19th March - 25th March


Just said goodbye to John & Jason who, despite us not officially opening until March 28th, wanted a few days break!!! 
Although we have had sunny warm days there has been biting winds and temperatures dropping to -2 at night. 
Despite this, and Jasons 4hr trip to le Mans hospital & them spending 2 full afternoons at Albinos, they still managed to catch 37 fish between them with Jason just outdoing John 

3 x 30lbs + 
22 x 20lbs + 
6 x over 15lbs 

& wait for it......... 

ONLY 6 singles 4 of which were the fully scaleds deliberately put back! 

average weight 24.2lbs 

John has been here several times before & commented that the fish were obviously packing on the weight now that the small carp had been removed. This is fantastic news... and despite Iain & my fears about the fishing 'changing'.. I think we can still safely say Rushes is still a runs water!!! 

Not a bad result by any standards for this time of the year!!!!

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Week Mar 29th - April 4th 

This week we saw some new anglers to Rushes... Sean & his mates from the 'Pool'... 
The weather remained sunny days with frosty nights with some peculiar winds! 
Anyway not arriving till very late on Saturday night they started fishing Sunday & they had a fantastic week with 5 
of them achieving PB's and a PB Cat 
So scores on the doors.... 

15lbs + 22 
20 - 25lbs 26 
25 - 30lbs 39 
30lbs + 6 

Catfish 42.8, 30.06. 20 lbs 

They took some nice photos...



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Week April 4th - April 11th 

Chris returned with Drew and Simon for his 10th visit to us, they had booked an exclusive week as Chris like to move around and it gives him that opportunity.
Weather was drizzly for some of the week but the nights were less cold than they have been. Our fish arent renowned for liking the rain and Friday with some torrential rain saw the fish 'turn off'. Luckily though the previous 5 days had seen some lovely fish grace the bank. 

So scores on the doors.... 
15lbs +       8 
20 - 25lbs   19 
25 - 30lbs   27 
30lbs +      11     9 mirrors and 2 commons ...upto an impressive 38.8lbs... this fish still had its curtains and Chris (who had seen most of our carp thinks he has had it once around 3 years ago                            

5 Catfish 48.3, 25, 19 & 9lbs 

Chris lost our big linear at the net when a swan mussel slid down the line and knocked it off at the net... it is BIG, and he is positive if caught soon will be our new lake record ! In the 25 - 29lb category there were 5 29+ fish. 

We think this is an impressive result for 3 anglers!



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Week April 11th - April 18th

We entertained Dale & Gordon (a couple of regulars) Neil & Martin this week and on arriving the weather looked like it was going to do its best to marr the fishing for the week. The lake was seeing a northeasterly and together with the rain usually indicates the fishing was going to be difficult. 

Its always nice having old friends here and from Iain & mines point of view it was great having them here! 

Anyway scores on the doors for the week:-
15lbs+     19
20 - 25lbs 18
25 - 30lbs 27
30lbs+ 4


2 Cats 46.10 & 19.09 plus 2 small ones (one was 3inches long LOL)



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Week April 25th - May 2nd

Dreadful weather this week, with rain rain and more rain and some frosty nights (unbelievably)
2 parties on this week Gary & Mick, & Ash with his family 

The 3 'serious' anglers had:- 
15 - 20lbs 20
20 - 25lbs 26
25 - 30lbs 36 

30lbs + 3 

Catfish 4 1@44lbs, 1 @30lbs, 2 just over 20lbs 

Ash's son and Dad both new to carp fishing indeed fishing! dabbled and even they managed a few good 20's (not included in above)

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Week May 2nd - 9th

A difficult week both weather & fishingwise, warm weather & waater temperatures started the fish spawning which with sudden drops stopped spawning and the fish were definitely holding up.... so was probably our less prolific week, but it was an absolute pleasure having Martyn, Mark Stuart & Jay here for the first time... it was a great laugh and obviously are delighted that you have decided to come back next year!

So scores....

