Angling Lines Blog

Line strength abroad

linda — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:18:36 +0000

Chris wrote :-

just wondered what breaking strain line would you recommend whilst fishing gigantica.

Hi Chris,

At this venue they have not stated in the rules but many lakes do. Most are 15lb or a minimum of 12lb. Also at Gigantica they do not allow leadcore in any form.

‘Not sure if the rules dictate you have to use anything in particular - I used 15lb straight through when I went. Wouldn’t go less than 12′ from Shaun Harrison.

Have a great time fishing.

Regards Linda

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Line strength abroad

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What time of year do the carp spawn?

bridget — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:38:54 +0000

Rich asks :-What time of year do the carp spawn?

Spawning time is purely a matter of water temperature and mostly late May or June is the spawning period in France. a warm spring or mild winter can bring it on early (I’ve even known them start in March) and some lakes will start sooner than others just because of the volume of water in them means they are quicker or slower to warm up. Similarly a colder spring may see the spawning dates pushed back later in the year.

If the water temperature is maintained long enough to see spawning through properly then all well and good but if the temperature drops and it’s halted spawning can occur up to several times over several months. So nothing is ever guaranteed. On a better note carp generally feed really well both going into and coming out of spawning. So even if your week is affected, you would be very unlucky indeed to have it exactly co-incide with every day of your holiday.

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What time of year do the carp spawn?

Tags: anglinglines, feed, Spawning, water temperature

Best Months to fish in France?

bridget — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:14:36 +0000

Rich asks:- what month would be best to book for fishing in france?

I think you could ask this question to most people and get a different answer each time. Usually April through to October is the main season. March and November can be very iffy due to weather temperatures.

The very best months If you go by popularity are May, June and September. However, most venues genuinely fish well all year. Of course sudden weather changes at any time of year can slow or stop dead the carps willingness to play! and unfortunately through climate change we have seen some bizarre weather at odd times. I remember distinctly choosing sunny August for a trip to the south of France and it rained heavily non stop all week! when usually it would be 30 degrees.

The fish are naturally on the feed as the waters start to warm up so if March is very mild that too can still be a good month. There are so many factors beside the weather as the carp stocks themselves have a big effect as does the size and the depth of the water, some lakes take a long time to warm up and others don’t. Drought years can also have a detrimental effect as can too much rain. The elements go on and on. A lake with a good flow through of river water has less fluctuations in temperature over all and so earlier and later months can be better on this type of lake.

Top tip for picking the months to fish is simply to look at the feedback for the lake you are interested in… You can clearly see which months all the lakes perform their best. This can give you all the confidence you need, we at Angling lines will happily answer any questions you have regarding any of the lakes and the pro’s and cons of booking each one. All you need to do is ask!

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Best Months to fish in France?

Tags: Angling Lines, carp, feedback, fish, water temperature, weather

Big carp and runs?

bridget — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:47:08 +0000

Rich asks - looking for a runs water with big carp for 6 anglers looking to book for next year?It really depends on what you class as big carp? Runs waters tend not to have a concentration of 40’s and 50’s.

We have around 35 venues but I’d still genuinely only class around 5 of them as runs waters. The others offer great fishing but a runs water to me is where you don’t have to try hard, great for novices. and consistent over mostoft weeks of the year. The vast majority of our venues fish well, and naturally if the angler has a some degree of skill it helps, but there are several that are out and out hard waters where a few runs in the week would be an excellent result. There are so many factors that affect fishing in France just the same as fishing over here, from the weather, water temperature, moon phases to just how much bait the angler in the swim before you has ‘dumped’ when leaving!

Here are several I can immediately think of but there are others…

· Commons lake- Carp to over 50lbs and a good average stamp.

· Hooked in France- Carp up to 50lb and a good average stamp.

· Margot – Big fish water and carp to over 70lbs – fishes well but not an out and out runs water.

