Water Temperatures at Notaires

I have seen from the forums that there is a great deal of interest in the environmental conditions at the various carp lakes.

Raspberry Pi and circuit board

I am pleased to announce that Notaires Lakes now has live online monitoring which can be seen here. The system is based around the famous Raspberry Pi “computer on a credit card”. We have sensors for air and water temperature, air pressure and humidity.

One sensor is in the swimming pool (for interest, although it’s also providing a reference point) and two are in the lake margin under the willows; one just under the surface and the other about a foot deep. With the sensors shaded by the willows they should be unaffected by direct sunlight and are in the current of water flowing out of the lake spillway.

Water Temperatures

Even with the only two days of “in water” data, the trends are fascinating. The variation in temperature between day and night is 3 degrees. The other particularly useful sensor is the atmospheric pressure sensor, or barometer. Guests can check the current trend, rising or falling each day, and adjust tactics accordingly.

One guest recently emailed me to ask what the weather was doing that day. Well, now you can check online for yourself in an instant!

Chris and Steph Dagg, Owners at Notaires
For more information on the lake follow the link - Fishing Holidays

How to get the best out of French Carp Fishing in France

I think that it fair to say that most anglers that visit French carp waters expect to catch big carp and lots of them, beating their British PB's by a fair margin.

A feedback report from Villefond, you can even select exact months to see how what to expect throughout the year...

Carp are the same in France as in England, they can be temperamental and totally shut down their feeding programme for weeks at a time. When they do go on the feed anglers can have bumper catches with some huge fish gracing the bank.

There are many companies that provide French angling, either exclusive bookings or shared lakes. Unfortunately the catches that are reported are usually only when a group of anglers have a big hit. They do not provide any information when folks blank or catch very few or even small fish.

Now lets take a look at Angling Lines. Check out the feedback reports that customers put on the web site following a visit to one of the Angling Lines waters. You will see unedited reports and true feedback. If there are issues that are controversial, Angling Lines may add a comment but will not remove the feedback unless it is offensive.

Things to consider before making the decision on what water to fish.

• Firstly look at your angling ability and experience. It is no good aiming for a big fish water that contains only a small stocking of carp if you want lots of runs, especially if you are new to the carp scene. The reason that the carp are big is because of a healthy stocking level, which means fewer fish and fewer runs.
• There are plenty of waters that are available that will provide runs galore, but you may have to wade through lots of smaller carp to catch some of the bigger residents.
• Check out the location of the venue as there can be vast differences in travel times from ports.
• Decide if you want exclusive, shared lakes, bivvy only or a lake with accommodation.
• If you are a bait boat user, clarify if they can be used or not and also check on the availability of power points.

Once that you have selected a venue that suits your requirements.

• Read the feedback reports, baring in mind that some anglers may knock the venue and fish stocks, just because they have had a  poor week's fishing. Read lots of reports and you will get a clearer picture of what to expect.
• Check out the articles, they are written for the benefit of new customers as well as old ones.
• Make sure that you have 100% confidence in your choice of bait and check out what is supplied at your chosen venue, just in case you need a top up.
• If their are issues with Poison Chat or crayfish, be prepared to combat them because these waters usually contain some huge carp. Check out the video's here in the technical section for more information.

Your 1st day at the venue

Now it can be easy to have a pre-conceived idea prior to your arrival that a certain swim will produce the most fish. It is worth taking note of what areas have produced the goods in the past but on the day of arrival everything could have changed. Angling pressure and climate change could easily move the carp to an area of the lake not normally associated with high catch rates.

Watch for signs of carp movement

So what should you do.

