Angling Lines Blog

Every once in a while someone comes along with a simple yet really useful product, where you think…

“Hey! That’s neat… why has no one come up with that before?”

Well the Steady Rig from Rig Innovations is just such a product.

I met these guys out on the bank carp fishing in France a few years back at one of our Angling Lines venues and they proudly showed me their invention… an adjustable base, designed to take any of the most widely used camping stoves and keep them level and safe while in use on a uneven bank.

The lads were kind enough to give me one to try.  As I travel around fishing and shooting videos for Angling Lines, I need to camp more than most. In the summer I virtually live in my small camper van.

Well here I have to be honest and say I pushed the Steady Rig away under the bench seat of my camper and pretty much forgot about it for a good few months… sorry guys!

That is until I was out on the bank one day last summer and I didn’t want to fry the steak inside the van and sink it out… but my swim was particularly steep and uneven. No matter how I tried I just couldn’t keep my stove from falling over.  I use the blue Campingaz canisters and as good and inexpensive as they are, they are tall and somewhat unstable.

‘Hang on a minute!, I thought to myself… Let’s try that invention the guys gave me and see if it really works!!… continue reading…

Carp fishing as we all know immensely popular now, with more and more people coming into the sport every year. This puts a huge pressure on the ticket lakes, club lakes and syndicates across the UK. Most anglers outside the ‘A’ list are faced with long waiting lists and the slim chances of getting on a water with big fish. Ticket lakes are often crowded and fish sizes modest.

For a number of years carpers have been looking towards France.

But is it the Carpfishers ‘Eldorado?’

What does France have to offer?

1) Access to bigger fish: Well firstly in the majority of cases there are no syndicates or waiting lists to fish the top waters. You can simply book up with an agent such as Angling Lines, or go it alone to a ticket or public lake.

Whatever you choose you’ll have access to bigger fish than the majority of lakes in the UK.
The continental climate in France gives us just that few degrees extra average temperatures, which is enough to get the carp feeding longer throughout the year. You gain on average one degree for every 100 km you travel south. Also the strains of carp stocked into France have generally been fast growing mirrors and they can reach 30lb in just 5-7 years.

continue reading…

Ok! so you have decided to go to France carp fishing , what should you look for and where should you go?

Do Your Homework Before You Go:

Make sure you book a reputable venue with a good track record. It might sound attractive to fish a pioneering venue, but it’s your holiday you are risking. So get as much information from the owner or the agent as you can. Check out other people’s experiences on the web forums like the Carp Forum.co.uk and feedback. Ask the questions to gain as much info as possible before you leave.

Don’t be Over Ambitious:

When selecting a venue look at the various options and choose a venue that is in keeping with your experience. Big waters are great fun but if you’ve never fished one, you’ll almost certainly be ill equipped and ill prepared. Build your way up to the large waters (if that’s your cup of tea). Angling Lines has stacks of venues for all levels, check out the site and the feedback.

Decide What Size Fish You want to Catch:

Pick a venue that holds the size, numbers and type of fish you want to go for. If you are used to catching lots of doubles and a few twenties, then it is wise to set you goal for a water that will give you a good number of 20lb fish with the chance of bigger. In generally this type of venue will have enough fish to let you have loads of fun, yet offer you the chance of a personal best. continue reading…

by Gareth Watkins

Most of my summer 2007 was spent out ‘On the Road’ to produce the 2008 DVD.

We generally get under way in April and set out a list of venues we need to cover. These are in priority the new lakes we have on our books, lakes that have seen significant changes to either the facilities, fish stocks etc and venues that we have not covered for a while.

Last year was made doubly awkward due to the absolutely lousy weather we had for much of the summer.

We were delighted to add some quality fishing to our portfolio, such as Molyneux, Commons Lake, Long Lake, Etang de Moulin and St Christophe. All these venues I’m sure will do well in 2008.

The other great thing about visiting the lakes in person is the people we meet. None of our video sessions are staged. We don’t bait a swim for weeks or re-hook fish. What you see on the clips is as it is. Some venues produce well others don’t. That’s not to say the venues who don’t throw up a biggy for the camera don’t hold such fish though.

In 2007 I was generally very mucky and on most waters I was able to capture some good action and some nice fish, even if I had to wait for them.

I think the highlight though was shooting with Shaun Harrison, what a star… not only has he never failed to catch when I’ve turned a camera on him, at St Christophe, against all the odds when the lake was fishing really slowly and many anglers blanking during the busiest holiday week of the year… he banked a fabulous 54lb 6oz mirror.