Carp Fishing in France at 36 Carp Lakes
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Additional Carp Stock Added at Golden Oak
We decided to increase our fish stock after identifying a gap in the 20 to 30lb range. Our existing fish have put on so much weight that we are in the great position of having plenty of 30 to 50lb fish, and of course we have to mention The Boss at a magnificent 59lb plus. I wonder what he will weigh this spring?The quality of fish supplied to us by Michel & Laurent Bigot at our last restock was truly remarkable, they have all done so well, so we placed another order with confidence.
A good size Mirror decides to make me wetter than I already am
The weather had been pretty awful, but I don’t need to tell you about bad weather, do I? I really think Team Bigot have divine guidance… they picked the perfect slot between the torrential rain, ice, & hurricane strength winds. We’d asked a couple of friends to help out as we didn’t want to push our luck weather wise – but it’s amazing how quickly you can move when the sky goes that deep purple colour!
Laurent didn’t disappoint us & we received a lovely selection of mirrors & some of the best commons we’ve seen. All the carp were between 5 and 6 years old, weighing between 20 to 26lb and in absolutely pristine condition.
Dick as ever, kept a close eye on the lake, adjusting the level as the rain fell and spotted some of the newcomers exploring. They are obviously a gourmet strain of carp as they are guzzling up Dicks Mix already! That’s it, boys, anyone for 2nds?
We managed to get some great still shots but we passed the camcorder to a friend & sorry, but everyone can make a mistake. We have lovely shots of water, lorry, Dicks left ear, weigh sling (empty at the time) goats, and grass! Don’t give up the day job, Jacky!
NEW for 2013 – Wet Room at Vaux
The ground floor shower room in the gite at Vaux is NOW A WET ROOM, which will most especially benefit our disabled anglers. To provide plenty of space in the wet room, the washing machine has been moved into the kitchen.
Fishing Holiday in France at Vaux
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
French Carping from the Start (Part 2)
Sapphire Lake carp caught on tight lines with additional weight on the bobbins
Angling Lines have asked me to put together an itinerary of the tackle that I use for my carp fishing in France, and to talk about tackle in general for the angler just setting off for his or her first French carp fishing adventure.
In The 1st Blog I covered the most essential parts of a carp angler’s itinerary, Rods, reels and line. Following on from that, I will cover the next section which will cover alarms, bite indicators, and how I fish both slack and tight lines and why.
Bite Alarms
There are numerous bite alarms on the market today working with either roller sensors or vibration sensors and come with all manors of settings and sounds, we have all used them but I have returned to basics and now use one of the simplest and easy to use alarms on the market, the Gardner ATTS alarms. The unit is completely water proof and there are no switches or buttons on the indicator, just a roller sensor that works on a magnetic breaker system that sends a signal to a receiver. There is no speaker on the alarm, nothing can go wrong, and this is simply a transmitter.
The ATTX receiver again is simple to use with volume control, tone settings and also has a vibrate setting on the unit. The receiving range is good and it makes any bite indication on your alarms personal so that nobody else on the lake is disturbed by a run.
I always carry 2 spare alarms with me just in case I do have a break down. On a couple of occasions, I have been in France with my Delkims, and 2 out of 4 have broken down due to wet humid conditions. Some cheap inexpensive alarms from Lidl have saved the day that cost about £9 each, so you can see that you do not have to have the most expensive and up to date indicators on the market to catch carp, but always carry a spare with you.
Bite indicators
Again, this is a mine field, as there are so many indicators on the market and it all boils down to personal choice. I have used all sorts of indicators and still keep a small collection which cover different situations. I presently use the Korda Stow indicators which I find are very versatile, and I can use them for fishing both slack and tight lines, with back leads or not and they pack away easily in my ATTX receiver case.
Korda Stow indicators with ATTX alarms. The rods are high with tight lines due to marginal weed
I must admit that I Still get out my MCF Rattlers every so often for my slack line fishing as these are without doubt the best indicators for that job. They are difficult to set up, but once set, they keep the line slack and deliver brilliant early indication without spooking the wary old carp. I have had some excellent results with the Rattlers and I know some very good anglers that swear by them, not a popular choice but they can certainly help to put that extra carp on the bank.
