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.

Catch Report – 15 October 2023

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.

New Lake Record – 73lb 8oz (33.3 Kgs)

Well, knock me down with a feather !

It was only 4 weeks ago when I posted our new lake record as 72lb and here I am already having to update it, what a pleasure it is for me to see my fish coming on so well.

It is that time of the year when the big carp stop growing their skeleton size and start putting some meat on their new bone structure and piling on some weight in preparation for what they expect to be the long cold Winter ahead.

Dogs and Cats grow new fur for the winter, big carp just get fat !

This year we have had an extended growing season, the warmer weather arrived in February and as I write this today we are expecting temperatures up to as much as 30C. The lake is still alive with natural supplies of food and all of the fish are coming out 2-3 pounds heavier than we would normally expect.

Paul, a first time visitor to Le Moulin, has the privilege of holding the new lake record of 73lb 8oz (for now) :

His mates on the lake all gathered around and ensured that the weighing was accurate, they were not going to give him an ounce that he was not entitled to claim, as the water drained away out of the weigh sling and as the ounces dripped off, the scale finally settled on 73lb 8oz:

The end result of this is one very happy carper:

Hopefully the weird weather patterns will continue and in the event that we have a mild winter I for one cannot wait to see what next season produces.

We only have 2 more groups on this year before we close for the winter but they are all very keen carpers. Even when the weather cools down the lake will take weeks, if not months, before it cools down sufficiently to put the fish off feeding.

Well done Paul.

Catch Report – 8 October 2023

Having just had 2 weeks rest the fish should have been raring to go for a group of 4 of our regular guests, but as usual the headline figure only tells half a story :

36 Big Carp to 67lb 04oz

No body had a head start this week as the fish were spread out everywhere enjoying the tranquillity and there had been no bait or feed of any sort in the lake for 2 weeks, how was it going to fish ??

The Boys decided to spread themselves around the whole lake and hope that the fish didn’t notice them, but, as is always the case, the fish were going to react to their presence and shoal up somewhere.

After the walk around the lake the Boys decided on swims, which was really based on their previous experiences, Mark was in swim 6, Reece was in swim 5, Carl was in swim 4, and Tom wanted to fish swim 3 but he was being put off because the blanket weed had gathered in front of the swim.

We quickly solved the weed problem by spending 10 minutes dragging it out with garden rakes, so Tom was happy, he didn’t know it at the time but it was going to prove to be a very wise choice.

From left to right we have ……… hang around, the posh T-shirts say it all!

The Boys were all on their swim of choice by tea time on Saturday but there was little enthusiasm to get fishing as they needed some sleep after their long trip. Kit sorted, spots baited, and a good kip, they were ready for an early start on Sunday.

And what a start, first fish of the session fell to Tom on swim 3, a stonking Mirror at spot-on 67lb.

Good job he decided to put up with the weed!!

Unfortunately the fish reacted quite quickly to the arrival of 4 anglers on the bank, half of them shoaled up in swim 6 and the other half shoaled up in swims 1 and 2. That was very evident as by close of play on Sunday Tom and Mark were on 2 a piece and Carl and Reece were still on the hunt.

The fish were moving around though and venturing in to the other swims so everyone eventually got a bite of the cherry it was just that some had to wait longer than others. Tom and Mark picked up fish at a steady rate throughout the session but Reece had to wait until 4.30pm on Tuesday for his first taste of the action and poor old Carl had to wait until 7am on Thursday morning for his.

The weather has been glorious with afternoon temperatures in to the 30s but those clear skies resulted in some of the first frosts of the autumn, only very light but enough to let you know that Winter is fast approaching.

The light levels are also reducing as we approach the Equinox, at the moment we are seeing first light around 7.30 am and last light around 8pm, it won’t be long before we have 12 hours of each.

