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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.
The season is off to a flyer on the Juvanze Lakes:
Firstly, let's talk about the newcomer which is Juvanze-Blue. We've have a lot of interest in this lake, with particular interest in the early months as guys want to be the first to fish a virgin water with many unknown originals plus, of course it has also had a quality stock of Carp put in up to 55lbs.
A work party of 2 guys has just fished 3 nights (nights only) and between them they landed 22 fish from 26 runs. All, but two, were over 20lbs with 7 x 30's and a 41lb original. All fish came out of the Juvanze Specials over a bed of pellet, maize and hemp. Not bad for a short session. We're waiting for photo's, once they arrive we'll post them up.
Lake Juvanze started it's season last weekend and that's also off to a cracking start with 4 anglers on they have already banked 9 fish with the smallest being 33lbs and the largest being 42lbs and an average of 36lbs. With only 3 nights fished so far, this is pretty awesome. Again, all fish came to a bed of pellet, maize and hemp mix with either Specials or Live System on the hook. Watch out for the full round up.
For more info on Juvanze-Blue visit: http://www.carp-france.com/Venue.aspx/LakeJuvanzeBlue
For more info on Juvanze visit: http://www.carp-france.com/Venue.aspx/LakeJuvanze
Photos to follow later in the week.
Opening week, 3rd -10th March was superb. The Welsh Carpers, Big Gav, The Beast, Lee and Wiggy braved the cold and were rewarded with a total of 23 carp. Their average weight was 33lbs and each of them caught a 40lb+ fish. These included fish of 40.4, 42.0, 42.12 and 51.8. The 51.8, a new personal best for Lee was the first capture of this particular fish over 50, so it really topped a fantastic opening week. Most of the fish came to Juvanze Specials or Live System boilies fished over pellets.
Paul and his son Adam left the lake this morning after being here for a week, his final tally was 10 Carp including 4 x 40's to 49lb 12oz, 4 x 30's to 39lb and 2 x 20's the smallest fish being 25lbs.
Considering the weather changes, we were frozen over just 3 weeks ago, and yesterday's temperature was 26 degrees, although we did have a frost in the morning,Paul did very well and he left here a very contented man.
Everything seems to be "springing" into life now although we realised yesterday the Cats have woken :up and they were finding fresh fornicated frogs to be the "plat du jour" yum yum!!!! :(
The lads have had 2 x 40's out already this week, and it's only Wednesday!
What an explosive start to the 2012 season! The lake record was blown away with a stunning catch of over 4,800lb of fish. A breakdown of the catch is as follows: Carp - 45 over 15lb, 47 over 20lb, 33 over 25lb, 26 over 30lb, 23 over 35lb, 2 over 40lb, 1 over 50lb and 2 over 55lb. The two over 55lbs were both commons and actually weighed in at 59lb 1oz and 58lb 4oz. Grass Carp - 3 were caught with the best weighing in at 23lb 6oz. Cats - 6 were caught weighing in at 92lb, 74lb, 70lb, 69lb, 42lb and 28lb. Water temp was 17 degrees with a chilly north-easterly wind with bright sunshine. What a fantastic start.
Danny Windust and his party had a week to remember. More PB's than you can shake a stick at!! Possibly too much info for you, but for your reference:
41 Mirror pb
37 Mirror
29 Mirror
47.12 Mirror
16.10 Pike pb
53.14 Mirror Arthur pb
43.06 Mirror pb
37.02 Mirror pb
16.10 Pike
46.06 Mirror
40.01 Mirror pb
52.06 Mirror Spike pb
41.02 Mirror
15.10 Pike pb
40.02 Mirror
54.06 Mirror unknown, now called "Big Bry". pb
36.14 Mirror
6 Pike
15.08 Pike
6.04 Pike
28.05 Mirror
30.00 Mirror
53.14 Mirror Arthur (again) pb
43.07 Mirror
20.04 Mirror
15.06 Pike pb
38.08 Mirror
20.04 Common
20.01 Mirror
26.14 Linear
Mega!
