New Lake Record Common at Lords

49lb – the Lords record common

Stephen Harris broke the lake record for a common here last week with this 49lb stunner. Will this be the next 50 out at this prolific water?

Fishing with his mate Terry Cheesman, the two angler’s total catch of 59 fish included 7 x 40s and 31 x 30s.

French carp at Lords

An Update From Blue Lake

Blue Lake – looking across the lake from swim 7

General

Paul Cooper and I visited Blue Lake last July, before it was stocked and the going was tough.  The lake had been stocked during the winter and we had returned, hopefully to catch some carp.

On arrival we had a good look round and set up in pegs 10 and 11.  Plumbing gave 18 feet in  peg 11, I was not happy with this in early April as I thought the fish would be in shallower water due to it warming up quicker. We therefore moved onto pegs 6 and 7 – Paul chose peg 6 and I went into peg 7.

I had a good plumb around and found a gravel spot 70yds out with a depth of 7 feet, just what I was looking for.

Paul had slightly shallower water in peg 6.  The lake had matured in our absence and it looked absolutely gorgeous.

Tactics

I decided that I wanted to concentrate the fish in one area and not spread them out by having several baited spots. I put out 10 spombs of Quality Baits HG 42 boilies to start with as I didn’t want to put a lot of bait out and then find out I was in the wrong area.

Paul decided to bait up several spots close to underwater mounds and bars.  Paul was off to a flier and had caught 7 fish before I had caught anything.

However, I started to catch on the first night and had caught 4 carp by morning, baiting up with 5 spombs of boilies after every fish.

Paul’s catches and tactics are explained fully in his April Blue lake article.

It was obvious to me that I had found a good spot and put out a couple of KG of boilies and I continued to catch on Sunday, having 11 fish by sunset, baiting after every fish.

I then made a big mistake I put out about 5kg of pellet, I started to catch sturgeon and bream straight away and decided to reel in for the night.  On Monday I reverted to Boilies only and started to catch carp again.

I persisted with the same tactics, of boilies only, all week and caught consistently throughout.  As I was catching well I only fished 4.5 nights as I was on holiday and wanted to relax, how can you enjoy it if you are shattered?

In total I had 36 carp and 4 sturgeon.  The majority of the fish were twenties, with 5 x 30lb+ carp; I didn’t manage one of the 40s.

By careful baiting I kept the fish going all week, the more boilies I put in the more I caught.  The fish went crazy on Friday morning and I had 11 fish, I had two on at once several times during the week.  I decided to pack up and give two other lads a go in my swim, Paul (not Paul Cooper) and Tony, see their feedback, moved in and had 15 fish.

We supplied them with some of Quality bait’s HG42 and HG47 as it is an outstanding bait, but I am biased as I developed the HG42.

Summary

Superb action packed venue, lovely lake with the chance of some 40lb plus carp.  This lake will become a favourite of many anglers.  I hope to fish the venue again in the near future as I really enjoyed it as it is my idea of the perfect lake.

Fishing France at Blue Lake

Beaurepaire – A Coming of Age

53lb

Beaurepaire was born in 2005 , 7 years ago and the big decision that faced Bernard at the time was how to stock the lake.  He could obviously go for smaller numbers and bigger carp and stock additional fish along the way or start the lake in it’s infancy with good quality smaller carp, just doubles and twenties and wait for the carp to grow.

52lb

His decision was to stock higher numbers of quality smaller carp and show patience. So we started to market the lake as a real runs water but a thirty would initially be hard to come by. Whilst a few more fish and catfish have been stocked intermittently, the stock has remained mainly unchanged, apart from the sizes…

In the intervening years we have seen remarkable growth rates and huge numbers of very happy anglers but never have I seen a start to the year like this. It looks to me that Beaurepaire has finally come of age, and whilst it keeps it’s title as a consistent runs water, the sizes of the carp caught is now excellent.. and Beaurepaire has just shown it’s come of age with 3 x 50′s in one week!  All this despite 3 weeks of the worst April weather France has seen in 13yrs.

