Monument Carp Fishing Lake in France
Paul Cooper, one of our expert Field Testers, recently answered a few queries about Monument Lake, a must read if you’re going out to the venue this year!
Hi Paul, We’re visiting monument lake this spring and I was just wondering if there was any advice/tips you could give? When you were fishing ‘the pads’ swim did you fish 3 rods to the island or is open water generally better there? With there being 3 of us we were thinking to all select a swim and fish it for the full week, do you think that’s the best option?
You have made a good choice of venue. The fish in Monument are in excellent condition and all give a good account of themselves. Mark know his lake and will direct you to the 3 best swims. Most of the fish patrol the island margins so it goes without saying, fish the island margins. With there being 3 of you I would spread yourselves around the lake. From my experience of Monument I would fish – the Orchard Swim, the Boulders Swim and the Pads Swim.
The Pads Swim
The Pads Swim
The pads swim is a very tight swim but the fish certainly get in that corner. I personally would select 3 spots off the island. The island margins are between 3 and 4 foot deep and are excellent for picking up the carp. The banks drop off vertically off the island so the closer you can get to the island the better. If you are accurate with your casting you will be able to hit the marks every time. Once you have got your distance for each rod, mark up and then clip up. There was weed in that corner when I last fished it so I did not back lead, just tight lines to the lead. The margins in the pad swim are heavily silted and you will need waders to fish it properly You can wade out a distance from this swim as it is only a couple of feet deep, but with quite heavy silt. Waders a must.
The Orchard Swim
The Orchard Swim
This probably the most popular swim on the lake as you have deep margins to land your fish and there are attractive margins to cast too on the island, with overhanging trees and again deep margins. The island margins of this bank gently slope down to around 9 foot, so find the bottom of the drop off and stick 3 rods spread around the island margin. No waders are needed for this swim.
The Boulders swim
This swim gives you a good area of water to cover, but again don’t forget the island margins which again drop off vertically to around 3 to 4 feet. I would advice not to cast past the boulders but fish up against them as the fish do feed around this area.
The Boulders Swim
Also to the right corner of this swim is a very shallow area where the fish love to feed and fizz away. No waders are needed in this swim.
As for bait, I personally would use 16 mil Quality Baits HG42 or HG47 which I am sure that Mark supplies at the lake.
I hope that this helps you to put a few extra fish on the bank, I know the more information you are armed with the better.
PS I would highly recommend the food package. Good value, quality and there’s lots of it.
Thanks for the reply Paul, its greatly appreciated. From what I’ve read the majority of the lake bed is clay, is that right? Were there any rigs that worked well for you there? I had liked the look of the pads swim, my only concern was that with it being shallow do you think the carp will prefer to still be in deeper parts of the lake at this time of year?
The Orchard side of the lake is deep and silty towards the center of the lake, as this is the original lake. The other half of the lake was dug out later which is where the monument boulders were removed from. There are silty areas, clay beds, weed beds and hard areas in the lake, you will have to lead around. As I have previously suggested, fish at least one rod, if not all three to the island margins.
The Island Margins
The pads swim is very shallow but the fish move about and feed close to the island margins. Both occasions that I fished the weather was cold and wet and you would have expected the fish to be else-where on the lake other than the pads swim, however I had seen fish in that area and targeted them and was successful.
I personally would not select a swim prior to arriving but spend a couple of hours to get the feel of the place.
On arrival at the lake don,t race for a swim, that goes for all of you. Watch the lake for signs of fish as they do show themselves, either by crashing out or fizzing and colouring up the water. Have your binoculars and polaroids at the ready and look for signs of feeding fish. Once you find the fish make your decision.
Any leading or depth finding I would do on the first day of your arrival. Mark will be able to help you as he does know his lake inside out.
I would also be prepared to move during the week, if the fish move off your area. I moved on both occasions when I fished Monument as the fish moved to a different feeding area. It can be a bit of an upheaval but moving swims can be very rewarding on some occasions.
As for rigs, I would use the rigs that you are used too and confident in, confidence is the best way of ensuring that you get the best out of your carp fishing. I personally used the blow-back rig for my bottom baits and the ultimate pop up rig for pop ups.
Regards
Paul Cooper
Paul Cooper
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