News Report - May 2002  

Well the season is getting under way and it seems to have got off to a promising start. There have been a number of good fish caught on many of the venues with some impressive lumps in amongst them.

60lb Margot Sturgeon

Etang Le Roseau: The big lake has seen it's first real week of serious pressure with the first trip by A&J Euro Carp sessions and the place has literally gone ballistic. Martyn's crew have had over 300 fish in the week with individual anglers catching 50 plus carp. The majority of these have been doubles with a fair smattering of 20's up to 28lb. The small lake, as is to be expected has been slower but two fish of 36lb and 37lb have fallen to French anglers this last week.


Domaine de la Ribiere: I spent a very pleasant week on this fabulous venue at the start of April, with my family. Two of my friends from the UK ... Derek and Tom joined us. The weather was fine for all but one day and we caught a good number of carp. Derek and Tom had well over 20 fish between them, several were over 20lb the best a superb original mirror at 33lb. Despite only managing 2 nights and two afternoons actually fishing I managed 10 fish. I did well using the Method with Trout pellet and Vitalin with the Mainline Dream Lake Special boilies we do.  The facilities are really first class. We were in one of the Studio appartments and found it very comfortable and clean. There is an en-suite bathroom, fully equipped kitchenette one double bed and a bed settee that the kids shared...... the swimming pool was a tad cold in April, but I'll definitely be using it on my next trip.  A great family venue with some big fish too.

Mid thirty to a French angler from Ribiere in April

Etang de Brionnais: I was always convinced that this lake had the potential to be a top venue after my first field testing session on there. Well our first group of anglers to visit the lake, Nigel & Charlotte, had a cracking session. Taking a total 54 carp to 39lb. These included 7 thirties; 24 twenties and 23 doubles. An excellent result from a new and very promising water.
The chalets on the lake are very comfortable and fully equipped. It is really the perfect venue for a husband and wife duo or a group of anglers looking for a relaxing week with fully facilities without having to move miles from your rods. What's more the fish are absolutely mint, most having hardly seen a hook. Keep your eyes on our regular news updates to see how the lake unfolds as more of our customers get the chance to be able to fish a new and as yet untapped lake.

Brionnais whacker!

The Coelacanthe Village: Some good results here too. March stared slowly with only the odd peg producing. The average size here too, has been excellent with a large number of thirty plus fish, including a 37lb common. This was also the largest fish of the month.  Moving onto April and things picked up markedly with some really outstanding catches. The top-end pegs produced the goods with numerous thirties and twenties. Both pegs 2 & 3 produced a 40lb plus fish also. Pegs 15 & 16 also seemed to produce a superb number of big carp with commons of 36lb and 37lb from 16 and a 42lb fish off peg 15. Surprisingly at the end of the month the top catch came off the little fished dam wall behind the lake where a British angler had a really awesome week landing 15 fish including mirrors of 49lb 5oz; 42lb 2oz; 41lb 14oz; 40lb 7oz; 36lb 8oz; 33lb 2oz; 33lb; 32lb 12oz.

I've had a recent update from Simon Horton on some of his waters here's what he reports:
"Here are the first 2002 catch report from some of our Horton Management venues. Overall these are quite satisfactory given that most of the lakes have been fairly quiet"

Goncourt Complex:

Lac de La Traque:
After a delayed start due to the mortality of some of the fish stocked this winter, things have resumed back to normal. May I stress that the mortality has affected some of the 150 fish stocked and not the existant 950+ originals.
Week ending 20/04: 14 fish out all week, fishing was still slow
Week ending 27/04:
Dutch lad (3 nights fished), 19 fish to 36lb
Simon Horton (1 night fished), 4 fish to 28lb
Brian of the Darren Young party (2 nights fished), 10 fish to 34lb
Week started yesterday 27/04 Chris Hill & Stuart Brightman, already 12 fish out in less than 24 hours.

Lac des Saules:
Have yet to receive logbook details, but I believe that the Derek Ryley party had around 80+ fish, the Chris Robson party had around 20+ fish, the Neil Clay party had few fish but averaged over 30lb.

Great Lake:
Plenty of fish out between 20/04 to 27/04 with Neil Hubber landing around 30 fish in the week. Before that action was patchy with the cold weather and water temperatures staying below 10°C. They are now crashing, rolling and feeding big style ! Get out there quick.

Domaine de Boux:
In the last two weeks it has produced 167 fish with 40 doubles, 93 twenties, 27 thirties, 6 forties,1 56lb mirror, 2 40+ grassies.

****STOP PRESS*****

Forest Lake (Étang de Maucreux)

Reports have just come back from our field testers of a new venue that we are evaluating and will certainly be online by June of this year. Their first results were awesome with 25 fish caught to the 3 anglers including 15 over 30lb!!

This venue is a small 5 acre lake set in a beautifully secluded forest between Paris and Soissons, opposite a superb Chateau. The chalet in the grounds is in the process of being renovated and will provide comfortable accommodation for the season 2003. Until then there will be basic facilities of a kitchen area and toilets added to the site over the next month. We firmly believe that this small intimate venue is something special...... watch this space for more news next month.

Gareth