• If there is a catch report book, check it out to see which swims produced the previous week.
• Speak to the bailiff or owner, they can usually point you in the right direction.
• I would still get hold of a marker rod, a pair of good binoculars and a pair of polarised sun glasses.
• Study the water looking for any signs of feeding fish, vortexes caused by carp, clouded or coloured water, fizzing or carp showing themselves by crashing or lumping out. This may take a few hours but it could be worth it as you are there for a week. Make the right decision on swim choice could make the difference between a good and a poor weeks fishing.
• Lead and plumb your chosen swim, trying to find an area that you can present a bait comfortably.
• Even if you are using a bait boat it is important to try and find a clean suitable area to fish, at a distance that you can cast to comfortably. If your bait boat breaks down or the wind picks up, you may find it difficult to cast to your baited area, and you will have to start all over again in developing another one.
• Begin a baiting campaign with a little and often approach. Once the carp start feeding introduce more bait accordingly to the ratio of feeding carp that you think are in the swim.
• Always watch the water. The fish may move and if it is possible you may have to move with them. I have moved 3 or 4 times during a week to keep up with feeding fish.

The video below shows how to effectively find features in your swim...

The rest is up to you. I know that there are a lot of anglers out there that are very experienced in what they do, but we are not all blessed with that wealth of experience. The articles and videos that are available on the Angling Lines web site, are put on for the benefit of all anglers, especially for those who are willing to learn and develop their fishing.

I wish you all the best in your future angling. Take a look at Paul Cooper's fishing tips on Quality Baits for some more tips.

Paul Cooper

For over 60 technical videos on baiting, rigs, techniques and tactics follow the link - Carp Fishing in France

Winter is Coming

It's approaching that time of year again when the carp go on a massive feed before the Winter sets in. September and October are, in my opinion, the best times of the year for a number of reasons.

21lb 13oz on new bait, September

Firstly, the carp should have fully recovered from this years spawning and will now be at their natural weights. Any weight gain for next year will be made in the next few weeks as the carp prepare for the winter and begin to develop their eggs for the next years spawning. Over the next 6 weeks the fish will be feeding hard and can be caught over large beds of bait. Most of the weed has died or is dying back make natural food abundant in open water. If you can compete with the naturals with a good quality boilie you could have some excellent results.

Boux carp caught Mid-October at 49lb 14oz

Now is the time that I start to reduce the size of my boilies from 18 mils down to 15mils or even smaller. The water should be getting cooler so I never over flavour any bait at this time of year and I will be working towards reducing the fishmeal content and oils down to zero as winter sets in. Also I stop using  particles and pellets and go to a boilies only approach.

Another October English carp at 24lb 12oz

I am off to Old Oaks this weekend with David Keep of Angling Lines, and although the usual approach for this water is particles and boilies, I aim to stick to my principals with a boilie only approach. The boilies we will be using are provided by Quality Baits in the new HG All Seasons and the ever faithful Patshull Park with a new combination of flavours and essential oil. I have been putting the new baits through their paces over the past fortnight resulting in captures of carp on all of my 4 trips, each lasting no more than 3 hours.

November and they are still on the feed

Shortly after returning from Old Oaks I will be preparing for a trip to Brocard with Jim Kelly. This should take me through to mid October so hopefully I will have a few decent weeks of fishing left before the cold days set in.

Paul Cooper

For more field testing tales click herePaul Cooper 2013 Fishing Diary

Inflight at Boux

An aerial flight over Boux carp lake, designed to give you a real taster of the venue's layout and lake features.

As many of you will know, Boux has had reputation for top class carp fishing in France since the 1980's with many famous anglers having visited its banks. That tradition continues and Boux still produces hard fighting carp at consistently high weights with 40lb+ carp out almost every week.

For more information on Boux follow the link - Carp Fishing in France

Hail and cold water - Was this really August?

I was very fortunate to fish Jonchery's smaller counterpart, Jonchery 7, earlier this year. During my visit I took the opportunity to do a few laps of the main Jonchery lake.  On my way around I chatted with the anglers and was amazed to find that some had been coming since they were children, others only fished at Jonchery and visited six or seven times a year! That’s a measure of their loyalty that I haven’t seen at other French waters and speaks volumes for the venue, the fish, the facilities and of course the owners who manage it.

