Trip to Boux – Nan’s Parting Gift

53lb 10oz

Derek Ryley, from Liverpool, took his three sons (Joshua 19, Liam 17 and Louis 13) to Boux at the wish of his Nan, Sally Latimer, who gifted them money for the trip prior to her passing away.

The  family group, had a fantastic result taking 63 carp which included, 4 x 50’s, 14 x 40’s, 39 x 30’s and 4 x 20’s. Sure to say, their Nan had blessed the trip in more ways than one, and surely couldn’t have given them anything better.

“All the carp we caught we dedicated to my Nan . Each of us caught a fifty, so it really was a great trip and a memory of someone and somewhere very special.”  Derek Ryley

Carp fishing in France at Boux

Plumb Dumb Boiler

Steph Dagg is the owner of Notaires & Aldercarp lakes.

To celebrate (Chris and I), and at the same time commemorate (Caiti and Rors), the last official day of the winter holidays (weekends don’t count), we headed off in the sunshine this morning for another spot of geocaching. It gets us out, we all enjoy it and it’s nice family time. We found 3 out of 4 caches again – a 75% success rate seems to be our specialty these days!

This afternoon we had the plumber out. Thechaudière (boiler) for the gîte succumbed to le grand froid, despite Chris’s best efforts to keep it going. The cold was just too much. Le plombierhas done what he can for the moment, but Chris still has a few more fuites (leaks) to fix. He’s been soldering for most of the week. Every time he thinks he’s done the last one, he discovers another one. None of us is over-optimistic that the boiler can be saved. It’s likely the main unit of it has burst in the cold, so we’ll be looking at a new one. Which is bad news this week after discovering that the Renault’s repairs have come to a staggering €2,500. Although it’s only some kind of electric motor that’s gone wrong in the power steering unit, the only way to repair it is by replacing the whole steering column. It’s a sealed unit and alone comes to a few cents short of €2,000. That seems absolutely wicked to me. We’ve contacted Renault Ireland (we bought the car before we came here) to complain vociferously about this policy of supplying car parts in big expensive chunks instead of cheaply and separately. It makes us feel a bit better, even if its likely success is minimal.

Anyway, back to pipes. Once Chris has finished soldering, we’ll be trying the boiler out to see if it still leaks. And if it does, then we need to call the plumber’s colleauge out. He’s the fuite d’eau guy. Our chap today was the broken boiler guy. He was a little out of his comfort zone. Apparently I should have said that there was a leak in it rather than simply declaring it broken on the phone, and then the most appropriate technician would have been sent out. Well, they didn’t ask for specifics, and beyond the fact that elle ne marche pas, I couldn’t really elucidate them further! The plumber was far from impressed with the original plumbing for the boiler. At the time were a little surprised at the web of pipes leading everywhere, but you rely on a qualified expert to know what he or she is doing. It looks like some of them don’t.

Plum dumb is also the proud headline from the government announcing its wonderful road safety figures for February. At 201 casualties, they’re down a quarter on last February. This ‘historic’ reduction is being attributed to the zillions of new speed cameras that have been going up. Which is crazy. February was the month of le grand froid. Hardly anyone could go anywhere due to the icy roads and the snowdrifts! Several official commentators share this view, and another campaign body sensibly adds that the rocketing cost of fuel is meaning people are driving less. But the government prefers its version!

And talking of politicians, Francois Hollande still wants €2 from me. Not this week, mon brave.

Old Oaks – New Lake Record Common

57lb common

Only the week after the lake mirror record was smashed with a 57lb carp the next group of anglers have managed to break the Lake record for a Common Carp with Gary Gordons capture at 51lb 06oz.

This is an amazing start to the season for Old Oaks with this being the fifth 50lb carp caught of the 2012 season, we can’t say weather conditions have been too helpful either and it’s only mid April! Not only that but when you check the feedbacks the forties out are starting to outnumber the thirties! and there are relatively few 20′s  caught by comparison.

This lake is just amazing! I can’t wait to see what the next few weeks hold.

