Work party produces some of Rouge's best


The annual Etangs Des Papillons work party produced plenty of big carp along with big changes around the lake and big laughs.

Leigh, Gary and I travelled down for a week of working to get put the final touches to the lakes ahead of next week's grand opening. During the evenings and nights we all fished on Rouge and had some fantastic results with five thirties (including two recaptures) and three fish which will undoubtedly reach thirty pounds later on in the season. Some stunning smaller fish including a 20lb leather and mid-double linear also made an appearance.

It was a fantastic week's fishing, which simply got better and better as the weather warmed up. Here are a few of the highlights:



Some heavy frosts at the start of the week saw most fish penned up in front of the double swim. However, as the weather warmed up the fish moved out and started to come from behind the island too.

The cats were active, including two large specimens that got away, and two fish up to the mid-forties were banked.

Most came to pop-ups over small amounts of biopeche pineapple boilies and carp pellets. One fish was taken on 'the method'.

Work Party
On the work front, we got lots of vital work done. The main projects on Bleu were to remove two of the overhanging trees which had become too much of snag - one from the island and one from the bay behind. This involved a lot of getting wet for Dad, Leigh and Gary.

On Vert we tidied the snags at the end of the dam wall and took a few dead trees from the forest behind the straight bank.

Above Rouge we spent a lot of time tidying the awful mess of trees and bramble along the driveway and opened up a lot of space above the existing field. In addition Dad has worked hard to put a permanent overflow in place between Rouge and 'The secret pond' which will reduce the risk of flooding during heavy rain.

On top of that, we had a bloody good laugh. I don't think anyone survived without having the piss taken at some point, especially me and Dad.


Massive thanks to Leigh and Gary for their hard work and enthusiasm throughout the week...and for keeping me and Dad from fighting!

We open up next week to paying customers, so watch this space for more news.

Tight Lines
Will James