A funny old week or two !!

The past couple of weeks have been just about as slow as we have ever known. Much of the problem is probably down to the very hot weather which has seen water temperatures reach almost 30c and the carp become extremely elusive as a result. We now think we know where they have been holding up but more of that later.

Last weeks party certainly experienced a week of constant hot sunshine and it really was not a great surprise that the carp decided to give food a miss for much of the time. The catch of 23 carp and a 40lb catfish was the second lowest we have had at le Moulin du Mèe and to be fair the lads worked extremely hard for each fish landed. We also had a lot of fish hooked and lost (as we also had the previous week) and put that down to extremely fickle feeding. Best carp were a 30 to Darren and a brace of 29’s to Paul and Dave but unfortunately the bigger fish failed to show up. I must congratulate the guys for enjoying their week despite the below par fishing and it goes to show that there is often far more to a carp fishing holiday than just catching carp !! Well done fellah’s.

This week saw a change in the weather and we were hoping that the cooler days would see the fish moving around and feeding a lot more. The first few days remained quiet with just the odd fish being caught but as the water cooled we saw a gradual improvement. It certainly remained slower than we are used to at Le Moulin du Mèe but any improvement in the fishing was very welcome. One thing we noticed was that the big girls were just not to be seen either jumping or showing up in catches and although one or two real lumps were hooked and lost the average size of fish seen and caught was well down on a usual week. Young Rob and Chris solved the mystery of the ‘lost lumps’ by finding them stacked up in the no fishing area between the two spits adjacent to ‘Deliverance’. Not only were there hundreds of our big carp in there but they were also feeding well on the pellet the lads introduced and even coming up to take a few pop ups off the surface. What we failed to grasp was exactly why they were all holding up in this area but that soon became evident when the temperature of the water was taken. With the main spring rising there it meant that the water between the spits maintained a temperature much lower than the rest of the lake and with the cooler water it was a much more hospitable environment than the lake in general. Well, we have now removed all the fallen tree’s that provided cover and taken measures to encourage the carp to move out into the main lake. The result is an immediate improvement in catches with a 30 and a 40 to Pip and a  30 for young Chris as well as several other nice fish to the other lads. Things are now looking much more ‘fishy’ and plenty of feeding carp can be seen in all area’s of the lake. One thing that hasn’t changed is that lots of carp are still being hooked and lost so the lads are trying longer hairs and smaller hooks as well as one or two other measures in an attempt to improve the hooked to landed ratio.

We are now planning to make changes to the spits this winter to bring the area into play far more. The spit nearest ‘Deliverance’ will be partially removed leaving an island and opening up the channel to angling. The benefits of this will be that although at times of very high temperatures the cooler water will spread throughout the lake plus although the carp can still use the area it will not be a haven from fishing. As regulars will know, we believe strongly in having quite light fishing pressure and ensuring there is plenty of space for the carp to rest up without being constantly bombarded with baits however these changes will ensure the carp will not be able to just remove themselves from the main lake altogether. Managing a succesful carp fishery is one long learning curve and this is just one more piece of the jigsaw to be sorted.

Well, back to this week where we have had 32 fish out so far and conditions are continuing to improve so hopes are high for more fish before conclusion of the week.

~ by jimeveriss on July 9, 2009.