Exclusive Angling Holidays News
Keep up-to-date with all the latest Exclusive Angling Holidays news right here. From catch reports to future plans and as many photos as we can gather - it's all here to give you all the information you need before deciding to book with us. This page was started at the beginning of 2004; you can view all previous updates here, you can also now add comments to each new entry, by clicking the link at the end of each post.
June updates
Over the last three weeks Rouge has been fished twice, Bleu three times and Vert twice. With the weather being the typical glorious sunshine the fishing has also followed suit.
Rouge
First week we had our regular dutch visitors who had an excellent week with 66 fish (I think about ten of these came from Vert). A couple of thirties were caught with the biggest being 34lbs. A fabulous looking fully scaled mirror was caught at 18lbs and the picture is up on our facebook site.
The catfish were particularly active this week and one of the really big ones was landed at well over 100lbs. A large number of big cats were lost which was a bit disappointing but as we have said before you cannot stop the catfish taking the lighter carp tackle.
The second week saw regulars fishing specifically for the catfish. In total over 30 cats were caught with the smallest 30lbs and the biggest being two cats over 80lbs
Some of the bigger catfish were lost due to some dodgy line that seemed to break too easily at the knot. Once this problem was sorted then the results improved dramatically. A few carp were also caught with the biggest again just over the 30lb mark.
Only fishing during the day and returning to the caravan site each evening to sample Stefan’s food and a few bevvies the men had a great time.
Vert
Two new customers fishing Vert had a fantastic time. The lake certainly lived up to its reputation as a runs water with me jokingly setting targets of 10 fish each per day.
They achieved this with no problems and both anglers managed personal best common and mirror carp. There were a good number of 20lb+ carp with the biggest a 28lb common.
On the catfish front, neither angler had experienced the awesome power of these fish and now I think they are both hooked on cats. Thirty pounders were caught by both anglers and they have assured me they will be returning next year, more experienced and tackled up for a catfish bonanza.
The second week again saw new clients fishing for the first time in France. Having read my tweets and facebook entries they set themselves a target of 100 fish in the week. Fishing only days – again the lure of Stefan's food and the odd cold beer – kept them away in the evenings and also they had a day off to travel around the beautiful countryside.
They managed 105 fish in total with personal bests in both carp and catfish.
The largest carp was a mirror of 28lbs and the biggest catfish came in at 39lbs.
Bleu
What an astonishing week on Bleu!
Two returning clients managed a phenomenal 179 fish comprising of 161 carp and 18 catfish. The total weight was over 3200lbs.
Of the carp, there were at least 20 over 20lbs but what was to me a really pleasant surprise was that they caught several carp between five and 10lbs. These small carp must have bred over the last two to three years in the lake.
The catfish ranged from 30lbs+ to one of just over the 100lb mark. Several large cats also managed to evade the net but our two anglers went home very happy and exhausted.
The second week on bleu was also very productive for returning clients: 80 fish were caught in total for a weight just in excess of 2000lbs.
Of the 50 carp caught the biggest was just under 30 lbs for both commons and mirrors.
The catfish were again caught between 30 and 90lbs with some monsters lost. The main target was ‘Red October’ but unfortunately it either did not want to play or it was one of the ones that got away.
As there was nobody on Rouge that week they spent a couple of days fishing there to sample the big lake for later on in the year and the second visit.
The third week again we had regulars down who just fished during the day as Stefan’s refreshments beckoned every night.
Fishing mainly for carp they had excellent results with commons and mirrors to just under the 30lb mark. One interesting catch was a 28lb common caught five years ago at 23lbs.
What was also quite inexplicable was that the dam wall side of the lake produced all carp with no catfish landed at all and the Vert end of the lake caught carp and cats about 50/50. Explain that if you can?
The biggest catfish landed was 49lbs.
I would like to thank everybody for there custom and leaving the lakes in perfect condition
Tight Lines
John James
06 June 2011
Over the last three weeks Rouge has been fished twice, Bleu three times and Vert twice. With the weather being the typical glorious sunshine the fishing has also followed suit.
