Villefond

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News from Villefond lake

Nov 2012

A Day Session on Villefond, 24th Nov

Saturday;

I arrived at the lake just as the sun was rising which at this time of year is about 8am. By 9am I had all three rods in the water. My left rod was a small piece of meat on the bottom, my middle rod was a cut down 15mm pop up and finally my right hand rod was a 10mm white pop up. As with all my fishing I use size 8 hooks, flying back leads, back leads and tight lines.

My left hand and middle rods were dropped on a gravel spot at about 120 yards with my row boat out in the middle of the lake. My right hand rod was chucked out to the right at a patch of bubbles, hopefully a feeding fish.

10.15am just as my dad was walking round the lake to see how I was doing my left had rod with the meat on bleeped, once, twice, and then I struck. The fish kited straight to the right and as most the fish in our lake they don’t seem to really fight hard until they get into the margins. I knew from the jerky runs and seeing the fish fighting near the surface it wasn’t a big fish by Villefond standards. It topped the scales at 38lb 8oz’s which I was still very happy with as I knew I still had one more bait on the spot with a good chance their was other fish feeding down there.

I boated the bait back out and as I was sinking the line and putting on my back lead my middle rod took off on a screaming run. Immediately as I struck I felt a much heavier weight on the other end of my line and the slow really deep motion of the fish indicated this was a bigger carp. During the fight as the fish kitted to the right in went under and got caught round my right hand rod. I always put a lot of effort into pinning my lines down so I know somewhere out in front of me there must be a gully or deeper hole along the bottom of the lake.

In the margins the fish fought really really hard still just hugging the bottom which had me and my dad thinking this could be a nice fish. Eventually I pulled the fish over the net my dad was holding for me and our suspicions were correct this was a bigger fish. The fish went 44lb 4oz’s and I recognised it as fish known as Measles because of a small cluster of tiny scales that resemble spots on its tail, it was a nick name that stuck.

Shortly after getting my rods out again I had a run on my left hand rod. As I struck I didn’t tighten the bit runner enough and as I lifted line just span off the reel. This small error was all the clever Villefond carp needed and it quickly shook the hook before I could set it properly and left me cursing myself. The two fish before helped to lessen the pain of this escaped fish so I wasn’t too annoyed at myself.

All went quiet and I got my rod back out, my dad left and I laid on my bed chair and had a few hours shut eye. At 2:30pm my dog saw me stir and came over to say hello. As I reached out my rod began to scream at me again. I struck and felt a small carp which I quickly had in the net. It was a 10lb 4oz Villfond baby, offspring of our monster carp and looked a really solid little tank with massive shoulders, a real future monster.

Shortly after I packed up so I could run my dog before it got dark and I left looking forward to my next session on the lake.

Nov 2012

24hrs at Lac Du Villefond, November '12, 7th Nov

24hrs at Lac Du Villefond, 7/11/12 by fisheries manager Mark Lambert

Wednesday the 7th of November 2012 was the start of my 24 hour session on my lake. I had my tent set up from a previous session the week before so after a quick setup of my rods I was fishing by about 10’oclock. My approach was simple - remain quiet & use the on site boat to drop off two rods on a gravel spot in the middle of the deeper water.

One rod had a whittled down 15mm pop-up on, the other a 15mm bottom bait. My third rod was going to be used to chuck at showing fish or experiment on different spots. As I was fishing swim 6 (the woodchip swim) I decided to drop a bottom bait just in the margin by the sluice gate to my right.

With all rods back leaded and now on my spots I settled down preparing for a long wait. With the weather sunny but still quite cold especially in the shade of all the trees round swim 6 I sat close to my rods scanning the water for signs of fish.

At 10.30, only half an hour after being put out, my middle rod with the pop up on beeps at me. I watch my rod tip & standing over the rod I see the line start to tighten and with one more single beep I strike.

Immediately I know this is a good fish. It's moving very slowly, swimming straight towards me & it doesn’t really start to fight until it comes close to the bank. As the fish gets tired I lower the net into the water and turn the fish. As its head turns I see the width across its back and know its going 40lb+.

She topped the scales at 47.12lb and is a fish we know as the Long Two Tone. That was an amazing start for me and I quickly boated my bait straight back out and dropped it with more bait right back on the spot.

Still chuffed with my catch I continued to study the lake looking for signs of fish anywhere but there was none. This didn’t bother me because if I didn’t catch anymore I was happy with one fish, especially such a nice fish on just a 24hr session.

At 12.14 my middle rod beeped at me again... the beginning of a take. Again before it turned into a run I struck and was in.

Again the fish moved slowly but powerfully through the water indicating to me it could be a big fish again. Once again as I pulled the fish over the net I saw a massive head. At first because of the width of the head I thought I had caught one of our 50’s, a monster called Bennett’s. But I knew when I lifted it from the water it wasn’t Bennett’s but I thought it was a very nice stocky fish.

The scales stopped at 40lb 4oz, a fish we know as DIY Ghostie and a fish that has been on my top ten fish to catch for a very long time, so I was over the moon again!

After this fish I checked my hook and found it had become slightly blunt in the process of catching these two fish so I quickly tied a new rig, put a new pop up on and I was ready to get the bait back in the water.