Carp France at Old Oaks

Genets – New Lake Record Carp

56lb 2oz

We woke to frantic knocking on our window at around 1am this morning to find Tony Tubby with an ear to ear grin on his face.  His brother-in-law, Dan Johnson, had a new lake record Mirror in the net.  Larry promptly threw clothes on & went round to see an ecstatic Dan.

The Carp was retrieved from the water and weighed again, witnessed by Larry, the scales read a whopping  56lb 2oz which is indeed a new lake record for Genets.

This is a known Carp which came out in May 2011 at its record weight of 53lb 12oz.

Not only is it the new lake record but also Dan’s first French Carp & new PB beating his UK PB of 16lb by over 40lb !!

Congratulations & well done Dan.

Heather @ Genets.

Carp fishing France

9 year old Josef, youngest angler to land a 40lb+ Carp at Genets!

Josef’s 45lb 8oz PB.

Josef Tubby, age 9, on his first fishing trip to France has become the youngest angler to bank a carp over the 40lb mark here at Genets.

Fishing with his own 2 rods during the daytime, he was very happy this afternoon when he landed a 24lb 8oz Common, his first PB. He could hardly believe it when 2 hours later he hooked into a 45lb 8oz Mirror.

Josef, who has been fishing with his Dad since he was 5 years old, played both fish himself & was then helped by Dad Tony to land & weigh them.  With Josef suffering from aching arms Dad held the 45lb 8oz for the photo.

Well done & congratulations young Man.

Just 40 minutes later Josef’s Granddad Michael, on his first trip to France, also banked his own PB of 36lb 4oz. It was big smiles all round the dinner table here this evening.

Heather @ Genets.

Carp fishing France

Meet Cynthia – The Sussex Laying Hen

Meet Cynthia! She’s a Sussex laying hen, apondeuse, and we bought at Boussac market this morning. She’ll spend a few days in a pen to get used to her new surroundings, and then we’ll let her range free with Madge and Limpy.

Now, what do Cynthia and a man called Franz Reichelt have in common? An inability to fly. OK, chickens can fly, but it’s more like panicky-fluttering-cum-controlled-falling. There’s always a lot of feathers and wing whirring and clucking. The record for a flight by a chicken is 13 seconds. None of my girls have come anywhere near that length of time.

Over to Franz. I missed the centenary of his death on 4th February since I’ve only just found out about him. He was an Austrian who came to live in Paris in 1898 where he soon became known as Le Tailleur Volant (the Flying Tailor) because he invented a parachute coat. He was obsessed with flying but didn’t follow some of his contemporaries into experimenting with large wings or flying machines. Instead he sewed up his special outfit, which weighed 70 kg. He generously intended it for other aviators, to hopefully save their lives if their rickety vehicles fell apart in mid air.

The first few tests with dummies ended up with them smashing, but our Franz wasn’t put off. He worked on making his costumes lighter, and ended up with one weighing two thirds less at around 25 kg. He tested this himself by jumping 12 metres onto some straw. He broke a leg, but persuaded himself the only reason he had apparently failed was because his parachute outfit hadn’t had time to open properly. So he decided to jump off the Eiffel Tower. Just like that. He didn’t bother testing out with a dummy first and so, sadly, on 4th February 1912 jumped to his death from the first storey of the tower. His parachute cape had wrapped itself firmly around him. He was 34.

This page has some photos of him taken on the day itself. http://www.past-to-present.com/avportrait07.cfm

Many inventors have died as a result of the thing they invented or discovered. Marie Curie died from cancer after studying radiation, Horace Lawson Hunley drowned in his submarine and John Godfrey Parry-Thomas was killed in his record-breakingly fast car Babs. You can’t help thinking that their deaths occurred because they were contributing towards general scientific advance, whereas that of Franz Reichelt … well, wasn’t. He went off at a bit of a tangent from mainstream progress. But you have to admire his confidence, courage and spirit. Rest in peace, Franz.

Improvements at Boomerang Carp Lake

Electricity now on-site at the cabin swim

Jean-Francois has let us know about a few improvements he’s made at Boomerang.

The toilet block has now been completed, he has added a couple of benches, electricity has been added at the swim nearest the mobile home and he has now added the English name to the sign at the roadside.

