2023
Fri 29th Sept 2023
Another great weeks fishing, the weather has been sunny all week with very little rain. Temperature not too hot.
I’ve fished the cabin swim all week from approximately 10.30am until dusk, no night fishing.
Most of the carp came from the right of the island fishing towards the summer house swim and the adjacent swim with the rest coming from the left of the island when fishing got slow.
The two large Cats came from directly in front of the island, it’s a hit and hold tactic which is easier said than done with a 108lbs Cat.
I’ve used cell boilies all week and fired out a fair amount of cooked maize which always seems to help.
Over 50 carp and cats caught this week, best carp 36 Common and best Cat 108lbs Fantastic weeks fishing in anyone’s book.
I’ll be back again next year as always.
Saturday:
Late start 4pm
20 Mirror
28 Mirror
Sunday:
19 Mirror
22 Mirror
28 Mirror
Lost big Cat
14 Mirror
18 Mirror
12 Common
Monday:
98 Cat
27 Mirror
16 Common
27 Mirror
24 Mirror
Tuesday:
26 Common
108 Cat (new lake record)
14 Mirror
22 Common
14 Mirror
14 Common
26 Cat
18 Common
23 Mirror
27 Common
Wednesday:
18 Mirror
19 Common
26 Common
4 Bream
22 Mirror
24 Mirror
30 Common
17 Common
23 Mirror
31 Mirror
12 Mirror
Thursday:
30 Common
28 Common
22 Common
23 Common
28 Common
22 Mirror
11 Common
12 Common
23 Mirror
25 Common
36 Common
24 Mirror
Friday:
20 Common
31 Cat
28 Mirror
24 Common
23 Common
27 Mirror
Stuart P and wife (Runcorn - 16th visit)
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Fri 22nd Sept 2023
This was another maintenance week for myself and Andy, with Andy fishing in the afternoons and a few nights.
Until 4.30pm today Andy's had 19 fish (not including small stuff on the float) and time for a few more yet.
He’s had 17 carp and 2 catfish including two 30lb carp (32lb 13oz and 31lb 2oz) and a monster catfish which Andy caught in the night (I was in bed asleep) which he couldn’t lift to weigh. Andy’s previous catfish PB was 75lb but this one estimated at 85-90lb.
He told me “I’ve just caught the biggest catfish I’ve ever seen!”
Smallest carp caught this week was 16.5lb.
Andy only fished the summerhouse swim this week.
He used a mixture of fish meal boilies and cream boilies.
Also did a bit of float fishing with luncheon meat and sweetcorn and had loads of Rudd and small carp. (This year’s fry).
The weather this week started at 30 deg and sunny but the week averaged out about 22 deg with sun and heavy downpours of rain all week.
Water oxygen level 6.7mg/l (good) water temperature 22 deg.
Loads of grounds and lake maintenance done.
John (owner) Andy H (Stanford Le Hope)
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Fri 15th Sept 2023
Not many fish this week John.
Arrived Saturday 9pm and didn’t get set up until 3pm Sunday but 1st fish out was a 31lb carp.
The weather has been mixed with thunder storms, rain and some sunny days up to 26 degrees.
Total fish for the week was 12 carp with only 1 under 20lbs and 1 catfish at 28lbs. Also lost one of your big cats.
We caught all the fish on sweet corn this week as we couldn’t get a bite on boilies! In saying that we have needed to learn to cast again as we normally use bait boats and we know you don’t allow that.
We mainly fished the cabin swim and had a couple out of the pine tree swim.
Loads of fish boshing out of all the swims all week.
Nice place - lovely week - see you next year.
Steve L and wife + Friend and wife (1st visit)
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Fri 8th Sept 2023
Hi John,
There have been two of us fishing this week. My son, Lawrie on his 2nd visit and first for me. Lawrie has fished a couple of nights pulling in the rods as he caught. No nights for me.
We've had a good week with 47 carp, 5 catfish and a few bream.
Biggest carp were 31lb & 30lb, with 23 over 20lb. The biggest catfish was 59lb, next being 23lb.
The weather has been so warm, above 30 every day, so we have stayed in the cabin swim, close to refreshments and the shade. The first 3 days we had a strong breeze into us, and the fish came at frequent intervals. But for the remaining days, there had been no wind and with the hot weather a bit slower.
We have mainly caught on krill and manilla wafters. Using same flavour boilies with corn, hemp, and hallibut pellets for spod mix.
Going to stop fishing at 7 today for an early departure for the ferry tomorrow morning.
All in all a great week with excellent fishing.
Thanks
Jason and Lawrie A (Nottingham 1st/2nd visit)
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Fri 1st Sept 2023
Hiya John,
Good week again with 42 carp, 11 catfish and 7 bream.
The biggest carp were 34lb and 31.5lbs and we had 21-22 over 20lbs as well.
For the catfish we had them at 69lb, 68lb, a couple at 25lb and the rest were smaller.
We mainly fished the cabin swims but my boy also fished the outfall swim and behind the island.
We went to Laval peche fishing shop and used their oyster and crayfish boilies which were excellent for the catfish. Best presentation was PVA bags and single hook baits.
The weather this week was mixture of sun and rain.
We are in Dieppe right now as we are on the midnight ferry as we have stuff to take care of tomorrow, so we left at lunchtime today.
Speak later.
Neil B (Bridlington - 5th visit)
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Sat 26th Aug 2023 (Updated)
Hi John
Here is the catch for this week.
We have landed 34 carp, 4 catfish and 2 bream this week.
The biggest carp was a 35lb 2oz mirror caught by Dennis (PB) but 25 of the carp were over 20lb and to be fair only 7 of them were under 20lb.
The biggest catfish was 21lb but we lost a few big ones and was thinking of going to the tackle shop in Laval to get some bigger hooks but in the end we used what we had.
The bait we have used was scopex, squid and Indian spice boilies with pellet and hemp.
Of the 2 bream we had, the biggest was 8.5lb and put up a fair fight.
The 3 of us all fished the cabin swim and we haven’t moved all week.
The weather has been beautiful with temperatures 28-30 deg C and yesterday we had a bit of rain but we just sat out in it as it was nice.
We lost about 15-16 fish due to hook pulls and barbless hooks.
Perfect week. We are looking to come back either late March or early April next year.
Brilliant lake mate - really is.
Be in touch.
Karl S, Aston S, Dennis G (Daventry - 1st visit) - (rebooked for 23 March 2024)
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Fri 18th Aug 2023
This week it’s me, my son Lewis and Andy on another maintenance week.
Lewis and Andy have been fishing early mornings and evenings / couple of nights and been helping me with loads of grounds maintenance in the daytime.
Lewis fished the whole week in the cabin swim and Andy fished the summerhouse swim.
They caught the following 44 fish between them:
30lb carp = 2 at 32lb 12oz and 31lb 2oz (1 each)
20lb carp = 14
Doubles = 14
Catfish = 8 (biggest 81lb 0oz caught by Lewis)
Bream = 6 (all caught by Lewis up to 8lb due to pellets)
Rudd = lost count but likely to be over 100 up to about 7” all caught by Andy on the float.
Lewis was using active 8 boilies and pva bags with pellets and feeding with vitalin balls and wheat.
Andy was using cream flavoured boilies and pva bags.
Loads of grounds maintenance done, bank strengthening, tree cutting and grass cutting.
Weather this week, sun, cloud, rain. Humid 29 deg C today.
Loads of fish moving every day.
John (owner) Lewis, Andy h (Stanford Le Hope)
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Thu 10th Aug 2023
This week we have caught 42 carp and 10 catfish until lunchtime today.
The reason for the early catch report is that we are leaving Friday morning as my daughter is about to have her baby and we don’t want to miss that.
Carp over 30lbs = 2 (31.5lbs and 32lbs)
Carp 25- 29lbs = 7
Carp 20-24lbs = 26 (so 33 total over 20lbs)
Carp under 20lbs = 7 (15.5lbs smallest)
Catfish 1 = 82lbs
Catfish 2 = 71lbs
Catfish 3 = 63lbs
Catfish 4 = 45lbs
Catfish 5 = 36lbs
Catfish 7 = 28lbs
Catfish 8 = 23lbs
The last 2 cats were smaller.
The bait we used was the same as last week - sweet chilli/chorizo boilies and milky based boilies.
We are still in the cabin swims and we have not needed to move since we arrived.
Still pulling in at about 10.30pm so no night fishing.
The weather’s been good this week and today it’s 27 deg C and mostly sunny so I’m going home with a suntan!
We spotted the deer again but couldn’t get a photo as I only have an iPhone.
Seen the red squirrels again and a black one!
Been lovely as always.
Thank you.
Lucy and Simon Nash (Dunstable - 4th visit - 6th week) - week 2 of 2
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Fri 4th Aug 2023
This weeks highlight was a catfish caught by Simon at 83lb and he is very happy.
We have also had 40 carp including 3 at 33lb, 33lb and 32.5lb.
We had another 20 carp over 20lb and 17 double figure fish.
Total catfish were 7 at 83lb, 35lb, 30lb and another 4 under 20lb.
The weather has been very wet and the lake level has been filling up nicely but we are dry though as we have a big 2 man bivvy and a large heavy duty waterproof gazebo.
The weather man is promising sunshine next week.
For bait Simon has been using sweet chilli/chorizo boilies and I’m using milky based boilies. Simons bait was the best and we tried sweet corn as well but didn’t get one bite as yet on that.
Loved seeing the family of deer on the opposite bank.
We’ve also seen a pair of herons and a tern.
We have not night fished, pulling in around 10.30ish.
Lucy and Simon Nash (Dunstable - 4th visit) week 1 of 2
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Fri 28th July 2023
Hello John
Another good week with 58 carp and 15 catfish for me and my two teenage boys.
The biggest carp this week was 34lb (had 5 over 30lb) and the biggest catfish was 29lb.
We also had 30 carp over 20lb and 23 double figure carp.
For the catfish we had 15 in total but no monsters this week and the biggest at 29lb.
Details
Carp over 30lb = 5
Carp high 20’s = 11
Carp low 20’s = 19
Carp (17-19lb) = 21
Carp (12-16lb) = 2
Catfish = 15
The baits we used this week were sticky krill and sticky Manila boilies and robin red pellets.
We mainly fished the cabin swim (best) but also had a few out of the pine tree swim, island swim and summerhouse swim.
We haven’t done any nights and been pulling in at about midnight and the boys have been laying in until mid morning but I’ve been getting the rods out some mornings at 6.30am.
The weather has been perfect (22 deg C average) and cloudy mostly with a bit of rain this week.
See you again - brilliant.
Peter B, Jake and Kian (aged 16 and 18) Maidstone Kent (3rd visit)
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Fri 21st July 2023
Hi John
Biggest catfish this week were 91.08lb and 71lb both caught from summerhouse swim and the one next to it.
Biggest carp were all 30lb or just slightly over and I had 4 of those.
Here is a breakdown of my catch. (28 fish total - No nights this week)
Sunday
15lb mirror
30lb common
60lb catfish
Monday
24lb common
43lb catfish
91.08lb catfish
30lb mirror
17lb mirror
Tuesday
17lb mirror
14lb common
30lb mirror
20lb mirror
Wednesday
18lb common
17lb common
17lb common
18lb mirror
27lb mirror
Thursday
71lb catfish
18lb common
24lb mirror
25lb mirror
30lb mirror
29lb mirror
17lb common
14lb common
Friday
20lb mirror
16lb mirror
18lb mirror
Best baits this week were Cell and cc Moore live system boilies plus halibut pellets and dynamite trout pellets for the cats. Best swim was the summerhouse but also caught fish from cabin swim. The weather this week has been lovely with just the odd shower.
Wednesday we tried the restaurant in the village and it was fantastic. 3 courses with steak and wine was 15 Euros!
Really enjoyed the week - probably come back again next year - be in touch.
Paul C and Rachel M (Romsey Hants - 1st visit)
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Fri 14th July 2023
This week was another maintenance week for myself and Andy with lots of tree cutting carried out in the pines swim and field swim to open them up. Also lots of grass cutting and bank strengthening and other lake management carried out.
Carp started spawning at the end of April and continued off and on for about 5 weeks and now we have thousands of perfect little stocky carp between 2 and 3 inches long.
Most of these will get eaten by the catfish but some always manage to make it.
Weather this week was sun and cloud with temperatures between 24-28 deg C.
Water oxygen at 7mg/l (good).
Andy fished afternoons and evenings and on Wednesday set up the float rod and had about 40 Rudd on sweetcorn and luncheon meat from the cabin swim by the Lilly pads and also 1 carp at 9lb.
Biggest Carp this week were 33.04lb and 30.02lb. Biggest catfish was 55.06lb. Andy only fished the cabin swims and mainly used cream flavoured boilies for bait.
Other carp and catfish caught by Andy.
Saturday - catfish 55.06lb.
Sunday - Mirror 23.06lb, catfish 17lb, catfish 18lb.
Monday - Common 24.04lb, catfish 10lb.
Tuesday - Mirror 22.07lb, Mirror 18.08lb, Common 17.02lb.
Wednesday - Mirror 30.02lb, Catfish 35.10lb Common 9lb and 40 Rudd up to 7”.
Thursday - Common 29.13lb, Mirror 33.04lb.
Friday - Catfish 19lb, Catfish 12lb (packed up early 4pm).
Good luck to all those coming over in the next few weeks.
John (owner) Andy H (Stanford Le Hope)
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Fri 7th July 2023
Hello John
What can I say! I’ve been fishing for 45 years. This is my first time fishing in France. I can say this is the best fishing experience I’ve ever had. I was the only Angler but my wife and son came with me.
We got through Customs OK and I brought 15kg of 18 mm DNA S7 Boilies, along with 15 kg of Fishmeal pellets plus various pots of Wafters. I also ordered 15 kg of Krill boilies from HNV which were delivered bang on time (probs overdid the boilies)
I only fished from 7 or 8 am up to about 1 pm, then from about 5 or 6 pm up to 10 pm every day. I didn’t have a Bivvy or a bedchair.
The week started slowly and I realised I was only getting to grips with the place. I only fished the cabin swim.
I would say about half my fish came about 20 foot in front of the left aerator (between the grey branch thing that sticks out and the Aerator). The rest of the Carp came from the left side and the right side of the island.
I was using 2 x 3.25 TC Rods for Carp and I had a 4.5 TC rod out for Cats. I made the foolish mistake of thinking my 20 Lb line would be enough. After getting smashed up by 3 Cats I went to the nearest tackle shop and bought some 35 Lb line for the 4.5 TC rod. This helped me land my first Catfish of 27 Lb on the Tuesday. As the week went on I had another Catfish weighing 31.8 on the Thursday (on standard Carp rod)
I lost a few other Catfish on my Carp set up and if there’s one bit of advice I could give anyone is come tooled up with at least 25 Lb line and 3 TC rods as a minimum to stand any chance with these Catfish (even on your normal Carp set up)
Tuesday was my best day where I caught 9 but lost a couple from hookpulls. The fishing was manic.
Most of my fish came to DNA S7 wafters in the earlier part of the week but from Tuesday onwards I caught all my fish using a Snowman presentation which was an 18 mm S7 Bottom bait topped off with a 12 mm DNA S7 half tone pop up.
All fish fell to Heli rigs using a 2 oz flat pear lead to combat the silt you told me about.
I also had a few Bream and 2 small 10 inch Catfish. The place is alive with Carp Fry what I often found in my net.
Fish were crashing in every swim on the lake all week.
The place is a dream. The exclusiveness of the place is unreal. Loads of different types of birds, Jays, Kingfishers, Egrets, Buzzard. The Lodge was great and we had a few meals overlooking the Lake. The surrounding area is beautiful and the Super U at Meslay Du Maine has everything you need.
Fishing beyond all my wildest dreams and I would urge any Carp Anglers who like a lot of action to visit this place.
I’m sending this report at 12.30 pm and I’m still getting runs in the heat of the day.
Saturday.
18lb Common
14 Lb 4 oz Mirror
Sunday.
21 Lb 3 oz Mirror
16 Lb 2 oz Mirror
Lost Catfish
Monday.
17 Lb 4 oz Mirror
19 Lb 10 oz Mirror
23 Lb 8 oz Mirror
Lost Catfish
Tuesday.
Lost Catfish
21 Lb Mirror
16 Lb 2oz Mirror
22 Lb 12 oz Common
15 Lb Mirror
21 Lb 3 oz Mirror
16 Lb 2 oz Common
18 Lb 6 oz Mirror
27 Lb 6 oz Catfish
20 Lb 3 oz Common
Wednesday.
Lost 3 Catfish
17 Lb 3 oz Common
20 Lb 3 oz Common
Thursday.
16 Lb 4 oz Mirror
20 Lb 14 oz Common
31lb 8 oz Catfish
21 Lb Mirror
20 Lb 14 oz Common
18 Lb 8 oz Common
15 Lb 14 oz Common
18 Lb 12 oz Common
Friday.
30 Lb 14 oz Mirror
31 Lb 4 oz Mirror
16 Lb 4 oz mirror
Darrell Brown and family (Durham 1st visit)
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Fri 30th June 2023
No one fishing this week due to cancellation so just Yves and Eloise feeding the fish on wheat and maize, grass cutting and painting.