By 13.00 I had put the back lead on and set my swinger on my middle rod when I notice the line has looped around my last eye on my rod. As I unhooked it with a landing net handle I get a single beep on the rod and the line tightens and a fish starts to take line. I can’t believe my luck as I strike into the fish and again it swims straight towards me, once again fighting hard close in.

It was 43lb 4oz and yet one more lump on the bank... and now I’m starting to feel really lucky. How many people get to fish a lake like Villefond where the average weight is so massive. I spend most days helping people catch these monster fish and have watched them grow and documented their captures from stocking in 2008. So you learn a bit about each fish and it becomes a pleasure to seem them on the bank. After checking our records this particular fish is a rare capture with only two other people in four years catching it.

With all three fish coming off the same pop-up rig off the same spot I decided to change my bottom bait on the same spot to a pop-up. After boating out both rods all goes quiet and I don’t see a fish until the next morning.

However, at 8:30am on the 8^th I was again standing over my rods when I saw the beginning of a take on my middle rod. Once again I struck and fought and landed a hard fighting carp. It weighed 42lb 8oz and once again I was a very happy angler.

That was my last capture and I packed up for home later that day to post my pictures and identify the carp I caught.

Four good forties in 24 hours - I was very happy and hopefully during the coming winter I will get more opportunities to bank some of these fantastic large carp.

Thanks for reading!

Mark Lambert.

24hrs at Lac Du Villefond, November '12 - 1

24hrs at Lac Du Villefond, November '12 - 2

24hrs at Lac Du Villefond, November '12 - 3

24hrs at Lac Du Villefond, November '12 - 4

24hrs at Lac Du Villefond, November '12 - 5

Nov 2012

October Review, 6th Nov

Wow what a month October has been for fish captures!

As I reported last month the fish had finally finished what had been a drawn out spawning ritual & since then they have been heavily on the feed and are really piling the weight on.

If I had to pick a top week through October it would be the fantastic session put in by returning customer Nick Johnson and his friend Dave Proctor who between them caught 16 fish.

Their catch included;

* one double which has grown on in the lake

* 1 x 20

* 6 x 30’s to 39lb 10oz

* 6 x 40’s to 47lb 8oz

* 2 x 50’s. Arnold at a mirror carp lake record of 52lb 10oz and the Mighty Arthur at 54lb 7oz

Great fishing guys!

With Arnold generally considered to be the second biggest mirror in the lake this record could be short lived if Bennett’s makes an appearance before the fish spawn next - so watch this space!

Nick and Dave’s great week of fishing leads into the fish of the month section nicely as I have chosen a fish they caught on their final night of fishing.

Fish of the month

My fish of the month for October is a fish now named Dorian after the lead character in Oscar Wildes novel “The Painting of Dorian Gray” The link between the fish and Dorian Gray is the fact the fish is one of the lakes 2 big Grey coloured mirror’s.

Dorian was actually the first Villefond fish to officially top the 40lb barrier when she was caught by the lake manager Mark Lambert at 42lb in 2009.

She has been a tricky one to follow the growth of as after that capture she went through a spell of only slipping up once a year and this was always directly after spawning. That was the case until this year.

In 2012 so far Dorian has graced the bank 5 times, but again most of those have been at low spawned out weights with the exception of Nicks recent capture of the fish this month where she weighed in at 45lb 12oz. Being such a long fish she will almost certainly put on a little more as the fish feed up in the coming months.

Dorian is a truly stunning carp, long, lean and with linear scales from the tail to nearly half way up her flanks. She also has that slate grey colouring that makes her really stand out when spotted amongst other fish in the water. A stunning fish definitely worthy of being October’s fish of the month.

Oct 2012

A Massive Haul of Monster carp at Lac Du Villefond, 20th Oct

Nick Johnson returned to our lake for the third time on the 20^th of October 2012 with Dave Procter (his second visit) and they both done brilliantly. Their amazing catch report reads as follows;

Total weight of carp caught; 635 lb 12oz

Average weight of carp; a massive 41.6lb!

Fish caught in order of size;

* 54lb 7oz (Arthur the common)

* 52lb10oz (Arnold a mirror)

* 47lb12oz

* 45lb12oz (Dorian a mirror)

* 45lb 4oz (Measles a mirror)

* 43lb10oz

* 40lb.8oz

* 40lb 4oz

* 39lb 10oz

* 38lb 12oz

* 38lb 7oz

* 38lb 4oz

* 36lb 8oz

* 33lb

* 29lb 4oz

* and a future Villefond monster - an 11lb common.

These sorts of weights is what separates Lac du Villefond from all other lakes it’s a real specimen water, and although it’s very tough, it’s worth it if you get it right and as normal all the fish are different fish no re-captures.

What makes the weights even more impressive is some of the fish like Arthur the common at 54lb 7oz were still down in weight from the late spawning at the end of August/ beginning of September. So these fish will be even heavier when at full weight and Arthur who normally puts 4lb on over winter could well come out next spring at over 60lb!

Arthur is our second biggest common and hasn’t been out since April 2012. Arnold is our second biggest mirror and hasn’t been caught since July 2012. Nick and Dave have been a real pleasure to have on our lake every time they have been and we are really happy for them and hope to see them again catching more monsters.

Mark