June 2008

May 2008 

The last week of May and Neil Taylors group of 7 from Essex had booked exclusive use of the lake.  I was hardly at the lake during the week , having had to go the England at short notice and left Neil in the driving seat.  1 lake record was equalled by Neil who caught 8 fish in 1 day and I wish I had been there for his lap of honour and the celebrations! In total 42 fish were landed including 2 40's and 20 30's,  the average weight for the week was a very disappointing 30lbs 2ozs, the lowest since October 2006.

W/c 17 May, Ian Main and Neil Cooper (West Midlands) on their 1st visit here both had pb's at 43-4 and 32-2, Rene (Holland) also on his 1st trip to Moulinots was top rod with 10 fish topped by a 40-14 mirror and 6 30's. Mark Cooksey and friends (B'ham) struggled this time, though Paul Bradnock had 4 30's. In total 42 fish were caught including 2 40's and 20 30's , the average weight for the week was 31lbs 9ozs.

Running a fishery these days is less pressurised, especially as it seems that every week we have another group of friends returning, as was the case with Craig Brown's (West Sussex) group back for their 6th (??) visit. We really appreciate their support and loyalty even though they have yet to set the place alight (not trying to give you any ideas Craig)! As bad luck would have it, they arrived whilst the fish were heavily spawning, something I had not seen in the past 2 years and coupled with the fact that temperatures were high (all week) it was unfortunately no suprise that fishing was difficult. In such difficult conditions I would have expected 1 of the experienced anglers to be top rod, not a recently converted match angler!! Alan (Rivers) Sands proved me wrong by catching 5 fish (1 40 and 3 30's), I must start to take you more seriously, well done! I would have lost my money had I backed Roy Foster (hot favourite), he only managed 4 fish (incl 2 40's), though I think he just scraped the longest drive competition beating me and others by a few yards, mind you his other attempts only went a few yards!! I know you guys want to know how I played the next day, 81 (9 over) not bad with my swing! Apologies to Mark Longhurst (supplier of the used golf balls) for not replacing his balls, can't afford to give away Titleist Pro V 1's. (Report to be finished)!

The 1st week of May and another regular group from Surrey and Kent were back. Paul Vickerstaff (Surrey) landed the biggest fish of the week with a very deep 53-07 mirror, 40's specialist (particularly) commons, Lee Bayliss (Dartford) once again equalled the lake record of 4 40's including 3 40 commons to 46-00 and 2 other 39's amongst his 8 fish haul. I don't know how you do it Lee, but well done again!! Mark Wilkins (Surrey) a full time bailiff on another venue and taking a busman's holiday, had 14 fish including 1 40 (pb common) and 8 30's, I hope that you put them all back! 1st timer Pat Roland (Dartford) had 11 fish in 4 days including new common and mirror p.b's, though you might find it harder next time. Ageing Ronnie Whybrow (teenager) once again proved why in my opinion, he will become a top angler 1 day, had another 2 40's to add to his tally, though 1 piece of advice, if you want to cast like Frank Warwick can you make sure you aren't fishing in my swim!! Paul (loser) Barker (Dartford) fresh from taking my money on a previous visit, took the bait when accepting the personal Walsh wine challenge for most fish caught in the week. With the score at 9 - 1 (to me) on the Thursday evening (close of comp), it was a real pleasure to enjoy a bottle that another angler had paid for, thanks Paul very enjoyable, better luck next year. Having felt guilty about the near whitewash, I did not fish on the Friday and invited Paul (and others) to bombade my swim, I was more than happy that Paul managed 3 fish in 3 hours, but not happy that 1 of them was a pb common at 40lbs, might as well have saved the wine and given it back to him!! The best week of the year so far with 55 fish landed including 1 50, 10 40's and 27 30's and plenty of banter!!

April 2008  Click here for top fish list

The final week of April and a mixture of regulars and 1st timers, 4 separate groups ( 9 anglers). Surprisingly there was no need for a draw and not surprisingly Rob Evans (Cambs) and Derek Belli (Doncaster) somehow managed to get on the 2 point swims which I am sure will not be the case when they look after the lake for us in July!! Rob has a very good record at Moulinots, almost top rod on every previous visit and he again returned to the winners enclosure with 7 fish ranging from 37lbs to a pb common at 50lbs 13ozs (also 2 other 40's), with an average at 42lbs, so you guys coming to us in mid July ask Rob for assistance if you are struggling, but don't expect him to tell the truth! Rig specialist Derek finally managed to catch some of the fish he has been after by landing 3 p.b.s at 38-12, 40-10 and 41-15 amongst his catch, so in my absence in July there will be plenty of local knowledge and assistance available to the other anglers, umm we will see? Well done guys!

Another successful regular angler Ross Blandford (Dorset) didn't quite repeat past feats by only catching 5 fish to 46-09, so no free wine this time or for his friend Dave Johnson which was probably just as well as our supplies were seriously depleted after the barbecue! Their friend Dan Smith, on his 1st visit, had 3 new p.b's topped by a 41-06 common, of course Ross and Dave will try and take all the credit, ignore them Dan!

Hypnotist Ian Wheeler (Bucks) seemingly in a self hypnotic trance most of the week, managed to snap out of it on the Friday and moved swim with only 24 hours left and achieved new p.b's with a 41-03 common and 40-02 mirror, at the count of 3 Ian, WAKE UP!! Brother Graham only had 1 30 which was probably as disappointing as failing to be hypnotised at the bbq.

Gary Wood (Essex) also on his 1st visit manged to land a new 50 mirror at 50-04, in total 30 carp were caught at an average of 36-13.

 

Next group to visit us were Phil Gilhams regular party from Dartford. Lost count how many times they have been to see us, but I do know they have never experienced a bad trip here! So on the back of a bad week I was interested to see if their record would continue and sure enough they didn't let me or themselves down. 35 fish in total were landed, with me achieving a new pb common at 52lbs and duly awarding myself the same prize that we give all our guests with a new pb, though on this occasion I did not limit the prize to 1 bottle! 10 other 40's and 18 30's were caught, with the average weight for the week at 37lbs 7ozs. A new pb was achieved by Phil Gilham with a 44lb mirror (accompanied by 2 other 40's), which was probably bigger, except Phil likes to claim a bottle every time he is here which is why his pb always only goes up by a pound each time, I will be checking your scales when you are back in May! Quiet man Pip Chambers (last man to catch), scrambled a pb common at 39-12 whilst brother John somehow again landed some quality fish with 2 40's and a brace of 36 mirrors (caught at the same time) amongst his total. Pete Chambers isolated at the shallow end of the lake started the week off well with a 44lb mirror and 3 30's but sadly the fish seemed to move to deeper water to leave Pete (my partner) pondering as to where he was going to spend the competition winnings when the competition finished on the Thursday. The bad news was that following my common, I took a night off thinking the money was in the bank, only to be beaten almost single handedly by Martin Hewitt who caught 4 fish on the Wednesday, never count your chickens..springs to mind and sorry Peter. Fire fighter Tim Wilmott showed bravery and adapt skill in trying to drink a bottle of port in 10 minutes at the bbq, shame he was ill for the next 12 hours though, no sympathy Tim, none at all! The good thing was that everybody caught and as usual a very sociable week.

With 8 regular visitors returning to Moulinots on 12 April, I (as was everybody else) was hoping for a much improved catch report. Once again though the weather conditions were bad, basically a repeat of the 1st 3 weeks of the season as was the number of fish caught. 4 reputations were seriously tarnished, Joe Coen, Steve Hughes, Andy Sapsford and Maurice Smith all bl--ked for the 1st time here, to be honest it was a surprise that we all didn't do the same with the 1st fish not being caught until the Thursday. Mick Coen (previously a lake record holder with most 40's in a week), continued to show that the earlier visits were a fluke by running up a 3rd consecutive bl--k, still that is a new lake record Mick!! Dan Hughes was top rod with 3 fish, but a new milestone was achieved by Darren Phillips (Reading) in capturing our 1st 50lb common at 51.01 on the Friday. Congratulations Darren that made my week m8!!!

A long awaited fishing duel between Cliff Hughes and myself never really got going, with each of us keeping a watchful eye on the bottles of wine up for grabs, rather than spending more time watching the water!! In the end an honourable draw was offered and accepted by both of us after Darren's fish was landed and Darren walking off with our prizes. The fact that Cliff did actually catch something will remain a secret between us.

More bad weather, snow again, freezing temperatures, rain and more rain, just like the 1st week of the season and catch results similarly affected! Only 7 fish caught all week, the only consolation was that 5 of them were over 40lbs and 3 more bottles of wine sampled by our customers, John Scarrott with a 44.05 mirror, his friend Paul East with a 48.03 mirror and also Paul Walsh (no relation to us but naturally a good angler) landing a 47.06 mirror. Jason (Oz) Kerry still on a mission (perhaps impossible) to try and get on the wine winners list, tried hard but only managed 2 fish which included a 41.12 mirror, the consolation prize was that I had to acknowledge that he was top rod for the week, beating me on weight countback, I also had 2 fish to 44.08. I think in a tie for number of fish, largest fish should count!! Jay's friend Jason Hill a.k.a. Steele (by me anyway for some reason), didn't get on the scoreboard this week as did the other unnamed guests. Average weight for the week was 41.08, a lake record though I wish it had been achieved with 70 fish being caught and not 7!!

March 2008

On the 29 March we were visited by Gordon Wood and Stuart Neale (their 2nd visit to Moulinots) and 3 1st timers, 2 of whom also managed to sample Walshy's free vintage wine. Mark Winfield achieved 2 pb's with mirrors of 34.04 and 40.06, improving his pb by over 25lbs (well done), an even bigger improvement was by his friend Stuart Underwood with a 44.14 mirror. In similar weather conditions to the previous week (without the snow though), fishing was very hard, though Gordon somehow was not affected, he landed 8 of our carp including a new pb common at 42lbs. Stuart (with a little bit of watercraft advice...just seen 1 Stuart, cast to it) managed a 38.04 mirror within 5 minutes of making an accurate cast and had another 34lb mirror on the Saturday.

Also on the lake were Tim Jackman and James (gb...he knows what that means) Jones, it was their 1st visit here and though James landed the only fish between them, as usual it cost me money, he had a new 43lb pb common. In total 15 carp were caught including 4 40's and 4 30's, the average weight for the week was 33lbs 9ozs. Not brilliant but a start!!

The 1st anglers to visit us were Phil Matthews group from Oxfordshire and having seen the weather forecast for the week, well awful and unfortunately the forecast turned out to be correct. My own opinion was that very few fish would be caught and it was unlikely that any weigh scales would be used until the end of the week, unfortunately another forecast which proved to be correct. Phil had booked the week on the basis of the catch results for the same period in 2007,  I think it is the worst week I have ever fished in such bad weather conditions in over 40 years.

This was what it was like!!!

The only lake records that were broken was the amount of time the anglers spent beside a log fire in the lodge and a bottle of bacardi brought as a gift for me not being finished by the Saturday morning, quite proud of the latter record. The 1st fish that was caught was on the Thursday by Craig Pearce, it may have only weighed 32.04, but it did cost me a bottle of wine which was followd up by 2 more bottles being given away to Phil (pb 33lb mirror) and Jason House (pb 31.04 mirror) on the Saturday morning. Only 4 fish in total were landed which should have been 5, sadly Buster Croxford lost a big fish near the net (think that was on the Friday) and unashamedly tried to break the British javelin record by launching his rod airborn, I think he was about 70 metres short of the record! It is every fishery operators nightmare when you get a week where you just know that catching fish would be almost impossible, having said that, the lads all showed remarkable dedication and were in good spirit (in more ways than 1) throughout the week. Special thanks to Mark Sturt for his able assistance on a couple of occasions, I am sure he will remember them more than I will! See you guys next year it can only get better!!

