Angling Lines blog

Stewart 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

Paul Cottingham wrote:

Hello, My good friend and I are going to Margot for a week fishing June the 13th.  I would like to know whats the best bait and method to fish for catfish, as this is the species I’m most looking forward to catching.  I was hoping to use halibuts, luncheon meat and pellets ..but am worried that possion chats will eat it before the catfish.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your query. Margot does indeed have a fantastic head of big fish including big catfish and the mandarin cats, which are gorgeous fish.

Your method on the whole looks to be fine, but let me just underline a few points that are worth bearing in mind.

continue reading…

The 24th of February 2009 saw Michel Bigot’s Etang de Margot get a boost to its carp stocks. In total 70 large carp to 49lb and four Koi were introduced to this prolific venue, taking the total stock of carp to over 400 fish. The vast majority of the carp were in the high 20’s to low 30’s with the jewel in the crown being a magnificent 49lb common, what a superb fish! So now there are two very large commons in this famous lake including the lake record common of 66lb. Quite a target to go for!

The 24th of February saw Michel Bigot’s “Etang de Margot” get a boost to its carp stocks. In total 70 large carp to 49lb and 4 Koi were introduced to this prolific venue taking the total stocks of carp to over 400 fish.

The vast majority of the carp were in the high 20’s to low 30’s with the jewel in the crown being a magnificent 49lb common, what a superb fish!!

So now there are two very large commons in this famous lake including the lake record of 66lb.

continue reading…

by Bridget Keep
Being part of the Angling Lines team is a challenging but enjoyable job. We get to meet lots of new and many repeat clients each year… some of whom go on to be real friends and we also get the chance to share our passion with other like-minded people. We love this business because we are arranging holidays, something that we know people will enjoy – so I think we are really lucky in that respect. But I guess one of the most interesting parts of the job is the lake visits. Its important that we try to visit all our lakes on a regular basis – it gives us real perspective and updates us on changes so when we are talking to people we know exactly what we are talking about.

So it was that three of us headed out to France to visit around 13 of the venues including 5 new ones! Our first port of call was Genets, where we had been promised a big English breakfast to start the tour. Heathers breakfasts are renowned and we definitely needed the walk around the lake afterwards to get us moving again! Genets is a lovely lake and is going from strength to strength as the carp are growing on very quickly. The swims were in superb condition with the main bulk of the fishing from the wooded bank onto the far margins and talking to our hosts and the anglers on the lake everyone was very happy despite the unsettled weather, they were catching well. continue reading…