French carp at Boomerang

Boux-tiful start to the season

Boux has kicked off to a great start, the lake has produced over 60 carp in its first week.

Derek Ryley who took Josh (19 yrs), Liam (17 yrs) and Louis (13 yrs) with him to the lake says that each of them has caught a 50lb+ carp. Josh also had 7 x 40′s inc 2 x 49lb’ers. Had 15 forties and 62 carp altogether.

I guess Derek is in the good books now. The bait? Well Derek makes his own boilies, so you’ll have to ask him!

A cracking start on a lake that just gets better!

Pictures to follow later next week.

Carp fishing in France

Hooks & Leads for Carp Fishing – Does Size Matter?

I’ve been an angler now for far more years than I would like to admit to.  I was lucky enough to learn my angling skills on rivers like the Avon and Stour around Bournemouth and I’ve had the privilege of fishing with a lot of good anglers, always learning from them. I then went carp fishing for the first time with a friend and that was it… I was hooked on a new style of fishing and one that I still enjoy today.  But I still learn something from almost every guest we have here at Bletiere & that’s what makes fishing such a great sport… there’s no deffinitive “right way” and in most cases anglers are happy to share their methods and thoughts.

As I sat reading a copy of an angling magazine left by one of last year’s guests (I cannot buy them in France, well certainly not around here) I started to think about rigs and all the different variations that are out there.

So I’ve put this article together to show you what seems to work here. I appreciate that this may not work in other lakes for a variety of reasons, and others will say it’s no good, but for me it works and as they say “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.  It’s not rocket science, but it works for me.

As with all rigs my first concern is safety for the carp – if the line snapped would the fish go free?  I have to say that most people fishing here also seem to care about that nowadays.

I just use the basic lead clips that most anglers seem to use today and don’t adjust or change it at all.

I only buy good quality tackle, as some of the cheaper gear does seem to be a bit iffy.

As you can see from the photo below I use a straight combi-rig with a normal hair.  I use the combi-rig because I like to get my baits balanced;

I believe balancing out the weight of the hook & bait helps get those extra bites and the combi gives you that bit of extra suppleness.

The hook size is something I have a lot of discussions here with our guests as I only ever use a size 10 barbless now.  I don’t have any problems with that size hook, but a lot of anglers say it’s too small and you lose fish… I don’t seem to, so that’s what I use.  I have a theory that the smaller hooks let the bait look more natural when you get it balanced correctly, and when the fish are feeding heavily and one goes by the bait it moves the rig and encourages other carp to make a grab.

The next thing is the lead – I only ever use a 1 to 1½ ounce lead as Bletiere is of a size that you can cast to most places with that much weight.  I also always put a pva bag of pellets on.

When our guest arrive and we have a walk round and talk about what’s been caught and how, it’s always interesting to watch the anglers that fish heavy leads and how long it is before they change or ask me for lighter leads. I’m not saying you will not catch with heavy leads as I know you will… but in this lake the lighter leads seem to pay off, and a lot of the times it results in the screaming runs that some say you only get with heavy leads.

Well that’s how I fish here & in my opinion size doesn’t matter and small & light works for me.  It’s the advice I give to all my visitors and then it’s down to personal choice, but next time you are able to fish a lighter rig give it a try and see what happens.  You can then make up your own mind.

Tight lines, John

Fishing Holidays at Bletiere

How To Construct The Helicopter Carp Rig

Chas Cook is the owner of Vaux French carp lake.  This is the 5th article in an excellent series which gives you instruction on how to construct a series of carp rigs he’s used to great effect for his carp fishing in France. You can read all the articles here.

Both of the following rigs have, once again, been used to great effect when fishing to open water marks using the bag and double foamed hook length, so that neither rig sinks into the silt.  They are particularly effective when fishing to far banks, islands and lily pads over lake bottoms of sand and gravel.  Takes result in drop backs on swingers and single beeps on buzzers as the carp leave the bank and islands on the reverse.  The weight of the lead rapidly transfers to the point of the hook; in these situations 12lb fluorocarbon mainline is used, 30lb low profile leaders and semi tight clutches – not bait runners.

