Angling Lines Blog

Jon playing yet another Vincons carp…

Without doubt our most prolific venue is Vincons.  If you want to catch lots of carp that’s the place to go.  Here’s a bit more evivdence to support that claim;

Jon & Larry fished Vincons w/c 6th August and had 79 carp in total up to 29lbs 7oz. Average size was upper doubles with around 30 twenties caught.  10 tench and a few rudd also.

They only fished days, not nights (far too tired!!!).  Daily carp totals were… 18,6,16,9,19,11.

” The fishing was extremely prolific.  We fished two rods each, sometimes struggling to get all four in the water, and at one point we have 3 fish on at once which was interesting… bring at least one landing net per person!

The variety of fish, from big deep commons to old scaly mirrors was wonderful, especially seeing as the next fish could be a twenty!

This was our first time in France and the fishing was just incredible. Some fish even came before we could set up the bite alarms and bobbins!

The Bouchot family were very accommodating and the pie that was brought around was delicious!  The site is particularly quiet and tranquil, which is a breath of fresh air from many UK venues. Thank you for a superb week’s fishing!!! “

The five of us arrived at Vincons around 3pm & our first impression was “WOW… is all this just for us… let’s have a beer to celebrate!”

To start with we chucked oily sticks out on 5/6 rods and unloaded the cars.  Not expecting to catch the first night we didn’t put any effort in, but we still caught a couple of fish each. We went to bed (5 people in the lodge) thinking we could have a good week here … we really had no idea how good though!

Sunday started slow with only 2 fish before 4pm. Two of us moved around 6pm to a new spot to the right of the lodge in the trees where all hell was let loose with 12 fish caught in the next 4 hours!

This set the scene for the rest of the week, with the dam wall fishing better from after lunch into the night & up in the trees fishing better in the morning, at about 40 metres out. Fishing slows around lunch time all over the lake. With a bit of trial and error we worked out that if you fished close in until lunch then on the far bank in the afternoon you could keep the sport going all day.

At times it was manic… I had 3 x 20’s in 3 nets one morning before anyone else was up. You must take 2 nets for each swim to stand a chance. We fished in pairs and it would take 5 hours to get all 6 rods in the water at any one time, only to have 4 back on the bank in 15 minutes of madness. It’s the only place I have fished where you are happy to let someone else have ago so you can have a break!

The trees along the lodge bank need to be cut back and it is very difficult to cast and a bait boat is an advantage. I found wading out to cast worked a treat. Any hook bait caught fish & I ended up with plastic on all rods to save time on re-baiting, using the same hook until it started dropping fish.

The method was the winner, catching everywhere we chucked it. Find a spot keep the bait going in using enough to get a bite. The fish moved around in shoals so if you got a bite you would get another and another and another until all your rods were on the bank. We didn’t fish at night and pulled all the rods in at dark and had a social. By the end of each day we were all shattered.

We had 184 carp for 3,667lb 11oz. I had 49 carp in 6 days fishing for 976lb 4oz. Not the place to go for monster carp, but if you want fun easy fishing with a good chance of a 30 give it ago.

The owners were great, the lodge was all you needed and as we had rain and gale force winds were very glad to have it.

We all ended up sleeping in the lodge as it was easy and comfortable. The shower and toilet was clean with plenty of hot water. You are only 10 minutes from a great supermarket at Lignieres, which sells a limited amount of tackle and bait.

We loved it so much we have booked for 2011.

Thank you for a great service again, cheers.

Stafford Patmore & party

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

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.

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