Gale force winds and very heavy rain. Water temperature down to 11c. But nevertheless we had the following catches:
Carp - best carp out mirror weighing in at 48+, the rest were 2x40+, 4x35+, 12x30+, 7x25+, 9x20+ and 5x15+.
Cats - only one proper cat weighing in at 58lb.
The highlight of the week was a 27lb grass carp which broke the lake record.
Total weight of fish 1,315lb.
Roll on summer!
The Wolves party managed 12 fish 2 x 20's 5 x 30's 5 x 40's with the biggest at 44lb.12oz . This is the most forties to be caught in a week and four of them came in 24 hours. The fish are not in full fettle just as yet but some good sizes all the same.
Following the excellent winter results on the venue, which saw a good number of forty pound fish banked, including two to myself, the big freeze that lasted over three weeks put an abrupt end to the feeding spree, and a downer on the fishing and any high hopes I'd have of a productive start to the main season.
One or two of the anglers who had been here in January were keen to get back. This was the case in point of two you Dutch lads Gert- Jan Wijnhorsdt & Sjoerd Wildschut, who fresh from success in January were back in early March once the lakes were unfrozen.
Fishing the sampe tactics that had been successful to others and to myself they used PVA bags and pellets on the plateau of the Tortue Lake, and in the deeper water of peg 13 to back 8 carp to 17kg in four nights.
The second week of March saw my good friend Andy Lears and three of his friends, Tim, Mark and Chris on the venue. Andy returned to peg 11 where he had done well last May, Tim fished the next peg down while Chris chose peg 14 and Mark opted for peg 3 on the Croix Lake. This week sort of set the scene for the days and weeks to come, with fish being very localised. Andy struggled on 11 and eventually moved onto peg 5 where he was able to bank a few 20lb plus carp and a catfish. For Tim again the fishing was slow in the deeper side of the lake, but he did managed a PB mirror of 32lb 2oz.
Mark caught fairly consistently with fish to 31lb. Best result of the week though was to Chris on 14. He managed around 10 fish with the best being a new PB 42lb Mirror.
The later part of March saw poor weather with very cold conditions some early morning ground frost and despite a fair amount of sun the eventual degradation to rather wet conditions was able to get the fish feeding hard. The catfish were now on the move with a few getting landed on boilies and pellets. François Van Hooft managed a few nice fish both carp and cats, topped off by a cracking 47lb common.
Paul Jones opposite in 13, managed 7 fish including 4 thirties to32lb.
April Shane Hames and a group of five fished the Croix Lake. The weather continued to be unpredictable and remained very cold for the time of the year, with the rain becoming more present daily. The groups mostly fished PVA bags and 18mm boilies. They totalled 18 carp between 20lb & 30lb and one 30lb catfish.
April continued with no real improvement in temperatures, but a considerable increase in rainfall. The tracks around the lakes became muddy and the water levels, although low for the time of the year started to rise. Dutch anglers Jan de Jager and G. Bruisma on peg 11 managed a 50/50 mix of carp and cats on boiles, with the best carp going 38lb and cats to over 50lb. Their catches were more consistent than others on the venue. Stu Rielly and his mates, Ian & Dan struggled early on, but still managed a new PB cat of 60lb to Stu, carp to 25lb for Dan, but Ian coming good in the end with carp of 28lb, 32lb, 42, and topped off with the twotone common at 48lb 13oz.
During the same period on the Croix lake, venue regulars Harry Van Leuwen and his mate Dennis de Vries managed a couple of carp per day finishing the week with a dozen fish to just under 30lb.
The last day or so of April saw the weather warm somewhat but the heavy rain has not abated and the consistent temperatures and conditions that are really needed for the results to be consistent have yet to materialise. The Spring weather has been all over the place and so have the catches. Curiously enough things were better in January.
Cheers Gareth