Bottom baits are used when carp are feeding along the far banks, but in the summer when  temperatures are higher, they spend more time in the pads or on the surface under the trees along the far bank and so 40-60mm pop-ups are used on a chod set-up.  Zig rigs can also be used off both helicopter set-ups, fishing to variable depths of water wherever the carp are lying in the lake and using 30-50mm pop-ups apple core shaped.  The zigs are designed to put the rigs as close as possible to the basking carp;  even if they are not feeding, carp at rest will naturally try to take a pop-up if a zig drops close to them.

How To Construct Helicopter Rigs…

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Fishing Holiday at Vaux

Big Lin… A Stunning Molyneux Carp

James Wilcox with Big Lin @ 45.02

Hi David,

Please find attached a picture of my recent capture of ‘Big Lin’ from Molyneux in April 2012.

She came out a week earlier at 46lb so did not make lake record for me by a few oz’s … but I think you will agree that she is still worth showing people though!!

Kind regards,

James Willcox

French Carp Lakes

STOP PRESS – Another 70lb’ers Out At Laroussi!

11.04.12

Matthew Taylor on La Chene swim at Laroussi has just landed a 72lb mirror.  Bait was QuestRahja Spice, 140 yards out.

More details & photos as we get them.

Pool Table Arrives for the 2012 Season at Roseau

The new pool table at Roseau… should keep you occupied if the carp aren’t feeding!

Carp Fishing France at Roseau

Swim Renovation Completed at Oakwood

For the past 2 months we’ve been busy refurbishing all the swims here atOakwood Fisheries. I can thankfully say that all this work is finally complete and ready for the new season – 2 days before our first guests were due!

All the swims have had the full treatment including new wooden fronts, fully boarded and bark chipped for a professional look.

First of all we began by selecting large straight trees to cut down for the new fronts. We felled 4 large ash tree and lengths of up to 7 meters were cut for the fronts. The next job was to get the cut lengths into the water so they could be towed by boat down the lake to their designated swim. This was no mean feat as they were extremely heavy!

Next we dug the tree trunks into the front of all the swims and staked them in position. We then had a visit from my friend with his mini digger and he scraped away a 4m x 4m area 15cm deep which was then boarded with planks, levelled and finally filled with bark chips from the local saw mill.

It was a lot of back breaking work but in my eyes definitely worth the effort.

Fishing France at Oakwood

A Busy Sort Of Day in France

Steph Dagg is the owner of Notaires & Alder carp lakes

The last couple of mornings I’ve been getting up early-ish to write. I’m about to launch my light hearted travel memoir about moving to Les Fragnes and our first years here, Heads Above Water, and I’m already busy on the sequel!

I went out to feed the sheep. Yesterday I’d checked No. 27’s teats, since she’s definitely pregnant, and saw that they were getting nice and big. There were a few more promising signs today so our first lamb or lambs (ewes don’t always have twins the first time they give birth) might not be far away. That’s very exciting!

Then I decided to shovel poo, you know the way you do! Well, we do anyway. More correctly, it was compost. But it used to be poo. I’m working on the second raised bed at the moment while Chris solders pipes in the gîte. I also emptied out the big kitchen compost bin and found four teaspoons. Chris found four in it the other day. I wondered where all my spoons were going. I’m not quite sure how they all ended up in there, I have to confess.

No worms!

The sun was shining and it was cosily warm in the polytunnel so I planted some beetroot and radishes in the raised beds, and started some rocket, tomatoes and lettuces in seed trays. Then Rors and I attempted to do a worm survey. We followed the instructions. We marked out our area and watered it with a dilute mustard mixture, but absolutely nothing happened. I’d expected worms to come popping out of the ground at high speed. Nothing. Now either Creuse worms are just plain tough, or the ground is so waterlogged already that the mustardy water didn’t penetrate. I upped the ante and tried again later with some pepper sauce mixed in water. Still no worms. I feel very disappointed since I know they’re there, but how are we going to get them to come out and be counted. I may have to resort to explosives.

