Your Carp fishing holiday to France will be more successful with the more information you have. So here is a detailed report about my fishing holiday.
Monday 8th July 2019 Day 1.
Well, the waiting and anticipation are over and we head to Carpquarry, We arrive at mid morning and set the rods and everything up and start fishing at lunchtime. Luke has been questioning me over the past couple of months about where any fish have been caught and with this info he picks where he wants to fish and I have the left overs ( love him ). We do know that so far this year the fishing has been hard going with not a lot of fish being landed but what has been caught has been decent. We had decided that we are only going to fish from dawn to dusk ( so I can watch Love Island ssshhhhh). Anyway about 4 pm Lukes rod screams off and after an epic battle he is rewarded with a Mirror of 41 lb which was caught from fishing a couple of feet below the surface in the far bay. We were not expecting to catch on the first day so we are happy bunnies. More to come tomorrow with day 2 .
Gordon and Luke’s Angling Adventures.
Tuesday 9th July 2019 Day 2.
Started fishing about 6.30 am. Its now the early afternoon and not a touch and you start to question all your rigs and baits. I will only use the lake baits as I know the fish are used to them and people catch on them. When they use other baits they blank most of the time. I also know that my rigs are good so just have to wait until the fish switch on. At aboutn 3.30 pm Luke’s rod that was being fished deep in a hole between the tree’s oppersite swim 4 screams off , after a hard battle at fat heavy fish was in the net . I lifted her out the water did think Jesus that it is heavy, Just as she was above the unhooking mat she thrashed in the net and ripped right through it ( glad she was over the mat) She was not the longest fish but across the back she was like a Labrador very thick set. As I weighted her my jaw dropped as the scales pulled round to 50lb I knoew it was heavy just not that heavy. After a little time she swam away into the obi. As soon as I sorted her out was just about to make a tea when Luke’s other rod shoots off, this was the one that was being fished a couple of feet under the surface in the far bay, They are like buses you don’t see any then two come at once. This time he had a 36lb Mirror and yes just for the record I am still blanking
Gordon and Luke’s Angling Adventures.
Wednesday 10th July 2019 Day 3.
All the rods are out and the traps are set, I am sitting here in this beautiful amazing place listening to the high pitched screeches and watching a flash of bright blue as the Kingfishers dart across the water. I ponder what today will bring and also how lucky I am to be sat here on the bankside in the early morning as the sun rises , Life is good !!! The sun is now on the lake and the Swallows are dipping into the water as they do there fly bys. The cheaky little Robin is back almost hopping onto mt feet as he orders breakfast. Its now 12.30 and at last after 3 days I have a run, after a nice battle I am rewarded with a 49 lb Mirror caught from deep into the bushes oppersite swim 4. It is a tad smaller than Lukes fish yesterday even though you could be led to think it was much bigger, just goes to show the difference holding a fish right for a photo can make. I am one happy boy I am off the mark. Even with it being all quite after that I didn’t care.
Gordon and Luke’s Angling Adventures.
Thursday 11th July 2019 Day 4.
All the rods are out by 8am and now the wait continues. Its another hot day and the only thing that seems to be biting is the insects, But it looks like everything seems to happen in the early afternoon so may as well chill out and enjoy catching a few rays. You could not write this stuff on que. At 2pm Luke’s bite alarms start having a hissing fit screaming its head off, its another lump Luke as it slips over and into the landing net. Yet another 40 plus for him this time it is a beautiful 42lb Mirror and after all that it falls quite again. We spend the rest of the day thinking about what we can do tomorrow which is our last full day in trying to get a extra fish or two. So far all the fish have come from just 2 spots so we will try different things with the other 4 rods that we have not had a touch on for Friday.
Gordon and Luke’s Angling Adventures.
Friday 12th July 2019 Day 5.
We baited up a couple of new spots for today, so we will try out a few new areas and ideas to get an extra bite or two. At last at 10.30 am we have had a morning take but from the same spot as always lol. After a few minutes the rig snaps and the line pulls slack and that sinking feeling you get when you have waited so long only to loose it and you start to think was that my only chance today. Its now 2.30pm and thank the Carp Gods another run and yes from the same spot , it feels like a good fish and then it pulls free and the slack line hits the water surface, what the f*** is going on another rig has let me down. New rig tied and put into place fingers crossed we try again and 4.30 its gone again this time there was no escape and a very welcome fish is in the net, not the biggest at 31lb but it breaks the jinks and the run of bad luck ( we thought ).Its now 7.30 and Luke has now just lost a big fish. Looks like the knots on the rigs are giving way , the rigs are flourocarbon and super glued. ( whats going on ). After this loss of another big Carp it is time to consoal ourselves by toasting Marsh Melows on the BBQ.
Saturday 13th July 2019
Can’t believe its our final day and I have to go by the early afternoon. Its 8 am and all the traps are set.So far we have had a fish every day so lets hope we finish with a Monster Carp. Its quite scary how the hours and the days just slip away while fishing. As I sit here pondering where the Carp hide and also what they are eating as everyone we have caught has had a fat belly , they are not going hungry thats for sure. We are now all packed up and just the very last rod to bring in when it screams off. We gain a little bit of line on it but its having none of that and rips of into the bushes on the far side and snags us right up.
I was saying on Thursday how well we had done without loosing a fish and now we have lost 4, just shows how quickly things can change. This is the reason we have a barbless hook rule at Carpquarry as it is snaggy in places and it keeps the fish safe where they can shake the hook out with no problem. Good barbless hooks also do NO damage to the fish contrary to the belief of many anglers where in my experiance barbed and micro barbed do. But I am not going to get into that argument if you want to fish at Carpquarry its barbless or you crush the barb on your rigs. Anyway in the end after a joint effort we ended up with fish at 31 lb , 36 lb , 41 lb , 42 lb , 49 lb and 50 lb and lost 4. It was hard going at times and testing but the rewards are there to be had.
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