Winter 2007/08

Only 1 week to go and still plenty to do, but hopefully (weather permitting) everything will be finished before our 1st guests arrive on 21 March. We would like to thank Craig Brown and Roy Foster (West Sussex) for coming over in February for a few days and their excellent work on further improving some of the swims. It was a shame they weren't able to catch any fish at night, but with minus temperatures hardly surprising! See you guys again in May.

We have not introduced any new fish this Winter, it really is not worth taking the risk of affecting our existing stock which are healthy and growing each year. Further small improvements will be carried out on the swims and apart from that, a long hard earned rest until we open at the end of March 2008!!

Review of the 2007 Season

This has easily been our busiest season and judging by the rebooking rate for 2008, our most successful!! My best estimate is that 90% of the people who fished here in 2007 have already booked for 2008 and therefore leaving very few spaces for other people to try Moulinots for a 1st time. The only advertising we have carried out in the last 12 months has been 2 1/4 page adverts in Carp Talk, not much point spending money on advertising when personal recommendations are bringing in the bookings. We will not rest on our laurels though, as things can change in the future and we recognise that people who have been coming to Moulinots every year will sooner or later try a new venue. On the fishing side, I think that the main attraction to the anglers (apart from Kathy's food) is the average weight of all of our fish, which is approaching 34lbs and we know that there are at least 40 x 40lb + fish including many commons and also that 2/3 of the fish stocked are now over 30lbs, it should be even better next year. I have still to count up the number of personal bests recorded this year, but I do know that it is well over 200, not bad considering that many of them have been recorded by people who have fished Moulinots many times, a good advert in itself!!

A sincere thank you to all of our customers who have visited us in 2007 and we look forward to welcoming you back in 2008!!

October   Click here for top fish list

High pressure again for the 4th week running and cold temperatures, so it was hardly surprising that the last week of the season followed the same pattern as the previous weeks. Rob Evans a strict follower of our rules (so he tells me), once again regained his title of top rod, though I will be watching him more carefully next time! Rob had 5 fish including mirrors of 46.04 and 38.08, good angling m8. Mark Duggan returned for the 2nd time this year, after proposing to Sandra here on his previous visit and was rewarded with a pb common of 42.04, well done Mark patience and self belief did pay off for you in the end (not sure if I am now talking about fishing or marriage). Only 12 fish were caught in total including the 2 40's and 5 30's, a bad end to a bad month, October has never before been so unproductive!!

The 2nd last week of a very long season and it was nice to welcome back John Sallis (B'ham) and Darren Quelch (Oxford) and also to meet John's nephew Danield Tipper and friend Mark Fenny. The weather conditions remained the same except it was a lot colder at night (down to 0) and out of the aforementioned anglers only young Daniel caught, a new pb mirror at 41.10 and pb common at 34.01, not bad for a 15 year old lad!! I felt very sorry for Darren, who after 2 visits here, must be in the running for the prize of the best angler I have seen not to have caught anything at Moulinots (YET)!! Not put off though, the 4 guys are already booked for next year. We also had another group of 6 newcomers from Sussex, the booking having been made by Bob Squires (Robert Squires Fishing Tackle at Southwick, West Sussex...free advert for you Bob). Happy to report that Bob had a new pb common at 42lbs and new pb mirror at 36.08, whilst the other guys struggled only catching 4 fish, the other consolation was that Jim Shepherd had a new pb landing a 41.09 common. Back to John, I enjoyed our social evenings in spite of the cold weather and moderate drinking. In summary 10 fish were caught including 4 40's and the average weight (a new lake record for any week) at 36lbs 2 ozs, though hardly anything to shout about, unfortunately.

Although the weather conditions remained similar to the previous week i.e. high air pressure and clear skies, there was a little more wind and the nights turned cold mid week. Phil Gilham's group from Dartford who have been to Moulinots many times and always done very well, arrived anticipating a difficult week and they were right! Swell (that's what he likes to be called, honestly) who is probably the least experienced angler in the group and had betting odds been available on who would have been top rod, would have probably been offered at 250/1, shame I couldn't have a bet on him, as unbelievably he did finish top rod with 5 fish including a 49.08 mirror and 43.04 common, if you know this guy you will understand why I have said unbelievable. Next time you are here Swell I will be popping over to see you to get some fishing advice. Phil Gilham (newcomer to the 40's club on his previous visit) had 3 40's this time amongst his 4 fish tally, fellow beer and wine connoisseur Martin Hewitt also caught 4, a much smaller number than the number of different types of beer and wine that he and Phil brought with them, my favourite was the mexican beer though a pity I didn't get to sample the wine (well not all of it)! Brett Stevens continued his record of catching a big carp here on every visit, did it again with a 45lb pb common and Ryan Atkins also joined the 40's club with a 40.04 common. Mel Meredith another big fish hunter again succeeded with a pb 45lb common. Though the total was only 22 fish, there were 8 40's (5 of them commons) and 9 30's, the average weight was 35lbs 15ozs, a new lake record, though we all would have liked to have seen more fish caught.

The following week it was good to see my old friend and dvd appearer John Welch (Essex) and accompanied by 5 newcomers and Mark Burroughs (2nd visit), all experienced anglers!! The weather conditions for the week were not conducive to catching carp, high pressure, clear skies at night and no wind!! The only notes to mention are that Mark had a new pb mirror at 46.12, Alan Tipper also had a new pb catching a 40.07 mirror and a couple of 30's and in total only 8 fish were caught, definately a week to forget!!

A lot of regular customers arrived on 29th September and I was optimistic that it would be a very good week based on the previous experience that the guys had about Moulinots. Dutch lads Roy and Robert fishing the shallow end of the lake, secretly managed to catch 11 fish during the 1st half of the week, unfortunately and very unusually, they must have attracted the smaller fish in Moulinots as only 3 of the fish were over 30lbs, certainly not what I expect or have seen in recent years here!! The brotherhood of Graham Beard (Manchester), Mark Cooksey & Andy Shearon (B'ham) had their worst ever week at Moulinots, only catching 4 fish between them, though Graham did have a 42lb mirror and Andy a 41lb pb mirror, having been invited to join their newly formed brotherhood, with results like that, I think I will decline. Mark Greenaway, Russ Britain and Sean Rutter (all Essex lads) didn't do much better with only 5 fish between them, at least Mark managed his 1st ever 40 (a 41lb common). Mark's friend Gary Cook (1st visit) did well on a difficult week with a new pb 40.02 mirror and a couple of 30's amongst his catch.  Paul Bradnock (B'ham) who had a great week here earlier in the year, only caught 1 fish all week but the consolation was that it was a 48.08 pb mirror. Only 1 angler had a very good week, Steve Bond (Essex) on his 3rd visit this year managed 9 fish including commons of 47.10, 46.08 and 41.02 and 5 30's. In total 33 fish were caught including 8 40's and 15 30's, the average weight just under 34lbs, overall a disappointing week!!

September  Click here for top fish list

When my good friend and associate Frank Oakman comes to Moulinots it normally means 3 things, a good fishing week, me catching nothing and Frank making the normal excuse for forgetting his golf clubs. This visit was no different!! So I will reluctantly start with reporting on Franks' catch report (yawnnn), he only had 5 fish (bad by his standards) but they did include 3 40's and 2 mid 30's, whilst grandson Luke as usual catching another 43.08 mirror. Frank kindly brought me over some new rods and little did I know at the time, that I would not catch a fish on them during the remainder of the season, thanks Frank!! I really look forward to another 2 weeks of your company in 2008 (like a hole in the head)! Simon Bullen and Terry Wills (Kent) were back for their 2nd trip this year and whilst Terry struggled the previous trip, he faired much better this time with 12 fish including 3 40's and 6 30's whilst Simon in competition to the end, had 9 fish including 2 40's and 5 30's, not bad lads, glad you are getting the hang of it here. Jay Taylor and Simon Morrissey (also from Kent) sampled my wine cellar with pb's i.e Jay (43.12 common, 38.0 linear and a 37.02 mirror) and Simon (36.14 mirror). Wayne had a more productive 2nd week with a 5 fish tally including a 40lb common and poor lovesick Dick only managed 2 fish, though I must say I think he was spending too much time texting his new girl friend and not enough time watching the water. Finally Kevin Spence (Nottingham) who had blanked here on his previous visit, made amends this time with 6 fish (all 30's and new common and mirror pb's), very well done m8 and it was nice to see you smile and also not to get into a drinking competition with Lorraine this time, I learnt my lesson last time!  The total for the week was 51 fish including 12 40's and 32 30's and the average weight at 35lbs 1 oz, a new lake record.

The 15th September and we once again welcomed back Dartford lads Wayne McGill and Dick Baker starting yet another 2 week stint here, this time accompanied by Darren Pritchard for the 1st week only. Unfortunately only Darren had a reasonable result with 4 fish including a pb common at 33.09 and 2 30+ mirrors to 39.06. There was slightly better news from the 3 English lads living in Holland, on their 3rd trip, Craig Boulton finally managed to catch his 1st 30 (catching 2), Ian Whitelaw a new pb mirror at 37.08 and not to be outdone Kevin Doherty a new pb with a 46lb mirror, 6 hours before packing up, glad you all caught this time. It wasn't all bad news as Perry Irvine (Essex) on his 1st trip and who had chosen Moulinots to try and get 1 of our renowned big commons, did at last catch 1, well in fact 2 of them over 30lbs, Perry also had a 47.04 mirror amongst his 8 fish total while Laurie Gulbraith, now becoming quite a regular visitor here, had 6 fish including 5 30's. Maurice (Trotter) Smith also here yet again, had a pb 43.10 mirror on the Friday night. The total for the week was 33 fish including 4 40's (I had the other 1) and 20 30's, average weight as usual was over 33lbs.

If I thought that the previous week was good, the 2nd week was even better! Nigel Sladdin's group of 9 from Kent managed 75 fish including 11 40's (8 over 44lbs) and 35 30's which was our 3rd best ever week and the 2nd best for total weight of fish caught. 6 of the guys had never fished here before including Steve Hollamby who landed 17 fish including 4 40's and 12 30's, his catch average weight was a fraction under 38lbs, superb fishing Steve and congratulations on the new record of most fish over 30lbs in 1 week = 16!! Special thanks to Rob Johnson (Essex - previous record holder) on telephoning at the end of the week to congratulate Steve, nice gesture!!

Part of the Steve Hollamby show (don't ask me which fish is which)!!

Nigel didn't do too bad on his 2nd trip here managing 2 new pb mirrors at 44.10 and 47.06 while Graham Proctor (also on his 2nd trip) also had a new pb mirror at 47.01 and 5 30's. A total of 11 new personal bests were recorded, so the wine cellar was depleted by the Friday night, 1st sampled by Steve (Griff) Griffiths with a 41lb common and a 49.08 mirror, Frank Millerick seemed to get a new pb every time he landed a fish with the best being a 38.07 common, Matt Cannon (a non drinker) still helped himself to a bottle with a 41.15 mirror, while Wayne Wheeler supposedly on guard to the wine supplies (fishing the lodge swim) also nicked a bottle with a cracking 44.03 common (shown below). This was another 1 of the weeks this year where I was glad that I did stick to my rule of only 1 bottle per angler per week!! Average weight of all fish caught was 33.07lbs. See you guys again next year!

Wayne with not the biggest fish of the week (44.03) but the biggest smile!!