Venton Party 14th to 21st April 2012.

50 plus fish… 53lb, 52lb 3oz, 50lb, 7 x 40′s to 45lb 8oz, 15 x 30′s to 37lb 8oz and loads of 20′s to 29lb

The Hiatt Party 14th to 21st April

21 fish… 8 x 40 upto 47,  smallest 24

Ben Hopkins party 7th to 14th April

23 fish in total… 5 x 40s 7 x 30s

Angling holidays at Beaurepaire

3 x 50lb carp in one week from Beaurepaire

Phil Belton with the 53lb Beaurepaire lake record

Ben Hodgson - 52lb 3oz

Colin Ventons group had a great session at Beaurepaire 21^st to 28^th April 2012.

Battling gale force winds and torrential rain, the guys caught 3 different 50’s including a new lake record of 53lb. Sadly, for some of the guys, an unexpected illness sent 4 of them home early midweek, otherwise catches would have been higher.

The catch also included 7 x 40’s and around 15 thirties.  This is not an surprising result from this lake which has excellent growth rates and proves so popular with repeat bookings.

Well done Colin and we hope the angler who took a turn for the worse makes a  full recovery & is feeling better soon.

Phil Belton - 50lb 1oz

Angling Holidays at Beaurepaire

Carp Fishing in France Webcast - April 2012

In this edition we bring you up to date with all the 2012 captures… no less than 15 lake records have been smashed!

Carp fishing in France

Oakview Record Mirror Carp

Jamie “Bowen” fishing at Oakview in April ’12 bags the lake record with his first ever carpture in France weighing in at 41lb. This stunning mirror, which has never been caught at Oakview before has been named ‘Bobo’ by Bowen. Well done!

Carp fishing in France with accommodation at Oakview

Margot, Lake of Dreams

65lb 8oz

I have been to Margot several times & thoroughly recommend the place to anyone looking for big carp but with runs too. To me it is a lake of Dreams.

This April trip was my seventh trip to the lake and it just keeps getting better and better and has never let me down. I organised the trip with a group of 7 friends all eager to fish the lake I keep talking about. So in a way pressure was on me for the lake to deliver.

This time round the fishing got off to a great start, normally we wait 36 + hours to bank a fish…. but Craig Holt was quick to get his rods out first and managed to bank a 47lb common before any other person in the group had even put their rods out.  That’s when I knew we was in for a good week, it was a slower start for me like always, but that was soon to change.

My aim was to bank a 50lb this time round as I have had plenty of 40s here before but never a 50lb or a 60lb so that was my aim…. but I was soon into something that sure felt like a 50lb and couldn’t wait to get it into the net. The fish was soon netted and weighed, a big  mirror that weighed in at 65.8oz. I was over the moon I had to weigh the fish several times because I couldn’t believe my eyes, I had jumped from the 40s straight to a 60 but I wasn’t complaining. Soon to follow was a stunning 52lb mirror…. so you can see why I said the place fulfills your dreams.

My tactics are always the same, running lead system with a 6in dacron braid fishing a pink 14mm pop up, must be pink, popped up 2in with a stick of pellet mixed with halibut stick mix. Feed the fish plenty but not all at once coz they won’t bother at all. Feed them half a kg every time you get a take to keep them there, but only do this when fish are there and until that your stick alone is fine.

My personal tally for the week was - 52 carp, made up of 1 x60, 1 x50, 11 x 40s, 24x 30s and the rest 20s and only 3 carp under 20.  I also banked my 3rd 30lb koi in the last 5 years.

Amazingly our group banked 143 fish with a total weight of 4,736lb.

I have to say I love the new bakers delivery service, which was eagerly awaited at 10am each day. Gorgeous!!

Follow my tactics and I’m sure you won’t go wrong, tight lines.

Rob Allen

Carp fishing in France at Margot