Angling Lines Blog

Boux produced a beautiful mix of 40lb+ commons and mirrors for Andrew Gilbert’s party fishing this April. See the rest of their catch pictures here.

46lb 4oz – Andrew Gilbert

For more information, articles, photo’s and feedback from Boux follow the link – Carp Fishing in France

Paul with a Boux 50 from an Oct 2011 session

Here’s a question we received from a customer;

Can you tell me what the lake bottom is made up of at Boux?

Paul Cooper answers;

Hi Terry

The lake bottom in Boux varies, depending on what part of the lake you decide to fish. The steep margins on the dam are made up of rocks and stone which ends at the bottom of the slope in silt. The further away from the dam the silt gets deeper.  Once you are past around 60yards the silt thins out and remains similar to this to the far end of the lake. The bay nearest to the car park is heavily silted and yet the bay near to the cattle drink does have a firm bottom and is an excellent bay for the feeding carp.

The non fishing bank is shallow and has a clay/gravel make-up and has a hard bottom make-up for at least 20yards from the bank where it then turns silty. These silty areas are not a problem as the fish feed naturally in this silt. There are some large holes just off these margins where anglers have created feeding areas by continually feeding in one spot. They are a long distance from the wooded bank and unless you are a long caster, you will not reach them with unless you use the boat on site or with a baitboat. You do tend to find that these margins are where the crayfish lie and feed.

From the wooded bank the bottom is made up of soft clay then turns into silt. Again this silt is not a problem to the feeding carp. If you cast and lead around in open water you will find some harder patches of gravelled areas where the carp have excavated the silt when feeding.

The bay to the left of the wood bank is shallow and again the margins are fairly hard, made up of gravel and clay, but once again, if the Crays are active they gather in this bay but the carp do love this area.

While I was at Boux I made a couple of videos that could give you some more advice and tips.

How to protect Baits when Poisson Chat or Crayfish are active

Big Carp action at Boux

Hope this helps,

Paul Cooper, paulcooper18@sky.com

Carp Fishing in France at Boux

Magical Boux

Hi Paul,

I have booked a week on Boux with some friends and my son… can you give any info on the best way to approach  the fishing at the fishery thanks.

Peter

Paul Cooper with a Boux 49lb Carp (Oct 2012)

Hi Peter,

A lot will depend on when you have booked your visit to Boux.  One of the reasons for the large growth rate of the fish is the presence of one of their food supplies, which are crayfish.  The crayfish are active in the warmer months and generally feed around the margin areas of the lake.  One of the ways to avoid the crayfish interest is to fish the deeper waters which are generally towards the dam wall, but again not too close to attract them away from the margins.  On my 3 visits last year I did not find any evidence of poison chat which can be a pain in the neck.

However, if you are fishing the warmer months, July to the end of September, there are ways around avoiding too much attention from the crays;

• Plastic Baits;
  I used these with great effect with just a single 14 or 16 mil plastic boilie on my pop rig that I use ( The Ultimate pop up rig ).  I just baited up my baited area as normal and dropped one of these in the middle of them.  My baited area was made up of 18mil Quality Baits HG42 boilies.
• Armo-meshing;
  For this method you need an air dried bottom bait covered with the armo-mesh and again fished over a baited area of boilies.  The crays will play with the boilie but cannot penetrate the meshing leaving it for the carp to feed on.  The presence of the crays in your swim will attract the attention of the bigger so you just have to keep plugging away.
• Shrink sleeve wrap;
  With this method you again need an air dried boilie and wrap covers the biggest part of the boilie leaving the 2 ends exposed to give off the flavour of the boilie and attract the carp. The carp crays will nibble at the ends of the boilie but leave enough to attract carp to feed on it.

If the weather is not too hot you should not get a problem with the crays but the above measures will help to put carp on the bank if they are active.