John (owner)
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Fri 23rd June 2023
John, what a great week we have had.
We have caught loads of fish (42 total) and the weather’s been sunny and fine all week.
It’s been 5 years since our last visit and we can see all the improvements you have made.
Catch for this week,
Summer house swim - Trevor.
34lb common
31lb mirror
29lb mirror
28lb mirror
27lb common
27lb mirror
26lb catfish
24lb common
21lb catfish
21lb common
20lb mirror
19lb mirror
18lb common
17lb catfish
Cabin swim – Mark.
65lb catfish
63lb catfish
37lb mirror
35lb mirror
28lb mirror (dog biscuit off the top by Lilly pads)
28lb common
27lb catfish
26lb catfish
25lb common
25lb mirror
24lb mirror (dog biscuit)
15lb mirror
14lb mirror (dog biscuit)
Island swim – Jeff.
78lb catfish
67lb catfish
34lb mirror
28lb mirror
26lb mirror
26lb common
24lb common
23lb mirror
21lb common
29lb common
19lb mirror
15lb catfish
19lb catfish
8lb bream
7lb bream
We come to France each year and we all agree this is the nicest, well kept, lake we have been to.
Can you keep our deposit and book us in for 6th July 2024 please and I will send you the rest of the deposit next week.
Trevor, Mark and Jeff (Ashford Kent - 2nd visit - rebooked 6.7.24)
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Fri 16th June 2023.
Hi John,
This week we caught 48 carp, 17 catfish and 1 bream. (66 total).
Of these we had 3 carp over 30lb with the biggest at 33lb.
We also had 26 carp over 20lb and 19 double figure fish.
The biggest catfish was 56lb but we also had them at 52lb, 45lb and 24lb, and we lost a few of the bigger ones in the snags.
The bream was 8lb.
The second half of the week was more productive than the first half as this is our 1st visit and it took a few days to get used to it.
The best swim this week was the pine tree swim and I had 8 fish from there just this morning. The deeper end of the lake up by the summerhouse has not been very active and that’s where we started so moved after a couple of days.
Best baits this week were DNA - the “bug” (insect bait boilie) and S7.
The weather has been roasting all week.
I’ve still got 2 rods out as although I caught the most I’ve not had a 30lb fish yet!
Going to leave at midnight tonight for the train from Calais to get home in good time tomorrow so please let Yves know he can get in early tomorrow.
Great week John and a fantastic lake.
Stuart H, Danny P, Steve H, Ryan Y (Skelmersdale - 1st visit)
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Fri 9th June 2023
This was another maintenance week for me and Andy.
As usual Andy helped with site maintenance in the daytime and fished in the late afternoon and evenings.
Andy caught the following.
Saturday
21lb mirror
23lb mirror
15lb mirror
21lb catfish
18lb catfish
Sunday
31lb mirror
8lb catfish
Monday
20lb common
22lb mirror
43lb catfish
Tuesday
33lb common
15lb common
20lb mirror
55lb catfish
Wednesday
75lb catfish (new record for Andy but lake record 98lb)
Thursday
61lb catfish
29lb mirror
Friday
No fishing due to thunderstorms.
Summary - 10 carp biggest 33lb, 7 catfish biggest 78lb.
Bait was Andy’s normal cream boilies with pva bags.
Weather this week sunny and warm every day except Friday average temperature 25deg C.
Andy mainly fished cabin swim for convenience but most carp observed in the outfall swim.
Oxygen this week 4.9-5.9 mg/l, water temperature 21 deg C.
Everything looking good at the lake.
John (owner) Andy H (Stanford Le hope Essex)
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Fri 2nd June 2023
This week we have caught the following fish;
19 carp until Midday today with the biggest at 28lbs and 9 of these were over 20lbs, We also had 19 catfish the biggest being 74lbs and 3 bream up to 6lbs (so 41 total).
The bait we have been using were fruit and butterscotch boilies and pellet.
The best swim is the cabin swim casting to the left of the island as there are always fish over there. Although I spent a bit of time in the pine tree swim and one morning I had 4 carp in 4 hours out of there but the best bit was seeing your red squirrels down there!
The weather has been fine and sunny all week and the fish were spawning again when we arrived Saturday.
We also fished the summerhouse swim and there are fish in the margins all the time along the drive.
Beautiful venue you have here and I would like to bring my wife back and her father at some point in the future.
Be in touch.
Richard G (Plymouth 1st visit)
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Fri 26th May 2023
Hi John
We arrived Saturday to great weather and carp going wild spawning.
In total we have had 36 fish and we still have a few hours to go before we pack up.
Today we landed a 90lb catfish from the outfall swim on a 36mm halibut pellet and in total we have had 21 catfish as glenn has specifically been fishing for them.
We had a few catfish which straightened the hooks and 1 fish snapped the stem on a big pit reel!
We had 15 carp so far with the biggest at 29lb but lost a bigger one at the net.
13 of the carp were all high 20s and we only had 2 doubles.
The weather has been high pressure and sunny and we haven’t seen a cloud all week.
The bait we have been using is krill and banoffee boilies and we fished mainly cabin swim and summer house swim. Summerhouse swim produced most fish.
All the fish were in excellent condition.
Great time again - can you keep the deposit and book us in for 25th May next year please?
Mel E (Ringwood hants - 7th visit - rebooked for 25.5.24)
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Fri 19th May 2023
Catch report this week-
8 mirror carp - biggest 35lb (also had 1 at 31lb)
7 common carp - biggest 30lb
11 catfish - biggest 65lb
1 bream
Lost quite a few cats and carp.
Thanks for a great week, plus the good weather was a bonus.
Hope to be back in the future.
(update Saturday morning - had another 3 carp during Friday night in addition to the above)
Cheers
Wayne F (Rotherham - 1st visit)
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Fri 12th May 2023
Hi John,
Stayed in Rouen on the Friday night and arrived at the lake at around 13:30.
On arrival the lake was alive with spawning carp.
The weather was cloudy but mild and the rain started in the evening.
Rods set up Sunday in the mixed bag of rain and sunshine.
No nights fished and no fishing on Tuesday and Wednesday as the rain has been constant all night and most of the day, this intern has switched off the spawning for the moment. Most fish caught have spawned and are showing scaring on both sides.
Fish so far:
Summerhouse swim:
24lb Common
23lb Mirror
24lb Mirror
31.08lb Mirror
25lb Mirror
27lb Common
18lb Common
23lb Mirror
20lb Common
Cabin swim:
14lb Mirror
18lb Mirror
23lb Mirror
23.07lb Mirror
20lb Common
20lb Mirror
25.07lb Mirror
28lb Mirror
23lb Mirror
24lb Mirror
22lb Mirror
Baits used: Cell essential Wafters and Krill Wafters but the cabin swim has produced on mainly maize.
No cats so far but both swims have lost a number of runs.
Weather forecast doesn’t look great and it’s still raining as I type this, one bbq managed this visit.
As always, keep deposit John and I’ll confirm dates on Monday with you for June 2024.
Tony, Mick and Paul (Great Totham and Thurrock)(12th visit - rebooked for 29.6.24)
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Fri 5th May 2023
Hi John,
Catch results below. (Saturday to Thursday only - departed late Friday morning)
Dave
22lb Mirror
22lb Mirror
23lb Mirror
26lb Mirror
26lb Mirror
18lb Mirror
26lb Mirror
12lb Mirror
12lb 10oz Common
Steve
6lb Catfish
22lb Mirror
23lb Mirror
28lb 8oz Mirror
16lb 8oz Mirror
Vic
32lb 10oz Mirror
12lb Catfish
19lb Mirror
23lb 12oz Mirror
19lb 14oz Common
23lb Mirror
31lb 12oz Common
17lb Mirror
7lb Catfish
28lb Mirror
23lb 4oz Mirror
26lb 4oz Common
24lb 12oz Mirror
19lb 8oz Common
19lb 4oz Mirror
23lb 8oz
Fish have been spawning for 2 days and were still doing so as we left.
The bait we have used was cell and chickpeas.
We have mainly fished the cabin swims to the right margin and open water to the left of the island.
Summary -
30s x 2 (biggest 32lb 10oz)
20s x 16
Doubles x 9 ( but 4 of these @ 19lb)
Catfish x 3
We had a great time at La Ridelee and will certainly return in the future.
On the boat now just coming out of Caen.
Cheers Vic, Dave, Steve (Welling Kent - 1st visit)
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Fri 28th Apr 2023
This was another maintenance week for myself and Andy after travelling over Friday Newhaven to Dieppe and staying in the ibis in Dieppe overnight. (Recommended to break the journey) Arrived at the lake Saturday morning 11.30am to brilliant sunshine and fish topping.
Andy got set up quick and had 3 carp before our evening meal.
As usual Andy helped me with the grounds maintenance in the mornings and fished in the afternoons and evenings.
Catch list.
Sat.
20-08 ghost carp.
27-06 common
19.00 common
Sun.
26.00 common
33.11 common (not Pierre!)
20.02 mirrror
Mon.
54.00 catfish
23.00 common
Tues.
34.12 mirror
17.10 mirror
26.11 mirror
22.00 common
30.00 catfish
Wed.
25-11 common
Thur.
35-01 mirror
26-12 common
No fishing Friday as we have the evening ferry from Dieppe.
Andy used cream flavoured boilies with pva bags and only fished the cabin swim and pine tree swim and had equal numbers of fish from both.
In summary 3 x 30’s, 9 x 20’s, 2 x doubles and 2 catfish.
The weather this week has been very wet but there was couple of sunny days where we got one of the fields cut and all the grass around the lake and took some trees down in the pines to make it more accessible.
Oxygen level = 8.5mg/l (good). Water temperature 16 deg c. Air temperature 17 deg C.
Everything looking good.
John (owner) Andy H (Stanford Le Hope)
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Fri 21st Apr 2023
Another nice relaxing week at La Ridelee for me and Maggie.
This week the weather has been fine and sunny for the most part with a bit of light cloud and the fishing’s been great with 29 carp and 18 catfish.
We normally just fish the cabin swims but the fish were few and far between there so we have moved around a bit but the island swim and the pine tree swim were the most productive.
We used our usual bait of cell and maize with a small amount of pellet.
We’ve had 3 carp over 30lb - biggest 35.07lb. Another 19 carp over 20lb and 7 doubles.
On the catfish front the biggest was 78.02lb and we had another at 47lb and the rest were between 12-31lb. (Lost a few of the bigger ones)
Once again great week - Can you keep our deposit and book us in for 27th April next year please?
Peter and Maggie B (Sevenoaks Kent 7th visit)
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Fri 14th Apr 2023
Hi John,
Weather this week has been horrible.
Started ok on Saturday and was sun bathing in the summerhouse swim!
Major hail-storms and wind this week followed by tons more rain!
Difficult week, but that’s the risk of Northern France in April. But they need the rain….
I’ve caught half a dozen carp to 26lb mainly from the right hand margins to the right of the rock.
I’ve also trickled bait into the pines swim, and seen several carp right by the boarding over the stream. Tried this without success.
Hooked and lost two big catfish on Tuesday afternoon. But an inch of rain cooled the lake, and nothing Wednesday.
I spooked a big catfish there when walking around - right by the stream entrance…. huge swirl as it exited rapidly.
Tried there without success - probably sheltered from the cold winds.
I didn’t fish today (Friday) and left early due to rain and temperature drop to 7.5 deg C.
I’m on the midday ferry tomorrow, so didn’t want to do early start and I’m in Dieppe right now.
Going out to eat shortly.
Cheers
David C (Ross on Wye - 7th visit)
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Fri 7th Apr 2023
Hi John, what a great week we’ve had… weather was cold at the start and we did struggle early on, only a couple of fish each day but Monday onwards the sun started shining and we started catching a few.
Most of our fish came from the margins, a handful of bait left for 20 minutes of so might get a very quick bite but they kept us guessing and we all moved around a bit during the mornings looking for bites.
Mostly we’d settle in swims for the evening where the cabin LHS casting to the margins of as productive as was the pine tree and the summerhouse.
Our totals for the week are 38 Carp, 3 x 30s, 17 x 20+ and 18 mostly high doubles.
We’ve had 11 Cats, an absolute monster that bottomed our 88lb scales, a 76.10 and another at 55. The rest were 20 or lower. Oh, and one bream!
Thinking back on my first visit, this one has been less prolific in terms of fish caught but more satisfying because of the work we’ve had to put in.
We celebrated my son’s 16th birthday here and he’s had PB Cat (he had the monster) plus PB mirror and common (which we’ve happily identified as “Pierre”) whilst my mate Dave upped his PB from 12lb to 31.09 with the first fish he caught! When he then had a 76lb Cat, he told me - “we’re making life memories here” and he’s not wrong!!
Please keep my deposit for the time being and we’ll be in touch on that!
All the best,
Jim Crosskey (Oxford - 2nd visit - rebooked for 27.7.24)
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Fri 31st Mar 2023
No one fishing this week, so just Yves and Eloise feeding the fish on wheat and maize and painting.
John (owner)
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Fri 24th Mar 2023
This was another maintenance week for myself and Andy with lots of painting, bank strengthening, grass cutting and tree cutting carried out. As usual Andy helped in the mornings and fished in the afternoon and evenings.
He caught 12 Carp and 2 Catfish.
Biggest Carp was 31lbs 1oz and biggest Catfish was 33lb.
Most of the fish caught this week in the shallow end and behind the island as it warms up down there quicker in the mornings.
Bait used this week was cream boilies and fed with cooked wheat.
This week weather has been very wet with torrential rain some days but we had 2 days of good weather with temperatures up to 18deg C when we got all the grass cut including the 2 fields.
Good luck to all those coming over the next few weeks.
John (owner) and Andy H.
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Fri 17th Feb 2023
This has been another maintenance week for us.
Myself and Andy arrived last Thursday (after staying the night in dieppe) to cold but sunny weather.
Lake management carried out including lots of bank strengthening, lots of tree cutting due to fallen trees, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s maintenance.
The weather this week was sunny every day with a few frosty mornings.
Water temperature at 10 deg C.
Average air temperature 12 deg C. Although some afternoons it was very warm and no coat was needed.
Oxygen level at 10 mg/l (very good).
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat.
Yves has been feeding a small amount of cooked wheat all through the winter to give them the best start for 2023.
There were a few Carp showing on days 1 and 2 but then it got colder and they were then less active.
Andy only fished for a few hours each afternoon and had 12 Carp between 18lbs and 31.09lbs all from the summer house swim.
Yves and the family came around on Tuesday evening and we had a few beers with them.
Good luck to all those coming in 2023.
John (owner), Andy, and Yves. (Caretaker)
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2022
Fri 11th Nov 2022
Travelled over on Friday with DFDS ferries from Newhaven and stayed in Dieppe Friday night in the Ibis and had a nice meal opposite the marina in my favourite restaurant. Up early Saturday morning 8am and arrived at the lake 11.30am.
This has been another planned maintenance week for myself and Andy with snag clearance, grounds maintenance, bank strengthening, grass cutting and seed planting, bulb planting, roof maintenance, painting and other misc. maintenance actions carried out.
As normal Andy helped in the mornings and fished in the afternoons.
The weather has been mixed with some sunny days with heavy rain mostly during the night and the lake has now come up to the maximum level.
Andy spent all the week in the summerhouse swim and caught the following 16 carp and catfish.
Sunday - 18lb 2oz common, 22lb 4oz mirror.
Monday - 19lb 5oz mirror, 17lb 5oz mirror, 31lb mirror.
Tuesday - 37lb 3oz catfish, 43lb 5oz catfish, 22lb 10oz common, 18lb 0oz common.
Wednesday - 22lb 5oz mirror, 20lb 2oz mirror, 26lb 14oz common.
Thursday - 24lb 15oz mirror, 22lb 4oz mirror.
Friday - 23lb 1oz common, 27lb 1oz mirror.
Best baits this week were a mixture of cell and scopex boilies.
Average weights for the carp are coming up nicely and on average the fish have put on about 2lb each this year and we now have more carp over 20lb than doubles.
I fed the fish every day with cooked wheat and maize. No pellets due to water temperature.
Yves and Eloise (caretakers) came over on Monday we had a few beers with them and they have their list of jobs for the winter.
Good Luck to all those booked for next year.
John (owner) and Andy (Stanford Le Hope)
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Fri 4th Nov 2022
Hi John here is the catch list for this week.
Only 3 of us this week as Dave had to cancel at the last minute due to family problems.
Nick fished the field swim and island swim most of the week, Jack fished the summerhouse swim and I fished the cabin swim.
All the fish were in excellent condition and hard fighting and they all looked bigger than when we weighed them but checked our scales and they were accurate.
We’ve had 34 carp and 7 cats so far with biggest carp at 35lbs 2oz and biggest cat at 51lbs.
