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NEWS JUST IN - Les Croix has their first FORTY for 2008! Les Croix is pleased to report their first forty pound carp of 2008, the long mirror at 41-00 taken by John Birtwhistle on Wednesday 10th September at 11:00PM. It has came a little earlier than expected, they were expecting it in October, so they obviously delighted to see a carp of this weight so early in the year - and now it is possible that Les Croix could see this fish at 45lbs+ later in the year ! Not bad for a carp that was stocked at 26-00 in April 2007! Now they are waiting to see the big common which was last out at 38+ and which will surely be the second 40 of the year.... Les Croix "Mack" Mackenzie and friend Jan from Aldermaston, Berkshire were the 2 anglers fishing on Les Croix this week. They started the week fishing from the oaks swims opposite the gite and after three hard days with only one fish landed, they moved over to fish the two gite swims. It was quite a hard weeks' fishing for the pair but it came good towards the end of the week with some very nice fish landed including a mirror of 38-12 (beating his PB by 6lbs) and a common of 38-07 for Mack, and Jan (who confesses to being an absolute novice at carp fishing) managed to up his previous PB of 12lb to 21-00. Mack finished the week with 7 carp including the two biggies, a 29-09, 23-09, 23-06 and 22-00. Successful tactics were Premier Baits Matrix boilies fished on fluorocarbon hook lengths with size 6 hooks. The weather was not particularly helpful with high temperatures at the start of the week, followed by some torrential rain which seemed to put the fish down for a few days, but Mack obviously enjoyed himself and is planning a return visit with his wife. Birch Lake Carpenter Julian Barber visited Birch Lake to renovate the mobile home and whilst there put a rod out for a few hours a day whilst working. He ended up with mirrors of 22lbs 4ozs, 26lbs 10ozs and 34lbs 12ozs, two commons up to 22lbs and four sturgeon to 24lbs 4ozs. Julian’s partner Wendy Neild also fished for carp for the first time and was rewarded with her first-ever fish, first carp, first common and a personal best at 21lbs 4ozs! Peter’s Pool Tony Gill and his friend decided to concentrate on Peter’s Pool last week and bagged a total of 24 fish. The catch included mirrors of 35lbs, 31lbs 8ozs and 31lbs, four at 28lbs and seven other 20lb plus mirrors. They also landed a Wels’ catfish of 35lbs. Orchard Lake Mr and Mrs Hogg fished no nights on Orchard Lake but still landed 13 fish. This included five 20lb mirrors to 24lbs 8ozs and two Wels’ of 26lb and 29lbs 8ozs, plus sturgeon to 16lbs. Some more big carp are being added to Orchard this October. Poplars Lake Mr Fells party on Poplars found the lake tricky but still banked some real quality fish with mirrors to 36lbs and Wels’ catfish to 66lbs! Poplars Lake is too benefiting from an injection of big carp in October. St Leonards The lads fishing on St Leonards this week have had some smaller fish at the start of the week and lost a few decent ones. One of the lads had a 27lb Mirror and another had a 32.12lb. Le Moulin du Mee Another week ends and the final tally of carp once again looks good with 109 fish banked. The story is a little more complex however and with the weather changing not just daily but almost hourly the fishing never seemed neither easy nor predictable. A blank day would be followed by a busy night and a productive day would be followed by a blank night! It was never easy and all credit to the anglers concerned for producing such a good catch in such unpredictable conditions. Top rod was Chris Ashton who banked 31 carp and best fish of the week was to Graham Stott (Stottie) who raised his Pb from 16.5lb to 37.3lb.....his last fish of the trip completing a pretty awesome week for him. The Hooker family also managed a good haul of fish with father Les starting the week with a 36lb mirror and sons Mark and Les both having 30's in their impressive catch. The total for the week was 109 comprising the following weights. 35 - 40..... 3 carp, 30 - 35..... 5 carp, 25 - 30..... 20 carp, 20 - 25..... 33 carp, 15 - 20..... 31 carp, 10 - 15..... 17 carp. One further feature of the week was that the average size was much smaller than many weeks with a large number of the smaller grown on Brenne Royal's which range from low doubles to just over 30lb. They have grown at an amazing rate since Jim became the owner of Le Moulin du Mee when they averaged between 6 and 8lb and continue to pack on the weight. The larger stocked mirrors are proving a little more difficult at the moment but certainly should start showing again in the coming week. Another feature was the lack of big (30+) commons that they usually seeing each week and although a few high 20's were banked the bigger commons are proving very elusive. Hopefully this week will see them show up again. Les Burons Geoff, Derek Steve & Greg were fishing at Les Burons last week they caught, 2x 30s 6x 20s 1 double, and lost 4. All fish came out at night. Geoff said, “Another great week at Les Burons fishing was slow but Weather was good.” Etang Marolles Nick, John & Paul, the West Country trio, got some steady action banking a total of 31 fish to 37lbs (with a few lost along the way) during some rare warmer weather. Also fishing the same week were Jan, Danny and Jerome who also caught some cracking fish. The Retreat Colin, Gordon, and Graham had “A great holiday!” at the retreat last week. 54 carp were landed including 13 x 20s to 28lb and 2 x 30s of 31lb08oz and 35lb. Lake Juvanze Adam, Mark and Rob were fishing at Lake Juvanze last week. Adam caught 13 fish to 39lb 8oz, 35lb, 30lb, Mark had 6 fish to 31lb 8oz, and Rob caught fish to 29lb. they found that the most fish were caught when fishing to and around weed patches and overhangs. The lake was the most productive at night and during the early hours. Adam, Mark and Rob said ”The facilities were excellent, The swims are incredibly well thought out and presented, Hot showers and charging sockets for phones, bait boat etc… made our stay a very pleasurable experience. The food package was incredibly good value for money. CCFH come highly recommended by us. The only word to describe Juvanze is superb! A return trip is already being planned.”