Dorian – carp of the month
Wow what a month October has been for carp captures at Villefond !
As I reported last month the fish had finally finished what had been a drawn out spawning ritual & since then they have been heavily on the feed and are really piling the weight on.
If I had to pick a top week through October it would be the fantastic session put in by returning customer Nick Johnson and his friend Dave Proctor who between them caught 16 fish.
Their catch included;
*  one double which has grown on in the lake
*  1 x 20
*  6 x 30’s to 39lb 10oz
*  6 x 40’s to 47lb 8oz
*  2 x 50’s. Arnold at a mirror carp lake record of 52lb 10oz and the Mighty Arthur at 54lb 7oz
Great fishing guys!
With Arnold generally considered to be the second biggest mirror in the lake this record could be short lived if Bennett’s makes an appearance before the fish spawn next – so watch this space!
Nick and Dave’s great week of fishing leads into the fish of the month section nicely as I have chosen a fish they caught on their final night of fishing.
Carp of the month
My fish of the month for October is a fish now named Dorian after the lead character in Oscar Wildes novel “The Painting of Dorian Gray” The link between the fish and Dorian Gray is the fact the fish is one of the lakes 2 big Grey coloured mirror’s.
Dorian was actually the first Villefond fish to officially top the 40lb barrier when she was caught by the lake manager Mark Lambert at 42lb in 2009.
She has been a tricky one to follow the growth of as after that capture she went through a spell of only slipping up once a year and this was always directly after spawning. That was the case until this year.
In 2012 so far Dorian has graced the bank 5 times, but again most of those have been at low spawned out weights with the exception of Nicks recent capture of the fish this month where she weighed in at 45lb 12oz.  Being such a long fish she will almost certainly put on a little more as the fish feed up in the coming months.
Dorian is a truly stunning carp, long, lean and with linear scales from the tail to nearly half way up her flanks.  She also has that slate grey colouring that makes her really stand out when spotted amongst other fish in the water. A stunning fish definitely worthy of being October’s fish of the month.
Carp fishing in France at Villefond