A nice mirror just shy of 30lb

I managed to get out again this week for an overnighter and once again got amongst the fish. Since my last trip a week ago, in unusually mild conditions we’ve had something of a cold snap the last few days with several heavy frosts, and cat ice in the edge of the lakes. I’d guess the night time temperatures got down to -6°C.
So Wednesday morning, with the frost still on the ground and ice still in the edge, I set up on the Peg 14, where I’d managed the fish last week. I reasoned that if they were active they may still come on the plateau in the Tortue to feed.
Again tactics were the same, a PVA bag of pellets and chopped boilies & some 14mm Quest Pineapple, with a Pineapple/Crab snowman combination.
As we settled in, things didn’t look anything like as promising as the previous visit. There I’d seen activity right away, but here with a cold wind and spitting rain, nothing was visible.

A nice mid 20

With my mate Laurent we settled back in the shelter of my tarp to enjoy a couple of beers and some dinner. As the night and the cold came in we decided to call it a night and Lolo went off to his bivvy, while I climbed into my comfy hammock and was soon out like a light., wrapped in a toasty down sleeping bag.

I was awoken around 2:30 am by a couple of beeps in my central rod. Before I could get out of my bag and put my boots on the fish was motoring. Once I made contact it plodded a bit but came fairly easily to the net.
It turned out to be a nice clean looking mirror of 29lb. I was well chuffed, as I really thought with the frosts I’d missed out on the feeding fish. After recasting as I lay back in my bed listening to the rain patter on the tarp a large carp turned over in the margins with a big splash. Less than an hour after the first fish, I was off again. This one really did motor. It had taken probably 30 or more yards of line before I leaned into it and continued to pull hard once I had made contact. It gave a spirited fight before going into the net. A smaller fish this one at 25lb 8oz.
Anyway another bag was lobed back out into the blackness and I was off to the land of nod, waking at after 9am when Laurent popped his head into my swim and looked chuffed when I suggested coffee.

A new PB Crucian at 7lb 8oz

A couple of cups each later and we were talking of packing up… Two Dutch chaps came round for a chat, and my centre rod dropped back before tightening up again. I struck but with 3.5lb rods only felt a slight resistance. I suspected one of the large bream was the suspect…. But no it one mighty big Crucian carp of 7lb 8oz. The biggest one I have ever caught.

I was well pleased to get a couple more nice carp. I’ve only rarely fished the winter’s here, but have always done quite well. This year looks to be no exception.

First forty of the year

As I said in my previous blog post, with the mild weather, until now anyway, and relatively high water temperatures the carp have been very active. I spoke about the pair of young Dutch anglers who fished from the 2nd of January.   I now have a couple of photos to add. Here is a brief resumé of their session.
Jimmy Heijink and his mate set up on pegs 5 on the Croix Blanche and 13 on the Tortue. The used a bait boat to drop PVA bags of pellets and strawberry boilies to the shallower areas where fish were showing. The water levels were quite high so that would be around 12 feet deep.
Within 24 hours they had managed several fish to upper 20’s, which is pretty good for a month of January. Despite being mild the weather was quite extreme with gales force winds and heavy rain showers.
The lads stuck it out however, with Jimmy moving up to peg 15, due to the activity he had observed in front of that peg.
The last night saw one more fish out of the Croix lake and the icing on the cake for this early season session a superb 20.5kg (45lb) mirror.
The lads did very well and it goes to show that good results can be had year round in the right conditions. While we saw poor results in the autumn, I sure this was down to the unusual weather. January temperatures were more like November and the carp seemed top respond in the manner of an autumn session.

Waiting by my rods on peg 14

With the unseasonally mild weather the carp have continued to be very active on the lakes. In fact we have not had any frosts so far this year, let alone negative temperatures.
When a couple of Dutch lads wanted to have a crack for a few days in early January it seemed a good idea. They arrived on the 2nd January and after just 24 hours had managed 4 carp. Three in the Croix Lake and one in the Tortue. Not bad at all for a Winter session.

Well, using PVA bags bait-boated out to the areas where carp were showing, with strawberry snowman rigs, they continued to get action for the four nights fished, banking in total 8 carp and losing a couple more. The best fish was a magnificent 45lb mirror.
Fuelled by their success I decided it was time I had a go myself. My last session back in November had resulted in a blank; but now there were clear signs of active fish.

I set up in peg 14 and lobbed out three PVA bags with carp pellets and Quest baits Pineapple Crush 15mm boilies. I had wanted an instant type bait in a smaller size than I usually use, and happened to have a bag of these in the garage. Rigwise, I kept my usual fluorocarbon D rig hook links, but used a very slow sinking snowman combination.

