Angling Lines Blog

50.05 Common for Pete Coates from Lac du Val

Pete Coates has returned to Lac du Val smashing his Pb 3 times.  His first fish was a 39lb 4oz mirror, then a 29lb common, topping it with a cracking immaculate 50lb 5oz common… and it’s only Wednesday!

In this post David from Lac du Val explains why he recommends running rigs on his lake;

You can imagine my thoughts when asked to write an article on the running rig, firstly by trying to remember when I first used it. My mind went back to as far as I can remember to Lincoln 1958 and it consisted of a 18” end rig of soft material with a ½ oz lead (no 2 or 3oz leads then!) running along the main line.  In fact this was the only rig used at the time but I must say it was a bugger to cast (ie tangles) and there is nothing worse than sitting looking at your bobbins and wondering did it land okay and is it tangled?

Getting back to the modern day running rig which I use all the time now and being fortunate now owning my own lake (mind you it’s has taken 58yrs!) I now recommend it to all my lads and it catches a lot of fish.

I will firstly explain why I think this rig works so well. The rig consist of a 12” soft hook link.  I prefer soft hook links for this rig because of freedom of movement with a balanced bait.  In the old days we used Dacron (but tangle free it was not!) so I cured this by using plumbers freeze spray.  This I used to spray my end rig and it used to freeze it for casting.  On entering the water after 10 seconds it unfroze  but left me in a good frame of mind back on the bank.

Getting back to the fundamental materials of the actual set-up;  materials needed for this is a 12” soft hook link, a number 8 swivel & 1 metre of tubing.  The tubing is threaded onto the main line firstly with a 2oz lead attached to a decent size run ring and buffer bead.  The buffer bead is threaded on the tubing after the run ring.  Some people use a stop at the end of the tubing but I prefer complete free running leads, this I find the carp love and the runs are really fast and I believe it really catches fish.  But I must say it is a set-up you cannot leave & go and talk to your pals. continue reading…

Magnificent 41.03 winter mirror

What a days winter fishing!

The tactic I used was to roll our boilies in the new paste we had made for us by Shaun at Quest. So each boilie had its own paste outer shell.

It proved to be very successful to say the least by me landing 12 cracking fish including 2 x 40s, 5 x 30s and 5 big 20s… and this in the middle of winter on a very cold day, this must be good!

I started fishing at 8am and finished at 6pm. My baiting up was done with Lac du Val pellets. I think the paste had a special affect making the bait taste fresh and the flavour release being quicker in cold water

Best Regards, Dave.

Once again it’s November and I feel happy that it is all over, happy because I now have time to do things that I like to do, ie; shooting, fishing and what I like most of all flying Sparkie my hawk, but also sad because I will miss all the banter with the people I enjoy being with and the swapping of stories, these are the people Sammy and myself will look forward to seeing again next season.

Now back to business! We have just finished putting a further one and half ton of good size fish eg; 28lb to 51lb into the main Lake. Over this last season we extracted a lot of smaller fish upto 15lb from out of the main lake with the help of a lot of our fishermen. We had excellent success with our own Lac du Val bait specials being made to our own specification by Shaun Harrison of Quest Baits (well done Shaun) and we are pleased to announce that you will still be able to pay in sterling for this once again next year. continue reading…