Le Moulin de Graffeuil

06/09/2026

06/09/2026

🎣 18 CARP TO 76LB – SIX 50s AND CASPER MAKES AN APPEARANCE 🎣

LE MOULIN DE GRAFFEUIL

W/C 29TH AUGUST 2026

There are weeks when you can sit behind motionless rods wondering where they’ve all gone, and there are weeks when getting some sleep becomes the bigger problem.

For Richard, fishing Le Moulin de Graffeuil on his Jack Jones this week, it was very much the latter.

He’d asked us to pitch him up with two options, Swims 2 and 5, and from the outset he had a plan. Richard is a good watercraft angler and rather than blindly sticking rods on spots and hoping for the best, he watched the water, looked for signs and let the carp tell him where he needed to be.

The conditions certainly helped. After some of the warmer weather we’ve had, the start of the week brought cooler temperatures, cloudier skies and some lovely fresh mornings and evenings. A bit of breeze kept a ripple moving across the lake and there was plenty of moisture in the air, particularly through the nights and early mornings.

Proper carpy weather.

Richard also made an interesting baiting decision from the off. Rather than creating one or two tight dinner plates, he applied boilie across several different areas in both swims, spreading the bait and giving the carp room to move around and feed naturally.

And he wasn’t shy with it either.

By the end of the session he’d used somewhere around 60kg of boilie, plus some other bits alongside it. It sounds a serious amount of bait for one angler, but the results show just how much food these carp can get through when they’re feeding confidently.

Saturday into Sunday – Off the Mark at 3am

Richard began the session in Swim 2, and he chose to fish it with just two rods.

The first night didn’t take long to give him an indication that he’d got things right.

At around 3am on Sunday morning, one of those rods was away and Richard was off the mark with a lovely 37lb mirror.

As it turned out, that 3am bite wasn’t going to be a one-off.

Later on Sunday Richard made the move into Swim 5. The bait had already been going into both swims, so rather than moving onto completely fresh ground he was dropping onto areas he’d been preparing.

At around 5pm, the move paid off almost immediately with a cracking 56lb mirror.

Two bites at completely different times of day meant there wasn’t an obvious feeding window yet, but the fish were clearly happy to get their heads down.

Monday – Three More for Richard

Monday brought another productive spell in Swim 5.

A 36lb mirror was joined by two commons of 42lb and 51lb, taking Richard’s tally to five fish.

The cooler mornings seemed to suit the lake and Richard continued doing exactly what had got him the bites in the first place. He kept watching the water, kept the bait going in where appropriate and resisted the temptation to start changing things simply because he’d caught a few.

Sometimes the best decision in carp fishing is to leave something alone when it’s working.

Then came Tuesday.

Tuesday – Casper at 76lb

If Monday was good, Tuesday was something else.

Swim 5 really switched on and Richard went on to bank five carp in the day.

First came mirrors of 46lb and 44lb, followed by a 27lb mirror.

Then one of the rods was away again.

This time, the fish on the other end was in a completely different league.

Eventually Richard slipped the net under one of Graffeuil’s real characters – Casper.

The scales settled at a huge 76lb.

An absolutely magnificent carp and the sort of fish that would make the trip on its own.

But Richard wasn’t finished. Another 32lb mirror rounded off a five-fish Tuesday and left him with eight carp from Swim 5 in three nights, including fish of 51lb, 56lb and the mighty Casper at 76lb.

At that point Richard made another good call.

He felt the fish in Swim 5 had been punished enough.

Rather than sitting there squeezing every last bite out of the area, he decided to give it a rest and head back to Swim 2.

Wednesday – Back to Swim 2

With Swim 5 rested, Richard moved back into Swim 2, again trusting the bait he’d been applying there throughout the week.

The move produced another two carp, mirrors of 42lb and 36lb.

More interestingly, both came during the early hours between roughly 3am and 5am.

A pattern was definitely starting to emerge.

There had been bites at all sorts of times during the session – the 56lb mirror at 5pm being the obvious example – but that early-hours window was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Unfortunately for Richard, so was the lack of sleep!

By this stage the repeated early starts were beginning to take their toll.

Thursday – Three More and a New Face

Thursday kept the momentum going with another three carp from Swim 2.

A 50lb mirror was followed by a 46lb common, before Richard landed one of the prettiest fish of the week – a lovely 40lb scaly mirror.

