Trip to Les Quis – The FishingFIVE O’ CLOCK finally arrives and I’m out of work like a shot!Back home I chuck all the tackle and dad in the back of the car, quick wave to the missus and I’m off….. Folkestone here we come! Four and half hours later and we’re sat in the car park waiting for the coach to turn up. Tackle transplanted to the coach and we’re off to sunny Les Quis. They have the draw on the coach on the way to the ferry, I commented to Bernie (Co-owner and bailiff for the week), “here goes someone’s week up in smoke,” and drew 18th out of 18. Bugger! Wasn’t too disappointed (honest!) though as there are 25 swims on the complex and probably only three that I wouldn’t fancy. Saturday….. Off the ferry and four hours later we pull up in the car park on an overcast Saturday. We’ve all been worried about the fish spawning as everything seems to be a month ahead over there, so the cooler weather is a welcome sight! They had a decent week, 350+ fish so we had a target to go for. A quick walk around the lakes and we’re back to the draw – I knew which swims would go and had one in mind, but choosing last there’s no point getting your hopes up too much! As it ended up, the swim I wanted went 17th….. I thought everyone had forgotten about it! So as the Elf and Long lakes were basically full, I ended up in the Table swim on the Old, a channel between the main lake and a large bay called “Jurassic” that always has a lot of fish in it. Tackle carted round, mossie proof bivvy up (as it looked like rain) for my dad, mossie attracting brolly up for me and a quick appraise of……
The swim The swim used to have a big snag tree to the right, which was removed this year for various (good) reasons. So I reckoned that fish would just move through the swim now instead of holding in the snag as they used to. The two margin spots were fairly obvious, and most would fish all three rods to the margin, but I wanted to find an open water spot to give me another option, and maybe find another feature they were sneaking through. Out with the marker rod, and I found that the margin shelved up to roughly two thirds of the way across where there was a weed bed, which I baited fairly heavily.
The right hand rod was cast to a depression in the bank, and the left hand rod into a hole in the trees. All three rigs were pretty much identical; 8″ of Mantis, with a knotless knot and either a single hookbait or snowman. Because the hairs were reasonably long, I made sure to use some maize foam to ensure the hook didn’t catch into the mesh of the hookbaits. It also lets you know exactly where the rig is if you want to put some bait around it – ideal if you are fishing open water and don’t want to keep getting the marker rod out – especially if the fish are feeding. Fish were crashing In Jurassic to the left, and the guy in there was into fish fairly quickly. Tea was at 5.30; we had to walk past the margin spots to get to the lodge, so we put a kilo or so of bait on each spot on the way past. After the “substantial” pie, peas and chips, it was rods out, and make sure they were marked up in case we got a fish during the night. The trip caught up with us, and we were in bed by nine.
10 past 10 and I’m dragged from the bag by a take on the left hand rod, and after a short scrap a 19.08 is in the net. Wahaay, blank averted! Rod back out, 20 or 30 baits scattered around the spot and it’s straight back to sleep. Sunday….. At 3am the left hand rod is away again, this time a 20.08 is the culprit. Quick photo, re-bait the hook and the spot and once again it’s back to the bag. But for only two hours, for an 18-pounder falls to the left hand trap again. Re-bait, re-cast and I really do need some sleep! I wake up at about 9am – I can’t remember the last time I woke up that late, well not since I had kids! Dad wanders off to breakfast; oblivious to the coronary warnings I give him…the breakfasts are something else! I re-bait the spots, and get the margin rods cast really close – the Old is really a “night” water, and takes normally come up until 10am. Fish can still be heard, and are still being taken down in Jurassic, but I haven’t seen anything move or bubble over the mid-water rod. Dad staggers back from breakfast, understanding why I don’t normally eat them, and I decide to put zigs out during the day tight to the tree line, one at 4ft, the other at 6ft to see if I can nick one. The day passes quietly, and I’m wondering whether the swim is really the right one to be in – the snag tree being removed has made the swim more of a “trap” swim than somewhere you can hold fish, and quite a few fish are showing in the main body of the lake, but I’ll give it another night. So after tea (full English roast) I re-bait the rods, put another kilo or so over the margin spots and bait the mid water spot with approx 3 kilo – see if I can stop them! Also I hadn’t had any Chat activity, so I dropped the mesh from the bait. I don’t think it really makes any difference to the fish, but you never know…
