Questions and Answers – Margot Carp Lake

Paul Cooper, one of our expert Field Testers, recently answered a few queries about Margot, a must read if you’re going out to the venue this year!

Hi Paul,  I was looking for a little advice with Margot in France as I know you’ve fished there before. I’m there this summer and hoping the weather will be warm but I’m unsure as to what bait and tactics work best there. If you could help that would be great. 

65lb 8oz – Margot – Rob Allen

I have visited Margot on two occasions in the past, August a few years ago when the temperatures averaged around 39C and last year in May when it averaged around 24C. On both occasions I fished similar tactics. The first thing to realise is that in July the weather in this area can be hot, very hot. Despite the heat the carp still feed heavily and need lots of food to keep them occupied in your swim.

Most anglers that visit Margot use bait boats and have some considerable success. I personally would not bother. Spombing, spodding and throwing stick would be my answer to presenting your free offerings in the form of good quality boilies. I would use the marker rod to find a weed free area, and then lead the same area to ascertain that the area is suitable for a baiting campaign. Make sure that the distance that you select for the baited area is reachable even in a strong head wind as the winds here can be exceptional. On both my visits I fished around 75 yards, a comfortable casting distance. My choice of boilie would be Quality Baits HG42 or CM60, both supplied by the Bigots at Margot.

Margot

Once you have selected your area, around the size of a table tennis table, introduce around 1/2 kilo of boilies. Fish two rods on the area and then the other two well off the area. I found that the outer rods produced the most fish. Following each capture introduce around another 100 boilies and keep this up throughout the week.

In July the poisson-chat can be very active and it may be that you are unable to fish boilies. If this happens there are a number of ways of combating this nuisance species of fish. I have made a short video explaining this which is part of the technical video’s on the Angling Lines web site, How to protect your baits when crayfish or poisson chat are active.

Carp in the Shallows

One of the best baits when the chats move in is the tiger nut. The Bigots will supply tiger nuts at Margot when there is a problem with them, and tigers combined with well prepared hemp keep the carp coming, avoiding the chat. The Bigot’s net the chat each year so you may get away un-scathed, but just in case go prepared.

Margot is an excellent venue and does contain some massive specimens, carp, grassies and catfish, so make sure that you have the gear to cope with them. I hope you enjoy your visit to Margot. I do envy you as it is a great big fish water.

Tight Lines
Paul Cooper

To check out more articles from Margot, including the capture of the 71lb lake record, click here.
Margot Carp Fishing in France