It’s a fish we don’t recognise either.

After seeing so many of the lake’s carp over the years, it’s always interesting when something comes along that has us scratching our heads, and this heavily scaled 40 certainly did that.

Another cracking Graffeuil carp and one we’ll be keeping an eye out for in future.

There was another memorable bit of action during Richard’s time in Swim 5 as well.

One fish managed to get him snagged up right in the corner. Rather than pulling and hoping for the best, Richard got into the boat and went out after it.

As he got directly above the fish, the line suddenly pinged free from whatever it had become attached to.

Game back on.

What followed was a proper boat battle with the fish, surrounded by early-morning mist rising from the lake. Fortunately, we were there with the camera and managed to get some cracking shots of the whole thing.

One of those moments that captures what a week at Graffeuil is about just as much as the trophy shots do.

Friday – Three 50s to Finish

By Friday Richard had been consistently catching throughout the session and those early-hours bites had well and truly caught up with him.

There was also the small matter of a long drive home ahead.

So Richard made the very sensible decision that Friday night wasn’t going to involve another 3am wake-up call. He’d finish his fishing, sleep in the gîte and head off early Saturday morning.

The carp weren’t going to let him finish quietly though.

Friday produced another three mirrors, and every one of them went 50lb or better – 50lb, 50lb and 54lb.

A hell of a way to round off the session.

Richard records his fish in whole pounds and, if anything, rounds them down rather than squeezing another few ounces onto the tally. No halves or quarters this week – just straightforward weights.

After the final fish, the rods were eventually put away and Richard swapped the cabin for the gîte and, at long last, got himself a proper night’s sleep before leaving early Saturday morning.

We don’t blame him!

A Week Built on Watercraft and Bait

Looking back over Richard’s session, what stands out isn’t simply the number of carp caught.

He read the water.

He prepared two swims from the beginning, spread his bait across different areas rather than concentrating everything onto tight beds, watched what the fish were doing and moved between Swims 2 and 5 when he felt the time was right.

When Swim 5 had produced heavily, he rested it.

When the fish told him Swim 2 was worth returning to, he went back.

And when they wanted bait, he gave them bait.

Richard got through around 60kg of boilie during the session, as well as some other bits alongside it. For one angler that’s a fair amount of food, but when you look at what came back over the net cord, it tells its own story.

These carp can eat.

And when they’re moving, feeding confidently and you’re prepared to apply a bait they actually want to eat, the results can be exceptional.

Eighteen carp to 76lb, including six 50s.

I don’t think anyone can grumble at that catch report.

🎣 Richard’s Full Catch

Mirrors: 27lb | 32lb | 36lb | 36lb | 37lb | 40lb | 42lb | 44lb | 46lb | 50lb | 50lb | 50lb | 54lb | 56lb | 76lb Casper

Commons: 42lb | 46lb | 51lb

📊 The Numbers

Mirrors: 15 | Commons: 3 | Total Carp: 18

20s: 1 | 30s: 4 | 40s: 6 | 50s: 6 | 60s: 0 | 70s: 1

🏆 BIGGEST FISH – CASPER AT 76LB 🏆

A cracking week’s angling from Richard.

Good watercraft, sensible decisions, plenty of bait where the fish wanted it and the confidence to keep doing what was working. Throw Casper at 76lb into the mix, a previously unseen scaly 40, a misty boat battle and enough 3am bites to finally drive him into the gîte for some sleep, and there’s plenty to remember from this one.

And as one week finishes, the next one is already under way.

We’ve got three lads from Wigan with us this week – dad Alistair and his two sons, Lewis and Max. They’ve flown over, picked up a hire car and somehow still managed to bring two bait boats and all their end tackle with them.

That’s the way to do it!

So the lake resets, the next set of rods are out and we’ll see what Graffeuil has in store for the Wigan lads this week.

Martin & Kelly
Le Moulin de Graffeuil

30/08/2026

🎣 20 CARP TO 67LB 10OZ 🎣
Stalking Success, Big Commons & a Dramatic Final-Day Battle
W/C 22nd August 2026

There was plenty going on at Graffeuil this week, with Gary, Luke and Matt joining us for a session that produced 20 carp between them, topped by a cracking 67lb 10oz common for Gary.

It certainly wasn’t an easy week for everyone. Gary and Luke managed to keep fish coming steadily enough, but Matt had a much harder time of it in Swim 5 and eventually had to take matters into his own hands with the stalking rod. That decision completely changed his week.