The 1st week we welcomed back "dvd stars" Martin Theobalds group from Essex and London, you may have seen some of them on our dvd, they are the ones with the pot bellies! On their previous 2 trips here they had done well and this time managed our best catch week of the year with 64 fish including 11 40's and 31 30's with the average weight at 33-08. Various competitions took place and in a very close race, Keith Hunter came 1st with 15 fish including a couple of 40's and 8 30's closely followed by Martin who caught 10 fish in the last 3 days including a couple of 40's and 5 30's, it was a good finish as he didn't catch anything before Tuesday morning, probably due to the fact that he was worried about losing the golf competition for the 3rd year running and we had to record a no show on his scorecard. Cliff Cole on his 4th or 5th trip, managed a new pb by actually catching a fish in his own swim, I may have to change the rules in the future i.e. maximum anglers allowed (when Cliff is here) 4 + him!!! He had 1 40 and 3 upper 30's amongst his catch whilst his son Courtenay had 2 new pb's to 34lbs. Martins son James more than doubled his pb with a 43-04 mirror. Lee Dickel (DL specialist) once again found that you can still get a free bottle of wine at the small family operated venues, pb mirror last time and this time hoping for a new pb common, accordingly succeeded with 1 at 40-08, backed up with commons at 38-08 and 37-04 as well as a 46lb mirror amongst his catch. My golfing partner Mark Taylor probably went back home thinking maybe he is not too old to become a golf professional after playing superbly on the Friday, he didn't do too badly at fishing either with a 47lb mirror and 46lb common. Alan (big fish specialist but newcomer to French carping) Pritchard also consumed a free bottle of wine with a 43lb mirror, backed up by a 36lb common amongst his catch. It was a pity we didn't have the camera guy back this year, it would have solved the mystery of who was responsible for relocating my tackle to other swims, I have sent all of your pictures to Crimewatch!!! Seems like you have started a trend, this week my rods were found in another swim while I was away from the lake, a trend that I have now ended. See most of you next year and to the others, enjoy your trip to Toul. In case you are wondering how I got on, simply last at fishing and last at golf!!

Golfing partner Mark with a 47lber

August Click here for top fish list

Anybody who read the report from 2006 about the invasion by the British Army at Moulinots, might be a little disppointed with the sequel. In an ever changing list of volunteers to make a 2nd assault here, it was very disappointing that some of the guys went AWOL! With a depleted group this battle was never going to be won, with the enemy being able to hide in areas which could not be covered or tracked by their assailants. Only 3 of the original squad Captain John Graham, Steve Bryce and Shaun Debell (now both in civvy street) were able to attend, fortunately army welfare officer Dale Diamond and London angler Phil Paxton came over to support them. The guys did their very best to acheive a victory by continuously moving swims and trying to give the impression that there were more of us than 6!! Perhaps if Dale using his specialist experience had spent more time consoling the troops instead of competing with Phil for the most captures (7 each) we might have done better? Perhaps the cool temperatures and full moon week also contributed to a slow week? At the end of the week with defeat looming (24 hours to go), we all gave it our best shot, with me setting by example as every Colonel should, by capturing 2 of the officers at 47 and 43-08, Dale also got 1 at just over 40 and the only other 1 trapped by Steve (on the Wednesday) at 41lbs. In total 26 of the enemy were caught, 4 officers and 14 30's, morale in the camp was not the same at the end of the week as in 2006, so a full retreat was ordered on the Saturday morning! Hopefully we will have a reunion in the future and be better equipped next time.

W/c 18 August and back for their 2nd session this year (and 6th trip here in total) came Craig Brown's group from West Sussex. This time armed with Cygnet Sniper catapults (based on my advice) and I don't know how many different types of port and cheese, though a short delivery of 400 curry sauce jars, they had no excuse for not catching plenty of fish and I am pleased to say no excuses were needed! After a very slow start (well fishing anyway) with the 1st fish not being caught until Sunday night, I was a little worried that not many fish were going to be caught, but no need to worry really,  not with Roy Foster and Mark Longhurst among the group who both managed 9 fish over 30lbs amongst their catches and Roy taking the top rod award and the money with 15 fish. Typically I was excluded from entering their competition as they must have known beforehand that I would catch the largest fish of the week at 46lbs. Graham Bailey and John Brown both had pb 40lb + commons (as did Roy), while Alan Sands somehow managed 10 fish, not bad for a river specialist!! What about Craig, I think he spent most of the time searching his van looking for the missing curry jars but in between times he did land a few and lost even more (fish). I promise to spend more time helping you with the fishing next time and less time at the lodge, guys it was a brilliant week. The total for the week was 49 fish incl 4 40's and 29 30's, average weight was 32-10 and I look forward to seeing you guys in May and October 2008.

W/c 11 August and at the start of the week there was no indication as to what was to come, only 10 fish caught up to Monday night and we were agreeing that if 40 fish were caught for the week, it would be a good result, wrong!! By the close of play, the boys (incl my 2 fish) had caught 62 fish including 6 40's and 33 30's with 7 of the 30's weighing 39lbs +. The top rod on his 4th trip was Rob (Neptune) Johnson (Essex) with 17 fish incl 3 40's and 9 30's, a new lake record for most fish over 30lbs caught by 1 angler and to be honest the total should have been a lot higher, as an awful lot of fish were not landed (I won't say how many though Rob), excellent fishing m8 and when you come back next year do you want to book another lesson on advanced carp angling with me, or should it be the other way round? Rob didn't have things his own way, except for the most time spent in the lake, as Steve (Silent) Howe managed 14 fish incl  1 40 and 7 30's, so ok silent, I accept Korda does have some good anglers!! 3rd place went to Mark Golby (Essex) who finished the week like a train with 12 fish incl 9 30's. Laurie Gulbraith (Essex) who I am sure thought he was in for a blank come Wednesday night, exploded into action (hope you like that 1 Lol), firstly getting off his bedchair, moving swims and then landing 7 fish in the last 60 hours, well done m8, you were so quiet I really didn't know you were fishing next to me!! Good friend and fellow fishery operator Steve Bond had the biggest fish of the week at 48lbs, whilst his son Reece beat Steve and me with 4 fish, almost doubling his pb with a 43lb mirror. 

Just a sample of the fish that Rob caught....

The 1st week it was pleasing to meet new people and welcome back some of our regulars. 1st timers to France, army boys Smudge Smith and Gareth Hughes both had pb's, not surprising as they didn't seem to sleep all week, part of their training I suppose? Brad Leech had a good week with 10 carp of which 6 were over 30lbs, while 5th timers (?) Joe and Mick Coen struggled, except to say that Joe did have a 39-04 mirror and Mick, well I am lost for words!! Richard (Ringo) Scott and his wife "H" on their 2nd trip here, both had pb's, H with a cracking 44lb mirror and Richard with a 37-08 mirror. If you think that I have cut down on my drinking Richard, you are correct, truth was, I didn't have enough wine  for the 3 of us! Finally well done to Mark Woolford (Sussex), a regular visitor to France (but 1st time here) and quite a few years since he has landed a 40+ carp and at Moulinots he was hoping to land a big common, well you did that Mark with 2 at 44-08 and 41-08. Totals for the week 24 fish, 3 40's and 10 30's and my contribution, the same as the week previous i.e. BLANKED!!

July  Click here for top fish list

After a relaxing break and having fine tuned my golf game, back to see us was our associate Frank Oakman, his gorgeous wife Pauline and up and coming carp angler Luke (grand son). Once again Frank had conveniently forgotten to bring his golf clubs, probably he had heard that I had consistently beaten my brother in law whilst he was over here for some practice prior to the British Seniors Open at Muirfield. 2 young lads Warren Harrison and Hamish Gilland (accompanied by his dad Ian - handicap 2) enjoyed their 1st trip to France both catching p.b's, the picture of Hamish's 43-08 is on the website. I would have preferred it though if Ian had stayed at home as he was the 1st Brit to beat me on my own golf course and he even played with an old set of hired clubs and still shot 74 (did use my putter though), well done m8! Oh sorry, I am supposed to be writing about the fishing..... "old lucky" Frank somehow managed to catch an unknown 50 (54lbs mirror) whilst I was golfing and I am pretty sure it was out of the part of the lake that I was fishing, typical Frank!! Luke had another 40 lber whilst Mark Cowbig and Jamie Munro (Sussex) also both caught 40's. Tony Smith (Essex) managed 3 30's as did his friend Chris Holland. In total 27 fish landed, 1 50, 4 40's and 13 30's, the average a fraction under 34lbs. So all in all a bad week, lose at golf, have a 50lber caught in my swim by an arch rival, inadequate bacardi supplies (brought over from the UK) to get through the week and having to give away 9 bottles of wine, well that's life!!

Whilst the fishing results for w/c 21 July were very disappointing with only 8 fish (6 over 30lbs) caught, the highlight of the week was BBQ night (strange that) with Ian Wheeler (Bucks) practising his very impressive hypnosis skills on Chris Bennett (Kent),  poor Chris, hope there have not been any after effects and sorry to confirm that your friend did actually catch a 41lb common!! John Collison was top rod with 3 fish, all between 34 and 39lbs, so not all bad news! Like some of the weeks before, the weather was very changeable and was undoubtedly the cause of the slow fishing.

Don and Matt had the lake to themselves w/c 14 July, the weather remaining very hot. They only caught 7 fish, but I suspect this was because they spent most of the time at the local bar playing Rapido with Don losing as usual?? Anyway guys sincere thanks for looking after the lake for us!!

The time of year had arrived which Kathy and I really look forward to, 2 weeks holiday, lines reeled in and out come the golf clubs (for me anyway). Our good friends Matt Nobbs and Don Lea (Swindon) managed the lake for us and were joined by 5 of our regular Dartford anglers for the first week and considering that the previous 4 weeks fishing results had been poor by normal standards, I was keen to learn how the lads did in my absence, especially as the Kent boys have always done well at Moulinots and once again a good result was achieved. Gary Troke had 11 fish including 3 40's and 6 30's, Jay (surname escapes me) also had 3 40's  whilst Don (poaching my swim) had 10 carp, in total 34 fish were caught which included 6 40's and 15 30's, very good fishing lads in extremely hot weather conditions, I know I got burnt on the golf course!

I was really expecting things to improve for Chris Cowell's (Northants) group of 4 on their 1st visit to Moulinots, however for the 3rd consecutive week the weather and fishing followed the same pattern, heavy rain, cool and not many fish feeding or getting caught. The catch for the week was slightly better though, Chris managed 6 carp including a new pb common and a 40lb mirror out of a group total of 13 fish. The highlight of the week was Aubrey Murfitts 70th birthday, 1 Aubrey probably won't remember as he failed to attend the party laid on for him in the evening, we told you not to start celebrating too early in the day! The good news was that although Aubrey was staring at a blank trip until the Friday evening, fortune turned round and he had 2 fish in 1/2 hour including a new 40-08 pb common, nice belated present. Steve Wiles (a face from the past, where and when we couldn't work out, except it was golfing somewhere) caught a couple of 30's. 

June 2007 

The last week of the month we welcomed Mick Waters group of 4 from Birmingham and with the weather continuing to be exceptional for the time of year i.e. heavy rain and cool, the fishing continued to be slow. Only 11 fish were caught and no bottles of wine earned with personal bests, the 1st week I can remember that happening for a very long time!! Mick did manage 3 30's and his son Rob also had a couple of 30's but overall another poor result for the time of year.

The 3rd week and this was to be every fishery operators nightmare, in my case the worst week I can remember (excluding early March 2006). Liam Buck (Beds) again got the fishing off to a promising start with a pb mirror of 43lbs on the Sunday and then no fish at all for anybody until the Thursday. Weather conditions were awful, very hot at the start of the week followed up by some of the most torrential rain I have seen since I have lived in France for 6 years, you guys in the UK will also remember this week, record rainfall and severe flooding!! Though only 6 fish were caught, Simon Byass and Declan Vines (both from Beds) did manage pb's. Mark Duggan who failed to catch (this time), set a new lake record at Moulinots being the first person to offer a proposal of marriage (duly accepted) to his new fiancee Sandra. Congratulations to you both, I just wonder if this would have happened had Mark been hauling during the week, personally when I am not catching I just stick to the wine! See you both in October, maybe you can use that trip for family planning (only joking)! I was also disappointed that my good friend Wayne Griffin (Beds) also failed to catch, even though he can cast like Frank Warwick. The other highlight of the week was Wednesday night where we all had a social to celebrate Mark & Sandra's news, Mark had his 1st knitting lesson with Sandra managing to cross all 3 rods, Liam and I sorting out the damage and then seemingly wasting 2 hours that we cannot account for (so Wayne has told us), great night but a shame about the fishing and obviously it has affected my memory as I forgot to mention (in my initial news report) that Cliff Hughes (Suffolk) was also here on his 5th trip in 2 years, sadly he didn't catch, just proving how difficult the fishing really was.

