Early Spring – Two Things to Consider When Carp Fishing

In astronomical terms, the 20th March marks the beginning of spring. And so with only 9 days to go here’s a post from Shaun Harrison answering a couple of FAQ’s… Two questions I am asked regularly I thought I would answer but more importantly would be interested to hear the answers others would give? Question 1: […]

Travelling To Venues and Keeping A Clear Head

Paul Cooper shares his advice to those of you travelling to venues located further down in to France… Travelling to France can be a tedious affair. Especially with venues further down the country, lakes such as Mas Bas or Holly Pools, where you enjoy the warmer southern climate. With a long tiring journey more often than not you […]

Questions and Answers at Blue Lake in France

Angling Lines field-tester Paul Cooper answers an anglers questions regarding the features and lake depths for each swim at Blue Lake. The lake is a 15 acre gravel pit and varies from 3ft at its shallowest to over 15ft at its South West end.  It’s a fascinating mixture of bars and areas of sand, rocks, gravel, […]

Winter Carp Fishing Tips: The Whitby Hand Warmer

One of the worst thing about cold weather fishing on short or long sessions is having cold hands and feet. This Winter I purchased 2 Whitby Hand warmers from Go Outdoors and they’re a discovery worth mentioning on this blog.  They cost £13.50 each, there are other makes such as Zippo available but they are a little […]

Development Of A Carp Lake On A Budget

In the February of 2010, I was thrown into the deep end by taking on a local estate lake and running a carp syndicate on the lake. I had been a member of the syndicate for a number of years and had fished there since 1985. When I first fished the lake there were 12 […]

Short Session Carp Fishing & Why You Should Try It

These days I spend less and less time on the bank and appear to be catching the same amount of carp as I was doing a few years ago when I was concentrating my campaigns on night fishing. Not too many but enough to satisfy my interest.  In 2014 I spent 2 nights in total […]

Why Carp Fishing?

January 2015 and the weather is almost not stop rain. With an average day time temperature of about 5 degrees & accompanied by strong winds I go to my barn to start making bait in preparation for my next fishing trip.  The preparation going into just a couple of nights fishing is vast, I must […]

“Are You A Noddy Mate?”

A few years ago I joined a new carp syndicate lake that I had been trying to get onto for a few years. The  initial reaction I received was a stone-waller and I could not get past the first hurdle of Mr Arrogance (the syndicate leader). He did not know me and that was that. Eventually Mr […]

Brocard: A French Adventure

Mike Linstead, owner of Under The Surface blog, reminisces on his summer trip to the rather impressive 39 acre Brocard Large. Well worth a read… Like most UK carp anglers I love fishing on the continent and targeting the big carp that are on offer in countries such as France and Spain. Having not fished abroad […]

Bait for your French Trip – 5 Things to Consider!

With the start of the new year and your 2015 French carping trip rolling closer, it’s time to get thinking which baits to take. Below I have listed 5 types of bait to consider when carrying out your preparation for any carp fishing trip.   1. Pellets   Obviously pellets are very popular with the majority of carp anglers – […]

Carp Fishing in France 2014 Highlights

Here’s just a handful of highlights from what can only be described as a fantastic year here at Angling Lines. We’ve seen many incredible carp netted and we’ve seen a lot of happy anglers on the bank. Thanks to all our owners too who run simply brilliant venues. Happy New Year! To find out more […]

Stocking Carp at the Bachelier Waters

The Bacheliers have been busy! Here’s our round-up of the nettings and stockings so far this winter…   The well respected Bachelier family own five of our venues – Jonchery, Jonchery #7, Brocard Small, Brocard Large and Brie. Whilst these venues are all unique in their own way, they also share something in common – the […]

From 3 To 71 – Latest Capture of the Laroussi Seventy

This is the incredible story of an angler that truly earnt the capture of a 71lb mirror carp at Laroussi this November. Roy Wreatham has kindly written an account of the capture that lead to a new personal best and one that took the title of the biggest fish out this year… My son in law […]

4 Videos You Must Watch on Cold Weather Carping

Four carp fishing experts give you the benefit of their experience when it comes to cold weather carp fishing in the four videos below. Here’s a reminder too that we have plenty of 50% off deals on winter fishing, just take a look here – French Winter Fishing Deals 1. Hugely successful angler and owner […]

Creating A Carp Fishery – An Owners Account

Over the nine years we have now been here, I get asked a lot of times what sort of French carp fishing lake we are in the respect of whether we class ourselves as a runs water, intermediate water or a hard big fish water. The simple answer I give is that I do not […]

The Science Of Bait – Pt.1

Why do baits work? This quick science lesson is part one of a great informative series from Mark McKenna, the brains behind Baitcraft baits… When thinking about creating a bait, the natural place to start is to look at the physiology of our quarry and exactly how it is they locate and evaluate their food. In the […]

The Magnificent Long Common

Huge congratulations to Stuart Lemon, who landed the Long Common from Old Oaks, at a whopping 62lb… Old Oaks is a 34 year old virgin gravel pit of around 5 acres, around 3 hours from Caen. It had never been fished before 2006, being left wild and undisturbed since it was dug. A delightfully pretty […]

Which Lake? The Field Tester’s Role

Jim Kelly explains common issues when field-testing completely unknown lakes, and why the majority don’t make it on to the Angling Lines books… Why Are Some Chosen And Some Not? The Selection Process Angling Lines has a fine portfolio of lakes catering for the needs of most carp anglers, but how did the list evolve?  Is […]

Pat Gillett’s August 2014 Fishing Diary

When Pat Gillett isn’t in France fishing for carp you’ll find him bankside at a number of English rivers. This time he’s turned his rod to a nearby Estate lake. Here’s his diary so far… With the rivers still being very low and clear and the weather still being very warm, I decided to give […]