Monday….. It’s 6am and I’m standing in the “middles” looking for fish, and after seeing a few roll, I decide to move in – luckily it’s only 20yds or so away! Out with the marker rod and I find a light silt area approx 40yds out in front of me, and a 9ft gulley approx 50yds to the left. Both rods are baited with about 3kg of bait, and the middle rod is cast towards a showing fish with a 6ft zig. Nothing happens during the day so it’s rods back out, left hand rod is now the middle rod, the left hand being swapped to a stringer fished over a scattering of bait just off the tree line to the left as there has been a couple of fish crashing tight to the tree’s for most of the day. The other two rods are a PVA bag full of chops and crumb with a snowman rig over the top of it. Total catch report to date at tea 111 carp: At 9.30 the middle rod is off, a mid double the culprit. Re-baited, re-clipped, and back out on the spot. A couple of violent liners on the tree-line rod give me a bit of confidence for the night ahead. Tuesday….. At around 1 o’ clock the middle rod is away, but nothing there. As I’m reeling in the right hand rod is away, but again, nothing there. Must be a fish trailing line. Both rods re-cast, and 30 or 40 baits are put back over them.
5.10am and I hit the right hand rod just as the line pulls tight. The fish kites to the left before making a slow, plodding line for the tree line on the left. I get it turned, and have a 15 minute fight under the rod tip, where it’s 10ft deep – more like boat fishing! – until it finally slips into the net. I get some light on it and ask my dad if he’s seen a fifty before! Up on the scales, and she goes 51.08 – drawing 18 wasn’t so bad after all! A couple of pics and I slip her back, pressure totally off now! Re-bait and recast the rod, and it’s back in the bag and, surprisingly, I fall asleep.
At 7am I re-cast the middle and tree line rods, and put another 20 or so baits over the right hand rod. At 7.40 it’s away again, though it darts all over the place, head shaking angrily. I get it to the net, where it drops off just before it crosses the mesh – it looked like a mid twenty, and on most lakes you’d be livid, but at Les Quis its just another pasty! I subject myself to a breakfast, wishing I had my bike with me to burn some calories off! After breakfast…. I take dad across to the Bay lake, as he doesn’t believe what we’ve been saying about it. A minute after casting in he does! We catch 10 or so fish between us in about an hour, sharing one rod and free lining boilies close to a fallen tree, and chucking half a handful of bait over it. It’s a bit like fishing a trout lake’s stock pond! When I get back I put about 2kg of bait over the right hand rod and middle rods, and some chops over the tree line, but move the tree line rod a few yards further out on a zig to give the spot some rest. At 10.50am I’m away on the middle rod, a low double the culprit. Again another 30 baits or so out on the spot and an hour later I’m away again with a mid double. I repeat the baiting and put the rod back on the spot. Dad comments to me that none of the takes have been “screamers” – that’s because I am fishing fairly slack lines, so I’m getting two or three bleeps as the line tightens up, and I’m hitting it before the fish tightens the line enough to pull line from the clutch. At 1.40 the tree-line zig takes off, but I only have it on for 10 seconds or so until it drops off – something that can happen with zigs. The spots are re-baited and I’m off to tea On return the only change is putting the left hand rod back to a bottom bait in a big PVA bag full of crumb, which is away two hours later with another double. I put a rod back on the tree line of the Table swim to see if I can winkle one out before dark, and 20mins later it’s away with another double. Back to the Middles and rods out. Another couple of big liners on the tree line keep the interest up, along with the sight of a few fish moving out of the tree line to the right and swimming down the lake. An aborted take/big liner on the tree line at 11pm, and as it’s a tricky cast; I put it onto the right hand area (I’d already got a marker on the line just in case).