Next up were early arrivals (Friday night) Phil Matthews, Buster and Jamie Croxford and newcomer Tim Hibbart (all from Oxfordshire). Thanks guys for the gift which was consumed, mainly by Buster within a couple of hours of your arrival. Young Jamie got the group off to a good start with a pb 44-11 mirror and Buster and Phil getting pb's on the Sunday. Tim, on his 1st trip to France had a new pb mirror at 41-08 backed up by a 38-08 mirror. Buster who never makes a bad cast (so he tells us), fluked a pb 41-08 common. Considering that the weather was very hot most of the week and then we were treated to torrential rain and storms, the overall result of 20 fish which included 3 40's and 7 30's was not too bad. With very little sign of fish feeding, it was my impression that the fish had gone back into spawning mode, a comment replicated by other fishery operators in the region. See you guys again in March (unless you change the date AGAIN)!!

The 1st week of June and big Wayne Everitt (Dartford) and his friends were back! Wayne had escaped a ban last year for not carrying out his threat to throw me in the lake. With my wine supplies already heavily depleted from the previous week, I felt sure that this was going to be a cheap week as many of the guys had been here before and already sampled our vintage wine. As usual, wrong again, another 15 personal bests and free wine for everybody except Elliott (DJ) Hopkins who couldn't beat the 50 he caught last year, not to appear mean though, Elliott was awarded a bottle for his nightly radio entertainment with the newly launched Fresh Fish FM,  he had us all in fits!!! You are wasted in Dubai Elliott. A pairs competition was held which I think everybody enjoyed, except for Wayne who once again managed to finish last, thankfully I was not paired with him this time! The result was in doubt right up to the final whistle with me ably not assisted by Stuart (sleepy) Creed leading by a few pounds, when eventual winner (and also top rod for the week) Paul Barker struck into a big fish and at the same time I hooked into (what would have been) a pb common, Paul failed to land his fish and not wishing to take the money, I allowed the common I had hooked to get free (truthfully I was gutted)! Paul secured the prize money with a mid 20 and that was that. Paul had a brace of 40's and 3 30's, Dale Vickerstaff (Surrey) also had a brace of pb 40's with a 41-12 mirror and a 41-10 common, Mark Wilkins (Surrey) also took a bottle of wine with a 44-13 mirror, 1 angler to watch in the future young Ronny Whybrow landed the biggest fish with a 48lb common, pb's also for Paul Vickerstaff and Stuart (both from Surrey) and also for Roy Jones (Waynes father in law). In total 42 fish were caught, though the total should have been over 60, with many fish lost due to hook pulls, there were 6 40's and 21 30's, the average for the week was 32-15! Lastly as that is where Wayne likes to finish, he has now joined the 30's club catching 2 of them with the largest at 38lbs, well done m8 see you in October!

May 2007 

The final week of May we were visited by Simon (Buzz) Bullen's group from Kent. I had been hoping for a couple of years to try and tempt Simon (via the forums) to visit Moulinots and following a posting on the carpforum.co.uk by somebody searching for a lake in France which offered a true average weight of 30lbs+, our lake was highly recommened by forum members who had previously been here. Thanks to that person on the forum (I wonder who it actually was) for initiating the interest and also the booking. Hopefully other forum members will follow suit in the future!! The group included young teenagers Sam Bullen (new pb mirror at 38lbs), Jack Caple (new pb mirror at 39-14) and John Wills (new pb common at 26-08),  slightly older Tom Murrell (new pb mirror at 35-08) and older brother John (new pb mirror at 40-08), well done you lads!!! So what about the oldies, Paul Caple had a pb 52lb mirror on the Sunday as well as a pb 36-04 common amongst his catch, Gordon (top rod) Wood  had new pbs of 47-06 (mirror) and 31-04 (common), Stuart Neal had a new pb with a 39-13 mirror and finally what about Simon?? He only had 5 fish, but the smallest was 32-10, no overall pb (this time) but Simon landed a brace of commons (assisted by Sam) at 40-03 (pb common) and 33-04, well worth looking at the picture, 1 of the best I have seen!! So did Moulinots live up to its reputation... 33 fish caught including 1 50, 3 40's and 19 30's and the average weight (all fish) at 33-10...16 personal bests....say no more...except better luck next time (in September) Terry and finally thank you Simon for the booking (exclusive use) for October 2008....just shows you that sometimes the truth is reported on the forums!!

The 19 May we welcomed back Matt Nobbs (Swindon) on about his 10th, 11th or 12th visit here (I have lost count) and also his younger brother Simon on his 3rd visit. Now young Simon in the past used to spend most of the week sleeping and only caught the odd fish, but on this occasion seemed to take his fishing seriously and was rewarded accordingly. In fact with a couple of days left, he was looking like taking the top rod award and if that had happened I think I would have got drunk (for a change)!! He had a new pb common at 47lbs and also a new pb mirror at 40lbs and also 4 30's in his haul of 7 fish, I told you Simon that it often pays to get up in the morning (before 11 a.m.)!! Matt struggled unfortunately only catching 3 fish which included a 38lb mirror. John Sant and Tony Borg (London) who fished here last year and both blanked and obviously went home very disappointed, got on the score sheet this time with Tony getting a new pb mirror at 42-08 and John also with a new pb mirror at 37lbs and 3 other 30's, well done guys for not being put off in 2006. Ross Blandford and Dave Johnson (Dorset) also back on their 2nd visit did well again, especially top rod Ross who caught 3 40's and 3 30's amongst his total of 12 fish, the largest a cracking 47-04 mirror, Dave had a new pb with a 42-02 common. 7 of Ross's fish were caught in the last 48 hours therefore ensuring that Simon finished joint 2nd with Gary Penn (Essex) on 7 fish. At the start of the week it seemed that Gary was trying to break the record of most 20's in a week, catching 5 to start with, but then managed 42lb and 34lb mirrors to finish the week. Mark Wiggins on his 1st trip to France had a week to remember (hopefully), though only catching 3 fish they weighed 38-08 and 44-11 (mirrors) and 42lbs (common), not a bad average weight! The other member on the lake fishing with Gary and Mark, has  to remain anonymous for security reasons (Tim I know you will appreciate that comment) and also for not catching (just like me), hopefully you will return and let me know who you are on the forums!! The final total for the week was 43 fish including 11 40's and 15 30's with the average for the week at 32-10. Considering that the weather was very hot (28 degrees +), good result for the week!  

The next group of anglers to arrive were Neil Taylor and Mark Coopers group of 7 from Essex. Neil and Mark had fished here before in 2006 on 1 of our previous record weeks catches, whereas this was the 1st visit for their 5 friends. Compared to last year, the quantity of carp was well down with only 30 fish being caught, though we now have another new member to our expanding group of joint record holders (most fish over 40lbs), with Cliff Burgess landing 4 40's (incl a 47-14 common) amongst his impressive catch of 10 fish. All of the 5 new boys had pb's with Steve Burgess landing a well known mirror at 51-04 and Garry Cattle managing a 48lb mirror. In total there were 9 fish over 40lbs and another 10 over 30lbs caught, with the average weight (all fish) at 34-04. Neil may have only caught 3 fish but I am sure that the consolation was that 2 of them were 40's.   

On 5 May and yet another group of familiar faces, Dave Robinson & Chris (pile it in) Jones (Liverpool), Graham (ex top rod)  Beard and Mark and Phil Cooksey and Andy Shearon (Birmingham), always a good week when these guys are here! Now I could start with who finished top rod at the end of the week, but that would be a little conceited, so best to start with the fall of a previous Moulinots champion, Graham, who had always finished top rod on I think every visit to us unfortunately this time he never got going only landing 2 out of the 9 fish he hooked, why, neither he or I know what the reason was. Perhaps it was the pressure of being a past celebrity!! Anyway bad luck mate, I am sure you will return to your former glory later in the year. The 2nd top rod award (no prize given though) went to Paul Bradnock (B'ham) on his 1st visit here, who managed 5 fish in a difficult week, his catch included a 43-10 common and 2 other 40's to 45-08, little surprise then that he has now gate crashed Mark's group due here again later this year. At last we have a new lake record common ably caught by Mark at 48-10, shame it hasn't yet become a 50 but must do soon, well done Mark!! Another success was the 47-08 mirror caught by Jimmy Neild (Manchester) which I think trebled his personal best. Now anybody who knows Mr (shoulders) Robinson will appreciate that he is not a person to be messed with, so it was with amazement that we watched Dave jump into the lake to try and control a pb 45lb mirror from taking him round the lake, perhaps a little more body building is required when you get home? In total only 29 fish were caught with 10 30's and 8 40's and 1 53lber. Sure I have forgotten something, oh yes, my memory is going! For the 1st time this year I was top rod with 6 fish with a great brace on the Wednesday night, the 50 followed by a 48-08 mirror, unfortunately there were a few celebrations after the 50 was caught and I thought it best not to have a picture taken of the 2nd fish! Average weight for the week was 34lbs 11ozs. Finally and I don't usually do this (private joke), Chris what can I say, leave the bait boat at home next time!

This is the 53 and Marks new lake record common.

 

April 2007 

Well another weeks started with the arrival of another group of regular visitors, Craig Brown's group from West Sussex. I think it is fair to say that in the past they have never really had the rewards that they deserved for their fishing ability, normally being on the lake the wrong week (yes all the fishery operators say that, you should have been here last week etc.) or that other guys fishing with them seemed to have had the most luck! This time with the lake to themselves, they finally had a good week with another 10 personal bests (rewarded accordingly in the normal way, more wine vicar). Craig had a new pb with a 47-08 mirror and also a new pb common at 44-04, John (Craigs dad) took the competition money with 7 fish including our regular visitor to the bank, a 52-08 mirror which was caught again by newcomer Alan (rivers) Sands at the same weight a couple of days later. Tell the truth though John, who recommended which swim to fish after you drew no. 1 choice? Not to be outdone, Roy Foster finally got his 1st 40, Mark Longhurst did the same with a 46-12 common, Ian Stevenson also had a 40 lber as did Graham Bailey (on his 1st and not last visit) amongst his 6 fish catch of which another 3 were over 35lbs. Really pleased for you guys, hope you do the same later in the year and also in 2008!

The following week it was the turn of 1 of our regular Dartford groups, these guys had never previously had a bad week at Moulinots in I think 4 or 5 visits. I was a little anxious as to whether this time they would struggle after the poor results the previous week. I didn't have to wait very long to put my worries aside because Mel Meredith had the 1st fish within a couple of hours of casting out, short wait for a 52lb mirror!! This set the pattern for the rest of the week with 64 fish being caught including 17 fish over 40lbs (2nd highest total ever) and a further 22 30's, the average weight of all of the fish was 34lbs 1oz. So who had what, well before I talk about that, I must mention Swell (Darren  Watts) whom I owe a very big apology as I did not mention what happened on his previous visit, he increased his pb from 5lbs (yes 5, not a misprint) to 47lbs, hope that puts the record straight. This time I can only mention his feats after the bbq, well actually I can't! Martin Hewitt was top rod with 12 fish including 3 40's to 47lbs, closely followed by Graham whose surname I always forget, oh yes Tree, he had 10 fish including 4 40's to 48-12, Lee Bayliss also joined our club of lake record holders for most fish over 40lbs with 4 also, including a stunning common of 42lbs, the photo taken makes it look like a 60! Pete (all alone) Chambers, John & Pip Chambers all had 40's and Phil (if I catch a 40 common, you can cut off my pony tale) Gilham finally managed a 40 from Moulinots with a 41-02 common, he didn't keep his word though, much to everybodies disappointment. Well done lads superb effort, see you again in October! Why the contrast in the catch results between the 2 weeks? Some fish were definately carrying spawn whilst others had spawned, the weather was still hot and exceptionally mild at night, same baits were used both weeks, who knows the exact reason, that's carp fishing for you!!

