NEW ROUGE CATFISH RECORD at 110lbs!

Rouge

Returning for his second trip of the year, Colin beat the Rouge catfish record with a stunning 110lbs specimen. The fish was caught on a dumbell-rigged live roach in the early hours of Monday morning, and witnessed by the lake owner. After catching several 30lb+ specimens in his first trip, Colin came back geared up and ready for the big one, and made no mistake when the opportunity came along!



In addition to this stunning Cat, the Carp were also still well and truly on the feed. Colin banked around 13 fish to a new PB weight of 29lbs, and a noteworthy 26.07 Common. I also fished one night with him on Rouge and landed 3 carp including two twenties at 22.08 and 28.14.



Thanks to Colin for a very entertaining week, and for letting me and Dad have a go alongside him. (I forgot to mention, Dad fished one night and an evening but blanked...!)

Tight Lines
Will James

Heads down, Tails up!

After a frustratingly slow week the fish seem to have got right into feeding mode again as the weather turns colder and more leaves fall from the trees.

Rouge

Another party who have visited us in the past, and decided to return after some time away, fished Rouge this week. Based in the double swim, they fished tight to markers throughout the course of the wek and were rewarded with some fantastic fish.

Their final tally was 47 fish, of which almost all were Carp. They had fish at 31lb, 33lb and 35lb along with a host of twenties, including some fantastic commons. Despite struggling for takes from the Catfish on livebait tactics, Will managed to bag a 40lb+ specimen on his last day.

A fantastic week's fishing, and a pleasure to have you guys down. Thanks!

Vert

I fished one night on Vert and had 6 Carp in just 12 hours. The biggest was a perfect Common of 18lb 8oz, who was joined by 2 other lovely specimens over the 16lb mark. All the fish fell to Essential Baits Shellfish b5 (leftover from a customers holiday earlier this year!) and 4 of the 6 fish were caught within two feet of the bank.

No pictures unfortunately, as my camera is broken :-(

Bleu

A superb week on Bleu, for yet more returning customers. The three lads managed to catch some of the most elusive and sought after fish in the lake using our own Premier baits range. New PB Carp of 31lbs, 28lb and 25lb were taken by the three anglers respectively, and 'The Big Common' was also hooked but unfortunately lost at the net.

However, despite that amazing array of Carp, it was the Catfish who really stole the show. A specimen estimated by the anglers to exceed 100lbs was banked (unusually, in daylight) and followed by another 85lber that i had the pleasure to witness myself. Both fell to the same angler, and were, of course, new PBs. Not wanting to miss out, both other anglers weighed in with new PBs in the 20lb and 50lb brackets. Special mention has to go with the capture of the latter which was taken just into darkness on their last night and on 15lb line!



Tight Lines
Will James

Exclusive Angling Holidays in the national press!

The Daily Mail recently featured Exclusive Angling Holidays in their 'Best places in the world to fish' feature. A fantastic boost for business, even if they under-estimated the size of our whopping Catfish!

Here is the article in full (click for a bigger version):



Tight Lines
Will James

A few hard-earned fish

With only one booking on this week, and some VERY autumnal weather around it was overall a quiet week on the complex, but here goes with the results...

Rouge

Fishing from the main double swim, Duncan and Keith managed 7 Carp and a Cat during their week, and when the action was slow they hopped onto Vert for a few more bites. The biggest Carp weighed in at 26lbs, and the only Catfish caught was around the 20lb mark. maybe not the biggest catch of the year, but they certainly had to work hard for each bite and deserve credit for sticking at it!



Vert

As ever, Vert produced the goods when it needed to. Whilst taking a break from head-scratching on Rouge the guys dropped down and took some lovely Carp up to 24lb, including this fantastic common of 17lbs from Keith



Tight Lines
Will James

Autumn has arrived

Rouge

Led by an previous customer of Exclusive Angling Holidays, 3 anglers took to Rouge this week with some great results. Fishing with Premier Baits 'Matrix' boilies they worked hard and adapted to the differing demands of the lake conditions to bag 2 thirty pound plus carp as well as several twenties and a few stunning smaller specimens. On the Catfish front the biggest (which i had the pleasure to witness) was bang on the 50lb and was backed up by specimens of 43lbs and a host of other 30lbers.

Paying us a huge compliment, Simon said to us during his holiday:

"I've fished other venues in France, and every time i find myself comparing them to this one - and nothing's quite lived up to it yet."

Thanks for coming back!

(Pictures to follow this week)

Vert

Dave and co. fished using light float fishing tactics in the margin to bag over 50 fish in a week including 4 Carp estimated to exceed 30lbs in weight. A fantastic week for Vert.

Bleu

The fishing on Bleu was a little off-colour to say the least last week, with only a handful of fish coming out and notably nothing during darkness. However, when you consider that the few that did come out included two big cats, one estimated to weigh above 65lbs, it wasn't such a bad week! Especially when all anglers were allowed to pop onto Vert and bag a few lovely carp.

Tight Lines
Will James

Catch-up

Apologies for the lack of update last week - I'll endeavour to catch things up here and get you all up to date on the latest catches from Etangs Des Papillons:

Rouge

Some long-time Exclusive Angling Holidays customers fish Rouge this September, taking around 45 fish. Of these, the biggest was a whopping Catfish of 80lbs+ and a cracking Mirror just over the 30lb barrier. This was backed up by to PB breaking Carp of 29lbs and 29lbs 8oz. The fish are now being caught from all over the lake, with the best carp coming from the double swim, and the big cat from behind the island. Whilst the chalet swim didn't produce as well as the others, all anglers caught both carp and cats. Thanks guys.

After a week's rest Rouge hosted 4 intrepid Irish anglers who made a monumental trip for their bi-annual visit to the lakes. Whilst the weather was mixed to say the least everyone caught well and several carp in the low thirties were caught (including two on the very last night of the trip!). nice to meet you all, and i hope to see you again some time in the future.

Bleu

Martin returned for his second trip of the year, and fishing with his wife, took some excellent Carp into the mid-twenties and some cracking Catfish to boot. Fishing from the large swim by the bench, and casting into both the island margins and open water most fish fell to halibut pellet fished over a bed of trout pellets. Leaving with a total of 18 fish from 5 day's fishing, we look forward to seeing Martin again next year - cheers!

More loyal Exclusive Angling Holidays customers fished Bleu the following week and managed another great week's fishing. Again, catching Carp to mid-twenties and catfish the majority of fish came from the top end of the lake (towards the dam wall)
Thanks for your repeated custom guys, and we'll see you next year!

Last week was a superb one for Bleu, and saw two different thirties on the bank! First-time customers, they baited heavily with both pellet and boilie and reaped the rewards in spectacular style with a 60lb+ catfish on the first night followed later in the week by a fantastic common at a shade over 30lbs and then a magnificent mirror of 34lb! This was backed up by a good number of twenties and plenty of smaller cats. Only 12 months to go till next time guys!

Tight Lines
Will James