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.
Le Moulin de Graffeuil 