Week commencing 14 April it was good to welcome some old and new faces, Cliff and Steve Hughes certainly fall into the 1st category, well not that old maybe? Steve's son Andy was top rod with 6 fish (5 30's) and Danny Towse whose previous pb at 18lbs, had the biggest fish of the week, a superb 46lb mirror, well done m8! The overall total for the week was only 17 fish, I think the worst week ever for an April week. I think that this was as a result of exceptionally high temperatures and high pressure and possibly the fish getting ready to spawn early. There were very few signs of fish feeding and though everybody tried hard to catch, it was extremely difficult. Even Cliff broke his walking distance record, except this time whilst not playing fish, I lost count of how many times he changed swims, a lot of effort resulting in just 1 fish. Hopefully he will do better in June!

Apologies for the time taken to update the reports between 14 April and 19 May, contrary to rumours I have not been spending all of my time fishing, golfing or drinking, I have spent endless hours trying to fix my computer and anybody who knows what is involved after reformatting your hard drive and having to download all of the required software without having access to Broadband, well enough of that, back to the overdue catch reports!

The 2nd week of April saw the return of Graham (real pain) Baldwin and Maurice (trotter) Smith and 6 of their friends (1st visit) from Oxfordshire. They were greeted on the Friday night with a warm welcome, a log fire in the lodge and naturally some free beers. Last orders were called at 02.30 a.m. (far too late) and 3 1/2 hours later, I was back down at the lodge serving drinks (teas and coffees)! The guys were able (well just about) to start fishing at 10 a.m. on the Saturday and we were all looking forward to a productive week. The results were very strange, only 28 fish caught, of which 16 were below 30lbs and a lot of these fish being those that I had stocked during the Winter. It is a very long time since we had a week which produced more fish under, rather than over 30lbs being caught. The only consolation from my point of view, was that there were 5 40's (all commons landed). Top rod award went to Richard Bowers (ably assisted by Robert Redman & Maurice), on his 1st ever trip to France, who caught 11 fish including 2 40lb commons, as did Graham in his 5 fish catch. The average weight for the week was 30lbs 11ozs, which was not bad considering that the usual ratio of big carp did not appear. The weather changed from being cold at night (start of the week), to high day time temperatures (25) and mild at night at the end of the week, I have never seen such high temperatures at that time of year. Personally I think that the reason so many of the newly stocked fish were being caught is that they are are unlikely to spawn this year, while our other fish were starting to pair up and not too interested in feeding.      

After the great start to the season, our next guests included some familiar faces and some 1st timers to Moulinots with everybody eagerly looking forward to a productive week. Though the group of anglers caught 40 carp, it would have been a lot better if the weather had been consistent! At night we had frosts, some days a bitterly North East wind and other days were very warm for the time of year, I am not sure that the fish knew whether it was the start or the end of the season. It is always a pleasure to welcome back 1 of the top anglers (in my opinion) that have fished here and Rob Evans is (was) certainly in that category having been top rod every time he has fished Moulinots. Perhaps the pressure affected his results accompanied by the fact that we were all keeping a close eye on our gear to make sure it didn't end up in his swim! After a good start (4 fish by Monday including a 46-14 mirror) Rob faded away only finishing in 5th place, oh dear!! Still he did manage a new p.b. in drinking 2 free bottles of my red wine, better luck in October, you will need it! Ashley Haverson on his 1st trip here and Rob's friend, managed 6 fish including new p.b.s 46-6 mirror and 2 30 commons. John Scarrott (Reading) also on his 1st trip landed 6 fish including 5 30's to 37-08, while his friend Paul East only had 2 fish but at least they were 40.02 and 36lbs. Breaks my heat to mention that Darren Phillips on his ?? trip was top rod with 8 fish including a 44.10 common, this was mainly due to the fact that there was competition by several anglers who all wanted to fish 1 of the point swims and Darren kindly provided me with a double headed coin so that he won the toss. Seriously though, well done Darren good angling m8 in difficult conditions. Not much to say (this time) about Joe and Mick Coen on their 4th or 5th trip, except it was good to see you both again and Mick hate to say that you were the 1st person to blank here this year (I know you will appreciate that comment)! Vidange expert Steve Bond (Essex) fishing this time with rods and not a 75 metre net, caught approximately 300 fish less this time, landing only 4 (3 30's). Finally (for Rob's benefit), did you know I caught 6 fish and only fished 4 nights!! Look forward to the next instalment!

 

March 2007 

Time to start work again (yes again)!! This year we decided not to open at the beginning of the month, as when we have opened early in March in previous years, there have not been many bookings and the lads that have braved the cold weather, have normally struggled. So after working out our cashflow several times, we decided that we could afford to postpone opening until the 24th March this year, Kathy packing up smoking will cover the loss of income (just)!!

Our 1st guests, a group of lads from my old area, Dartford, arrived very early on the Saturday morning, eagerly looking forward to their 1st trip to France, quite a shock to my system having to serve teas and coffees and beers at 06.30 a.m. and having to learn 10 new names! We had a good conversation about how to fish the lake (in between interruptions from Wayne - he was the 1st name I learned and remembered all week) and everybody was prepared for a hard week! I had only seen 1 fish show during the Winter and the temperatures (especially at night) were cold and likely to affect the catch rates and it was generally agreed that 10 to 20 fish for the week would be a result. Not only were we all wrong on that, but I did my usual pop-ups don't work at Moulinots, which after 5 years I should know something about on what to use to catch our carp,  but I have to hold my hands up and say I was wrong!! With the loss of 3 weeks income by opening late, I will have to restrict this report to avoid having to pay for more webspace!!

The boys were quickly into action, only 3 of the lads had ever caught a 30 before, but by the end of the week their group average p.b. was around 40lbs and I was 10 bottles of wine worse off, 17 if you include what I drunk. Top rod was Kevin Clarke who managed 11 (told you I would recount them) fish including a known 50 at 53 1/2, a 43lb mirror and a 41lb common, closely followed by Lee Gray with 8 fish (4 of them in the 1st 27 hours), 5 of them being 30's. The Sherwood's i.e. Paul, Tony and Keith worked hard for their results, Paul had a p.b. common at 38lbs and a p.b. mirror at 41.04, Tony caught our 2nd ever 50 and also had mirrors at 46 and 40lbs, whilst Keith who had not been carp fishing for some years, managed 3 30's amongst the 6 fish he caught.  We fully expect our 1st 50lb common to be caught this year and 2 of the lads (well 1 lad Wayne and slightly older Mark Sutherland) may well have only had 1 fish each but they were 46 and 47lb commons, bigger than I have caught at Moulinots!! Wayne struggled to have a decent photo taken, as he was recovering from a broken wrist, he was in sheer agony, as we all were afterwards listening to him saying look there's 1 feeding after he had caught the common, instant carp anglers! In total 50 fish were landed, 2 50's, 7 40's and 23 30's, the average weight of all fish caught was 33lbs 4ozs, not a bad (record) start to the season. 23 personal bests, 141 hours of chatting on the radios (138 of them by Wayne) and 10 hard earned free bottles of wine, what more do you want. Great week lads, see you next year and thanks for the quick response in sending the photos to me!!!

 

 

 

Winter 2006/07

In November the lake was drained down to remove many of the silver fish, overall the operation went smoothly with no carp fatalities. The first sweep with the nets was a problem though, as 1 of the boats had managed to end up in the middle of the lake (submerged) and the nets got caught up allowing some fish to avoid being netted! Most of the known large grass carp were netted and have now been transferred to another venue. The netting and reintroduction of the carp back to the lake was carried out in less than 4 hours, thanks to the support of our French friends and at the helm of the operation Steve Bond (Essex) assisted by Frank Oakman who must take full credit for the way that the netting and handling of fish was carried out!  This time I decided to be more involved, rather than try and supervise at a distance, but having spent 2 hours up to my neck in it and continually having to be pulled out of the silt, eventually I returned to my position on the bank. Must do some weight training before the next vidange!!

Before the lake was allowed to refill, any snags found were removed. We have taken pictures (being developed) from each of the swims and these will be displayed in the lodge to assist the anglers in seeing what the lake looks like when it is empty.

A lot of work has been carried out this Winter in laying a hard core track around most of the lake so that in 2007, vehicles will be able to be driven to all of the swims. With the exceptionally mild Winter I have been tempted (on more than 1 occasion) to get the rods out of the garage, but work and golf come 1st before the season begins, roll on 24 March 2007 though!!

Review of the 2006 Season

Well how do we judge the success, firstly I have counted up the number of personal bests achieved by the anglers who visited Moulinots in 2006 and I am pleased to announce that it was as many as 221, not bad considering we only had around 200 guests!! Secondly the percentage of people who have already rebooked for 2007 (or later) is also a good indication on how they enjoyed our venue, the figure is around 80%, so we are already heavily booked for next year without having done any magazine advertising since early 2006, not a bad advert in itself. So what is the appeal of Moulinots? At the moment we don't have any 60lb + fish and the lake is not a runs water! The answer is to speak to somebody who has already fished Moulinots and the chances are they have been here more than once or who have rebooked for next year, these people are our best advert!!

Sean Rutter 48lb common

What we do offer is 1 of the most picturesque and tranquil venues in France. The average of all of our carp is around 32lbs, with around 55% of the total carp stocked being over 30lbs, so we can match the average carp weight of nearly all of the top fisheries in France. You have more chance of catching a 40lb carp than a double!! Kathy's cooking has now become famous, not 1 complaint in 5 years! Finally I would like to think that our hospitality matches everything else on offer? 

Capt John (British Army) 53lb mirror

October 2006 to 4 November 2006    

Finally to the last week of the season, which unfortunately I opted out to fish all week, too cold for me as we got into November. We were visited by 4 Dutch lads and without wishing to appear to discriminate, people from Holland (except 1 - Menoy from the carp forums) have always found Moulinots a difficult lake to fish. This note is intended to be helpful to future visitors from Holland. The use of boats, heavy baiting, using markers and boilies which are not normally used at Moulinots are a big disadvantage and which is why most of the Dutch anglers have blanked at Moulinots!! At least these Dutch lads did listen and put into practice what was suggested and they all caught, though a boat was used on occasions. In cold and difficult conditions, a total of 19 fish were caught, topped by a 52lb mirror by Rob (isotope thief) Evans who also had a 44lb mirror, 2 30's and 3 other 20's, very good angling considering Rob tried maggots and grange pop ups, baits which I would not recommend! Fortunately for some of the other anglers not all of the 12 gallons of maggots that Rob had brought with him had escaped in his friend Derek Belli's car, so some were given to the other anglers and presumably the rest are now flying around Moulinots? Cliff Hughes (3rd visit this year) managed to stay in his swim this time rather than do a lap of honour whilst playing a fish (sorry Cliff to remind you - again), he did however have to wait until the Friday to catch, then had 2 fish incl a pb 35-04 common unlike brother Steve who managed a 33lber on the Sunday and didn't catch anything else, still the red wine was good! I probably did the right thing opting out to fish all week, as I would probably have been the only person to blank which would also have been the same result I achieved the 1st week of the season and not a good advert!!!

Another group of Kent (Dartford) boys were back again for their 3rd visit and the 2nd time in 2006, Phil Gilham's group had previously enjoyed 2 excellent weeks though this was the first time any of them had tried fishing in France in October and they weren't disappointed again! A total of 47 fish were caught including 6 40's and 25 30's, another 12 pbs and all wine prizes were dually consumed. Top rod was Martin Hewitt with 12 fish to 41-12 and including 5 30's, Phil who previously always managed to lose more fish than he landed, showed better angling skills this time, landing 6 fish (4 30's and a pb 36lb mirror) and losing only 2 I think? Firefighter TimWilmot recorded another 2 pbs, with mirrors of 35-10 and 42-04, young angler Brett Stevens who caught a 50 on his previous visit again did well with 5 30's out of 6 fish caught and not to be outdone by the others Jon Corbett and Jason Letchford who had braved fishing here in March and blanked, did better this time, Jon had a 48-12 mirror amongst his catch and Jason left it very late, not catching until the last morning when he then had 3 fish at 31-08, 38-08 and 37-08, not a bad way to finish the week! The last morning also saw the capture of a pb mirror for Mel Meredith at 45-02. Once again well done you Dartford lads, see you next year!

