Red Hot Margot by Paul Cooper and Jim Kelly

An introduction by Shaun Harrison.

Paul Cooper and Jim Kelly both live on the borders of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. They are like chalk and cheese in their character but the big thing they do have in common is many years of carp fishing experience. This difference in character and difference in opinion on many subjects forms the basis of some very interesting and sometimes lively debates on many aspects. But between them they manage to sort out carp fishing problems very proficiently.

For several years now both Paul and Jim have been members of the infamous Mangrove Syndicate in darkest Shropshire where they have both notched up very impressive tallies of the awesome Mangrove residents. True English carp living in a natural ancient English Mere.

In the summer of 2006 Angling Lines invited them to fish Etang Margot in the Loire region of France. Their account of the trip should go someway into giving a little insight of what the newcomer (or well seasoned travelling angler come to that) to French fishing could find themselves up against.

We so often read about success stories, but hardly ever about when it all went wrong. In Paul and Jim’s case it could so very nearly have all gone wrong. If it wasn’t for their quick thinking, ability and motivation to overcome problems away from home, they could well have ended up coming home at the end of the week with their tails between their legs. However, both were willing to adapt to the situation and both ended up enjoying a successful week in far from ideal weather conditions. In fact the heat was almost unbearable at times with temperatures of almost 40 degrees in the shade! Not only that but both anglers got attacked, fought back and beat the scourge of the French carp angler, the dreaded Poisson Chats.

I will now hand over the pen to fellow Mangrove members Paul and Jim to tell their story.

Shaun Harrison

Margot 2006

It was the end of May when we received an invite to fish the famous Etang Margot in the Loire region of France. The trip was to take place during the 3rd week of July 2006 so as to fit in with pre-arranged time off work. This gave us around 7 weeks to plan and start to prepare for the trip mentally, tackle, bait wise and the all important travelling arrangements.

Travel Arrangements and necessary paperwork
We both tend to disagree about many things but the two things we definitely are in full agreement about are……

• Take the minimum amount of tackle possible as space in the car will be at a premium.
• Make sure we have enough of everything we will need.

To give us just a little more space in the Ford Focus estate we decided to hire a roof box. These really are well worth considering. Not only do they give more space in the car but also give you somewhere to stuff the hopefully dirty, slimy mats and nets and possible wet bivvies for the journey home. Another advantage is that you aren’t limited on the speed you can drive at, as you would be with a trailer, and the toll roads work out cheaper too.

Whilst driving in France you are required by law to carry spare bulbs and fuses, a safety warning triangle and display a GB sticker. All of these were in place from previous trips across the channel but worth knowing about as you will invariably end up paying much more money for them at the ferry than you would from your local car accessory store.

We had planned to share the driving so we also had to ensure that both of our names were included on the insurance policy and we needed to make sure we had all the up-to- date MOT certificates, insurance (showing two drivers) and vehicle registration documents. Also, although not obligatory, neither of us would leave our shores without European car breakdown cover and personal travel insurance.

Passports were checked to make sure that they were still valid and E111 European Health Insurance cards (which are free from the Post Office - but essential if you need medical treatment whilst away) were put together with all the other paperwork. We keep it all in one folder and make sure it stays with us at all times.

Angling Lines had sorted the Dover to Calais ferry crossing arrangements for us. So, with all the documentation checked and double checked we now turned our mind to sorting out what we would actually need to take, both tackle and bait wise.

Tackle and Bait Preparation
The Angling Lines Website ( www.anglinglines.com ) has lots customer feedback going back years – this is very useful and well worth checking out. It indicated that the lake had some weed so we decided that the following were a priority:

 Plenty of in-line leads, as these don’t get hung up in the weed as easily as pendant style leads.
 Spare line.
 A rake just in case we needed to clear a swim.

Otherwise tackle would be just the same as we would carry for our English fishing. We broke down the rods down and tied them together - this gives so much more space in the car because you can leave rod holdalls and sleeves behind.

Judging how much bait to take is always difficult as the fish may or may not be feeding. After careful consideration it was decided to work on 3kg of trout pellets and 3kg of Shaun Harrison’s Quest Baits Special Crab each per day. We both have every confidence in these baits due to our catches on the Mangrove (and everywhere else for that matter!) where we have used them. Hemp and tiger nuts could be bought from the owner at a reasonable price should we need them. This would save having to fit it into the car and would hopefully give us plenty of options to overcome any difficulties which might arise.

The Journey
The journey was absolutely horrendous. As the Irish would say “… we started from the wrong place”. (Jim is half Irish).