The Boys stuck with their game-plan for the whole session and they all had some cracking fish, Reece brought up the rear with 5 fish and his best pushed the scales to 44lb:

Carl slipped in to 3rd place with 5 big carp to 49lb 4oz:

Mark settled for 11 big carp to 42lb 8oz:

But Tom took all of the awards, the Big Fish and the Top Rod with 16 big carp. After landing his new PB as a 67lb Mirror he said all he wanted for the rest of the week was a big common, well I reckon 67lb 4oz qualifies as that :

Interestingly the Boys picked up 19 good 40s and a couple of 60s but not a single 50. Where have all my 50s gone!!

A great session and their final tally was:

Zero Babies, Zero Doubles, 1 @ 22lb, 1 @ 24lb, 1 @ 25lb, 1 @ 28lb, 1 @ 29lb, 2 @ 31lb, 1 @ 32lb, 1 @ 33lb, 1 @ 34lb, 2 @ 36lb, 2 @ 37lb, 1 @ 38lb, 2 @ 40lb, 4 @ 41lb, 5 @ 42lb, 1 @ 43lb, 1 @ 44lb, 3 @ 46lb, 2 @ 47lb, 1 @ 49lb, and 2 at 67lb.

The Boys had a great time and they are already planning their next trip in June next year.

Mark, Tom and Reece set off for home at 9.30am Saturday leaving Carl to enjoy a second session, he was joined by friends Paul and Andy on Saturday afternoon, I will let you know how they get on next weekend.

Till then, take care.

R & R Report – 1 October 2023

Well, that did not last long, 2 weeks gone in a blink, but at least we managed a short break to the sun, as if we need any more of that, the main thing was that the fish got a well earned rest.

Our youngest daughter Joy came over for a bit of a break from her normal routine to baby-sit the animals and thereby allow us to take a few days out from our normal routines.

We found another great place which I do recommend, The Rigat Park & Spa Hotel (adults only), on the Playa de Fenals, a quiet bay just south of Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava, 5 stars and no kids, end of season, total peace and quiet, what more can you want.

A bit cloudy when we arrived but it was 30C all week and a busy session around the pool was 6-8 people. Our view from the balcony :

We had a few problems to sort out before we could go though, it started with the electricity supply to the house, our 400volt 3-phase supply decided to drop 1 phase and as a consequence some of the house worked normally and some of it did not work at all. Thankfully it did not affect the Gite.

The EDF guys were quickly on the case though and the first technician arrived and diagnosed a fault with the cable between their last pylon and the connection on our wall. The heavy mob arrived the very next morning and replaced the whole cable, problem solved.

Then the guy came around to read the water meter and discovered quite a serious leak, the area around the meter was totally saturated so it had been leaking for some time. The problem was rectified very quickly and the leak is no more but now we will have to argue our case with regards to who pays the bill??

I must be getting old because it appears that I really did need a bit of a rest and a change in scenery, the drive to and from the hotel was only 6hrs 30mins and that included a stop for fuel, the scenery on route is stunning and it really was a very pleasant drive, by the time I got home I felt revitalised and raring to go.

There are a few people who are always trying to buy the place from us, and they all seem to think that one day it will all get to be too much for me to handle. You all know who you are and you are no doubt quite correct but for now I have a cunning plan, it comprises more short breaks in the sun, more machines to replace the manual labour and maybe more staff where required.

We do now have a cleaner who helps Helen with the Gite and she also helps around the house when required, and I have just added a new member to my team-of-one who will help out with some of the heavy work around the lake, hopefully this new arrangement will work out well.

The first job to get the new treatment is the back of the dam, I have always hated doing it, although it is not the strimming itself that presents a problem it is the angle of the dam, walking up and down and along that all day plays havoc with my knees and ankles.

His first effort and I reckon that is not a bad job:

The final sessions of the season started yesterday with the arrival of 4 lads who have all been before, they are spreading the load and have set up in swims 3, 4, 5, and 6. The first fish out last night was a 67lb Mirror out of swim 3, the weather forecast is fair, and hopefully I will have plenty to put in the catch report next weekend.

Till then, take care, or better still, take a break !!!!

