The drive from Le Mans to Breton was only an hour or so, but along the way a couple of important stops had to be made. First port of call was to find a McDonalds for Mark. Although well known for his sleeping abilities, I'm pretty sure his love of junk food runs it a close second. The second stop was to be at Laval Peche, the tackle shop in Laval (funnily enough)! After 2 litres of red & white maggots were purchased we were soon heading up the road to Paul's lakes just 20 minutes away.

Being my 3rd visit to the lakes I knew the way and we soon cut through the narrow country lanes and arrived at the big red gates (believe me, make sure you get good directions if you go, it really is in the middle of nowhere).

"Well, what do you think of that then?" I said to Mark as we drove along the edge of Poplars Lake.

"Nice, very nice" came the reply.

Although only just 3 acres in size and the trees not in full spring mode, the lake still had a certain "je ne sais quois" about it and looked as good as it did the first time I saw it last July.

"Let's have a walk round both lakes first then get the gear out"

As we strolled round the lake it was pretty evident that the fish were well spread out. Every few metres a fish would roll or boil as we came to a tree or reeds in the water and a number of fish rolled in the middle of the lake, disturbed from their 'sunbathing' as they basked in the mid afternoon sun. Although sunny, the wind was quite a cold north-easterly. Thankfully though, the trees around the lake held the worst of the winds at bay and I was confident that they would not play to much havoc with the fish and their feeding habits. My confidence was also boosted by the fact that since my last visit, Paul has stocked a good number of 20's and 30's with a good number of 30's being big commons.

A couple of hours later, and our bivvies were up and rods were out. Mark was fishing the 'Pads swim' nearest the car park and I went in the 'Middles'. Bait and tactics were similar to Le Mans - I was using NRG on 2 rods and Activ-8 on the third fished in conjunction with a PVA bag of pellet and crushed boilie. These were fished over a small bed of pellet, hemp, boilie & groat mix in the margin tree line to my left and right some 15 feet either side. The third rod was cast to a bush on the far bank with a smattering of boilies.
Mark fished along the same lines finding a couple of nice near & far bank features and then open water with his third. Bait for Mark was 'AJ's Pastiemix' again with bag & pellet.

Fish continued to show and within a couple of hours they was some major activity over one of Marks baited areas. Bbbeep…bbeeepppp! A run, and Mark was soon into a fish, 10 seconds later and it was in the net - a beautiful common carp of about 1lb! "Me thinks that is one of the bred-ons which got missed in the netting" I said to Mark as he 'admired' his first fish of the trip. Although a beautiful fish, it was not exactly what he was hoping for. "Don't worry mate, they can't get any smaller, you'll soon be holding a lump…"

Within no time, the sun had gone and the cold wind had more of impact on my face. By 8:30pm my eyelids were starting to drop, the antics of last night on Le Mans and the early morning pictures were taking their toll and I bid Mark good night and got into the bag, I was asleep in seconds! And what felt like only a few minutes later, I was playing a fish on the right hand rod. Yeeehaaa! A good fight followed the run and within a short while my first fish rolled into the net - onto the mat, up on the scales a 28lb mirror. I 'skipped' the few short paces to Mark and said; "can you do some piccies mate?" Job done, and my prize was soon powering away as I put it back into the lake. Fresh bait on, re-cast and back in the bag, again, I was asleep in no time. Two hours later and I was up again. This time something had taken a liking to the bait on the left hand rod. Embarrassment crept over me as I made my way to Mark "Can you do some piccies mate…?"
"Yeah, sure, what you had?"
"Another 28".

The rest of the night passed by uneventfully for me and I slept like a baby until about 7am. Cuppa in hand, I made my way to Mark to see if he had been in action through the night. "Had anything?"
"Yes", came the reply from the talking sleeping bag. "Five, scraper doubles"!
"They are getting bigger though" I said nervously in reply, I hate to see friends struggling, especially when I am getting lucky.

As I walked back to my swim the cold wind bit hard on my face, and looking at the low cloud obscuring the early morning sun it was going to be a chilly day ahead. I sat on my chair finishing my coffee when I was soon alerted to another run on the right had rod by a warbling delkim. A spirited, albeit short fight ensued and within a few minutes a mid double common was having it's picture taken for the log book. Fortunately, I did not have to ask this time as Mark was woken by the run. Darkness was upon us once again in no time as the day had gone by with no further action, unless of course you count catching roach livebaits on a size 20 action!

11:30pm - "Can you do some piccies mate…?" 27.12 mirror; right hand rod.

4:30am - "Can you do some piccies mate…?" 29.2 mirror; left hand rod.

9:45am - "Can you do some piccies mate…?" 14.8 common; right hand rod.

10:15am - "Damn, sod and bugger it!" Catfish on left hand rod, broke the surface on picking up the boilie (not difficult as I was in 3 feet of water) and the hook pulled out as it turned to run.

Once again, the day passed with no action from the carp, however, it was a much warmer day and a couple of cat rods were put out with some polyballed roach live-baits on as a few of the lakes cats could be seen striking at fish on the surface. Mid afternoon and a huge mouth came up beside my bait and smacked the surface as it thought it had engulfed the bait. Much to my annoyance though, it had completely missed the roach and swam off never to show its face again. "Must have been the fish known as 'one eye'" I said to Mark as we both stood gobsmacked.