My MCF rattlers are excellent for slack line fishing. Here I am using them with Delkims.
The next system is the drop off chain indicators. Again I have a full set of these and they are ideal for some of my distance fishing where I need tight lines and good back drop indication. You can pile on the weight with these indicators making drop backs appear like screaming runs. I visited the Angling Lines water of Sapphire lakes when it first opened back in April 2009. I was testing the water for A/L and only 2 weeks prior, Ron Key had been on the water and told me how finicky some of the carp were. He thought that the carp were picking up the bait and showing no indication at his end of the line. To combat this he had put additional weight on his indication system. I did the same except I put an additional 3 ounces on each indicator to get an immediate indication. I fished tight lines only 34 yards from the bank and landed 50 carp that week, all down to the drop off chain indicators with additional weight on.
Sapphire Lake! I put an additional 3 ounces on each indicator to get an immediate indication
The last types of indicators are the swingers and springers. These are not so popular now but still work and allow you to fish tight or slacker lines as you require. Jim Kelly uses nothing else and he still catches well although the indicators he has are probably the oldest pieces of tackle in his itinerary.
Rod Supports
Well now that I have confused you with indicators I will move onto Rod pods and Buzzer bar systems. Again there are lots of examples of rod pods on the market today. I purchased a Stainless steel Solar Globe Trotter pod some years ago; it is heavy, solid and expensive. It isn’t broke so it won’t get replaced, not just yet.
Swim 2 on Blue Lake. A rod pod is always necessary for this swim
Buzzer bars are very much standard, either in stainless steel, plastic, carbon fibre or other metal, but most have the same screw thread patterns and fit all. I have 2, 3 and 4 indicator bar systems in stainless steel, which covers me for all waters for different rules.
Swim 3 on Margot. A rod pod is essential, this one with the 4 bar system.
As a general rule if I am fishing 2 or 3 rods I prefer to use bank sticks rather than pods but unfortunately this is not always possible on some waters due to the ground conditions, hard core, rock or too the ground is too soft.
When I fish on staging or boards I use the Matrix Stage Stands. Each Stage Stand comes with an inner sleeve which means that the stand can be used with almost any bank stick. All that is needed is 1 screw per stand to fix it to the staging, simple but effective.
The Tackle trade has a vast variety of alarms, pods and indicators, but once again don’t break the bank. The likes of Shaun Harrison, Ron Key and lots of old and experienced anglers, including myself, have made do with cheap alternatives before angling technology, and still caught carp.
Tight Lines, Paul Cooper
Carp Fishing Videos – 56 Technical “How to” Videos
Friday, 14 December 2012
Carp Fishing in France with Accommodation – Oakview
Here’s the new Oakview venue video. Really does make you want to be there!
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Molyneux Carp Lake in France – End Of Year Report
Well as I type this report we are midway through December, Virtually all the trees have lost their leaves, and Molyneux looks stark and bare compared to the summer months. Helen has forced me to watch Elf and Miracle on 34th street over the last couple of weekends, so I guess Santa is almost on his way once again. We have been sorting the van out ready for our Christmas trip home to see the family, and Rudie is booked in to see the vet prior to our departure. So all that remains, is for me to summarise our year at Molyneux.
It is our second year at the lake although our first as leaseholders, and what a year it has been.
We have had some wonderful people over, with many old friends from last year returning to spend another week on the lake. We have made many new friends over the course of the year and are already seeing some of them booking for next year. Nothing gives us more pleasure than knowing people want to come back to the place. We have worked so hard since we arrived to improve both the lake and it’s surrounds and also the holiday experience we offer to both anglers and non-anglers alike.
This year started with a very cold February, we did not see temp’s over -9 for more than three weeks. At night it was dropping to as low as -18. . The Lake was frozen solid, and there was thick snow on the ground. This was a blow on a number of fronts, We had no water as everything had to be turned off, and we relied on bottled water to drink, and melted snow to wash up in Thankfully we were warm and cosy in the van most of the time although even with the heating left on low we were waking to temperatures of around -3 in the van. I was having to kick Helen out to of bed to turn the heating up before I dare climb out. Bless her!
