OCT 2011

The year has flown by and what a successful year to date, we have been fully booked most of the year and the fishing has been very good. Here are a few pictures of some of our larger residents that have been sent in by email by our clients from October.

Hi Bernard,

Just a quick message to once again say thank you for your hospitality whilst we were at DDI. It is now the 7th time I have been over six years, five of them in the Main Lodge with my family. The fishing has always been good and this year was no exception.

Over the first few days there were a lot of catfish in the swim but as soon as the wind changed it brought the carp in on a mega feeding frenzy ! On the first day I only caught 2 Bream and on the following day I caught nothing. On the Sunday I caught 2 Cats and 2 Mirrors, the heaviest carp was 32lb, this was followed over the next couple of days with 10 fish: 7 Cats and 3 Carp, the heaviest cat being 42lb and the biggest Mirror was 36lb. Then came Thursday and with it the wind with a vengance ! It was blowing down the lake into my swim and the catch was 1 fish per 2hrs 30 minutes.

On arriving back from the Hypermarket I cast out into my usual swims and landed my first carp at 11.40 and it weighed in at 48lb, this was then followed by a 36lb Mirror, 28lb Common, 33lb Mirror, 35lb Mirror, 30lb Common but still I had not landed a 50, this was my last day and the hopes of this happening were beginning to look very slim. The weather was making conditions difficult, whenever I sent the bait boat out it was a battle to get it through the choppy water and it took longer than normal.

I was also using different bait than I normally use at DDI and earlier in the week I began to think that this may have been a mistake but remained patient. But at 1.40 am on the final morning I had a screaming run and netted a lovely Common which I could tell was a big one. At last I had got a 50 +, it weighed in at 52lb, my third 50's at DDI ! Just 8lb short of my PB, which was caught at DDI in 2009.

I am back in the 50 club, my dream is land the lake record, maybe one day - I will have to be patient again. Over the week I had 21 fish: 9 Cats (16, 20, 21, 24, 24, 28, 28, 32, 42) 8 Mirrors (29, 32, 33, 35, 36, 36, 38, 48) 4 Commons (22, 28, 30, 52)

Many thanks and see you soon,

Ant, Jeanette and Aidan Fowell Cheadle, Staffs

MAY 2011

Hi Bernard,

These are our photos of some of the fish we caught in our week at Domaine des Iles 6th May in the main lodge. We had 13 carp 8 x 30s to 38 lb. 8 were caught by Steve Potton jr and 5 caught by Steve Potton, 1 x 41 1/2 lb. Also 19 catfish...   3 x 40 lb  2x 50lb the largest was a 58lb. V ery enjoyable weeks fishing!

The pictures are of Steve Potton jr

Regards,

Steve Potton and Steve Potton jr                                                                                 

APRIL 2011

Bonjour Bernard,

We have just returned to England after out annual family trip to DDI. As you and I discussed I have been fishing with you for over 20 years now and this has been our 4th consecutive family holiday and to date the best one yet. Again, it was only Sam and I who fished hard and between us we had over 900lb worth of carp with a few cats thrown in. We spent the 1st night in swims 12 & 13. In 24 hours Sam had 5 fish up to 28lb from swim 12. Me and Georgia had 2 from the old stock pond, 18lb and 23 lb and I had a 37lb from swim 13. As the lodge was available we moved up there on the Saturday and that was well worth the move.

The 1st fish to come out was Sam's 50.5lb common at around 2am on Sunday morning. It was a shame to have such a great fish during the night as the pictures doesn't do it justice, but still he has now officially joined the DDI 50 club and beat his PB by 2.5lb. Over the next 72 hours the fishing was superb and we had a further 15 fish of good stock. unfortunately, I couldn't bag myself a 40 but came very close on a few occasions. I had 1 @ 36lb, 1 @ 37lb, 2 @ 38lb and 1 @39lb. I had a run at 4am on Sunday morning and struck into a good size carp, but as soon as I struck, the other rod screamed off. At first I thought the lines had got tangled but luckily Sam was on hand to take charge of the 2nd rod and it soon become clear we were both playing separate fish. I landed the first, a 38lb common and Sam landed the 2nd, a 29.5lb mirror. 4 hours later at around at 8am exactly the same thing happened again! This time Helen was on hand to take the 2nd rod. I landed the 1st, a 39lb mirror and Helen the 2nd, a 29lb mirror and her new PB. What are the chances of that happening within 4 hours? Identical situations and almost identical weights!