Nick
32.07 mirror
34.06 common
22.05 common
20.02 mirror
24.13 mirror
26.12 mirror
20.02 mirror
18.01 mirror
27.07 common
37.12 catfish
33.02 catfish
Jack
35.02 mirror
30.19 common
29.05 mirror
28.08 common
26.12 mirror
25.01 mirror
24.09 mirror
23.05 common
23.01 common
22.04 mirror
18.07 common
17.02 common
16.09 mirror
48.07 catfish
Mike
31.09 mirror
29.00 common
27.01 mirror
26.13 common
25.07 common
25.03 common
23.11 mirror
21.08 mirror
20.04 common
19.00 common
18.09 mirror
15.00 common
51.00 catfish
45.00 catfish
15.00 catfish
10.00 catfish
For bait we've been using a mixture of receptor marine, cell and krill boilies but didn’t seem to matter what we used as all baits produced fish.
The weather has been very mild this week with some sunny days with lots of heavy rain.
We’ve had a great week and would like to come back next year so could you book us in for same week next year -28th October 2023 please?
Mike B, Jack W, Nick S (Harlow - 1st visit)
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Fri 28th Oct 2022
Hi John,
Another great week fishing and we’ve had 34 Carp, 4 Catfish and a single Zander that’s only fishing in the daytime as we don’t do nights anymore at our age.
We had 4 Carp over thirty pounds at 36lbs 1oz, 33lbs 6oz, 31lbs 7oz and 30lbs 3oz.
We also had 21 Carp over 20lbs and 9 doubles making 34 total.
Biggest Catfish was 65lbs, 41lbs, 29lbs and a tiddler at 10lbs.
The Zander was 14lbs and caught on a krill boilie!
Alan fished the summerhouse swim all week as that’s his favourite and Harry mainly fished the island swim. I moved between the cabin swims and the pine tree swim.
The island swim was the best this week and Harry had 2 x 30lb Carp from there and 10 x 20lb Carp and the 65lb Cat.
All the fish were in excellent condition.
We’ve been using our normal baits of Sticky krill and Manila boilies and feeding with maize and pellets.
The weather has been mainly sunny and very mild this week with temperatures up to 21 deg.
Yves came on Wednesday afternoon and brought a bottle of his homemade apple brandy! Strong stuff - not much fishing done after that!
Can you keep our deposit and book us in for 16.9.23 please.
Thanks a lot.
Terry W, Alan W, and Harry M (East Grinstead - 5th visit)
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Fri 21st Oct 2022
Hi John
The weather this week has been very good / sunny and warm this week and I’m sitting here in my shorts right now. Yesterday it was 22deg C and sunny.
On the fishing side it’s been high pressure at 1025 millibars which has affected the catch but we have still caught 25 Carp and Catfish all during the daytime as we haven’t done any nights this week. If we had done the nights we would have doubled that number.
Below are the fish we have caught.
Carp
Over 30lb = 2 (biggest was 32.02lbs)
Over 20lb = 16 (we caught one at 29.08lb which we caught last year at 27lbs so it’s put on 2lb!)
Doubles = 5
Catfish = 2 ( biggest 37.5lbs but lost 4 bigger ones which done us even with the heavy gear)
Best swim by far this week was the summerhouse swim 100% casting towards the drive.
The bait we used was delivered again by HNV and we used the krill boilies and the nutri-nut boilies but the krill was the best one.
Good week again.
Daryn and Liam M (Cardiff - 4th visit)
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Fri 14th Oct 2022
No one fishing at the lake this week due to a cancellation.
Yves made a couple of visits to feed the fish on wheat and maize.
The weather this week was sun and showers with a maximum temperature of 20 deg C.
Good luck to those coming over in the next few weeks.
John (owner)
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Sat 8th Oct 2022
Hi John
We took a leisurely drive down last Saturday after staying in Rouen overnight and arrived late afternoon with the lake looking great in the afternoon sunshine. We got set up on Sunday and my 1st Carp out was weighed at 33lb!
In total we caught 9 fish including 6 Carp, 1 Catfish and 2 Bream.
4 of the Carp were over 20lb and the smallest was 14lb. The Catfish was about 10lb.
The 2 Bream were about 5lb.
We have also lost a fair few in the snags as we are fishing quite close to them as the fish seem to be in there most of the time.
For bait we have been using sweet corn and peaches and cream boilies.
The fish have been active in the snags and they have been feeding ok as the water is very coloured where they are digging up the bottom.
We have been using helicopter rigs due to the depth of the silt.
We have had a nice relaxing week as the weather has been fair and my wife (who doesn’t fish) has been perfectly happy sitting in the sun all week doing her knitting whilst myself and Neil have been doing our fishing.
It’s a lovely place and we may be back in the future.
Mr and Mrs John M and Neil (Maldon Essex - 1st visit)
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Fri 30th Sept 2022
Just myself and Andy on another maintenance week with Andy helping me with grounds and buildings maintenance in the mornings and fishing in the afternoons and nights.
The fishing’s been very good this week with the following Carp caught:
Over 30lbs = 3 (at 32lbs, 33lbs and 34.5lbs)
Over 20lbs = 10 (21lbs - 28lbs)
Doubles = 5 (14lbs - 19lbs)
Total = 18 Carp
Number of Catfish caught = 5 (12lbs - 43lbs)
The best spots this week were fishing from the cabin swim casting parallel to the drive but about 30 yards away from the drive and also towards the summerhouse but slightly to the right side.
Also fishing from the summerhouse swim casting towards the drive but about 20 yards off the drive bank.
Best baits this week were a mixture of cell and scopex boilies and feeding halibut pellets.
Not many fish jumping this week but loads of fizzing/bubbling after rain when the breeze dropped to zero and it was dead calm.
We have had a fair bit of rain this week and the lake has come up about 1 inch.
The Carp were much more active after a spell of rain.
Temperatures this week 16-20 deg C.
John (owner) Andy (Stanford Le Hope)
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Sat 24th Sept 2022 (updated)
Hello John,
We was doing alright up until Tuesday but since then it’s gone a bit quiet on the Carp front with 15 landed up to 28lb. (13 of these over 20lb)
They were bubbling out in front of me yesterday morning but couldn’t get them to take the bait.
Had another 3 Carp and 1 Catfish last night.
On the Catfish front we have had about 11 up to 33lb. (lost some bigger ones)
Also had 1 Bream about 5lb.
Our last visit was about 12 years ago and we can see lots of improvements you have made since then.
Bait wise we've been using sticky baits krill and solar club mix and another called pub mix which I get from my syndicate.
Weather this week started sunny at 22 deg but today it’s overcast about 18 deg.
Enjoyed the week. Thanks again John, I'll keep your number on my phone if you don't mind as we may come again and I can call you.
Thanks again.
Simon P (Tiverton - Devon - 2nd visit)
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Fri 16th Sept 2022
Hi John
Arrived on the Saturday to lovely sunny weather around 24 degrees and spent the day changing the van brake pads at the lake as a warning light came on late Friday.
Lakes down a bit, water not even reaching the outfall and the inlet just a trickle.
No fishing Saturday, set rods up on Sunday afternoon and the outfall swim produced 1 mirror @ 26 and 1 common @ 27.
Monday was Mick’s 60th so again not much in the way of fishing, trip to the supermarket and a great bbq had for most of the day, weather was 32 degrees.
Mick had 4 Cats 60lb to 80lb the biggest, mirrors 16lb and 22lb and commons 19lb, 22lb, 23lb and 30.6lb.
Paul had mirrors 15lb, 17lb, 23.6lb, and commons 21lb, 22lb and 23.8lb.
Tony mirrors 16lb, 20lb, 23lb and 26.1lb commons 22lb, 23lb, 24lb and 27lb, Cats x 2 around 15-20lb.
Krill and cell wafters doing the business so far.
Tuesday, much cooler today and a heavy shower during the night, much more comfortable.
Outfall swim being the most productive with Carp, casting to markers in the middle.
Cabin swim so far all Cats.
Maize and hemp mix from the spod seems to be working well.
We will get more serious as the week goes on lol.
Mixed weather, really hot from arrival until Wednesday, rained Wednesday and Thursday but remained humid.
As usual no nights from us and no fishing Wednesday and Friday. It’s been a real chill out week for us and well deserved.
Cheers Tony S (Essex- 11th visit - booked again for 6.5.23)
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Fri 9th Sept 2022
Hello John
Myself and Aden have caught 24 Carp and 18 Cats this week so far and we still have the rods out so probably get a few more yet. We reckon we have lost a similar number to this as well.
The first few days we were catching mainly Catfish with the biggest at 60lbs but then we had a couple of heavy thunderstorms which switched on the Carp and one afternoon in heavy rain we had 3 mirrors and 1 common all bang on 30lb each which was strange and the rain really switched them on. We also had 7 over 20lbs, biggest at 27lbs.
For bait we were using krill boilies and pro-active but then switched to cell at the same time as the rain so it’s hard to say if the bait change had an impact.
We fished the cabin swims most of the time but had a few out of the pine tree swim which was good and Aden had a 38lb Catfish out of the outfall swim.
The water level has come up slightly as well with the rain.
In summary another good week and looking forward to our trip next September.
Speak later.
Neil and Aden (Bridlington - booked for 26.9.23 - 4th visit)
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Fri 2nd Sept 2022
Hi John,
So far this week we landed 26 fish total not including the small stuff the kids caught on the float. The split was roughly 50/50 between the Carp and the Cats.
The biggest Catfish was 56lb and the biggest Carp was 20lbs - most of the Carp were high doubles and one of the boys had one at 19lb.
The weather at the start of the week was up to 32 deg but it’s cooled off now and the last few days have been heavy storms and thunder and lightning.
The kids also caught a few bream with the biggest around 5lbs and the last couple of days they’ve been catching lots of small Carp up to about a pound on maggots down by the bridge and the Lilly’s.
The best swim was the pine tree swim and Tony had 4 out of there one day.
For bait we have been using squid for the Cats and krill boilies and the nutty one from HNV for the Carp.
Everyone’s enjoyed themselves - we had a great holiday, thanks a lot.
Maria B and family (Brixham, Devon - 1st visit.)
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Fri 26th Aug 2022
Hi John
Another great weeks fishing as usual.
Weather has been good all week but not too warm.
Steven and I have fished the Cabin swim all week and had approx 50 fish with half a dozen lost.
No big Cats this week.
The Carp are in excellent condition and most of the Carp caught around mid 20lbs and 4 thirties to 33lbs.
Steve had never caught a Catfish but has not had a problem this week, his biggest being 35lbs.
Thanks again we’ll be back next year.
Regards Stu and Steve (Runcorn- 15th visit)
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Fri 19th Aug 2022
This week was another maintenance week and there was 3 of us this time so we got loads of work done.
Andy helped with the work in the mornings and fished in the afternoons as usual.
Total fish for the week was 19 and the biggest Catfish was 50lb 10oz and the biggest Carp was a 31lb 4oz mirror.
Andy fished most days in the cabin swims but spent Friday afternoon in the summerhouse swim and had a nice mirror at 27lb 12oz from there.
He lost one of the huge cats on his 4lb test curve catfish rod with 50lb line but it managed to bite through the hook link.
Work wise we cut loads of big trees and bushes this week, cut all the grass and both fields, painted all the platforms and laid a new path in the back field where it’s always on the wet side.
Oxygen levels around 6mg/l which is not bad as it’s been very hot over the last few weeks.
Weather this week was very hot on Saturday then cooled off for the rest of the week which was around 24 deg with some light showers.
Most Carp observed this week in the pine tree swim, behind the island and in the deeper end of the lake.
John, Keith (owners) and Andy H.
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Fri 12th Aug 2022
Hello John
It’s been very hot again this week but we still managed to land 42 fish.
We’ve had 4 Carp over 30lb and Jen has broken her previous PB of 25lb with a nice fish of 31lb. We’ve also had 22 carp over 20lb and 11 doubles.
We’ve only caught 5 Catfish up to 12lb but I’ve had 3 that snapped me up.
We’ve mainly stayed in the cabin swim as you get a nice breeze coming through there but one day we had a session in the pine tree swim and Jen had one out of there.
The bait we have used is Manila, live system, robin red and scopex.
We did try krill but the catfish like them so we changed over as we want to focus on the carp.
No nights this week and latest we have fished is 11-12pm.
Absolutely beautiful here and Jen loves it.
Can you keep the deposit and we will sort the dates out for next visit next week.
Kev and Jen H (Staffordshire - 3rd visit) - rebooked for 17.8.24
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Sat 6th Aug 2022 (updated)
Hi John,
This week we have had 51 fish so far as follows:
Over 30lb = 4 at 30lbs 4oz, 33lbs 5oz, 31lbs 12oz and another at 30lbs 4oz.
Over 20lb = 24.
Doubles = 10.
Catfish = 13 (biggest 29lb).
All the fish were in pristine condition and we did hook one of the big Catfish but couldn’t land it.
The bait we used was krill and nutrinut from HNV and it was delivered a little bit late this week at 3pm as he said he was running late.
The best swims were the cabin swims although Josh and Aaron spent a couple of days in the summerhouse swim and had a few from there.
The weather has been roasting all week and it slowed down a bit mid week until thunder storms Thursday and since then it livened them up and today we have been getting a run every 10 minutes.
Aaron landed his personal best this week and both the boys have absolutely loved it.
We had an amazing time thanks John, the lake is stunning and you never know what you are going to get out.
The fish are in fantastic condition and it is a credit to how you run it.
Can you keep our deposit as we want to come back next year and we will sort the dates out next week.
Lee D, Josh and Aaron (5th visit) - rebooked for 19.8.23
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Fri 29th July 2022
Hi John,
This week we’ve had 12 Carp and Cats with the biggest Catfish estimated at around 90lb and the biggest Carp at 21lb. The 90lb Catfish took me around the back of the island so I needed to go out in the boat to land it. It towed me around the lake for over an hour before I managed to get it into the net but needed to unhook it in the net as between the 2 of us we couldn’t lift it out! Hence the estimate of 90lb.
We needed to go to Decathlon Saturday to get more tackle and to be sure to land the big ones I bought some 80lb line! I also landed a 65lb Cat which we weighed so this one gives us a clue to the weight of the monster.
Another highlight of the week was our trip to the Le Mans motor museum which was great as we timed it just right as there was a motorbike race taking place when we were there. We also got some maggots while we were at Decathlon and I fitted up the pole for Clair and she had some good fun catching some nice roach.
Only a few spots of rain this week but the lake water level is still good.
We have enjoyed the wildlife and you have 10 egrets nesting in one of the trees here as well as kingfishers and we spotted some dippers today.
This has been our 1st fishing holiday since 2014 and managed my PB for Carp (26lb) and catfish (90lb) on this trip.
Fantastic / Awesome break - couldn’t wish for a better holiday.
Barry and Clair W (Minehead - week 2 of 2)
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Fri 22nd July 2022
Hi John,
It’s been 10 years since our last visit and Barry wanted to beat his 19lb record from last time and he managed it straight away Saturday afternoon with a lovely 26lb common.
It’s been a nice relaxing week for us which is exactly what we wanted as we both have very stressful jobs.
The first part of the week was very hot with temperatures up to 38 deg, and on Monday we had a trip to Laval. Thursday Barry didn’t do any fishing really but the main event was a trip to the new restaurant in the village as it was Barry’s 60th birthday and we had 3 courses and 2 rounds of drinks for 70 Euros, it was outstanding. We will try and get there again next week.
The super u wine has been flowing freely this week and we are currently on our 2nd box!
Total fish for the week so far is 5 Carp up to 26lb and 2 Catfish up to 13lb, but Barry’s lost a similar number.
The bait used is krill boilies, trout pellets, ground bait and hemp. We have only fished the cabin swim so far.
We have enjoyed seeing the kingfishers, egrets, dippers, herons and other wildlife.
The lake is beautiful and we love it here. It’s been brilliant and we have really enjoyed it.
Clair and Barry W, week 1 of 2 (Minehead - 2nd visit)
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Sat 16th July 2022
This was another maintenance week for us but with scorching sunny days up to 36 degrees it was hard work. We managed to get another aerator fixed up so we now have 4 pumps and 2 floating units as they are talking about 40 deg next week!
My son Lewis helped me every day with grounds maintenance, cutting grass, bushes and brambles and fished each evening from 4pm until 10.30pm.
He landed 19 but lost a similar amount due to straightened hooks (Korda wide gate X) hook pulls, one broken reel and big cats getting in snags.
Biggest Carp this week was 33lb common and 31lb mirror. Biggest Catfish landed was 33lb. Couldn’t get the bigger ones in.
He only fished the cabin swims and bait used was active 8 boilies, vitalin balls, and halibut pellets.
Loads of wildlife this week including buzzards, egrets, herons, kingfishers, woodpeckers, golden orioles, wrens, etc.
Good luck to those coming over next few weeks.
John (owner) and Lewis
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Fri 8th July 2022
Hi John
Very hot week weather wise, mainly sunny with couple of cloudy days.
Best time to fish were the mornings before it got too hot and most of the Carp are in the margins where it’s shady and the water is cooler.
HNV delivered the bait for us and they turned up on time - very helpful.
Baits we used were the krill and the nutrinut. Nothing to choose between them roughly 50-50 of the fish on each.
Total fish for the week was 35 so far with the biggest Catfish at 42lb and the biggest Carp at 25lb but loads in the 18-20lb range and all hard fighting.
The best swims were the cabin swim fishing to the margin by the rock and had 8 fish from there. Next best swim was the field swim right opposite the cabin other side of lake. We can see lots of Carp in the shallow end today in the shade where it’s a bit cooler. Blisteringly hot today.