It’s an easy drive to Jonchery straight down the A26 motorway onto the new Reims ring road and down towards Troyes. As we motored along we chased dark storm clouds and eventually overtook them. At the venue we chose swim 2. I had seriously hurt my back putting the whole trip in jeopardy so we took the swim nearest to the car and the facilities. We quickly put up our camp and as I organised my bivvy the storm caught up with us. There had been a heatwave in the weeks preceding our trip and suddenly there was torrential rain and massive hailstones in August!  Over the next few hours the water temperature went from bath water to cold water. We were unsure whether the influx of cold water into the lake was a good or a bad thing, only time would tell.

We quickly set up our camp...

All the swims on Jonchery are doubles so Phil took the right hand side and I took the left. I was happy as I’d seen fish showing only two or three rod lengths out about sixty yards along the bank.

Pat Gillett’s Diary for August 2013

Thursday 1st August 2013 – River Derwent

This was to be the second trip of the season to the Derwent. To be honest I didn’t really fancy going. The weather forecast was for temperatures of up to 34 Deg. C. (the hottest day of the year so far) and I really don’t like the very hot weather! Add this to the fact that I had transport issues and it was the first day of the the third test between England and Australia and I could quite easily have stayed at home. However after a quick telephone call with my good mate Geoff Dace, he sounded keen and persuaded me to give it a go. A quick call to the garage and they confirmed that my new tyre had just come in and that if I got round there quickly they would fit it and balance it for me while I waited.

This session produced a superb barbel of 16lb 7oz, a fish which is only ounces off the river record!

After looking at the various EA sites for the different river levels, it looked as if the Derwent could well be the best bet (it was dropping, but not too quickly). We arrived at the river at about 4pm and upon stepping out of the cool of the car it was like walking into an oven, with the air temperature now being around 30 Deg. C. There were anglers already present in the area that I had the 12 pounder from last time out, so I ended up picking a likely looking swim (that I had never fished before), a good half a mile away.

Alder Lightning

I am thinking of calling the new fifty lightning as he has struck twice and each time has been banked...

In his latest appearance he was caught by Mark Swindells at 51lbs-8oz and later caught by another member of the party at 51lbs 4oz. They had a great fishing holiday at Alder and despite the very hot weather landed between the two of them:-

Mark Swindells

2 x fifties (inc new lake record 51-8)1 x forty3 x thirties51 x twenties32 x doubles7 x grass carp

What a fishing holiday; big fish and a big haul. Well done!

Chris & Steph Dagg, Alder Owners 

Winter Season Chores Begin at Glehias

With the kids all back at school, the summer season comes to a close. There is a crispness to the morning air and the nights are already beginning to draw in. It’s definitely time to start on the end of season chores at Glehias.

Sam proudly shows off his big muscles as the tyre mound starts to grow on the bank!

The Lakes are always at their lowest levels at this time of year, dropping around 14” over the summer, so first on the list (the very long list!) of things to do is the reinstallation of ‘Goose Island’ on Lake William. The original island was constructed of banked earth and reeds against a wall of supporting struts, but over time the mounded earth has mostly eroded away along with the planting.

The first task was to get the tyres up to Lake William; most of the family were roped in for this!

Having tried a couple of times to re-mound the island, we’ve gone for a different strategy this time using a mix of old tractor and car tyres as a foundation to hold everything together. With around 35 tyres in total, we are more than hopeful that this new tack will be successful.

Even got Tracy to swap the chef’s hat for a pair of waders to speed things up a bit!

Already over half way there, with about two thirds the marked area stacked and planted with reeds, iris’s and even a tree; the water levels have already begun to rise - almost an inch and a half over the weekend. We’re looking to get the rest done by next weekend. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain too much in between!

Saturday evening and we have 23 of the 35 tyres in place ready for planting.

