Barbel Fishing Musings – Bivvies and Bite Alarms!

With more and more carp anglers trying their hand at barbel fishing, I see lots of anglers fishing behind 2 rods with bite alarms and even at times lying in their sleeping bags on their bed chairs inside a bivvy, as they would do in carp fishing, and paying more or less no attention at […]

Early Season Success at Villefond

Mark and John Lambert spent a few hours on the bank at Villefond last week, here’s what they came away with below… ‘A great mornings fishing, I had a 15lb 10 oz villefond baby and the ‘Son of Max’ at its heaviest to date – 44lb 10oz. Then my dad turned up for literally a […]

Moontime Carp – Part 2, A Short Session Approach

In part 1, I outlined the basics and summarised the effects the moon plays on carp behaviour and their feeding.  Now I get to the heart of the matter and reveal the practical details and specifics on how I apply this knowledge to my carp fishing and improve my catch rates. Preparation I, like the […]

Life As A Bailiff – Part 2, Winter Carping

Six months have passed since I became a full time bailiff here in France at Lillypool lake and without doubt I have learnt more in these six months that I could ever have imagined.  I think that most anglers know we never stop learning.  I have met so many people, each with their own individual […]

How-To… The D-Rig

While I have a bit of down time I thought I’d refill my rig box and what better way to start than with my 2 favourite rigs and a new rig which was shown to me by Neil Spooner from Korda at the Northern Angling show. I used to buy readymade rigs from time to […]

Atmospheric Pressure and Locating Carp

To me location is the most important factor that you need to get right whilst carp fishing. You can have the best baits and rigs in the world, but if you don’t place them in the correct place they will count for very little. I am sure we all take weather conditions into account when […]

Inflight at Jonchery #7

Next up for the Inflight series is Jonchery7, a prolific runs water set beside the magnificent Lac D’orient. For more information on Jonchery7 follow the link – Fishing France

December Webcast

This edition brings you a round up of the latest venue videos, news and a special feature on a winter session at Lillypool with Steve Knight. Using some unexpected tactics, a good session was had with over 40 runs.

Ramblings Of A Carp Angler – Baitboats

In this blog I would like to talk about yet another controversial issue. Baitboats! You either love them or hate them. I am sure that this short piece could offend some anglers, but I will put my thoughts out there and leave it up to the reader to decide.  There will be three kinds of […]

Fresh Water Predators – Perch

Winter Plans This winter I will be predominantly trying to catch some big specimen sized UK predatory fresh water fish. I will be using a variety of methods depending on what I am targeting but where possible I will be trying to catch the fish on lures and spinners. My personal favourite is the Perch […]

Liming a Lake – Carp Lake Management

Paul Cooper answers a reader’s question regarding liming carp lakes. ‘Hi Paul, Sorry to disturb you. I read your great article on the Angling Lines website about Winter Carp Lake Maintenance and want to pick your brain about the liming. The venue I run is very similar in size and all the reasons you list […]

Ramblings Of A Carp Angler – Line

What line should I use? Fluorocarbon, Fluorescent, Monofilament or Camouflage. Paul Cooper runs through yet again more controversial issues, this time surrounding different types of fishing line. Are we kidding ourselves over this fad of slack line fishing, disguising our line or hoping to make it invisible to the carp? I have fallen into this trap! They […]

Inflight at Jonchery

An aerial flight over Jonchery,  a 30 acre lake set in the heart of the Champagne region, created and run by the prominent fish farming Bachelier family. The video is designed to give you a real taster of the lake’s layout and features. For more information on Jonchery follow the link –  Fishing Holidays

Do you really need the kitchen sink to catch a carp?

I haven’t really done that much carp fishing in the last two or three years, having concentrated on barbel, but when I have been or have had a walk around a lake one of the things that has really struck me is the vast amount of gear that a lot of carp anglers seem to […]

A Visit To The Northern Angling Show

One thing I love doing when I have the time is heading to one of the many angling shows that are on this time of year. This year I went to the Northern Angling Show at Event City in Manchester. This is the second year its happened but only the first time I’ve been, previous […]

Brocard Large – I’ll be back!

Normally when travelling to France on a field test trip I write my article as soon as I return. It’s straight into my notes and then onto the PC to write and to download and pore over hundreds of photographs of the carp, swims and facilities.  This trip shouldn’t have been any different but I […]

The Secret Life of an Angling Lines Field Tester

2013 has be a very busy year for me and apart from some Angling Lines field testing trips; angling has taken a backseat.  I’m a member of the British Carp Study Group and over the years have carried out most jobs helping to run the group. At the end of last year I was the […]

Things That Go Beep In The Night

How much is the average carp angler willing to spend on tackle? It’s an interesting question considering the massive consumerism that goes with carping.  The reasons for me writing this blog comes from having what was almost a very heated conversation/debate with a guy the other week over the prices of bait and tackle items.  […]

Is it worth carp fishing in the UK in winter?

We thought it was about time we resurrected a select few of our winter carping posts, beginning with this piece by Shaun Harrison… Do UK carp feed sufficiently often in the winter  to make it worth while fishing for them?   In this excellent piece Shaun gives us the benefit of his 30 years of carp […]

Young Carp at Jonchery

During the netting of Jonchery carp lake this November, we took the chance to see some of the young carp that fish farmers Pisciculture Bachelier produce up close. It was great to see how the big beautiful scaley mirrors that Jonchery is known for start off. These fish are removed from the lake each year […]