No nights this week, latest we fished was 1pm one evening.
Not sure if we are coming back next year yet as I’ve got to take my wife on holiday first- see what she says. Ha-ha.
Thanks a lot.
Jason C (Macclesfield - 2nd visit)
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Fri 1st July 2022
Hello John,
This week we’ve landed 26 fish so far but hoping for a few more yet before we pack up.
The biggest Carp was caught by my 77 year old father at 28lb which he was over the moon with as it’s the biggest Carp he has ever caught.
The biggest Catfish was landed by my (non fishing- I set him up) mate Bret at 61.5lbs which was a fight and half as it took him half an hour to get it in. He says he’s an angler now and wants to do it all again.
6 of the Carp were over 20lb and we also had Cats at 51lb and 52lb and loads over 20lb.
We had the bait delivered from HNV on your web site and they turned up on time as arranged. We used their nutrinut and krill but we think the krill was the best one.
We started off fishing in front of the cabin but mainly caught Catfish out in front there off the lilies on the island and later in the week moved up to the summerhouse swim where most of the Carp were caught. We also used pellets and hemp.
The weather was good until Thursday when we had a lot of rain and thunderstorms which killed it off a bit since then. Prior to that the water temperature was like bath water. No nights this week and the latest we have fished is about 1am.
Also lost loads of fish.
Cracking week – we’ll be back in the future.
Thanks a lot.
Paul M, and Dad and Bret (Suffolk - 2nd visit)
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Fri 24th June 2022
Hi John
Thanks for another great week’s fishing, not really fished hard this week mostly from lunch time into late evening, no nights.
Had 40 fish in total, the biggest Carp being 34lbs Mirror (4 x 30's) and lost a dozen or more.
Landed a massive 97lbs Catfish, the fight was unbelievable and not for the faint hearted but great fun! (It was caught on 50lb line and a spod rod with 2 x 30mm halibut pellets as bait)
The weather has been good this week just one day of thunder and rain.
Can’t wait to get back in August.
Here below are the fish we have caught.
Saturday
Lost big Cat
18lbs
Sunday
18 Mirror
28 Common
30 Common
27 Mirror
Monday
29 Common
18 Cat
24 Common
27 Common
12 Mirror
97 Cat
18 Cat
Tuesday
18 Common
28 Common
Wednesday
24 Common
34 Mirror
56 Cat
24 Common
29 Mirror
87 Cat
12 Common
12 Cat
12 Common
Thursday
22 Common
24 Mirror
28 Common
18 Common
22 Common
22 Mirror
33 Common
22 Cat
22 Mirror
21 Mirror
33 Common
Friday
15 Mirror
22 Common
28 Common
19 Mirror
29 Mirror
Regards Stuart & Lindsay P (Runcorn 14th Visit - booked for 20.8.22)
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Fri 17th June 2022
Hi John
This week it’s been very hot and sunny with temperatures up to 35 deg C.
The Carp were spawning on Sunday and they have been on top all week cruising all the time - hundreds of them.
Total Carp for the week was 27 with 17 commons and 10 mirrors.
The biggest were both mirrors at 30.04 and 30.00 but we also had them at 25.09 and 25.07. Most of the others were 18-25lbs.
We had 17 Catfish with the biggest at 17lbs but we had a number of big ones which we just couldn’t land.
We also had 1 bream about 5lbs.
The best bait was Cell and we have been feeding with maize.
We have had a number of Carp off the top on dog biscuits from the field swim, island swim and cabin swims but the best swim for Carp was the summerhouse swim and best swim for Catfish was the cabin swims. (No nights this week)
I’ve been coming to France fishing every year since 2002 and this is the most loveliest lake I’ve been to.
We’d like to say a big thank you for allowing us to stay here and fish your beautiful lake.
We have a very busy year next year with 50th anniversaries and 70th birthdays etc. so we are not committing to France next year but we will certainly consider coming here again and will recommend you to our fishing friends.
Thanks again,
Mick, Sandra and Paddy. (1st visit)
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Fri 10th June 2022
Hello John,
This week we reckon we’ve had 48 fish weighing in at around 800lb in total.
We had 1 Carp at 30lbs 0oz but vast majority of the Carp was over 20lbs.
The biggest Catfish was 61lbs but also had them at 53lbs, 51lbs, 49lbs, 47lbs and 42lbs.
As you said previously, best times were between 5pm and 10pm but we don’t do nights and we don’t cast out until about 10am as it’s a social thing with us with a few beers, bbq’s, relaxing with a bit of fishing thrown in.
All the swims produced fish and it was difficult to say which was best this week.
We’ve used all sorts of boilies but the best was probably krill from sticky baits.
Weather was perfect - bit of sun, bit of cloud, not too hot.
We want to come back again next year but we need to work out the best dates and will let you know next week.
Thanks a lot.
Mark D (Ringwood Hants - 6th visit - rebooked for 20.5.23)
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Sat 4th Jun 2022
This week just myself and Andy here again on maintenance week.
Main work this week, mornings was de-weeding the lake. We think this year is going to be hot so better to be safe than sorry so made early start.
All looking good but we left the shallow end a bit weedy on purpose as it’s full of bugs and good for the fish. Last time it was like this the fish were at their biggest and we want to bring them on.
Cut loads of grass and Yves came Monday and Friday so had a few beers with him.
Weather this week was warm and sunny every day up to 25 deg C and water temperature 22 deg C.
Carp spawned again Saturday and Sunday.
Oxygen in lake 7.5 mg/l good . Loads of fish in open water and behind the island cruising and fizzing. Some fish in cabin swims but less than elsewhere.
Andy caught 16 Carp and 6 Catfish in the afternoons, evenings and nights but best times between 5pm to 10pm stalking from island swim, field swim, outfall swim and summerhouse swim.
Biggest Carp was 31lb, but most over 20lb with the odd one at 15lb.
Biggest Catfish this week 28lb, but he lost 3 monsters and couldn’t get them in.
Best bait this week was Cell.
John and Andy
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Sat 28th May 2022 (updated)
Hi John,
Great week again with 29 Carp and 13 Catfish.
I’ve had 2x30s with the biggest at 30lb 2oz and the other bang on 30lb.
Mike has landed his biggest Carp for 17 years at 29lb 4oz and thoroughly enjoyed it as he’s done quite a lot of float fishing and caught a fully scaled 9lb mirror this morning on a piece of sweet corn from under the oak tree.
We have also had some lovely commons around the 26lb mark.
I’ve also had 1 Catfish at 65lbs, 2 Catfish at 50lbs and another at 35lbs.
I’ve lost 3 other big ones but as you know they are difficult to stop.
Bait we have been using are plenty of pellets and the boilies were delivered on time as agreed from HNV baits on your web site. The boilies we used were krill and we also tried the peanut flavour. Krill was the best one.
Mainly fished the cabin swims and summerhouse swim.
This morning it looks like they have started spawning again as they are crashing around all over the place.
Once again, a great week.
David and Mike (Ross on Wye - 5th visit - rebooked for 8.4.23)
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Fri 20th May 2022 (6 days only)
Hi John,
Arrived late Saturday pm and lake was looking lovely as usual.
Didn’t get set up until Sunday but soon got them feeding on our normal bait of cell boilies and maize in front of the Lilly pads in front of the island and had a couple of Carp around 20lb and a Catfish of 18lb.
We fished all week in the cabin swims and finished up with a total of 23 Carp up to 31lb 3oz and 21 Catfish including 1 at 53lb and another at 37lb.
We had a nice day out in Laval and had lunch at one of the waterside restaurants on Wednesday.
The weather this week was hottest on Tuesday up to 28 C, but it’s mostly been in the low 20s with a thunderstorm on Thursday.
Unfortunately needed to leave early Friday morning as we have a family function back in England this weekend.
Great week as usual.
Can you book us in for 3rd June next year please?
Peter and Maggie B (Sevenoaks Kent - 6th visit)
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Fri 13th May 2022
Hi John
This week we caught 17-18 fish with the biggest a Catfish at 35lbs and a Carp at 27lbs.
The Carp were spawning Saturday, Sunday and Monday and the weather has been warm and sunny all week up to 25 deg C.
Sunday we went to the local (new) restaurant in Le Bignon du Maine and 3 courses and 2 bottles of wine was 70 euros for 2 of us. (35 euros per person).
I must say it was very good.
For bait we have been using active 8 boilies with pineapple pop ups and pva bags.
Ronan spent a short time in the pine tree swim and had one or two out of there. I tried the field swim yesterday and had one off the top on a dog biscuit. (We have had a few on dog biscuits). Spent most of the time in the cabin swims.
No nights this week.
Nice place.
Ian and Ronan (Dublin 1st visit - rebooked for 15.4.23)
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Fri 6th May 2022
Hi John,
This week we have caught 71 fish up until 12.00 today, but we are fishing until 11pm tonight so we expect a few more yet.
The split is 42 Carp and 29 Catfish.
For the Carp the biggest have been 33lb 4oz and my brother had one at 32lb 0oz.
We have also had 17 Carp over 20lbs and 23 doubles.
For the Catfish the biggest was 55lb and we also had them at 47lb 13oz and another 4 at 30lbs. We had some bigger ones on but even with 30lb line and a stiff rod you can’t stop them without some luck.
We have been fishing mostly in the cabin swims with myself fishing to the left side of the island and my brother fishing the right side of the island. In the afternoons when it got a bit slow we have gone around to the pine swim or the field swims and we have managed a couple of 20s out of each of them.
The best bait has been cell but my brother has tried a few other baits and caught on them as well.
The weather has been dry and sunny all week except for one day when we had a bit of rain.
Amazing week.
Paul and Dave C - Chingford (2nd visit)
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Sat 30th Apr 2022
Just myself and My son Lewis this week.
Once again high numbers of Carp cruising and crashing all over the lake, all day, every day.
Lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting, platform maintenance and painting.
The weather this week was sunny all week apart from a thunder storm Saturday night. Average daytime temperature was 16-21 deg C. Water temperature 16 deg C. Oxygen level 7.5 mg/l (good).
Lewis worked with me every day in the mornings and fished the lake in the afternoons and evenings. He mainly fished the Cabin swims and landed 31 fish this time. 25 Carp to 37.5lb and 6 Catfish to 49lb.
Lewis had some good fun on the float under the oak tree and caught loads of Carp up to 25lbs mostly on sweet corn maggots or wheat.
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat, maize and pellet.
Loads of Carp showing, fizzing, jumping all over the lake every day. Also coming in very close to the lily pads by the bridge and taking bread and dog biscuits off the top.
Loads of wildlife including red squirrels, woodpeckers, jays, swift’s, golden orioles and I found tracks in the mud round by the bridge which is either deer or wild boar.
When entering France there were no problems with customs and we brought all our food and bait with us without any problems, exactly the same as prior Brexit.
John (owner) and Lewis.
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Thur 21st Apr 2022. (Saturday to Thursday only)
Hi John, our totals for the week as follows - my 15 year old lad has had 55 fish in total, 28 Carp (7 over 20, biggest 28) and 23 Cats (9 over 15, biggest 47) and 4 Bream. I’ve had 23 Carp, (9 over 20, biggest 31) and 16 Cats (6 over 15, biggest 72).
It has been an absolute pleasure to be here, we’ve not seen a drop of rain during our stay. Wish we had the whole week now as junior is currently desperate for a 30 before we leave.
Bait has been maize and pellet along with Blake’s baits red fish pro and krinella boilies. Also caught on wafers and popped up plastic corn.
I will send you a few photos once I’m home and have sorted the gear out.
Thank you so much, this has been the trip of a lifetime! We’ve had such a good time.
All the best Jim C (Oxford - 1st visit - rebooked for 1.4.23)
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Fri 15th Apr 2022
Hello John,
This week we’ve had 70 fish so far but the lads are going to fish through the night so they will have a few more yet.
The biggest Carp was caught by me at 35lbs 4oz but between us we have had 56 Carp and 20 of these were over 20lbs. Also had 35 doubles.
The biggest Catfish was over 72lbs but didn’t get the exact weight as it broke the scales. The boys caught it in the field swim and I needed to go around to help them get it out of the water as it took 3 of us to lift it. We also had Cats at 35lb and 25lb with a total of 14 altogether.
For bait we have used big pellets, cc Moore boilies, robin red, sticky krill and maize.
We needed to go to the fishing shop (Laval Peche) one day as one of the boys broke a reel! Only took about 35 minutes.
We had a rain storm one day and it really came down and coloured the water but the rest of the week it’s been lovely and sunny.
The best swim was the cabin swims but most of the swims have been fished and produced.
Brilliant week.
Peter B and boys (Maidstone Kent 3rd visit - rebooked for 22.7.23)
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Fri 8th Apr 2022
Hi John sorry been busy packing up and cleaning ready for early start in the morning.
12 Carp mostly common. Biggest was at 29lb 3 all the rest over 20lb.
10 Cats with the biggest at 61lb. Rest all over 17lb.
Best swim definitely the cabin side. Biggest fish from summer house side by Diane.
Biggest Cat was caught by David W.
Weather conditions not too clever, Thursday, Friday very windy and very wet.
Most of the fish were caught on Thursday.
Tue 5th Apr 2022
Arrived late Saturday in sunshine with lake looking beautiful but no fishing as only had time to go to the supermarket to get supplies.
Until today (Tuesday) we have had 4 Carp up to 29lb 3oz on cell boilies and lost one other in the snags.
Dave B (Sheffield 1st visit)
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Fri 1st Apr 2022
Ok, arrived on the Saturday to lovely sunshine and temperature around 21.
Aaron (lhs) and I (rhs) were in the cabin swims and Mark and Brad the summerhouse swim.
As we stayed in Rouen the Friday night we were on the lake by midday and set up around 2-ish.
First rod out and straight into a 22lb Mirror from the right hand side of the cabin swim.
Main bait used this week was cell 18mm bottom bait and cell essential wafters.
Tony:
Mirrors x 13. From 16lb up to 33.6lb - 4 over 30lb. 2 @ 27lb the rest between 16lb - 24lb.
Commons x 5. From 16lb - 24lb.
Cats x 4. From 12lb - 24lb.
Aaron:
Mirrors x 9. From 14lb - 24.6lb.
Commons x 10. From 14lb - 32.3lb the 32 being Pierre.
Cats x 8. From 10lb - 39lb.
Brad:
Mirrors x 6. From 13lb - 31lb.
Commons x 10. From 15lb - 27lb.
Cats x 5. From 5lb - 28lb.
Mark:
Mirrors x 26. From 10lb - 36.7lb, 1 @ 35.4lb and 1 @ 36.7lb.
Commons x 16. From 10lb - 21lb.
Cats x 11. From 10lb - 80+.
Bream x 1 @ 7.1lb.
All Cats 15lb and below in pen. The fishing tailed off on Thursday as the weather deteriorated rapidly, sun, snow, hail, wind and rain for the last 2 days.
Great week as usual, roll on September 2022.
Summary 124 fish including 9 Carp over 30lb biggest 36lb 7oz and biggest Catfish 80lb.
Tony S (Essex- 10th visit - Booked again for 10.9.22)
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Fri 25th Mar 2022
This was our 2nd maintenance week and the weather has been fine and sunny all week with temperatures peaking yesterday at 20 deg C so we managed to get loads done this week.
Andy helped every morning mainly painting and fished every afternoon with a catch of 16 carp and 1 catfish. The biggest carp was weighed at 32.5lbs and he also had 6 over 20lbs. All the others were high doubles with a couple around 12lbs which we put in the town lake (with the mayors agreement) as we want to focus on feeding up the bigger fish right now. The catfish was 19lbs. (On fish meal boilies).
Loads of grass cutting done and finished strengthening the dam wall.
Brought the lake level up a couple of inches as summer now approaching.
Water oxygen level = 8.5mg/l (good)
Water temperature = 13 deg c (couple frosty mornings) Fed the fish every day on wheat and maize.
Loads of wildlife including red squirrels, buzzards, herons, king fishers, jays, blue tits, wrens, owls (heard them not seen them).
Andy spotted a wild boar in field on way to supermarket half mile from lake!
1st guest arrives tomorrow.
John (owner) and Andy H
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Sat 19th Mar 22
Arrived Wednesday 16th to open up for the 2022 season.
On arrival absolutely loads of Carp on surface which is unusual for this time of year but noticed the daffodils up about 3 weeks early and when we looked closer there was a fly hatch going on and the Carp were mopping them up. Andy caught his first Carp within 15 minutes of casting out with a nice mirror at 26lb.
As usual Andy has been helping me with maintenance in the mornings and fishing in the afternoons.
So far he has caught 12 Carp between 10lb and 29lb.
The mayor made a visit on Thursday at our request as we want to remove some of our smaller Carp and he has agreed to allow us to put them in the town lake and we put the first one in yesterday at 10lb.
So far this week we have been painting the platforms, doing bank strengthening on the dam wall, painting cabin, sheds and gates.
Weather started as overcast with this dust from Africa but now sunny and warm yesterday was 16 deg C. (Week 1 as we are here next week)
John (owner) and Andy
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Sat 26th Feb 2022
No fishing this week but Yves and Michel have laid another 3 tons of gravel onto the drive as it became quite muddy over the winter.