For more articles on Carp Lake Management such as this click here
For more information on Glehias follow the link - French Carp Fishing

A Fifty for Genets

Ed Daw gets a soaking to celebrate a cracking new PB from Genets this month, weighing in at 50lb... 

A new PB

For more information on Genets follow the link - Carp Fishing France

Jonchery Gets An Updated Venue Video

Jonchery is a 30 acre lake set in the heart of the Champagne region, created and run by the prominent fish farming Bachelier family.  This lake has a great reputation, stretching back many years, for offering superb carp fishing holidays...

The 6 large double swims give you loads of options on where and how to fish - you'll never be short of water.  Action is usually prolific too thanks to its stock of around 350 big and healthy mirrors and commons up to 58lb, with an excellent head of 40lb+ carp.

For more information on Jonchery follow the link - Fishing Holidays

Forties at Vaux

A beautiful pair of forties from Vaux meant two new PBs for anglers Danny and Marc....

'We would highly recommend this venue to a friend and at the moment we are checking our diaries to see when we can get back!'

40.04 - Marc

45.04 - Danny

For more information on Vaux follow the link - Fishing Holiday

An Update From Laroussi

Mehdi, the owner of renowned big fish waters Old Oaks and Laroussi, fills us in on the latest from the lake...

The last 3 weeks have produced some really good fish, including 4 catfish well over 100lb having been caught in the last 2 weeks. They all weighed between an incredible 110 and 125lb.

125lb

66lb

Today as I'm writing this news, another one has just been landed again over 100lb! That makes 5 catfish in a row over 100lb! Without counting the monster one caught last year at 165lb.

Regarding carp, forties and fifties are coming out on the regular. We've seen 55lb, 54lb, 54lb, 49lb & 51lb mirrors and this week saw 55lb6oz, 51lb & 44lb6oz commons.  As well as a brace at 54lb and 58lb!

Last week, a stunning dark 66lber was landed by John Huddleston's party.

A few big grass carp met hooks also, the biggest weighed in at 49lb12oz.

Tight Lines
Mehdi

You can see all the fish photos from Laroussi here, just follow the link  - Carp Fishing in France

A Cold Day On Villefond by Rob Inns

Rob Inns braved the chilly weather this spring and it sure did pay off! If you're considering a late or early season trip, have a read below...

In March 2012 I was lucky enough to be invited to Lac Du Villefond for the filming of the Angling Lines venue video. It turned out to be one of my most memorable fishing trips to date as I caught a new P.B mirror (which for a short time was the lake record mirror carp) at 51lb 4oz. The capture was made particularly memorable for me as it was all caught on film from start to finish.

Jump forward to March 2013 and my family and I were booked to go to Disneyland Paris for a few days and with the memory of the previous year’s capture still etched in my memory I could not resist driving down to Villefond afterwards to see Villefond's owner, the Lamberts, and hopefully get the rods out.

But as the trip approached I became a little worried the difference in weather between March 2012 and March 2013 were chalk and cheese. The previous year the days had been so warm I spent most of the trip in shorts and a t-shirt but this year winter was still in full swing. Most of the lakes in the UK were frozen solid and on our drive down to Portsmouth to catch our ferry the snow was so heavy we could hardly see the road in front of us. Knowing I only had one days fishing ahead of me and with the weather being so cold I was far from optimistic.

Once family obligations were out the way it was off to see the Lamberts, where I was greeted with the fantastic news that the lake was not frozen and I would at least be able to get a bait in the water the next day.

The Island

The next morning I arrived at the lake where an icy cold wind and a sprinkling of overnight snow were waiting to welcome me. Mark informed me he had seen fish showing along the overhanging marginal trees a few days before so a single pop up with a hand full of the lakes house baits were fished to this area and my other rod was fished with a single pop up to the island.