Price Increases – 2024

We are rapidly approaching the end of the 2023 season and turning our thoughts to 2024, once again the rate of inflation has surpassed out wildest expectations and prices across the board have gone in one direction only :

UP, UP, and UP

We have absorbed all of the additional inflation costs so far this year but unfortunately we have little option other than to go with the flow and as a consequence our prices are having to go in the same direction as everyone else’s

Our new prices are now on the web-site so if you think that they may affect you please take a look on the following link:

https://www.moulindegraf.co.uk/prices

If you do have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

The new prices take immediate effect but we can assure you that there will be no changes to any bookings that have already been made and confirmed.

Catch Report – 17 September 2023

One of our regulars on the lake this week and what a fantastic result, he got everything he asked for:

17 Big Carp to 72lb

Richard and Lucy have been before and have had some great results so he knew exactly where he wanted to start and what he was going to do, but once again the best made plans do not always go accordingly.

Richard just wanted to relax, enjoy a week away from work with a bit of fishing, just a few fish would do, and if they happened to be on the bigger side then that would have been the icing on his cake.

There was no need for a guided tour as Richard has seen it all before, he was going back to his favourite swim, number 5, and his baiting strategy was already decided, HEAVY.

The weather forecast was good, fresh mornings, hot days with just enough thunder and lightening thrown in to the mix to remind us all that a good storm was always a possibility, thankfully the rain amounted to nothing more than an occasional shower.

Sunday morning arrived and there had been no activity through the night and it quickly became apparent that all of the fish were down in the shallows of swims 2 and 3. Knowing that the priority was to locate the fish he made an instant decision and he was off, straight down to swim 3, from there he could cover swims 2, 3 and 4 as required.

Once he had set up he started baiting his spots and by early evening he was in to his first fish, a 51lb Mirror, that qualified as “on the bigger side” even for Richard. It is worth commenting at this point that he rounds his weights down to the nearest whole pound.

He could see the fish everywhere and on Monday he had a bit of a crazy day which comprised a 30lb Common, 3 x 40lb Mirrors, and a 72lb Mirror which reset the lake record.

By Tuesday the main shoal of fish were drifting away towards swim 4 and he only found one more but there were enough fish in swim 3 to keep him there.

Wednesday produced another 3 but the fish were definitely on the move and swim 5 was coming alive, the problem was he was torn as he could watch the fish move away but at the same time he was still catching, and that incude a fine specimen of a Grassie at 47lb:

Thursday morning and the decision was made, move again, back up to his favourite swim, number 5.

It meant that he was going to have to start baiting his spots all over again but he knew the fish were there and having limited time remaining he had to get some bait in fast.

It paid off and by Thursday evening he had found himself a very nice 42lb Common:

By Friday he was back in amongst the action with another 3 in the bag and that included this stunning Mirror at 62lb:

He was still on the fish on Saturday morning with fish at 3am and 5am and his last one at 8am as he was packing up for the week.

What a session !!!! I reckon he would have happily stayed for another week if I had let him.

But all good sessions have to come to an end and his final tally was:

Zero Babies, Zero Doubles, 1 @ 27lb, 1 @ 30lb, 1 @ 32lb, 4 @ 35lb, 3 @ 40lb, 2 @ 42lb, 1 @ 45lb, 1 @ 47lb, 1 @ 51lb, 1 @ 62lb, and a new lake record at 72lb.

These Guys are back again in 2024, I wonder where Richard will want to make a start ??

We are closed now for the last 2 weeks of R&R for the fish, and I reckon they have earnt their time off, there will obviously not be a catch report next weekend

We have family coming over and hopefully they will babysit the place giving Me and Helen the time to shoot off down to the Costa-Brava for a bit of a chill. We have found a very nice 5star hotel on the sea front, it is quiet season, the weather forecast is good and I am looking forward to some nice food, good wine, and a good book.

I will of course let you know how that plan works out.

Till then, take care.

New Lake Record – 72lb

Odin made one of her rare showings last night at 72lb exactly.

Last out in May, post-spawn and still weighing in at a tad under 68lb, she decided that swim 3 was the place to be.

Very conveniently Helen had just been down to the lake and checked that Richard’s scales were all set up and zeroed correctly as they are a brand new set of 120lb Rueben Heaton’s.

