My French adventure with the fam

[elmoputney]

Bonjour 

I thought I would do a little write up on my week in france, we went to Bois de Printemps, we left home at 5:30am and arrived there at about 6pm local time, it was tricky to find and sat nav struggled so we called the owner dave who sent us a pin and we finally found it, got there and needed to get the the supermarket before it shut at 7pm, the owners wife Doreen quickly took my wife to the supermarket while we got our stuff to the Gite, twas a lovely place tbh, the Gite was nice, with a pool and a balcony view of the lake, didn't take enough photos tbh and I quite regret that, we saw birds of prey, coypu, kingfishers, woodpeckers and it was also next to a racehorse stable so there were some lovely horses running about all day, I generally only fished the fished the nights and stretched it a bit a few times, but ultimately it was a family holiday so I tried my best to juggle all the balls, the kids didn't seem to be that interested in the fishing but my wife did catch a tench, 

Good wise we went self catering and had some nice cheese and baguette type lunches, pastries and lovely food, we ate out twice in 2 places both lovely tbh, this burger is now in my top 3 greatest burgers, alongside the Pablo escoburger and the one I had with deep fried peanut butter in it, 

And the dessert wasn't bad either 

The other time we dined out I had steak and chips and a peach melba for pudding, that was also lovely, 

I've run out of photo space in this post so will do part 2 below once I've done the camera photos 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by elmoputney

[elmoputney]

Got off the mark early on Sunday morning when I caught this one and a tench in a couple of hours, might have lulled me into overconfidence tbh 

I went on to blank Sunday night, Monday night I caught this common about 16lb that I only did a mat shot of (I always seem to regret mat shots) it had fought like a train and I also lost one to a hook pull (the hook was straightened out a bit) 

Up til then I had been having a few issues using the actor and I gave up on my deeper as it kept losing signal well within range (technology can help but it can also be a PITA) and I was getting the rigs chewed up by the propellers and or other issues so I hadn't been able to keep 3 rods going at once, but I found a little gap in the trees to the left of my swim so I chucked out a marker float and baited it probably too heavily for a couple of days and just fished it at night using the bait boat to send out the rig and some bait on top, I caught a few fish off it that week, mainly tench but the mat shot common was the first, in hindsight it wasn't a bad spot but I shouldn't have put most of the energy into it, 

Part 3 coming up 👍

 

 

[elmoputney]

I think I must be on Tuesday by now , they seem to all get a little blurred,I think this night I managed another 16lber a mirror this time, and from the margin spot again , It wasn't Monday I lost one to a hook pull it was pre this one and from the end of the island spot , the night before i had got a finicky bite which left me in a snag 20yds from the original spot, I had to get dave out in the boat the next morning to retrieve it ( I also noted to not wear my Peppa Pig shorts anymore that week

Next we got onto Wednesday and I thought I may have cracked it but there were thunder and lightning storms for a few hours, twas my middle rod that ripped off this time and gave me one hell of a scrap before i managed to tame the beast that turned into this 24lb common , I had been convinced it was bigger at the time but i reweighed it make sure and even used a tripod for the first time ( I thought it was a pretty good thing btw) my video light ran out of batteries and I stupidly thought the ridgemonkey rested on a bucket would work wasnt my finest camera work so you can see 2 bad pics in the hope it makes one good one

I did catch quite a few tench during the week but they quickly became an inconvenience even though some were quite big, 

then we move onto Big Fish Thursday lol, now i had convinced myself it was going to happen by this time, all three rods were bob on all boated out perfectly and all had a wider spread of bait to pull them in, I had pulted quite a lot around the boat in all directions on 2 of them and kept the margin lightly baited as i felt i may have overdone it, and just thought it was going to happen, just got settled into bed and I couldn't sleep for a bit and it was time for more thunder and lighting this went on for quite a while and nothing seemed to happen as that was to be my last night I did a very slow pack down caught a tench off the margin spot put it back got the misses out to have a fish thinking that might buy me more time which it did, and then finally went off for the last time about 11am 

 

TBC ..........

 

 

[elmoputney]

Last one, if you have made it this far well done, 

It wasn't the 40lber I was hoping for but it didn't half have a go, took out my other line and really went for it, I didn't weigh it but we all know it wasn't a pb 

In conclusion 

Maybe I felt it should be an easier prospect than it was, I'm not convinced I fished well enough all week and the fishing was only part of the holiday, we had a nice enough time did loads of swimming had some nice grub, went to a zoo and a market where they also sold live chickens and stuff, and one of my daughters learned to swim that was the highlight for me, Friday before we left me and the girls walked the dog in the woods and accidently kicked a wasps nest, we all got stung, the girls a few times and the dog, I got one on the neck but when she got bitten by some fly in the pool it made her not want to be near the pool or outside because of the bugs, hopefully that will be a phase and we can crack it next time, but she did some super brave jumping in the pool one day so that was progress, 

I also used pork mince and chorizo to make a bolognese was delicious 😉

Had a great time,really the lake was lovely, the fish loved to leap out the water, was maybe too hot most of the week high 20s didn't help, but that's just an excuse I caught my first French carps and found the driving not too bad, the tunnel was fine, and the most stress free holiday abroad I've ever had with kids, I will do more French fishing now If I can, I loved it, I didn't enjoy the being back in England bit so much roadworks straight away busy roads and expensive fuel (the French goverment have just subsidised 30 cents off a litre of fuel) I liked France, can't wait to return, 

A Beintot

[ouchthathurt]

Cracking report mate, I’m glad to hear you had a great trip, the 40s can wait til next time! 👍

[...]

Good write up @elmoputney good break for all the Family,  Fishing looked good, id be happy all round with Holiday n Fishing.....

 

[elmoputney]

51 minutes ago, ouchthathurt said:

Cracking report mate, I’m glad to hear you had a great trip, the 40s can wait til next time! 👍

That's what I thought too, just nice to have a benchmark to aim at next time, 

47 minutes ago, Highy said:

Good write up @elmoputney good break for all the Family,  Fishing looked good, id be happy all round with Holiday n Fishing.....

 

Was a nice holiday, I think being less remote wouldn't be a bad thing if you are taking your family and look for things that can be done in the area, it was quite hard being a fisherman and dad /husband at the same time though, it is quite tempting to just pop down the lake for a look and it's always in your thoughts lol 

[newmarket]

Good read Elmo , so glad you all had such a good time .

Couldnt do it myself , I’m a selfish er , person . It’d all be about the fishing .

[elmoputney]

59 minutes ago, newmarket said:

Good read Elmo , so glad you all had such a good time .

Couldnt do it myself , I’m a selfish er , person . It’d all be about the fishing .

It's a tuff juggle I can tell you but I've kind of taught myself fishing is a hobby, the family has to be no1, plus if they are happy then I am too and I get to fish guilt free, for me nothing spoils a good days fishing more than guilt