Goncourt Great Lake : The Return by Gareth Watkins

As I cast my mind back to 2000 I can still remember the first encounter with the Great Lake at Goncourt, and the exhilaration of catching some very large carp right under my feet on this large expanse of water that covers some fifty acres. During that hot August afternoon I managed three thirties in as many hours… almost certainly the first big carp to be landed from the water, true virgin carp from a virgin water. Since that time I have only rarely had the chance to return, and never have I been able to repeat those first magic captures.

It was then with great anticipation that I pulled up at the lake during the last week of July for a 48 hours session with Simon Horton to shoot the video for the Angling Lines Website. I was accompanied by my young son William who was just itching to get to grips with those big heavily scaled mirrors.

We all decided to set up on the point as this new feature on the venue offers an ideal vantage point from which to ambush the carp as they move up and down the lake, as well as giving access to the lake’s two islands… a top swim. Despite the non too brilliant weather, a large patch of blue sky saw me getting stuck into shooting some scenic stuff around the lake, while my son set up and eagerly got fishing. He elected to cast out to the margins, off the end of the left hand island where we knew there was a succession of gravel ridges and silt pockets. As a thirteen year old he has not been carp fishing for any length of time, so is far from experienced. He cast his rigs out and catapulted a handful of Fruitella boilies around the area.

After a couple of hours I’d had enough shooting and Simon had arrived with a pack of cold beers and a huge “cote de bœuf” (rib of beef). After a couple of bottles of Heineken, I set up my gear to the right of my lad and erected my bivvy for the weekend. We then set about getting our slap up meal underway and opening a bottle of wine by way of an aperitif. We all enjoyed the tasty, perfectly cooked beef immensely and washed it down with lashings of Bordeaux . (except for William of course, who due to his age donated his wine to us!!!)

I then thought it may be time to cast my own rods out, as up until then I’d been applying myself to getting a decent shot of Simon’s rods and bivvy in the superb sunset… I placed two baits on the opposite end of the island from my son and dropped two more in the margins in front of my bivvy. Simon was by now fishing the right hand island, as well as his near margin. The first night proved uneventful and I slept soundly throughout, with fish crashing way out of casting range. None of us had the slightest touch that is until 7am when William had an absolute screamer on his right hand rod. I called to him as he was still fast asleep, but to no avail, he was not going to wake up. I dashed out of bed and struck the run, as the rod bounced violently on his pod. Calling again there was no way I could stir him, so I just played the fish out and netted a big fat Goncourt mirror that took the scales down over 33lb. Now bearing in mind that William’s previous PB was only 24lb, I knew how disappointed he would be to have missed out on his first thirty. But I had to literally shake him to wake him up to see the fish. It took about five minutes for him to fully realise he’d missed a big kipper, and kept mumbling that he hadn’t heard the run, etc. I didn’t feel I deserved the fish so he posed for the video and the photos nonetheless. He cast his line back out and went off to his bivvy to sulk.

About an hour later my left hand rod off the island was away. I called over to William to go and take the run… fair’s fair… I’d already had a magnificent fish on his rods. He was therefore not at all disappointed when a 25lb fully-scaled mirror rolled over the net cord… “You don’t deserve that.” said Simon, in reference to his efforts missing the first run. It was indeed a superb carp and a new PB for him too. By now it was 11am and Simon had to shoot off for the day to see a client. However before he left we both noticed some heavy colouring of the water straight off the point where I was fishing, in an area I’d not yet exploited. I didn’t need telling twice to get my rods over there. So I wound in my margin pair and rebaited, casting them to around 60 or 70 yards straight out. I baited with about 100 boilies and sat back filled with confidence. Within an hour one of the recast rods tore off and saw me into a hard fighting and heavy fish. William grabbed the video camera and did a sterling job capturing the fish for the video. And what a fish it was too, a veritable lump of a mirror weighing in at 37lb 10oz. This was my largest fish to date from the lake.