The photograph does not do the situation the justice that it deserves as it was getting dark, but dark or not there is no mistaking those big plate scales and the micro-chip confirmed the details : Fish named Odin, tag number 3589977.

Well done Richard and well done Odin.

Catch Report – 10 September 2023

Another group of new Boys on the lake this week and they have been up against it, the headline result is not a bad one but they had to graft for it:

23 Big Carp to 44lb 08oz

From left to right meet Andy, Martin and Dave:

As is becoming the norm this season the weather is causing problems. Last week it was cool and overcast, and we recorded the coldest ever August day on the Tuesday, but it was warming up nicely towards the end of the week.

Well by the time our new guests arrived on Saturday afternoon it was baking hot and it just got hotter as the week went on and as a consequence we have recorded the highest ever temperatures for September.

It is not just the fish that are confused, the grass, the trees, everything is confused as one minute they all think it is the height of Summer and then the next it is more like late Autumn.

I took The Boys for their guided tour on Saturday and there were fish everywhere, a large shoal in swims 2 and 3, and an equally large shoal fizzing away up in swims 5 and 6. The Boys settled for Dave in swim 4 fishing the right side of the lake and Martin and Andy sharing swim 5 to fish the left side of the lake.

Well, Dave must have thought that all his Xmas’s had come at once as he was straight in to fish without having to do too much work, the big shoal that was in swims 2 and 3 at the end of the last session were still there and they were hungry, Dave slipped the net under his first fish before 7pm on Saturday, that must be almost a record.

Dave went on to land another 7 on Sunday while Martin and Andy could do nothing other than watch.

By Monday the sun was burning and things were getting hotter and Dave’s shoal was starting to move about. Dave found what was going to be his last 3 from that spot, Martin had found his first fish from swim 6 and Andy had already made the move to swim 2 where he found 4 lovely fish.

Everyone was off the mark but it was around this time that I could not keep up with who was fishing where so I gave up, every time I went down to the lake there were different rods in different swims.

On Tuesday I found rods in 1, rods in 2, rods in 4, rods in 5, and rods in 6. Dave had 1 fish out of 2, Martin had 1 fish out of 2 and 2 fish out of 6, and Andy had 1 fish out of 6 and 1 fish out of 2.

By Wednesday the sun was burning and the fish were sunbathing and all the action just stopped, despite plenty of fizzing up in the deep swims the fish were having nothing of what The Boys had on offer.

The remainder of the week was the same story with the one exception when Martin found the last fish of the session on swim 6 during the late afternoon on Thursday.

The Boys spent the last 3 days of their session just watching sunbathing fish but I still cannot figure out why there was nothing doing from dusk until dawn, which is normally the case at this time of year.

Dave took the Top Rod award with a total of 12 big carp with his best going to 44lb 08oz:

Andy slipped in to second place with 6 lovely carp to 41lb 15oz:

And Martin had to settle for 3rd with 5 fish and his best only going to 31lb 08oz:

Somewhere in amongst all that it got a bit exciting when both Andy and Martin showed that being together is best :

All in all this has been a session of 2 absolutely different halves, and their final tally was :

Zero Babies, zero Doubles, 1 @ 21lb, 1 @ 26lb, 3 @ 27lb, 2 @ 30lb, 3 @ 31lb, 2 @ 32lb, 2 @ 33lb, 1 @ 40lb, 4 @ 41lb, 2 @ 43lb and 2 at 44lb.

The Boys took it all on the chin and word has it that they are already planning a return visit in 2026, Helen and I look forward to that.

We have one of our regulars on the bank this week but the weather is already forecast to be challenging, when they arrived yesterday the temperature was over 38C and it will be again today but we are forecast a major storm overnight on Monday and all day on Tuesday, that will be followed by a cooler week for the remainder of the session.

Watch this space and I will let you know how they get on next weekend.

Till then, take care.

