Brothers Brendan and Clayton, from Ipswich, returned to Sweet Chestnut Lake for a short 5 night break in mid July. On this occasion they brought with them father and son, Foggy and Garret, both keen carp anglers, also from the same town.

The weather remained hot and sunny for the duration of the visit with clear nights, not ideal fishing conditions. Huge numbers of Carp could be seen basking on the surface of the lake during the day, but these proved hard to tempt.

The party still managed to put together a good mixture of fish, with the 3 biggest Royale Mirrors falling to the rods of Garret, specimens of 37lb 8oz, 32lb and 31lb 8oz. Other Carp to 28lb were also landed and some very nice Originals, including 2 long immaculate 18lb Commons to Foggy. Semi-fixed leger tactics with Loirbaits TC1 Boilies taking most fish.

Without a doubt the highlight of the session was on the 3rd night when Brendan managed to haul in a mighty 81lb Catfish, a new personal best and lake record. The giant predator wolfed down a legered small Chub deadbait and gave Brendan quite a battle in the darkness. He went on to make it a impressive Catfish brace with another beast of 60lb on the last night. Brendan declined the customary bottle of Champagne as his prize for his new lake record fish, instead opting for a large bag of Loirbaits frozen boilies.

The guys are coming back for a full week in late September, so let's hope the fish set about an autumnal munch in preparation for winter.

angling holidays at sweet chestnut lake carp fishing lake in france