year, mainly due to the sheer number of storms that we have had to endure, very unusual to say the least. Once tidied up that will be the lake ready for the start of the season which starts on the 6th of April.

The first catch report will be posted on the 14th of April and the Guys are using my new boilies so I will let you know how that all works out.

All I need now is for the rain to stop and the sun to shine !!!!

Till then, take care.

January SITREP – 2024

Well, the mad flurry of activity around the opening of the 2026 calendar on new year’s day was quickly sorted and then life reverted to a more normal winter-tempo: SLOW.

Typical of January it has been dark and wet so work has been predominantly based around decorating, and I must say I have caught up with a few jobs around the house, some of which I have been putting off for years.

The weather has been atrocious, storm after storm after storm, the first 3 weeks of the month were a bit of a write-off to say the least so I had to take advantage of every dry spell. Thankfully the last week has seen an improvement and I have actually spent the last couple of afternoons working outside in short sleeve shirts. Lovely jubbly, Spring is in the air.

Nothing exciting though I must add, just doing the usual pruning around the lake:

I have another dozen of these things to take out and then next week I am hoping to complete the refurbishment of swim 5.

Swim 5 is by far the most popular swim on the lake and as a consequence it suffers from the most wear and tear. It has been making do with running repairs over the last couple of seasons but it is at a state where it will not survive another season without a major refurb.

The log face of the swim needs to be removed and totally replaced, the doors on the log cabin need to be replaced and the solar lights have just about had it. I will let you know how that job progresses in next month’s SITREP.

Thankfully we did have a couple of dry days which was sufficient to finish off the refurbishment of the sluice gates, it did spend a few weeks at this stage and for a while I was starting to worry that the weather would never ease off :

Thankfully it did and the job itself did not take that long. The shuttering was straight forward although it was a bit of a learning curve for me to get the steel bars tied together and then it was bolted to the original base and at this point it was ready to pour the concrete:

Given the limited access there was no way to get a mixer-truck on to the site and of course there is no choice with the concrete pour, once you start mixing you have just got to keep going. The end result is superb and will keep the water level at the right depth for another 50years or so :

All it needs now is a drop of black paint so that it matches the new grills and it is ready to go.

The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks is warm and dry so I am hoping to get the refurb of swim 5 complete, and as soon as the new log facade is in place I can let the water back in.

Till next month’s SITREP, take care.

Boilies for 2024

Most of you will know that I traditionally supply two flavours of boilie in two different sizes, Hotspice and Calamar King, both in 15mm and 20mm.

This takes up a lot of freezer space and forces me to plan a long time in advance to ensure that I have the correct stock in place to meet your orders.

Most of you will also know that for the last few years it has been my intention to combine the two in to one and remove the need for pre-ordering.

Welcome to French Crab:

French Crab is fishmeal based with loads of of hidden tastes that leak out over a period of time and in all conditions making this an all-season bait.

To a base of sardine, anchovy and salmon meal, there is added seaweed, blood and masala spices. The leaking flavours come from green-lipped-mussel, oyster, liver, and crab flavourings.

To make the boilie less dense bird food has been added, enzymes as a trigger, and quality carbohydrates as a binder.

The fish love it !!

The plan this season is to have a stock on hand which will hopefully be sufficient to meet your needs. However, having said that, if you really do wish to ensure that there is sufficient to meet your individual needs then pre-ordering is still recommended.

For the diehards among you who prefer the old flavours I will continue to have access to a very limited supply so please order early if you want any.

My web-site will be amended in due course.

Availability – 2026

The calendar for 2026 opened on New Year’s Day and as expected it was a manic session, I was inundated with enquiries and it took me the best part of the day to wade through them all.

I really do hate having to disappoint people which is why I apply rules to the process and I apply those rules as fairly as I can.

Unfortunately there are some very popular periods in the world of carp fishing and when I receive multiple applications for the same weeks then it stands to reason that some of you had to miss out.

To those of you whom I have been unable to accommodate I do apologise, and all I can say is better luck next time, but I do maintain waiting lists for those lucky few who wish to try and take advantage of any cancellations, if you wish to be put on a list for 2024/25/26 please let me know.