Catch Report – 03 September 2023

Another group of new Boys on the lake this week for their first visit to France let alone Le Moulin and what a session they have had:

47 (49) Big Carp to 64lb 12oz

We have a figure in brackets because Matt has claimed 13 fish but I can only find 11 recorded, and I have searched the catch sheets and photographs. As soon as we get to the bottom of this I will amend the total accordingly, but either way all you need to know for now is that that headline reflects the biggest catch so far this season.

Well done Boys !!

From left to right meet Luke, Gary and Matt:

The weather has, once again, been totally weird, following on from all of the heat we have moved straight in to Autumn and had a relatively cold and overcast week, in fact Tuesday was the coldest ever day ever recorded in any month of August across the whole of France, the national average temperature was 17.3 degrees Celsius. We don’t normally get down to those temperatures until November!!

The afternoons have been quite pleasant but the mornings have been quite chilly.

I took The Boys for the standard guided tour on Saturday and they were hungry for information, they had certainly done their homework and had studied every catch report I have ever written so they were well prepared for most eventualities.

They had never had the pleasure of an exclusive venue before and they were keen to find the fish and get on their rods.

During the tour it was obvious that there was a shed-load of fish in swims 2 and 3 so Luke and Matt quickly settled in to swim 2 and 3 but Gary was conscious of the fact that if they put all the pressure on one end of the lake the fish would probably move to the other.

He took another look at swims 5 and 6 and despite there being very little fish activity he pre-empted the move of the fish and he elected to fish swim 5.

The Saturday evening-Sunday morning session passed without incident but when they reviewed the situation on Sunday morning it was obvious that the fish were reacting to their presence and they had already departed from swim 2. Say no more, Luke was out of there and set himself up in swim 4.

Gary and Matt both got the ball rolling around mid-day on Sunday so all looked like it was going well but during the course of the day Gary found another 3 and Matt and Luke were left with nothing. The fish had continued their move to the deep end and swim 6 was alive with them.

Monday produced more of the same with Matt having no action at all on swim 3, Luke had found his first fish on swim 4, but Gary found another 7, and swim 6 was still alive with big carp.

He was very conscious that if he moved up to swim 6 it was going to impact on everyone else but he couldn’t sit in an empty swim all week so Tuesday morning saw Matt take the plunge in swim 6.

The result was instant but things were going to change very quickly.

Tuesday saw Matt pick up 2, it saw Gary’s run slow down to only 4 fish and Luke was left with nothing, but everyone could see the fish reacting to the change in pressure as they started their move back down toward the now quiet shallow swims.

Wednesday produced a final mad flurry for Matt on swim 6 with 6 big carp, Gary’s catch reduced to 2, and suddenly Luke was in to fish and produced his next 2.

Gary was the first to make the decision and he quickly anticipated the movement of the fish and he was off to swim 2 at a rapid rate.

Matt remained in swim 6 for the remainder of the session where he picked up another 2, or possibly 4, either way he caught some stonking fish, smashing his PBs to pieces and his best went to 54lb 8oz :

Luke ended his session with a run of big carp to die for, he found 2 on the Wednesday, a whopping 9 stunners on Thursday, and one last one on Friday. That gave him a total of 11, almost everyone of which shattered his previous PB.

He went on to take the Big Fish Award with his best going to 64lb 12oz:

And just to show that they are in there somewhere he found a stonking Grassie at 52lb 10oz :

Gary’s move to swim 2 proved to be spot on, he found his first fish on Thursday evening and went on to land a further 5 on Friday.

He was a touch peeved about Luke’s 60 as he was running with a new PB of 59lb 04oz, but at least he went on to secure the Top Rod Award with a very impressive tally of 23 big carp:

The Boys worked hard at keeping their eye on the fish and trying to pre-empt their moves rather than following them and their final tally was:

Zero Babies, zero Doubles, 1 @ 20lb, 1 @ 21lb, 1 @ 28lb, 2 @ 30lb, 3 @ 31lb, 2 @ 32lb, 4 @ 33lb, 2 @ 35lb, 5 @ 36lb, 4 @ 37lb, 1 @ 38lb, 1 @ 39lb, 4 @ 40lb, 1 @ 41lb, 2 @ 42lb, 2 @ 44lb, 1 @ 46lb, 1 @ 50lb, 2 @ 52lb, 1 @ 54lb, 1 @ 56lb, 1 @ 57lb, 1 @ 58lb, 1 @ 59lb, and 1 at 64lb 12oz.

