Beaurepaire is a natural gravel pit of seven acres fed directly by the water table, just 2½ hours from Calais.

Details of your catches: Eleven cats to 49lb, six grass carp to 35lb, thirty one 20′s, twenty three 30′s and seven 40′s.  Biggest was 46lb and one common at 14lb.
Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Most baits worked; Cell, Rajah Spice, Matrix plus, Tigercell and tiger nuts single baits. Snowman and pop ups.
Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Definitely.

46.01 – Barry Downer

To see the rest of the photos from their trip follow the link - Angling Holidays

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The total catch of 17 fish consisted of 3 x 40s, 8 x 30s, 4 x 20s and a 66lb catfish. The fish of the week though has to be Roz Bexon’s 47lb 8oz common.

47.08 – Roz

40.10 – Neil

43.10 – Chris

For more information and photos from Commons Lake follow the link – Fishing France

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The 14 acre carp lake is situated on the eastern edge of the stunning Morvan Regional Nature Park, sitting in a valley with rolling fields to one side and dense woodland surrounding the rest.

Details of your groups catches: 14 x 30s, 7 x 40s and 2 at 52lb and a mint 21lb koi.
Your best tactics/bait: Hemp and particles. Fished to far margin.
General comments: Very nice and tranquil left alone all week. Perfect. Fish in mint condition and fight very hard. Be going back that’s for sure.

44.10

21

42.14

41.06

21

34.14

39.14

For more information, feedback and photos from Boux follow the link – Carp Fishing in France

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Promising Start

The new owner of the lake, Guilliam, only took ownership of the venue in January this year. Since taking on the lake he has stocked the lake with around 120 carp consisting of mid-twenties to his prize carp of just over 60lb. There are a number of back up fish in the forties with a good number of thirties, all in all for a new lake this is a magnificent head of carp. The lake itself is set in the middle of rural France and is totally surrounded by woodland, fields, and reed-lined margins. It is a place of beauty!

We arrived at the lake on Thursday morning to find that the banks were flooded due to the recent excessive rain fall and the fact that the sluice gate had not been dropped, exasperated the situation. Out of 9 swims set around the lake we were limited to a couple of swims to fish that were dry and comfortable, all the others were under water and access was either through deep water or deep mud. There were 2 other anglers on the lake one being the owner and the other his friend. They had the use of a boat and occupied the far corner of the lake, bivvied up on a muddy grassed bank.

Ron in Swim 8

Now you might think that this is unusual and not acceptable , but we are testing the venue and not just fishing the lake for our own benefit, this is the reason that Angling Lines send out testers. Any problems need to be rectified and ironed out before the first Angling Lines customers arrive. Our first impressions were not looking good, French style toilet, a poor shower set up added to the poor banks and swims.

I set up in swim 1 and Ron in swim 2 both with shallow margin’s gently leading down to around 8 foot at about 70 yards. Ron had open water for all his rods and I had open water and a dam margin with over hanging trees and a rocky margin to play with.

Swim 1

Our initial tactics were very similar, Ron found the old stream bed where he put down a mixture of Quest Chilli Chocolate, Special Crab and Magnum white and also cast a couple of popped up baits at distance.

I found a nice clean bottom 80 yards out and put out Quality Baits HG42 and Patshull Park Squid and Orange, and a similar baiting strategy to a point on the dam margin.

Ron’s 26lb 6oz mirror which was in perfect fighting condition.

We were into our first evening meal at the venue when Ron saw the first action with a run off one of his magnum white pop ups, and landed a 26lb 6oz mirror which was in perfect fighting condition. We were off to a great start and we both thought that this was the beginning of a very successful session. Wrong!

Over the next couple of days a big shoal of carp gathered in the far corner of the lake in front of the 2 French anglers. We were unable to move from our swims due to the flood water so the fish remained well out of our reach.

We had to wait until Saturday morning for the next run which came to one of my rods which I had cast to within a yard of some over hanging trees off the dam margin. I was not sitting on top of my rods and the fish ran straight into the trees and escaped my capture.

3 days I had waited for that run, I was annoyed with myself and still remained without a fish. Ron was equally frustrated as he had not had a single bleep since that first fish, with fish showing 300 yards to his left he had not got a chance of reaching them.

3 days later I had my 1st run, a 23lb 7oz mirror

In the Early hours of Sunday I picked up a 23lb 7oz mirror from my baited area on the dam, a Squid and orange snowman set up did the trick. We had some problems with my new camera but managed a couple of half decent pictures.