Rouge
First week we had our regular dutch visitors who had an excellent week with 66 fish (I think about ten of these came from Vert). A couple of thirties were caught with the biggest being 34lbs. A fabulous looking fully scaled mirror was caught at 18lbs and the picture is up on our facebook site.
The catfish were particularly active this week and one of the really big ones was landed at well over 100lbs. A large number of big cats were lost which was a bit disappointing but as we have said before you cannot stop the catfish taking the lighter carp tackle.
The second week saw regulars fishing specifically for the catfish. In total over 30 cats were caught with the smallest 30lbs and the biggest being two cats over 80lbs
Some of the bigger catfish were lost due to some dodgy line that seemed to break too easily at the knot. Once this problem was sorted then the results improved dramatically. A few carp were also caught with the biggest again just over the 30lb mark.
Only fishing during the day and returning to the caravan site each evening to sample Stefan’s food and a few bevvies the men had a great time.
Vert
Two new customers fishing Vert had a fantastic time. The lake certainly lived up to its reputation as a runs water with me jokingly setting targets of 10 fish each per day.
They achieved this with no problems and both anglers managed personal best common and mirror carp. There were a good number of 20lb+ carp with the biggest a 28lb common.
On the catfish front, neither angler had experienced the awesome power of these fish and now I think they are both hooked on cats. Thirty pounders were caught by both anglers and they have assured me they will be returning next year, more experienced and tackled up for a catfish bonanza.
The second week again saw new clients fishing for the first time in France. Having read my tweets and facebook entries they set themselves a target of 100 fish in the week. Fishing only days – again the lure of Stefan's food and the odd cold beer – kept them away in the evenings and also they had a day off to travel around the beautiful countryside.
They managed 105 fish in total with personal bests in both carp and catfish.
The largest carp was a mirror of 28lbs and the biggest catfish came in at 39lbs.
Bleu
What an astonishing week on Bleu!
Two returning clients managed a phenomenal 179 fish comprising of 161 carp and 18 catfish. The total weight was over 3200lbs.
Of the carp, there were at least 20 over 20lbs but what was to me a really pleasant surprise was that they caught several carp between five and 10lbs. These small carp must have bred over the last two to three years in the lake.
The catfish ranged from 30lbs+ to one of just over the 100lb mark. Several large cats also managed to evade the net but our two anglers went home very happy and exhausted.
The second week on bleu was also very productive for returning clients: 80 fish were caught in total for a weight just in excess of 2000lbs.
Of the 50 carp caught the biggest was just under 30 lbs for both commons and mirrors.
The catfish were again caught between 30 and 90lbs with some monsters lost. The main target was ‘Red October’ but unfortunately it either did not want to play or it was one of the ones that got away.
As there was nobody on Rouge that week they spent a couple of days fishing there to sample the big lake for later on in the year and the second visit.
The third week again we had regulars down who just fished during the day as Stefan’s refreshments beckoned every night.
Fishing mainly for carp they had excellent results with commons and mirrors to just under the 30lb mark. One interesting catch was a 28lb common caught five years ago at 23lbs.
What was also quite inexplicable was that the dam wall side of the lake produced all carp with no catfish landed at all and the Vert end of the lake caught carp and cats about 50/50. Explain that if you can?
The biggest catfish landed was 49lbs.
I would like to thank everybody for there custom and leaving the lakes in perfect condition
Tight Lines
John James
Two weeks, lots of fish!
Week one
Vert
A fortnight ago we had three anglers on Vert, one returning after many years and two ‘freshers’. They had a target of 100 fish for the week between all three and boy did they smash that target: the grand total was 145 fish and all three anglers had personal best catfish, commons and mirrors.
A good range of sizes were caught with a few low teens carp both common and mirrors, many upper doubles and quite a few twenty plus carp.
The catfish went up to just over fifty pounds and I am not aware of any less than twenty seven being caught.
Vert, our smallest lake, showed its outstanding quality and quantity of fish -- a brilliant week for all three anglers.
