Catch report 30th August - 6th September 2025

John with the Queen of the lake - The Chunky Common

Here we are at the end of August, and entering into the last 2 months of the season which is always a productive and interesting period. August has been a very hot month and there has been no rain whatsoever since Ben was here in mid July. Consequently everything is burnt to a crisp, and the level of the lake is down approximately 18 inches. Nothing compared to what he had in 2011 where there was a 1metre wide dry strip around the lake but still much lower than most years.

The carp have been loving the hot weather ! None of your cruising around on the surface nonsense...too hot in the upper layers...they have been feeding hard on the bottom with prolific fizzing right through the days especially in mid afternoon with the sun blazing and air temperatures in the mid 30's !

Nice to welcome back John Sullivan and wife Julie, who will be here for a week then off on a 2 week road trip further south, before returning for another week at Les Croix for the 4th week of September.

These two weeks will be John's 16th and 17th weeks at Les Croix and he has built up a good knowledge of the lake and it's inhabitants since he first visited in 2015. John's timing seems to be perfect for this first week - the weather has finally broken with a big drop of temperature and a week ahead of unsettled and wet conditions which is exactly what John would wish for.

Arriving at 1PM on Saturday, the fish were fizzing all over the lake, John was fishing at 3PM and by 7PM just casting out into open water with small PVA bags and no bait introduced, he had caught 10 fish ! Shattering my hopes that there weren't going to be any new young fish this year, John caught 6, all commons between 3 and 7lbs...all were transferred directly to the stock pond. Some better fish were netted, commons of 19-03 and 29-11 and a mirror of 23-06, along with a very pretty grey linear mirror of 6-12 that was returned. After this crazy session, the journey and all the action had caught up on John who decided to have an early night and I can't say I blame him !

The next morning kicked off in a similar fashion, using the same tactics another five fish were caught very quickly, starting off with the inevitable capture of "Graham" at 44-00, a mirror of 12-00, "Stumpy" at 43-08, a 22-04 common, and a mirror of 27-04 "Half Lin". All this before it was even properly light ! A quiet period followed before another flurry of activity which started at around 10:30 saw another 5 fish netted in short order, "Buttons" at 36-14, "Twin Scale" at 26-00, The Heinz Common at 12-00 and "Number One" at 41-00 along with a 3-00 common which was removed.

After a break for lunch John was back down in the swim at around 4PM, for an evening session and another fairly hectic period of carpy activity followed. First fish was a nicely scaled NG mirror of 8-12 that was first reported in July 202 at 3-00, this was followed by an NG common of 12-00, this one first caught in 2023 called "Bitemark" as it has been chomped by a pike when it was small ! Next up a nice looking mirror of 14-00 "Shelly" another NG fish from 2023, a 3-00 common and a 5-00 mirror, both once again removed to the stock pond, then a 2016 stockie "Pebble" a long mirror of 35-13. Finally an original mirror "The Local" was netted and weighed in at 39-10. John called it a day at 7.30PM having netted 17 carp in one day, a day where it was raining more often than not as can be seen in the photos and when it rained it really came down hard, bringing a much needed influx of fresh water into the lake. Monday morning was quiet...compared to Sunday but three fish were caught, an original mirror of 37-12 "FM", an NG common of 13-02, and an NG mirror of 10-12 "The Gold One" that was first caught in April last year at 4-08. John was more than happy to enjoy a less frenetic session when he could actually sit and enjoy the lake rather than the chaotic session of yesterday !

As is usually the case, the situation on arrival where the fish are all over the lake rapidly changes once angling starts to take place, and within 24 hours the fish have regrouped. The rain yesterday will have undoubtedly lowered the water temperature a little which could also have slowed the feeding response...however with 30 fish already caught by Monday at 11:00, there are no worries for John !

A trip into St Junien for provisions and the obligatory coffee stop, then John was back in the swim for the afternoon/evening session at 3PM. Three more fish were caught in the first hour, a 6-00 common which went up to the stock pond, a 15-00 mirror another NG fish called "Squiggle", then one of the big original mirrors "scratchy" at 44-00.

A quiet period followed, then in the evening four more fish were netted in quick succession, a 12-04 mirror, a 9-00 common (stock pond) another mirror of 17-12, and an original scaley mirror of 30-02 "Petales". The last fish was caught at 7.30PM, and despite fishing until 10:00 no more bites were forthcoming.

Tuesday morning was fresh with an air temperature of just 12C but at least it was dry with just an odd light shower. Another great session with four more nice fish added to the catch, firstly the anticipated return of Graham at 44-00, "The long fish" at 38-12, an original mirror that does not see the bank very often, a repeat capture of "Twin Scale" at 26-00, and another original mirror "Mandarin" at 37-01.