The M6 was shut, there was single lane traffic on the M1, single lane traffic every 3 miles on the M25 then to top all of this they decided to shut the M25 for 1½ hours for road works. So there we were - a car full of gear and us sat going nowhere on the M25 car park! Despite giving ourselves almost 5 ½ hours to reach Dover, this still wasn’t enough and we missed our booked ferry.

If that wasn’t enough, Paul had forgotten the front off of his in-car music centre and insisted on singing to entertain Jim. In Jim’s words “Beam me up Scotty!”

By the time we had got ourselves onto another ferry and arrived in France the sun was slowly climbing in the Eastern sky. By comparison with the English roads the French ones are excellent and we had absolutely no hold ups. It took 5 hours, including a couple of stops, to do the 300 mile journey and the directions supplied by Angling Lines in their comprehensive travel pack were spot on and very easy to read. As we had driven through the night we made a strict regime of swapping drivers every hour, thus ensuring neither of us got too much chance of becoming drowsy at the wheel.

As we drove through the gates leading to the private drive and estate of Etang Margot we were immediately confronted with an impressive 12 to 14 acres of open water, surrounded by well established trees and hedgerows… we couldn’t wait!

The owner, Monsieur Michel Bigot and his son Lauren greeted us at the lodge. Due to our ignorance of the French language, we relied upon Lauren, who can speak some English, to translate any questions from us to Michel.

We checked out the lodge, which has excellent facilities, put our boilies in the chest freezer, unpacked our tackle and after being given directions to the local supermarket, which was only 10 minutes drive away, we set off to get the usual provisions.

The Lake
The lake takes its name from the 300 year old Margot estate and what a beautiful lake it is. On the north end there’s a small island which is set around 50m off the bank, closest to swim 6. The largest part of the lake at present is averaging 1m in depth, with an area that covers at least 2 acres being between 1 and 2m and having a clay/fine silt bottom

There had been a problem all over France in 2005 with low water levels and the Margot fish were temporarily relocated to another lake for their well being. To avoid this problem in subsequent years the banks have been raised and the depth of the water increased. The fish were re-stocked in February 2006. One of the fish to go back in was an absolutely stunning common just ounces short of 60lb. Back up fish include at least ten x 40’s and over fifty x 30’s. In all, 156 of the original fish were returned - what more could you ask for? Check out the Angling Lines Website www.anglinglines.com for free video footage of the fish being put back in to Margot… including that massive common.

We parked in front of the lodge and quickly set up the marker floats and had a quick cast round to find out how bad the weed which we had been warned about really was. What weed? We couldn’t find any, but with over 100 grass carp to 40lb weed isn’t going to be a problem for long!

We quickly unpacked the car and got the echo sounder out to check the depths. To our surprise they were very similar to the ones indicated on the map. This hasn’t always been the case when booking with other companies. The echo sounder indicated that there were no obvious features, which is similar to our waters at home. We both ended up setting up close to the wooden lodge in swims 3 and 4, this would make for a very comfortable starting point.

Facilities
The wooden lodge has everything that the carp angler requires for a comfortable stay at the lake. There’s no accommodation specifically set out for sleeping, but the kitchen area could be used for bed chairs etc if you didn’t fancy doing the nights in your bivvy.

The kitchen is fitted out with an integrated fridge, freezer, oven, sink and hob along with a stand alone micro-wave, and sufficient pots, pans and cutlery to cook a decent meal, along with a barbecue on the patio outside. A further fridge freezer is present along with a chest freezer which will hold at least 40 kilo’s of boilies.

There are 2 showers, which are basic, but adequate and 4 other washing basins along with an English style WC. On the patio there is a pagoda, which is lovely for dining or just relaxing in.

Paul’s Story
There are 3 rowing boats available on the lake, which can be used for baiting up or placing baits at distance.
It took me around 2 hours to plumb the lake and test the lake bottom to establish what I considered to be the best place for my rigs. I decided to fish swim 3 which is directly outside the lodge. Jim settled for swim 4 to my right.

Tactics
I fished air dried 18 and 22mm Quest Baits Special Crab boilies over a bed of the same, along with trout pellets and hemp seed which had been prepared and provided by Lauren, the owner’s son.

Having established an area around 70m out I started my baiting campaign. I was intending to put all my eggs into one basket and fish all four rods to the same baited area. I fully intended to work on the swim through the week and attract the carp to one area. 2 rods would be fished on the bed of bait and one rod fished either side of the main baited area.