To those of you who managed to get a session secured I say welcome aboard and let’s hope that your session turns out to be the right choice.

Having said all of that, and despite the mad surge in enquiries, I still find myself with 4 weeks remaining, these are obviously the less popular periods, my theory is that they seem to correspond with other holiday periods when many anglers have other family commitments.

Those 4 weeks are:

April the 11th, May the 2nd, July the 4th and July the 11th

If you fancy a session on any of these dates then do please get in touch.

Bookings for 2026

I posted an article on the 12th of November explaining how to book for the 2026 season, it also outlined the availability for that season.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been receiving plenty of enquiries and it appears that I have confused some people as to the sessions available and when to apply, I even had a gentleman from Belgium asking why I was giving the Brits a 1-hour head-start !!

I will attempt to clarify below:

The calendar for the 2026 season will open at midnight central european time on the 31st of December/ 1st of January as the bells chime in the New Year here in France.

Because UK time is 1hour behind European time the brits can apply from 11pm or 2300hours on the 31st of December.

Regardless of where you are please do not apply early, all applications submitted early will be placed at the back of the queue.

The first session available is Saturday the 28th of March. The final session available is Saturday the 24th of October with the lake closing completely on Saturday the 31st of October.

The two weeks commencing the 23rd of May and the 30th of May are not available, we are closed for personal family reasons. Please do not apply for either of these 2 sessions.

The remaining 29 weeks are all potentially available but as soon as 20 weeks have been taken the remaining 9 weeks will be closed and designated as rest periods for the lake and the fish.

Please submit your applications by e-mail only, to

moulindegraf@hotmail.co.uk

If you have the flexibility and therefore multiple options please submit all of your dates on the same e-mail and please list them in order of your preference. When I get to your e-mail if your first choice has already been taken I will automatically consider your 2nd, then 3rd, etc.

If you are trying to book 2 separate sessions or 2 consecutive sessions please make that clear in your e-mail.

I hope that clears up any confusion but should you still have questions please do not hesitate to ask.

We appreciate this can be complex but we do have very limited availability and we do try to be fair to all.

We look forward to your e-mails but until then we wish you all a very happy new year.

December SITREP – 2023

Here’s hoping that Santa was good to you all and everyone had a very merry Xmas and that you are all looking forward to a great New Year.

Helen and I have had a bit of slow-down-time since the end of the season, our list of things to do remains as long but we made a conscious decision to do one thing per day, we have also managed to control ourselves and ensure that we are only working outside when the weather is good and inside when the weather is bad.

So far it has worked out well and I have spent most of my time catching up on the decorating, purely because the weather really has been that wet. 

Here is a useless statistic; back in 1988 it rained in France for 30 days straight, from January the 13th through to February the 11th, at the time that set a record, there was an accumulation of 187mm of rain, it had never been heard of before nor since.

Not until 2023 that is. It has been a long hot summer that seemed to last forever, but then it started to rain and since then it has been so wet that we have broken record after record, including the 30 day downpour record. From October the 18th through to November the 16th it rained every day for 30 days and we accumulated a massive 237mm of the wet stuff, and with an occasional exception it has rained almost everyday since. The whole place is saturated!

This is obviously not helping with the outdoor jobs !!

Some of you may have noticed that by the end of last season we were operating with the lake water level about 3cm lower than normal, even given the worst drought conditions my water supply is so consistent that we never lose a millimetre let alone 3cm, thankfully it had a simple cause and should be a relatively easy fix, albeit another one that I could do without.

The problem was the sluice:

When the sluice was originally constructed back in the 60s it was a simple set of steel beams slotted into a sequence of H-steels with a set of steel gratings slotted in on top. The steel beams dictated the depth of the water and the gratings prevented anything unwanted passing over the sluice in to the river.

Over the years much of that steel has started to corrode and at some point during last season one of the steel beams moved and allowed the water level to drop.

This is a couple of the steel beams:

And this gives you an idea of how far they had rusted away:

It was only a matter of time before a more serious leak occurred.

During this closed season I am designing a repair; the steel beams are going to be replaced with steel reinforced concrete and the gratings are all being replaced with new ones.