As an hour passed in the cold I began to day dream about sleeping bags and bivvy heaters but being a day session we did not have these creature comforts to keep us warm.Luckily, my day dream was soon interrupted by an absolute belter of a take from my margin rod. The fish went on a powerful surging run and I could tell it was a heavy fish from the off. There’s nothing quite like a hard fighting Villefond monster trying to pull you into the water to help you forget about the cold winter wind. As the fish came towards the net a flash of its flank revealed it was a good mirror which went 41lb on the scales and Mark identified it to be a fish known as Guinevere.

41lb 'Guinevere'

I was well chuffed to have caught anything let alone such a stunning 40+ mirror still in its full winter colours she really was a cracking looking fish. After weighing and a couple of photo’s back she went to her watery home and back my pop up went bang on the margin spot with another handful of the house baits.

As time passed and the cold started to set in again we joked that another run was needed quick before hypothermia set in and we didn’t have to wait long before my margin rod was away again. This fight was completely different from the first fish, there were few powerful surging runs just a lot of splashing around on the surface. Another mirror this time at 35lb 10oz and with a floppy tail and big patches of scales it should have been easily recognisable, yet no one did.

An 'unknown' fish at 37.10

The Lamberts keep all fish capture pics on record and we later discovered that there were no previous recorded captures of this fish, which is quite incredible that after all these years as a fishery the lake still kicks up unknown surprises. A second fish on a day that seemed to have blank written all over it was a real result and enough to convince us that a warm shower and hot home cooked meal were deserved.

Back home myself and hope other anglers have great results this coming winter by learning what they can about a venue and spending as much time as they can learning the fishes winter habits in the venue. This is why a lot of people are put off taking winter fishing trips, as they feel they don’t have enough time to learn the habits of the lakes inhabitants. This needn't be the case.

The guys at Angling Lines are always willing to give as much information on the venues as possible and lake managers such as Mark know the fish and venues like the back of their hands. Always willing to give advice and tips to help you put those big French lumps on the bank even in the heart of winter.

Rob

For more information on Villefond follow the link - Carp Fishing in France

Awesome Week at Old Oaks

Mehdi, the owner of renowned big fish waters Old Oaks and Laroussi, fills us in on the latest from the lake...

Despite the very hot summer Old Oaks has produced constant good fishing, but last week has been awesome! Neil Martin's party had a crazy time catching 48 fish in total with 17 forties and a fifty.  Approx 15 fish lost to the snags.

Not bad for their first french carp trip...

A kiss for the long common at 60.08

In other news the 'long common' hasn't been caught since May. Last time, she was a hefty 60lb 8oz. Many carpers have seen this particular specimen swimming along the branches of the far margin...easy to see but who will catch it next? After a summer of growth it will be interesting to see her weight now.

Tight Lines
Mehdi

For more information on Old Oaks follow the link - Carp France

French Adventure 2013

Matthew Fleet was back at Lords Lake last week and has kept a video diary of his trip...

Matthew runs the Carp Marathon website and returned to Lords this September with friend Nick Rudge. Between them they achieved an impressive catch rate including two 50's and multiple PB's.

You can watch all 8 episodes below; highlights include the two 50's making appearances in episodes 6 & 7.

For more information on Lords follow the link - French Carp

Off To A Flying Start...

Lee, the owner at Glehias managed to catch some of the action down at the lake on film this weekend...

Working at the lakes this evening, I stopped to have a chat with our anglers Paul Loomes and Neil Brooks who arrived yesterday afternoon. I was working when they arrived so had hardly seen them.

Whilst discussing tactics, I was fortunate enough to see them both land 27lb and 28lb fish and was pleasantly surprised to hear them say they were fish numbers 17 and 18 on the bank - including a handful of 30's. Having less than 24 hours of rods in, I think you could definitely say they are off to a flying start!

For more information on Glehias follow the link - French Carp Fishing

Confidence Is The Key, A Report by Paul Cooper

This year has been a difficult year at most fisheries in both England and France. The long warm sunny period that we have just seen, has encouraged massive weed growths on lots of lakes along with huge algae blooms...