It wasn’t long before the first carp took a liking to the Quest Special Crab boilies and soon a 24lb mirror rolled into the net. This one fell to a 18mm bottom bait tipped with a single piece of plastic corn on the outside edge of the baited area. I did find it strange at the time that considering how hard the hookbaits were, and the short space of time it had been cast out, that there was only the single piece of plastic corn left on the hair.

1.30am and I’m into my second fish on the recast rod, an 18lb common, which was quickly weighed and sent back to the sanctuary of the lake. On closer examination of the boilie I could see that it was the size of a small trout pellet – it suddenly dawned upon me – ‘Chats’, my baits were being hammered by Poisson Chats! The French Carp angler’s worst nightmare!

I reeled in the other 3 rigs and discovered I had been fishing bare hooks for last few hours.
I decide to give Jim an early morning alarm call to inform him of our problem.

1.30am in the morning and a tactical decision has to be made. I have some Quest Crab Specials which are partially protected with shrink plastic. Out these went for the rest of the night but no further action occurred.

We desperately needed meshing to protect the baits. So, Sunday morning we were off to find a shop to purchase some fine mesh ladies tights or stockings. Hopeless… the shops were all closed. Back to the drawing board. The carp were obviously responding to the Special Crab, as they always do, so I settled on fishing the shrink wrapped baits for another night.

Monday
Following a hot, sultry and quiet night on the rods I have a total blank and decide that I really do need to get some meshing on the boilies to combat the chats. We bought the rigs in early and took a steady drive to the local supermarket. A few provisions, along with a pair of ladies tights, fine mesh, flesh coloured, medium length and some strange looks from the check-out girls!

Soon we were back at the lake with one leg and half a crotch each and soon made ourselves busy preparing meshed boilies. The mesh was pulled tight over the boilie, twisted and with a spot of superglue at the twist the task was done. Each individual meshed boilie was then pre-soaked in Quest Baits Special Crab Glug for at least an hour before being used.

Later in the day Lauren returned to see how we were getting on and we informed him of the Poisson Chat problem and ordered 5kg of Tiger Nuts as a secondary precaution and alternate approach - past experience has taught me that the Chat’s don’t like Tigers.

The peak temperature was 32ºC on our arrival and was now peaking at around 39 ºC by 6pm - flat calm, hot, sticky and no sign of fish. We were definitely up against it. I made a further decision to liven up my baited area. Out in the boat armed with a rake, with an extendable handle, I raked the bottom of the lake around the baited area. 3 more kilo’s of Crab boilies, 2kg of hemp and around 3kg of trout pellets.
I settled back down in my swim and at 11.45pm hooked into a 27lb 12oz mirror carp from the middle of the baited area along with another 27lb mirror off the same rod at around 2.15am.

6am I was awoken by a drop back on my Delkim’s and after a lot of winding down I was into a fish which felt like a large tench. What a surprise when the fish, a grass carp, touched the net. It went off like a torpedo taking me totally unaware and pulling me off my feet with the sheer power of the surge. Eventually it was in the net and I struggled to the unhooking mat.
The fish went mental but was gradually calmed enough for it to be weighed. 32lb 8oz of grass carp… what an impressive fish!

In the morning I checked all the baits to find that they were still being targeted by the Chats, one of the hooks was turned upside down and had tangled with the Mantis/Amnesia combi-rig which I never usually have problems with. Another rod had a 15cm Chat lassoed on the rig! We obviously still needed some modifications to the rigs.

I tied up some 20lb Seaguar stiff rigs to size 4 Ashima C310 hooks, with long knotless knotted stiff hairs. The thinking behind this was that the stiffness of the rig should stop the Chat’s tangling the rig. Later that day Lauren arrived with the Tigers and I made the decision to fish all 4 rods on the Tigers but keep feeding the Crab. This would hopefully eliminate the possibility of any more problems. Before settling down for the night I again went out to the baited area and gave the bottom another good raking over.

I baited with hemp and Tigers for the carp and boilies and pellets for the chats and anything else that wanted a feast at my expense. My new traps were set!

This was definitely the turning point and I caught steadily throughout the remainder of the week, even though the temperature remained in the high 30’s. By the end of the week I had landed 22 fish (Chats not included!) including the 32lb 8oz grass carp, a 32lb 8oz mirror carp, 16 upper twenties averaging 27lb, and 4 upper doubles… all in immaculate condition. The carp had spawned very successfully a few weeks earlier and most of the upper twenties would normally have been 30lb plus.

