Catch results 20/07/08

Rouge

Returning for their third visit Leigh, Ben, Matt and Eamonn fished Rouge in baking conditions. Despite the hot weather the fish continued to feed, and all anglers banked some cracking fish. The highlight was a 30lb+ Carp for young Ben and a whopping 40lb+ cat for Matt. In addition to this they managed plenty of stunning carp over the twenty pound mark, a few cats in excess of thirty pounds and a few smaller fish of both species.



Well done guys!

Tight Lines
Will James

Catch results 5/07/08 and 12/07/08

Rouge

After hearing that their target fish "The biggun'" (or "Scarface" as it is now known), had been out the previous week, Alan and Lee opted to drop onto the vacant Bleu in the hope of being the first to bag one of the 100lb+ Cats that we are sure inhabit the lake.

Vert

For the first week of their holiday our other visiting party fished Vert. This was their first week fishing in France, and proved to be very successful! Fishing daytime sessions only, David and Julie banked plenty of carp to 23lbs 9oz and catfish to 43lbs 1oz.

The majority of the carp were caught using both our own Premier baits boilies and strawberry boilies brought from home, whilst the cats fell to triple 22mm halibut pellets (a couple of the bigger carp also fell to this rod, somehow wedging all that bait in their mouths, along with the hook!).




Bleu

Alan and Lee are definitely big catfish anglers, and every time they come to visit they seem to bag a big one - many of you will recognise Alan's face from last year's lake record Catfish. Well, this year was no exception, but it was Lee's turn (long overdue by his reckoning!), Weighing in with another monster 90lb+ specimen. The fish is one they have caught before, identifiable by a 'Split whisker', but at nowhere near this weight - proving that the cats just keep on growing in Bleu. There can be no doubt that the 100lb barrier will be broken soon on this lake.

Pictures of all the guys' catch will follow.

Having warmed up on Vert, David and Julie dropped down onto Bleu for their second week with us, and continued catching at a very steady pace. The weather was disappointing during their time on Vert, but warmed up noticeably during their time on Bleu. This seemed to spur the 'smaller' cats into action, and throughout the week David had constant action. In addition he upped his PB yet again , from 43lbs 1oz on Vert to 49lbs 7oz, along with another two 40lbs+ fish - not bad for someone who had never caught a catfish before!

The carp fishing on Bleu started out a little slower, but fish came out sporadically during the week. The two biggest fish of the holiday fell to Julie at just over the 25lb mark, congratulations!

In total, over the course of their fortnight, 15 Carp over 20lbs were banked, and 29 smaller fish. On the catfish, a total of 43 fish were caught: 16 under 20lbs, 15 between 20lbs and 30lbs, 9 thirties and 3 forties. A fantastic effort, especially without fishing nights or late into the evening. Thanks for a great couple of weeks!



Tight Lines
Will James

Catch report 28/06/08

Rouge

As reported below, the three anglers on Rouge had a smashing week! Not only did the Williams brothers bank the brace of catfish I showed you in my last update, at 80lbs and 113lbs (new lake record) but, along with Terry, they also managed three thirty pound plus Carp, and a host of twenties.

Terry and Andy have been visiting our lakes for years, and have always done exceptionally well. Last year, Andy banked a 90lb+ Catfish from Bleu and lost another couple of biggies, so these guys are no stranger to good fishing, and big fish. However they could barely believe the pace of the sport that arrived on their second night, and improved again on their third when they banked the big girl. By resting the lake during the day, and stalking on Vert or in other areas of Rouge, they seemed to be able to get the fish feeding heavily over their baited spots. The frantic action started as soon as the rods went out at night, and continued until they were too tired to cast them out again.

It says a lot that during the entire week, I barely saw a rod in the water, and drove past a couple of times after 10am to see rods strewn at all angles, and a steady stream of ZZZs emerging from all three bivvies!

Charlie was on his first visit to Etangs Des Papillons and, indeed, his first serious carp fishing trip for 8 years. Needless to say, the carping bug came back with a vengeance when he saw the lakes, and I'm delighted to say he managed a thirty pound carp from Rouge, in addition to his stunning 80lb catfish.

The other two thirties were taken off the top by Terry from 'The Stalking Bay' and the double swim, the result of plenty of patient baiting, and the odd shenanigan too... :-)

Our own Premier Baits Lobster and N-Butyric GLM mix did the trick for a lot of the fish caught at night, fished in conjunction with plenty of pellet and other goodies.

Thanks for a cracking week lads!



Vert

A few of the fish taken from Vert during the day:



Bleu



Tight Lines
Will James

Special Update

Rouge

Last night, at around 11pm I got a phone call asking me to come down to Rouge. On my arrival there were two sets of car headlights on, torches darting around, rods everywhere and 3 very happy, if ever-so-slightly shell-shocked looking anglers.

Apparently, they had had a bit of a mad hour, and wanted a hand with some photos...

The first one out of the water (where they had been retained safely, with our permission) was a whopping 80lb Catfish - Very nice Charlie.

The second, made the first one look a bit...tiddly.The biggun that was weighed and witnessed by me and my Dad at a weight of 113lbs - a new lake record. Congratulations Andy!

The third was a cracking carp of just a shade under 30lbs, and what I didn't get to see were the two 30lbs+ cats that were caught in the same period, but didn't get weighed or photographed as there wasn't enough nets and mats to go round!

Incredible scenes, and more pictures to follow at the end of the week.



Vert

Also, you may remember I mentioned a young angler who had a spectacular afternoon on Vert a few weeks back. Well, here are his pictures (many thanks to Dad for sending them over again after I lost the first batch)



Nice one Liam!

Tight Lines
Will James