The new gratings have already been made and delivered:

But this is as far as I have got with the sluice:

but at least it has now been stripped back to the H-steels and, weather permitting, the concreting will be finished by mid-January. I will keep you informed on that.

I am getting rather frustrated with the dark mornings and evenings and was very glad to see the arrival of the Winter Solstice, when effectively the dark is as dark as it gets and the light days start to get longer. According to my records we have already gained 3 minutes of daylight and albeit only three minutes it does suggest that Spring is only a matter of weeks away.

One of the pleasures of living here is the view from our conservatory, which we use as our main dining room. It is surrounded by countryside and the view lifts your spirits when sat there having a quiet 5 minutes.

Only this year our view was being reduced due to the energetic growth of the lime tree in the middle of our drive :

If I was going to sit and enjoy the view while eating my Xmas dinner something had to be done, suddenly this task was promoted to number one on the things-to-do-list.

That’s better:

And it didn’t take long really, only a couple of hours.

We have had some good news from the electricity company, EDF. You will remember that we had the heat pump installed 2 years ago :

Well, at the time EDF made an assessment of our future usage and increased our standing order, as they do. We have just received a letter to say that they were way off the mark and have given us a rebate and reduced our payments by 100 Euros per month.

It has worked out to be more economical than we ever anticipated. Happy Xmas indeed.

We are going to try and do not-a-lot between now and New Year’s Day, other than try to eat all of the food that Helen bought for Xmas, and believe me, that will be a challenge in its self.

Judging by all of the early enquiries I am receiving regarding the opening of the 2026 calendar I expect to be talking with many of you on the 1st of January.

Until then, take care.

Happy New Year

Bookings for the 2026 Season

I know that many of you are waiting for the 2026 calendar to open simply from the number of inquiries that I am receiving, and believe it or not I am already getting inquiries for 2027.

To clarify the situation the 2026 calendar will open at midnight on the 31st December/1st of January.

That will be from midnight central european time as the new year arrives in France, or 2300hrs UK time on the 31st of December.

I am always inundated with applications, many of which will be for the same weeks, so I have no choice other than to apply some rules, and I must confess that I rely on my computer to put applications in order that it receives them, after all it can compute things in 1000ths of a second and knows which one landed in my in-tray first.

In order to give everyone an equal chance to obtain the session that they require please do not cheat and submit your application early. All early applications will be put to the end of the queue.

All applications are to be made by e-mail only to the following account:

moulindegraf@hotmail.co.uk

Please do not submit your application via any other e-mail account, nor the web-site contact form, nor Facebook, nor WhatsApp, nor Messenger, nor any other form of social media.

If you have more than one date option then please list all of your dates in your order of preference. When I get to your e-mail if I cannot allocate you your first option I will automatically consider your second or third, etc.

If you wish to book multiple weeks at different times of the year please make this very clear in your e-mail.

If you wish to book multiple weeks to run consecutively in order to make a 2 week session then please make that very clear in your e-mail.

All applications will be dealt with on the 1st of January and my intent is to inform you all of the result by close-of-play on New Year’s Day.

A temporary reservation will then be applied to each booking which will secure it for 7 days providing time to complete the appropriate documentation to confirm the booking.

Any bookings not confirmed within the 7 days will be returned to open availability for others to use should they wish.

To this end an update of availability will be posted on the 8th of January 2024.

The 2026 season will be spread over a 31-week window with the first day of the first session available being Saturday the 28th of March, the first day of the final week available will be Saturday the 24th of October, with the lake closing on Saturday the 31st of October.

The only weeks that are not available are the weeks commencing the 23rd and the 30th of May. They are reserved for personal family matters.

Please remember that there will only be 20 one-week sessions available, once 20 weeks have been taken the calendar will be closed, the remaining weeks will be used to rest the fish and the facilities.

If you require more information to clarify any aspect of these rules please contact me at your earliest convenience, it will be too late on the day.