Over to Jim now for his account of the proceedings…

Jim’s Story
Reading through the logbook indicated that previous visitors had been rowing their baits out to a marker at around 160m. I didn’t want to go down this route - it can be a pain to get the terminal tackle out after a take, especially in the dark or if it gets very windy. Besides, I couldn’t see why the fish would be at range… there were no obvious features out there. I therefore decided to try and catch fish within casting range (revolutionary or what?).

I had a good plumb around to get an idea of the lake bottom. Two clear firm areas were found, one at 40m and one at 65m. A marker was cast to each spot. I always carry two marker rods as I often bait between them. Two rods were cast to each spot, the line was clipped-up and marked. I only clip the line up for casting and unclip it whilst fishing. I could therefore cast to the same spot every time, even in the dark. I put out around 100 Special Crab’s and 2kg of trout pellets around each spot. Hemp had been ordered off the owner prior to the trip, but it was still frozen and so had to be left to thaw. All I could do now was wait and hope that I had got it about right… I settled down for the night.

Now it had been a long journey and I am quite a heavy sleeper. Hence when Paul woke me in the middle of the night I was somewhat groggy. All I heard was:

“Jim, Jim ………… I have nothing on……… totally bare”.

Now this got my attention (as it would!) and I quickly assumed the defensive position (sat on my bum) and asked him to repeat what he had just said. Apparently he had had problems with Chats, his hooks had nothing on, they were totally bare (this is the first time that I have been relieved that Chats had been at the baits). Now I really didn’t want to reel in all four rods in the middle of the night. I pondered whether to bring them in for about 20 minutes as all baits were perfectly placed. I decided that it had to be done, I wound them in and each had no bait on! Thank you Paul! I put on plastic trout pellets and cast them back out, vowing to rethink tactics in the morning as I don’t like using plastic. I had no action during the night.

My boilies were fairly hard, as I had air-dried them for several weeks. Hence next morning I decided to try and determine how long the baits were lasting in the water. I put unprotected
boilies on each rod, attached a PVA bag full of trout pellets and boilies and cast back out. I intended to reel a rod in after an hour to check the state of the bait, but I had a screaming run shortly after casting out and landed a pretty 25lb plus mirror.

The bait had already been ‘apple cored’ by Chats and only about ¼ of the bait remained. I reeled in the other rods and the hairs were bare. Obviously the carp wanted the bait if the Chats didn’t get there first.

Chats are easily deterred, possible methods are:
 Mesh the baits.
 Use heat shrink plastic around a boilie.
 Use plastic baits.
 Use bait they don’t like.

If you do use a bait the Chats like it’s very important to use a stiff hook link and hair as they make a real mess of anything flexible, often lassoing themselves or tangling the hook in the process.

I can be very stubborn, I only use plastic baits as a last resort. This is a personal thing, but I like to catch my fish on something they can actually eat. If I catch a fish on plastic I feel as if I have cheated the fish and the capture (in my own mind) feels less significant. I have no problem with other people using plastic, it’s just the way I feel about my own catches.
After all, the only person who cares about my catches is me.

Plastic therefore would be a last resort. The shops were shut and I didn’t have any tights with me so I butchered an old Kevin Nash carp sack so I could mesh the baits. Holes were inserted into the material, using a heated fork, to aid flavour leakage. The baits were meshed and cast out for the night.

Both spots were baited with boilies, trout pellets and hemp. The system was working as I had a nice slow run during the night, I hooked into what felt like a good fish, but unfortunately the hook pulled… I was gutted!

Monday morning first thing we were down to the supermarket to get some tights, funny how Paul suddenly found the display of sweets and chewing gum intently interesting when it was our turn to pay! The cashier didn’t blink an eye - is it common practice for men in France to buy tights? Does anyone fancy living in France?

Back at the lake we shared the tights - a leg each! As backup we ordered some Tiger Nuts from the owner. These wouldn’t be ready for at least 24 hours as they take time to prepare properly. The next night Paul caught and I both blanked. The following night we both blanked. I had now spent 4 nights in one swim for only one fish. I really fancied peg 6. Normally I would have moved on the second day as I didn’t feel that I was on a lot of fish, but I was on holiday and the swim was very comfortable being close to the facilities, next to Paul and the communal pagoda where we could sit, chat, eat our meals and have an evening beverage.

