Angling Lines News Report – April 2006
What a funny old year it is turning out to be!! The winter has been long and cold and now the spring time weather seems to be all over the place. One minute it is hot and sunny, the next it is raining and cold with lots of extra water running into the lakes. This has naturally had an adverse effect on the fishing in many cases. Catches have been well down or at best very unpredictable for a month of May, which is typically one of the best months of the year for a French Carp trip.
The period prior to spawning has often seen some of the most prolific fishing, but this year the water is taking a long time to warm up. The better venues so far have been the shallower lakes, where the little amount of sun we have enjoyed has been able to get the water temperatures up to a reasonable level to encourage the carp to feed. There have been a few notable catches, and a few anglers have struck lucky, but the general consensus is that things are hard at present. I suppose then it can only get better.
It is not all doom and gloom though, as I said there are carp coming out and we have several red letter days to report.
 Lac du Val
I was personally on this charming venue last week in order to shoot a new lake video, showing the recent improvements in both accommodation and fish stocks. The venue now boasts two onsite chalets, one lakeside that sleeps two and has a kitchen and eating area. The second new chalet is near the farm house and has en suite bathroom and toilet as well as a kitchen and sleeping facilities for two people. Breakfast and evening meals are also available should the anglers wish.
A group of five anglers had the lake exclusively while I was there, and despite the rather unpleasant weather at times they managed a host of personal bests, including the new lake record mirror to Shawn Costen at 46lb 8oz.
Shawn takes up the story: I was in a different swim, and wasn't doing much over there..I was speaking to David and he said he would show me a good swim, he told me where to set up, where to cast to. I changed my whole attitude to what I was doing. He told me how to set my rig up, snowman, running ledger, back lead. I did what he said and within the hour a 46lb 8oz was in the net..superb! Absolutely fantastic and it's all down to Dave.
The group had several superb fish including : 5 x 40's, 11 x 30's and 9x 20's . The successful bait was the Quest Lac du Val Specials
Click here to learn more about Lac du Val
 Laroussi
Laroussi has been one of the venues that has suffered a little in terms of numbers of fish landed, but in no way by the size of the carp coming out. 40's; 50's and now a 60lb fish have been banked so far this season, and not any old sixty, but a new Lake record at 69lb 8oz.
Lake owner Mehdi writes: On Thursday 27 April, at 11 P.M, Mr Paul Goodman landed a huge mirror at just under 70lb' ! At exactly 69lb 8oz, he broke the previous Lake record caught last October 2005 of 65lb. He broke his Pb 3 times: 34lb 8oz, 42lb 8oz and 69lb 8oz! He has had also his PB sturgeon at 62lb!
Hook n°6, pop-up off a big bed of boilies, partiblend, pellets and groundbait has been used to catch the carp.
There are 2 others bigger carp in the lake, so we can probably expect one or two others massive mirror of 70'!
Congratulations Paul!
The carp aren't the only fish making the news at Laroussi. Its head of huge sturgeon has been giving a number of angler's personal bests in this unusual species. 60lb 14oz; 62; 63lb 8oz; 64; 66lb; 70lb 2oz lake record have all been banked over the last month. The new record and the first over 70lb and is indeed a new French record and was captured by Jamie Goodman on a halibut pellet from the 'Pointe' swim. The group of six managed some sixteen fish.
Paul Goodman commented : Mehdi is a top bloke who helped up on a hard lake, get it right and you can catch a fish of a life time ! Great looking lake, great fish. We had many pb's , a lake and French record brown back sturgeon at 70lb2oz ( Jamie Goodman) and the new lake record carp at 69lb8oz ! Can't wait for next year !
Mr McGuire and his friends were on the venue the week following the record captures and despite finding it hard going there was no shortage of big fish for their group. They totalled 16 fish including, Mirrors : 43lb(PB) ; 39lb3oz(PB) ; 37lb10oz ; 37lb ; 35lb6oz(PB) ; 32lb and a superb resident linear of 16lb. Catfish : 69lb7oz(PB)Grass carp : 39lb11oz(PB). Sturgeon : 65lb(PB) ; 62lb(PB) ; 50lb(PB) ; 48lb(PB) ; 44lb7oz(PB) ; 42lb7oz and 42lb7oz.
They commented: Beautiful lake, Great facilities. Mehdi the owner was very helpfull trying to put us on the fish. Fishing was difficult but the hard work paid of with some quality fish. Top venue! Thanks for a great week!
Click here to learn more about Laroussi
Sauvellière
 A new venue that we have already featured in our news reports, La Sauvellière really is a lovely, tranquil and attractive venue for a fishing holiday. The well appointed lake side lodge is perfect for up to four people. The Living room is equipped with a folding double bed/settee and the bedroom has twin single beds. Other facilities include toilets both inside and out, and a fully equipped kitchen.
Quest Baits field tester Jim Kelly was on the venue at the end of April and despite freezing conditions with several overnight frosts, he and his son managed a good number of carp, landing a total of seven to 27lb 8oz
Jim commented:
Excellent holiday in wonderful settings. We found the local area interesting with plenty to do. The whole family really enjoyed our stay. The banks are well kept lawns and the accommodation more than adequate to sleep 4 people. The accommodation contained everything that we required and it was very clean. David (the owner) is only 2 mins drive away and is very helpful, but does not interfere. The fish are in pristine condition and there are fish present much larger than the ones that we caught. We enjoyed the holiday so much that we are considering another visit this year.