It unfortunately meant that the work we had planned to do during this time went by the wayside. Though as soon as it started to thaw we had plenty to do. The shower block suffered most with pipes, taps, and even the mains valve bursting due to the extreme weather. With no previous plumbing experience other than changing a washer here and there, I was mortified. Andrew the owner was a massive help and although not much more knowledgeable about the job in hand than I, between us we put everything back together, replacing parts where they needed to be and mending and soldering whatever else required it.
March saw the start of the anglers arrive, and the first were a wonderful group of guys from the Southampton area. One of their number, Sam smashed our lake record with the very first fish of the season. The Big Linear last caught at 43lb 6oz, was now up in weight to 46lb 8oz. What a start to the year. Also during March with the help of our neighbour Tony we installed a kitchenette in the cabin, helping to make it even more comfortable for those booking it. Our plans to turn Jack’s into a double swim sadly had to be put on hold as we couldn’t get the chainsaw back in time from being serviced. At the beginning of April I travelled down to Le Mans to pick up a gorgeous little bundle of fluff who we decided to call Rudie, a 10 week old Border Terrier puppy who has become much loved by Helen and I and all the anglers that have come to know him during the year.
As the next few months went on we welcomed many anglers old and new to the lake and there were so many hilarious events and incredible captures that it is impossible to mention them all. Many anglers smashed their pb’s. New forty pound carp were caught, the largest common in the lake was caught at 43lb 8oz. Things were going from good to Incredible.
The highlight of the year for us personally happened on 10th June when completely out of the blue a small unknown car drove down the track to the lake. It contained both of our sons with their girlfriends. Craig who has lived in Australia for the past five years and his gorgeous girlfriend Kristy had flown over and picked up our eldest son David and his lovely girlfriend Steffi, and they had driven over to surprise us for Helens birthday. It was, once we had both got over the initial shock of seeing them all, a marvellous week full of laughter and good times. There were parties, barbeques and far too much alcohol consumed. The anglers we had with us at the time were a cracking bunch of guys and joined in the celebrations wholeheartedly, as did our Aunt and Uncle who were also here visiting, helping to make it such a special time for everyone. A week Helen and I will never forget. Later in the summer our Aunt and Uncle returned to help with the job of tidying up and painting and decorating the shower block both inside and out. It is always so nice to see them and we are pleased to know that they enjoy the place almost as much as we do.
As the summer rolled on into September the numbers of anglers increased after the slight lull of the height of summer, and they were not to be disappointed with some huge catches and monster fish to show for it. One angler Dave Faulkner managed a record 34 Carp and Catfish during his week with us, a very good angler Dave made the most of his trip and caught 16 thirties and 1 forty amongst his fish. Although we specify that Molyneux is by no means a runs water it shows that with application, skill and a little luck that some fantastic catches are possible.
This year in general we have seen the numbers and size of fish caught increase beyond our wildest dreams. Last year we had almost 100 anglers visit catching between them around 150 thirties, 50 of which being over 35lb’s. There were also two known forties which had come out a few times during the year.
This year with around the same number of anglers we have had almost twice the total of fish caught. Amongst them 263 thirties, exactly a 100 of which were over 35lb. The number of Forties has increased to nine different fish, caught a total of 19 times. The catfish record has increased from 45lb’s to 58lb’s with a good number of forties as back up. The large Grasscarp have been active with the largest of the year being caught at 38lb’s, though we know there are grassie’s over 40lb’s which despite being seen from time to time are proving to be difficult to bank. Overall an Incredible year, with plenty of potential for further improvement next year.
All too soon we were preparing to turn the clocks back as Autumn rapidly approached, the leaves on our multitude of trees turned glorious golds and yellows and the sun which we had enjoyed for so long disappeared to be replaced by rain and windy conditions. The nights drew in and our thoughts turned to the jobs we had planned to do. We have made a start removing the dead trees off the large island, and thinning out the brambles hopefully reinvigorating growth and improving the overall look.
