Angling Lines blog

Rich asks;

What time of year do the carp spawn?

 Hi Rich,

Spawning time is purely a matter of water temperature and mostly late May or June is the spawning period in France.  A warm spring or mild winter can bring it on early (I’ve even known them start in March) and some lakes will start sooner than others just because of the volume of water in them means they are quicker or slower to warm up.

Similarly a colder spring may see the spawning dates pushed back later in the year.

If the water temperature is maintained long enough to see spawning through properly then all well and good but if the temperature drops and it’s halted spawning can occur up to several times over several months. So nothing is ever guaranteed.

On a better note carp generally feed really well both going into and coming out of spawning. So even if your week is affected, you would be very unlucky indeed to have it exactly co-incide with every day of your holiday.

Robert Fisher wrote:

Please could you tell me the average spawning dates in France.

Hi Robert,

This is a very difficult question to reply to as there are so many factors involved. Much depends on the depth of the lake, the amount of sun it recieves and other factors that might effect water temperature such as springs, river inlets etc…

As a general rule carp are unlikely to spawn before mid May, but the period can extend into June or even July on deeper more shaded gravel pits.

On particularly cool summers the fish might not spawn properly at all, indeed if this happens on a number of consequtive years it can even lead to fish deaths.

continue reading…

Chris Davis wrote:

Is it possible to catch carph when they are spawning? I know it’s a lot more difficult but is it still worth going?

Gareth Watkins replies:

Hi Chris,  Yes fish can be caught when they are spawning or at least just before and just after, as during the actual spawning they won’t feed. Firstly not all the fish in the lake will spawn at once, and often you will still pick up the immature and smaller carp. The easiest way to reply to your question is by a story that happened to me a few years back.

continue reading…

Jamie Simpson wrote this excellent write up about his recent trip to the Angling Lines venue at Grosley sur Risle on the Quest baits blog.

By Jamie simpson
I recently went on a week long trip to Lac De Grosley in France. A well run 25acre venue in Normandy, and only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Calais. I arrived at a very muddy and sodden venue on the Saturday morning not knowing what lay instore for the forth coming week.

Seven days of hot weather and glorious sunshine followed.

This then sent the Carp into spawning mode, which made the fishing difficult to say the least. Had I been at a venue close to home I would have packed up and left them to get on with it, however when you are on your weeks holiday from work it’s not that simple.

I have been carp fishing for 19 years now and have seen fish spawning many times in the past, however this was the first time I had seen it in France where I could watch it happen over several consecutive days.

Even better was the fact that there is a back channel similar in width to a canal that the Carp can escape to without any worry of line pressure. This was absolutely perfect for standing and watching their activities. I was fortunate enough to watch a group of five mid twenties following each other around and a couple of mid to upper thirties were in the area too. The Carp would regularly thrash against the bank and in particular a tree that stretched into the water, often almost pushing each other onto the bank. continue reading…