From my side it was a pleasure to arrive at the lakes on Saturday morning and find everything beautifully clean and tidy. Thanks very much lads.
Attached are a few photos with on flickr and right here on this website. (Check out the knee on the catfish photo!)
Week two
Rouge
Last week saw five anglers fishing Rouge for the first time after sampling Vert twice last year. Two of the fishermen were concentrating mainly on catfish and the other three wanted anything that swam by their lines.
With scorching hot weather and some spawning they managed an excellent 44 fish, both cats and carp. Round the back of the lake produced the best results with the ‘Old Man’ (that’s what they called him on a good day!).
Bob, as I always called him, managed an 83lb cat on carp gear along with one of 70lbs and two more of 60+ lbs. he also caught the biggest carp at nearly 29 lbs.
Everybody else caught a good number of fish but I have to say a lot of very big catfish were lost from swims 1,2 and 4. 'Why oh why do the big catfish get hooked on the carp tackle?' was the question I was asked every day. --- I’ve no answer.
Once again thanks guys for leaving everything so clean and tidy. I look forward to your return visit later this year to attack the monster ‘Red October’ in Bleu.
Tight Lines
John James
15 May 2011
Week one
Vert
A fortnight ago we had three anglers on Vert, one returning after many years and two ‘freshers’. They had a target of 100 fish for the week between all three and boy did they smash that target: the grand total was 145 fish and all three anglers had personal best catfish, commons and mirrors.
A good range of sizes were caught with a few low teens carp both common and mirrors, many upper doubles and quite a few twenty plus carp.
The catfish went up to just over fifty pounds and I am not aware of any less than twenty seven being caught.
Vert, our smallest lake, showed its outstanding quality and quantity of fish -- a brilliant week for all three anglers.
From my side it was a pleasure to arrive at the lakes on Saturday morning and find everything beautifully clean and tidy. Thanks very much lads.
Attached are a few photos with on flickr and right here on this website. (Check out the knee on the catfish photo!)
Week two
Rouge
Last week saw five anglers fishing Rouge for the first time after sampling Vert twice last year. Two of the fishermen were concentrating mainly on catfish and the other three wanted anything that swam by their lines.
With scorching hot weather and some spawning they managed an excellent 44 fish, both cats and carp. Round the back of the lake produced the best results with the ‘Old Man’ (that’s what they called him on a good day!).
Bob, as I always called him, managed an 83lb cat on carp gear along with one of 70lbs and two more of 60+ lbs. he also caught the biggest carp at nearly 29 lbs.
Everybody else caught a good number of fish but I have to say a lot of very big catfish were lost from swims 1,2 and 4. 'Why oh why do the big catfish get hooked on the carp tackle?' was the question I was asked every day. --- I’ve no answer.
Once again thanks guys for leaving everything so clean and tidy. I look forward to your return visit later this year to attack the monster ‘Red October’ in Bleu.
Still waiting for the best photos guys!
Tight Lines
John James
Second week update
Rouge
The second week of fishermen saw once again fantastic weather and excellent fishing.
Two new fishermen to Exclusive Angling Holidays and one completely new to France had a whale of a time catching personal best mirror, common and catfish.
Although the week was a bit slower than the first, the guys caught over thirty fish with carp to high twenties and in total four catfish over fifty pounds. The biggest carp was 29+ pound and the biggest catfish 62 pounds.
One new we are offering this year is a meals package offered by Charlies Kitchen. This went down fantastically well and I received the following email from Mark
“Thanks for a great week fishing on Rouge, me and Nick both enjoyed fishing for the Carp and Cats with Carp to 29lbs and Cats to 62lbs. Would also like to say thanks to Charlie for the excellent food, and would also like to recommend her to any anglers fishing the lakes this year. 25 Euros for 3 meals a day delivered to the lakes offered excellent value, the quality of food and sevice was very impressive. Maybe see you again in September
Best Regards
Mark & Nick”
The anglers had never caught catfish before so it was a bit unfortunate that they hooked a few real biggies and got snapped up. Now they are more experienced: look out next time, biggies!