The day continued in the same vein with a number of good carp gracing our nets. William managed another new PB, the second of the day despite missing the thirty pounder earlier. This lovely fish went 28lb. This fish came at the same time as a smaller scraper 20 to my rods that I had to hustle into the net, in order to do the honours with the camera for Will’s PB.

The next fish I hooked mid-afternoon was one of the big Sturgeon, and it leapt several times clear out of the water in an attempt to shed the hook. The power of these fish is really awesome and more akin to Big Game fishing than fresh water carping. I played it out for what must have been a good 15 minutes and had it beaten and in the edge. As I moved down to land it, a last ditch rush saw it inexplicably become stuck firm in an unseen snag at my feet, just inches from the net. I pulled hard from all directions but there was no more movement… the great fish had gone, and pulling for a break saw my Snakebite hooklink part just above the hook. I was more than a little disappointed as I have only ever caught one sturgeon, and this one was at least 40lb.

The weather had been drizzly and cool all day, which had proved to be very productive. The evening sky though was clearing and the temperature began to drop to quite cool for the season. Simon rejoined us that evening and the Barbeque went on and we enjoyed a juicy “Entrecote” steak with some more red vino to wash it down. You see carp fishing in France has its little pleasures aside the cracking fish on offer! After casting out, we sat back to enjoy another perfect sunset over the gravel workings. It was now a dark and clear night as we sipped our glasses of Bordeaux , and discussed the quite frantic action we had experienced this day. Quite suddenly the calm was broken as Simon had a screaming run on his margin rod that had been placed only inches from the bank to his left. The fish that resulted was an awesome fully scaled mirror topping the scales at over 30lb. Its huge scales were like large plates of golden armour on its flanks. A superb carp indeed, and what Goncourt is renowned for.

Before turning in I too was in again and this turned out to by my third thirty pound plus carp in 24 hours at 31lb 8oz. As Simon had sacked his fully-scaled for better photos I did the same and what a brace shot they produced the next morning.

My night turned out to be quite hectic with three takes at intervals just sufficiently spaced to deprive me virtually entirely of any sleep. All these fish were 20’s to 28lb. A real surprise came at dawn in the shape of a brightly coloured orange, black and white koi carp. A lovely little fish I must say just under mid doubles. This orange beauty was the last fished landed to any of the rods. William was unlucky and dropped two fish on my rods that he had been looking after while I went around filming the various venues and facilities on the complex. The Great Lake at Goncourt had once again smiled on me and produced some magnificent carp. We finished up with 13 carp on the bank for 17 runs. The fish went 37lb 8oz, 33lb, 31lb 8oz, 30lb, 2x 28lb, 2x 25lb 24lb, 23lb, 2x 20lb, 13lb Koi.

The key factor on such a large venue is to find the carp. Boats and echo sounders are useful but far from essential. Simon proved this I think by catching a 30lb plus under his feet. The main reason for my success was from simple observation, following up the signs of feeding carp, in the shape of clouded water. My tactics remained extremely simple. Single bottom baits cast to the area in question and around 30-40 baits per rod bait-sticked over the top.

The carp in this lake then are not difficult fish to catch. In order to find them you need to be prepared to remain mobile and to react to the signs. The fish show themselves a fair amount and the clouding of the water is common as the lake bed is made up of gravel bars and softer mud and silt pockets that colour up quickly as fish grub around for food.

Our tackle was fairly standard. For my part 3lb test 12 foot rods, Daiwa Emblem reels with 15lb nylon main line, three ounce leads and size four ESP T6 hooks and Long Shank Nailors. Baits were my favourite Mainline Fruitella boilies. Despite having particles and pellet with me I used none. I’m convinced that the Great Lake is the best venue on the Goncourt complex. It has unjustifiably earned a reputation as difficult, largely due to its size and the difficult conditions that can be experienced on bigger waters. It is open and somewhat barren, but those large scaled mirrors are worth all the trouble. Try it I think you’ll be pleased you did. I’ll certainly be going back in the near future… before it gets too popular!

Gareth
gareth@anglinglines.com