Cas-en-Lac - French Carping Perfection

Report Date: 1st July 2005

CAS-EN-LAC Spring-Summer Update
During early March 2005 France had unusually cold weather with most of the country covered in snow in fact Rennes was one of the few areas that missed the snow however it was bitterly cold and for a couple of days the lake was partially frozen. So it was no surprise that the fishing was quite slow during March, however during March Shane Chapman managed a PB 46lb2oz M & 29lbC,29lbC, 20lbM,16lbM. Tony Haydock caught the biggest fish of the month 51lb 12ozM on his last night after moving from swim No 11 to swim No 1 he followed this fish up with fish of 32lb 8ozM, 29lbM, 28lbM & Alison Webber caught a 40lb8ozM. During the following 2 months swim number 1 seemed to be the place to be as scores of big fish were caught from a hole under the tree line on the far margin of the bay.

Paul Jaego and his friends caught fish of 39lbM, 37lbM, 35lbM, 33lbM, 33lbC, 32lbM + many upper 20’s. Steve Knott and his crew fished the last week in March Steve fishing peg 1 bagged 15 fish with 2x39lb(PB) and an average weight of 30lb things were really starting to pick up as the weather became more and more favourable lots of people who visited us managed new PB’s and everyone without exception appreciated the beautiful natural surroundings with 300 year old oaks, 50ft Christmas trees and a small river surrounding two thirds of the lake its not hard to see why.

April was a busy month with the fish starting to show themselves more and more we also had a few surprises in store as fish which had never previously graced the banks were caught including a long mirror 31lb + and a very long common of 32lb. The mirror is an original while the common was a fish we stocked 18mths previously at 22lb so very exciting for us to see these fish. The 1st wk in April saw Matt Bartaby in swim 1 and after beating his Pb with fish of 39lbM, 39lbM, 31lb,30lb,30lb along with many 20’s he ended his week with 16fish, Michael Bovell returned to the lake after catching a new Pb last year of 36lbM and upped it to 38lbM, Dave Lacy caught fish of 40lbM,39lbM,32lb long common previously mentioned and a couple of 20’s Lee Harris lost a good fish and blanked but got his revenge when he came back 7wks later with a new Pb of 48lb15ozM. Jason Brown a regular at Cas-En-Lac caught 6 fish biggest 41lbM. Tony Wilkshire also had a six fish catch topped by a 39lbM& 32lbC. Vic Shillings caught 6 fish topped by 40lbm, 37lbM, and 33lbM.

Around the end of May our bailiff Paul Jones caught a new lake record fish at 54lb14ozM and this fish was caught again 2 wks later at 54lb again. The weather got fairly hot during May and at times the fishing proved quite a challenge some good fish were caught including the dish at 48lb+ and the 48lb fish mentioned above that Lee Harris caught. Simon Birak from North Herts tackle visited us at the end of May and on his 1st cast he managed a 49lb8oz M he followed this up with fish of 49lb4ozM, 40lb and 28lb.
48lb 15oz

By the end of May some of the fish had managed to spawn but many fish were still waiting to spawn, as the weather was quite changeable. There were many other 40’s, 30’s and 20’s caught during this 3 month period and the information on captures is a rough guide so as to give you an insight in to what has been happening rather than listing everyone’s captures so if you do not appear in this update please don’t feel left out. Most of the fish caught have been in pristine condition and have shown impressive growth rates. We at Cas-En-Lac are in the process of securing another 50-60 fish averaging 30lb + these will be introduced into the main lake in Nov 2005 bringing the stock to well over 300 fish in 20acres of water with an average size of about 30lb and we are also introducing a further 150 fast growers between 10lb-30lb into our stock ponds for the future, so Watch this space!

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