· Vincons – great runs water but carp only up to 40 with the majority being mid to high twenties

· Old Oaks- great 30’s water normally for 5 anglers only though

The way to judge it is to look at the feedback each week for the lake. Bear in mind anglers go of all standards but remember, whatever water you go to, it’s not what is claimed is in there… it’s what comes out that counts! Through our feedback system you can clearly see what people think good or bad. Some lakes stock big carp but if a fish dies even the owner may not know. The ‘oh it’s just not been caught yet! ’ Is usually a fish of a ‘ red herring’ variety. I can honestly say we review our venues based on what comes out and proof of what went in.

I would be happy to run through a few criteria for you and see what venues fit closely to your requirement - so please feel free to call me if you wish. It can save a lot of time! Hope this has helped!

Bridget

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Big carp and runs?

Tags: Angling Lines, big carp, runs water, runs waters

Winter bait query

linda — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:39:46 +0000

brent wrote:

i am going to la fritterrie in november and am thinking of using either club or red herring. any tips please? thank, brent

Hi Brent,

Not too sure what ingredients are used in Club Mix or Red Herring but would presume the Red Herring is fish meal based and possibly contains fish oils too. If this is the case I would steer clear of it at that time of the year as the natural oil content will start to solidify in the colder temperatures thus trapping in any attractors preventing them from working to their full capacity. Oily type baits are also a major problem for the carp to digest in cold temperatures.

I would suggest checking out the ingredients in the Red Herring or run with the Club Mix or one of the other proven winter baits. From my own experience I can truly recommend Quest Baits Rahja Spice or Fruity Trifle. Both of these baits have a very long track record 12 months of the year.

Hope this helps

Linda

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Winter bait query

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Float fishing for carp.

linda — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:18:46 +0000

Shaun Greenaway wrote :- as i am new to all fishing please can you tell me when float fishing for carp in ponds do you always make sure your bait reaches the bottom or is it possible to catch them at any depth?

Reply:-

Thanks for your query. It’s normal to present the bait on the bottom unless you are prepared to constantly trickle feed in over the float to get the fish taking on the drop, it is then possible to catch at different depths. If you fish this way then a very slow sinking bait is best such as pellet etc. Have a look at the Quest bait web site and you can get some very good hints and tips from Shaun Harrison.

Best of Luck

Tight lines.

Linda

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Float fishing for carp.

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Spodding query

linda — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:14:43 +0000

Hi Carl,

Thank you for your Angling Lines blog query, I would put 6 spods in to start & not top up until I caught a fish. Every fish top up with 3 spods. Keep it accurate by casting to a marker float & clipping up. Might pay to start with a PVA bag approach to start for fear of spooking the fish… but of course if they are used to spodding it can be like a dinner gong to them!

Best of luck

Linda

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Spodding query

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Chopped Squid- A recipe for success?

