Angling Lines blog

Taken from Carp-Talk Xtra

So why on earth do we have a picture of the new (1,457lb) World Record pumpkin in this week’s Carp-Talk Xtra?

Well firstly it was grown by Mehdi Daho who is the owner of the popular Angling Lines venues Old Oaks & Laroussi and secondly he decided to put the outer flesh of the fruit to good use and what could possibly be better than turning it into a water going vessel capable of holding up to six people!

He then put the  pumpkin/boat to better use, using it to land a couple of hard fighting carp from his own lake, the biggest of which was this 40lb specimen below. The fish fell for a Quest Baits Fruity Trifle boilie.

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

Simon Boi wrote:

I’m visiting Old Oaks lake in June this year and was reading about the poisson chat and how to counteract them.  There are some good videos about netting boilies or using a plastic wrap to stop the being slowly eaten away.

I was wondering if the current wave of plastic baits might prove a fruitful way of fishing for the carp without attracting the nuisance species?

I have noticed the pineapple crush boilies seem to be a good bait for some reason but what about things like fake corn or would it be too small?

Also I quite like the idea of zig rigs for Old Oaks and was wondering if the crayfish and poisson chat were only bottom dwellers or if a bait half way up in the water would still be fair game?

Hi Simon,

Thanks for your question. Many people are fazed by these nasty little fish, but if you use techniques, some of which you already mention you’ll be fine. As far as I know there are no crayfish in Old Oaks, so you can scratch them off your list.

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…