This feedback from Stuart is full of detail & tips on how to get the best out of
Vincons – so we thought we’d include it here too.
Holiday date: Sat 25th Aug to Sat 1st Sep 2012
Name of customer: Stuart Olley
Number of anglers: 2
Details of your catches: We wanted a run water and this place delivered. It was my father in-laws first ever french fishing trip and he loved it. We only fished sunday to friday 8pm dawn to dusk with two afternoon off, to go shopping, and we had over 130 fish, banked! About 10-15 lost due to snags, hook pulls and or over hanging trees. Some swims are small when
wanting to cast or playing fishing from the bank, and waders will have helped but we had a bait boat so casting was no issue. Only 3 carp were under 10lb and we had 2 tench and both were over 5lb. Apart from that about 50ish were over 20lb, the best for the week being a 29.10 common and a 27.8 mirror. A little disappointed not to land a 30lb+ fish with all the action we had but we enjoyed the hard fighting commons and mirrors. Most of the bigger fish were commons and these fight like mad. I did manage a new pb, three fish landed at once when all my rods when off and i was alone at the lake, all ending up in one net!. Glad the combined weight was only around 36lb. I then went a got a second net and re-casted using the boat, then had two takes at range at the same time and landed a 24 and a 23 in two different nets this time then the 3rd went off again, all in a 50 min mad spell one morning ending up with 6 fish banked in a hour and a halfs fishing! Was then taken to the local market for a rest by the wife where you can get chickens, cooked and uncooked (still walking) if you want, or a goose or a goat. Ya just got to love the french way of life some times.
Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Casted single hook baits or pva bags only accounted for about 40-50ish fish and the rest came from range using a bait boat to the far margin. Bottom baits and pop ups all works but we used more bottom baits most of the week. Ragha spice 15-20mms plus tigers all worked and pop ups on chod or wiffy pool rigs. We used about 40kg of bait over the week, crushed hemp mixed with frolic and boillies all fished using as pva bags or hand full only per side if boated hook baits. No mass baiting swims, just casting or boating to same spots or showing fish, and the fish like to jump so spotting where there are ant hard. I fished all the swims but the same areas produced fish, and that was the far margin near the two willows, and the big tree in the middle of the far margin. 4+ rods easily can be dropped to these areas from most swims and the 3rd one fished close to keep close to your friends in most areas with a casted pva bag all worked for the both of us to make the week a holiday with fishing included.
Were the facilities what you expected? Very french with hard seats in the house. My bum needs a softer seat after a hard days fishing, but the house was clean and tidy. Beds were clean but we had to pay extra for sheets! Not sure if that was in the small print, but only 6euro so no real issue. The tv is rubbish and an old rear tube type with no connections for a hdmi playstaion3, much to our boys disappointment but we were pleased as he had to play out side all week. We were the only ones on the lake and only booked the house on the farm, only a short walk to the lake, but a no one was in the lake side lodge, we were allowed to use the lodge for gear, beer fridge and battery charging. A god send in the end as the batteries were getting hammered every 2 hours with so much usage.
Were you happy with them? Yes, it was very french and nice and cool at night. The chickens were a little loud at 5.30 in the morning but i was up to go fishing from 6.30 each morning. The other were a little later than this.
Accommodation facilities (rated 1-5):
Accommodation cleanliness (rated 1-5):
Accommodation overall (rated 1-5):
Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes. If we were not booked in at a different venue next year we will have re-booked vincons.
Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes.
General comments: The fish are in good condition with little mouth damage so they are not over fished. The fish fight like mad and are top sport to land, one took over 50mins to land and was only 25lb, i just would not come in so i went after it and landed in the lake in the end. A higher head of 30lb+ fish will have top off this lake as it has every thing a carp angler needs if your not chasing 40lb+ plus fish. We had a very good week but the bait boat was the key to the volume if action. Some swims are over shadowed by tree branches, some need cutting back to help the anglers out a little to make casting and playing easier. If you carnet get a boat take waders and enjoy the sport and venue.