This certainly has effected catch rates on these effected waters and bait presentation has become difficult to almost impossible. It just means that a little extra work is needed by the angler to find clear areas to fish too. Even when a fishable area is found it is easy to have your confidence drastically reduced by not using the right bait.

One of my syndicate waters, heavily weeded.

At present my confidence is running high with my new bait and new rigs. Jim Kelly and myself have been getting our heads together along with Simon from Quality Baits to produce a couple of new baits.

Quality Baits Just Krill

The first bait that we put together was a fishmeal bait that we have called Just Krill. When Simon sent us out with our 1st samples I couldn't wait; I was using it within 24 hours and catching fish. The Just Krill was going to be a winner. A few more visits to different waters saw immediate results. This bait was ready for a French trip.

We have also been trying to create a bait that we can use all year round, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The bait was to be totally digestible with no oils or fish meals that can solidify and lie in the intestines of the fish during the cold spells of Winter.

Quality Baits HG All Seasons

The bait however, still needed to match, if not improve on the catch rates of that of fish meal boilies in the warmer months of Summer.

It is still early days but we think we have come up with the answer in the new HG All Seasons boilie. Jim and I put this through its paces along with Just Krill on the banks of Nautica, a 17 acre French lake with around 100 carp.  Fishing bottom baits only our tally for the week was 29 carp. Both baits produced an equal amount of fish, things were looking good.

31.15 - Results of Just Krill on Nautica

32.04 - HG All seasons on the ultimate barbless hook rig

Our next French trip was due to be to the beautiful water of Brie. This is one of the many Bachelier waters that Angling Lines have taken on this year. The rules are strict and ask that Barbless hooks are used at all times so the Ultimate Barbless hook rig was put through it's paces.

Again, Quality Baits Hg All Seasons and Just krill was our choice of bait. I was brimming with confidence and for some reason the HG All Seasons hit the spot producing most of my runs. Although fishing was unusually slow, we still landed 14 pristine big carp.

A few days after returning home I dropped onto my local syndicate lake with Just Krill and after only a few hours fishing I landed 2 carp including a 27lb 7oz linear.

Just Krill does it again

This week I visited the same syndicate water armed with HG All Seasons. This would be the first trip out to this particular lake with my new boilie. The weed on the lake has flourished this year leaving a large floating platform of silkweed drifting all around the lake. I arrived at the lake around 8.20am in the morning and set up in an area that was at the time reasonably fishable.  I waded out my hook baits scattering around 50 free offerings to each rod. Because of the amount of weed it is essential to ensure that the lead will release on a take and that a barbless hook rig set up was used. For this I set up all my 3 rods with the Ultimate Barbless hook rig to a 18mil bottom bait. Within half an hour one of  my rods came to life which resulted in a 40lb 14oz Common gracing my net.

English 40lb 14oz on HG All Seasons and my barbless hook rig

A massive floatation of weed shortly covered my fishing area, so in came the rods and I went home, confidence still high on my new bait and rigs.

Paul Cooper

For more on bait and over 65 technical videos follow the link - Carp Fishing in France

An Impressive First Catfish for Mark

Mark and Lee were out at Laroussi last week,  Mark hooked into his first ever catfish on the first night and luckily for him it weighed in  at a huge 120lbs...

Details of your catches: Mark - 2 carp at 33.03 and 49.07 also 2 cats at 110 and 120. Lee - 2 carp at 20 and 55.02

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Cell little and often.

General comments: First trip to laroussi, deffo not my last. Both of us smashed our pb's and if that wasn't good enough, catching 2 cats over a 110 and 120lb. The big cat coming out on our first night had already made my trip.

Big thanks to the 2 dutch guys harry an rob who helped with the weighing of the first cat as this was my first ever cat fish.  Cheers Mehdi, great venue we will deffo be back.

For more information on Laroussi follow the link - Carp Fishing in France