Don Lea and Matt Nobbs from Swindon were back again for their 4th week at Moulinots 2006 and I have lost count of how many weeks they have spent here since we opened. Don managed 14 fish, 6 of them within the 1st 24 hours, though he must have been selecting all the small carp as 12 of the fish were below 30lbs (very unusual)!  Matt struggled all week except on the Monday when he caught a pb 53-04 mirror, the same fish that Jon Castelli (Manchester) had on the 1st day of the week at 53-10. Jon's previous pb was 17lbs, what an improvement! His friend Mark Dowdler had a mirror and common at 35-01 and 33lbs respectively and 1 other 30. Nigel Sladdon (Kent) and his 2 friends Phil Cross and Graham Proctor on their 1st visit and who had already booked 1 weeks exclusive use in 2007 for them and their friends, must have been wondering what was happening as none of them caught anything until the Thursday when things began to happen for them. Phil had a 34-04 common, Graham had a 45lb pb (common) and also a 37-08 common and a 35lb pb mirror, Nigel finished with a 39.04 common and a 33lb mirror, so everything turned out ok in the end! Though in agony all week with chronic toothache and trying every painkiller available (including Nigel's full range from his medical kit), I braved the conditions and had a pb common at 43-08 and 3 30's. A total of 37 fish were caught with 18 of them over 30lbs.

Well if there is 1 group who really work hard to catch at our lake but in 3 previous visits always seem to pick the wrong week, then it must be Craig Brown (West Sussex) and his friends. At least this time they were on the lake during a more productive week, unfortunately most of the fish were caught by only 2 of the anglers, Craig caught 6 fish including a pb common at 43-08 and 4 other 30's, Chad Critchley in a group of 4 from Nottingham managed 8 fish (7 of them in 1 day) and had a pb common and mirror both weighing in 39-08.  It was good to see Craig's dad John get a new pb with a 41lb mirror and out of the 33 fish caught, 19 were over 30lbs. Now I wonder what would have happened Craig if I hadn't offered you my swim at the start of the week (and I know you will appreciate that comment)!

The 10 anglers fishing the 1st week of October had all been to Moulinots before with the exception of Wayne Mcgill's dad Gerry and this time he had to listen how good an angler his son Wayne was, instead of Wayne's friend Dick Baker who had been banned from sharing the 2 man tent this time and cast off to fish the other side of the lake. Lonely Dick still managed 3 30's this time and Wayne you can't claim any credit for those being caught! Wayne had 9 fish including 1 40 and 4 30's and during the week, the 3 of us finished off a countless number of different cheeses washed down with a bottle of port (or 2), very enjoyable! My good friend Neil Holder (the only person not to catch during the filming of the 2005 dvd - sorry to remind you Neil), made up for it this time, he has been to Moulinots many times and has been trying to catch a big common, well he succeeded this time with commons of 30, 39-02 and 40-12 as well as 4 30lb mirrors, whilst his dad Andy fishing with just 1 rod had mirrors at 35-12 and 37lbs and also a 36lb common, a non fishing guest, you are having a laugh, no, I allowed Andy to have a little go now and again!!!  Just imagine if Neil had blanked again! James Steel was top rod with 11 fish and all were caught at the shallow end of the lake, which is the last place I would have chosen, 40 years experience, what do I know? James had 7 30's topped by a pb mirror at 43-08, well done very good angling. Lee Ward (I know he always appears in our news reports) on probably his 10th visit, unfortunately he drew the same number for the choice of swims, but he made the best of it with 6 fish to 40-11. Kevin Doherty (you remember the fast talking Irishman who lives in Holland), maintained his record of not catching many fish, but again (all 3), they were all over 30lbs!  His friends Craig Boulton and Ian Whitelaw again struggled, but they tell me they are coming back next year and next time....

Unlike previous years when there were not many visitors in October, this year we were virtually fully booked. In the years that I fished in France prior to living in France, October has always been 1 of my favourite months.   Obviously the weather can play an important part at that time of the year to the fish feeding, but in my experience it really can be 1 of the best months of the year with the fish near their top weights and feeding up prior to the Winter.  I think that the results published for this October support my comments.

September 2006   

With most of our bookings these days being initiated through personal recommendations and not from advertising, it was a pleasure to meet some more lads from my old town, Dartford and also other lads in their group from Surrey etc. The guys were so impressed that no only did they rebook for 2007, they have also booked for 2008. There were 19 pbs recorded out of a total of 43 fish caught, biggest fish award to Elliott Hopley at 52lbs, 40's landed by George Harper (2), Paul Barker, Mark Wilkins, Lee Bayliss (2), Terry Manning and Dale Vickerstaff and I think everybody had a pb (must check the wine stock)! Apart from enjoying the company, I had a good week (for me anyway) with 5 30's! The pairs competition was good fun, touch and go for a while, with me and Wayne (Big Wayne) Everitt coming just about last, lot of disarray in our camp, with Wayne threatening on more than 1 occasion to throw me in the lake! You will have your chance again next year m8!

It was good to see my friend Colin Edwards (Biggsy) again and to meet his wife Pam, unfortunately the carp didn't show them the same hospitality, only 1 fish between them! Scottish Carp Group's Malky Mackay and his champagne drinking friends Steve Lithgow and Alan Johnson did have more success on their visit here, 6 pb's and I assume 6 bottles of champagne? Sure Malky you will correct me if I am wrong! John Parsons (Essex) must be the unluckiest guy who has fished here, 6 fish and all 20's, another lake record (unfortunately).

Now as all of you who have met me will confirm, I carry loads of statistics in my head as well as being documented in my catch reports log, but I didn't need to check any records to know that Graham Beard (Manchester) has been top rod every time he has fished Moulinots, trouble is I have lost count on how many times he has been here. Well his record remains intact, top rod again during a difficult week with 6 fish to 42-08, don't know how he does it, but he does! Though only 27 fish were caught, a total of 13 pbs were recorded, Paul Drakes (Essex) group of 5 managed 6 pbs between them and Michael Rishman (West Sussex) had a week to remember with a 38lb mirror, commons of 37 and 39 and also a 40-06 mirror, no wonder you were smiling in the photos you sent me (thanks).  "Uncle" Les Rishman had a 49-06 pb mirror and Michaels dad at least didnt blank by catching a 33-08 mirror just before packing up.

The 1st week we were again visited by Martin Theobald's group (mainly from Essex) who had taken part for a couple of days in the dvd presentation in 2005. It was almost like deja vu with the visit of our dvd creator Andy Rodgers, who had agreed to visit for a few days to do some more filming for our new dvd (available early 2007). We had asked Andy to visit us again, as we wanted to update the dvd in order to remove the footage of Charmont (closed October 2005) and also to ensure that the information on Moulinots regarding fish stocks is more up to date i.e. over 50% of the carp are now over 30lbs and not 1/3 as advertised on the original dvd! We didn't have long to wait to get the camera rolling, Keith Hunter had a pb 42-08 mirror at Midday on the Saturday and an hour later I sneaked a 40-04 mirror, good start! There were plenty of other 30's caught, but we had to wait until the Tuesday for our next 40, a 41lb pb mirror for my golfing partner (and we remain undefeated) Mark Taylor. I had another 42-08 mirror, Keith had another pb mirror at 49-08, also a pb common at 39-08, Lee (Frank Warwick) Dickel a pb mirror at 45-12 and Rob Theobald also a pb mirror at 49-08. In total 71 fish were caught including 7 40's and 27 30's, our 3rd best ever week!! We are looking forward to seeing the new dvd and Andy's reward, he caught 4 fish in 48 hours, including a pb common at 37lbs, he would have caught more if he hadn't spent so much time running round the lake with his camera! Look forward to seeing you guys again next year and a special message to Keith and Martin, you really need to spend more time on the driving range!

August 2006   

The last week of August saw the return of our very good friends Frank & Pauline Oakman and their grandson Luke (I think 16 years old) and other very regular visitors to Moulinots. Phil Paxton (Herts) took the top fish award with a 51-08 mirror, but there was a close race for 2nd with big Shaun Rutter (Essex) landing a pb mirror at 45-08 and young Luke with a 45lb mirror. I thought it was going to be a very good week, with 30 fish landed up to Tuesday but only 5 more were caught the rest of the week following the wet and unusually cold weather from Wednesday onwards.

I look forward with pleasure and anticipation to most weeks, but with the return of Graham (sorry to be a pain) Baldwin, well that's different! Unfortunately I made the mistake of fishing the next swim to Graham, who for his angling ability had a great week, 12 fish and I seemed to be woken up to take the photos every time he caught 1, still as they included 3 40's and 6 30's, I couldn't really say no and well done m8!! The rest of us struggled though Jamie & Buster Croxford (Oxon) did manage pbs. Phil Matthews fishing with the Croxford's, was not interested in trying to beat the normal records that we keep e.g. biggest fish, most 40's, 30's etc. Instead he was after the lowest average weight caught by any angler, Phil I would like to have the time to go through the catch reports for the last 5 years, but I will gladly give you the award for the lowest average weight, 2 fish (2 doubles)!! I am sure that is a record which will not be beaten and I know you will be after breaking different records next June!! The overall results for the last 2 weeks had been disappointing and I think were caused by unusually cool and went conditions for the time of year. As requested by Graham (so many emails, personal messages, threats of grevious bodily harm - to me), I have under all this pressure reluctantly agreed to edit this information. I still think you are a real pain and without my professional help would catch nothing!!!!!! (edited 26/11/06) I hope you are happy now and have now learnt something, don't tell me what to write on my website!!! (See you next year, but if you cancel in the meantime, deposits are lost, please read our terms and conditions), have a nice Christmas, I might buy you 1 of the Korda videos!

After the great and hectic week with the army lads, I thought at least I could recover knowing that some of our guests i.e. Joe & Mick Coen are quiet but good company. They were accompanied by 1st timers Jason (Jay) & Faye Rider (Essex) and Noel White & Jim Brayley (Devon), it was not the most productive week but there were certainly some entertaining moments! Jay who has been to France many times, kept making Faye lose fish, well according to Faye that is and we were all woken up a few times during their heated conversation, so Moulinots is a quiet venue, well sometimes it isn't! At 1 point we weren't sure who was going to throw who in, personally I think Faye would have won. In between losing fish, Faye did manage a pb mirror at 42.10 and Jay caught 3 decent 30's to 38-14. Noel had a pb mirror and common, in between trying to wind me up about how good a golfer he is (or was and we shall see in December how good) and Jim (who will need to visit specsavers having lost his glasses in the lake) who tried hard all week but did eventually manage a pb common at the end of the week. Joe caught a 48 mirror and a new pb common at 35-08, well done m8 (as usual), whilst Mick gets the award for the quietest and most camouflaged angler that we have had visit us.

Firstly apologies for the long delay in continuing these news reports, I know a lot of you do read this page and is must be frustrating when nothing has been added! It is also frustrating living over here and trying to change over to broadband and being told by France Telecom that there was no problem with the connection, but the bottom line is that we were diconnected from the internet for over 1 month and to top that once reconnected under the old slow method, I manage to get a virus on my laptop which prevented me from using the laptop. Almost a total disaster, as I hadn't taken a back up copy of my website, clients accounting records and just about everything else for approx 2 years, so be warned! Fortunately 1 of my golfing friends was able to sort out the problem and we are again operational (Nov 2006). What has this got to do with the fishing reports, well actually, nothing!!

