Ribiere
This venue has been seeing some excellent results so far this year. Since the introduction of the Angling Lines Special boilies catch rates have been very good indeed. The latest news from the lake is the capture of the new venue record. The huge mirror in question tipped the scales at 57lb 2oz and was caught by French angler Eric Guedez, who landed the fish during a six day session from the 23-28 th April, fishing at the top end of the lake from peg 6. The record was just one of a superb haul netted by Eric which saw him bank three other carp over 40lb to 46lb 2oz and 7 thirty pound pluses to 39lb. Standard inline rigs and Nutrabaits Trigga were the successful combination for the session. Eric takes up the story of the record carp:

“Tuesday was without doubt the most intense day of my week with two magnificent fish. At midday a 39lb 8oz mirror followed at 7:30pm by a couple of beeps followed by a long slow run. Slow and powerful, it was impossible to move the fish. I didn’t realise quite how big it was until it was in the net. I sacked the fish immediately and called Eric to come and help without weighing it. Upon his arrival Eric lifted the sack and said “Between 55 and 60”. The scales finally read 57lb 2oz. Needles to say the photo call looked like something out of the Cannes Film Festival.”

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Genets
This charming five acre venue in Normandy has been producing some very nice catches over the opening weeks of the new season. Most anglers seem to be banking at least one large carp over 30lb.

A good first time carp trip to France was had by Steve Jillings & his 13 year old son, Luke, who were here for a week on 9th April, sharing 3 rods between them. The biggest fish Luke had ever caught was a 4lb Barbel & although the weather was very changeable they both achieved PB's - Steve's a 33lb Mirror caught on Pineapple boilie & Luke a 35.8lb Mirror caught with an Angling Lines Special boilie.

A party of 4 Anglers from Colchester here from 23rd to 30th April had a slow start to the week but  Brett Ridgers & his Brother Scott  both departed having achieved their PB's - Brett's a 30.4lb caught with strawberry sweet corn & Scott's a 34.2lb caught with Pineapple boilie.

This venue is an ideal lake for the family angler or those not wanting to fish one of the large inland sea type lakes that are all too often featured in France . The lake is attractive, intimate and with excellent facilities.

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Rémy
Our friend and angling writer Shaun Harrison accompanied by Bernard Sissons were among the first anglers to wet a line on this new Angling Lines venue, set near the mighty Orient Lake near Troyes, in eastern France. Both Shaun and Bernard had an excellent week. Here is a brief resumé by Shaun:

“The carp responded to every tactic we employed. Big bottom baits, snowmen, pop-up... the lot... even though the weather conditions were far from ideal. We had snow to welcome us and suffered a couple of quite heavy frosts during our short stay. In fact the coldest night produced fish of 26.08 linear, 39.14 mirror and a 33.08 mirror.

I ended the week with 33 carp to 39lb 14oz and Bernard caught 13 carp to 35lb which was a common. Bernard had stuck with ‘big fish tactics’ for the week trying to avoid the run of the mill fish - which are mostly 20’s anyway! Had he fished with smaller baits etc then his total would have been similar to mine.

All in all I cannot recommend Remy enough. Anyone venturing over there can confidently expect action. Nothing is guaranteed in angling but there would be something seriously amiss if you couldn’t get your bobbins moving a few times at this magnificent venue.

I loved every minute of it. So much so, Bernard and myself are hoping to return again next month!

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Vallée
This large gravel pit in the northern part of France near St. Quentin has been a renowned big fish water for a few years now. Set in magnificent scenery it has certainly come up trumps for David Howden and Guy Harrison who visited the venue from 22 nd to 29 th April.

Fishing on Peg 3, one of the highly productive island swims in front of the house, the pair managed a superb haul of carp. Their tactics consisted of single bottom baits and pop ups fished tight to the marginal snags. In total they banked 21 fish with the largest mirror tipping the scales at 52lb 2oz and the best common going 48lb 8oz.

They commented: “ Superb holiday... thoroughly enjoyed it. Fishing was much better than we could have hoped for - & two biggies to boot!!!”

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Ebro
If you are looking for large catfish then the River Ebro in Spain really is the place to go. I was fortunate enough to hook up with big Ron Woodward and a party of anglers fishing the river some 20 miles up river from the Catfish Mecca of Mequinenza. I have to say that the fishing here really did impress me. Not only did all the anglers present land fish over the magical ton mark, but the sheer quantity of massive cats caught during this week was outstanding.

The set up is superb, with accommodation in modern very well appointed apartments. The tackle and package on offer will give the visiting angler all they need to get stuck into these immensely hard fighting predators. Ron’s experience and assistance as the guide will make sure you are in the right spot. He will do all that’s possible to insure that you too manage to land that fish of a life time.

I was able to turn my video camera lens to some absolutely amazing fishing, with 100lb plus cats being landed in large numbers daily. The largest I saw banked was 137lb, but anglers fishing the same stretch of river had had fish to 156lb during the same period. The massive baiting of Halibut pellets seems to have changed the face of catfish angling on the river and now the vast majority of the fish landed are falling to these baits.

I can then thoroughly recommend a session on this stretch of river with Ron. I for one will be going back as soon as I can.

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Croix Blanche
A&J Euro Carp Sessions’ Etangs de la Croix Blanche has been tuning in some exceptional results this year so far. The latest monthly report from the venue’s head bailiff Karl King makes very impressive reading indeed.

During the first month of the new season, 138 fish have been caught 26 x 30’s; 9 x 40’s; 5 x 50’s; 3 x 60’s. Bait wise Mainline Assassin 8 still seems to be sorting out the fish. Notable results so far have been:

Dave Walters 60.08, 54.08, 29.12.
Alan Johnson, 60.08, 29.06, 21.08, 25.00, 29.12, 27.05, 24.00

Where as on the Tortue Lake Craig Anstiss, had a superb hat trick of forties at 44.08, 44.10, 44.08

Some Big Catfish have been out since. Biggest at 69.04, 66.04, 66.00, all caught on boilies. (The 66.04 was caught on Angling Lines baits by Karl King)

STOP PRESS : New Croix Blanche Record: 66lb 4oz mirror caught by Chris Fullard on the Tortue using halibut pellet.

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Angling Lines Bait News
April saw the launch of our Angling Lines Special boilies... to say they’ve had a spectacular debut would be an understatement!

Initial sessions, both at home and abroad, have been superb. Here are a few examples:

Steve Knott: Steve used the bait on a week’s session at the French venue Cas-en-Lac and caught over 10 fish. The haul was topped with 3 x 30's to 39lb 9oz and also included a PB common of 26lb 14oz.

Dee Coleman: Dee & Eddie Coleman used the baits on the Les Genets venue in northern France . Dee broke her PB with a 34lb Mirror caught on Angling Lines Special boilie. Caught in very difficult changeable weather conditions, with temperatures dropping to freezing over night.

While not linked in any way with France it is worth noting the excellent results by Angling Lines Bait Consultants, Jim Kelly and Paul Cooper, both of whom have landed carp over 30lb form the difficult Mangrove lake in the UK . Best fish so far a superb 35lb 8oz.

Finally the baits have been very effective to date on the Domaine de la Ribère near Limoges , where fish of 47lb, 45lb, 42lb 39lb and 38lb have fallen to them on the rods of local French carp anglers.

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