22 20's largest at 29lbs
15 15 - 20lbs

no cats at all!!!
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Week May 9th - 16th

Bruce, James, Glen Gavin & Rob from Kent were our visitors this week & still the weather is not playing ball, the bigger fish are still holding somewhere! Indeed we havent seen any of the 25lbs + commons now for a few weeks, the doubles and smaller 20's are spawned out lets hope that the bigger girls can sort themselves out in the next week or so.
A couple of nights with violent thunderstorms and extremely hard rain made it unpleasant at times!!! It definitely meant them winding in to sit out the storms.

Scores again

20lbs+ 58
30lbs + 3

7 Catfish of 19lbs + largest at 28lbs

The anglers didnt give us a total of doubles unfortunately, but from our intermediate calculations reckon they had 33 in total.
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Week May 16th - 23rd

This week we welcomed 2 parties of 2 new anglers to Rushes, Trevor & Graham & Jim & Andy.
The week started off with plenty of rain for the first couple of days with some strong south westerly winds blowing hard into the bluecamp corner.
Tuesday temperatures started to rise significantly, which started the fish spawning, reaching 26 degrees by Friday!
So all in all very difficult conditions to catch fish and all the lads did well to get a number on the bank.
Trevor & Graham suffered a number of hook pulls & did better when Iain told them to beef up from size 8's.
So scores as per....

Upper doubles - 29
20's - 44
30's - 5

Cats - 47.5lbs, 29lbs,28lbs,21lbs,20lbs,14lbs & 2 under 10lbs

We must mention Andy who came to France for the first time with a PB of 8lbs... and went away with a 47.5lbs catfish and a 31lbs Mirror, well done that man!!!
Jim was top rod banking 20 20's & 2 30lbs + mirrors.

JUNE6 - 13th
The yearis just flying past !!
 
Wewelcomed  Pete Midgeley andfriends back to Rushes again
and theywere not disappointed with a couple of 30s, 20 x 20s and some big doubles
They alsomanaged to land some of our catfish, mostly mid 20lbs with one going 42lbs 8ozs
(a new PBfor Pete)
 
JUNE13 - 20th
 
This weeksaw the Calkin family arrive for their annual trip. Pete and Darrenfishing days only
managedPBs in the mid 20s, whilst grandson Daniel helped himself to a couple of 30s
and 22x20lb ers along with a brace of 30 lbs + catfish
 
JUNE20 - 27th
 
Where tostart on this week??
 
DavidCage and his 4friends arrived for a second trip to Rushes, and what a trip it turned out tobe
Peter,fishing from Blue Camp managed a total of 17 x 20s up to 27.08, a couple ofcats of 20 and 22lbs and also managed to nearly kill himself by setting hisbrand new bivvy, bedchair, sleeping bag, tackle bag, camera and various otheritems (including several fingers) ON FIRE !!
A candleleft in the bivvy was responsible, the second time it has happened here, PLEASE,PLEASE
DO NOTUSE CANDLES OR COOKERS INSIDE A BIVVY, THEY ARE NOT FIREPROOF AND CAN
BURNVERY EASILY
 
David setup in Goffees, in the corner opposite Blue Camp and did his best to empty thelake of 20lbs fish
In sevendays he managed an astonishing 74 20lbs + carp including 31 over 25lbs,  41 up to 25lbs and 2 x 30lb commons
alongwith 10 big doubles
At theend of the week he said 'not a bad weeks fishing really, Im gonna come back andtry for the 100 x 20s in a week'
 
The restof the party also got amongst the fish, but as yet we are still waiting fortheir lists and pictures
 
 
 JUNE27– JULY 4th
 
It was nice to welcome back againsome great friends the ‘Mad uns’ on one of their annual excursions. Makes,Blondie, JP, Justine, Scott, Clive and young Ashley.
Well asyou all know this week we saw a heatwave and any fishing was nigh on impossible! Temperatures soared into the nineties and they spent their days down atthe local lake skinny dipping or sat with us on the terrace having long picniclunches with much laughter.
Howeverthey did manage some fish with a number of 20’s (don’t know the exact amount)and Scott, to his credit, persisted and finally broke the magic 30lbs mark witha nice mirror.. a well deserved PB.
Will benice to see you back in September for some better fishing and some more laughs.
 
 
JULY4 - 11th
 
The weather had cooled down considerably after last weeks heatwave and GaryAllison, son Jack, brother Rich and friend Barry arrived from Hull.
 