Conditions played their part too. It was humid early on, with sunshine and cloudy spells and temperatures having dropped back slightly. There was plenty of thunder and electrical activity around us, but frustratingly the storms seemed determined not to actually give us any proper rain.

At one point we had around 15mm forecast and I was thinking, yes, that’s exactly what we need… only for the whole lot to blow over and leave us dry again!

PLENTY OF GEAR… AND NOT MUCH SLEEP

The lads arrived on Saturday and started fishing that evening.

I always think I’ve got too much fishing gear, but after seeing what these three turned up with, I’m not so sure anymore!

Gary had also done all the driving to get them here, so a decent night’s sleep would probably have been welcome. Unfortunately for him, Matt had other ideas and apparently spent most of Saturday night snoring and keeping him awake.

Then the alarms started going around 4am!

Needless to say, Gary was fairly knackered for the first couple of days.

By Sunday morning the lads were already off the mark. Gary opened his account with a 33lb 13oz mirror, while Luke had made an even quicker start with a 20lb common and a 47lb mirror.

Matt, meanwhile, was finding Swim 5 a different proposition.

MONDAY – THE BETTER FISH START ARRIVING

Gary had decided from the off that he wasn’t going to be shy with the bait. He put a good amount in early and then each evening went round and topped the spots up again, mainly with boilie.

Once the carp found it, they seemed happy to keep returning.

Monday brought two more fish for Gary, including a cracking 59lb 8oz mirror and another low-40 mirror.

The low-40 provided one of those moments that is funny afterwards rather than necessarily at the time. While everyone was getting the camera and gear sorted, the fish managed to slip out of the retainer.

Apparently somebody had forgotten to zip one end up!

Fortunately it had already been landed and secured, although we never got an exact weight before it made its own way home.

Luke was having a very good spell himself in Swim 4. His Monday produced another brace, this time a 52lb common and a 42lb mirror.

By this point there was one angler becoming increasingly aware of what was happening around him.

Matt.

TUESDAY – TIME TO GO STALKING

Watching Gary and Luke catching while your own rods remain quiet is never easy, and by Tuesday Matt was starting to panic a little.

We’d already been looking at whether something about his presentation in Swim 5 might be causing him problems. The area he was fishing was quite rocky and he was using a stiff fluorocarbon hooklink. On that sort of bottom it’s always possible for something to sit awkwardly or stick up rather than lie how you’d like it.

Were the carp getting away with it and sussing him out? Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes in carp fishing you simply never know.

What mattered was that Matt didn’t just sit there waiting for something to change. He used his initiative, grabbed the stalking gear and went looking for them.

That proved to be exactly the right decision.

He found fish around Swim 3, and on one occasion cast towards a showing fish and received a take very shortly afterwards.

His first stalking spell produced two mirrors of 39lb and 34lb.

Suddenly he was off the mark.

Gary’s baited area continued producing as well, with another two commons at 42lb and 34lb 6oz, while Luke finally experienced a quieter night after his productive start.

WEDNESDAY – VERY CLOSE TO A GRAFFEUIL PB

Gary’s steady baiting approach continued to pay dividends.

First came a 37lb common, but the other fish was something rather more substantial.

A cracking 67lb 10oz common.

Remarkably, that put Gary just 6oz short of his 68lb personal best, which he also caught here last year.

Getting that close to a PB is always bittersweet, but a 67lb 10oz common certainly isn’t something you’re going to complain about!

Luke also kept his tally moving with a 38lb mirror.

Wednesday night brought another change. Thunder and electrical storms were around, the wind picked up and the fishing became much less straightforward.

Gary actually had a take during the night but didn’t properly wake to it. With the wind making his alarms bleep, he’d assumed that was all he was hearing.

When he realised what had actually happened, he was gutted.

One of those painful carp-fishing moments.

THURSDAY – BIG FISH IN THE SHALLOWS

Matt continued searching with the stalking rod and could see carp in the shallower water. He reckoned there were some very big fish amongst them too.

Seeing them is one thing. Getting one to pick your hookbait up is another.

Despite getting himself amongst them, he couldn’t manufacture another chance.

Gary was also quiet, but Luke kept his week ticking along nicely with another brace of mirrors at 48lb and 35lb.