One of the first jobs for next year is to turn Jacks into a double swim, we also plan to install a satellite dish which will provide English tv within the cabin. We also plan to install a kitchen into the dining room area, and a proper charging station for boats, mobiles and dvd players etc. There is wire to cover the platforms which can be a little slippy when wet, there is also gravel to place on swims and a multitude of other jobs to be completed prior to the anglers arriving in March. No rest for the wicked.
I must end by thanking all the people who have helped in making our first year proper at Molyneux so very special.
David, Bridget, Linda and Julie from Angling Lines for their help, advice and efforts during the year. Andrew, the lake owner, for giving us the opportunity, his help around the place and for running Helen to the shops on a regular basis.
Nico, a French angler and good friend who helped with the repairs to the shower block.
Tony, our neighbour for all his help at the start of the year and his assistance in installing the kitchenette into the cabin, without which I would never have managed.
My Uncle Phil, for his help with painting the shower block in 35 degree heat. Thank goodness for Desperadoes, it saved our life on more than one occasion.
Mark Jones, an angler and friend for bringing over our order from Quest baits when he visited in March, and of course all the other anglers who have brought over bits and bobs, especially those that have brought Helen a ready supply of Galaxy chocolate.
And last but not least all of the anglers, old friends and new alike who visited and helped make our year so special, without them none of this could happen, and we are very grateful to you all. Thankyou for helping to make our dream of running a carp fishery come true and so enjoyable. We look forward to seeing you all again next year, the beers will be chilled, the fish will be bigger and Molyneux will be better than ever.
Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. May you have a wonderful time hopefuuly wrapped in the bosom of your families, and very best wishes for the New Year.
French Carp lakes – Molyneux
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Molyneux Report to 10th November 2012
Scott & his 41lb mirror
Saturday morning and with John and Carol packed and on their way we awaited the new anglers who were due to arrive at Molyneux. The phone rang around mid-morning and we learnt that one of our parties had suffered a mini disaster as a strap holding some of their gear on the roof had snapped resulting in a rod bag and it’s entire contents flying off and ending up under the wheels of a lorry. The rods, and reels inside the bag were all smashed and completely ruined.
There was also some damage to a new bivvy which had recently been bought, though thankfully this as not beyond use. A very sad start to their holiday, and a salutary lesson to us all. If anything is to be transported upon the roof it must be strapped down and then double strapped to make sure there is no chance of it slipping or moving. Tack is very expensive these days and we need to ensure that it is not going anywhere during the journey.
The other pair of anglers we were expecting Colin and old friend who had first visited in March of this year, and his good friend Scott arrived full of the joys of spring and raring to get going. Colin had very kindly arrived bearing gifts of Chocolate for Helen which is always very welcome and is sure to put any angler in her good books from the off.
We chatted and informed the anglers of recent events at the lake over a steaming mug of tea after which we wandered around the lake. My mobile rang as we arrived back at the kitchen announcing the arrival of the other group Joe and Dave. They drove around to the kitchen and over a cup of tea explained the drama’s they had suffered. They had managed to find a tackle shop in Rouen where Joe had replaced his damaged rods with a cheap set sufficient to see him through the week.
I took them for a walk round and they decided that they would like to fish the double swim, Colin and Scott had previously showed an interest in fishing the social swims so as usual it negated the need for a draw as everyone was happy with their choice.
The guys set off and sorted themselves out in their respective swims. I loaned Joe a reel to help him out, and took around the bait that the guys had pre-ordered. They came up to the kitchen for their evening meals and we arranged that the following day I would take them out in the boat and bait up their swims.
That night there were no fish caught. The following day the weather improved so far as fishing was concerned overcast with the wind picking up, and things were looking good for a bite. Almost immediately after dinner the first fish was caught. Scott was the lucky angler in Social 2 he enjoyed a good scrap with the fish before it finally came over the drawcord of the net. On the scales it was weighed at 41lb, a fish which had been caught at 40lb in September. To say he was delighted is and understatement. What a start to the week! Overnight there were no more fish caught.
The following day Scott landed another mirror of 26lb’s at around 1pm. At 2.30pm Joe in the double swim caught his first fish, a chunky 30lb 14oz mirror. In the early evening of the Monday Joe caught his second thirty of the week in the shape of a cracking 37lb 1oz mirror. At 9pm Colin caught a 16lb mirror.