An hour into daylight and I land a 26lb 10oz mirror

Out went the rods again and about an hour into daylight I had another run off my baited area on the dam margin, and landed a good hard fighting 26lb 10oz mirror.

This proved to be the last feed for 3 days. By lunchtime we were watching shoals of carp spawning in the dam margins and in the far reed-lined corner. Day and night until Tuesday evening, the fish spawned and spawned. There was no point in putting out anymore bait as it appeared that every fish in the lake was involved in a huge orgy.

By Tuesday evening the waters had settled and the spawning was over, we were due to leave the lake the next morning. Out went a few more baits for the night. It paid off as around 4am I had another run off the same baited area and picked up a 21lb 4oz mirror. Scared and bruised and obviously down in weight from the last 3 days, I took a quick picture and returned the carp back to the depths.

Last fish of the session after the spawn

A view of this spectacular lake

6 nights fishing for 4 carp between us, not the best result, but it has given us an insight into the potential of the lake. The fact that the fish went into a mega spawn gave Ron and myself the opportunity to see a large percentage of the carp in the lake as they splashed and barged through the margins and reeds. We both saw some of the huge specimen carp that the lake holds. They swam within feet, even banging into our legs as we waded out into the shallows to view the show.

The lake surely holds the stock that the lake owner claims and with his future plans to boost the stocking to over 200 carp over the next 2 years, will make this a top big fish water.

Spawning fish off the dam

Conclusion

Since taking on the water the owner has already made some vast improvements to the road and car park, along with building a cabin, shower and toilet block. His near future plans include improving all the swims to a top standard and making access to each swim by vehicle, viable. Future stocks of carp will all be around the 30lb mark and I am sure that due to the rich environment of the lake, most of the carp will be over 30lb in the next 18 months. Guilliam does not want to create a runs water but a water that produces good quality large carp.

Swim 1 on Tuesday evening, 24 hours after the sluice gates were opened to release some water

This lake is not for the novice and will prove a challenge to some of the more experienced anglers. It’s location and the chance of picking up some big specimens will keep anglers coming back to this venue year after year.

Our recommendations to Angling Lines are that they should consider taking on this lake once all the improvements are made. The owner himself is a top big carp angler on the French carp scene and wants to create one of the best big carp waters in his region. I am confident that he can do this and I am sure that this lake will be hitting the Angling press in the next couple of years.

Paul Cooper
To read more of Paul, Ron and Jim’s field testing adventures click here.

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Roseau Small Lake

Tony Vary and Jimmy were on the small lake in pegs 1&3. The small lake does fish at night and a 2 o’clock alarm is not uncommon so it’s most definitely well worth fishing the nights on here and that’s exactly what Tony planned on doing, Jimmy wasn’t going to fish peg one at night as this peg is into snags but the fish would receive free food should they frequent the area through the night.

Very good angling and basic common sense tells you that if you just can’t get out of your sleeping bag fast enough, the priority should always be fish safety so anybody fishing the small lake this season should bear this in mind, well done Jimmy boy!

A few days in and with all the lads on the large lake catching plenty of fish they were all a very happy bunch however, the small lake still hadn’t produced a single fish, Jimmy made the decision to move into peg 3 on the large lake, Tony soon jumped into Jimmy’s vacated swim in the hope that the fish would move into the snags with all the hot weather forecast for that day and the remainder of the week, he moved straight after breakfast that morning so after I cleaned up I went to see him and talk about the spots, rigs and how best to bait up, on my walk down I checked the snags but it was devoid of fish,  strange as you can always count on them not being too far away from this area.

Roseau Small – Looking over to the margins.

Tony cracked away at it for day but at dinner time it was clear that it was becoming slightly frustrated for us both, I couldn’t work it out as Tony is a very competent angler, I guess sometimes the fish are just better at not getting caught as we are at catching them!!!  I had a plan, the next morning I tied some rigs up which consisted of very heavy leads and a few little tweaks, I wandered off down into the back bay just with a single rod, net, mat and a bum bag full of essential pieces of tackle, my rod laying on the ground with plenty of slack off the tip, I sat watching both the lake and line, 25 minutes after closely examining  the water for any signs I slipped the net under a 26lb Common and lost another shortly after recasting due to cutting off on a muscle bed but the plan worked, I reported my capture to Tony and after a short time tying fresh rigs etc he headed off with a bounce in his step!

Tony made some changes and it wasn’t long before he was away, landing a 17lb Mirror, he continued in this manner for the remainder of the week and finished up with 11 fish, a couple of 30’s, 2 doubles and the rest were decent 20’s, him and I were chuffed, he persevered with the tough conditions and ended up saving his week, hopefully he put something else into his fishing too which will help him on his travels, wherever that may be…

Roy

“Our third visit to Roseau and I think I can speak for all the group in saying we have had a good time each visit. I have found that nothing is a problem for you all to sort.”   Tony Vary, May ’13. 