I did some more shovelling after dinner and then got busy helping Caiti write job application letters and her résumé to send off. She’s probably left it a bit late to get a job with the Tour de France, but we’re trying. We’ve written to some agencies and also to a few of the teams directly. It’s rather nice that we were able to mention to each one that we’d been cheering them on yesterday at Aigurande. Which we had – we cheered for everyone! Caiti has offered to do anything from admin to washing socks. I hope she’ll find something. She’d love it since she’s a really keen cyclist and she’ll been a great little worker.

I’d just proofread Caiti’s letter and inserted a very necessary ‘with’ in the phrase ‘I hoped I might be able to work with your team during this year’s tour’, when Rors came in to tell me he’d seen a horse and cart go by (our neighbours a few kms away) and also that he’d found some frogspawn. I went to see that with him. I’d be worried about the frogs and toads this year. Their first batches of spawn got frozen solid during le grand froid. Luckily they’re having another go so they’ll soon be zillions of tiny frogs and toads appearing everywhere.

A sure sign of spring.

First Carp of the Season at Oakwood… A Brace of 30′s

36.12

The first guests of the season have arrived at Oakwood Fisheries and it didn’t take long for Rob to obliterate his PB twice on the opening night.

Rob started with a mirror of 32lb 6oz mirror and followed it up 4 hours later with a fine 36lb 12oz specimen, adding almost 21lbs to his PB!

Rob described the success as his best nights fishing, ever!

Rob was fishing swim 3 and using Carp Company’s Cranberry and Caviar boilies along with the house pellet to tempt the brace of thirties.

Fishing France at Oakwood

Two 50lb+ Carp Set Records at Sapphire

53.06

Chris Carr, fishing at Sapphire this week with his two mates, has taken two lake records with;

*   50lb 3oz Mirror on Tuesday 3rd April

*   53lb 6oz Common on Wednesday 4th April

…. the first two 50′s to be caught at Sapphire.

His mates Gary Brown and Lee Berry both smashed their PB’s as well, with a 43lb Mirror to Gary and a 34lb Mirror to Lee.

The total haul included another 17 x 30′s.

Well done to you all!

50.03

Fishing Holidays at Sapphire

4 x 50lb+ Carp From Margot

59.04

Margot has really started with a bang!

Anglers Damien Edwards, Marcus Gallop and Simon Woodland netted a total of 3,044lb of carp which included;

• 4 x 50′s

• 13 x 40′s

• 40 x 30′s.

52.11

54.12

Carp Fishing in France at Margot

Swim Improvements & Dry Wall Building at Bletiere

For the first time since we opened we have had no visitors booked here at Bletiere during March,I think due to the weather, but it has given us a chance to get some more jobs done.

Today I’ve been lucky to borrow our friend Normans mini digger and dispite Lesley’s groans and look of horror I have managed not to get it stuck!  But I have been able to remove some of the sedge grass in the middle swim.

As you stood at the swim on the left hand side there was a big clump of sedge grass that was slowly spreading around the end and it made playing fish difficult.  Well its now gone as the photos show.

Not to be outdone Lesley has started to build a dry wall that we kept saying we would do.   It’s not easy as it’s got to match the rest of the walls by our decking area and to keep it looking old like the rest there is no cement to be used.

As the pictures show Lesley has got about a third of the way so if the weather holds it should be finished in a couple of weeks.

A short video showing all these will be on the site in the next couple of days.

Tight lines, John

Fishing Holidays at Bletiere

Advanced Carp Rigs – The Lead Drop Rig

I very much favour heavy leads for carp fishing… you can read my reasoning here.

However, once the heavy lead has done its job and hooked the carp there’s no reason to keep it during the fight. That’s why I designed this “Lead Drop” rig.