In the early hours of Tuesday Scott caught a 23lb 8oz common. He followed this up at lunchtime with a 30lb mirror. Dinner was eaten and a beer or two consumed and the guys headed back to their swims. At 10pm Joe had another thirty with a 30lb 15oz mirror. A short while later Colin caught a 29lb 8oz mirror.
Overnight Scott added to his tally with a mirror of 38lb 4oz. He followed this up at 11am with a 18lb 2oz common. Strangely that evening Colin in the next swim caught a different common of exactly the same weight. The weather which had been overcast and showery was certainly not harming the fishing.
Thursday saw an incredible couple of hours fishing for Scott, when at 12.30pm he caught first a 32lb 10oz mirror, followed quickly by a 37lb 14oz mirror, and less than an hour later by a 38lb 8oz mirror. A short while later he finished his flurry with a 16lb mirror.
In the early hours of Friday morning Scott continued his amazing run of form with a 37lb 1oz mirror. Colin then got in on the act with a 31lb mirror, half an hour later catching another, a 26lb 8oz mirror. Scott then caught yet another thirty at 30lb 8oz. That evening Colin caught a 33lb 8oz mirror, Scott caught a 32lb 3oz mirror, and Dave who had been struggling in the double swim caught a 30lb 15oz mirror. Overnight Colin managed one more fish a 31lb 5oz mirror.
Altogether a good weeks fishing with Scott really getting amongst them, Colin and Joe landing a few good thirties, finally even Dave who had struggled through the week landing his much craved for thirty by the end of the week.
It was good to see Colin again, as well as meeting his friend Scott, Joe and Dave had endured a horrendous start to the week with the loss of their tackle, hopefully their experience at Molyneux during their stay went some small way to make up for it.
French Carp Lakes – Molyneux
Monday, 10 December 2012
Carp Fishing Knots – The Palomar and the 5 Turn Grinner
Paul Cooper shows you how to tie 2 extremely useful knots.
Carp Fishing Videos – 58 Technical “How To” Videos
The Most Unusual Carp Capture of 2012?
Stephen Knight fished Old Oaks w/c Sat 1st Dec. Fishing was hard & he only had one carp all week… but surely caught in one of the most unconventional methods – on a lure!
Over to Stephen to explain;
“Fishing was hard as we had some bad frost’s, down to -6c. There were still fish moving , but they were not interested in feeding much.
I took along a small ABU bait casting outfit for a bit of fun if the fishing was slow & I caught a small jack pike. I changed to a small red and white jig head and hooked up first cast into something big, which I first thought was a massive pike. But it was pulling back too much for a pike so I thought that maybe it’s one of the cats.
I was well sup prised to see its was a mirror carp when I got it to the surface. The jig must have landed right in front of it on the bottom because as as soon as I started to retrieve it went tight.
I had never heard of this happening before, but when Mehdi came to take photos, he said he had heard of it before but not with a fish of this size. It’s a first for me and will probably never happen again. Bloody amazing!”
Carp France at Old Oaks
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Prolific Winter Carping Session at Margot
Here’s a short interview with Bill Holcombe during his prolific Nov ’12 Margot session. Bill caught 25 carp in total including 2 x 50′s at 52-02 (pb common) and 51-10, 4 x 40′s to 49-12, 15 x 30′s to 39-01, 2 x 20′s to 27-07 and 1 under 20.
Who says they don’t feed in winter!
Carp Fishing in France at Margot
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Works Update from Bletiere French Carp Lake
I have been trying to master a new video camera without a lot of success and do not seem to be getting very far with it, but I will keep persevering with it and hopefully will get there. In the meantime I thought I would just give you a quick update on how the works are going here to get ready for next year’s season.
It’s now the beginning of December and I have been lucky enough to have my brother Ernie over last week to help. Luckily we had some good weather & we managed to get a lot of jobs done. The first thing we did was to remove and repair the bridge over the stream that was rotten. This was a two man job as 20 foot tree trunks are heavy, but we also had the mini digger which was a God send.
We then tackled the willow trees all along the bank in front of the island. They grow so fast that unless to top them every year they block out all the views from the gite. This is a very time consuming job and took nearly two days to finish.
