Two new Boys on the lake this week, Paul and Andy, for their first visit to Le Moulin, and Carl who remained behind from last week who treated himself to a double session, and what a fantastic session they had :
41 Big Carp to 73lb 8oz
Carl continued from where he finished last week and decided to stay on swim 4, he had just had a nice steady session so did not see the point in moving, besides, he was tired. Meanwhile I took Paul and Andy for their guided tour, there were fish showing everywhere and they were excited to get going, all they had to do was make a decision as to where.
In the end Andy elected to fish from swim 5 and immediately decided that his main effort would be to fish to his left and all of the water available in front of an empty swim 6.
Paul elected to fish from swim 3 even though the blanket weed would hamper the areas he could reach, but being a professional in the field of grounds and lake management he was more than happy to get his waders on and move the weed out of his way.
The weather has been glorious once again, nippy mornings, but once the sun got going the temperature climbed up in to the high 20s and sunbathing was the order of the day. That was all about to change though but thankfully not until The Boys were all packed up and ready to go home. This week coming is definitely going to be a different week.
The Boys don’t get to catch up with each other as often as they should so Saturday evening was a bit of a social event and they got going proper on Sunday morning.
Carl was obviously all ready sorted out and maintained his steady catch rate throughout his session to give him a very nice catch of 9 big carp with his best going to 42lb 6oz:
Carl was chuffed with his catch but I think he may well question the fun of a double session next time he books. We can all cope with having our sleep disturbed throughout the night for a few days at a time but putting up with it for 2 whole weeks can get a bit stressful.
We do get groups who reserve multiple weeks and cope very well but they do tend to sleep in the Gite at night.
Both Paul and Andy had to start from scratch so their fish were a little slower in coming but once they got going they both had a nice steady trickle of big carp which included some absolutely stonking fish.
Andy slipped in to second place with an above average catch of 13 big carp, he managed to find one of my 3 koi as a little treat but his best pushed the scales to a whopping 63lb:
Paul went on to claim all awards, he took Top Rod with a very impressive total of 19 big carp, and his best of the session, which is also the new Lake Record, pushed the scales to 73lb 8oz:
The blanket weed might be a bit of a pain in the a**e but it does seem to be keeping the fish happy in swim 3.
All in all it was a fantastic session and the final tally was:
Zero Babies, Zero Doubles, 2 @ 22lb, 1 @ 25lb, 2 @ 26lb, 1 @ 28lb, 1 @ 29lb, 1 @ 30lb, 2 @ 31lb, 2 @ 32lb, 2 @ 33lb, 2 @ 35lb, 4 @ 36lb, 1 @ 37lb, 2 @ 40lb, 3 @ 41lb, 2 @ 42lb, 1 @ 43lb, 1 @ 44lb, 1 @ 45lb, 1 @ 46lb, 1 @ 47lb, 2 @ 48lb, 2 @ 49lb, 1 @ 51lb, 1 @ 54lb, 1 @ 63lb, and one new lake record at 73lb 8oz.
The Boys are all Happy Bunnies after that little session, Carl is already booked in for 2024 and 2025 but Andy and Paul are hoping to be back in 2026, Helen and I look forward to hosting them once again if they can get here.
The weather took a dramatic turn yesterday, a 10 degree drop in temperatures and some rain, and that is the ongoing forecast for the rest of this week. A group of 4 or our regulars on the lake though and they are all serious anglers so I am sure that a little bit of inclement weather will not put them off. Watch this space next weekend and I will let you know how they get on.
Till then, take care.
Le Moulin de Graffeuil 