Yves also collected a replacement masonry BBQ from Laval as the current one is about 10 years old and seen better days.
Two more large trees cut down on the drive as they were leaning towards the lake and better to take them out with the tractor where we want them.
Fish were fed with wheat.
John (owner)
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Wed 16th Feb 2022
This has been another maintenance week for us.
Myself and Andy arrived last Wednesday to cold but sunny weather.
Lake management carried out including lots of bank strengthening, lots of tree cutting due to fallen trees, (needed to get neighbours Michel and Yves around again with the tractor to get them out) swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s refurbishment.
Our neighbour Michel delivered another 3 tons of topsoil for us with his tractor to help us improve bank strengthening in some areas of the lake and also an extra 3 tons of gravel for the drive is coming this week.
The weather this week was mixed with showers and sun and a few frosty mornings.
Water temperature at 10 deg C.
Average air temperature 10 deg C. Although some afternoons very warm and no coat needed.
Oxygen level at 9 mg/l (very good).
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat and maize.
Yves has been feeding all through the winter to give them the best start for 2022.
Few Carp showing on days 1 and 2 but then got colder and then less active.
Andy only fished for a few hours each afternoon and had 10 Carp between 15lbs and 28lbs all from the cabin swims.
No problems coming in and out of France. Coming in you just needed proof of vaccination and a lateral flow test in the last 48 hours which was £30.
Coming out you just need the vaccination proof and the uk passenger location form which takes 20 minutes to fill in on your phone.
Good luck to all those coming 2022.
John (owner), Andy, Yves & Michel.
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2021
Fri 12th Nov 2021
This has been another maintenance week for us with lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting and seeding, driveway maintenance, ditch maintenance, bramble cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s refurbishment.
The weather this week was sunny cloudless skies by day and chilly nights all week.
The lake level was high due to all the rain we have had over the last few weeks so I decided to drop the level 4” for the winter again as per last year.
Andy fished every day in the afternoon except Wednesday as Yves and Eloise (caretakers) came around with the rest of the family and brought numerous bottles of wines and lunch for all. Needless to say no work was done that day!
Andy caught 31 Carp up to 29lb 10oz (including 12 fish over 20lb) and 5 Catfish up to 39lb. Best bait was scopex boilies and maggots on the float. He caught a 27lb Common on the float with just 3 maggots for bait.
Oxygen is high at 10 my /l (very good), water temperature at 11 deg/C and air temperature at 14 deg/C.
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat & maize.
(Just for reference we came on the ferry again from Newhaven to Dieppe and the cost for 2 people and an MPV was £125 return)
John (owner) and Andy (Stanford le Hope)
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Fri 5th Nov 2021
Hi John.
So totals up to today are, (3pm)
Mirrors:
4 x 20’s biggest 25lb
21 x up to 19lb
Numerous under 10lb
Commons:
3 x 20’s biggest 23lb
17 x up to 19lb
Numerous under 10lbs
Cats:
1 x 65lb
1 x 56lb
Both Paul and I only fished Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (days) due to rotten colds.
Mick’s started to come down with it today.
Sunday and Wednesday rain all day.
No night fishing.
Cell wafters were the best bait with a maize and hemp mix to the markers.
Would have more than doubled our catch had we felt better.
Water level back to normal and didn’t need to release the gate.
See you in March.
cheers Tony S (Essex) - rebooked for 26/3/22
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Fri 29th Oct 2021
No guests fishing at lake this week only Yves cutting grass and feeding fish.
John (owner)
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Fri 22nd Oct 2021
Hi John
Arrived 1pm Saturday and was set up by 3pm. By 3.30 Maggie was into a large mirror which put up a hard fight that took her over 25 minutes to land and tipped the scales at 34lb 9oz.
We had another 5 Carp after that on Saturday, all low 20’s or high doubles. Most days it continued like that with the odd 30lb fish and the occasional Catfish including one huge Cat that we lost that straightened the hook.
We totalled the week with 43 Carp including 3 x 30’s, 19 x 20’s and 21 x doubles.
Biggest Carp was the 1st Carp landed by Maggie. We had 6 Catfish, biggest at 49lbs and 34lbs and also a couple of small ones around 10lb which we put in the holding pen.
The weather this week was mixed but good for this time of year, with the best day Tuesday which was 22 deg and sunny! Heavy rain all day Wednesday which turned the fish off but back to normal Thursday.
We mainly fished the cabin and pine tree swims.
Yves came around today and brought us a bottle of his home brew wine which was well received but very strong! What a nice man.
The bait we used this week was mainly cell boilies and maize.
Thanks a lot.
Please keep our deposit and book us in for 28th May 2022.
Peter & Maggie B (Sevenoaks Kent- 5th visit)
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Fri 15th Oct 2021
Hi John,
Great to be back again at your venue - been looking forward to it all year.
We’ve had 56 Carp and 8 Catfish this week and that’s only fishing days as we have been making use of the cabin and chilling during the evening.
We had 2 Carp at 33lb and 34lb and also had 18 over the 20lb mark. For the Catfish you have some monsters in here now but we came prepared this time with the heavy gear and managed to land one at 77lb and another at 61lb.
Only fished the cabin swims, summerhouse swim and pine tree swim.
Loads of wildlife including kingfishers and buzzards.
The weather’s been good with sunny days but chilly nights hence the cabin is a better bet for us at our age.
Once again we have been using Sticky krill, and Manila boilies and feeding with maize and pellets.
Another great week.
Can you keep our deposit and book us in for 23rd April 2022 please - can’t wait to come back again.
Terry W, Alan W and Harry M (East Grinstead)
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Fri 8th Oct 2021
Hi John.
Brilliant week again for the fishing with 84 Carp and 10 Catfish with still a few hours to go.
Just myself and my brother (who has not been before) came as my mate needed to drop out and he is gutted as he has been phoning every day for the catch report.
Biggest Carp was caught by my brother at 29lb 13oz which is his PB and he also landed a 66lb Catfish another PB.
We had heavy rain on the Saturday we arrived and the lake came up 4 inches but it didn’t put the fish off from feeding and sometimes it’s been hectic and couldn’t keep 3 rods in the water. Last 3 days the sun came out and it’s been nice.
We started in the cabin swims and then moved to the summerhouse end and finished the week back in the cabin swims. We had our bait delivered to the lake from HNV baits on Saturday and mark turned up on time no problem. We have been using the krill boilies and the nutty one they make. We have used 25kg of boilies plus pellet and maize.
My brother didn’t do any nights and I did just 2 so most of the fish were caught in the day.
Really enjoyed it and my brother couldn’t believe we could get such a lovely lake to ourselves for the whole week.
I will send you some photos.
Daryn And Liam M (Cardiff)- 3rd visit
Fish caught at La Ridelee 2021
Liam
Mirror 29lb 13oz
Mirror 25lb 2oz
Mirror 24lb 8oz
Mirror 23lb
Mirror 21lb 2oz
Mirror 21lb 8oz
Mirror 29lb 8oz
Common 21lb 12oz
26 Doubles
Cat 16lb 2oz
Cat 42lb 4oz
Cat 36lb 8oz
Cat 53lb
Cat 32lb 12oz
Daryn
Common 25lb
Mirror 23lb 10oz
Mirror 23lb 8oz
Mirror 21lb 8oz
Common 21lb 5oz
Common 2 X 19lb 12oz
9 X upper double
11 X mid double
23 X Lower double/single
1 X Bream 5lb
Cats 30lb 10oz, 43lb 10oz, 53lb, 66lb 12oz
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Fri 1st Oct 2021
No guests fishing at lake this week only Yves cutting grass and feeding fish.
John (owner)
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Fri 24th Sept 2021
Just myself and Andy here this week doing maintenance and grounds work.
Andy helped me every morning mainly painting and fished in the afternoon.
Until 6pm today he has caught 41 fish.
Biggest so far is a mirror of 33lbs 10oz.
He’s had a total of 35 Carp and 6 Catfish. 50% of the Carp this week were over 20lbs.
Most of his fishing was on the float this week and best bait for Carp was wheat.
Biggest Catfish this week was 22lbs. Best bait for Catfish was luncheon meat.
The main jobs with regards to the grounds this week was bank strengthening, grass cutting, bramble cutting and we also put up a new toilet in the small field behind the summerhouse to save coming back to the cabin as it’s a long trek in the middle of the night!
Monday we needed to go to Laval to get a replacement bait freezer as the existing one packed up.
Yves and Michel (neighbours) came round with the tractor and took down a large dead oak tree on Wednesday.
Thursday we went to Laval again for our covid tests for return to England Saturday.
Fed the fish each day on wheat, maize and pellets.
Weather very good this week with wall to wall sunshine and temperatures at 22 deg C.
John (owner) and Andy (Stanford le Hope)
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Fri 17th Sept 2021
Hello John
This week I’ve caught 51 Carp and 9 Catfish.
Biggest Catfish was 55lb but had another at 50lb and lost a couple of even bigger ones.
Had 2 Carp over 30lbs and about 20% of all the Carp were over 20lbs with the rest high teens.
Total weight for the week is over 1000lbs just fishing on my own, as my wife doesn’t fish, although I was playing a fish when the other rod went off and she picked it up for me and landed a 22lb Carp - not bad for the first fish she ever caught.
On the subject of rods I’ve only fished 2 rods as you can’t keep 3 rods in the water.
If I didn’t catch a fish after 10 minutes I thought I was doing something wrong.
One of my rods is an old center pin - what great sport.
We have been out every day to Laval or Sable sur Sarthe or other little towns as my wife doesn’t fish. So I’ve been getting up early and doing a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening when we come back. No night fishing this week.
The bait I have used is DNA-SLK and halibut pellets with hemp and maize.
Only fished the cabin swims for convenience.
Weather has been perfect.
Cracking week again - Fantastic.
Toby and Katrina B (3rd visit)
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Fri 10th Sept 2021
No guests fishing at lake this week only Yves cutting grass, painting and feeding fish.
John (owner)
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Fri 3rd Sept 2021
Hello John.
Only myself and my brother here this week as 3rd member dropped out last minute.
We’ve caught loads with my brother on 90+ Carp right now and I’m on 86!
Biggest Carp is 34lbs 15oz and we have had 8 Carp over 30lbs.
We have also had 30 over 20lbs.
With the Cats we’ve only had 4 but the biggest was 64lbs 4oz.
I had a bigger one on which I couldn’t hold.
Best bait was my own rolled dumbell boilies with garlic flavour but we’ve caught them on a mixture including vanilla and also almond. We’ve put a lot of bait in including 50kg of boilies and 40kg (dry) of soaked maize. (Double after soaking).
We fished days and nights most of the swims and all swims produced fish. I had some good sport on my custom made 5ft stalking rod.
The weather has been good but when temperature dropped of a night there were less fish.
We went to Laval yesterday for the covid test and it was smooth as you said and no problems.
We came via Newhaven-Dieppe and no problems with customs and bait.
We can’t come next year but will be back in 2023. (This year is 2nd visit)
(***please note this catch rate is not normal and is a record for numbers of fish caught for this lake and the reason for this is over last 2 years numbers of guests are down due to covid so the fish are not pressured plus they are hungry even though we have been feeding them. Good luck to all those coming in the coming weeks - john owner)
Simon C (Hellifield North Yorkshire - 2nd visit)
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Fri 27th Aug 2021
No guests fishing at lake this week only Yves cutting grass, painting and feeding fish.
John (owner)
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Fri 20th Aug 2021
Just myself and Andy again this week.
Once again high numbers of Carp cruising and crashing all over the lake all day every day.
Lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance, mole fighting, island clearing and building’s refurbishment.
The weather this week started hot at 29 deg C then got cooler average 21 deg C with couple of morning’s rain.
Andy worked with me every day in the mornings and fished the lake in the afternoon and evenings. He mainly fished the Cabin swims and landed 39 fish this time. 31 Carp to 33lb, and 8 Catfish to 51lb. (No bream caught by anyone this year-all been eaten by the catfish - no ducks for same reason)
Andy had some good fun on the float again under the oak tree and caught loads of Carp up to 21lbs mostly on a single grain of wheat!
Water temperature at 25 deg C.
Oxygen level at 8mg/l (good)
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat, maize and pellet.
Loads of Carp showing, fizzing, jumping all over the lake every day. Also coming in very close to the bridge lily pads and taking bread and dog biscuits off the top.
Loads of wildlife including kingfishers, woodpeckers, jays, swift’s, golden orioles, rabbits.
No covid testing required now to enter France just proof of double vaccination. You still need negative covid test to return to UK and we got this yesterday in Laval without any fuss for the cost of 43 Euros. Results arrived in 4 hours.
When entering France, no problems with customs and we brought all our food and bait with us without any problems exactly the same as prior Brexit.
John (owner) and Andy H (Stanford le hope)
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Fri 13th Aug 2021
No guests fishing at lake this week only Yves cutting grass, painting and feeding fish.
John (owner)
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Fri 6th Aug 2021
Hi John
Another nice week with 88 fish landed so far.
This included Carp at 30lb, 30lb, 32lb and Catfish at 65lb, 50lb, 49lb, and 35lb.
The split this week is 80% Carp and 20% Catfish.
The bait is the same as last week which is similar cc Moore “live” system but homemade.
We have also been catching them on plastic corn from near the Lilies.
Again no night fishing this week.
We was going to move to the summerhouse but in the end stayed in front of the cabin as there seemed little point as we are catching here.
We got our covid test done in Meslay du maine today at the local chemist without any fuss and the cost was 25 euros. We got the result in 2 hours.
Weather this week has been a bit of everything including heavy rain. The lake is right up the top. Despite this still another great week - can you book us in for 20th August 2022 please?
Lucy and Simon N (Dunstable - week 2 of 2 - 3rd visit)
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Fri 30th July 2021
Hi John
This week we have caught 113 Carp and Catfish so far as of 5pm today.
The split is approximately 90 Carp and 23 Catfish.
The biggest Catfish was 73lb, but we have also had them at 63lb and 49lb.
The biggest Carp so far is 29lb and we have had 3 at this weight.
The bait we have used is mainly homemade similar to cc more “live” and crab and plumb with an orange pop up which we find very effective.
We have only fished during the day and slept in the cabin during the night.
The weather has been torrential rain Saturday and Sunday and then mixed the rest of the week but today it’s shorts weather.
Seen the resident kingfisher today sitting on my rod!
We have only fished the cabin swims but may try the summerhouse next week.
Can’t fault it.
Lucy and Simon N (Dunstable - week 1 of 2 - 3rd visit)
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Fri 23rd July 2021
Hi John
Fantastic week again with 80 fish landed (56 Carp and 24 Cats)
The biggest Carp was 32lb and we had 6 over 30lb total. We think about 80% of the Carp were over 20lbs with just the odd one or two under this.
The biggest Catfish was 53lb and we caught the lake record couple of years ago when it was 71lb but Mike hooked a much bigger one than this which took him around the back of the island and there was no stopping it. We also had other Cats at 42lb and 32lb. (2 of these at 32lb)
Mainly fished the cabin swims, pine tree swim and summerhouse swim.
The Bait we have used was the scopex 20mm boilies which you got for us. (Thanks)
Weather this week was up to 31 deg C and sunny but didn’t affect the fishing at all.
Nice relaxing week and we have been pulling in at about 5pm each night as we don’t do nights anymore. If we had done the nights we think we would have landed over 120 fish.
No problems with the Covid tests in Laval. Went on Thursday - very smooth process.
Thanks for the map. We were there and back in 1 hour.
Marvellous - the best yet and this is our 9th visit - fantastic.
Looking forward to next trip 11th September 2021.
Mel, Mike and Mark (Verwood, Dorset - 9th visit in 6 years - rebooked for 11.9.21)
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Fri 16th July 2021
No guests fishing at lake this week only Yves cutting grass and feeding fish.
Very hot - Yves reports 40 Carp sited on top.
Aerators running 24 hours per day to counter hot weather.
First guests arrive tomorrow.
John (owner)
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Fri 9th July 2021
At last - first visit to the Lake this year due to covid restrictions.
This was a 9 day maintenance visit for myself and Andy with a bit of fishing thrown in.
Loads of grass cutting and painting - couldn’t have done it without Andy’s help.
Now the important stuff.
Andy fished from about 2pm every day until 7.30am and landed 25 fish.
I recon Andy probably lost a further 15 fish.
Biggest Catfish was 46lbs and biggest Carp was 34lbs.
Only had 4 Catfish and the rest were Carp. No Bream.
We had some good sport in the afternoons fishing on the float under the oak tree in the area of the Lilies by the bridge. As no one’s been here, the fish are coming in very close to the cabin swims and are confidently feeding.
Loads of fish everywhere across the lake every day.
Ref- French bait. We now a “French Bait” page on the web site where you can arrange your bait.
We had a delivery from HMV baits whilst we were there. This was the 1st one and the delivery time agreed was completed on time. There is a link on our bait page and you need to order 3 weeks in front of when you need it. Delivery is 10 Euros per kilo and collection is 9 Euros per kilo. When we came through French passport control in Dieppe there were no customs people looking for anything in the vehicle. No one came out of the booth as per normal. On the subject of exit England entry France and re entry England it was smooth without any problems. On the English side coming in they only checked passports and no other documentation was requested even though we had it.
