Angling Lines Blog

Sapphire was netted in October 2011 to remove its silver fish and small carp… so this was an excellent opportunity to assess the current stock.

Some carp will obviously have escaped the net but every netted fish was weighed and listed.  So here’s a summary of the known fish in Sapphire, taken straight from Michel Bigot’s hand written list on the day;

• 2 x 50′s – a 52lb common and a 51lb 8oz mirror
• 16 x 40′s – 5 of these were over 47lb
• 105 x 30′s (mostly mirrors) – 15 of these were high 30′s
• 192 x 20′s
• 22 doubles were returned, a mix of koi, commons and pretty mirrors

A total of 335 carp were returned to the lake and, worked out straight from Michel’s list, the average size was just under 30lb.

There’s no wonder that some Sapphire anglers had very big hits in 2011… and with the carp growing all the time, 2012 promises to be even better!

It’s October 2011 & Michel Bigot has just netted Sapphire Lake.

This gives us a unique opportunity to see the lake bed – invaluable information for serious carp anglers!

This clip shows Ron Key & Dan Phesay fishing at Sapphire in March 2011. Dan caught his fish at catapult range in the old river bed but Ron located his fish at around 120 yards and Spombed bait out over the feeding area.

In total they caught 41 carp from 20lb to 34lb 8oz including 33 twenties… many in the 27/28/29lb range and 8 thirties. They also had around 20 grass carp with Dan having at least three over 20lbs.

Bill Holcombe had a stunning catch at Sapphire w/c 14th May taking 56 carp for a total of 1,159lb.

Dan with his 49.08 Sapphire common

Sparkling Sapphire…..

Sapphire lake is situated in the heart of the Bretagne countryside being mainly surrounded by agricultural land. It’s a good size lake being around 25 acres with large areas of lily pads at the shallow end and lots of open water.

I had been asked by Angling Lines to fish the water and upon arrival we were greeted by Gerrard the resident bailiff. You will find that he speaks good English so you can leave your phrase book at home!

After a scout around the lake I opted to start in one of the middle pegs as there were fish showing on the far bank and I could get a good view of the lake from there should I not be catching and need a move.

I set about my normal way of long session fishing and mapped out my swim methodically as I always want to know what lies beneath! I uncovered 5 likely looking spots, 4 for fishing the first night and another one I would be trickling bait in over the week should one of the rods not be producing the goods.

The rods went out and were in position by 6 pm. I had an average depth of 7 feet in front of me and I had found 2 nice silt pockets around 8 and half feet deep so that was two rods taken care of, the third was positioned on a small stony mound which was 6 feet deep and the last rod would be fished at extreme range towards some lily pads on the far margin.

All my rods were baited with Baitcraft boilies as I’m a firm believer in using the very best bait money can buy not just because it will always catch you more fish than preserved shelf life bait but you are also giving something back to the carp. These boilies are nutritionally balance for the carp’s dietary needs and it will benefit them no end in terms of growth rates and more importantly fish health. I also had 25 kg of Oakwood Fisheries pellets on board as back up.

I had taken the decision not to introduce any particle baits at all as I heard there was a fair number of grass carp present and when the natural weed in a lake is low early season, they will happily sit there devouring your particles and then your hook bait in the middle of the night!

Back to the fishing, it started with a bang; two hours past and the first rod was away, as I had the fish nearing the net, the second rod let out a scream from the fizzing bait runner. Now I was stood there holding two rods! My friend was quickly at hand to take the second rod, as I quickly netted the first and then the second. What a start a 21lb mirror joined by another of 19lb not massive fish and certainly not what I was after, but a good start never the less.

The rods went back out and by 3 am I had caught another 4 fish from 17 to 30lbs. As I sat looking over the water and listening for tell-tale location signs my rod on the gravel mound bounced into life. Instantly I knew this was a different calibre of fish with its immense power and sheer dead weight. 35 minutes slowly past and eventually i slid the net under a very large looking common.

An instant grin hit my face and I was quickly on the walkie talkie to my friend demanding he come to my swim to take some pictures. As I lifted what I can only describe as a “beast of a common” I knew she was a bit special, on the JRC hi care mat she took the whole width up! Upon weighing she fell just short of 50lbs at 49lbs 8oz but a mighty fish and a mighty start!

By the morning I had managed to put 10 on the bank, it really does pay to mark all your lines so you can clip up and hit your spots at night accurately when fishing open water.

What followed the rest of the week was consistent action both day and night I won’t bore you with all the details as there were frankly just too many but despite some terrible weather and thunder storms  I ended the week with 52 carp, for a total weight of over  1,300lbs and a 49lb 8oz  new lake record! I even had to leave a day early because I ran out of bait!

Now I know the lake received some bad press last year due to the lily pads at the top end and the ducks, but in short the ducks are not a problem for the fishing but beware they will come in your bivvy and eat your boilies when you’re sleeping if you use just an umbrella like me! Lily pads wise I still managed to have a good result in the middle of the lake, some people like to blame things on the lake if they don’t catch but that’s just fishing! At the end of the day the fish are here to be caught and they are in abundance!

Sapphire lake is a real gem like its name suggest with beautiful looking accommodation.

Tight lines!

By Dan Allen – Oakwood Fisheries and Baitcraft France.