More success at Etangs Des Papillons



Week three of my season brought the good weather back with more or less wall to wall sunshine and suntan cream the order of the day. All three lakes were full so it was quite a hectic time, especially when the fish decided to spawn on Wednesday and Thursday. As with last year it was the classic spawning on all three lakes with the most amazing action for 36 hours and then a complete stop.

However, this did not deter the fish from proving dramatic sport all week on all the lakes.

Rouge

Tony and his party of train drivers kept things well on 'track' with plenty of carp and cats coming out from all parts of the lake.

Ian on the summerhouse swim did have trouble but his train did finally come in on time with the biggest fish on the last afternoon. Well done Ian, happy smiling and joking all week, it was a pleasure to have your company. Several thirty pound carp were caught from swims 1,2,5 and 6 with cats up to 50lbs.

Once again the really big cats proved to be the masters and remained the monsters of the deep.

I am pretty sure a good time was had by all including the wednesday afternoon trip round all the local pubs in Thiviers. I understand the locals were somewhat amused at your 'happy hours'. Thanks for leaving everything so tidy.

Vert

When I spoke to Clive on the phone just before he came down the idea of the holiday was for a complete relaxing week to get away from the stresses and strains of work back in England.

The weather and the surroundings provided this in spades, but the fish had other ideas! As I seem to say all the time Vert is a completely underrated lake with a very large stock of big carp to the low thirty pounds and many catfish to 50lb. The day only fishing was more or less non stop with 20lb+ carp caught on a regular basis and cats into the forties providing the really tough fights.

All the big cats know where to go for the tree snags but this year because of Williams efforts at removing a lot of the low branched during the working party the angler now has more than a fighting chance of success.Thanks for your company Clive I hope you returned to the UK more relaxed mentally but fitter physically from all the fish!

Bleu

Mike and Stuart on their first visit to Papillon were a little sceptical about how the fishing would be, but by Wednesday they were bringing their rods in for several hours a day to try and get some rest.

They reached 1000lbs of fish by Wednesday and the week's total exceeded 1500lbs. Although they didn't manage any thirties, several 29lb carp were caught. Maybe your scales stuck...

Their excitement at catching catfish for the first time using the Catbuster tackle we provided was fantastic. Seeing the cats take a live bait on the surface is just about as good as it gets and the first time I saw them the enthusiasm for this method of fishing was totally infectious. I just wanted to get my rods in the water!

Two fifties were landed but yet again the monsters of the deep had the last laugh. Both are coming back again next year with a bit more experience of lake catfishing and I am sure at least one of the biggies will be tamed.

Again thanks for you company it was a pleasure to have you down.



Tight Lines
John James

Early season updates

Rouge

Oh, what a glorious start to the season: no rain and temperatures into the high twenties with sunburn a serious threat!

Fishing on his own, and only doing days, Eamon manged a very creditable 28 fish with 20 carp and 8 cats. Although he didn't get a thirty pound carp he did manage two mirrors over 29 and a common over 25. The biggest cat landed was 38lb but unfortunately several much larger specimens eluded the net.

Saying all the above Eamon had achieved his target for the week by Tuesday evening, not bad mate (7 out of 10!).

It's very difficult taking photos on your own unless you have a tripod so most of the pictures are of the fish on the mat. However, the last fish was 29lbs+ and luckily I was able to take the attached photos.



As good as the weather was the first week of my season the second week
with two of the lakes full really made us pay. 6.5 inches of rain in 5 days is heavy even for France. However, this did not slow down the fishing in any shape or form with this week's anglers catching a total of 985 lbs of fish, with 3 thirties and a 75lb cat the best of the bunch. These were all caught on boilie tactics with very little bait going in.

The fishing did slow down towards the end of the week and on friday night we had avid discussions about next years tactics as they have decided to do two weeks next year.
Forty fish were caught so the average weight per fish is well over 23lbs - not bad lads.

I don't know how you managed to brave the rain all week but I was pleased that the new drains put in over winter coped with the amount of rain and none of the swims flooded at all.

Thanks for leaving the lake so tidy it was a pleasure to have you down
to fish and enjoy your company between downpours.



Vert

Fished by Michael and his dad, Vert continues to stagger me with the quantity and quality of the fish. Many twenties were caught but unfortunately no thirties YET for the carp. Thirty and forty pound cats were regular visitors to the net.

Not fishing nights they did manage over ten fish per day which in
between the rain was a brilliant effort.

Michael I hope you read this but I have never been through as many
photos where half your or your dads heads have been cut off... :-)



Tight Lines
John James