If I moved I would be Billy No Mates. However, it is a long way to travel for one fish and I’d lost confidence in my swim. I bit the bullet and moved. This coincided with the Tigers arriving. I felt this would be a major advantage as Chat’s don’t like Tiger Nuts. In my opinion the swim was being cleared of everything except the hemp, before the carp got a look in. I was in effect fishing a single hook bait over a bed of hemp, the fish would get preoccupied with the hemp and ignore the boilie. I decided to fish Tigers on all four rods. Free offerings were confined to hemp and Tiger Nuts as I didn’t want to feed the Chats.

In the past I have been successful using multiple Tiger Nuts on the hair, a blow back ring and a cork ball to give a bit of buoyancy. The carp find it very difficult to eject this mouthful and hook holds are always excellent. I don’t know why I don’t use this rig with boilies as it would look like a stringer and be virtually tangle free. Something for the future perhaps?
I cast one bait close to the island, two to a very firm patch 85m out in line with a water tower and the other to another hard spot at an angle of 45 degrees, again at 85m. A kilo of hemp and a few handfuls of Tigers were scattered around each rod. Finally I settled in for the night.

There was very little light pollution and the night was very clear. The stars were so numerous that they looked like dust. Sometimes I feel so very small and insignificant when fishing under a sky full of stars. The light from some stars takes millions of years to reach earth. Some of the stars no longer exist as they have exploded, but the light from the explosion has not yet reached us. To put it in perspective light travels so fast it goes around the earth roughly seven times in a second.

That’s the science over… what about the fishing? I had seven fish during the first night in the new spot, best an immaculate common just over 27lb, which looked like it had just been made. I had done the right thing for a change!

I reeled in for the day at approximately 11:30am and went for breakfast and a chat. I didn’t start to fish again until after our evening meal which was at around 8pm. This cost me fish as Paul caught steadily throughout the day. I baited the swim up during the afternoon with a similar amount of freebies and clipped my rods up to the correct range, changed hooks, etc.

The following night followed a similar pattern with 7 more carp landed; the largest was a fantastically beautiful koi carp of 30lb 3oz. I had never really wanted to catch a ‘goldfish’, but the fight this fish put up was tremendous and on the bank, with the sun reflecting off it, it looked absolutely stunning. How could anyone not want to catch a fish like this?

I decided to move swim again for the final night, as I didn’t want to be up all night landing fish and then have to share the driving home. Also the fish I was catching were on the small side for the venue. I therefore decided to go looking for the larger fish. If they weren’t in peg 4 or 6 where were they? Could they be in the deeper water in front of peg 2.5? I moved to this peg for the final night and found a lovely firm patch 40m out. I baited with 4kg of hemp and most of the Tigers, just keeping a few back for hook baits. All four rods were positioned in this area. Just as it was getting dark a large fish head and shouldered above the baited area, anticipation was high… could it have been the 59lb common?

Shortly afterwards I had a slow take and hooked into a fish, but it didn’t feel particularly large. I soon landed a nice upper twenty mirror. Not the big common, but a nice fish. I had another two fish during the night, but sadly the big one eluded me. Time had come to pack up and go home.

Final thoughts
The daytime temperature throughout our stay was over 30ºC, with clear blue skies. On two consecutive days we recorded a shade temperature of 39ºC! Sadly people were dying in France due to the heat - but we were still catching fish, what other venue would produce fish in these conditions?

Forty fish were caught between us, including three different species of carp over 30lb, and all fish were caught within casting range. In France the Poisson Chats are normally only a problem during the hottest months of the year. Reading the log other parties didn’t appear to have a problem with them; perhaps they were very active during our stay due to the very hot weather - Red Hot Margot. The lake is to be netted later in the year and the Chats and small carp are to be removed - I suspect there will be a rapid increase in carp weights when this happens. Definitely a venue for the future, it could be a good idea to book now before the word gets out and it becomes fully booked!

On a practical note the banks of the lake have just been raised to increase the lake depth. Some of the swims have been gravelled, as they can get muddy during wet spells. As the camping books would say the swims are very “hard standing”. If you do visit Margot make sure that you take some of the thick screw in type tent pegs and a hammer. Also large unhooking mats are essential as the ground is not fish friendly. Would I go again, you bet, but next time I would take some prepared Tiger Nuts from a reputable company like Quest Baits or Dynamite and I would move sooner if not catching. Using these tactics I think a very big hit could be on the cards. Quest Baits Special Crab boilies definitely work and would be my first choice bait if the Chats were inactive but the use of them this time got a little too frustrating as everything in the lake wanted to eat them.

Already we are talking about a return visit. That big common really is a special fish and it lives in such pleasant surroundings. Next time......

* Please note: The owners at Margot do not normally supply prepared Tigers so please don’t rely on them if you’re planning to use Tigers.