October Webcast

This edition brings you a round up of the latest news, venue videos and a first look at a brand new lake being created!


For over 60 other technical carping videos follow the link - Carp Fishing in France

Brocard Small, It isn't

Four of our field testers took over the Brocard complex for a week last month. Jim Kelly spent the week camped on Brocard Small, you can read his report below.

Lake Map

Brocard Small isn’t, at 29 acres, that small. It is a fairly large lake and with just 4 swims there is plenty of water to have a go at. Swim 1 is a single swim and the rest are doubles. The word stunning is often over used, but in this case it is actually inadequate as it is one of the most beautiful lakes that I have had the pleasure to fish. It is totally surrounded by trees, yet there is vehicle access to every swim. I would be happy just sitting there for a week and let the stress of everyday life wash away, fishing here is a privilege.

The lake is fairly shallow; swim 1 is the shallowest region sloping down to swim 4 where 6 feet can be found. The majority of the lake is around 4 feet deep. There are areas of soft silt and areas of hard gravel.  The silt is not the smelly type, but sweet. All margins have extensive areas of snags, but the open water is snag free. Most of the fish show off the far margin, but not all. Swims 1, 3 and 4 are only moderate casts to the margins. Swim 2 is a long cast being in excess of 130 yards at the closest point. A bait boat in this swim would be an advantage.

Looking down the lake from swim 1

Looking up the lake from swim 4

The Fishing

We believe that there are around 350 carp and 25 cats. The carp go to over 60lbs and the cats go to over 100lbs.

When we arrived at the lake we had an introduction from Frank, the bailiff, and were shown the catch reports for the year. Swims 2 and 3 were by far the most popular. Paul Cooper and I had a good look round, Paul had first choice of swim and chose swim 3. This was an obvious choice as we were both casting and it is a comfortable cast to the far snags. I chose swim 2.

Being field testers often means that we have limited information about the water before we go. We didn’t know there were crayfish present - hence we left the tiger nuts, particles, maize, etc. at home and took mostly boilies. This was a big mistake as there were crays present. Next time we take them whatever, you live and learn. The owner will be netting the lake in November and he says that they would be able to remove over 70% of the crays.

One of the crays

To overcome the crays I used a coated hook length with the coating left on; a short hair and meshed baits (use the heavy Fox Armamesh as the crays destroy the fine variety). The short hair was essential as the crays roll the bait around until the hook point gets caught in the mesh. I know this as I lost two fish due to this phenomenon. Paul Cooper used a similar rig, but he used just braid.

Meshed Quality Baits "All Season" boilie, short stiff hair.

Despite the crays we both caught fish; the average size was in the mid-twenties. There were some very big carp showing, but we failed to catch any of the larger residents. Some nights it sounded like someone was throwing cows in, believe me there are some seriously big carp in this lake. Paul lost a very big cat.

Nearly all fish were caught on Quality Baits boilies. We think that they are outstanding. A couple of fish were caught on plastic baits.

The Facilities

On-site Cabin

The facilities are very basic there is no drinking water, we took 25litres with us and topped up from the supermarket. Lake water was boiled for washing up. There is a caravan, located close to swim 4, where you can get out of the rain. It contains a toilet, which is flushed via a bucket. It did the job and was clean.

There is a shower block located 10km away from the lake. It contains two showers, wash basin and toilet. The showers were hot and clean.

Conclusion

Paul and I really liked this lake; I didn’t want to go home and if we had known about the crayfish before we went we feel that a lot more fish would have been caught. The acid test for any lake is would I go back? The answer is a resounding yes (please)… is it free next week?

Carp Fishing France

The Key To Fishing Laroussi

An update from Mehdi on the trials and tribulations of  the last few weeks at Laroussi.

Anthony with his first carp of the week, a 60.02 mirror.

Anthony, fishing Laroussi this week, had a big problem after arriving on Saturday. His daughter accidently locked the van with the keys inside. With all his gear now locked inside that made it impossible to set up and fish! I managed to find him blankets, a bedchair and cooking stuff etc. After having a think we finally found the solution by getting a new key made at Ford directly. I took him the surprise that morning, he jumped on me he was so happy!