Tight Lines
John James
28 April 2011
Rouge
The second week of fishermen saw once again fantastic weather and excellent fishing.
Two new fishermen to Exclusive Angling Holidays and one completely new to France had a whale of a time catching personal best mirror, common and catfish.
Although the week was a bit slower than the first, the guys caught over thirty fish with carp to high twenties and in total four catfish over fifty pounds. The biggest carp was 29+ pound and the biggest catfish 62 pounds.
One new we are offering this year is a meals package offered by Charlies Kitchen. This went down fantastically well and I received the following email from Mark
“Thanks for a great week fishing on Rouge, me and Nick both enjoyed fishing for the Carp and Cats with Carp to 29lbs and Cats to 62lbs. Would also like to say thanks to Charlie for the excellent food, and would also like to recommend her to any anglers fishing the lakes this year. 25 Euros for 3 meals a day delivered to the lakes offered excellent value, the quality of food and sevice was very impressive. Maybe see you again in September
Best Regards
Mark & Nick”
The anglers had never caught catfish before so it was a bit unfortunate that they hooked a few real biggies and got snapped up. Now they are more experienced: look out next time, biggies!
Tight Lines
John James
First week of the 2011 season
Rouge
Four regular visitors came down to fish Rouge and had an absolute ball.
The week started off with a little rain but from Monday onwards out came the sun and all the anglers managed some serious sunburn --not bad for the first week in April.
The week's totals were just as impressive as the weather with a total of 118 fish caught and not even all fishermen fishing nights --they were just too tired from hauling fish out.
95 Carp with the biggest just under thirty and the majority well over twenty
23 Catfish made up the massive total of 2673lbs with the smallest cat at 27 1/2lbs and the biggest two were 85lb and 85lb 1 oz.
The 1 oz was very important as it became the butt of all the jokes and the biggest fish --Yes Terry you are the star and when you come back can I have my 2oz lead back please!
It was a great week thanks guys for leaving everything so tidy.
Tight Lines
John James
06 February 2011
Rouge
Four regular visitors came down to fish Rouge and had an absolute ball.
The week started off with a little rain but from Monday onwards out came the sun and all the anglers managed some serious sunburn --not bad for the first week in April.
The week's totals were just as impressive as the weather with a total of 118 fish caught and not even all fishermen fishing nights --they were just too tired from hauling fish out.
95 Carp with the biggest just under thirty and the majority well over twenty
23 Catfish made up the massive total of 2673lbs with the smallest cat at 27 1/2lbs and the biggest two were 85lb and 85lb 1 oz.
The 1 oz was very important as it became the butt of all the jokes and the biggest fish --Yes Terry you are the star and when you come back can I have my 2oz lead back please!
It was a great week thanks guys for leaving everything so tidy.
Tight Lines
John James
Pre-season update
It's been a fantastic and exciting winter for Exclusive Angling Holidays! In November we drained and netted the lakes for the first time and last week we took delivery of a batch of stunning fish to top up the existing stock. Safe to say now I can't wait for the season to start...
Rouge
In Rouge we removed all of the small catfish and bream leaving the bigger cats and all the carp.
Also we were somewhat surprised at the snags that extent of the snags in front of the double swim. We managed to remove, with the help of a big digger, 11 enormous tree stumps covered in line and loads of leads. There's no excuse for lost fish anymore!
Since the draining I have removed a lot of the overhanging trees and snags on both sides of the swims one and two and also most of the overhanging and submerged trees on the far bank.
All this work will provide better fishing and allow the bigger fish to put on plenty of weight.
Vert
Vert wasn’t much of a problem at all except that the drain became blocked and William had to go down the tower in the dark to remove a large lump of concrete.
As with the other lakes, we removed the bream and smaller cats to allow the remainder to grow faster. In addition we were able to remove all the overhanging trees so the big fish now have nowhere to snag people.