For weekly reports on how Roseau Small is fishing follow the link – Carp Fishing France

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The English Version

She’s here. She’s arrived. French Anna!
The French edition of my children’s book Anna’s Secret Granny – La Mamie de Rêve – is in my hands at last. It was published on Friday May 10 so I only needed to wait a day but if felt like a long time!

I’ve been a published author since 1996 with more than forty books out now but this is my first full-colour children’s book to appear, as well as my first French one, so it’s quite a celebration.

I am thrilled to bits with the book. I was worried it was a bit too pink when I saw the announcement for it on the Fnac site, and it is pink, but it’s beautiful. Artist Peggy Caramel has provided the loveliest illustrations for the book. I was chuffed to see Anna was a redhead like me! And Granny is fabulous, a real, elegant Mamie (a French grandmother).

The story is about Anna who, like my kids, doesn’t have any grandmothers. Her friends are always going on about how their Grans take them to the cinema, or the swimming pool, or buy them treats, but of course Anna misses out on all that. So she draws a picture of the Granny she’d like – and next morning that Granny turns up on the doorstep.

The French Edition

The French version is altogether more luxurious than the original Irish one, which is now a teenager as it first appeared in 2000! But horses for courses. Anna’s Secret Granny was intended as a low budget easy reader for kids with some black and white illustrations. La Mamie deRêve is more indulgent, full colour illustrations throughout, and has a very classy feel to it. However, it’s only 63 cents more expensive than the original at €5,70 which is very impressive, given that books tend to be very dear in France. It’s not unusual to spend €18 on a paperback. It’s also printed on paper made from sustainably managed forests, which is very good news.

The story has been changed very little. I was delighted to see that the names of mine and Chris’s mothers for Anna’s two dead grandmothers were kept – Eileen and Kate (although she was Cathleen in the original). The only change is the fictional Australian Aunt Matilda becomes grande-tante Eulalie!Oh yes, and the cod’s liver oil becomes a carton of fish soup.

What am I talking about? You’ll have to read the book for yourself!

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Big fish on the feed

After a 6 hour drive from Holland we arrived at the gates of Laroussi. Mehdi must have heard the cars stopping because the gates to heaven opened almost immediately. We greeted Mehdi and had a little chat about the normal things in life.

Rods out on the 1st day

Soon the subject changed to what we came for… tackling the big carp that inhabited the lake. Mehdi informed us how the lake was fishing and it all became clear nature was almost a month behind due to the bad weather last winter. Fishing was slow, but the fish that were being caught were, in most cases, the bigger residents of Laroussi.

The 2 other anglers were already walking around the lake as they arrived before us. We greeted them and after Mehdi completed his talk about rules and things we would need to know we were ready for the draw. First timer Jos had the first choice and went on the point. 2nd was Neill picking Le Chene. Damn… that’s the one I fancied were my thoughts. Coming out 3rd myself I was in a bit of a dilemma, L’Anse was still free and having already fished from there several times, knowing where to place the baits would be a big advantage. But the strong South-west wind pushing in Le Saule was also looking good. Knowing that there are nearly always fish there meant this would be the peg for me for the week. Ron took number 4 and jumped in L’Anse, Mark going in La Plage and Marco en Maikel in La Bouleau and Le Haut Fond.

After setting up camp the rods where placed in the obvious spots. 2 were placed on the far bank in 8 ft of water. The 3rd rod’s destiny was a bar running on the left of the swim. There was 6 ft on top of it and 8 feet around it.

Lake Map

Tactics

Partiblend with sweetcorn and crushed boilies

My tactics for the week were to go for very small baits. Freebies would be a mixture of 10mm’s and a few 15mm’s fished over some of the partiblend that Mehdi supplies. To the partiblend mix I added some sweetcorn to give it a bit more attraction. Hookbaits would be 15mm’s with fake corn and a double 10mm snowman presentation. Rigwise I would stick to my beloved fluorcarbon hooklinks using Korda curved shank Barbless size 6 and Rigmarole Specimon.

I use these in 90% of my fishing, there very hard to tangle and in the gin clear Laroussi water they disappear almost completely. I don’t want to take the chance and have a tangled rig on the bottom when the time is limited. There are not a lot of snags on the bottom at Laroussi so fishing fluorcarbon is not a problem.

Using plastic corn makes the rig stand out.