The conditions were gradually beginning to feel better. More cloud was coming in and we finally saw a little rain. Nothing substantial, but enough for the atmosphere around the lake to feel different.

And as so often happens, when it started feeling better to us, the carp seemed to agree.

FRIDAY – THE FISH SWITCH ON AGAIN

Friday simply looked good for a bite.

And it was.

Gary landed a lovely 51lb common, while Luke had a 50lb mirror. I happened to be doing my morning walk-round at just the right time and photographed both fish for them.

Matt’s persistence with the stalking rod paid off again too.

Rather than sitting behind motionless rods in Swim 5, he continued looking for opportunities and landed another two mirrors at 34lb and 40lb 8oz.

That meant Matt finished with four carp and, importantly, every single one came from stalking.

Considering how frustrated he’d been earlier in the week, turning a difficult session into four fish by going and finding them himself was a good result.

But the week’s biggest drama was still to come…

ONE LAST TAKE…

Later on Friday afternoon, after already banking his 50, Luke had another take.

The fish found a snag.

Luke waded out initially, but it soon became apparent this wasn’t going to be sorted that easily. Kelly was with him on her walk-round, so Luke grabbed a life jacket, got the boat out and went after it.

He managed to free the line and the fight resumed from the boat.

And it just kept going.

The fish was towing Luke up and down the lake between Swims 3 and 4. Each time he thought he was getting somewhere near being able to slip the net under it, the fish would turn and strip several yards of line again.

By this point I’d been called down and started filming the battle.

Luke had already been attached to it for a long time, and I must have filmed around 15 minutes myself. In total, he played that fish for somewhere around an hour.

The problem was that the wind was now pumping down towards Swim 1, making the boat increasingly difficult to control.

Eventually the fish managed to snag Luke again.

He worked his way back towards it and things had reached the point where I was preparing to get on the paddleboard and head out to help.

Then the hook pulled.

After an hour of effort, that was it.

Everyone was gutted.

We’ll never know which carp Luke had been attached to, and there’s no point guessing at a weight. But after watching the battle it gave him, it certainly left all of us wondering.

That’s carp fishing.

By around 4:30pm Friday, the rods were finally wound in. The lads packed everything away, got themselves fed and showered and left us at around 11pm for their early Saturday morning ferry.

🎣 FINAL TALLY

Matt – 4 carp: 39lb M | 34lb M | 34lb M | 40lb 8oz M

Gary – 8 carp: 33lb 13oz M | 59lb 8oz M | Low-40 M | 42lb C | 34lb 6oz C | 37lb C | 67lb 10oz C | 51lb C

Luke – 8 carp: 20lb C | 47lb M | 52lb C | 42lb M | 38lb M | 48lb M | 35lb M | 50lb M

20 CARP LANDED | 13 MIRRORS | 7 COMMONS

20s: 1 | 30s: 8 | 40s: 6 | 50s: 4 | 60s: 1

🏆 JOINT TOP RODS – GARY & LUKE – 8 CARP EACH

🏆 BIGGEST FISH – GARY – 67LB 10OZ COMMON

A really enjoyable week to watch develop. Gary’s regular baiting kept the fish visiting his area, Luke quietly put together a very consistent week in Swim 4, and Matt deserves credit for refusing to sit behind motionless rods and instead going looking for his chances.

The change later in the week seemed to help everybody. A bit more cloud, a touch of rain and generally fresher-feeling conditions coincided with the better spell, with Gary and Luke managing two-fish days and Matt taking two fish on each of his successful stalking trips.

20 carp, some cracking 50s, a 67lb 10oz common, four stalking captures and one mystery fish that will probably keep Luke wondering for a while yet.

Not a bad week’s fishing at Graffeuil.

Martin & Kelly

22/08/2026

🎣 7 CARP CAUGHT TO 56LB 🎣

FAMILY TIME, BAITING PAYS OFF & A STRONG FINISH FOR LEE “AKA” SPOONER

LE MOULIN DE GRAFFEUIL CATCH REPORT

BLOG NO. 11 | WEEK COMMENCING 15TH AUGUST 2026

It was a slightly different sort of week at Graffeuil this time around, with Lee “AKA” Spooner returning to the lake, but instead of the usual fishing mates he brought wife Sarah and 11-year-old daughter Isabella along for their first visit.