bridget — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:57:44 +0000

by Lee Johnson

Being a lake owner doesn’t always mean you get to fish whenever you like. This May, I did manage to get a few days fishing in on Lake Lauren here at La Gléhias and decided to go for a Catfish or two as they are hooked often, but rarely landed as the angler on the other end is generally fishing for Carp with Carp rigs. I was also keen to see the progress of them because they get banked so infrequently. In fact the bigger they get the less we get to see them; I can only estimate the smallest to be 48lb and the biggest around 65lb.
The three Cats’ were introduced to keep the number of smaller fish down so I knew I had a bit of a challenge on my hands as I don’t believe they ever go very hungry due to the number of small Tench and Roach.
After witnessing Tommy Chantler’s success with squid in 2008, this had to be my first choice for bait. My first small problem was that I had to buy my squid from a fishmonger, not in a tackle shop. This meant that I had great slabs of squid meat instead of small whole squids.I tied myself some rigs with size one hooks on 50lb bs braid with the hairs around 3 inches long to stitch on the baits which I had now trimmed down to strips of 2 inches wide by 10 inches long - I even cut tentacles into them! The squid off cuts were mixed into some 3kg of large halibut and carp pellets along with about 1kg of broken up Quests Liver B8 boilies. I then added a cupful of lake water and let this steep for an hour to make it cloud instantly in the lake. This absolutely stunk and I was certain the cats would have no problems finding it.
The first rod went to the deepest part of the lake with about a kilo of the stinky mix thrown over it, and to my surprise, within about ten minutes, the alarm was giving off intermittent beeps, but not quite enough to strike on. This had stopped me getting the other two rods in as I’d stood there hovering over it, watching it to see if a run developed. This bleeping was still going on nearly an hour later so I continued to get the other rods in. I planted the second rod into a deep margin on the far bank, and the third to a shallow area that I know the Cats lurk in.
Again, almost immediate bleepage on the second rod after I put the stink mix over it, but with no run. At this point I decided to strike the first rod to try and work out what was going on. Whoa! Something pulled back for a moment. I realised something big was interested in the bait, though definitely not big enough to be a Cat.
My squid had come unstitched from the hair and had gone, so I shortened the hair down to about one and a half inches and used two pieces of squid from the stinky mix of about 20mm square and a 20mm Liver B8 boilie shaped like an apple core (I rarely fish a perfect round boilie). This went back out into deep water over the baited spot.
There can only have been a two hour wait before I had a very short run which stopped before I even managed to touch the rod. As a rule I generally don’t move any thing for a while after this kind of bite so the line was now slightly slack and the swinger was still on the floor. Another ten minutes or so passed and it went again, this time like a speedboat. I struck into it and it wasn’t long before I knew it wasn’t a Cat but a Carp. Still, it felt like a decent one. After a short battle the fish was in the net; the scales were zeroed with weigh sling attached and showed the Carp to be 29lb 2oz, pretty good but not the Cat I wanted!
I didn’t have any bivvy set up so I fished into dark and decided to call it a day. I wound in to find my third rod hadn’t been touched and the second rod had all the fake tentacles bitten off my carefully sculpted lump of squid; so that’s what all the blipping was!

The following morning saw one lump of carefully sculpted squid go into the lake followed by two rods with the ‘fish-catching’ combination of Liver B8 and squid pieces. One of these went into the deep margin spot I was fishing on the day before, which was already fizzing like a volcano, or at least it was until I cast the bait to it! The morning passed with the odd blip on all rods and not much else. It was now almost midday, and here at La Glehias, this is generally the time which can be quietest, so I really wasn’t confident that my bait would get a sniff till late afternoon at least. How wrong was I?

The deep margin rod gave a couple of quick beeps and then tore off like a rocket! And when I picked it up, it definitely felt like a big Cat as I struggled to steer it away from another line on the far bank. Bollocks! It had gotten under the other line and this made life even harder. Around fifteen minutes of serious arm ache and the fish was now half way across the lake coming towards me; luckily at this point the other line seemed to have come free and made the immensely angry monster a little easier to play in. I guess it only took another five minutes to get it close to the net when it rolled over in front of me and only then did I realise that this was not a Cat but a Carp!
The exhausted fish eventually yielded and slipped into the net. Phew! That was hard! I then tried to lift the net out of the water to take it to the mat, but I could barely lift it! Luckily, the bent open hook just fell out of the monsters gaping mouth into the net which made it less clumsy to move. The Fox digitals showed the big lump at 43lb 8oz, but this time I had to subtract the weigh sling of 2lb 7oz. A new Carp PB for me of 41lb 1 oz, still not a Catfish but no complaints about that!!

The combination of squid and B8 has continued to catch Carp to around 30lb on other occasions when I have tried it fishing for the Cats including a few nights. When you consider the clumsiness of the set-up that catches highly pressured wary Carp with the size 1 hook and 50lb braid, it can only be one of two things that does it, the unusual looking presentation or irresistible flavour combination of the B8 and fresh squid.
Its funny how you can accidently discover a real winning bait combination for the Carp, but still no bloody Catfish!!! If anyone has any magical tips on baits and rigs for the Cats, please let us know. Tommy? Are you there mate?…..

Lee Johnston – La Gléhias Lakes Owner

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Chopped Squid- A recipe for success?