Hard work at the lake but thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
Fed the fish every day on pellet, wheat, maize and boilies.
Yves has been feeding the fish and cutting grass and painting whilst we have not been around.
Good luck to all those coming to the lake over the coming weeks and months.
At last some normality.
John (owner) and Andy H (Stanford le hope)
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2020
Fri 6th Nov 2020
No fishing this week and has been another maintenance week with lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting and seeding, driveway maintenance, ditch maintenance, bramble cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s refurbishment.
The weather this week was showers for couple of days and then sunny cloudless sky for the rest of the week.
Still loads of fish activity every day with clouds of silt being dug up and fish jumping.
The lake level was high due to all the rain we have had over the last few weeks so I decided to drop the level 4” for the winter as last year was the wettest we have had for many years.
Oxygen is high at 9mg/l (good), water temperature at 13 deg/C and air temperature at 14 deg/C.
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat & maize.
One note of interest is that due to French restrictions, travel permits were downloaded from the French consuls web site but when produced at Dieppe the customs were not interested and did not even want to review them. Ie. The process of entry to and from France is same as normal - just show passport.
John (owner) and Yves (caretaker)
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Fri 30th Oct 2020
No one fishing this week so fish have had a nice rest.
Yves and Eloise (caretakers) went today and fed the fish on cooked wheat and cooked maize.
Also got Eloise to paint the front of the cabin and veranda and she has also painted some of the platforms for winter protection.
Yves also chopped up another fallen tree in the back field.
John (owner)
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Fri 23rd Oct 2020
Hi John,
Terrific week with 43 Carp and Catfish landed so far plus a 14lb Zander.
Alan has been fishing the cabin swim and landed a 52lb Catfish and his biggest Carp was 37lb. His total was 16.
Harry’s spent all week in the summerhouse swim and his biggest Cat was 45lb and he also had his PB Carp at 35lb. Total for Harry 15.
I didn’t get any Cats but had 12 Carp up to 29lb and spent most of the week in the pine tree swim. I also had the 14lb Zander.
Between us probably landed about 14 Carp over 20lbs and loads at 16-19lbs.
We have been using Sticky krill, and Manila boilies and feeding with maize.
We have all thoroughly enjoyed it.
Can you keep our deposit and book us in for 3rd July 2021 please.
Terry W, Alan W and Harry M (East Grinstead)
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Fri 16th Oct 2020
Hi John
Total fish caught this week has been 47 so far as follows;
3 x 30lbs plus Carp up to 36.5lbs. (Others at 33lbs and 32lbs)
15 x 20lbs Carp
17 x double figure Carp
5 x Catfish (63lbs,39lbs,16lbs,12lbs,5lbs)
4 x Bream (all about 4-5lbs)
3 x Crucians (all about 1lb)
We only fished the cabin swims this week and all the fish put up an unbelievable fight to get in - even the small ones. The 36lb Carp (Common) was a perfect specimen. Also did an enjoyable bit of float fishing during the quiet times. (Including some nice Carp up to 15lb)
The weather this week has been sun and showers.
Best bait was cell and maize. (Maggots on the float)
Once again excellent week.
Please keep our deposit and we will sort out our dates when we get back.
Peter & Maggie B (Sevenoaks Kent- 4th visit)
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Fri 9th Oct 2020
Hi John, on the ferry now.
12 Cats in total up to 70lb - think there's 7 small ones in the pen.
50 Carp in total, 1 x 35lb, 16 x 20’s up to 28lb, 33 of the Carp were high teens - smallest 10lb also had 1 Bream.
Bait was cell krill active ccw local company to us and Barrs angling particle mix.
Weather was worst we've experienced at La Ridelee, too much rain for my liking, couple of days with sunny spells. Overall a good trip, only 3 of us.
Fish numbers were down but the big Cats (70lb, 70lb, 54lb, 50lb, 49lb) and the 35lb Carp made up for it. Took a proper Cat rod but landed the Cat on my Carp rod with 18lb line - Sod’s law it was an amazing battle.
Best pegs would have been cabin and pine but pine was quicker after a move from island peg a 70lb and 50lb Cat came from the island. My lad fished summer house and then fished outfall with a 54lb Cat from there.
The place is looking spot on - love it here, so relaxing.
Neil B and boys (Bridlington -5th visit)
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Fri 2nd Oct 2020
Hi John
Only 2 of us here this week and we have landed 41 fish between us. (39 Carp and 2 Cats)
Most of the Carp were over 20lb this week and the biggest was 27lb. (Monster just jumped out as we speak)
Only landed 2 small Catfish but lost 3 big Cats in the cabin swims and had 2 on at once but stood no chance at getting them in and next year we have agreed we are going to use 30lb line.
Best swim this week was the one behind the island on the other side of the lake.
Best bait was krill flavoured boilies feeding with sweet corn.
Weather this week up to 20 deg C - some sun, cloud and rain, better than forecast.
Nice relaxing week starting fishing at about 11am and pulling in at dusk. (No nights)
Mike and Mel (Verwood, Dorset - 8th visit in 5 years - rebooked for 15.5.21)
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Fri 25th Sept 2020
Just myself and Brian here this week doing maintenance and grounds work.
Brian helped me every morning and fished in the afternoon.
Until 6pm today he has caught 35 fish against the target I set him of 40.
Biggest so far is a mirror of 31lbs but it looked much bigger so he will check his scales when he gets back. He’s had a total of 30 Carp including 1 x 30, 14 x 20s and 15 doubles.
He also had 4 Catfish with the biggest at 45lbs.
Also had a single Bream at 7lbs.
He started in the cabin swims then moved to the outfall as it got a bit quiet, then moved back to the cabin swims yesterday and in the afternoon the fish went on a feeding frenzy and Brian had 10 Carp in 5 hours.
The main jobs with regards to the grounds this week was to take out 6 large trees due to storm damage or just dead or dying.
Yves and Michel (neighbours) came around with the tractor and helped with this which made it much easier.
Also did some grass cutting and bramble cutting.
Fed the fish each day on wheat, maize and pellets .
Weather mixed with sun and thunderstorms. Lake has come up 2 inches.
Fish didn’t like the cold water hence Brian not making his target but he’s happy as he got his 30 pounder.
John (owner) and Brian S (Billericay Essex)
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Fri 18th Sept 2020
Hello John
This week just myself and my missus here so I’ve only been fishing of an evening and night as we have been going out most days site seeing.
That said I’ve still caught 30 Carp and 3 Catfish and 15 of the Carp were over the 20lb mark.
The biggest Carp so far is 26lb, but I’m fishing until 10pm tonight so still hoping for a 30lb fish.
The biggest Catfish was 16lb but lost a big one this morning as I just couldn’t stop it.
I’ve fished a different swim every day and all swims have produced fish.
The bait I have used is sticky baits krill and mainline cell.
The weather has been hot and sunny all week with temperature up to 35C.
We have had some nice visits to Laval, the market in Meslay today, and we also went to the village of Saint Suzannne with its castle.
Brilliant week - spot on - best lake I’ve been to in years.
Definitely will book for next year and just need to check my dates when I get home.
Mr and Mrs Joe P (Doncaster - rebooked for 2 weeks from 2.10.21)
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Sat 12th Sept 2020
No one fishing this week so fish have had a nice rest.
Yves went today and fed the fish on cooked wheat, cooked maize and pellets.
Also got yves and Eloise to paint the summerhouse which will save me a job.
Yves said sun is shining, temperature is 26 deg C, fish are jumping, life is good.
John (owner)
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Fri 4th Sept 2020
Hi John, catch report as follows
62 double figure Carp
14 20lb+ Carp
1 x 31lb on the nose biggest of the week so far.
10 large Bream.
2 Catfish biggest 16lb 7oz. Both of us got smashed up by large Cats this week.
My brother has fished the summerhouse swim and the one next to it while I have fished the opposite end at pines morning and evening and done a lot of stalking in between where a lot of my fish have come from with some great sport.
We have been using a maize particle with a little hemp and tares mixed in and a handful of my home made boilies, we have used various sweet and fruity boilies as hook baits and fished on the edges of the main freebies.
The boilies I make are a starmer baits coconut protein base combined 5-1 with crushed pigeon conditioner flavoured with toffee and sweet cream and rolled at 18mm, we haven't fished thru any nights mainly from about 9am onwards up until 11-12pm.
Been a great week with good sport and we have both enjoyed ourselves and had some nice relaxation in between the fishing.
Next year I intend to fish a bit harder.
Thanks for a great week. (Rebooked for 28.8.21)
Simon and Andy.
Hellifield, North Yorkshire.
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Sat 29th Aug 2020 (updated)
Hi John
This week we’ve caught 58 fish including 46 Carp, 10 Catfish and 2 Bream.
The biggest Carp this week was 33.5lbs and 15 of the Carp were over 20lb.
The fish have been crashing all week but mainly in the margins and under the trees.
Biggest Catfish was 18lbs.
Malcolm’s wife has been float fishing with maggots and caught loads of Roach and what we think is a small Zander.
We have been using poacher tiger nut and maple boilies at 18mm and 20mm and often using doubles / snowman.
We have only fished the cabin swims with Malcolm to the right of the island and me to the left.
The weather has been all over the show with sun, hot and humid, cold nights and cloud and the thunderstorms and rain.
I caught a lovely fully scaled Mirror off the top on the island on floating pellet and his mate tried to get in the net with him!
Getting ready to leave now (8:30am) - had a good night last night, bruv had 1 mid double and a kitten. I had 2 X 20's and a 33.5lb Mirror, well happy.
Good week again - 6th visit.
Thanks a lot.
Andy, Malcolm and wife (Dartford Kent )
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Fri 21st Aug 2020
Hi John
Me and Herbs total fish for this week was 92.
3 x 30lbs Carp
27 x 20lbs Carp
54 x double figure Carp
5 x Catfish
2 x large Bream
1 x Zander 10lbs
Smashed by a very large Cat
Largest fish 32lb Mirror
Weather, with the exception of 1 day was rain, the rest sunny with mixed cloud.
Bait used:
Maize as particle feed
Main line Spicy crab boilies
Mistral rose-hip boilies.
Herb fished cabin swim left hand side of island and I fished right hand side.
No night fishing this week.
Great fishing as usual that’s why we’ve been coming for nearly 10 years now.
Regards Stu and Herb (Runcorn)
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Fri 14th Aug 2020
Just myself and Andy this week.
Once again high numbers of Carp cruising and crashing all over the lake all day every day.
Lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance, mole fighting, island clearing and building’s refurbishment.
The weather this week was hot and humid with temperatures up to 36 deg C but this didn’t affect the fishing at all.
Andy worked with me every day in the mornings and fished the lake in the afternoon and evenings. He mainly fished the Cabin swims. He landed 32 fish total.
25 Carp to 32lb, 4 Catfish to 22lb, 2 Crucians and a single bream.
He had some good fun on the float and caught loads of Roach and Rudd with the odd Catfish at 2lb and the 2 Crucians at about half a pound each.
Best bait for the Carp was receptor red wafers and best bait for the Catfish was luncheon meat.
Water temperature at 24 deg C.
Oxygen level at 7mg/l (good - running 4 aerators 24hrs per day due to weather conditions).
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat, maize and pellet.
Loads of Carp showing, fizzing, jumping all over the lake every day. Also coming in very close to the bridge lilly pads and taking bread off the top.
John (owner) and Andy H (Stanford le hope)
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Fri 7th Aug 2020
Hi John
This week 110 fish in total.
Three Mirror Carp weighing over 30lb.
Biggest was 35lb 12oz
Others were 31lb 14 oz and 32lb 7 oz.
46 other Carp over 20lb up to 29lb 13 oz.
All other Carp from 10 and 20 lb.
One Catfish at 67lb 14 oz, one at 52lb 12oz and one at 35lb 11 oz. 15 other Cats up to 25lb.
3 Bream up to 7lb.
Josh and Aaron had an amazing time and at 14 years old they both caught some fantastic fish. Some of the Carp in here have shoulders like American football players.
As usual the place looked fantastic.
Weather has been up to 37 degrees during day which made bites hard to come by at hottest parts of day but they turned back on when the sun began to drop.
Cannot wait to come back as it just gets better and better.
Regards
Lee D (Hampshire)
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Thu 30th July 2020
Only a short break this week, arrived Monday afternoon and departing 9am today Thursday. (Two and half days fishing only).
Myself and my 18 year old son this week fishing in the cabin swims and we have caught 15 Carp and 5 Catfish in total. Lost a massive Catfish today.
Four of the Carp were over 20lbs and the biggest was 25lbs.
The biggest Catfish was 49lbs and the other 4 we put in your pen.
We went to the supermarket today which is ideal as its only 5 minutes away and filled up with wine.
The whole place is lovely and looks like you put in a lot of work to keep it looking good.
It’s ideal for us just to come and relax and do a bit of fishing.
Also had some Crucians on the float.
We will definitely be back - lovely country side around here -Not been to this area before - just like Devon.
Be in touch when we get home.
Thanks
Spencer and Robbie R (Burwell Cambridgeshire)
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Fri 24th July 2020
Hi John just to let you know an update we fished from Saturday lunchtime to Friday lunchtime we had 60 Carp the biggest Carp 31lb. 15 of the Carp were over 20lb.
We had 20 Catfish and the biggest Catfish was 48lb although a lot of them were very small though 3 to 10lb. We got smashed up at least 10 times between us annoyingly from the cats.
We also caught 14 Bream all about 4-5lb.
We all really enjoyed it again, it got very hot in the week which I think affected the fishing.
But we all would’ve definitely enjoyed it more with fewer cats just to note.
As previously we’ve only really had one or two small ones per trip that didn’t smash us.
Thanks
Rob Matthews (rebooked 24.4.21)
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Fri 17th July 2020
This week it’s just me and my son Lewis doing more maintenance as the schedule has been thrown out by the Covid 19 virus.
Lewis has worked with me on mainly grounds maintenance and grass cutting as we were not able to get over here during April, May and part of June and this is the growing season.
That said he has fished for a few hours Sunday to Thursday and landed 29 fish including 21 Carp, 4 Catfish and 4 Bream.
The biggest Carp was 34lb but we could see that it had spawned and so was probably 38lb a few weeks ago. He also had 8 other Carp over 20lb. 7 of the Carp were caught off the top on bread and dog biscuits which included the 34lb fish. Very unusual.
He also had 4 Catfish, the biggest was 37lbs which fought hard and 4 Bream all about 4lb.
The fish are feeding hard and he had a number of double takes so it is highly recommended guests coming in the next few weeks have 2 landing nets for each angler.
At one time Lewis had 3 fish on 3 rods at once. It has been difficult to keep all rods in the water.
Also recommend guests bring loads of bait in the next few weeks as they are feeding relentlessly. I put this down to the fact that the oxygen level for this time of year is currently high at 8.1mg/l. This is making them very active and feeding like mad.
Yves came around one day to help with bramble cutting and the whole place now looking ship shape and back to normal.
Viewed loads of wildlife including Woodpeckers, Kingfishers, Jays, Wrens and we now have a resident Heron who likes to fish from his favourite platform each evening.
Weather this week was sunny to start with then a few days cloud then yesterday the sun came out again. Average air temperature 22 deg C and water temperature 22 deg C.
Loads of fish everywhere every day.
John (owner) Lewis and Yves
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Fri 10th July 2020
Hi John
Caught Around 90 fish in total this week with 50/50 split between Carp and Catfish.
Mirrors from 12 -27lb
Commons from 10-26lb
33 of the Carp were over 20lb!
Cats from 8lb-81lb, one at 54, one at 60 and one at 81lb.(New Record)
Mick in cabin swim, Paul and I summerhouse.
Main bait, mainline essential cell wafers.
Didn’t really fish 2 days and I was mainly using 1 rod.
Weather’s been hot and sunny, cloudy today.
Fish jumping everywhere.
Cheers.
Tony (rebooked for 8.5.21)
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Fri 3rd July 2020
Hooray - all travel restrictions lifted and no quarantine required in France or England.
1st guests arrive tomorrow Saturday 4th July 2020.
So no fishing this week but Yves has been feeding the fish on cooked wheat, cooked maize and pellets and cutting the grass.
Eloise (Yves’ granddaughter) has been painting and bramble cutting.
Sun is shining - fish are jumping - life is good.
John (owner)
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Fri 26th June 2020
This has been another maintenance week for us.
Just myself and my mate Andy this week.
Arrived last Wednesday 17th June to warm sunshine and found the fish cruising on the top.
(No problems with the ferry crossing or passport control on either the English side or the French side - straight through - back to normal.)
Once again high numbers of Carp cruising and crashing all over the lake.
Lake management carried out including adding new aerators, bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance, mole fighting, island clearing and building’s refurbishment.
The weather over the last 9 days got warmer every day and peaked at 32 deg C Wednesday and Thursday this week.
Loads of wildlife was seen including jays, kingfishers, buzzards, golden orioles, swifts, hedgehogs, rabbits, birds of prey, owls and lizards.
Water temperature at 22 deg C.