So… here’s the component parts needed to make the rigs;

Read the full Article Here

Fishing holiday at Vaux

Carp Rig Thoughts – Why I Favour Heavy Leads

By Chas Cook, owner of Vaux

In my opinion when carp fishing, the most important factor after the hook is the lead set-up.  I very much favour a heavy lead… & here are the reasons why;

Many anglers sit behind their rods and their non-moving swingers unaware that carp are actually mouthing, and sometimes moving off with, the baited hook length… or are backing off testing for leads.  Because light leads (1oz or 2oz) are normally being used, the carp feel only a slight resistance, giving them the ability to discard the baited hook length.  This results in single beeps and twitchy little takes, which may in turn lead to a 20lb’er on the bank, but not the larger thirties or forties.

Carp which are slightly pricked by the weight of the lead tend to stay on the spot, turning round and round looking for any available stick, rock or weed to wind the hook length, lead and mainline around to pull the hook out.

Fishing light leads also means the lines are slack.  Anglers who retrieve their gear to rebait can often find an horrendous ‘birds’ nest’ of line, sometimes up to 2m-5m of line, wrapped around the hook length which occurs as a result of slack lines and carp making efforts to shed the hook.  If the carp manage to snap the mainline, then they will drag this nest around with them.  Anglers are puzzled and horrified to see this.

In addition to light leads and slack lines, completely slack bait runners and swingers or bobbins that are hanging completely loose will lead anglers to disregard the slight rise of swingers and a single beep because they do not think it signifies a take.  A series of occasional beeps on a slack bait runner and bobbins could mean that a carp has been lightly pricked and possibly been on for a very long time, especially if the angler continues to ignore the beeps, and this inevitably leads to a ‘birds’ nest’ appearing with the fish when it is landed.  If the carp sets the hook against an obstruction on the bottom, it can cause some of the worst mouth damage to fish to be seen.

A concept which is not always appreciated by many anglers is that takes from the far bank can come backwards towards the angler, a “drop back”, which can result in their mainline snagging on any obstruction on the bottom.  Although this may set the hook, if it does and the mainline is snagged, the angler is often cut off.  If the swingers are slack, the carp may move a considerable distance from the far bank and will, at some point, find some obstruction on the bottom on which to lose the hook.  Invariably light bobbins or swingers do not pick up backdrops and heavier swingers just move the leads.  I’ve also noticed that bite alarms that do not have a roller system within them are very poor at picking up backdrops.

Carp love to hang mid-water under trees on far banks, so anglers tend to fish to them, heavily baiting the area and thus attracting more carp.  Although anglers using light leads will drop their end tackle to the far bank, they are not actually fishing to it because when they wind down, the light leads are actually dragged off the bank.  This may lead to the leads becoming trapped by obstructions on the bottom.

Some anglers then attach heavy backleads to their mainline which increases the problem because, if the lead is not already snagged, it is dragged back even further.  If the backleads are sinking into silt it actually cancels out any movement at the swingers.

Backleads are not usually used when snag fishing and snag fishing technically includes fishing to far banks, to islands and where the topography of the lake bottom is uneven with gravel bars, mussel beds, undulations as well as lily pads and other types of snags.  Consideration should always be given as to when or when not to backlead.  Possibly 80% of the anglers I have asked why they are using backleads tell me that it is convenient as they are worried about a hooked carp passing through their lines.

So in my opinion larger leads, tight lines and tight clutches should be used so as not to give line to the carp in order that it cannot make the snags and cut itself off.  However, once the lead has done its job and set the hook there’s no reason to keep it during the fight…

& that’s why I designed my “Lead Drop” rigs… which you can read about here.

Fishing Holiday at Vaux

A Welcome Return To Boux

Boux in the summer – heaven!

I have always loved Boux, not only for the huge carp which of course brings tremendous feedback, but simply because the setting is gorgeous… the forest backdrop and then the open fields with cattle grazing are in sharp contrast to each other.  So it was with some excitement that I went back to the lake after a 3 year gap.

I arrived after having had a lovely lunch in the local village bar – you always know it’s good when they are they are busy with locals even on a Tuesday lunchtime!  From here it was only a few minutes’ drive to the facilities at the farmhouse where I was warmly greeted by Phillip the on-site bailiff.