I must admit that I did not know what to expect the 1st week of August with the visit of 8 British Army lads (based in Germany) and 2 young lads fishing accompanied by 3 female non fishing guests. I know the group are looking forward to my write up on here, which will be written as usual i.e. without thought or rehearsal, a bit like my Saturday morning teamtalk and after dinner speech at the barbecue during the week! To ensure that discipline was maintained throughout the week, I appointed myself Colonel in charge with the next ranked officer Captain John Graham (CJ) as my adjutant. This probably did cause a bit of discontent amongst the ranks, especially as many of the guys had been serving the British Army for 10 to 22 years and had not reached the rank of Colonel!! Still as I learnt during the week, the army teaches you to respect your senior officers, which is probably why the guys were all calling me Big Dave by the middle of the week. So with the ground rules explained, it was time to show the group the battlefield, which they had a week to conquer and secure. To ensure that we had good communications throughout the squad, additional walkie talkies were issued from our supply store, sufficient beverages were also issued to ensure that nobody dehydrated, though with hindsight this was a mistake as people became more difficult to understand as the hours passed by. It was decided that the target would be flanked from all sides, with a couple of guys doubling up, for reasons of safety, I posted myself to an area which rarely sees any action.

Many of the guys had been in action before, but it was apparent early on that this was a new type of mission, with almost 10 of the adversaries escaping in the 1st 48 hours and only 1 secured, a 39lb mirror by Corporal Stevey Brice aided by his good wife Julie. The moral of the guys was draining, reputations were at stake here, especially mine! 2 of the ligh infantry were captured on the Monday and the Tuesday (both under 25lbs), so it was time for me to lead by example by capturing 1 of Moulinots' most wanted, a 51lb mirror, though after being released it somehow managed to put on 2lbs in 2 days when recaptured by CJ. Meanwhile SteveyB was trying to win the battle on his own, regularly taking prisoners throughout the week, his final total of 8 included a 48 mirror and 4 30's, an outstanding result and 1 which cost me a bottle of wine (we were out of stock of medals at the time, sorry Steve). With time running out to complete the mission, a change of tactics was introduced, Staff Sergeant Steve Ridout accompanied by Sergeant Andy Joynson (AJ) and myself decided to enter the battlefield with waders, rakes and a canoe. The plan (Plan A) was to clear an area where we could see the enemy more visibly before catching them, good plan, bad execution!! All that happended was that the enemy relocated elsewhere, mind you half of the group were watching events on the opposite side of the bank (good luck with the wedding on 27 December Chappie & Nav), say no more!! Now with no reference to the previous comment, the group were changing positions around the battlefield, a move which paid off for some, but not everybody, Lee I'm sorry! To try and alter the moral, my men were allowed alcohol and entertained by CJ and his good wife Sharon who constantly played 60's music ( my era), it certainly went down well with the red wine, brandy and cheese! This had the desired effect, with 20 more of the enemy captured in the final 48 hours by 9 of the soldiers, unfortunately Lee Allen (new to the army) had been issued with blanks at the start of the week! Anyway for reasons of National Security I cannot disclose any more information about what went on except for :-

Role of Honour

Stevey Brice (Top Rod) 8 fish, 1 40 (48) and 4 30's

Steve Ridout 4 fish, 1 40 (41) and 2 30's (39-08 and 37-08)

Ben Ridout (young lad), 4 fish (new pb 33-08)

John Graham 2 fish, 1 50 (53lbs)

Shaun (Gaffer) Debell 2 fish (new pb 38-06)

Kent Chapple (Chappie) 1 fish (new pb 36-08)

Andy Joynson  1 fish (new pb 27-08)

Jay Joynson (young lad) 1 fish (new pb 22-04)

Lee Allen 1 pike and 1 tench

Think I have forgotten somebody, let me check again, oh sorry!!

Wardie 2 fish (new pb at 28-08)

These comments will obviously mean more to those involved, apologies for boring the rest of you!

YOU GUYS TAKE CARE, YOUR COUNTRY IS PROUD OF YOU! 

Group photo & on guard duty (the beer supplies)!!

July 2006   

The first week of July I was hoping that results would improve, even though the weather was still too hot. With Russ Britain and Mark Greenaway (Essex) back for their ?? visit (they have been many times here before) and accompanied by 3 friends, I thought that their knowledge of the lake would prove invaluable in difficult fishing conditions, however once again a bad catch week i.e. 6 fish caught. Whether results are good or bad, our customers know that we just report the facts! If carp are not feeding, then you just can't catch them, France is no different from anywhere else!! With no customers having booked on the lake the next 2 weeks, Kathy and I decided to have 2 weeks holiday in the UK (no doubt people who know us will say Kathy deserves a holiday and that I am always on holiday). For those of you who have challenged me at golf later this year, you had better get plenty of practice before you arrive, my game was awesome in England or was that awful?  The lake was bailiffed by 3 of our most regular customers and good friends Don Lea & Matt Nobbs (Swindon) and Lee Ward (Bristol - 1st week only). Excluding obviously myself and Frank Oakman (UK contact), these guys have been to Moulinots more times than I can remember, so if anybody was going to improve the recent catch results, it really had to be them. They managed 18 fish incl. 8 30's the first week and Don and Matt had 14 fish the 2nd week, with Don achieving a new pb with a 42-04 mirror, well done m8 and thanks for looking after the lake for us!!

Business back to normal for us then on the 22nd July with 6 new people at Moulinots. Graham (sorry to be a pain, you said it not me) Baldwin and Maurice (always in the loo) Smith enjoyed their week with Graham catching a pb 48-14 mirror and also a pb common at 38-06, while Maurice also had a new pb with a mirror of 36-06. Only 1 of the 3 Dutch lads caught anything, Casper Brand had a pb mirror of 40-09 while his friends Sven & Jamie and I enjoyed several beers together, well several crates actually! Jamie maybe you should camouflage yourself like the photos (Jamie is in the Dutch marines) to stand more chance of catching, seriously though, you guys did fish hard all week and certainly deserved to catch more fish! I am really looking forward to another week of banter, arguments and giving Graham another lesson on how to catch carp when he returns on 19 August.

The last week of July and me all alone, nobody to socialise with, no bottles of wine to give away, no banter on the walkie talkies etc. etc., so I only fished 1 night and had a 32lb mirror.

 

June 2006   

Wayne and Dick (2nd week) were joined by Craig Boltons group of 7 (6 of them currently living in Holland). It was quite a shock to my system in trying to understand what some of them were saying at the beginning of the week, broad Scottish and 100 words a minute in Irish, I have more chance of being able to learn French, only joking lads! For the 2nd week running, Wayne and Dick continued to catch the majority of the fish, 10 out of a total of 20. The highlight of the week, Wayne's 56lb mirror, a new lake record by 3lbs, brilliant m8! Dick playing 2nd fiddle again to Wayne, did catch a brace of mid 40's whilst Kevin (speed speaker) Doherty had a 45.02 common and a brace of 39's and Martin Watson more than doubled his p.b. with a 46lb mirror.

The following week we were visited once again by Darren Phillips, Joe and Mick Coen. On their previous visit Darren had been top rod, but not this time! Joe equalled the lake record catching a 56lb mirror as well as a 44lb mirror and a couple of 30's, while Mick, who never ceases to amaze me with his carp fishing skills (well lack of them - only joking Mick), managed a trio of 40's (2 mirrors and a common). James Hill (Essex) on his 1st visit here had a new pb common at 45lbs. The weather turned very hot at the start of the week with heavy spawning occurring. This was to be the start of a long hot spell which was to affect catch results with the carp more involved in feeding on naturals then boilies!

Paul Hayman & Mark Burrows (Essex) did well to manage 4 fish (all 30's) the following week, while I was very disappointed that Dave Hankin & Neil Sharpe (Cumbria) having made the long journey for the 2nd time this year to Moulinots, only went away catching 1 fish! Cliff Hughes (having already fished here in May - see note) was intent on breaking all records that he had previously established, including the distance covered while playing a fish, failed this time and the only exercise he got was walking back and forward to the lodge. Still, Cliff is back in October and I'm sure the fishing will be better and he might even manage a lap of the lake!

With the weather conditions and carp feding patterns still the same, our next visitors, David Harveys group from Norfolk also struggled to catch many fish. Philip Gooch after a major battle to put up his bivvy, got off to a flying start, with 3 fish on the Monday including a pb common at 40lbs and a pb mirror at 31lbs, Paul Harris had a pb mirror at 38lbs on the last morning, however, only 10 fish were caught during the week.

May 2006   

The 6 May we had a mixture of regulars and first timers to Moulinots, the news about the previous weeks result probably was not welcomed, fortunately the fishing more than returned to the normal standard, in fact far exceeded it! Almost every record established since we opened in 2002 was broken. 81 fish were caught, Neil Taylor (Essex) had a 52.08 and 2 40's, Anthony Briggs (Dutchant on the forums) had 3 40's, Graham Beard (Manchester) had 14 fish, Tony Dukes (B'ham) in search of his 1st 30+ common had commons of 39.08, 44.02 and 35.08 as well as a 41lb mirror. Sorry I haven't mentioned all of you, what a group of anglers, thanks for the bookings for 2007!

Records are there to be broken, but I was saying at the end of the week that it would be a very long time before the latest records would be beaten, how wrong could I be! The next week saw the return of the Spurs boys (with a different team this time) accompanied by 1 very brave Arsenal supporter (Barry) and all of our lake records were well and truly shattered. In total 103 fish were caught, including 18 40's and 42 30's, the average weight of all fish caught was 30-12. So where do I start in mentioning who caught what, well here goes, Andy Coomber 4 40's and 7 30's, Roy Reyland (Spurs kit manager) 4 40's and 4 30's, Richard Beels 3 40's and 2 30's, Mal Spinks 2 40's and 7 30's, Mick Howard 2 40's and 3 30's, Barry Gadson 2 40's and 2 30's, Cliff Cole (swim poacher) 1 40 and 5 30's, Karl Henderson 5 30's, Harry Foggin 3 30's and finally Robert Mahoney 2 30's, me a couple of 30's. All 10 anglers received 1 of my expensive vintage bottles of wine for their personal bests and hopefully they will all receive another 1 next June on their return. Well done lads excellent results but remember, there is only 1 team in London (Fulham)!!

With (numerically) 60% of the total lake stock having been caught in 2 weeks, it was hardly surprising that the next few weeks were substantially less productive, especially as the carp seemed to be in limbo as to whether to start spawning again. The following week our very regular visitors Matt Nobbs and Don Lea returned, regular visitors to France Cliff Hughes group (1st time to Moulinots) and French first timers Ross Blandford and his friend Dave were also on the lake. 47 fish were caught mainly by Ross and Dave (who doubled up on a single swim due to Dave's bivvy having broken the first night), they managed 18 fish including 4 40's and 10 30's out of a total of 5 40's and 20 30's, lads you did very well but don't think fishing in France is always going to be that productive! The other highlight of the week was that another record was broken by Cliff Hughes i.e. the amount of distance covered whilst playing a fish, Cliff managed to walk approx 130 yards whilst playing what everybody thought was a monster carp! Unfortunately for Cliff, it turned out to be a foul hooked and uncontrollable 20, never mind though, the rest of us had a good laugh at Cliffs expense! Think that record will be safe for a while, well at least until Cliff returns in June!

It is always good to see new people at Moulinots and the following week there were 8 of them, 4 groups of 2. Wayne McGill and Dick ("Vitalin") Baker on a 2 week stint and using a bait boat (which as I say every week are not necessary and do not help in catching more fish), proved me wrong! They caught 16 out of the total of 23 fish landed, the only credit that I can take is that I supplied their baits, fusion and matrix. Wayne had 2 40's and 5 30's out of a total of 4 40's and 10 30's. Steve Isherwood who to my knowledge had never been carp fishing before, well if he had, I was told that he had never caught a carp before, must wonder what all the fuss is about, his first and only fish during the week was 47lbs, great result but there were a few envious anglers watching him land it. Ian and Andy Saddington (booked on another venue and not too happy there) phoned me to ask if we had any spaces for the latter part of the week, which we had, Ian caught a new pb a 47lb mirror on his first night here. The overall result was very disapponting and I think attributable to the very cold and wet weather and also the spawning aspect (postponed by the weather). 