Catch Report Summary – 2023

It has been a truly great season all round, we have not had any of the big hits that we normally get, nor any dry nets, both of which distort the true averages, what we have had is consistent good catches for everyone, and the headline says it all:

565 big carp to 73lb 08oz

Not counting all of the ounces that equates to over 22,300lb of stonking big carp, lovely!!

I know my fish are spoilt and they lead a bit of a charmed life with very little pressure, unlike some of the venues that many of you are used to fishing, to put that into perspective I have only had anglers on the bank for 22 weeks this season, and in those 22 sessions I have had a total of 53 very lucky anglers.

Most venues would have that many anglers in a weekend.

Helen has been interrogating her spread sheet and has calculated the following stats:

Average catch per session was 25.68 fish.

Average catch per angler per week was 10.66 fish.

Average weight per fish was 39lb 8oz.

Smallest carp recorded was 16lb.

Largest carp recorded was 73lb 08oz

Number of individual fish caught was 194, some several times obviously. Out of our current stock of 269 fish that means that 75 fish have not seen a landing net this year.

In way of a disclaimer; Helen’s database is only as good as the information we are provided with and we rely on you for that information. We do get the occasional accident when people forget to scan a fish and unfortunately we do get an occasional angler who just can’t be bothered to record fish details as we request.

We also get many dropped fish or break-offs so we never get to record those details.

This year we have suffered the weirdest weather patterns that we have experienced in our 12 years at Le Moulin. We had an extended Summer from early Spring through to late Autumn, we had highly charged electrical storms on and off throughout the Summer, very little rainfall, the highest temperatures ever recorded for almost every month of the year, and as I sit here writing this we are already enduring our 4th named storm of the winter season whereas normally we only get 1 or 2 all winter. VERY STRANGE.

Our water supply from the stream dried up this Summer for the first time ever, and we have had an abundance of blanket weed across swims 1, 2 and 3 when it is normally restricted to the very shallow water in swim 1, and toward the end of the season the water level has been down by as much as 4cm.

Despite the weird weather we have had some great catches and this year’s best are :

The biggest catch for a one-angler group goes to Paul, and it is worth saying that he takes this award for the second year on the trot: last season he took the award with 22 big carp to 60lb but this year he bettered that with 29 big carp to 68lb 08oz:

Well done Paul.

The best catch for a 2-angler group goes to Andrew and Richard, what makes this all the more impressive is that it was their first visit to Le Moulin, 44 big carp to 58lb 12oz:

Well done Guys.

The best catch for a 3-angler group goes to another group on their first visit to Le Moulin, Luke, Gary and Matt, 47 big carp to 64lb:

The best catch for a 4-angler group with 36 big carp to 67lb was : Mark, Tom, Carl and Reece:

All in all it has been a great season, Helen and I have enjoyed hosting you all, we have reduced our workload ever so slightly and you have all increased your catch rates, it has been a win win.

There are definitely less doubles and 20s coming out and many more 40s, 50s and 60s, with the occasional 70 thrown in for good measure.

Coincidentally or not, I do not know, but, our average fish weight on the spread sheet works out to 39lb 8oz, and if you look on the following table our most prolific weight bracket is 40lb :

Zero Babies, 4 Doubles with 2 @ 16lb, 1 @ 17lb, and 1 @ 19lb, all home grown. Then 3 @ 20lb, 4 @ 21lb, 5 @ 22lb, 1 @ 23lb, 4 @ 24lb, 5 @ 25lb, 14 @ 26lb, 14 @ 27lb, 17 @ 28lb, 8 @ 29lb, 24 @ 30lb, 23 @ 31lb, 27 @ 32lb, 21 @ 33lb, 11 @ 34lb, 27 @ 35lb, 25 @ 36lb, 25 @ 37lb, 21 @ 38lb, 13 @ 39lb, 33 @ 40lb, 28 @ 41lb, 20 @ 42lb, 17 @ 43lb, 19 @ 44lb, 14 @ 45lb, 21 @ 46lb, 15 @ 47lb, 12 @ 48lb, 10 @ 49lb, 5 @ 50lb, 7 @ 51lb, 6 @ 52lb, 5 @ 53lb, 6 @ 54lb, 4 @ 55lb, 7 @ 56lb, 3 @ 57lb, 4 @ 58lb, 2 @ 59lb, 2 @ 60lb, 2 @ 61lb, 3 @ 62lb, 2 @ 63lb, 4 @ 64lb, 1 @ 65lb, 1 @ 66lb, 2 @ 67lb, 3 @ 68lb, 2 @ 71lb, 2 @ 72lb, and 1 at 73lb 08oz and a new lake record.