Boux facilities with the lake in the background

Chris the owner arrived a little later and we did a tour of the facilities first, Chris telling me that he would soon add in a cooker and also a second freezer.  These are good facilities and charging for batteries and phones etc is no problem at all (but remember to take an adapter.)  Chris is committed to maintaining and indeed improving the facilities for the anglers, so if you have any ideas after visiting the lake just let us know.

We then drove the minute or two to the lake on the back lane of the estate. I was not disappointed. The lake looked stunning nestled alongside the trees. The swims have actually improved on the forest bank and there is more space in the swims than I remembered from previous years.

Chris and I took a steady walk along both fishable sides of the lake discussing the swims. The open dam wall leaves little shelter from a harsh sun, so fishing here you definitely need a gazebo and some high factor lotion. The forest bank is much more sheltered and offers a cooler respite.

Even in the middle of the afternoon I could see active carp and listening to Chris and his enthusiasm for the lake was a treat.  He told me how he recently stocked some more big grassies to complement the stocking.  I suppose with him being a fish farmer big carp are easier to come by than for many. Though to be fair, fish gaining weight in this lake was never a problem.

There are two sides to the lake where you can fish to but not from. These are the open fields where the cattle come down to graze and most anglers would use the onsite boat to bait this area of the lake where catch rates are high.  Far from disturbing the carp the drinking cattle stir up the bottom and create a food fest for the carp, attracting them into these margins.

I’m really looking forward to the first catch reports coming in and I have no doubts that 2012 will be a great year for Boux.

Bridget Dawson

Carp Fishing in France at Boux

Lake Record Smashed at Old Oaks!

57lb – the new Old Oaks record!

Dave Dodds is already living the dream at Old Oaks and he’s only 3 days into his holiday!  First time in France & he’s already caught 9 carp – all within 36 hours! All mirrors, weights as follows;

35lb, 42lb, 33lb, 32lb, 47lb, 33lb, 23lb, 42lb

… and the new lake record at 57lb!

He’s using pellets, boilies and Mehdi’s partiblend.

We’ll keep you posted with his results.

Carp France

Carp Rigs to Catch a Monster Carp at Villefond

Over the last few years since I first stocked Lac Du Villefond I have been witness to a lot of changes at the lake not least how the fish have grown into absolute monsters in a relatively short space of time. As the carp have grown in size they have become accustomed to more and more anglers trying to pose for a photograph with them and as a consequence of this they have seen many rigs and become experts at spotting or ejecting carp angler’s rigs.

Gone are the days when I could pop down the lake after lunch with a PVA bag of shelf life baits, flick them out in front on me on a basic bottom bait rig with little thought of hook or presentation and land a few fish before dinner. Now as the fish have grown in size they have grown in cunning and in the following article I will try to show some of the rigs used to bank some of the real characters at Villefond.

First I’ll start by explaining the problem. Some weeks at our lake have proven very frustrating for anglers; some even having 15+ fish take the bait and give them absolute screaming takes before they strike only to have the bait come straight out of the carps mouths. The problem also comes in the form of very funny indication on the anglers bite alarms… bleeps but not runs.

The problem lies with the fish and not the angler!  The fish particularly the older and larger fish, have seen so many rigs that they have changed the way they feed to ensure they visit the bank less often, which some have become very good at. Some of our residents grace the banks maybe once a year, some once every 3 years and some are still being caught for the first time!

If some of the fish have never been caught then how do they become rig shy? I believe the answer is in the lake, more accurately the natural food in the lake. I have fished hundreds of lakes but rarely do I hear of a lake that has the natural food source that ours does. The carp have no competition from other bottom feeding species like tench/ bream or other small….

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Carp fishing in France at Villefond

Preparing For A Carp Session – Vacuum Packing Food & Bait (Part 5)

Are you preparing for a carp fishing trip to France in 2012?

Via a series of Blog posts & a video diary Paul Cooper will take you through his preparation routine for a trip to Blue Lake.

Part 1 is here - http://youtu.be/k4U6stV_utQ
Part 2 is here - http://youtu.be/EDqwU1oEXrk
Part 3 is here - http://youtu.be/rQCoZ0b2i2g
Part 4 is here -http://youtu.be/Ee_HpYflgB8

Fishing France at Blue Lake