Commons Carp Lake Gets a New Swim

Commons Carp Lake Gets a New Swim

April 10, 2013DavidNo comments

Anglers at the Bigot venue Commons Lake have commented that another swim on the left-hand side of the mobile home would be great for those anglers who want to be close to each other for a social and at the same time be near the mobile home.

A new platform swim was created the week before the first group arrived on the 30th March 2013 and, according to the Norton group, fishing from the new platform has already produced the most catches in Common’s first week of this season with Jason Whitehead’s 15 takes.

The new swim is clearly going to be popular.

Fishing France

The new swim at Commons carp lake

Molyneux - The Season so far

With the first anglers breakfasted and on their way home from Molyneux, we set about preparing for the arrival of our second group of the year.

Jack – 31lb Mirror

The group consisting of Barry, Stuart, Shaun, Graham, Luke, Jordan and Jack, who arrived mid-afternoon. We had a quick chat and the obligatory cup or two of tea and then wandered around the lake. The weather was mild with almost no wind, though the forecast for the week ahead was not so pleasant with very cold temp’s wind and rain due.

The guys decided upon their respective swims easily enough, and after another cuppa set off around the lake with their gear to set themselves up for the week. Jordan and Jack set up in Jack’s despite the frontage still being very soft. Graham being slightly older chose the relative comfort of the cabin.

Shaun and Luke decided on the double swim, and Barry and Stuart settled for the social swims.

Once bivvies had been erected, and rods prepared they came round for their evening meals. After which they set off back around the lake in earnest to begin the weeks fishing.

Saturday night turned much colder and sadly there were no fish caught. Sunday was spent markering and seeking out spots in their swims. Finally at around 8.30pm the first fish was landed by Barry in Social swim 1, a cracking mirror of 37lb. Overnight the weather turned cold again, and this continued throughout Monday. Sadly no further fish were caught on Monday.

Barry – 37lb Mirror

Tuesday evening and there was a distinct lull in the cold weather and inexplicably it warmed up by a few degrees for a couple of hours during the late evening. This switched the fish on immediately and at 9.30pm Stuart in social 2 hooked and landed a 38lb mirror. At 10pm our first fish was landed form our newly improved Jacks swim, spookily enough by a lad called Jack. It weighed in at 31lb. At 11.30pm Stuart landed his second of the evening another corking mirror weighing in at 37lb 8oz, not a bad brace.

Stuart – 38lb mirror

With very little let up in the cold chill Northerly wind that was cutting across the lake conditions were difficult and uncomfortable for the anglers, the weather was not helping the guys put fish on the bank either.

Despite all of this at 3.30pm on Wednesday Barry in Social 1 caught a mirror of 33lb 8oz, the first fish of the week to be landed during daylight hours. He followed this up with a 30lb mirror at around 11.30pm that evening.

Jordan – 36lb

The following day it wasn’t until 8.30pm before an alarm sounded loud and clear from the other side of the lake, again it was Barry, this time landing a 26lb 8oz mirror…… amazingly the first twenty of the week.

Jordan in Jack’s followed this up at 11.30pm with a lovely chunky mirror of 36lb.

Stuart – 37lb Mirror

At 1am on Friday morning Barry was off again, the resulting fish proving to be 28lb 8oz. Two hours later and Jack in Jack’s landed another of exactly the same weight…

Despite their best efforts the guys in the double swim and Graham in the cabin had still not managed so much as a bleep. I can only imagine that this was a result of the cold Northerly blowing hard across the front of them, whereas the bay in front of the social swims was flat calm and undoubtedly less affected by the chill winds affect.

Saturday morning and Stuart banked his third fish, at 36lb,s his smallest fish of the week. At 7am just as he was thinking about getting up and packing down his kit Barry was in again, yet another thirty pound mirror the result of the tussle that ensued.

Stuart – 36lb Mirror

Twelve fish between them for the week in the conditions that they suffered really not too bad a result. With nine of the fish caught over thirty pounds, many of them large thirties the boys were very pleased and plan to visit next year when the weather is warmer…

Lovely bunch of guys whose company Helen and I thoroughly enjoyed, well done for sticking at it guys you endured some very poor weather and did so with a smile.

Wally, Bailiff at MolyneuxFor more information articles and feedback on Molyneux click here – Molyneux French Carp Lakes

How lucky is that? 57lb Common at Margot

Margot Peg 7 produced the goods for Mick Marriott last week when he banked a 57lb 4oz Common. It was his 2nd 50 of the week and a new PB. Mick couldn't believe his luck, especially when he examined his rig afterwards. Mick's luck was hanging on a thread!

And Mick wasn't the only Margot angler in this group to have had a visit from lady luck. Kevin Tysoe managed to win the raffle prize on BOTH days from the draw at the Carp Show in Brentwood. You can see the full stories in this short film. Plus Bob Tilbury provides some great bonus material - A hot spot for 40's in Peg 6.

Carp Fishing in France at Margot.

Returning to Molyneux by Kieran Lack

Kieran (36lb 2oz) and Glenn Lack (32lb)

I was looking forward to this for a long time, all through the very cold bitter winter England was having. The dates crept up and before I knew it there were 2 weeks until the trip. So the preparation began. Rigs were being tied, reels were being spooled. I was preparing for a week of action at Morgane. Joining me on this trip was my Dad Glenn, and our friend Dave; we had the lake exclusive for the first session on Morgane for 2013. We were all very excited and hopeful of a few fish being banked.

Friday night came round very quick, I finished work and I knew I had a week of fishing to look forward to. Luckily a lot of the hard work was done; the van was loaded with the majority of the gear. So the last few items went in to the van, now we just had to wait it out until 1:30 when we would leave to pick Dave up from Dagenham.