Ernie then spent a couple of days getting the garden sorted out for me as that’s not a strong point for me – it usually has two choices… live or die!
Once all the pruning and clearing had been done we had a mega bonfire and cleared it all up. That’s one of the good things about no neighbours – you don’t have to worry about smoke and what you burn.
My brother left and I am now working on the swims as I want to enlarge the house swim and also clear some of the reeds and plants growing along its side. Again the mini digger came into its own and soon made light work of the plants.
I have also made the end wider so that when anyone fishes towards the narrow end they can, if they want, put their rods at an angle facing there. I have also dredged the end as deep as I can and also made the right hand side a lot deeper to make it safer for fish release. It all looks a mess at the moment but by March when we open it will all be sorted and ready to go.
Well that’s all for now. Hopefully I will have some videos to show soon. In the meantime tight lines to you all!
John
Fishing Holidays at Bletiere
Molyneux Carp Lake – Report to 3rd Nov ’12
With no anglers visiting the lake in the week leading up to the 27th November, it meant another week of hard work for Helen and I which included us starting to remove the dead trees from the large island. Sadly it has been left to grow wild for a number of years and the brambles have taken over strangling the life out of anything else trying to grow. So we set to work improving the overall look as well as improving the chances for the beautiful trees trying to get a hold over there.
As the week all too quickly came to an end we prepared to welcome a husband and wife party who were staying in the cabin. John and Carol arrived late Saturday morning, having had a horrendous journey. They missed the ferry they were booked onto, and had to wait two hours until they could get on to one. Then there was an emergency with rescue boats having to go out to a yacht in distress in the channel which meant that they had to sit off Calais until the problem was resolved as the emergency boats were given priority at the port of Calais. Such a shame as most people comment on how straight forward and easy the trip is.
They were understandably tired upon arrival and after a cup of tea Helen took Carol down to show her around the cabin whilst John and myself had a wander around the lake. He was very impressed with the place, and even more so when he learnt he had the place to himself for the week. I left him to set up, and get himself organised.
They wandered along for their evening meal at the appointed time, after which John said he doubted if he would fish that night preferring to get his head down and have a fresh start in the morning.
Sunday morning we went out in the boat and had a prod around his swim, and dropped off one or two H block markers in open water spots. He baited these spots and commenced fishing in earnest. Sadly he lost a fish during the Sunday night, and so again we baited up the following day. Monday saw a few fish showing in and around the baited areas, which was a good sign, John set himself up for another nights fishing. He lost one during the late evening to a hook pull after playing it for a wee while.
At 6am he was rewarded for his efforts with a take followed by a good tussle before landing a 28lb mirror. Once again the daylight hours were slow, although once again there were fish showing. At 7pm that evening he landed his second fish of the week with a fine 30lb mirror. Overnight he sadly had two takes both of which he lost, one to a hook pull, the other a screaming take which when lifting the rod was met with no fish on the end.
He decided to move into the double swim on Wednesday and try his luck there. Sadly it was to be no better, resulting in no fish overnight. He moved back into the cabin and back onto his original spots which he felt more confident with. His confidence was proved to be right, as at 3am he landed his third fish of the week another mirror, this one weighing 29lb’s. Friday night saw another fish lost sadly, and on Saturday the process of packing down began. It had been a pleasure to meet both John and Carol, and we thoroughly enjoyed their company during the week.
Weather conditions permitting he hadn’t done too bad, with 8 takes and 3 fish landed, but for a few hook pulls it might have been so much better.
Winter Carp Fishing Expert Tactics Video
Mehdi Daho, owner of Laroussi & Old Oaks, guides you through his tactics to catch carp in Winter. He outlines the tactics he uses and then gives great detail on his prefered bait and baiting techniques. A real gem of a video for anyone considering winter carping.
57 Carp Fishing Tactics Videos
Watersmeet Carp Stocking – Nov ’12
It’s November 2012 and Watersmeet receives a boost to its stocks with 25 mid-20lb carp from the Bigot fish farm. This is sure to make this ever popular venue even more desirable.
Fishing Holiday at Watersmeet
Monday, 3 December 2012
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