Betweenthem they managed to land 12 x 30 lbs carp (36lbs,35lbs, 4x32lbs, 4x31lbs and2x 30lbs) and 19 other carp over 20lbs
They werealso delighted to land catfish of 57lbs, 50lbs, 47.5lbs, 30lbs, 2 x 29lbs,27lbs and 25lbs
 
See youagain next year!
 
 
Thiscertainly is proving to be a great and busy year for us, the netting hascertainly proved money well spent with much heavier fish, and a nice lot ofbigger catfish coming out almost weekly.
Itsalso nice to see so many 30’s banked, the autumn augers well.
 

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July 11 - 18

This week saw the return of 2 anglersfrom Yorkshire, PC Rob Walker and Coroners Officer Alan Cooper.Their firstvisit last season saw their PBs increase from about 7lbs up to over 20lbs sothey were both keen to increase them further and they did so in style , sharinga total of 19 x20s including commons of 25.06, 19.09 and a cracker of 28.08along with 16 mirrors over 20lbs up to a new PB of 28.12

Not content with those, they added adozen catfish up to a new PB for Rob of 51.11 and others of 44.14 and 39.08

All this was just fishing days only !!

To complete the week Rob actually retiredfrom the Yorkshire Police Force at midnight on the Wednesday, so we wish himwell in his retirement and hope that Clare doesn’t work him too hard and letshim come back and see us next year

Across the lake in Goffees was Mick Wise,whose fishing partner had to go home early due to illness, who had a prettygood week with 4 x 30s up to 32.06, 9 x 20s to 28.14 and a catfish of 22.08

July 18 -25

Jemsue and his son Matt arrived foranother week at Rushes and set up in Goffees where they proceeded to haul 51 x20s up to just under 30lbs and a couple of cats over 20lbs

Jemsue’s future son in law went in ‘BinThere’ and first fish was a 49.08 cat on two pieces of fake corn!!! Nat alsomanaged 4 x 20s and quite a few double figure fish, not bad for a beginnerNat!!

Andy went in Stumps and had a shedful ofdoubles and 3 x 20s including a PB 27lb common

Jon and Laura were over in Blue Campwhere Jon managed to attract 7 x 20s and 2x30s along with 6 catfish including anew Rushes best cat of 59.00lbs (which he had promised to catch before hearrived)

July 25-Aug 1st

The King family from Birmingham were nextto arrive for their 3rd visit

Jason was in Blue Camp wherehe  had 18x20s including a 29.02 mirror, and a PB 32lbs mirror alongwith 6 big doubles

Darran fished Beatties, finishing theweek with 2x30s (30.08 common and a 30.04 mirror) and 15 x 20s whilst fatherMick had to be content with a string of doubles and 2 x 20s both just over27lbs

August 1-8th

The Tithecott family from Canterbury madetheir annual trip here along with friends Ben and Kim. Set up along the BlueCamp side of the lake, the massive circus tent sleeping accommodation dominatedthe view. Matt and the kids Harvey and Ollie fished Blue Camp for 16x20s and a30 for Matt, whilst Ollie managed several doubles and 3x20s to 28.10, andHarvey weighed in with a few doubles and 2x20s to 27.04 (inbetween playingSwingball and endless PSP competitions)

Ben set up in Stumps and settled for 11 x20s to 27lbs and a PB catfish of 44lbs

Meanwhile over the other side was theMesquita family from Worthing straight off a week at another French lake

Nick in Goffees fished, shall we say,sporadically, for 17x20s and 2 x 30s while dad Richard next door in Beattiesmade do with only 8 x20s but he also had 5 x 30s !!!

Mum Louise said that Richard always was alucky so and so !!!

August 8 – 15th

Bob Burns’s party were next up

Bob finishing the week with  11x20s from Goffees, Mick in Stumps landed 7x20s and a couple of nice catfish

Over in Blue Camp Sam helped himself to6x20s and a 44.08 catfish (his first cat) and ‘Birch’ in Beatties startedslowly and stayed that way with only 2 cats and 2x 20s for the week

Weather during August has varied betweenhot, very hot and bloody hell its hot, so the fishing of late has slowed down abit, most catches coming late evening or early morning when its cooler, so weare hoping for some rain to cool everything down and freshen it up a little