Tags: angling, bait, bank, boilie, braid, carp, Carp Fishing, Carp Fishing Tips, catfish, challenge, choice, day, end, fact, fish, fishing, fishmonger, france, french, Gléhias, hair, halibut, holidays, liver, lump, margin, May, meat, mix, Quests, rigs, something, spot, squid, stinky, stitch, success, tackle, tactics, techniques, Tench, venues

Reader’s Query: Malvoisine Tips

Gareth — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:09:53 +0000

alan smith wrote:
I am taking my son with me to Malvoisine and was interested to find out if the fish are not all caught by fishing to the far bank as he`s not the best caster in the world and was hoping to bait an open water area no more than 40 metres out for him. Any advice no bait boat available.
Hi Alan,
Thanks for your message. Malvoisine is a large water and has so far received very little pressure. There is a good head of fish; previous groups have had over 100 fish in a week.
While the far margin is a good spot, and in some areas of the lake it is not very far away, Shaun Harrison had a good number of his fish fishing at around the range you are suggesting.
The lake was drained last winter and a number of the nuisance species removed, however I would go easy on the particles initially until you get an idea of how many bream etc are left in the lake. During our trip, before the netting they were a real nuisance when particles were introduced. The technique then was boilies over boilies fished at comfortable catapult range. This technique was very successful for Shaun, particularly with his Quest boilies, which proved far more productive than other brands.
I would therefore suggest you employ the same tactics, ie: pick a suitable target on the far margin and bait at catapult range with boilies. You might try particles and pellets on one rod to start with to see if it produces more takes…
Hope this helps,
Regards, Gareth

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Reader’s Query: Malvoisine Tips

Tags: advice, angling, bait, bank, boilies, carp, Carp Fishing, Carp Fishing Tips, caster, fish, fishing, france, french, head, holidays, Malvoisine, margin, number, pressure, queries, Query, Quest, range, tackle, target, technique, techniques, venues, water, watercraft

Don’t just sit and wait.

Gareth — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:02:27 +0000

by Gareth Watkins

During the long hot summer days, and we, it seems are heading for a long hot summer, with temperatures soaring to over 35 degrees this week, sitting behind a set of rods waiting for it to happen is more likely than not to end up in a blank session. You may well pick up the odd cruising fish, or get action at night, but with night hours now at their shortest, the time span is at its minimum at this time of the year.
So what is the answer?
Well to do what most anglers new to the sport don’t even consider…Go and find the fish! Using one’s eyes is an aspect of carping many seem to over look.

During the hot weather the fish will most likely be cruising on or near the surface, or holed up under over hanging branches, or in various covered areas. A little bit of searching and one can regularly find groups of fish, many apt to take a bait if presented correctly. I witnessed this at Gigantica, just last week, when carp angling nomad Jake Langley-Hobbs, on his European Carp fishing adventure, stopped in and used just this technique to winkle out a few carp.
As well as a bit of stealth, a good pair of Polaroid sunglasses are essential. Technique can be of your own choosing, I prefer a float, but a light lead or free-lined bait are other effective options. The technique does take some patience, but can often be far more exciting than classic static techniques, as fish coming into the edge can often be seen taking a bait.
Careful baiting, with pellets, particles or broken boilies needs to be done little and often and a cast ,as with floater fishing, only attempted when there are fish feeding on these free offerings. In coloured water this could be bubbling, but in clear water one can see the fish stirring the bottom sending clouds from the lake bed.
The beauty of this approach is that it can be used on any size lake. The margins are always the largest feature on any water, so you can nearly always find the fish in the edge somewhere on a lake. Likely looking areas can be fed over a day or so and inspected regularly to see if fish have found the freebies.

So if you are struggling to get a take sitting behind straight rods, try a bit of stalking…..

Cheers
Gareth

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Don’t just sit and wait.

Tags: adventure, angling, approach, bait, Careful, carp, Carp Fishing News, Carp Fishing Tips, carping, cast, edge, fishing, float, france, french, Gigantica, holidays, look, night, nomad, option, patience, Polaroid, Reviews, sessions, stealth, summer, tackle, venues, water, week

Angling Lines Blog

Line strength abroad

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What time of year do the carp spawn?

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Chopped Squid- A recipe for success?

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Reader’s Query: Malvoisine Tips

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