A North Wales man who spotted a fish-shaped cloud went on to catch a carp "bigger than his dog" the next morning. Duncan Jefferys said he thought it was the "carp Gods" showing him a sign that he wouldn't be going home from his week-long fishing trip in France without a catch.
As reported by the Daily Star, the 50-year-old had almost given up hope seven days after dropping his line at Le Botte Lake at the Domaine de Goncourt complex. But as he prepared for his final night, he spotted a fish-shaped cloud in the sky and the next morning, a tug on the rod sent his adrenaline pumping.
The father-of-four from Rhyl said: "The lake has a good head of fish but catching anything was proving quite a challenge. I'd put quite a lot of bait in, but towards the end of the holiday, I still hadn't caught any fish, despite my rod being in the water all week.
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"On the last night, me and a lad I was fishing with spotted a cloud in the sky, so I took a photo of it, but then noticed the reflection in the lake looked exactly like a carp, which gave me a bit of hope. I thought, this could be the carp gods showing me a sign."
He added: "I went to bed that night and then first thing in the morning about 7am, the rod ripped off, so I jumped in the water and was up to my waist playing the fish for about 20 minutes before landing a 42lb common carp on the last day of the holiday.
"The colour of the carp was exactly the same as the cloud in the sky, it was amazing really. It was 42lb 8 which was quite an accomplishment - it was bigger than my dog."
But it's not the biggest catch for Duncan, who has been keen on fishing for most of his life. His record catch is a 44lb carp from the same complex, while his son Kyle has reeled in one weighing 46lb.
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"It's a good relaxing hobby," Duncan added. "There's not many places in the UK that have fish above 40lb, that's why we go over to France.
"This time, we were battling heat of up to 35 degrees and I was getting mullered by mosquitos. But the buzz of catching the carp was brilliant, there's no better feeling."