This was always going to be as much a family holiday as a fishing trip, and Lee had already decided the rods would take a back seat during the days. His plan was simple: fish the nights, spend the days with Sarah and Isabella, and make the hours he did have on the bank count.

And to be fair, with seven carp to 56lb from the limited time he actually fished, he didn’t do too badly!

The weather had changed considerably from the serious heat we’d experienced immediately beforehand. Temperatures were still around the low 30s at the beginning of the week, but there was a definite change in the air as the days went on. A couple of short spells of rain came through during the week, perhaps half an hour to an hour each time, but nothing substantial. The biggest difference was first thing in the morning and during the evenings. It almost felt as though autumn had arrived overnight.

The carp certainly seemed to notice the change as well.

Settling In

Saturday was mainly about getting settled.

Lee went into Swim 5, but there was no mad rush to get the rods out. Sarah and Isabella had never been to Graffeuil before, so they spent some time exploring and seeing what the place had to offer while Lee got himself organised.

Lee has been here plenty of times before, of course, although normally with fishing mates rather than on family-holiday duties!

The fish were certainly active. There were carp boshing out regularly and plenty of movement around the lake. Early in the week they appeared to be spending quite a bit of time higher in the water, and our feeling was that they could well have been feeding on naturals or some sort of hatch.

Whatever they were doing, they certainly weren’t hiding.

Lee eventually got the rods sorted for the night, and at 3:15am on Sunday morning he was off the mark.

The result was a cracking 56lb mirror.

Interestingly, it wasn’t a fish we recognised and Lee couldn’t find a tag on it either, so we’ll leave that one as an unidentified Graffeuil mirror rather than guessing which fish it might be.

Not a bad first bite of the holiday though – and as it turned out, it would also be the biggest fish of the week.

With the rods packed away for the daytime, Sunday was family time and the three of them headed off to the floating inflatable obstacle course at Lac Grand for the day.

Another Fish Before a Move

Lee was back behind the rods on Sunday night and Monday morning brought his second bite of the trip, this time a 36lb common.

After that fish, he decided to make a change and moved from Swim 5 into Swim 4.

Monday’s daytime adventure for the Spooner family was the tree-top adventure park at Massignac, before Lee returned to fish Swim 4 that night.

The move didn’t produce the hoped-for instant result.

Tuesday was another blank night in 4, and during the day Lee, Sarah and Isabella headed off to Brantôme for some kayaking.

What Lee was doing while he wasn’t fishing, however, would become quite important later in the week.

Rather than simply baiting the swim he was occupying, he kept a steady trickle of bait going into several areas of the lake.

With Lee away from the water for much of each day, there were no lines sitting over those spots and no pressure on the fish. They could find the bait, feed on it and move away without being disturbed.

Sometimes leaving them alone can be every bit as useful as sitting behind three rods all day.

Back to Swim 5

After two quiet nights in Swim 4, Lee moved back into Swim 5.

Wednesday was a quieter family day, with some time spent cooling off around the pool at Graffeuil, before Lee headed back down to the lake for the night.

This time he had company.

Isabella decided to sleep down at the lake with Dad for the night, which proved to be pretty good timing.

By now there were signs that the baiting was beginning to have an effect. Earlier in the week we’d seen plenty of fish activity higher in the water, but things were starting to look different. There was a lot more fizzing over the baited areas, and there wasn’t much doubt that the carp were now getting their heads down on Lee’s bait.

Thursday morning proved it.

By 9:45am Lee had banked three carp.

A superb 51lb 8oz common, backed up by a 49lb mirror and a 25lb mirror.

Best of all, Isabella was there to see a Graffeuil carp on the bank and help Dad with the weighing.

That’s the sort of memory that matters far more than another night spent chasing numbers.

Three fish banked, Lee packed the rods away again and Thursday became a proper chill day with Sarah and Isabella.

One Last Morning… and One Last Chance

By Friday morning the week had flown by, but there was still time for another bite.

At around 7:30am, Lee slipped the net under a 42lb 8oz mirror, taking his tally to six carp.

That was supposed to be pretty much it.

The main gear was packed away and the family headed off to visit Oradour-sur-Glane for the day.

When they returned, however, Lee still had a few hours of daylight left.

You know how this goes.

The gear might have been packed away, but if there’s still water in front of you and carp to be caught, you’re not quite finished.

So Lee spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening doing a bit of stalking in Swim 1.

