James and Jamie are two brothers from Nigel and Jo’s neck of the woods back in the UK and had never been to France fishing before. James is an avid angler who works to fish which we are sure many of you can relate to. Jamie came along for the holiday as the two of them try to get away for a break together every year and having spent some time at Jamie’s choice of Rome last year, it was James’ turn to choose and he booked a week here on Lac Lucie.
Arriving on Saturday Nigel collected them and took them to the supermarket for supplies of beer and snacks and they got back here in time to get themselves set up on the main bank before their tea. They had decided they did not want to risk bringing hooks and weights in their luggage as they only bought hand luggage so bought some Pallatrax Stonze and Gripz from our little shop and the end tackle did them proud.
Saturday night Jamie caught a 37lb 4oz mirror during the night and the competition had started. James was not too happy that his brother had caught the first fish and got his head down thinking where the fish could be. They moved over to the side swim on Sunday and then round to the left bank for a while on Monday but with no fish out all day on Monday, James decided that they were going to move back to the main bank on Monday night and stop there as all they seemed to be doing was chasing the fish around the lake.
The brothers had chosen not to fish all night but to fish most of the day and pack up at around midnight; autumn is starting to take hold and the nights are definitely getting colder, even if the days are still seeing some sunshine.
And it paid off as on Monday evening at about 10.30pm James caught his first of the week, a 47lb 5oz common caught on Nigel’s spicy fish wafter. Not the greatest photo, but Jamie did suffer for it afterwards and so improved his photography skills over the week.
On Tuesday they decided not to fish in the afternoon and relaxed up at the chalet. Nigel suggested that they try using the bait boat to get their bait and rigs exactly where they want them and they ended up having a great evening after tea with Jamie catching one at 23lb 10oz and James clocking two more up at 38lb 2oz and 29lb 8oz. Jamie has not done a lot of fishing before and did not feel confident holding the fish so we do not have a photo of his.
On Wednesday they didn’t fish. It rained all day so Jo took them to the supermarket for more supplies and they caught up on some sleep and some Only Fools and Horses on the TV in the chalet. By this point Jamie had decided he wasn’t a big fan of fishing although he was evidently enjoying spending time with his brother. He was missing his new 13 week old puppy more than anything and Maisie was providing a good substitute but not quite the same.
James had another couple out during the day on Thursday with a double take around lunchtime. A lovely 28lb 8oz mirror and a 33lb 4oz common.
James was happy with what he had caught so far but on Friday when they came up for breakfast he told us he had had two more a 39lb 12oz mirror and a 37lb common caught after the sun had risen.
Friday saw another 40lber caught by James and you can see that he was thrilled with this, and Jamie had mastered the photography by the last day.
James was pretty much fishing on his own now although Jamie was down there during the daytime to provide him some company and James stayed out til late on Friday night knowing that it was his last chance for another big one. But he finished the week with the smallest fish of the week, a 24lb 8oz mirror.
Not a bad final summary considering for most of the week it was only James fishing and even he was only fishing until about midnight each day and had some good time off up at the chalet. Seven of the fish were caught using the spicy fish wafters, with one on a hooker, one on a pop up and one a snowman rig. So they had 11 carp out in total, 0 babies, 0 at 10lb+, 4 at 20lb+, 5 at 30lb+ and 2 at 40lb+
We have enjoyed our week with these two and hope to see them again someday, although we guess that it might just be James on his own. Until next time à bientôt…