The usual mid day break followed, with John winding in at 10:30 for a trip into town, a coffee in "Le Corot" and lunch back on site. Back in the swim at 3PM, it didn't take long before John had another fish in the net, the second capture of "Number One" at 41-00. Around an hour later another fine looking fish was caught, another original stock mirror was netted "Oscar" at 44-12 this being the seventh forty plus fish caught and it is only Tuesday ! The fishing has slowed down in terms of numbers of fish being caught but the quality of fish caught in the last 48 hours has been very evident. Last fish of the day wasa common of 8-00 that was taken up to the stock pond.

The usual break for lunch, John and Julie followed my recommendation for La Table du Ganthier in St Junien, and were delighted with the meal they enjoyed there. Back fishing again at 14:30, three fish were caught in quick succession, "Lateral" at 15-04, "Butters" for the third time at 17-04 along with the "Nick" common at 22-04.

In the evening, two of the NG commons that have been mostly absent from the catch this week made an appearance, The Heinz common once again at 14-03 having gained 2lbs in weight since Sunday (!), and another one of 11-10. Another flurry of fish came after 8PM starting with a mirror of 20-02, and then to finish off the day in the best possible way - after John had been saying earlier on that he would like a 30lb common, he had a brace of them ! First up was the "Crinkle Tail" common at 34-00 and this was followed by "Kinky" common at 32-06, both of these are rarely caught fish so its unusual for both to be caught on the same day, both have nudged the 40lb mark in spring time so both are clearly well down in weight at present, but it's only the first week of September and there are still two months of pre winter feeding and the regaining of condition that accompanies this.

Thursday morning produced three fish early on, a 14-08 common 4-00 mirror that was removed and another 2022 stockie mirror of 14-00 that I also took up to the stock pond as part of the fish management programme, the 30 small fish that were stocked in 2022 have had three years to show their potential and now I will be removing a number of these fish....if we can catch them ! In the afternoon period two small fish of 6-00 and 8-00 were caught and removed, John also caught  the 20-02 mirror that was caught yesterday. At around 7.30PM another flurry of fish, two NG commons of 9-08 and 10-04 along with a repeat capture of the crafty common at 29-00 and another repeat of The Local" at 39-00.

Friday dawned cold, with just 10C at first light, misty and it was obvious that a big change of weather was on the way. When the mist finally cleared at around 10AM, it was a beautiful sunny day in prospect. One more small common of around 6-00 was taken up to the stock pond, and there was a repeat capture of "Banana Split" at 26-00 which was one of the first fish John caught early in the week.

After a long lunch break, John was back fishing at around 3PM. Another repeat capture followed around an hour later, this time of "Oscar" at 44-12. In the early evening John added three mirrors of 14-05, 15-10, and a fourth capture of Butters at 17-04, and then John finished the week off in perfect style with "Chunky Common" at 38-10...which really was the icing on top of a very large cake !

I was just as pleased as John to see the Chunky common as this is the first time it has been caught in 2025...and to see it at this weight at this time of year is very positive, it will be 40+ in October, and potentially a mid 40 next spring...if anyone can catch it ! Another example of a fish that was caught regularly and now much less so.

A total of 75 fish have been caught this week ! This obviously is a record for the lake in recent times, and isn't far short of the all time record number of 85 in a week, but that was back in 2009 when 24 hour fishing and bait boats were allowed so it isn't a fair comparison. I knew it was going to be a good week but I wasn't expecting it to be this hectic ! 9 x 40's, and 11 x 30's were included in the catch. John used a mix of mackerel and cranberry squid boilies 15kg were used, keeping the spots topped up after every fish. Snowman presentations with light leads and fishing at around 12 wraps, this week it was not neccessary to fish further out as the fish were really looking for the bait and feeding strongly.

There have been a number of fish that have been caught two or more times, but when the fish are feeding like they have been this week it is inevitable that this will happen.

We have also removed 18 fish this week, 16 of these were new NG fish, nearly all commons and I hope that this will be the majority of the new fish this year, any more that are caught will also be removed. I have also started to take out some of the stock (doubles) that are not making good progress, and the aim is to stop the population increasing by removing any new fish and at the same time reducing the existing population to find the balance as to what I believe to be the correct number of carp that will allow good fishing but also give the fish a chance to achieve good growth potential.

There are around 180 known fish in the lake (not including the 18 taken out) and probably a few more that I don't know about but the aim is to have around 150 known fish.This can be reduced further later on if necessary.

John and Julie are now off on a two week road trip further south after which they will be back for another week, and it will be interesting to compare the two weeks results, hopefully there will be a different group of fish feeding so that we can look forward to seeing some of the other residents !