Great Carp Session at Villefond

Christopher Blunt's party of five were out at Villefond the first week in August...

Details of your catches: 6 x 40's (41.4 - 47.2), 6 x 30's, 3 x grass carp - 22.0, 5 x 10 - 26.0 (total 20 carp) lost 15-20 carp

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Listen to mark as his rig is designed for crafty carp, cast to showing fish or bubbling fish, critical balanced baits - pop ups

Were the facilities what you expected? Yes , the caravan could do with mains electric but as mark & john took electrical equipment home to charge. Worked out brilliantly, food package was excellent, well worth it.

Were you happy with them? Shower excellent, plenty of room to dry out gear or hang clothes.

Accommodation facilities (rated 1-5): 
Accommodation cleanliness (rated 1-5): 
Accommodation overall (rated 1-5): 

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes its the best place for a chance of catching a forty or even a fifty, lifetime fantasy.

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes - long journey but well worth it.

General comments: English owned - brilliant, couldn't have made my party feel any more at ease & happy

For more info & catch reports follow the link - carp fishing in France

Alder Produces its First 50lb Carp

Young Joe Tasker outfished all the adults on Alder lake this week to land the first recorded 50 lb'er...

Joe caught, played and netted the fish all by himself as all the adults were otherwise occupied. However it needed the adults to lift the 50lb 12oz fish out of the water.

Joe who had only been angling for two years and had a previous PB of 24lbs was given the traditional reward for outfishing his elders!

Carp fishing in France at Alder

Beaurepaire Produces 67lb Catfish

Gary Rivett fished Beaurepaire last week with his mate Steve  & had 35 carp, including a PB mirror for Steve at 31-10,  a PB grassy for Gary at 34-04 & other mirrors to 40-09...

Gary also landed this lake record cat with the Reuben Heatons thumping down to the stop at 67-12; among other cats to 48-10.

For further information & catch reports from Beaurepaire follow the link - Angling holidays

Glehia's Beauties and a Beastly Cat!

Just a selection of snaps and reviews from the last two weeks at Glehias...

"Fantastic location. Perfect hosts. Tracy cooks a fantastic meal. Delivery of meal to lakeside is a massive plus. Option to leave gear at lakeside massive benefit. Lee super-knowledgeable. Very welcoming and will certainly be back again."    Stuart Burgess, 20/7-27/7/13

Stuart Burgess

Stuart Burgess

"As always, lee and tracy have been exceptional hosts. They are welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable. Nothing is too much trouble. Every single one of us, including our 2 year old has been made to feel welcome. Lee is always on hand to give advice on tactics. Tracy does everything she can to make your stay a comfortable one. Always a pleasure for us as a family to stay at la gléhias. Will we be back? Just try and stop us! By far the best weeks fishing we've ever had!"    Steven Calthorpe, 27/7-03/8/13

Steven Calthorpe

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

Young Angler James has Huge Haul at Notaires

Notaires provides the perfect balance for a family angling holiday, here's why James Geeson thinks so...

General Comments: We stayed as a family of 5 with Chris and Steph for a week in mid july and had a wonderful time. Our 3 boys enjoyed the swimming pool and the animals as well as the wi-fi!

The fishing was excellent, led by our son james (13) who is the mad keen angler who found and booked this holiday for us. James fished every day on the main lake by the house at the nearest swim. He caught a lot of fish! 64 in total ranging from 12lbs up to 34lbs with the average size just over 20lbs so a great weeks fishing.

James

The fish fought hard and were in good condition, nearly all mirror carp but we did get one grass carp and a common as well. The smaller kids did some float fishing and landed plenty of small silver fish. James got his PB for mirror, common and grass. We barbequed most evening and the weather was fantastic. Chris and Steph were very helpful and friendly answering our questions and helping us find a tennis court to use in the nearby town.

A great week had by all and I would definitely recommend this venue to hardcore anglers as well as for families wanting a mixed holiday. Thanks again to Chris and Steph.

Details of your catches: 65 carp to 34lbs - 1337lbs of carp, fishing days only.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Simple rigs with single or double boilie and some on pop-ups seemed to work well casting across the lake to the margins.

The Weather is Always Perfect for Something

Anglers being anglers we often find ourselves complaining about the weather. Be it too bright, too hot, too cold, too windy, too wet and so on. But, to be fair the weather conditions might not be conducive to heavy feeding at the moment but they are absolutely perfect for taking full advantage of in two ways.

Perfect conditions to go and see with your own eyes what lives there...

First of all I am sure most of us have had our eye on a particular water and wondered if there were any decent fish in them. Well, in the sort of conditions we have at this moment in time things couldn’t be better for going and finding out. Carp in particular but it is also relevant to a lot of other species will spend huge amounts of time in the upper layers of the water in full view to those who put themselves out a little to actually go and have a look for them. Carp can’t help it, they love the sun on their backs and love to sunbathe and cruise around on the surface revealing themselves to the world at a time when most anglers are at home in the garden or perhaps down the pub enjoying a refreshing pint.

The fact of the matter though is just one walk in these hot and bright conditions can reveal so much about what lives in those sparsely stocked waters.

Similarly these low water river conditions couldn’t be any better for wandering along whilst you can see further and deeper into more water than you normally would be able to thus plot your swims for when the river rises and indeed for the winter when a lot of the fish will be sheltering from the full force of the current in areas that are actually on dry land at the minute for a lot of the areas of dry  bank at the moment will be areas you will be placing baits in flood water conditions.

Perfect to plot exactly where those main weed beds are.

Now is the perfect time to note where those weed beds start and end and the fish holding areas may be and more importantly where you will be able to present a rig without constantly getting snagged. Pick the brightest day and walk at mid day with the sun well above thus penetrating more water and revealing more of the underwater world. Simply arm yourself with a hat with a wide brim, a decent pair of polarised sunglasses, a bottle of something to drink and a note book. A camera can also come in handy for visualising what is under the water later in the year.

Happy plotting!

Best fishes
Shaun Harrison.

Courtesy of the Quest Baits Blog

Vaumigny Stars in Sturgeon Documentary

Vaumigny was recently chosen for a documentary on big sturgeon fishing...

The lake was one of the forerunners in France for introducing several species of big sturgeon into their closed waters so it's anglers can enjoy the exhilarating sport.  The article is due out in November and we'll keep you posted, but for now here's a couple of pictures from the filming process and Vaumigny's residents.

Filming In Progress

The sturgeon in this lake are not for the faint-hearted...

For more information follow the link - Fishing France