04/06/2026
The lads all caught first night gav got the ball rolling with a 33lb fish, then it went quite apart from Ian in peg 1 who was picking the odd fish up. Then yesterday they got on the munch with a dozen fish banked between the 3 of them and a couple lost .
They all had a swap around after starting in pegs 1,2 & 3 vinnie finally
headed my advice and went from peg 2 to 4 and banked a brace of 30s . Gav moved from 3 to 1 and had a brace one grass carp and a 30 lb plus mirror.
Ian's never had had a grass carp and was using his own bait the first few days
Then had 5k of scopex squid off me and I think hes had 8 or 9 fish since unfortunatelyhe lost 2 grass carp one put a hole in the landing net and snapped him the other he lost at the net not long after and he reckons gav landed the same grassy. To be fair hes fishing peg 3 water from peg 2 something vinnie couldn't do as his dad was in peg 3 . I told vinnie to go in peg 4 as its been.most consistent but he wanted to socialise with the others so started in peg 2 which cost him fish.
There's already been a couple out this morning with vinnie having a small linear that's came through in here and ian"s rod was screaming off just as he was having breakfast landing a stockpond mirror at 23.8lb with 3 distinctive scales in the middle so I named triple scale. Gav also lost one. Tiny Tina that Amy named a few years ago has been out infact it was Ians first fish at 15.8lb not been out for a while but double in weight since Amy's boyfreind steve had it. Lovely scaley shoulders .
Ian must be on double figures now he had a lovely 38lb leather carp yesterday but no forties yet.
Gert and silve came over for the barbecue last night and it was a late one so Ian decided not to fish and have good night's sleep and rest the swim then within a hour of putting them out he had one.
There a strong wind hacking into peg 4 and it's definitely moved the fish down that end I think it will be strong finish to the week after a slow start hopefully the bigger fish turn up for gav and vin who want a first forty plus after having high 30s on previous trips with blackdpot and the shamrock ☘️ banked after spawning previously.
The weather is all over the place we gone from low teens to a week of 34°+ to light rain overcast skies and a strong wind .
Before I picked the lads up Saturday the fish were showing everywhere after a hot week one after the other was boshing and a few started spawning again to my disappointment on the far margin as I walked around a poor little common was being gang r***d in the margin with a huge mirror with them. I picked them up and told them I thought they were up for a munch.
Unfortunately im having a nightmare with the microcats . I had 3 boats converted over the winter to digital self priming and unfortunately all 3 went wrong the first time I hired them out. As all them had been fitted with a bad batch of servos that release the hopper one of the boats started working again but Gary and Tony took 2 back to the uk and angling technics arranged collection and said theyd give me priority and get them back ASAP. I got one boat back on Tuesday and gave it to vinnie in peg 4 as hes was fishing under the overhanging tree and he put his rods out fine then in the morning the boat wouldn't connect to the handset to say I was pi**ed was a understatement I recorded a video and sent it to angling technics and the technician got back to me saying it had been rigorously tested and had the handset been left out in the rain. We only had light rain and I always tell the lads the handsets must be kept in the bivvys or cabin if its raining. I had a message off David the managing director saying he'd spoke to the technician and he thought water ingress in the handset was the issue as soon as I got back from the shops I saw the message and recorded a video of me opening up the handset which was as dry as a bone and sent it off to prove that wasn't the issue the lads are regulars and have used the boats on previous trips so know the crack regarding keeping them dry.
I have bought a couple of temporary cheap boats to tide me over which the guys said are great .The other boat arrived yesterday I swapped the batteries off the non working boat and gave it gav to try . Unfortunately the boat that Tony and Gary didn't take back as it started working and I used it for 24 hours without a problem played up when I lent to the Irish lads on last. Not ideal but I do have two working microcsts at present and 2 smaller boats as back up.
I won't be sending them back as it cost angling technics £76.50 Import tax to send my own boats back plus courier charges which i find ridiculous. I had a message off DHL last night my right marole order is being held at customs now until I can supply a import code that I have to get off the french government
Which just put costs up on everything. Bloody brexit.