The fish have got 5 months rest between now and the next season starting on the 6th of April but there is a lot of work to do to get the lake ready for another season.

Watch this space for monthly updates about how that work progresses.

Till then, take care.

Catch Report – 29 October 2023

What a way to end the season, a very competitive family holiday and other than the weather it was perfect :

36 Big Carp to 72lb

These Guys have been coming for years and Helen and I have watched their family grow as well as their passion for carping. They have had varying degrees of success before but this time they got it right.

From left to right: Anna, Dad Chris, Mum Natasha, Izzy, and Granddad Richard.

These Guys would probably not normally pick this time of year purely because of the potential for bad weather but it so happened that Chris is celebrating his big fiftieth and this was his treat to himself.

Their fears about the weather were well founded as it has been absolutely bloody awful (excuse my french). It rained on Saturday and Sunday, we had to endure the wrath of storm Bernard through Monday and Tuesday, it rained again on Wednesday, it poured down all day on Thursday, and on Friday we had another storm which proved to be one storm too many for some trees around my stock-ponds and the panels around my swimming pool.

As I reviewed the carnage on Saturday morning I added several new jobs to my “Things to do” list.

Amazingly all of this bad weather and The Guys did not seem to be phased by it in the slightest, it must be because they do a lot of camping trips and we all know how they can turn out.

They kept things simple, good bait, simple rigs, and they spread the pressure; Richard on swim 3, Natasha on swim 4, Chris on swim 5, and Izzy and Anna had 2 rods between them on swim 6. And not a bait boat in sight.

The competitive element comes from Chris and Natasha, there has been an ongoing competition for the family PB for years, and for the last several years it has been held by Natasha. Since their last trip here in fact!!

Chris got the ball rolling on Sunday morning and was on an instant high as he weighed in a stonking Mirror at 68lb 10oz, however, it was a case of total deflationfor Chris when Natasha weighed in her first fish of the session at 71lb 6oz and set the bar for the family PB one step higher.

The pair of them continued like this all week and they were landing some cracking big carp:

They even had a couple of double-takes between them and had to pool resources but there was not a lot between them to be honest:

In the end Natasha settled on 11 big carp to 71lb 06oz, and that put her in the lead in terms of PBs, but Chris had the final word with the last fish of the session, which I might add, was weighed in by Natasha at 72lb and a new PB to fight over for the next few years:

Anna and Izzy were having their own mini session up on swim 6 and managed to find 6 big carp between them. Anna’s best went to 46lb:

And Izzy found 5 with her best going to 45lb 8oz but this beautiful Koi was her favourite of the session:

Richard arrived on Saturday and made a simple statement, he said “I like coming here because it is the only place I do not blank”.

I took that as a compliment but for the first few days I was unsure as to whether he would live up to the claim. Thankfully, he came good and he ended the session with 4 lovely fish with his best going to 34lb:

Once again the Guys had a great time and I was pleased that they managed the weather as well as they did, I can think of many an angler who would have spent all week hiding in their cabin achieving very little.

All in all a big thumbs up for a session in October and their final tally was:

Zero Babies, zero Doubles, 1 @ 26lb, 2 @ 28lb, 2 @ 30lb, 2 @ 31lb, 2 @ 33lb, 1 @ 34lb, 1 @ 36lb, 2 @ 37lb, 2 @ 39lb, 1 @ 40lb, 1 @ 41lb, 2 @ 43lb, 2 @ 45lb, 3 @ 46lb, 2 @ 47lb, 2 @ 48lb, 1 @ 49lb, 1 @ 53lb, 1 @ 54lb, 1 @ 61lb, 1 @ 64lb, 1 @ 68lb, 1 @ 71lb, and 1 at 72lb.