Needless to say The Boys had a great session and they are keen to get back on to the lake for another go so they are now on my waiting lists for 2024 and 2025, if not before Helen and I look forward to hosting them again in 2026.

I have another group of 3 on the lake this week for their first visit to Le Moulin although they have fished France several times before, watch this space and I will let you know how they got on next weekend.

Till then take care.

R&R Report – 27 August 2023

You will all be happy that you have not been here over the last 2 weeks as the weather has been unbearable, the longest hottest period we have experienced in our 11 years on the lake.

You may remember from the last Catch Report that the weather was heating up towards the end of that session and the fish were all up for a sunbathe, well since then it has just got hotter and hotter, most afternoons the mercury was pushing over 40C and I did record 48C one afternoon on swim 5.

There were still jobs that had to be finished though and for the first time ever we have had to restrict outdoor manual labour to the early morning, by noon it was too hot to move and the day was not getting to its temperature peak until around 5-6pm.

The horses were all in their shelters, Murdoch would be sprawled out on his concrete slab in the shade just panting, and me, Helen and little Red were locked inside the house with all of the fans on as it was the coolest place we could find.

This is when you realise why French houses have shutters on the windows!!

It was even too hot to sit outside next to the pool !!!!!!!!!!!!

I was hoping to get the strimming of the dam finished but unfortunately not, dressed from head to toe in full protective equipment in these conditions limited me to around 1 hour of work before my sweat rate saturated me, anything more and it was making me feel ill.

And when I was not in the mood for more strimming there were always a few trees that needed to be extricated from the lake :

Cutting and dragging trees is hard work but at least I could manage it in little more that a pair of shorts, and the tractor provided the muscle.

The problem is it is a bit like playing a game of giant Jenga, these things rely on each other for support and when one bit is removed another bit falls. Beware, if you cut too much you end up just cutting more.

Roll on the winter when I can drop the water level and get at them a bit easier.

The whole year has been a bit weird in terms of weather but it has been perfect for growing stuff, especially stuff that I would prefer not to grow, such as grass, trees, brambles, etc.

We are used to having nice long summers here but normally at this time of the year everything is just parched and going brown, with very little growth. But the extra heat this year has generated additional storms which obviously produce loads of rain and consequently the plant life is loving it.

Thankfully all things changed on Thursday night into Friday morning, the air pressure started to drop and the next storm arrived, by Friday the temperature had dropped by 10-15 degrees and by Saturday the afternoon high had reduced to a very pleasant 25C, lovely, we could all breath.

All very fortuitous really as we had 3 new Boys arrive on Saturday for their first ever visit, and they thought 25 was hot.

The forecast for the next week is lows of 10-18C with highs of 21-28C, sounds almost perfect.

The fish may have to make a slight adjustment but hopefully as the new weather routine settles in so will the fish, watch this spot and I will let you know how The Boys get on next weekend.

Till then, take care, and keep cool.

Catch Report – 13 August 2023

The weather continues to be all over the place, bucking every trend of what should be happening at this time of the year and it has impacted on this group as it has on the last few groups.

Despite the weather it has been another great session for a family of regulars, Ryan, Leigh and Oliver, and it came with a very unusual target: to catch less fish !!!!!!!!!!!

Now there’s a first !

The headline figure is therefore absolutely perfect :

13 Big Carp to 56lb

The last time these Guys were here was the same week in 2021 and they had a massive hit between them: 45 big carp to 64lb. It appears that after flying home and having time to digest the result Ryan decided that he was in fact quite cream-crackered and having caught so many fish it had actually taken the enjoyment out of his fishing and their family holiday.

He was just piling in massive amounts of bait with his bait boat and dragging out loads of big fish and felt that he missed the fun of the catch of each individual fish.

This time he was going to go about it differently, he left his bait boat at home and he was going to do things the old fashioned way, and if he caught 1 or 2 per day he would be more than happy.