Oxygen level at 7mg/l (good - running 4 aerators 24hrs per day due to weather conditions)
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat, maize and pellet.
Loads of Carp showing, fizzing, jumping all over the lake every day. Also coming in very close to the bridge Lilly pads and rock in the cabin swims.
Andy worked with me every day in the mornings and fished the lake in the afternoon and evenings. He mainly fished the pine tree swim. He landed 17 Carp to 36lb (inc 3 over 30lb) and two Catfish at 28lb and 57lb.
Good luck to all those coming over the next few weeks.
John (owner) and Andy H (Stanford le hope)
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Wed 18th March 2020
This has been yet another maintenance week for us.
Arrived last Friday to mild conditions, coloured water and found the fish very active.
This week Lake management carried out including lots of bank strengthening, lots of tree cutting due to fallen trees, (needed to get neighbours Michel and Yves around with the tractor to get them out) swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s refurbishment.
Our neighbour Michel delivered another 3 tons of topsoil for us with his tractor to help us improve bank strengthening in some areas of the lake and also an extra 3 tons of gravel for the drive.
The weather this week was mixed with showers and sun.
Water temperature at 13 deg C.
Average air temperature 14 deg C.
Oxygen level at 11mg/l (very good).
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat and maize.
Yves has been feeding all through the winter to give them the best start for 2020.
Loads of Carp showing all over the lake every day.
Good luck to all who have booked, but with the Human Coronavirus (Covid 19) we are making it up as we go along!
John (owner), Yves & Michel
2019
Fri 15th Nov 2019
This has been another maintenance week with lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting and seeding, driveway maintenance, ditch maintenance, bramble cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s refurbishment.
My mate Andy came to help out during the daytime and fished from about 4pm to 8am every day.
He caught 26 Fish in total all from the cabin swims and the pine tree swim.(lost another 8)
Saturday
2 Carp – biggest 23lbs
1 Catfish – 58lbs
1 Bream – 5lbs
Sunday
4 Carp – biggest 28lbs Common
Monday
5 Carp - biggest 33lbs Mirror
Tuesday
2 Carp – biggest 39lbs Mirror
2 Catfish – biggest 45lbs
Wednesday
3 Carp – biggest 24lb Common
Thursday
5 Carp – biggest 29lbs Mirror
1 Cat - 19lbs
Friday
No fishing today – packing up.
Saturday – Returning to UK.
Andy used Cell boilies and maize as hook bait and only fished the cabin swims and pine tree swim.
The weather this week was rain showers and sunny periods.
Still loads of fish activity every day with clouds of silt being dug up and jumping up to 20 times per hour across the lake (peak) with some fizzing.
The lake level is very high due to all the rain we have had over the last few weeks and oxygen levels are very high at 10mg/l. (very good)
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat & maize.
John (owner) and Andy (Stanford le Hope)
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Fri 8th Nov 2019
Hi John,
Once again we have had a great week here at the lake and caught 36 Carp & Catfish.
The weather has been very mild this week and we have had a mixture of sun and showers . There has not been a breath of wind all week- perfect conditions. There have been loads of Carp showing every day.
Biggest Carp was 38lbs, but we have also had them at 36lbs and 33lbs.
Biggest Catfish was 68lbs, 55lbs and 28lbs. Best bait was Cell and we mainly fished the cabin swims and the pine tree swim. All the 30lbs Carp came from the pine tree swim as it seems they like to get down there in the morning as it’s a warm sunny spot for this time of year.
Thanks a lot, great week again.
Please keep our deposit and we will sort out our dates when we get back.
Peter & Maggie B (Sevenoaks Kent)
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Sat 2nd Nov 2019 (updated)
Hi John
It’s been hard fishing this week but we have still managed to land 19 Carp and 4 Cats and a single bream this week (24 total) and the biggest Catfish bottomed out our scales at 65lbs as that’s all they go up to so we don’t know the actual weight but it was well over that. (Also had others at 62lb and 45lb)
The biggest Carp was 29lbs 14oz and we have found that all the Carp are in the margins this week and we know it’s the weather that’s affected them.
We’ve also lost a few due to hook throws. (Barbless hooks)
The weather has been terrible with heavy rain every day except Saturday when we arrived to 20 deg C and sunshine, but temperature dropped on Sunday to 8 deg C and it’s hardly stopped raining since.
For bait we have used Chilli and Chorizo boilies and CC more tuna and also had some on a string of maize.
The best swim was the summerhouse swim and also the pine tree swim until the water became murky due to the amount of water entering the lake down there although there has been quite a lot of fish crashing down there still.
The lake is beautiful and we would like to book again for 15th August 2020 please.
Hopefully the weather will be better next year – looking forward to it already.
James B (Balberton Notts)
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Fri 25th Oct 2019
Hello John
It’s been slow this week and we have finished the week with 13 fish with the biggest a beautiful mirror Carp at 33lb (2 at this weight) and the biggest Catfish at 21lb.
There has been little action in the daytime and most of the fish have been caught in the evening when they can be heard crashing around the lake and the Catfish can be heard hunting the small stuff.
We have only fished the cabin swims this week.
The weather has been mixed with a fair bit of rain.
The bait we have used is the same as we used on our summer visit this year which was peach and pepper and the source boilies.
All the fish were in good condition and we have had a lovely time.
Will definitely be back in the future.
Lucy and Simon (Dunstable)
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Fri 18th Oct 2019
Hi John,
Early report this week (Friday 8am) due to us needing to return to England due to heavy work commitments. (5 days fishing only).
Started slow this week with heavy rain and thunderstorms.
Temperatures started at around 20 deg C then dropped to 13 deg C.
Final total is 16 Carp and 1 Catfish with 1 big Catfish lost. – Another big one which couldn’t be stopped even on 25lb line.
Phil caught 6 Carp to 27lbs 10oz (all on fishmeal baits) and I caught 10 Carp to 21lb 14oz (5 on fishmeal baits and 5 on nut based baits) and a Catfish at 20lbs on fishmeal bait.
All baits were balanced baits.
We both only fished the cabin swims and most fish were in the margins this week with a couple of Carp coming from the very far bank left side of the island and another from in front of the aerator.
We came for the social side as much as anything and we have been out for some nice meals and some days we haven’t started fishing until 2-3pm and we haven’t done any nights pulling in 12pm latest.
Nice to be here again it’s a fantastic spot. The lake and grounds are immaculate.
We can’t come next year but will be back the year after.
Thanks again- great venue.
Chris J and Phil (Redditch Worcs) – 2nd visit
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Fri 11th Oct 2019
Hi John
Here’s our report. 20 Catfish 2 mid thirties one at 74lb new lake record, plus another at 51lb, and 4/5 in the 20lb region.
Carp 1 x 35lb 1 x 32lb about four in the 30lb roughly about half a dozen in the twenties the rest in mid doubles.
Weather was a mixture of rain and cold which did slow things down for a while.
Best bait was small krill Wafters.
Best swim was the summerhouse and back island swim.
Best times were first dark up to midnight, in the daytime all fish where stacked up in the bushes so was best for stalking, highly recommend 25lb line and stiff rods and open water for the Cats.
Thanks again for a great week.
Maxine, Steve, Jonathon and James.
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Fri 4th Oct 2019
Hello John
Arrived Saturday to brilliant sunshine and Carp crashing and after a quick trip to the supermarket we got setup and landed a 23lb Carp in the afternoon.
Sunday we had torrential rain and the lake came up 3 inches over the next couple of days but the amount of cold water which went into the lake turned them off for most of the week.
The weather continued to go downhill all week with showers and blustery wind.
We ended up with only 10 fish for the whole week but we did have catfish at 72lb, 68lb and 56lb but the Carp were switched off and the biggest Carp was 23lb.
Could also be the case that the high volume of water entering the lake with all the muck may have changed the Ph. Whatever it was the fish didn’t like it.
Still, looking forward to our next trip 4th April 2020 when we should do much better.
Mike Whelan (Verwood Dorset)
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Fri 27th Sept 2019
This has been yet another maintenance week for us.
Just myself and Keith here this week so no fishing.
Arrived last Saturday to 28 degree sunshine and found the fish very active.
This week Lake management carried out including lots of bank strengthening, lots of tree cutting due to fallen trees, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s refurbishment.
Our neighbour Michel delivered 3 tons of topsoil for us Monday with his tractor to help us improve bank strengthening in some areas of the lake.
The weather this week started at 28 deg C and then got cooler with showers and sun every day.
Water temperature at 20 deg C.
Average air temperature 20 deg C.
Oxygen level at 7mg/l (good).
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat, maize and pellet and the fish are feeding hard to put weight on for the winter.
Loads of Carp showing all over the lake every day.
John & Keith (Joint Owners)
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Fri 20th Sept 2019
Hello John,
The catch this week up to 11am today is 85 Carp and 7 Catfish.
The biggest was a Catfish of 61lb landed from the far bank island swim and put up a massive fight before we could get it in.
The biggest Carp was 32lbs 2oz caught from the cabin swim followed by a second at 30lbs 5oz caught in the summerhouse swim. We also had another 11 Carp over 20lbs.
The best swim for numbers of fish this week was the summerhouse swim.
The bait we have used this week is from DNA baits and Urban Baits and flavours are Spicy Crab and Krill.
The weather has been Brill - sunny and warm all week but a bit breezy today.
Good week – Mint.... Place spot on.
Can you keep my deposit and book me in for 3rd October 2020 please.
Thanks a lot.
Neil B (Bridlington)
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Fri 13th Sept 2019
Hi John
We’ve had a lovely time at your lake.
Catch for this week so far is 70 fish and the split is 55 Carp and 15 Catfish.
For the Carp we had one at 32lbs 10oz, 8 Carp over 20lbs and 46 doubles.
Even the smaller ones have fought unbelievably well.
For the Catfish the biggest was 29lbs with most of the others around the 10lbs-15lb mark, although I also lost 4 very big Catfish. I’ve caught Catfish up to 80lbs previously in other lakes and I don’t know if it’s the oxygen in your lake (Aerators running 1 hour on / 1 hour off) but the ones I lost here felt bigger.
The most productive swims this week were the summer house swim and the outfall swim which is next to it although all swims have been fished and all have produced fish.
I’ve done a fair bit of stalking as I have an old fashioned rod and a centre pin reel and it’s exciting if you can hook one using this old gear.
The cabin swims were the least productive this week with very little coming from around the central island.
For bait we have been using fish meal/salmon boilies and we have used 40kg this week.
If you put a bed of bait out you can get 4 fish from it.
The weather has been very nice this week and today its 24deg C and sunny. Just had one day of rain.
We have mainly been fishing days only and pulling in at about 11pm to make use of the nice cabin and sampling the local wine although I’m going to do a night tonight.
Brilliant week – we love it here.
Speak later.
Steve, Mark and Andy (Gillingham Kent)
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Fri 6th Sept 2019
Total catch for this week is 49 Carp and Catfish.
The biggest Carp was a 32lb Mirror and the biggest Catfish was 19lb.
19 of the Carp were over 20lb with lots of fish around the 27lb, 28lb, 29lb mark.
The weather has been beautiful and it’s been hot and sunny all week except for 1 day with drizzle with temperatures around 24 deg C – I’m going home with a sun tan!
The bait we have used this week was Livesystem.
The best swim was the Cabin swim to the Right side of the island where the 32lb fish came from but also had a few off the Lilly pads in front of the island and had a 25lb Carp from the Pine tree swim.
We can’t come next year but will be back in the future.
Thanks a lot.
Kev H and Al M (Lichfield Staffs)
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Fri 30th Aug 2019
Hello John,
This week we’ve caught 52 Carp up to 31.5lbs and 15 Catfish up to 68lbs!
John and Mike have not been here before and started in the summerhouse swim and I started in the Pine tree swim. I had 16 fish by Tuesday but John and mike were struggling a bit at the other end and so I moved to the cabin swim and let them go into the Pine tree swim as there were loads of fish showing there.
Best times for fishing has been from 3pm to midnight and sometimes it’s been difficult to keep 3 rods in the water due to the high numbers of runs and Monday night I pulled in early for a rest.
The Best swims were the pine tree swim followed by the cabin swim.
The pine tree swim is my favourite as it’s so secluded down there.
The weather has been very hot this week and it’s unusual to catch so many fish at these high temperatures.
It’s a hungry lake so we have been putting in a lot of bait.
The bait we have been using is Active8 and Cell but I don’t think it matters what you use.
Lovely Lake – lovely Cabin.
Be in touch.
Mike Goode (Sandbach Cheshire)
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Fri 23rd Aug 2019
Hi John,
This week we have landed 85 fish and the Carp have been feeding relentlessly.
We have caught 78 Carp, 6 Catfish and 1 Bream.
The biggest Carp was 34.5lbs and we had 2 of these and a further one at 31lbs. We had around 50 Carp at 20lbs plus!
The biggest Catfish were 68lbs, 51lbs, 33lbs and a further 3 under 20lbs.
The best swim was the left side cabin swim fishing 30ft off the far margin, 25ft off the aerator and 20ft off the left side of the island.
The best baits this week were CC more Pacific Tuna but we have also been using Live System.
The weather on arrival was light rain for the first 2 days then glorious sunshine the rest of the week and today its currently 28 deg C.
This is the first visit for Mark and my son Josh and they were very impressed when we first opened the gates and they saw the lake and grounds for the first time. They commented that it looked like paradise. The whole experience has been fantastic, sensational, tremendous.
Can you keep our deposit and book us in for 1st August 2020 please?
We can’t wait to come back – Brilliant.
Lee and Josh D and Mark (Thatcham Berkshire)
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Sat 17th Aug 2019
This has been another maintenance week for us.
Just myself and my son Lewis this week.
Lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, snag cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance, island clearing and building’s refurbishment.
The weather this week has been around 22 deg C with some showers and some sunshine every day.
The Carp have spawned 4 times this year as the weather has been very hot and we now have lots of small perfectly formed 3” mirrors and commons and we have moved a small quantity to our neighbours’ 1 acre pond to see if we can grow them on.
Water temperature at 20 deg C.
Oxygen level at 8 mg/l (good)
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat, maize and pellet.
Loads of Carp showing, fizzing, jumping all over the lake every day. Lewis worked with me every day and fished the lake from around 6pm to 10pm Sunday to Thursday and only fished the cabin swims. He landed 16 Carp to 31lb, a single Catfish at 10lbs and a Bream at 5lbs. This equates to 20 hours fishing only and he also lost another 4 fish so this works out at about 1 run per hour! He also lost a big Catfish which took him around the island but these are hard to stop when this happens.
For hook bait Lewis used Maple8 boilies with plastic sweetcorn and fed with a mixture of Vitalin, pellets, wheat, maize and boilies.
No fishing Friday as we got the night boat back to England.
John (owner) and Lewis (Wandsworth)
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Fri 9th Aug 2019
Hi John
This week it’s just me and Chris (wife) as my brother went home last Saturday.
I’ve caught 23 Carp and 1 Catfish this week which were all caught during the day.
Biggest Carp was 32.5lbs and 7 Carp were over 20lb , the other 15 were all doubles.
The Catfish was 10lb.
I’ve used the same bait as last week - tigernut and maple boilies and I’ve fished all week from the cabin swim.
The weather has been all over the place with 30 deg sunshine on Sunday with thunderstorms in the week and torrential rain to overcast and very muggy today.
Overall we are very pleased with this trip.
Can you keep the deposit and book us in for a repeat visit 22nd August 2020 please?
Mr and Mrs Malcolm F (Dartford Kent) week 2 of 2
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Sat 3rd Aug 2019
Hi John,
The lake is as lovely as ever.
I have fished the cabin swim and my brother fished the summerhouse swim.
In total we have had 44 fish as of 8am today
We have had 33 Carp up to 32.5lb. 4 X 30's, 8 X 20's, 19 doubles and 2 singles. 10 Catfish up to 17lb 12oz and as low as 1lb. Also one bream.
Andy broke his PB twice and had 3 thirty pound Carp from the summerhouse swim.
We have both used poachers tigernut and maple boilies.
Cabin swim has far been the best mainly catching from far margin.
My brother has had a couple of steam trains which he could not stop and have snapped him off.
Chris (wife) has caught lots of Roach, Rudd and lots of 1 inch Common and Mirror Carp.
Weather has been dry and in the mid 20's with variable wind.
Malcolm F (Dartford, Kent) week 1 of 2
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Friday 26th July 2019 (updated 6pm)
Hi John
Arrived on Saturday and the lake looked absolutely stunning and we soon got bivvys up in the cabin swims and settled in. We met your caretaker and family on arrival.
We had 4 Carp Saturday afternoon (3 commons and a mirror) including two at 25lb.
It’s been super hot all week and on Thursday it was 39 deg C!
Until now we have caught 56 Carp and 1 Catfish!
The biggest Carp was weighed at 30lb and the biggest Catfish at 28lb.
We've had 27 Carp over 20lb.
Best bait peach and Pepper and source from graham@carp.
We have landed over 1000lb of fish.
Really happy - cannot fault the fishing. Beautiful fish.
Raining today. Yay.
Lucy and Simon N (Dunstable)
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Fri 19th July 2019
Hi John
A good week at La Ridelee.