Wednesday….. After a few liners on the middle and right hand rods, the right hand is away with an absolutely flying take (so much for hitting the bleeps!) at 4.20am to a fish that if I’d lost it I’d have sworn was a big 30, but on the scales went 28.08. There was virtually nothing showing at first light, and the swims to my right had been doing fairly well – the fish seemed to be sticking to the tree line near Coypu Corner and the Point swims. We had a look in the snags on the tree line and sure enough, there must have been 20 or so fish between low thirties and high forties layed up in there – what a sight!
I went for a wander and a shower after dad got back from breakfast, and on the way back the person in “Next To Gate” on the long lake told me he was off to another swim after losing a succession of fish trying to stop them reaching the snag to the left. I had wanted the swim this year as the fish had been down that end of the lake the previous week, and I had fished the swim last October and had only lost one, so felt it would be a good move to go in there. If nothing else the swim was warmer and drier than the Middles! An hour later and I’m in residence – but would I regret the move? Two rods were placed on the tree line, the other on top of the plateau out in front of the swim, on a small gravel patch surrounded by silkweed. The barbeque came and went without a take, and the fish are showing in the opposite corner but I was fairly confident that the fish would move back in – the person fishing the swim opposite was still picking up fish. And the latest tally was… 244 carp Thursday……. And I’m up at first light. I get my dad to go round and drop bait right on top of the rod I’d cast tight to the tree line. it does the trick as at 8am it nicks another double. Nice to catch a fish, but I’d caught more doubles on this trip than I’d caught in the previous two years. The pest control tag was wearing a bit thin.
Dad sneaks off to the Bay Lake and manages to catch a 23lb Common – a new PB common for him, so he was fairly chuffed! I tried everything I could think of during the day to get a take, fish were crashing on a plateau in the evening, and a couple of fish show in the corner, so I was fairly confident when I went to bed. Friday….. And the night was take-less. Again, first light and same trick with dad baiting up on top of the lead as it lands and 9.50 its away with a much better fish. I manage to get it away from the tree line, but it runs 30yds or so into the corner of the lake to my left and grinds to a halt. Constant pressure gets it moving, and it moves back into the lake, turns around and back into the snag, where upon the hooklength parts – the first time I’ve had a hooklength snap in ages. Bit annoyed! I get the rod re-cast, and re-baited. Fish start crashing in the corner again, but they look more spawny than feeding – indeed as we left on the Saturday the fish start spawning again. I move the plateau rod into the gulley at the base of the plateau and bait it quite heavily – around 5kg. At 8.45 the tip pulls round to a really slow take, and as I hit it I’m stunned not to make contact. Reeling in I find the hook has got caught in the mesh – something that’s never happened before. When your lucks out it’s really out. The day ends on 354 carp Saturday….. Nothing happens that night, and on Saturday morning I get loads of liners on the tree line rods as fish start crashing through, chasing each other, so we pack up and get ready to meet the coach home. We end up on 380 fish not bad as the fish didn’t seem to be feeding properly on the Long Lake – quite a few fish were hooked right on the edge of their lips, probably why a few were lost. The Elf Lake fished really well, and the Old was good too – luckily no one went into the swim I left to make it look like a really bad decision! I had mixed feelings coming back; you can’t really complain about a trip where you catch a fifty, but knowing what the lakes are capable of I was a bit annoyed with myself for moving when I probably should’ve stayed put. At the time it seemed the right thing to do, but the timing was wrong – hindsight’s a fantastic thing. But if you want to go fishing for some big fish, with no hassle, in excellent surroundings and with superb bailiff’s, Les Quis really has got to be the top of the tree for “all inclusive” type trips. We met four guys who were coming back from another lake where between them they had caught 30 fish to mid twenties – each of them could do that in an afternoon on the Bay Lake! The weather was fairly mixed during the week, mainly overcast, mild with scattered showers. The fish had been trying to spawn for a week or two – everything’s a month early over there this year – and the dip in temperatures had stopped the majority of them, but I think it made them feed a bit oddly on the Long lake. So that’s it, as I told my wife, that was my last trip to Les Quis, mind you, I haven’t had a 50 out of the Elf Lake yet, and all those lovely big carp do spoil your UK fishing a bit. I wonder if there will be any cancellations next year! |
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