It's certainly no news to you all that the weather has been a nightmare and we all now feel like we have had enough of constant rain to the point we all have webbed feet, or so it would seem. The swims here have endured the wet weather very well though we cant say the same for the banks and the fields behind the swims, that remain very water logged and in desperate need of some warm, windy weather to dry them out. But considering the record breaking amounts of rainfall so far this year we are emerging relatively unscathed unlike some of the lakes further north that find them selves in some terrible situations with rivers flooding around them and the risk of losing fish. So our hearts go out to them and we pray for a good outcome.
Enough about the weather, this month has been an exceptional one for us. Despite the spawning being disrupted and the bad weather the fish have continued to feed and the results have been record breaking. The first week we were joined by Kees and his son Jarno up on swim 8 and with a mixture of Pro Line Pineapple or Garlic and Robin Red they landed some lovely fish to achieve new PB's with a 52lb mirror on their 4th day. Also a 51lb for Joeri on swim 10 to top off his session with his Dad including 2 40's to 45lb again on Pineapple. Everyone was fishing between 60 and 80m out on either chod or combi rigs mainly.
Another PB for Simon and Russell fishing on swim 8 the following week when Simon had a 42lb and a 48lb and Russell his first grass carp at 34lb. The Verberne family in the chalet also had 3 40's to 44lb.
Then came Jaap! If you follow us on Facebook you will have seen already the daily posts detailing his progress through the week. But for those of you who don't we were very pleased to see Japp back again for the 5th year running, this year on swim 10. He has managed to set a new PB here each year except for last year so we were crossing our fingers for a good week for him, We needn't have bothered because he smashed it. His first 40lb came on the second night, his 7th fish of the session, and a nice 2-tone fish she was to. The following night his18th run produced a whopping 54lb 2oz mirror and a new PB. He continued to haul fish having several runs each day some double and triple runs, beating his PB for a common too with a stunning fish at 35lb 10oz on Friday. He went on to finish his week with 49 fish from 51 runs, a new record for one person (and he didn't fish for 3 nights as the rain was so bad)a total weight of 1460lb average weight 29lb 13oz, 19 x 30's, 3 x 40's and the 54lb. Pressure is on now for next year!
And last week we welcomed back the Bakker group on swims 7 and 8 and Barry and Charlie on swim 11. The weather last week consisted of torrential rain every day till Wednesday when the sun did finally come out for a while. It didn't dampen their spirits though so well done for their tenacity. They were rewarded though by some superb fish. Charlie had 2 carp at 46lb, and 12 x 30's between him and his dad Barry amongst the 30 fish they landed. And the Bakker's had 47 fish from nearly 60 runs between the 3 of them including 18 x 30's, 3 x 40's and 3 x 50's to 59lb so an incredible week for them. The chalet swim was very quiet but Mario's first fish was a 52lb mirror on a Cell boilie at 40m then having lost 3 runs he landed a beautiful 35lb mirror on one of our Banana crème boilies.
So a good month despite the rain. It has played havoc with the spawning of course so we are unsure as to how many have or haven't spawned as yet but that has affected us moving the fish under 25lb out. This has, of course, been put on hold until they are less stressed but we will continue to move them once it all settles down a bit.
We would like to take the opportunity to welcome our newest member of the team, Simon Stuart, who has joined us as the new bailiff. He will be with us a couple of days a week and being a carp fisherman himself for many years he has a wealth of knowledge to go with his boundless energy and motivation. He is also adding his input and helping us to expand the shop with a bigger range of bait and tackle. The shop is now located in the conservatory along with a large drinks fridge from which you can buy soft drinks, beer, chocolate etc all for sensible prices of course. We will also be stocking English snacks and nibbles for those attacks of the munchies. French biscuits just don't cut it!
We have also been giving the outside a real facelift going crazy with the strimmer and the lawn mower now the rain has stopped. New signs are going up too so when you arrive you will see our logo, green on black, on a large sign hanging from the lamppost in front of the house. Also new reception sign, toilet and parking signs all in green on black. So along with new pots of flowers and the old boat outside the mill has been filled with earth and planted up everywhere it is really looking pretty.
You can now follow us too on www.carpforum.co.uk under foreign venues so we would welcome any photos, comments etc that you would like to make on our thread.
As you can see lots of exciting positive stuff going on, with catch reports like these our first 60 is not far off, so which one of you lucky lads or lasses is going to catch it?
Till next time, take care
Andy and Tracey Jones
Etang de Brigueuil
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