LAC LES PINS END OF SEASON WRITE UP 2011

carpyman Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:50 pm

END OF SEASON WRITE UP 2011

Well the end of another Season and it has been much more challenging for our guys than we thought possible for this year, due to the worst drought in France for 100 years. Even the best anglers struggled, but this only showed in slightly less productivity overall.

The reason for this is that the water temperature reached its maximum for spawning in early May, causing 2 spawns in 3 weeks. The Carp could not fully recover due to the exceptionally high pressure and no wind. Rain and wind encourage fish to feed by stirring the waters, creating extra oxygen and stimulating the fish into activity so that they will burn off energy and they will then need to replace this by eating more.

We also had a record number of lost fish this year with hook pulls unfortunately due to bad angling – ie not playing the fish, just trying to pull them in.

Hot sunny days with no rainfall make the fish lethargic and docile, and they don’t move about very much, and this means that they do not burn off energy, and as well as that, the conditions caused a huge explosion of natural food ie bloodworm in the lake.

The Carp lost a lot of weight due to being in spawn mode for so long, and were extremely slow to pick up, but by the end of the Season, they did regain their weight or put on more. Without a doubt, the weather conditions totally influenced the catch rate and made fishing all the more harder

Even so, taking into consideration the conditions we were under, we still had a phenomenal year. With our lake being stream fed, at least we did not lose water like so many smaller lakes which rely on the rainfall – they must have found it incredibly difficult to cope with oxygen levels for their fish.

Hopefully, there will be no drought next Season 2012, and we will be able to see our growth rate extend to many more 50’s and 40’s, and even maybe another couple of 60’s. As we have said before, we feed our carp high energy pellet throughout the Winter months, which has always encouraged fantastic growth rates and overall fitness and wellbeing for our carp. They are always in superb condition.

The largest Carp caught during 2011 was by Richard Shaw, weighing 66lb 4oz.

The most productive weeks overall were 23rd – 30th April with Craig McEvoy’s group yet again. They caught an amazing 47 Carp. 1-60’s, 3-50’s, 8-40’s, 29-30’s, 6-20’s, with an average weight of 36lb.

Also 30th April – 7th May with Lee Beavan’s group. They caught another amazing 45 Carp. 1-60, 3-50’s, 17-40’s, 23-30’s and 1-20, with an average weight of 44lb.

Total Carp caught for 2011 was a little lower than last year at 586, but to be expected on conditions.

Still a phenomenal year with yet again fantastic averages.

Weights caught….6-60’s, 15-50’s, 153-40’s, 319-30’s, 88-20’s

With an average weight of 38lb.

Chris, Baz and Colin at Lac Les Pins would like to say heartfelt thanks and best wishes to all for a great 2012.
cheers