He wasn’t going to chase the fish so he set up on swim 5, picked 3 good spots, and that was where he intended to do most of his fishing. The occasional dabble down in to swims 2 and 3 was planned as a casual afternoon event should the sun come out and the fish move down there.

Baiting was going to be primarily from the far bank using a scoop and a couple of buckets, all of which he left over there so that he could walk around on a regular basis without having to carry them with him.

The strange weather from last week continued through the weekend and although the rain stopped on Sunday it still took a couple of days for the sun to break through and start to warm the place up again, Sunday morning and Monday morning were particularly cold.

The Guys flew in from Southampton and by the time we got them back from the airport and settled in to the Gite it was too late to start fishing so Ryan settled for a walk around the lake just to check out the fish activity, but nothing was going to change his initial plan, he was going to be content to bait his spots and play the waiting game.

He knew that those shoals would come through at some point.

And wait he did, the Sunday session came and went without any action, although young Oliver did have one on which he dropped.

Ryan persisted with his spots and the weather slowly improved and around 9am on Monday morning Ryan slipped the net under the first fish of their session, a lovely little Mirror at 25lb.

Monday continued to produce and they had a total of 4 in the bag by tea-time, including a nice little Common for Leigh:

The early hours of Tuesday morning, at around 1am, produced their 5th fish, all seemed to be going well but then it just stopped!!!

There was no apparent reason, the only noticeable change was the air pressure was rising and the warmer weather was returning. Whatever the reason the fish had moved off down to the shallower swims.

The Guys did have a little dabble in the shallow swims on Tuesday afternoon but the fish were having none of it so they quickly returned to swim 5.

The air pressure and the heat rose so fast that through the night of Tuesday/Wednesday it built in to a massive thunderstorm, what was that going to do to the fish ????

As it turned out the storm was enough to move the fish out of the shallows and back in to the deeper water, the sun came out and was quite ferocious, Leigh started to sunbath and so did the fish, Ryan was happy because that translated in to another 3 in the bag.

I was up on the dam cutting the grass and doing a spot of strimming on Thursday and when I started everything looked normal but an hour later when I had finished every fish in the lake was in swim 6, rolling around on the surface waving their pec fins as they went.

I walked down to talk with Ryan but he was already aware of the fish and was trying everything he could to tempt them to a bait but as the sun got hotter the fish got lazier and he had to settle for just another 3 on Thursday.

But Ryan was hopeful for the night ahead as at least the fish were up his end of the lake.

Early doors on Friday saw 2 more for the net, Ryan took the first one at 7am, a lovely Mirror at a tad under 40lb:

Oliver took the second at around 8.30am, it turned out to be the fish of the session and everyone had a claim on it. Leigh helped Oliver with the netting:

Oliver claimed it as a new PB at 56lb on the nose. But Dad had to pick it up for the photograph:

Unfortunately that turned out to be the end of their session, as the sun rose in the sky the heat increased and the fish rose to the surface, sunbathing was once again the only thing on their minds, but what a great family holiday.

Ryan’s plan had worked, he removed the pressure of catching lots of big fish and they all had some great family time, their final tally was:

Zero Babies, zero doubles, 1 @ 25lb, 2 @ 28lb, 1 @ 30lb, 1 @ 33lb, 1 @ 35lb, 2 @ 37lb, 1 @ 38lb, 1 @ 39lb, 1 @ 40lb, 1 @ 42lb, and 1 at 56lb

Helen and I look forward to hosting them again in 2026 but I did suggest to Oliver that he gets in a bit of weight training before his next visit 🙂

We are closed down again for the next 2 weeks for another spot of R&R for the fish so there will not be a catch report next weekend.

Right now I am looking forward to Sunday lunch down the Pub, Helen is treating me, she has booked a table for 1230hrs and I am hungry already.

I will be as busy as ever over the next couple of weeks because the grass still needs cutting, the weeds still need strimming, and I have a couple of trees to drag out of swim 3, I will no doubt let you know how I get on.

Till then, take care.