Bleu
Bleu wasn’t anything like as problematic as Rouge and we did exactly the same by removing the bream and smaller catfish. The biggest surprise we had came when we pulled the nets for the first time and found a rather large 100lb+ catfish. With a variety of weight estimates I can only guarantee one thing and that is that I will need bigger scales as it will certainly bottom the 125lb scales I currently hire out!
As I have now finished removing snags from Rouge, Bleu is my next challenge which will be completed before we re-open in April. Snags wise Bleu hasn’t got the problems that Rouge had but there are a lot of overhanging trees to sort out.
Finally last week we took delivery of some new Carp to supplement the existing stocks including some gorgeous fish, both commons and mirrors.
I am currently feeding these fish on a daily basis when the lakes aren’t frozen.
I will start tweeting again so keep looking -- you can also stay in touch via facebook by clicking on the link below.
Tight Lines
John James
05 September 2010
It's been a fantastic and exciting winter for Exclusive Angling Holidays! In November we drained and netted the lakes for the first time and last week we took delivery of a batch of stunning fish to top up the existing stock. Safe to say now I can't wait for the season to start...
Rouge
In Rouge we removed all of the small catfish and bream leaving the bigger cats and all the carp.
Also we were somewhat surprised at the snags that extent of the snags in front of the double swim. We managed to remove, with the help of a big digger, 11 enormous tree stumps covered in line and loads of leads. There's no excuse for lost fish anymore!
Since the draining I have removed a lot of the overhanging trees and snags on both sides of the swims one and two and also most of the overhanging and submerged trees on the far bank.
All this work will provide better fishing and allow the bigger fish to put on plenty of weight.
Vert
Vert wasn’t much of a problem at all except that the drain became blocked and William had to go down the tower in the dark to remove a large lump of concrete.
As with the other lakes, we removed the bream and smaller cats to allow the remainder to grow faster. In addition we were able to remove all the overhanging trees so the big fish now have nowhere to snag people.
Bleu
Bleu wasn’t anything like as problematic as Rouge and we did exactly the same by removing the bream and smaller catfish. The biggest surprise we had came when we pulled the nets for the first time and found a rather large 100lb+ catfish. With a variety of weight estimates I can only guarantee one thing and that is that I will need bigger scales as it will certainly bottom the 125lb scales I currently hire out!
As I have now finished removing snags from Rouge, Bleu is my next challenge which will be completed before we re-open in April. Snags wise Bleu hasn’t got the problems that Rouge had but there are a lot of overhanging trees to sort out.
Finally last week we took delivery of some new Carp to supplement the existing stocks including some gorgeous fish, both commons and mirrors.
I am currently feeding these fish on a daily basis when the lakes aren’t frozen.
I will start tweeting again so keep looking -- you can also stay in touch via facebook by clicking on the link below.
Tight Lines
John James
October special offers
To end the season with a bang we're opening up our usual October special offers to everyone, whether this is your first visit to Exclusive Angling Holidays, or if you've been coming for years.
October is a fantastic time to bag up as the fish get their heads down before the winter. The temperature can still be very warm, and the leaves changing colour in the sweet chestnut forests surrounding the lakes is a sight to behold!
These offers include exclusive use of the lake and chalet plus the 6 berth caravan on the caravan site.
Rouge
October 10th £500
October 17th £500
October 24th £500
Bleu
October 10th £500
October 17th £500
October 24th £500
Vert
October 10th £400
October 17th £400
October 24th £400
Book online or ring me on 0033 553628801
Tight lines
John James
Update
First things first, we have now updated the website for 2011 and the bookings table is ready for next year. Please use the booking page or give me a ring on 0033 553628801
Last week saw Bleu and Vert fished in glorious weather apart from one heavy nights' rain and a few weak thunder storms.
Vert
Returning fishermen from a couple of years ago came down with their two daughters and families hiring not just my lake, but two additional caravans on Stefan's site.
As a full family holiday it went very well with lots of fish caught, carp into the twenties and catfish into the forties. With the scorching sunshine a lot of fish were caught on ‘mixers’ off the top.
