Mick’s Mirror at 43.04
Quick Review
During January Villefond owner John Lambert, Lake Manager Mark Lambert and a friend Gavin Rose have spent a few short sessions on Lac Du Villefond field testing the range of baits that are available to our customers. Despite the cold winter weather the Villefond fish have been feeding well and on there first 24hr session eight fish were banked all over 30lb and four of these over 40lb. The next session was a day only session and the guys still managed four fish, two 40’s to 44lb one 30 and one 20+ common.
This is good fishing for any time of year but especially during the winter months and really shows the quality of the bait and how much the fish like to eat it. With 50% of the fish caught being over 40lb in these first short sessions of the year, Villefond is looking like having another good year with fish reaching even higher weights. And with the lakes real biggun’s yet to make an appearance and so many fish still never to have graced the bank anything is possible in 2012… so watch this space!
Fish of the month
This fish of the month sector will be a regular segment from now on and my choice will not just be decided by size. For me fish of the month does not equate to biggest fish banked that month. I will take into account many factors for example fish that are rare visitors to the bank, fish that are particularly stunning, fish of the month maybe one of the lakes real unique characters, it maybe a fish that has shown massive weight gains or simply a fish caught in bizarre circumstances.
Despite only a few sessions being fished on the lake through January my choice for this month has been a tough one as some of the lakes character fish such as Pink Flash and Nemo have already been banked. Also several fish have topped the 40lb barrier for the first time and one of our 2011 stockies that was stocked at 24lb has been banked over 30lb for the first time… a huge growth in just one short year.
The carp I have chosen as my fish of the month for January 2012 is a fish known as Mick’s Mirror - to call this fish elusive is an understatement. Mick’s Mirror did not grace the bank for several years after stocking and when it did it already weighed a hefty 36lb, it seemed to be a fish destined for big weight gains. But strangely the fish just disappeared.
She went the best part of two years before slipping up again in the beginning of March 2011. The strange thing about the capture was her weight had stayed around the same, in fact she weighed a little less at 34lb 5oz, so it appeared she may have peaked. Nearly a full year has passed since that capture and this tricky fish has made yet another winter mistake.
There is one thing about this capture that is glaringly different however, instead of Mick’s Mirror remaining at a steady weight, in the long time between captures this time its weight has rocketed weighing in at an awesome 43lb 4oz. This is a weight gain of nearly 10lb in less than a year.
Although it once seemed that she was avoiding angler’s baits and therefore avoiding capture it would now seem she is just getting away with it. Like many of the big Villefond fish she has become quite clever. What a lot of the big fish seem to be doing is once hooked instead of running for freedom they sit put and try to shed the hook. That was certainly the case for this capture and the only indication given was one beep and several violent knocks on the rod tip. Some may easily have dismissed this as nothing more than a line bite.