45lb (Oct ’12)

The carp do tend to patrol from the far right hand side of the dam along the reed line of the non fishing bank, to the reeds at the far end.  If the weather is not too hot the right hand side of the dam is a good spot to fish towards the right hand bay.  The depths here vary from 12 foot to 5 foot and do seem to attract the attention of feeding carp.  My strategy for fishing this section of the lake was to spread a 18mil boilies over an tight area with a throwing stick and to cast out a single bottom bait with a small PVA bag.  This produced a lot of big fish for me.

If you are fishing off the wooded bank, the left hand reed line is a good location but the water here is shallower and there are a few crays here.

Over to the far margins you will see a lot of patrolling fish.  It is a long cast but if you are using a bait boat it should be no trouble to reach them.  Again if you get too close to the margins you will encounter crayfish.  The bank of the wooded area is high but there are steps down to the water if the water is low and should not present a problem.  This is the best bank for a social.  If the weather is hot you are in the shade from around 11am onwards.  The dam can be unbearable if it is too hot as there is no shade.

The fish in Boux are in excellent condition and are all growing fast with a lot of carp reaching the 40 mark and above.

As for bait, I would take at least 20 kilo of boilies and any other particles or pellets that you wish to add. The bait that I used on my last 2 successful trips was Quality Baits HG42 in 18mil, but any good quality bait should catch the carp at Boux.

If you have any more questions do not hesitate to get back in touch.

Paul Cooper

Carp fishing in France at Boux

53lb 10oz

Derek Ryley, from Liverpool, took his three sons (Joshua 19, Liam 17 and Louis 13) to Boux at the wish of his Nan, Sally Latimer, who gifted them money for the trip prior to her passing away.

The  family group, had a fantastic result taking 63 carp which included, 4 x 50’s, 14 x 40’s, 39 x 30’s and 4 x 20’s. Sure to say, their Nan had blessed the trip in more ways than one, and surely couldn’t have given them anything better.

“All the carp we caught we dedicated to my Nan. Each of us caught a fifty, so it really was a great trip and a memory of someone and somewhere very special.”  Derek Ryley

Carp fishing in France at Boux

Boux in the summer – heaven!

I have always loved Boux, not only for the huge carp which of course brings tremendous feedback, but simply because the setting is gorgeous… the forest backdrop and then the open fields with cattle grazing are in sharp contrast to each other.  So it was with some excitement that I went back to the lake after a 3 year gap.

I arrived after having had a lovely lunch in the local village bar – you always know it’s good when they are they are busy with locals even on a Tuesday lunchtime!  From here it was only a few minutes’ drive to the facilities at the farmhouse where I was warmly greeted by Phillip the on-site bailiff.

Boux facilities with the lake in the background

Chris the owner arrived a little later and we did a tour of the facilities first, Chris telling me that he would soon add in a cooker and also a second freezer.  These are good facilities and charging for batteries and phones etc is no problem at all (but remember to take an adapter.)  Chris is committed to maintaining and indeed improving the facilities for the anglers, so if you have any ideas after visiting the lake just let us know.

We then drove the minute or two to the lake on the back lane of the estate. I was not disappointed. The lake looked stunning nestled alongside the trees. The swims have actually improved on the forest bank and there is more space in the swims than I remembered from previous years.

Chris and I took a steady walk along both fishable sides of the lake discussing the swims. The open dam wall leaves little shelter from a harsh sun, so fishing here you definitely need a gazebo and some high factor lotion. The forest bank is much more sheltered and offers a cooler respite.

Even in the middle of the afternoon I could see active carp and listening to Chris and his enthusiasm for the lake was a treat.  He told me how he recently stocked some more big grassies to complement the stocking.  I suppose with him being a fish farmer big carp are easier to come by than for many. Though to be fair, fish gaining weight in this lake was never a problem.

There are two sides to the lake where you can fish to but not from. These are the open fields where the cattle come down to graze and most anglers would use the onsite boat to bait this area of the lake where catch rates are high.  Far from disturbing the carp the drinking cattle stir up the bottom and create a food fest for the carp, attracting them into these margins.

I’m really looking forward to the first catch reports coming in and I have no doubts that 2012 will be a great year for Boux.

Bridget Dawson

Carp Fishing in France at Boux