My new PB Common at 46lb

I knew the swim would still have a fair amount of residual weed, but a quick cast around with a marker revealed that it was not too thick. I placed the whole rig in the bags, which combined with the buoyant hook baits I reasoned, should see me fishing ok.
I had my first take just after dark, and was a nice clean 22lb mirror. The rod was cast back out, and after dinner I hopped into my hammock for some shut eye, just as the rain started to come down.
Around 3.30am the centre rod bleeped and ripped off. I connected with a good fish that straight away took line. After a few minutes I got it near the bank where it plodded around in the deep margins. I somehow had picked up my left hand rod by now and this made the fight more awkward.
Anyway luck was on my side and a chunky common rolled into the net.
I heaved the weigh sling up on the scales I’d hung from a tree and it bounced round to settle at 46lb.
A new PB common…

Seddik with the same common at 42lb 10oz

I do wish though I’d caught it in other circumstances. Here I was alone, at night, in pouring rain with a big fish. What to do. I had to make a decision and I did not want to sack the fish. So I took a couple of shots on the mat and let her go. Such is life…
I had seen the fish on two occasions in 2011, when the fish was 42lb. I’m glad to see her gaining weight.

Croix Blanche 2010: What has happened to Winter this year?

Its funny how the years pass and are so different. One year we have a heatwave in the summer and the next it’s cold and wet.
Take the Winter; this time last year we were in the north pole, we had several feet of snow. In fact it was the heaviest in living memory for most of the people in my village. The temperatures plummeted well below freezing and the lakes were solid for well over a month.

So how different it is this year. 2012 comes in with the warmest start in over 100 years. In fact 2011 was the warmest year on average since records began. We are still yet to have a significant frost…
Its strange that we don’t seem to have regular and proper seasons any more. If proof were needed 2011 is a good case study. We had a spring that was not only exceptionally dry, but the hottest on record. Temperatures were up as high as the mid thirties by mid May.

The summer then quite simply didn’t happen. After a rainy, cold July, August was barely better. The Autumn however did give us some fine and sunny weather.
So what effect did this have on the fishing? Well not a very good one. I had echoes from around the country that many lakes were fishing hard. And on certain weeks it was the case at Croix. The curious thing was though that in amongst these difficult weeks the fish would suddenly go in a binge and larger than average bags would be banked. An example is when my mate Laurent came with his family and had a super session on peg 3, with both large carp and catfish landed.
This then brings me round to the initial question at the beginning of 2012 to where our Winter has gone. With the seasons being so mixed up during the last twelve months it is perhaps of little surprise that we are still waiting on winter.. I’ve even read reports that in some areas spring flowers and blossom are already putting in an appearance.
Is it any wonder then that our carp are behaving in an unpredictable manner?

Over the last three or four years I have filmed the lakes and some of the fish during all of the seasons of the year. I thouhgt is would be nice to put a clip together showing these changing seasons and some of the varied fish that populate the waters of these lakes.

With so much rain during July the lakes fished poorly in comparison to the previous ones. I believe that the influx of cold water, mostly through the water table, and therefore cold, caused the carp to moved up off the bottom and find a comfort zone in mid water. Groups of fish could regularly be sen in mid water. This made them very hard to tempt. Zigs were used with some success, but generally speaking things were not very productive.
I have over the years seen this on a number of waters, where July just in not a very good month for fishing.
Anyway we moved into August and things improved, with a mixture of cool cloudy weather with a few storms to hot sunny days. The fishing did pick up though and there were a few notable weeks where good numbers and size of fish were landed.

Paul Hamer and George Thomson, regulars at the venue, settled into peg 3 & 4 for the first week of July and with the cooler weather had a good week. Highlights for the guys were mirrors of 37lb 2oz, 34lb 10 oz and a Catfish of 33lb 12oz.
With the big cats now going over 100lb in the Tortue, Welsh lads Mark and Chris set out their stall using halibut pellets to tempt a large ‘Silurus’. They were not to be disappointed, banking a number of fish over 60lb, including two 70lb fish and a 85lb specimen, before banking one even bigger that bottomed their scales. Estimated at over 100lb it measured 2.10m.

Belgian angler Danny de Clerk also had a good session on the same peg as the Welsh lads, banking over 35 fish during his week to over 39lb. He had several carp on zigs, even taking a thirty pounder in the dead of night on a piece of black foam.
As we moved into August the lakes seemed to pick up nicely. Probably the best catch on the Croix Blanche Lake was to my mate Laurent Amargé, who proved that correct use of a bait boat can catch you a lot of fish. As this was a family holiday from him his, wife and two sons, he didn’t fish nights but still ended his week with 25 carp to 38lb, and a dozen or so catfish to 26kg. Had he fished night too I am sure he would have had over 100 runs. At one point when I was with him he just could not get all his rods out without a run occurring. An excellent week and proof that the Croix Blanche can be a very productive lake.

As we moved to the end of the month there were weeks when it just seemed to click. When this happens everyone seems to connect with a good number of big fish. Such was the case with the north of England lads Terry and Colin from Liverpool and Yorkshire boys Keith and Steve. Colin fishing peg 11 banked 15 fish with carp to 42lb, and catfish to 46lb. While Keith fishing opposite him had 13 fish including mirrors to 40lb 1oz, commons to 45lb 10oz and catfish to 66lb.
During the same period on the Croix Blanche the Dutch/English duo of Rutten and Barton managed a very creditable tally of 12 fish in 3 days the best being a 37lb Mirror.

Anyway as we move into mid September, I’d expect the results to improve as the fish feel the onset of winter and the need to pile on the weight for the colder months that are just around the corner.
See you next time.
tight Lines
Gareth