Quick action

The rods were 2 hours out when one of the far bank rods was away. Striking the take it soon became clear that what was on the other end wasn’t very massive. Soon a grassie appeared in front of the net and was quickly landed. Mehdi had already discussed with us that grass carp that where caught would be removed, because they had now solved the weed problem and were getting too big. Mehdi came round to collect it and soon the rod was redone.

Only 10 minutes later it was screaming again, and another grass carp was the troublemaker. Another 2 fish found the way to my unhooking mat before dinnertime, a 3rd grass carp and 1 of the massive sturgeons.

Another quiet night

Quickly it became dark and after hitting the sack I was soon off to wonderland due to getting up early and the long drive. The night was quiet and in the morning it became clear it passed without any action for the other anglers either. Rods were redone and the waiting game was on. Ron came round for dinner later that afternoon and told me Mark just landed his first fish around the 60 lb mark. Now how is that for a start! And caught from a peg that hadn’t seen a fish banked in the previous week. Its clear different ways of angling can make a huge difference. This would be confirmed true the rest of the week.

The day passed with just some more grass carp action for me and a lost fish for Maikel. We’re now on the Monday and still no sign of carp, well… saying that, the amount of fish showing  in the middle of the lake is unbelievable and some of them are like cows falling in.

Slack lines, dont give your present away.

Its just getting dark and like every evening I started to get liners on all 3 rods. One of the alarms signalled,  the bobbin moving up and I expected it to fall back like is always the case with liners. It didn’t and stayed there on a tight line. I picked the rod up quickly assuming it to be another grass carp on the end. After getting good contact with the fish  it becomes clear it’s definitely not a grassie.

A slow big fish plodders from left to right and stays deep. Yard by yard is gained and in the light of my torch I can see a good sized mirror appear from the deep. It is in the net at the 1st attempt. A phone call is made to Marco to come over for some shots and carefully the fish is placed on the mat. A decent 30 was my 1st thought but the scales tell me wrong. 49.05 lb mirror, full of spawn.

49.05

Marco arrived and quickly some shots are taken and the fish got her freedom back. The rod was redone and after a few beers it’s bedtime. Again the odd liner occurs through the night but no takes. In the morning Ron came round with his camera. This could only be good news. He told me he broke his PB last night with a massive 55 lb mirror. I congratulated him as he walked on to take a shower.

55 – Ron

Le grand male

It was getting close to lunchtime, I was drinking a coffee and watching the lake when suddenly the right hand rod slowly pulled tight. I never strike straight away on a take, often its sturgeon taking line with there fins, waiting until the line is being taken from the clutch is the advice. Slowly the clutch started to make the much wanted sound and the rod was lifted from its rest. There wasn’t a lot of movement on the other end.

Putting more pressure on my opponent got it moving slowly. Mehdi was watching it from his garden and called out to see what I thought was on the other end, “Sturgeon I guess” was my answer.

The fight was already going on for 20 minutes but not a lot of line could be gained. Mehdi came round and that was the first time the fish turned on the surface… “Massive carp” were his 1st words and my first thoughts. Mehdi took the landing net and after a few more minutes the fish came closer and closer. The fish turned in front of the net and Mehdi quickly pushed the net underneath the massive framed fish. Immediately  he said “do you know what fish it is?” with a big smile on his face. “Le grand male”, easy to recognize due to his big back.

“Your new PB Roy”, he said. I wasn’t too sure but Mehdi told me it was banked 2 weeks ago at 62lb. The fish was placed on the mat with combined forces and the scales said 62lb. Yess!

“Your new PB!” Mehdi shouted. We shook hands and he did the honours of taking some pictures. After releasing the fish we talked about the history of the great creature.

‘Le Grand Male’

Its a male fish and shows impressive growing rates. On my 1st visit in 2006 some Belgium anglers had it at 38.05 lb. The following year I banked it myself at 43.09 lb.

‘Le Grand Male’ back in 2007

After that the fish seemed to increase in weight every year with 3-4lb. And taking in mind its a male fish it shows the potential of a lake like Laroussi. I am sure it will hit the 70lb mark in the next few years.

Nothing happened anymore for me that Tuesday and Wednesday. Ron managed another big fish on Wednesday afternoon of 45lb. The other anglers in our group struggled and only a few grass carp and crucians were being caught by them. The week was coming to a end and I struggled to get more carp takes, not that I could really be bothered with already having in my pocket what we came for. I assume there were not a lot of fish present in the bay in front of Le Saule because there were none showing all week.