I was present with my son William last week to shoot the lake video and hopefully to get him some nice carp. The owner has stocked extensively over the last winter and the lake now boasts around 100 fish to 42lb.
We set up stall in front of the lodge and fished to the island that lies in the centre of this 2 to2.5 acre lake. Our tactics were fairly simple, fishing snowman Quest Special Crab boilies over a bed of Rahja spice 14mm, along the island margin. Takes came fairly regularly. In the three days we were there we had a total of 12 runs for 9 carp banked. These were: 35lb; 26lb 8oz, 22lb, 18lb 8oz, 18lb, 22lb 31lb 8oz; 22lb 8oz and 24lb . Both the 30lb carp landed by William were far bigger than anything he had landed up until now.
So anyone looking for peace and tranquillity as well as some beautifully conditioned carp you won't go far wrong with La Sauvellière.
Click here to learn more about Sauvellière
Chapel Lake
 Since acquiring the venue recently, the new owner of Chapel Lake has gone to great lengths to improve on both the facilities and the fish stocks of this stunning lake set in central France .
Following the stocking of two fabulous carp of 47lb and 57lb back in January, a further giant mirror was introduced to the lake in April at 64lb 6oz. As mentioned the facilities that are housed in the Chapel itself have been completely refurbished.
The first groups of anglers on the lake have done particularly well and some of the big lake residents have been gracing the banks.
The Gifford party of six anglers was fishing from 9-16 April and banked an impressive total of 43 fish, including the then lake record broken by Matty Boy Gifford at 55lb 15oz. Their tactics consisted of fishing to the bays, on the edge of the dead lilies and overhanging trees. They used bottom baits Quest Special Crab and Ace Baits. Semi Bolt rigs for gravel areas and chod rigs for the silt.
Their comments were: This venue is by far the best we have all fished. Every thing was excellent from the people we met, Bob the owner, Joe the Bailiff and his wife. The Chapel facilities are perfect for the hardened Carp Angler. The shower was excellent, it nearly went home with us, it's that good! To finish off our stay, Matty Boy Gifford was presented with a certificate for catching the Lake Record and beating the Chapel Lake Challenge by catching " Big Bob " 55lb 15oz ,... On behalf of the "Gifford Maffia" and close friends who made up our party, we would all like to say thank you to Angling Lines, Bob the owner, Joe the Bailiff and his wife, for a memorable holiday. We are already counting the days down to when we visit again next year. We will return...Cheers!
The purple patch continued into the next week when the lake record tumbled once again as the group of 7 enjoyed a memorable week's fishing. The Price Party banked 83 carp between them, averaging 19lb. Half of their fish were over 20lb, including 7x30s up to 34lb9oz, 1x 47lb and a new lake record mirror of 60lb 2oz!! They also landed 1x catfish of 77lb 8oz (lake record!) Tactics were fishing pva bags to the lily beds, or double hook baits over large beds of boilies. Particles and ground baits didn't seem to work on their trip, but boilies in the margins or gravel spots, were successful. Pop-ups took a few fish, but mainly double bottom baits. Placing baits by boat definitely caught a few extra!
Their general comments were: A great holiday!! , everybody caught, although naturally some swims turned out better results. Just find gravel and pile in quality boilies. Joe and Lyn (the bailiffs) were great people, who knew how to give you a good fishing trip. Down at 2am to see the catfish summed them up. Really happy to see us catch. We will all be back next year!!
Click here to learn more about Chapel Lake
NEWS IN BRIEF Vivier: Another new venue set in the heart of France in wonderful forested surroundings. The lake has a very good head of quality carp to nearly 40lb. Mr P Smart was on the venue with his wife from the 15th to 22nd April and certainly connected with a few nice fish. Using mainly PVA bags with the pellets supplied by the owner Ian, they managed over 750lb of carp, a total of 35 fish including: 7 x 30's, 17 x 20's.
They commented: Picturesque lake and tranquil setting. Penny and Ian were very friendly and couldn't be more helpful. Ian's knowledge and advice was invaluable.
Windmill Lakes: News is just in of a new lake record at Windmill Lakes near Laval . On 9 May 2006 Mark Osbaldson from Manchester landed a 39lb 12oz Mirror which is not only his new PB but the biggest carp out of the Main Lake at Windmill. The fish were both caught on Nutrabaits Pineapple & N-Butric on BFM fished over a large bed of pellet with both crushed and whole boilies mixed in. Perviously Mark had already broken his PB with a carp of a 28lb.
Gênets: Genêts Carp wake up after a slow start to the season.
Alan, Mark & Andy from Derbyshire arrived on Saturday for their first Carp Fishing trip to France . What a start to their week! Within the first 36 hours they banked 16 Carp between them to 36lb 4oz all 3 have smashed their PB's.
That's all for now. See you next month.
Gareth |