March/April 2006    

Firstly apologies for the delay in posting this update. Our 1st 3 guests arrived in the middle of March and I think that it is fair to say that none of us were surprised that no fish were caught in the sub zero temperatures. This Winter has been exceptionally harsh and unlike previous seasons there was no sign of any fish until the latter part of March. Pete Sherlock & Ben Hall returned for their 2nd visit the last week of March and with the weather still bad (probably a foot of rain during the week), again we all struggled to catch. Pete did manage a new pb, a 42.08 common, a fish I had never previously seen caught above 40lbs! Craig Browns group (West Sussex) on their 3rd trip, arrived the first week of April and again in unfavourable weather conditions only managed 16 fish, with Liam Kavanagh landing the biggest (new pb) at 41.08. The guys know the full potential of Moulinots, which is probably why some of them are returning later this year and have already booked 2 weeks exclusive use in 2007. The following week was a little more productive for Barry Willis's group from Essex on their 1st visit to Moulinots.  Top rod was Darren Hayward who caught 8 fish, 5 of which were over 35lbs (largest 41.14), there were also pb's for 3 of the other lads and I managed a brace of 40's (44 and 40) and 3 30's. The water temperature was still cold though and from Thursday onwards the weather did warm up and there was a lot more activity, so it was no surprise when the Dartford lads (2nd trip) arrived on the Saturday that the fishing really kicked off. In total 51 fish were landed, Brett (17 years old) had a 52lb mirror (shown below), top rod John Chambers (10 fish) almost broke the record for most fish in 1 week over 30lbs, John caught 2 40's (43.08 and 44.08 mirrors) and 6 30's (including 38 and 39lb commons). James managed a 40.12 mirror, Martin Hewitt (tea totaller) didn't set a lake record for most beer consumed, but did get a pb with a 41lb mirror. Gary (whilst not sleeping) landed a 43lb common, Pete Chambers had a 41lb mirror, in total there were 13 pb's during the week. New lake records of 32 fish over 30lbs and 7 fish over 40lbs were established. Not to be undone, Phil Gilham (drinking buddy) at last managed his 1st 30. Well done lads see you in October and also April 2007, don't forget to send me the poster this time! To date this season over 1/2 of the fish caught have been over 30lbs and the year to date average of every fish caught is over 30lbs!

The following saw the return of my very good friend (and UK contact for D K Fisheries), Frank Oakman accompanied by some of our most frequent visitors to Moulinots. I have lost count on how many times Frank has been to Moulinots in search of a 40, this time he managed it, well 3 40's (43/47/42) actually!! Having left his golf clubs at home, knowing that he had no chance of beating me, he decided this time to concentrate solely on fishing and it paid off, WELL DONE M8!! Not to be outdone, the other lads also had a great week, in total 64 fish were caught including  8 40's and 27 30's, a new lake record for the most fish caught in 1 week over 30lbs and also the highest recorded weekly weight and average weight at 32.12. Sean Rutter (our boilie supplier) had an unknown 48lb common and spent all day saying f------g hell!!Mick from Brighton also managed 3 40's including another 48 common. See you In August!!

After 2 very good weeks, I suppose the inevitable happened, a disastrous week! At the end of Frank's week we had frosts at night which killed off the fish feeding from the Thursday night. When the weather returned to normal (very warm) as I know now, the fish had actually started spawning, though there were no visible signs of them thrashing around!! Trevor Sturgess, Ash Stockbridge and their group only caught 12 fish, the 3rd year running they had hit a spawning week in France! My theory about the spawning is based on the pre spawning results and also the frantic feeding patterns which started no sooner than when Trev's group left. (See May news)

 

 

Winter Review 2005/06

During the Winter, a lot of forestry work has been carried out to remove trees considered dangerous. The front line of old tall poplars (along the left hand side of the lake looking from the lodge) have been removed. This action will now allow vehicle access completely around the lake. All of the swims have been improved with an additional 2 swims being laid.

October 2005 Table of largest carp caught

Well the last month of our 4th season and definately our best year so far! At the start of the month it was a pleasure to welcome back Craig Brown's group from Sussex (don't have another bet Roy, I have got your county right this time), on their second visit to us this year. Fishing was slow, though there were plenty of fish feeding but not actively on boilies. There were not many fish caught, only18, they did include 8 30's and a cracking 44lb mirror for Ian, thanks for the booking for next April. Kathy and I had a long overdue week off the following week and were then visited by Martin and Andrew Shore. Our advertising policy is to report on the good results as well as the bad and although the 2 brothers worked extremely hard (all week), only 1 fish was landed a 37.08 common. The last week of the season we were visited (yet again) by Steve Mason (Mace) his son Aaron, Carl Goulsbra (Junior carp angler........can't keep plugging this Carl) and 2 newcomers Pete Simms and his son Spud. My arch enemy Mace and his son have been trying to beat Carl and me for 2 years and with the 2 newcomers forming a 3rd team, an interesting competition was to be held. It wasn't so much a competition as a complete slaughter. During the week 47 carp were caught including 2 40's and 15 30's, with the majority landed by the newcomers! Carl and I were last due to my contribution, or lack of it, I blanked, the first time in 2005, what a way to finish the season!! The only good point was that Mace's team once again finished second, never mind the nearly men might win next year!!

September 2005 Table of largest carp caught

The final week of August running into September it was great to see our good friend John Welch (monkeywelch - carpforum) and his group of 12 from Essex who had booked both of our venues. We had great expectations and had arranged for a professional dvd to be prepared by Andy Rodgers. With temperatures in the 90's the fish were not as positive in their feeding as usual, only 25 carp were landed of which nearly 1/2 were over 30lbs, but a lot of fish were not being landed due to presumably the carp not properly picking up the bait. Andy was kept busy though, frequently having to travel between both venues and at times having to be at 2 places at once. 9 personal bests were achieved depleting my wine stock (as usual), the dvd will be available in October. Though temperatures remained hot for part of the following week, Keith Hunters group of 7 from Essex, visiting Moulinots for the first time on a recommendation by John Welch, were not dissapointed, catching 56 fish of which 19 were over 30lbs and 11 were over 35lbs (new lake record). All 7 anglers achieved personal bests, even Cliff Cole who had caught 40's at other venues in France, but this time almost got his first 50 with a 49-08 mirror, unlucky Cliff because the fish is now over 50lbs! Thanks for the re-booking for next year and maybe 1 of you will beat me at golf next time! Again we were busy the following week with Pete Betts group from Northants on their first trip to Moulinots. They managed to catch 59 fish of which 27 were over 30lbs (lake record) and Mick Hobbs caught 10 of them (also a lake record). A lot of the fish were caught on a bait never used at Moulinots and to be honest not a bait I have a lot of faith in, Mistral's rose hip. Of course I tried it the following week and caught nothing on it! Now when my associate Frank Oakman returns to Moulinots with some of our regular guests, it normally means we are in for a bad week (well me and Frank anyway) but at least I take a few bob on the golf course. History repeated itself, with me winning the golf and Frank and I only catching 7 fish, fortunately the other guys caught 35 carp with Lee Ward (Bristol) on his 7th or maybe 8th visit (bit like counting Frank's golf card), finally achieving a pb with a 50-02 mirror, enjoy the champagne mate! Matt Wilmer (Sussex) caught his first 40 and Steve Harwood increased his pb to 48.00 with a mirror I haven't seen landed before. Tom Stringer (another loser on the golf course), did better on the lake catching a 39.02 mirror and Mark Greenaway also had a 39 mirror. 18 of the 42 fish caught were over 30lbs. The final week in September we were joined by 5 guests (1st visit) and though the fish were seen to be actively feeding, they were very difficult to catch, I assume that they were feeding on bloodworm or other naturals. Only 17 carp were landed but 10 of them were over 30lbs. Mark Cooksey (Birmingham), my main critic for not keeping the website up to date (well it's up to date now mate), caught a 50-10 mirror, while Darren Phillips had a 40.04 mirror and Mick Coen a 40.08 common, the average weight for the week was 32.01 (new lake record). Again, thanks for the re-booking, see you in May, oh and Mark where is the Moulinots review on the forums?

 

August 2005 Table of largest carp caught

The first week of the month Mark Baker's group (Essex) and Mark Woodgate's group (Beds) enjoyed a productive week catching 60 carp of which 22 were over 30lbs. Paul Baker smashed 2 of the lake records (1 of them was previously mine), with 8 30's out of a total of 24 fish that he caught during the week, excellent angling Paul! Mark Baker managed his first 40 and John Twigg had a 47 mirror , there were also 4 other fish caught over 39lbs (40's next year hopefully).  The following week, we only had 1 angler on the lake, Kevin Goik (Cumbria), but he still managed a pb with a 47-14 mirror in temperatures back in the 90's. Steve Mason (bigmace - carpforum), his son Aaron (minimace - carpforum) and now famous Carl Goulsbra (2004 UK junior carp angler of the year and 4th in the 2005 world pairs championship) returned as a group for their 2nd trip to Moulinots. A small wager was placed on a pairs comp, with Carl and I winning yet again, though Steve did catch the biggest fish and a personal best with a 47-14 mirror, 35 fish were caught in total and Steve bring some more money in October, because you are probably going to lose again!

 

July 2005 Table of largest carp caught

There were very few people booked in July, presumably because a lot of people think that it is too hot in France and it is very difficult to catch. At Moulinots, 1 complete side of the lake is in shade and very pleasant to fish from in the height of the Summer and the fish do feed, though agreed, it is slower than some of the other months. Ivan Smith's group (Essex) of 4 all achieved personal bests with Dan catching 1 of our known large mirrors at 52lbs 2ozs (new lake record), he also caught a couple of 39lb mirrors. In total only 15 fish were caught but 9 of them were over 30lbs and for the first week since we started, the average weight of fish caught was over 30lbs. The following week Dave & Yvette Starckey (Essex) on their 4th trip to Moulinots only managed to catch a few fish, though Yvette caught her first 30 and managed to keep me away from the bacardi 8 (a new personal best)! At the end of the month John Sallis (Birmingham) on his first trip to France caught a 42lb common amongst his catch.

 

June 2005 Table of largest carp caught

After a disappointing month which I am sure was the result of our fish not being able to spawn properly in varying weather conditions and temperatures, the first week of June was a totally different story! Simon Rigden (owner of the Tackle Tart Shop at Herne Bay, Kent) accompanied by 6 other experienced anglers enjoyed setting many new lake records here at Moulinots. They equalled the most carp caught in a week (3rd group to do so) at 69 fish, established a new record for most 40's in 1 week at 3, new record for most carp over 30lbs at 26 fish, new record for most carp out in 1 day at 19 fish and had all of the runs been connected, another 20 to 30 fish would have been caught. Great shame Colin Durman lost a fish on the Saturday morning, but the lake was really buzzing with everybody trying to catch the 70th fish! Both Colin and Lee Hiatt had 40's as well 3 30's each and at last I managed to catch my biggest fish so far out of Moulinots at 47lbs. Memorable week!!

The following week with temperaturs soaring Gary Hodgson and 3 other anglers arrived and did very well to manage 26 carp including 1 40 and 4 30's. The next week Dave Robinson (skilledhandz on the forums) returned for his 2nd trip this year for a mid week session and amongst his catch had 2 30 commons (37 and 32), Anthony Briggs (9 day session) had 10 carp incl. 4 30's and John King (Cambs) on his first trip to France had a cracking 38-8 leather amongst his catch. In total 25 fish were caught which included 13 30's, very enjoyable week guys, especiall