Maurepaire
Ron Woodward, June 2006.

Maurepaire is a lake that became quite well know several years ago, when David Payne used to organise trips to the venue. At that time it was mostly drive and survive style sessions, stopping in the big ex-army tents he had set up in each swim, with optional breakfast and evening meals supplied in the mess tent that was set up behind peg 3. However, the venue was nearly lost to anglers some three or four years ago, when rumours were rife about fish theft from the water. This led to it being closed and netted by the fish farmer who controls the water, one of France’s most respected fish farmers, Patrick Bachelier.

Two years ago Mr Bachelier decided to restock the lake and once again open it up to the travelling angler. Fish stocks were reintroduced, consisting of some 450 carp ranging from 15lb to 55lb, including two 50’s, sixteen mid-40’s, around 320 fish from 25lb-40lb, and approximately 100 fish up to 25lb on the first stocking. These impressive stock levels were supplemented with additional fish during the winter of 2005. Anglers can be assured that further stockings will go ahead and the quality of the fish will be first rate, making Maurepaire a fantastic prospect for any angler who fishes the water.

Maurepaire is a well established 30 acre lake set in its own secure grounds in a rural region of France, very close to the mighty lakes, Orient, Temple and Emanze. It is open for anglers to visit from the end of March to the middle of August and can be reached from Calais in around 4 hours by using the toll roads. As you will see once you arrive at the venue, the lake is relatively long and thin (100 to 250m wide), with eight comfortable swims for a maximum of 12 anglers. Several pegs are wooden pontoons, the others are wide, gravelled pitches. Access is possible by car to six of the swims, but your car must be returned to the car park after you've unloaded. For pegs 7 & 8 you need a barrow - it's a walk of about 100m.

It's a fairly open lake, so unfortunately there's little shade if it's very hot. Good, clean facilities are located in farm buildings adjacent to the lake and include shower, toilet, washbasin and charging points for your mobile phone or bait boat. Depths are around 2m in the centre with a mainly silty bottom. Features include lilies at the far end, reed lined banks and an old river bed running down the centre. Baitboats are allowed - fortunately. A lot of fish are taken from the far reed lined margins and casting this distance and presenting a bait correctly is not an easy task.

As I’m linked with Angling Lines, I have been lucky enough to fish this lovely venue twice since it was reopened. The first time was a quick 3 day trip for footage for the Angling Lines web site and DVD. As you can imagine, with only a couple of days to tackle the water and catch fish for the cameras, the pressure was on. But the lake did not let me down and produced a lovely 35.00 lb Common, which can be seen by clicking here.

The second trip was over a week. Tony Davis Patrick, Gareth Watkins (from Angling Lines) and I were already in the area filming for Tony’s new Globetrotter DVD series. When we arrived at the lake the wind was blowing down hard into the dam end, so we set up in peg 1 and not long after we had placed the baits, Tony was into a hard fighting common. As I landed it for him I could see it was a good fish - it graced the scales at 35.00 lbs and gave us a great start.

Next morning after a heavy night of rain I was in to my first fish. With both Gareth and Tony filming me I did not want to lose it for the cameras, but after a good hard fight, I slipped the landing net under a 40.00 lb Maurepaire beauty.

We stayed in that swim for the next day and had several more fish, then decided to move up the lake to the swims with the pads, as it would be better for filming… more atmospheric (it’s not just all about filming fish when you’re making a DVD!). We wanted to try and capture the natural beauty of the water and ended up getting some stunning footage of sunrises and sunsets, the early mist rising from the water and some great shots of the moon and wild life.

We had noticed the carp running in and out of the pads and the far off rushes, so set out traps to coincide with their patrol routes. Over the next few days we banked several nice fish mainly from off the pads, the biggest falling to me - a 39.12 mirror.

Eventually our last day on the venue came and as we were breaking down and packing away all the gear (apart from the rods as they are always last!) one of my rods roared off and I was into another good fish. Again, it was caught on film (Click here to see the film) and it weighed in at 41.00 lbs. It was an old warrior of a fish, with a bit of its top fin missing. It was my second 40+ of the trip and I was more than happy to see it safely into my landing net. The end of a great week’s fishing!

In closing….. I would recommend this venue for the more experienced angler, as it’s not a runs water and the fish don’t just crawl up your rods! If you tackle it correctly, though, the rewards are there to be taken.

Tight lines to all you Euro carpers!

Big Ron Woodward.