I’m glad you had a great time leaving the lake and chalet pristine and I hope to see you again soon.
Bleu
Again returning guests, Dad and his two sons.
Bleu came up trumps as usual with lots of carp to high twenties and cats. The family had one major objective for the holiday which was to catch a big catfish.
Saturday to Wednesday proved a bit frustrating with some big ones hooked but not landed. On Thursday we tried the dumbbell livebait rigs to try and tempt the big ones. I stopped till about 10:30 when we caught a thirty pounder. On Friday when I went to the lakes I was greeted with huge smiles as they had landed a biggy which bottomed the 44kg scales.
Well done and once again thanks for leaving everything so tidy. See you again next year.
Tight Lines
John James
26 July 2010
First things first, we have now updated the website for 2011 and the bookings table is ready for next year. Please use the booking page or give me a ring on 0033 553628801
Last week saw Bleu and Vert fished in glorious weather apart from one heavy nights' rain and a few weak thunder storms.
Vert
Returning fishermen from a couple of years ago came down with their two daughters and families hiring not just my lake, but two additional caravans on Stefan's site.
As a full family holiday it went very well with lots of fish caught, carp into the twenties and catfish into the forties. With the scorching sunshine a lot of fish were caught on ‘mixers’ off the top.
I’m glad you had a great time leaving the lake and chalet pristine and I hope to see you again soon.
Bleu
Again returning guests, Dad and his two sons.
Bleu came up trumps as usual with lots of carp to high twenties and cats. The family had one major objective for the holiday which was to catch a big catfish.
Saturday to Wednesday proved a bit frustrating with some big ones hooked but not landed. On Thursday we tried the dumbbell livebait rigs to try and tempt the big ones. I stopped till about 10:30 when we caught a thirty pounder. On Friday when I went to the lakes I was greeted with huge smiles as they had landed a biggy which bottomed the 44kg scales.
Well done and once again thanks for leaving everything so tidy. See you again next year.
Tight Lines
John James
July so far
The last two weeks have been excellent with fantastic wall-to-wall sunshine and fishing of the highest calibre on Vert and Rouge.
Rouge
Colin returned with two friends to rouge for the umpteeth time. Their main target was to connect with some of the lakes many big cats. Peter, the newbie, managed personal best carp and catfish within the first two days, 32lbs+ and 55lb respectively.
Many cats to 60lb were caught but the bigger cats won on most days until the last, which threw up a whopping 91lber.
Well done lads and all your photos are now on the website.
Vert
Four anglers arrived under the guise of ‘Teddys Tours’ expecting to catch fish to about 10lbs...Oops they were so wrong! After losing some tackle they realised that the fish were much bigger than expected and complained that my starter lake was awesome! Being the total professionals (yeah right) they are, they quickly acclimatised to the quality and quantity of fish in the lake. Fishing just the days they had an awesome holiday and suggested I update the website to indicate that it really isn’t a starter lake, but intermediate.
John James
07 July 2010
The last two weeks have been excellent with fantastic wall-to-wall sunshine and fishing of the highest calibre on Vert and Rouge.
Rouge
Colin returned with two friends to rouge for the umpteeth time. Their main target was to connect with some of the lakes many big cats. Peter, the newbie, managed personal best carp and catfish within the first two days, 32lbs+ and 55lb respectively.
Many cats to 60lb were caught but the bigger cats won on most days until the last, which threw up a whopping 91lber.
Well done lads and all your photos are now on the website.
Vert
Four anglers arrived under the guise of ‘Teddys Tours’ expecting to catch fish to about 10lbs...Oops they were so wrong! After losing some tackle they realised that the fish were much bigger than expected and complained that my starter lake was awesome! Being the total professionals (yeah right) they are, they quickly acclimatised to the quality and quantity of fish in the lake. Fishing just the days they had an awesome holiday and suggested I update the website to indicate that it really isn’t a starter lake, but intermediate.
Big 20lb carp and 50lb cats were caught, for more details check out the daily catch reports on twitter.
Thanks for the entertaining time and your photos.