The Guys would have loved to return in 2025 but unfortunately we are full, however Helen and I look forward to them making a return visit in 2026.

That is my last catch report of the year but keep your eyes pealed for future posts, I will be working on the season summary for the whole of the 2023 season and I will be posting how to book for 2026 for those that are interested.

I will post a monthly update of events around Le Moulin to keep you up to speed with ongoing projects but for now it is suffice to say that I deserve a couple of days off !!!!

Till then, take care.

Catch Report – 22 October 2023

Another great session for a group of our regulars this week, despite the terrible weather:

30 Big Carp to 71lb 12oz

We were not sure what was going to happen this week as the weather took a turn for the worse and we had the threat of storm Babet hanging over us all week.

When The Boys arrived on Saturday the temperature had taken a 10 degree drop, it was raining, windy, and the air pressure was falling like a stone. Throughout the week the weather was swirling around and changing by the day and none of us knew what to expect next.

Sunday and Monday produced hard frosty mornings with glorious sunny afternoons but with showers thrown in the mix.

Tuesday was very muggy, the air and wind was warm and wet, enough to make it feel sweaty, Wednesday it poured down all day. Thursday it was dry and sunny and I managed to cut the grass!!!

Then on Friday the storm arrived proper, gale force winds, torrential rain, garden furniture broken, trees down up in the woods and along the far bank, it was just not very pleasant at all, it really did take the edge off what should have been a nice social fishing trip for The Boys.

Having said all of that The Boys arrived with a plan and they stuck to it as best they could, they were going to spread the pressure around the lake and thereby, hopefully, share the fish. The Boys have their preferred swims from previous sessions so it was Dom in swim 6, Paul in swim 5, Tom in swim 4, and Marcus in swim 3.

The theory was good, if they spread the pressure the fish would not be able to hide in any one place and hopefully everyone would get a piece of the action, Well it did work to some extent but not quite as they hoped.

The fish were obviously already up in the deep swims, probably as a result of the weather change, they have just spent the last 2 or 3 weeks hanging around in swims 2 and 3, but not this week.

Dom got the ball rolling on Saturday with a 45lb Mirror and he went on to maintain a very consistent catch rate throughout the week taking the Top Rod award with 14 big carp and a new PB of 58lb 12oz:

Paul was next in line in swim 5, as the fish moved about he found his first one on Sunday and picked the odd one up here and there to give him a total of 6 big carp to 48lb, as is always the case with Paul though, no photographs.

Tom was 3rd in line and he picked up his first on Monday morning, a lovely little Mirror at 54lb 12oz:

Unfortunately, despite having fish around him all week, this was going to prove to be his only one of the session.

Poor old Marcus had little choice other than to watch the action, there was absolutely nothing happening around swim 3, but, give him his due, he continued to work his swim, baiting his spots, confident that if the fish moved down to him he would be ready for them.

He had to wait until Wednesday for his first take, that resulted in a 49lb Mirror. He knew he had a lot of ground to make up and from then on he worked his swim even harder. It paid dividends as he found 5 fish on Thursday and another 3 on Friday.

His effort pushed him up in to second place with a total of 9 big carp and a new PB, he had the pleasure of Pumba’s company for a whole 5 minutes and the Boys weighed him in at an all-time best of 71lb 12oz:

Not a pleasant week in terms of weather but the Boys stuck it out and produced some specimen carp, their final tally was :

Zero Babies, zero Doubles, 1 @ 24lb, 1 @ 27lb, 3 @ 31lb, 1 @ 36lb, 3 @ 37lb, 1 @ 38lb, 2 @ 39lb, 2 @ 41lb, 2 @ 42lb, 1 @ 44lb, 1 @ 45lb, 2 @ 46lb, 2 @ 48lb, 1 @ 49lb, 1 @ 50lb, 1 @ 53lb, 2 @ 54lb, 1 @ 57lb, 1 @ 58lb, and one at 71lb 12oz

The Boys are back for another session next August when the weather will no doubt be very different.

A family of 5 on the lake this week for the final session of the season, they have been before and know their way around, I will let you know how they get on next weekend.

Till then, take care.