So far we’ve caught 45 Carp and Cats as of 5pm and we are still going strong.
We’ve had 2 Carp over 30lbs and the biggest was 35lbs 6oz and we lost another two 30lb fish at the net.
We also had 12 Carp over 20lb and 27 double figure Carp.
We also landed 6 Catfish with the biggest 30lb plus. Lost another 2 big Catfish, which went off like a train just couldn’t stop them.
Just me and Lynne here so we spent all the week in the cabin swims.
Used my usual bait of LL13 and Entire boilies from CBS baits.
The weather has been hot again in the high 20 deg C range.
Good sport, I think we did good!
Thanks a lot.
Kevin and Lynne G (Chester)
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Sat 13th July 2019
This has been another maintenance week for us.
Just myself and my mate Andy this week.
Arrived last Saturday to 32 degree sunshine and found the fish cruising on the top.
Once again high numbers of Carp cruising and crashing all over the lake.
Lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance, mole fighting, island clearing and building’s refurbishment.
The weather this week started at 32 deg C and sunny then settled down to 22 deg - 27 deg every day.
The Carp have spawned 4 times this year as the weather has been very hot and we now have lots of small perfectly formed 2” mirrors and commons but don’t think many will survive as the Catfish are feasting on them!
Loads of wildlife were seen including kingfishers, buzzards, golden orioles, hedgehogs, rabbits, birds of prey, owls and lizards.
Water temperature at 24 deg C.
Oxygen level at 7mg/l (good - running aerator and oxygen pump 24hrs per day due to weather conditions)
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat, maize and pellet.
Loads of Carp showing, fizzing, jumping all over the lake every day. Andy worked with me every day and fished the lake from around 8pm to 7am Saturday to Thursday and mainly fished the cabin swims. He landed 8 Carp to 22lb and a single Catfish at 15lbs but lost a 35lb Carp at the net on Tuesday and was well sick but these things happen.
No fishing Friday as we got the night boat back to England.
John (owner) and Andy H (Stanford le hope)
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Fri 5th July 2019
Hello John,
In total this week we have had 37 Carp and Cats.
Started the week well and on Saturday the first fish landed was a 70lb Catfish.
We have a set of scales which go up to 100lbs except the Catfish managed to bend the stainless steel hook on the scale straight, but we managed to sort it out in the end.
The biggest Carp was 31lb.
We didn’t really fish much on Tuesday as we needed to try out the hospital in Laval as Jimmy had an abscess come up on his tooth but they were quite good at the hospital and sorted him out with some antibiotics.
In summary one Carp at 31lb and 8 twenties around the 26lb,27lb,28lb mark. The rest doubles around 17lb 18lb 19lb. The smallest Carp was 13.5lbs.
Biggest Catfish was 70lb but we have also had them at 36lb, 33lb.
The weather has been very hot all week.
The best swims this week was the one behind the island and the summerhouse swim.
The baits we have been using were CC more Boilies and pellets.
All the fish were quality.
Thanks a lot.
Peter and Jimmy (Maidstone)
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Fri 28th June 2019
Hello John
In total we have had 13 Carp and Cats this week and the biggest Catfish was 45lb which put up a real good fight, and the biggest Carp was 26lb.
The weather has been very hot this week and today its 36 deg C!!
The Carp are all cruising on the top and you can put a bait in front of them but they are not feeding.
We have fished the summerhouse and outfall swim in the main but my father in law has camped out in front of the cabin all week for convenience and he has just come for a break really.
For bait we have used Cell and Maize.
Lovely place.
Thanks again we have had a great time.
Can you keep our deposit and book us in for 20th June 2020 please?
Jason C (Macclesfield)
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Fri 21st June 2019
Hi John,
After a slowish start to the week with the fish spawning again on Tuesday, things picked up on Wednesday night as heavy rain switched them on.
We've ended the week with 40 fish, 20 carp, 19 cats and 1 bream.
We've had 6 twenties, 1 thirty and a forty. Biggest carp came from the Summer House at 31lb 6oz and biggest cat 45lb 13oz from the cabin swim.
We've lost over 20 fish including a snapped 3lb tc rod.....your cats are getting bigger every year!
We've had another great week.
Thanks
Craig R (York)
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Fri 14th June 2019
Hello John,
Very slow this week with 10 Carp to 25lb and 6 Cats to 18lb - not our most productive week.
The weather this week has been chucking it down with rain and the water is now very discoloured but was very clear when we arrived.
Not much fish activity but Thursday night they started crashing around.
Packed up early today so will have affected potential catches.
Mark F (Portsmouth)
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Sat 8th June 2019
This has been another maintenance week for us.
Just myself and Keith here this week so no fishing.
Arrived last Saturday to 30 degree sunshine and found the fish spawning.
High numbers of Carp cruising and crashing all over the lake.
Lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s refurbishment.
The weather this week started at 30 deg C and then got cooler every day until Friday and finished with heavy rain and wind.
Water temperature at 20 deg C.
Oxygen level at 7mg/l (good).
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat, maize and pellet.
Loads of Carp showing all over the lake every day.
Large number of Carp in the shallow end of the lake at the pine trees swim.
This is currently the best swim on the lake.
John & Keith (Joint Owners)
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Sat 1st June 2019
Hi John
Thanks for allowing us the pleasure of staying at La Ridelee.
We arrived as the church bell chimed 6, quick cuppa and then set up in our chosen swims. Me to the right of the cabin swim, Trev to the left and Phil in the summerhouse. We each had fish that night and thought we were in for a great week’s fishing. Sadly, that was not to be.
Phil had 4 Carp, 3 x 20’s and a 34 and a succession of fish lost to hook pulls or snags by Tuesday evening. Despite trying everything and alternating between the two swims, he never had another run on his carp rods for the rest of the week. Putting out a cat rod at night only saw 2 runs all week, with a best of 47lb.
Trev did better. Fishing across to the far bank saw him land 14 Carp and 4 Cats. 6 x 20’s were caught earlier in the week and then it slowed down and just the occasional double was landed. His Cats were all caught on carp tackle on Cell boilies. His best was a new PB of 50.08. Swapping a carp rod for a cat rod at night saw no runs at all despite trying all baits, including a string of Cell.
I fished for the cats, but swapped one rod for a Carp rod occasionally during the day, with method feeder and maize. I only managed one fish on that and it was a cat! I tried everything, but only managed 5 cats, 1 zander (on live bait) and a Carp that took 2 x 20mm pellets. Best Cat was 29lb. My preferred method is live baits, but try as I might, I couldn’t catch many. The only place I could catch them from was the lilies by the bridge and they were tiny. There was no surface activity from them either, until Friday evening.
The weather was not bad. Mainly dry with only a few showers on Tuesday. There was a northerly wind early in the week which left Phil rather exposed at the bottom end of the lake. Thursday was very muggy and Friday and Saturday turned very warm.
Temperatures were up and down and, at first we blamed that for our slow week until we saw a few fish spawn on Friday morning.
As the sun set on our week we were treated to a frog symphony and the noise was tremendous. Despite knowing there was very little chance of a last fish, it was a real pleasure to lay there listening to that, whilst watching the bats flitting around beneath a beautiful, starry sky unspoilt by light pollution.
Saturday we awoke at 4.30 am to a real commotion going on out in the lake and at daylight we could see the Carp spawning all over the lake. Whilst it’s unfortunate to happen during our week, it’s a privilege to see and get an idea of stock levels. La Ridelee does have a very good head of Carp and we saw many big ones spawning in the Pine tree swim. The future looks good.
Please keep the deposit and we’ll be back 6th June 2020 hoping the fish will have already spawned then.
Cheers
Andy B (West Sussex)
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Thu 23rd May 2019
Hi John
Good week so far at La Ridelee.
The biggest Catfish so far is a 52lb’er which took me 20 minutes to get in and took me all over the lake. The biggest Carp so far is a 32lb Common.
In total we’ve had 40 Carp and 5 Catfish totalling 45 fish.
Most of the Carp have been mid 20lb’ers with the odd fish in the 12lb-17lb range.
Loads in the 26lb,27lb,28lb range.
It switched off for a while on Monday as the weather was warm and the fish were cruising on the top and then suddenly switched on again Tuesday.
We have been using a range of boilies and Sweet Corn / Maize as bait.
Maize has been best but we’ve also been using boilies with a 2” pop up as well and also a bit of plastic yellow corn.
White boilies have also been good.
We have been pulling in at about 10pm and so we have not done any nights so we’ve not hit it hard and just been chilling.
All the fish were of good quality and in good condition.
We have found this week best times are 7am-11am then goes quiet until 6pm-10pm.
Best swims this week were Pine Tree Swim, Cabin Swims and Summerhouse Swim.
Early catch report this week as we are going home 7am Friday due to family commitments in England.
Can you keep the deposit and book us in for visit number 9 on 16th May 2020.
See you…… cheers.
Mick H (Skipton – North Yorkshire)
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Fri 17th May 2019
Hi John,
Excellent week and we have landed 34 Carp up to 35lb. (Had 2 Carp over 30lb)
No Catfish this week.
All fish were caught during the day as we haven’t done any nights.
My son Ben had six Carp, the biggest being a 25lb fish but being a teenager didn’t get up until 12:30 some days.
Dave has had 13 and his biggest being a 35lb Common Carp.
Dave’s other fish were all Carp at 17lb, 18.5lb, 14lb, 23lb, 18.5lb, 10lb, 14.5lb, 15.8lb, 26.13lb, 33lb Common, 15.09lb and the under 22lb fish were mostly Commons.
I have had 15 Carp with the biggest being 24.9lb and the rest around the 20lb mark, a couple of 15-16lb fish - lot of Commons mix which was really nice.
All very nice fish and they fought hard.
We all missed a few and a few came off but had a very good week.
Best swim was the cabin swim but all swims produced fish.
The best bait was freshwater shrimp boilies from Trent baits.
The weather has been pleasant and it seems like they’re just starting to spawn today.
Absolutely loved it.
If you get any cancellations for this year can you let me know?
Keep my deposit for next year and I’ll be in touch about dates. (Booked for 11th April 2020)
Thanks
Rob Dave and Ben (Nottingham)
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Fri 10th May 2019
Hi John,
So far this week we have caught 20 Carp and Catfish including a Mirror Carp at 38lbs caught by Mick and also my PB which was a lovely Common at 36lbs 8oz which was weighed on my Ruben Heaton scales.
The 38lb Carp was caught from the Cabin swim and the 36lb Common was caught on a cell boilie from the back field swim about 25ft off the aerator.
Arrived with the weather sunny but chilly and the lake looking like paradise, credit to you all.
We didn’t get here until late on Saturday so only started fishing on Sunday.
Through the week low pressure came in and finished the week with a few rainy days.
We have only been fishing from about lunch time until 7pm as we come for the social, the fantastic lake, a good laugh and to relax. To be able to fish this lake, be responsible and enjoy every aspect is a massive difference for us, we do feel privileged.
Can you keep the deposit and book us in for 9th May 2020 please?
Going home happy – we love it here.
Tony S (Great Totham, Essex)
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Fri 3rd May 2019
This has been another maintenance week for us with lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s refurbishment.
Kevin and Matthew came this week to help with grounds maintenance and they fished every afternoon and night from Saturday to Friday afternoon.
They caught 25 Fish in total including 12 Catfish and 13 Carp.
The biggest Carp this week was 24lb 8oz which was a new pb for Matthew and the biggest Catfish was 32lb 4oz caught by Kevin.
Best baits this week were LL13 and Entire boilies by CBS.
The weather was warm and sunny with daytime air temperature at 22 deg C, temperature of water was 18 deg C and water oxygen levels were 8mg/l (good).
Everything looking very good.
Fed the fish every day with cooked wheat and pellets.
Loads of wildlife about including Golden Oriole (flute warbler) and Red Squirrels.
John & Keith (Joint Owners) & Kevin and Matthew (Chester)
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Thu 25th April 2019
Hello John
We’ve had good week with 73 fish landed including 64 Carp, 7 Catfish and 2 Bream.
The biggest Carp was 35lb, with another 12 over the 20lb mark and the biggest Catfish was 29lb.
Total weight of fish was 1200lbs.
The weather has been mixed with roasting hot sunshine at the beginning of the week then it turned cooler with heavy rain and thunder.
The bait we have used this week was squid/scopex boilies and maize.
The best swims were the cabin swims and the pine tree swim.
Brilliant week and we will recommend your lake to our friends back in Ireland.
Thanks a lot.
Les Cullen (Lisburn – Northern Ireland)
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Fri 19th April 2019 (single angler)
Hi John,
This week I’ve managed to land 14 fish including 7 Catfish 6 Carp and 1 Bream.
I didn’t start fishing properly until Tuesday due to the biting wind and I got hooked watching the PGA golf on TV.
The biggest Carp was 36lb 4oz and this was caught on a halibut pellet from the cabin swim about 2/3rd the way out to the island. I thought it was a Catfish at first by the way it fought and it tried to take me around the back of the island.
The biggest Catfish was about 50lb but I couldn’t weigh it as my Avon scales only go up to 42lb. My guess is that it was about 50lb as it was 60 inches long and 30 inch girth.
Terrific fight lasting 40 minutes and at one stage it surfaced a few feet from the platform on the opposite bank.
I also had other Catfish at 45lb, (approx as too big for scales also), 33lb and 30lb.
Best bait this week was halibut pellets and John Baker ASP boilies.
The weather the last 2 days has been around 20 deg C and the Carp are now cruising on the top so I’ve been fishing with halibut pellets specifically for the Cats.
All the fish were in great condition.
You guys really have worked hard and developed a great fishery.
Can you book me in for 2nd May 2020 please?
Thanks a lot.
David C (Ross On Wye)
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Fri 12th April 2019
Hello John,
We have finished up with 21 Carp and 1 Catfish with the biggest a Common of 34lbs and a second Common of 32lbs. We also had a further 16 Carp over 20lbs.
The Catfish was 12lbs.
The best bait this week was maize and found it difficult to get a bite on boilies believe it or not. Most fish were caught from the margins this week as not many fish showing in open water but plenty jumping in the margins.
The summerhouse swim was unproductive this week and most fish were caught in the cabin swims.
The weather has been quite cold this week with high pressure and winds from the north and so we have not done any nights and found our chairs frozen this morning.
If you get any cancellations for this year could you let us know please.
Still enjoyed it despite the weather and going home happy.
Stuart and herb (Runcorn Cheshire)
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Fri 5th April 2019
Hi John
This week we have caught 18 Carp and 1 Catfish with the biggest being a 53lb Catfish which was landed from the field swim on the opposite side of the lake from the cabin.
The biggest Carp was 27.5lbs and 9 of the Carp were over 20lbs.
Also had a few Roach on the float.
It took us a few days to get a feel for the lake as this was our first visit and the weather has been all over the place with hail, rain, sun and wind so we have had all the seasons in one week.
The best bait we used was mainly Cell and my own homemade recipe.
The best swim was the Pine tree swim with 8 Carp from here.
We’ve pulled in early now as we are going out for a meal tonight.
We are planning a second visit for next year and when I get back I will phone to arrange the dates. (Booked for 5th Sept 2020)
Cheers
Roy Chambers (Reading)
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Fri 29th March 2019
Hello John
Super time this week with 32 Carp including 3 over 30lbs including 2 at 39lbs.
All the rest of the Carp were over 20lbs except for 3 of them. (18lbs, 17lbs, 14lbs)
We also had 2 Catfish with the biggest at 26lbs and 2 Bream at about 5lbs.
It’s been a cracking week, the place is lovely and a credit to you.
I have fished many lakes in France over the years and this is the best I’ve fished.
We’ve had a number of personal bests this week.
Tom 35lbs Carp PB.
Steve 28lbs Carp and 26lbs Cat PB
Dave 39lbs Carp PB.
Wilf 39lbs 4oz Carp
Best bait we used was Cell and the best swim for numbers of fish was the summerhouse and the best swim for the big fish was the cabin swims as you said.
Amazing, absolutely spot on.
We will be coming back and will speak to you later about next year when we get home.
Wilf Harding (Sandbach Cheshire)
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Fri 22nd March 2019
This has been a maintenance week for us with lake management carried out including bank strengthening, tree cutting, swim maintenance, grass cutting, painting, platform maintenance and building’s refurbishment.
Our mate Andy came to help out during the day and fished from about 7pm to 8am every night from Friday to Wednesday.
He caught 11 Fish in total and lost another 5.
Friday Evening
1 Carp – 19lbs
Saturday Evening
1 Carp - 28lbs Mirror
Sunday Evening
2 Carp – biggest 33lbs Mirror
Monday Evening
1 Cat - 25lbs
1 Tench – 6lbs
Tuesday Evening
2 Carp – 29lbs Mirror biggest
Wednesday Evening
3 Carp – biggest32lbs Mirror
Thursday Evening – No fishing - ferry back to UK.
Andy used his own homemade bait with Activ-8 additive.
The weather was mainly dry this week (except for Monday) and Thursday was dry and sunny with daytime air temperature at 15 deg C, temperature of water was 13 deg C and water oxygen levels were 11mg/l (very good).
The fish were fed every day with cooked wheat and maize.
John & Keith (Joint Owners) & Andy (Stanford Le Hope)