There were a few heart-stopping moments along the way. Lee had several savage line bites that looked for all the world like proper takes, only to hit them a little too quickly and discover the fish had simply brushed through the line.

Eventually, though, at around 8pm, one really did go.

This time there was no mistake.

A 38lb common was the reward and became Lee’s seventh and final carp of the trip.

A very nice way to finish a week where the actual fishing time had been pretty limited.

Fishing Around the Family

What made Lee’s result particularly good was the way the whole week was approached.

He wasn’t fishing 24 hours a day. Far from it.

Most mornings the rods came in and the family headed off together. There was kayaking at Brantôme, the inflatables at Lac Grand, the tree-top adventure park at Massignac, the visit to Oradour-sur-Glane and a couple of opportunities to cool off around the pool here at the Moulin.

Lee didn’t even fish through Thursday or Friday night, only fishing until dark where possible.

The nights he did fish were generally spent down at the lake on his own, with Wednesday being the exception when Isabella joined him.

Meanwhile, that steady baiting approach kept working in the background. With bait regularly going into several areas and long periods with no lines in the water, the carp had plenty of opportunity to become confident.

By the latter part of the week, the amount of fizzing told its own story.

They were on it.

Lee summed the holiday up nicely himself when he said he’ll probably need another holiday when he gets home just to recover from this one!

A Graffeuil Prototype Gets a Proper Test!

We also owe Lee a big thank-you for some work he’s done for us away from the fishing.

Lee is a steelworker and runs his own company, and he’s made us a couple of new grills for the lake inlet, along with a prototype weigh station which we’ve now fitted in Swim 5.

The idea is to trial this first one properly, see how we get on with it and decide whether anything needs altering before having more made for around the lake.

Naturally, it needed load testing.

Enter Sarah.

Lee actually lifted Sarah in it to prove it was up to the job. We’re definitely not suggesting Sarah is big – we’ll just say the test confirmed that the weigh station should cope perfectly well with a large Graffeuil carp!

Thanks again, Lee. It’s genuinely appreciated and we’ll see how the prototype performs over the coming weeks.

Final Catch Tally

56lb Mirror | 51lb 8oz Common | 49lb Mirror | 42lb 8oz Mirror | 38lb Common | 36lb Common | 25lb Mirror

7 Carp Total | 4 Mirrors | 3 Commons

50lb+ — 2 | 40s — 2 | 30s — 2 | 20s — 1

At 6am Saturday morning, that was it and the Spooner family were on their way home.

A really enjoyable week and a good example of how you don’t necessarily have to spend every waking hour sitting behind the rods. Lee kept the bait going in, gave areas plenty of undisturbed time, watched what the fish were doing and made his fishing hours count.

Seven carp to 56lb, plenty of family adventures, Isabella getting to share a night on the bank with Dad, and Sarah successfully load-testing our new weigh station.

Not a bad family holiday at all.

Thanks for coming back, Lee, and it was lovely to welcome Sarah and Isabella to Graffeuil for the first time.

And Now for This Week…

We’ve got three lads from Manchester with us this week – Matt, Gary and Luke – and all three have been to Graffeuil before.

Judging by the way they arrived, I’d say they’ve got a plan.

There was no walk around the lake wondering where to go. They already knew exactly where they wanted to be before they even got here. Gear sorted, trailers loaded and straight into their chosen swims.

Matt and Gary are in Swim 5, with Luke next door in Swim 4.

Now, I always thought I carried a lot of gear.

Bloody hell, these boys put me to shame.

Three trailer loads into the swim!

I’m told these lads either still hold, or certainly did hold, the Graffeuil record for the most carp caught during a week, with an incredible 63 carp on a previous trip.

So they’ve been here before, they know the lake, they’ve arrived knowing exactly where they want to fish and it certainly looks like they mean business.

Whether the carp have read the script is another matter…

Watch this space.

Martin & Kelly
Le Moulin de Graffeuil

16/08/2026

R&R at Graffeuil – Although Nobody Told the Mower!

W/C 8th August – Le Moulin de Graffeuil

This week was supposed to be an R&R week here at Graffeuil, with no guests fishing and a bit of time for Kelly and me to catch up with ourselves.

Well… the R&R part might have been stretching it a bit!

With another set of guests arriving on Saturday, there was plenty to get through, and after weeks of relentless heat and dry weather we were already well behind with some of the outside jobs.