On Monday the bream started to spawn and a lot of the carp had moved out of our end of the lake. Jack was float fishing near the willow and caught a nice 6lb bream and later that day I had one of the hardest fighting carp I have ever caught, a lovely 38lb mirror. As the fish were moving out, it was time to check out the channels. After a few hour's I found a channel that had a good quantity of carp all moving and feeding. I started to bait up and they were on it straight away. I set up in a good spot that I could confidently land a fish from and lowered the rig in just 2ft from the bank. within minutes I had 2 carp feeding on the bait. 1 was around the 20 mark and the other was around 30. I got the take but as the water was so cloudy from the feeding I couldn't be sure as to which one it was. As it tore off, I could see it was the 30 but it was heading straight for a snag. I tried to slow it down but it was so powerful the hook pulled. Gutted!

I let the swim calm down for an hour and then returned. There was still a lot of movement and so I started again. Same spot, same tactics only this time I hooked a smaller fish and could turn him before he reached the snag. 1st fish from the channel, 19lb mirror. I sat in the same spot but moved the rig about 8ft to the left in case I hooked another 30. Within about an hour I had another take and landed a 23lb mirror which was perfect. I'm sure this fish had never been caught before as there was not one mark around its mouth. It was time to call it a day as I wanted to get my rods out, back at the lodge, before dark. That night was quite uneventful, but Sam did manage to bag two at 19lb and 26lb.

I returned back to the channel the following morning but there was a lot less activity. As I had only seen two carp in two hours I decided to go back to the lodge for some lunch and return in the afternoon. When I returned I couldn't see any carp, but there were some pads just below the surface around 20ft out and so placed the bait close by. Within 15 minutes I had a take and landed a 27lb mirror and a new stalking PB. Well pleased!! The last night we only landed 1 fish, which again fell to Sam 18.5lb.

But all in all we had 31 carp and 3 cats. . 1 x 50lb (Sam) . 8 x 30's (up to 39) . 16 x 20's, (up to 29.5) . 6 doubles (up to 19.5) . 42lb cat (Sam again). what a fantastic trip with some amazing carp and PB's broken. Georgia was the only family member not to catch on rod and line but was quite happy catching silver fish in the net. and reading Harry Potter for the hundredth time. We all look forward to these holidays as we have such good quality time as a family with no x-box or PC distractions. Jack is ahead on the chess tournament 5-4, but I'm sure he cheats when I'm not looking (yes it must be that), Georgia has learnt how to land a carp and Sam has learnt how to row a boat when he got MY bait boat stuck in the middle of the lake (oh how I laughed!) Helen and I would like to thank you again for the Coq au vin and the 2 bottles of red.

We are just about to un-cork the 2nd bottle and have it tonight.

With kind regards,

Darren Knight

MARCH 2011

Sebastian with a nice carp of 40 English pounds caught from the Domaine des Iles Main Lodge.



Mr. Marcel Simons helped us to stock 300 small common and mirror carp in our new stock pond La Carpiere. Here they will grow on to be stocked later to the Main and Back Lake when they are bigger. If you ask Mr. Caron for permission during your trip, you can practice some floater fishing there. The carp are all around 2-4 kilos in size and are fed daily to ensure a good growth.



We thank Marcel and his friends for all their help with the stocking!

Exclusive fishing on Domaine des Iles
When you prefer to have a fully private holiday, there are several nice posibilities on Domaine des Iles:
- Main Lake: 12 anglers maximum
- Square Lake: 2 anglers maximum
- Back Lake: 6 anglers maximum
- La Carpiere: 2 anglers maximum

Stalking on Domaine des Iles
What makes Domaine des Iles so unique is that is has over 2 kilometers of canals attached to the Main and Back Lake, running all around the complex. Every angler visiting our Domaine is allowed to practice stalker fishing in the canals during daytime, hence you don`t leave your rods unattended. We have cleaned all canals and removed quite a lot of obstacles. Especially when there is some angling pressure on the lake, there a many fish in the canals waiting to be caught. Please give it a try, we are sure you will love it. as the fish are strong and there are still some trees and snags left, make sure that you use a mainline of sufficient strength (we recommend 0.25mm minimum).

La Carpière
Once attached to the Back Lake, this small lake of about 1 hectare in total size has been fenced of. In March 2011 we stocked 300 small carp of around 3-5 kg in size. If you want, you are free to practice some stalker fishing here too. It will sure be an active and exciting time for you and a perfect spot to learn youngsters and novice anglers the art of fishing. In the next years, we will move the bigger fish from La Carpière to the Main and Back Lake assuring a perfect feature for the fish stocks of Domaine des Iles. For the fishing on La Carpière, we recommend light tackle and even pole fishing with elastics is possible. Be one of the first to catch some of the new fish on our Domaine!