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As I arrived at Etang Baudy I didn't know what to expect. Jan and Wally (the owners) took me for a walk around the lake, it was a virgin lake, it has only been open for a couple of years and it was a fantastic looking lake. It had beds of lily pads, a few islands and it was just the perfect place to spend the week fishing. As I set the rods up on the Saturday afternoon I could see several fish top in a short period of time. Once all three rods were out i was feeling really confident with the 1st night, but I did not manage to hook anything that night. So Then I realised that this was going to be a real challenge. The next morning I was up at 9.00am watching the water on a miserable morning when suddenly to my delight the right hand rod took off, which I had of placed by the lilies at 30 yards range. It was only a small one at 14lb but it was the 1st fish so I was pleased. I decided at about 11.30am that I would put one rod next to the island as I saw a bit of movement on the spot I had been baiting up. At mid-day as, I was just about to make a brew, when the left hand rod by the island ripped off taking yards of line, once I finally got her in I knew this was a good fish, it weighed in at 34lb (two tone) I was delighted, this was a cracking fish. Off The Mark - 14lb

Throughout the rest of that day I had a couple more fish weighing in at 13lb 4oz and 12lb 10oz. By the time 10.00PM came I was just thinking about getting my head down but all of a sudden I had a belter of a run in front of the lily pads, it took 20mins to get this fish in the net and when I did I could not believe I had caught that same 34lb two tone fish which I caught earlier that day. After that I had two more fish before mid-night at 16lb 8oz and 21lb 8oz. What a result as it was my first full day. As it approached 1.00am I landed a real nice fish at 22lb 8oz and just shortly after I had just got that rod back in water when the middle rod ripped off into the open water, which I shortly landed and it was a new fish that never been caught at a nice weight of 33lb (nemo), I was well chuffed. Just a couple of hours later I had landed a nice fish at 21lb 8oz. When morning came the sun was shining and it looked to be a really nice day. Throughout the rest of the day I had 10 more fish weighing in at 14lb, 6lb 6oz, 2 x 11lb, 6lb 4oz koi, 16lb 4oz, 13lb, 8lb 4oz and topped off by a real cracking 25lb mirror known as 3 scale. Throughout the early hours of Tuesday morning I landed 3 more fish weighing in at 15lb 12oz, 17lb, and 12lb 8oz. Just as the sun was rising Tuesday morning I had a wake up call from my delkims with a belter of a run which i was delighted to slip my net under a cracking looking fish of 32lb 8oz known as Dido. Just shortly after I landed a small one at 12lb 8oz.

Dido - 32lb 8oz So it was nearly mid-day on Tuesday and I was having a great weeks fishing already, I had been baiting the spot up in front of the lily pads for a few days now and I was just sat there watching the spot and saw a few single bubbles popping up here and there and then a fish was starting to feed very confidently on the spot I then had a couple of bleeps which did not come to much then ten minutes later I had a slow take So I struck into to it thinking that I had hooked a small fish. This fish was not coming in easily, after a while I realized that this was no small fish as it was plodding in front of me and a few times it went on a few mad runs taking 20 yards of line. As soon as I got the big mirror in the net I knew this was a very big fish. When me and Wally weighed the fish the scales swung round to 41lb 12oz This was a really pleasing fish to catch it was a stunning fish and also the lake record. I also landed a couple more fish weighing in at 17lb 10oz, 6lb and 7lb 12oz koi. As we came into Wednesday I was still catching fish fairly consistently through out the whole day. I caught 9 fish in total on Wednesday which they all weighed in at 15lb, 13lb, 2 x 14lb, 11lb 8oz, 14lb 8oz, 12lb 12oz, 13lb.

I also caught a cracking fish at 32lb 8oz which was the same fish I had caught the day before known as Dido. These fish were getting to love my bait which I had on offer. As it was just getting into Thursday i had a small one at 11lb 8oz. As the early morning mist was covering the lake at 8.00am I had a screaming run, whilst i had just landed this fish one of my other rods took off and this fish gave me a good fight. Luckily enough I had 2 landing nets so I was able to land both fish, both of which were twenties weighing in at 21lb and 23lb 12oz. Just a couple of hours later at around 10.00am I had landed another two fish but this time they were half an hour apart, both of which yet again were twenties, one at 24lb and the other at 20lb 4oz. So I had four twenties in a row which I could not complain about at all as they were all cracking looking fish. For the rest of the day I landed four more fish at a weight of 15lb 12oz, 13lb, 12lb 4oz and 12lb 8oz. So after a cracking week of fishing i was into my last full day at the lake and I had an absolute great days fishing as I started off the day with four fish from mid-night to 9.00am weighing in at 18lb, 13lb, 20lb 4oz and 21lb.

Then at 10.35am I had caught the fish known as Dido again which was 32lb. As it got to 11.00am I had a real screamer of a take, It must of took me over 30minutes to get this fish in, I knew from the fight that this was another good fish and as I slipped the net under her I was delighted. As I got her out of the water I realised this was the same forty that I had caught on Tuesday which I was more than pleased to have had her back on the bank again, it was an absolutely stunning fish. As the day was coming to an end I had caught three more fish weighing in at 14lb 8oz, 14lb 6oz and 10lb 8oz which was my last fish of this superb trip, tallying my total for the week at 57 fish, 'what a week'. The fishing through out the week was an absolutely an amazing experience and I would just like to say thanks to Jan and Wally as they were great people to have around and for making the trip an amazing experience to never forget. Also A big thanks to Jan for the top notch food served through out the week. I will definitely be back in the future and strongly advise that people should check this lake out, its great, and you would not be disappointed. Lake Record - 42lb+
For all my pics from the week, click HERE

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