The heat ramped straight back up again, with hot and humid conditions pushing into the high 30s and making any physical work hard going. The ground was absolutely parched and you only had to look around the place to see how desperately we needed some proper rain.

Calling what I was cutting grass would probably be generous. Most of the grass has gone yellow, so really it was more like w**d cutting!

Because of the restrictions on using machinery we’d fallen well behind, so once I could get going I spent most of the week trying to claw some of it back with the push-on mower.

To make matters slightly more entertaining, the self-propelled drive has decided it doesn’t want to work.

So there I was, pushing the thing around in temperatures in the high 30s, over ground that’s absolutely bone dry. Every pass kicked up another cloud of brown dust until, by the end of the day, I looked like I’d been rolled around in the lake margins.

Head to foot in it.

Lovely job!

Every Drop Counts

Water has become a massive consideration as well.

With the hosepipe ban now in place, we’ve got to be really careful with the swimming pool. In this heat the evaporation has been incredible and previously we were topping it up every few days just to keep the level where it needed to be.

Thankfully we’ve now got a bubble cover for it and that’s made a massive difference.

The pool water is currently sitting at around 34°C, so we’re keeping the cover on all the time unless somebody is actually using the pool. As soon as they’re finished, it goes straight back on.

For anybody with a booking coming up, please bear this in mind and help us conserve the water where possible.

Once the level drops below the skimmer we can’t filter the pool properly, so keeping that water in there is really important while these restrictions and exceptionally dry conditions continue.

Meanwhile, Down at the Lake…

The wild boar are still proving to be a right nuisance.

They’ve been getting onto the very edges of the banks in front of Swims 1 and 2, and they’re that heavy that sections of the bank have actually started giving way under them.

It’s another job for the list!

And that list never seems to get any shorter.

I’ve started to realise that’s probably one of the biggest things I’m having to learn about this new life.

Before coming here, plumbing and heating was all I really knew. In the early days I’d work seven days a week. You’d start a job, get stuck into it, finish it and move onto the next one.

Running Graffeuil is completely different.

There will always be something that needs doing.

You could work from daylight until dark every single day and still find another ten jobs waiting for you tomorrow. I’m slowly learning that you can’t look at it like that. Do a few things every day, keep moving forwards and it’s surprising how much actually gets done.

And, probably most importantly, I’m learning to slow down occasionally and actually take in where we are.

To embrace the place and the nature around us rather than constantly thinking about the next job.

I’m getting there…

Five Minutes Was All It Took

Although apparently my idea of slowing down still involves cutting grass.

While I was working around Swim 5, I decided to stick a rod out for an hour.

Believe it or not, I think that’s only about the fifth time I’ve actually put a rod out for myself since we’ve owned Graffeuil. Even when I’m sitting beside the lake, my head is normally telling me there are jobs I could be getting on with.

Anyway, the rod hadn’t been out five minutes when the clutch started ticking.

Not a screaming take.

Just that slow, deliberate click… click… click…

A proper big-fish take.

I picked the rod up and as soon as I lifted into it I knew straight away it was a good’un.

After a steady battle I eventually slipped the net under a cracking 65lb common.

65lb on the nose.

Not bad for five minutes’ fishing while cutting the grass!

Maybe I should do it more often.

Life Away From the Rods

Kelly certainly wasn’t putting her feet up either. While I was outside fighting the mower, w**ds, heat and dust, she was busy giving the gîte a proper deep clean ready for the next guests.

We also had another visit this week connected with the gîte star rating, and that’s all come back now, which should hopefully save us a few pennies on the tax side of things.

The French lessons are continuing too and have become a weekly fixture for both of us now.

Our Thursday lessons are having a little two-week R&R of their own though, as our teacher is away on holiday.

In fact, I’m rapidly discovering that August in France means August in France!

I desperately need another load of pellet and seemingly everybody disappears on holiday at once. Thankfully my good mate Mark Fenner tells me they’re back open on the 20th August, so we’ll have to hang on until then.

I must give Mark a mention actually.

Since we started this whole adventure he’s been a bit of a mentor to me when it comes to running a lake. He’s always been at the end of the phone to talk things through and offer advice, and his knowledge and experience have been invaluable.

The same goes for Tony and Helen, who are still there whenever we’ve got a question.

Coming from plumbing and heating into running a fishery and holiday business in France is about as different as it gets, so having experienced people around us who are happy to help makes a massive difference.