So, the above meant no fishing for the first 48hrs. He cast out this morning, first bite was a 60lb 2oz mirror! A new PB! He then followed this up with a further 68lb and a 43lb mirror. Wow.

Colin, arriving the week after, during his first night on Laroussi had 2 fish in a row :  a 57lb and 60lb! Conditions are extremely windy here now, big waves, ideal for catching fish.

And last but not least the Old Oaks team last week had a super week with 26fish out, 16 forties and 2 fifties ! They will send the feedback shortly. Mehdi

Anthony - 68lb

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

Inflight at Vaux

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

Vaux is a 3.5 acre carp lake, 2 hours from the ferry at Caen. Exceptionally high standard accommodation at the lakeside and, with a splash pool in the garden aswell, it's a perfect family venue. Good head of carp into the 40's.

For more information on Vaux follow the link - Fishing Holiday

Winter Barbel Fishing

Pat Gillett discusses a few of his thoughts on the quest for barbel in winter, how to pick your spot and take advantage of the climate.

I was talking to one of my match angling friends at the other day and he was asking me how I go about locating barbel in the winter, especially on the stretches that I fish, which in general do not hold that many fish.

Warm, high coloured water - perfect!

Most of this guys’ fishing is done on the Middle Severn or River Wye on stretches that hold loads of barbel and other fish. As long as you fish sensibly on areas like the Middle Severn you can catch barbel in literally any conditions. I used to do it myself years ago and have caught barbel with a river temperature of as low as 3.0 Degrees C and an air temperature of 0 Degrees C.

Pick a swim that you know is a hotspot (holds lots of barbel), feed little and often with maggots and you will catch the odd fish even in extreme conditions. This is very similar to the advice a lot of anglers give about winter carp fishing - “For a chance of consistent sport pick a water that holds a large number of carp and avoid the hard waters with a low stock density.” This applies to barbel also, pick a prolific stretch and you have far greater chance of catching a barbel.

Accurate Casting in the Fog

During this time of the year it is normal to get heavy mist and fog falling...

The sticks point the way

This happened last week whilst fishing Brocard Large Lake in France and after catching a gorgeous looking common I could no longer see the silhouette of the tree line on the far bank to be able to re-cast accurately.

This was a problem as I was doubled up in a swim and my baited patches were quite tight. I had markers on my line to indicate the distance I needed to cast but had a blank canvas in front of me that gave no clue as to the direction.

As soon as the heavy mist lifted I incorporated an old trick of mine with 2 spare bank sticks and left them pointing in the direction I needed to cast from my casting point. The following night the mist came down again blotting out the horizon but after catching another good fish I was able to recast spot on the money again. I know it was as I caught 2 more 30lb plus commons on that rod that night. A great little trick to have up your sleeve.

The trick worked - twice!

Best fishes
Shaun Harrison, Quest Baits

Nice And Easy Does It

Below is field tester Shaun Harrison's review of last week's trip to Brocard Large...

The flames of a soothing fire are flickering away taking the slight chill away from what was an empty house last week. It is the first time I have had to light it this autumn but I guess I have finally admitted that winter is gently knocking on the door.

Outside, the sky is heavy and leaden with rain, whilst the wind blows a storm of leaves from the trees in my garden. Inside I feel a warm glow of inner contentment whilst allowing time to relax in my favourite chair and look back over this last week which has provided me with so many more fond memories. I have had an incredible year this year angling wise and as the weather finally looks as though it could be starting to close in and end another summer of my life I feel I have said goodbye to it in a fine way indeed.

As much as I love my winter angling I think as the years progress I now prefer the warmer months. Summer seems to fly by each year, whereas the older I get the longer the winter months appear to take to pass. Because of this I try to get away from our shores at the end of each winter to start a new summer and again just before the really cold weather kicks in to say goodbye to the warmer weather.