45 – Ron

Le Saule Swim

Underwater footage

A friend of Mehdi came round with a underwater camera on a pole and decided to check some of bushes on the far bank. My eyes could not believe what I saw after watching the recorded material. In about 10 seconds several decent mirrors and commons made an appearance in front of the camera leaving me with head breaking mind thoughts about how they evaded the hook.

Curved shank’s, 15mm baits topped with fake corn

In some cases the guy even saw fish feeding on anglers bait, and no indication or movement on the bobbins. So it shows how clever and clued up the Laroussi carp are, their growth rates confirm they benefit from anglers bait but often manage to stay out of their hands. Our group ended the week with 6 fish. 1 small common on the last evening for Marco and 2 mirrors for both me and Ron. Jos and Maikel blanked. The 2 English anglers did pretty well with Neill on Le Chene banking 2 fish to high 30′s. But Mark in La Plage did steel the show with a 6 fish by the end of the week with a 41.08, 45.08, 55.00, 49.04, 59.08 & 60.02.

We will be back next year and rethink the way we will be fishing the venue after seeing the footage. If you want a venue that’s a proper carp lake with a lot of big fish and are willing to work for it Laroussi is your carp heaven.

Releasing the great creature

For more information, articles and photos from Laroussi follow the link - Carp Fishing in France

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Hi Paul, hope your well? As you know I usually fish with mainline cell in England and at Margot they supply quality baits cm60 which I’m told is very similar to the cell, as your a field tester for quality baits do you think that this bait will be a good substitute to use in France when we go in July? One of the other reasons I’m keen to use it also is because its supplied in fresh frozen which I prefer.

Many thanks.

40.05 Mirror – Paul at Margot

CM60 is an excellent and well tested bait that Quality Baits have had on the market for a couple of years now. It has accounted for a lot of fish and is equivalent to the Cell. Now that the Bigot’s are supplying it to the customers on Margot, I would think that this will be the going bait for the future. CM60 as with the HG42 is an excellent Summer bait and will not let you down in shelflife or frozen.

Regards
Paul

To check out more articles from Margot, including the capture of the 71lb lake record, click here.
Margot Carp Fishing in France

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Not only is it a lake record Common but our first 40 banked AND it was Chris’s new PB beating his last by 5.8lb but smashing his Common PB by 23lb. It made good headlines in Carp-Talk in the foreign news section. Congratulations Chris.

Braving the water shot

On returning home Chris sent us this feedback…

42.01

“An absolutely beautiful lake with exceptional fishing and stunning fish! Mark and Angela run it superbly offering advice and in depth knowledge.
The food package is out of this world…restaurant quality food, piping hot and delivered to your swim, every dish home cooked to perfection! I would come back for the food alone.

Started the week fishing boilie over a bed of pellet but found fishing boilie over boilie to be more successful. I fished dna baits nuttas and s7 as usual. Most rigs worked but we found balanced bottom baits worked well, also single pop ups.” 

For more information, photos and feedback from Monument follow the link – Carp Fishing in France

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Hi, beginning to plan for our visit at the beginning of July, hoping to have a go at the catfish as well as the carp, any advice or tips for bait’s we can bring with us?

We currently have around 27 Catfish in the Specimen Lake, the three biggest are around 45lb, 55lb and an estimated 65-70lb. Five others are between 18lb and 26lb and all the others are between 12lb to 16lb and growing rapidly.

Lake Map

The best baits for the cats have always been live baits (Roach, Tench or Carp) float fished on a size 1 barbless hook somewhere around 2-5 feet off the lake bed (You can catch small Roach, Tench and Carp from the stock lake on float with sweetcorn when you are here). Ledgered dead fish or small squid come a close second place. Large halibuts have caught the odd Cat though I wouldn’t rate these very highly on our lake but they will catch the Carp with the odd chance of picking up a Cat.

 More importantly, if you really do want to put a cat on the bank here, the crucial thing is where you fish for them.
The deep end is definitely harder daytime fishing for the Carp but is the place to be for a big Cat, they seem to have regular haunts, under a particular bush on the Gorsebank or the Dam wall or around the Outlet Sluice, It is possible to hook them in the shallows but I only know of one big Cat to actually make it to the bank from there due to the snaggier nature of shallow end. They generally appear at night or before mid morning. they are sporadic feeders and will feed solidly for 3 or 4 days and then stop for about the same, They seem to group feed and may be difficult to find in one half of a week and easier in the other half, if you don’t get a take in the first two or three nights this is usually why!

Hope this helps but if you need anything else please let me know

Lee 

45lb – Daniel Spreckley – May ’13

For more information, articles, photo’s and feedback from Glehias follow the link - French Carp Fishing

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