We’re learning all the time.

And we’re loving it.

And Then the Storm Finally Arrived…

We’d had a few storms rumbling around during the week. Plenty of thunder and lightning, but frustratingly no proper rain.

And rain is exactly what we desperately needed.

The ground was absolutely parched, everything was covered in dust and you could almost feel the atmosphere building each time a storm came close, only for it to pass us by again.

Then, with our next guests arriving on Saturday, it finally broke properly.

Lee arrived with his wife Sarah and daughter Isabella, ready for their week at Graffeuil.

Lee was nice and steady getting himself sorted. There was no mad rush to get down the lake and get rods out. He took his time, got everything organised and eventually headed down just before dark.

He set his main camp up in Swim 5, left some stalking gear down in the shallows and settled in for the night.

After the heat we’d had all week, the atmosphere had been getting heavier and heavier and, during the night, the storm we’d been waiting for finally arrived.

And this time it wasn’t just a bit of thunder and lightning.

It absolutely chucked it down.

I woke in the middle of the night to clapping thunder and quickly realised I was absolutely sweating my t**s off. The house was pitch black and it didn’t take long to work out that the electric had tripped — which also explained why the fan in our bedroom had stopped and I was slowly cooking!

So there I was, creeping downstairs in complete darkness, arms out in front of me feeling my way down until I eventually found a headtorch.

I got the electric back on, opened the bathroom window, got the fan going again and headed back to bed.

By now the storm was properly going for it outside.

Lying there at about 2am, listening to the rain hammering down, my thoughts turned to Lee sitting down there in Swim 5.

I remember laughing to myself thinking, if he gets one in this he’s going to be absolutely soaked.

Then I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Fast forward to about 7am and I woke up, checked my phone and there was a message from Lee.

Along with a photo.

He was apologising because the pictures weren’t the best — hardly surprising considering it was absolutely hacking it down when he took them!

And there on the mat was a cracking 56lb mirror.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

While I’d been tucked back up in bed after getting my fan working again, Lee had been out there right in the middle of it doing battle with his first Graffeuil carp of the trip.

And what a way to start.

First night, thunder rolling around, rain absolutely hammering down and a 56lb mirror on the bank.

Not bad at all.

Well done, Lee.

After spending most of the week desperate for some proper rain, it had finally arrived — and Lee had certainly got the full experience of it!

A Different Sort of Week for Lee

With the ground finally getting the soaking it badly needed and a 56lb mirror already banked on his first night, our R&R week had come to an end and another week at Graffeuil had begun.

It’ll be a slightly different trip for Lee this time around though. He’s here with Sarah and Isabella, rather than one of his usual trips with the lads or Jim Shelley, so fishing isn’t going to be the be-all and end-all of the week.

This morning the rods were reeled in and the three of them headed off to a local public water for a bit of paddle boarding and fun on the inflatables.

Lee’s still got one eye on the carp though.

Before heading out he’s been putting a bit of bait into his swim, quietly priming the spots while they’re away enjoying some family time.

So this week will probably be a bit more about finding that balance — enjoying some proper family time together, doing a bit of fishing when it suits and keeping the swim ticking over in between.

Although with a 56lb mirror on the first night, he’s already got the week off to a pretty decent start!

Plenty Still to Come

There’s still loads for Kelly and me to get through. The strimming needs catching up with, the maintenance list isn’t getting any shorter and I’m slowly accepting that there probably isn’t such a thing as actually finishing all the jobs when you own a place like this.

But we’re learning.

We’re learning to work at a steadier pace, get a few jobs ticked off each day and, most importantly, occasionally stop and appreciate where we are.

Coming from years of plumbing and heating, working long hours and going straight from one finished job onto the next, this is a completely different way of life for me.

But we’re embracing every minute of it.

We’re certainly not frightened of a bit of hard work or a challenge.

And there’s plenty happening behind the scenes as well.

We’ve got some really exciting things coming up at Graffeuil. I’m not going to spoil anything just yet because everything needs to go through properly and the work needs to get underway first.

So I’ll leave that one there for now…

Watch this space.

For the moment, we’ve finally had the rain we’ve been crying out for, the ground has had a much-needed drink, Lee, Sarah and Isabella are settled in and another week at Graffeuil is underway.

Let’s see what it brings.

Martin & Kelly
Le Moulin de Graffeuil