John James
The last two weeks...
Rouge
Lee and his party fished Rouge with specific targets of PB cats and thirty pound Carp: everyone managed the cats targets but only two managed the thirty plus Carp.
Overall it was an excellent week except the big cats won all contests. I gillied one night where we seriously tried with the dumbbell rigs to land a big cat. Unfortunately, although we managed to hook two, they were just too powerful to be landed – heading straight for the snags.
Over fifty fish were caught in total with the cats to 50lbs+ and three 30lb+ carp, the biggest a stunning 36lber.
Last week saw Terry and Andy come down with two friends and grandson. Fishing both Rouge and Bleu it was a fascinating week of stunning weather and stunning fishing. For the people who have been keeping up with my “tweeting” you will know that some cracking fish were caught.
Andy is the lake record holder with a 113lb catfish and yet again he had some cracking fish as well as some ‘crack-off’ from even bigger cats. 95lb cat was the biggest and 32lb carp came in on Rouge
Another notable catch was young Kieran the grandson who seemed to improve his personal best every day finishing up with a 60lb cat.
Bleu
Bleu was completely different with only about four cats caught but many carp about fifty was the guess with the best being a fantastic 32lb common. An 88 and 69lb cat were the best and they both really beat up the catcher.
Well done to everybody and as usual thanks for leaving everything so tidy.
Tight Lines
John James
29 June 2010
Rouge
Lee and his party fished Rouge with specific targets of PB cats and thirty pound Carp: everyone managed the cats targets but only two managed the thirty plus Carp.
Overall it was an excellent week except the big cats won all contests. I gillied one night where we seriously tried with the dumbbell rigs to land a big cat. Unfortunately, although we managed to hook two, they were just too powerful to be landed – heading straight for the snags.
Over fifty fish were caught in total with the cats to 50lbs+ and three 30lb+ carp, the biggest a stunning 36lber.
Last week saw Terry and Andy come down with two friends and grandson. Fishing both Rouge and Bleu it was a fascinating week of stunning weather and stunning fishing. For the people who have been keeping up with my “tweeting” you will know that some cracking fish were caught.
Andy is the lake record holder with a 113lb catfish and yet again he had some cracking fish as well as some ‘crack-off’ from even bigger cats. 95lb cat was the biggest and 32lb carp came in on Rouge
Another notable catch was young Kieran the grandson who seemed to improve his personal best every day finishing up with a 60lb cat.
Bleu
Bleu was completely different with only about four cats caught but many carp about fifty was the guess with the best being a fantastic 32lb common. An 88 and 69lb cat were the best and they both really beat up the catcher.
Well done to everybody and as usual thanks for leaving everything so tidy.
Tight Lines
John James
June 12th
Rouge
Only fishing days, and not braving all the storms, Martin and Alan managed a creditable 32 fish with the biggest catfish being 65lbs and the biggest carp 23lbs. It was very noticeable that during the storms the fish didn’t bite but as soon as the storms finished and the sun came out the fishing went mad for about an hour with rods going off one after another.
All the big carp seemed to be just topping and not feeding but many were seen and definitely whetted the appetite as Martin is returning later on this year.
Yet again the stories of lost big cats were prevalent and I was asked why have I not trained the big cats to take the catfish baits and strong tackle instead of the carp set-ups.
Sorry folks I cannot oblige.
Bleu
Colin and Mike returned for the umpteenth time, suffering the same fate (obviously) with the weather and fishing. Only fishing days they did manage a good haul of fish with cats to over 50lbs and Commons and mirrors of 27lbs+. In total 850 and 450 lbs were the individual totals which was really fantastic under the circumstances.
My first view of Colin was of him hidden in the trees trying to get a catfish out from under the island bank. My only regret is that I didn’t have a video camera as I would easily have got £250 from the TV channels. Mike and I were in hysterics. The fish was landed and proved to be a superb 52lb catfish.
Tight Lines
John James
Archives
December 2005 April 2006 June 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 January 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 November 2009 January 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 February 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011