As we sat eating the dinner of Fillet Steak and Saute potatoes I cooked for us both, the discussion as you'd expect was all things carpy, and in particular, why were we getting no day time action? Although a warm sun, that wind really did have some sting in it at times and we were both sure that the carp although visible round the lake they were still in 'winter' mode and needed something to wake them up a bit. And why was I getting all the action and just on my near margin rods?

11:30pm - 17.2 mirror…..yes, you guessed it, right hand rod.

1:30am - "Can you do some piccies mate…?" 25.8 mirror; left hand rod.

As I laid back down on my bed chair, I cringed at what I thought Mark must be thinking and feeling right now. And as I mulled over the situation, there was nothing that could be causing the difference other than luck. I pondered it for a short while longer until the eyelids snapped shut and sleep overcame me.

2:30am - "Paddy, can you do some piccies mate…?" It was music to my ears and a sight to behold as finally Mark was rewarded with a fine looking mirror of 25lb+. With the fish safely back after a good few shots were rattled off, I shook him by the hand and prayed this was the start off better things for him.

8:30am the same 17.2 mirror that I had 9 hours before but this time it fell to the left hand rod!

Daylight was soon upon us and as I sat drinking a cuppa, I watched a number of kingfishers working the lake and a couple of woodpeckers battering an old tree some 20 feet to my left. Although early morning, the tranquillity at Breton never changes and these are sights than can be witnessed all day long without fear of disturbance. With only 2 days & 2 nights left before going home, I sat thinking of a new 'game plan' to try and entice further action and in particular, get a fish or two during the day and from the far bank swim. Within no time a 5 kilo bucket of scalded pellet, crumbed boilie and a little bit of hemp & groats was being mixed together, and after a short walk round to the other side of the lake the whole lot was put in beside the bush I had been fishing to for 3 nights without a touch. It looked too fishy a spot to move the bait away from so I was going for 'shit or bust' and hoped my instincts were right.

Paul arrived mid morning with his wife and children and after a chat with Mark & myself about the events so far. He made his way to the cabin to get some shut-eye after their long journey from Cheshire.
We continued to talk further and after telling Mark of my heavy baiting plans he also decided a new approach was on the cards and moved into the swim on my left.

Mid day arrived, and as I sat in the glorious sunshine we were now experiencing, my attention was soon focused on the baited area on the far bank. As I sat watching, the surface started to rock and a number of patches of bubbles were breaking the surface…I looked at the middle. It just had to go rattling off.

10 minutes later and the middle swinger hit the deck on a drop back before climbing slowly, signalled by the familiar tone of the delk. An enjoyable tussle continued for some 10 minutes and my first 'daytime' Breton fish of the trip was soon being photographed 23.7 mirror. Hopes were high of further action from this spot during the day and I offered Mark the left-hand side of this area to put a bait on.

Nighttime came and the anticipated rush of action had not materialised during the day or early evening.

8:45pm fish lost on left hand rod.

9.15pm fish lost on right hand rod.

What's going on now? Fresh rigs on, checked and double-checked and I settled down for some sleep feeling unwell as I think I had got a bit of sun stroke.
Although the temperature now was rapidly cooling me down as we settled in for another night of near zero temperature.

2am and a run from the baited area resulted in a 21.8 mirror, picture on the mat this time, as I could not wake him up again! 3 more fish followed in quick succession; an 18, 19.10 and a 22.5. Then I managed to drop another 2 fish in the space of 30 minutes! I'm sure I could have had more, but still feeling unwell I did not bother recasting after those lost fish and had a lay in.

Friday night, our last of the trip, was soon upon us as another day of no action passed quickly by.

10:15pm "Can you do some piccies mate…?" 23.8 mirror off the baited area far bank and like last night I took another 3 fish after this one at 24, 21 & 21.

Although the week was very, very enjoyable and a much-needed break from work, I could not help but wonder why we had not picked up any of the 30's that were resident in the lake? Was it the fluctuating temperatures? Were they still in winter mood and relying on body fat? Why was I picking up all the fish? Were the 4 lost fish all 30's? How was I going to fluke one out with only 5 hours fishing left before having to pack up?
With all these thoughts running round my head, I laid down on the bedchair and drifted off to sleep.

5:45am and I was woken by an absolute belting take from the far bank rod. I picked up the rod and leaned in to the fish. "Whoohaaa" this feels bigger! A good solid weight was ploughing up and down the lake in front of me and the thought of a cat flashed through my mind. 10 minutes later and I was in control and slowly bringing the fish to the waiting net. "Easy does it" I said to myself as I gave it a bit more butt to get it's head up and the fish obliged at the first request…Yessss! It was one of the big commons. A foot from the net it powered off only to be repeated twice more. I was soon in control again and as it wallowed towards the net the un-thinkable happened, the hook pulled. I could have scooped the fish as it just sat there for about 3 seconds, almost as shocked as me as to what had happened. Instead, I just watched it turn and slowly swim away and with a flick of its broad tail it was gone.

Five minutes later, I could be found banging my head on the nearest tree, why did I not scoop it up? Why?
It's not the done thing is it?

2 hours later, the car was loaded, and as we drove out of the gates I'm sure I saw that common waving goodbye. "I'll be back" I said "and I'll get you next time"!