Before I knew it we were well on our way and waiting for the ferry, a quick coffee then we drove on and parked up. The ferry journey was a little rough but  over in no time, with crates of beer bought from duty free, we were back off the ferry and heading for Morgane.

We headed for Le Mans, with snow all around us, which was slightly worrying, with it being windy and bitter outside it was not looking good. But then again things began to clear up and temperatures on the van gauge began to rise slowly, the journey went quickly with me being asleep for majority of it.

Glenn Lack with a 39lb8oz Mirror

We pulled into the turning of Morgane, the van was parked and we went for a little walk around the lake to aid swim choice, early on I knew I wanted to be fishing from the caravan decking, I knew from experience that fish would explore the bay to the right of the caravan. Choices were made, I was on the decking with Dave and Dad down the left bank. We all began to put up our bivvies before a grey cloud was upon us, mine was up nice and quick. I had the rods set up ready to go so quickly assembled them and began to sort out some baited rigs. I kept the rigs simple as I knew the fish in Morganes were not too rig shy from my 2 previous trips. But the weather conditions were very different to my previous trips, so I kept bait to a minimum with either a few handfuls over the top of my rigs or a boat load boated out.

The Deck Swim at Morgane

The deck swim at Morgane

All 3 rigs were out there, one was on a solid bag, the other 2 on standard blowback rigs with critically balanced baits. The water I was fishing in was very shallow, so I was hoping the sun would come out and brighten up the day. But not long after getting the bivvy up it began to rain. This didn’t fill me with much confidence. But the 4 ‘o’ clock came and one of dads rods ripped off, he was fishing the far end of the lake, it filled me with confidence knowing that the fish were feeding even though the water was still very cold. The fish was a 39.8lb mirror, very close to 40 mark.

Time flew by again and we were in the caravan having some dinner, with no more action we all decided to get some sleep after our long day. But at 10:30 I was disturbed by a take, the delkim was roaring away, I was on it quickly, it put up a good account of itself, but was in the net. I knew it wasn’t a giant after lifting it out the water, but on the scales it went to 29.8lb, not a bad start at all. Later on that night Dave managed a 33.2lb mirror.  That was an amazing start to all our weeks, all having landed fishing within the first 24 hours.

Glenn (32lb) with son Kieran (36lb 2oz)

Sunday… Dad went on to land 3 more Sunday, 2 upper 20’s and yet another 39.8lb. I managed one myself at 8:30 Sunday night, 39lb on the dot. The days go very quickly when fishing in France, Monday was here before we knew it. As far as the fishing went, Monday was a slow day with only 2 fish being landed but 2 30’s none the less, one for dad and one for me. Tuesday came round very quickly. The weather conditions were far from perfect we had lots of rain and the days were very dull and overcast, this wasn’t helping the water to warm up at all. But we managed 4 fish, 2 falling to dad up the other end of the lake, 32 and 39.4lb mirrors, Dave managed a 30.9lb mirror and I had a 36.2lb. Dad and I even managed a double photo because we had bites one after another.

Wednesday was a better day, the sun was out and temperatures were a lot higher than they had been, this reflected in the fishing, I had 2 more 30’s 39.7lb and 35.14lb. With Dad and Dave also having a few it was looking good for the rest of the week, we kept working hard to get the bites.

By Thursday things had slowed up a bit on the carp lake. But things were kicking off the on the cat lake, we had rods out on the cat lake all week but they had just decided to wake up, Dave had 2 catfish: 30.9lb and 40lb exactly I also went on to have 43.4lb cat. We were nearing the end of the week now, Dave managed a small catfish of 21.15lb Friday. Before we knew it our last night was approaching. I made sure everything was spot on for this night, I was confident in a few takes throughout the night, at 12:30 my right hand rod ripped off resulting in a 31.12lb common. Shortly after getting that back dads catfish rod ripped off, me being closest to it I hit it, it surged and felt like a big one, he was quickly there to take over, after a long hard fight and a few attempts at netting it. It was in the net, it was definitely the biggest one of the week, it pulled the scales round to 45lb exactly.

Dave Reynolds with his 40lb Catfish

After a few pictures we were all off back to bed knowing we had a long journey home tomorrow morning. But later that night another one of my rods tore off, with yet another 30 on the end, 31lb common. That was the perfect end to the trip for me; it was the last fish of the session.

The morning came, and then it was the dreaded part of the week packing away, luckily the sun out to aid us dry out the mountain of wet gear we had. I left the rods out as long as possible hoping for that one last bite but it didn’t happen, so all the gear was loaded into the van. All fresh and showered and we were heading off for Calais, Morgane carp and cat lakes are fantastic lakes no matter what the weather or time of year.

By Kieran Lack

Footage of Kierans week at Morgane also features in our March Webcast - Click here to view
For Carp Fishing Articles, Feedback and Information on Morgane follow the link - Lakes in France

Questions and Answers - Monument Lake

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

For more articles on Monument click here.
Monument Carp Fishing in France

Mirror Carp is Packing on the Weight!

We have been sorting through the photos received from anglers towards the end of our 2012 season at Vaux, comparing them with previous photos in our file, and are very pleased to say that we have another new 40lb-er to report.

Martin Williams came on a fishing holiday with us and landed a mirror of 46lb12oz in the last week of October which previously came out at 38lb 8oz earlier in the year.

46lb8oz Mirror Carp from French Lake Vaux

The same Mirror Carp caught earlier in the year at 38lb 8oz 

Check out more at Vaux Fishing Holiday.

Carp Fishing in France Webcast - March

Here’s our March Webcast…

Carp Fishing – 59 videos to chose from!