Old Oaks – 5 years later…

It was good to be back on Old Oaks. Like us the fish were five years older, a bit wiser and a lot fatter… When we arrived at the lake after the drive through the lovely French countryside, it was good to see Mehdi again and even better to be back on Old Oaks.  Once […]

Our Top 5 Carpy Videos

We built quite a collection of videos from our carp fishing trips to the lakes in the past 12 months, here’s our top 5… 1. Carl & Alex go to Holly Pools We sent Carl and Alex to Holly Pools this April for a week carp fishing in France at a totally private complex of three shady […]

Beaurepaire tips, tactics & insight – Part 3

Andy Gilbert is back with part 3 of his series following his trip to Beaurepaire this April, you’ll find him discussing all aspects of the lake and what worked for them… Thanks once again for joining me as I delve into the Angling Lines venue Beaurepaire for the third and final time. A couple of months […]

The perfect getaway holiday – with big fish!

Anglers Mail editor Tim Knight recently spent a week at Mas Bas, here’s his article following the trip… EVER tried finding and then enjoying a holiday where you get enough good fishing in, and the non-angler/s with you are equally well catered for? It isn’t always easy to get the balance right! I can put […]

Making Custom Hook Baits

Here is a little tip for those of you wishing to customise your hook baits and a real quick and easy way of preparing ‘wafters’ (slow sinking hook baits) or pop-ups. It is a method I first used on the bank when I felt I needed a hook bait acting differently to what I had […]

Blue Lake Joins the Fifties Club!

We’ve watched 15 acre French gravel pit Blue lake bubble away with numerous thirties to be had over the years. The lake stepped it up this month and joined the fifties club after this 50lb 7oz mirror was landed last week by Legare Guillaume. Blue was originally stocked in the 1980’s and then abandoned and left […]

Angler Strikes Lucky with a 49lb Ghost Common

Here’s some feedback from a group of anglers fishing Laroussi last month… Holiday date: Sat 10th May to Sat 17th May 2014Name of customer: John AllenNumber of anglers: 6Details of your catches:  Starting from L’Ance – top rod Alex Noble had three 40’s – 48,  a 49 Ghost common? lake record and a mid forty, a few thirties and multiple […]

How to use the Elips Pellet for Barbel Fishing

The humble trout type pellet has caught thousands of big barbel throughout Great Britain for as long as I can remember. Pellets comes in all shapes and sizes and have names like, high oil, carp pellets, Marine pellets, halibut pellets,etc. All are brilliant for catching barbel but usually the main problem that we have is […]

Anglers Questions Answered – Brie’s Features

Paul Cooper answers an anglers questions regarding the swims and features of Brie, a 15 acre carp haven tucked away in the champagne region that is booked exclusively for up to 4 anglers… Last year I visited a number of lakes in France, all on test for Angling Lines, one of these was of course […]

Eurotunnel Checking Anglers Vans

Eurotunnel have always stated that vans carrying more than 3 cubic metres of goods have to travel on the freight service. Now up until the past couple of weeks they have always been lenient on this rule and many anglers have happily travelled over to France with all their gear. This has now changed with […]

Must Have Carp Fishing Equipment – McNett Gruntlines

Having read a blog that Shaun first published on the blog last year, I made my own enquiries to purchase some McNett Gruntlines. Now, any additional fishing paraphernalia has to earn a place in my tightly packed tackle bag and my Gruntlines certainly have earned that place since I purchased them.  Gruntlines have many uses […]

Questions and Answers with Spencer Wright

An interview with Spencer Wright, sponsored angler and CC Moore consultant. Matthew Fleet from Carp Marathon asks the questions… Before I begin this interview I would like to say a big thank you to Spencer for finding the time to do this interview, it really is appreciated, right then let’s begin… So then Spencer, when did […]

A May Week at Beaurepaire

For this years holiday, I was again going to be joined by my brother David and two ex-workmates, father and son duo Garry and Matt Clarke. Now David and Matt very rarely go fishing and Garry doesn’t get out anywhere near as much as he would like. With this in mind, I wanted a venue […]

Lights, Camera, Action!

Ron Key fills us in on a week spent fishing and filming at Castle Lake, a 42 acre big fish water, this April… Castle Lakes are in the Cher. Cher lies in the heart of the country in the Centre Val-de-Loire region, positioned half-way between Paris and the Massif Central. This department combines the best […]

Quality Fishing & Cracking Pictures from Boux

Gary Western had a prolific week at Boux – the lake that famously gave Tim Paisley his first 50lb’er years ago – this month, culminating in setting the new lake record at 54lb 10oz. Quality fishing & cracking pictures too, nice one Gary! ‘Just some photos for you and for your records from our trip […]

Beaurepaire Tips, Tactics & Insight – Part 1

Hello all, having just returned from a weeks fishing at Beaurepaire, I would like to invite you to read a few articles regarding this great lake.  I’d like to cover all aspects of our group’s fishing trip, from bait, tactics and execution through to results and where we got it right and sometimes wrong. This […]

The History Behind…. Villefond’s ‘Slate Grey’

With the capture of Slate Grey last week I have decided to delve into my archives once again to give you a little bit of history on this mighty old warrior.  Slate Grey got her name quite obviously from her grey colour which coupled with her massive size makes her an easily recognisable fish. Another […]

Foolproof way of re-loading your reels with line

Unfortunately for us, the angler, the line we buy is loaded in different ways and what works with one make of line doesn’t necessarily work with another make of line. The only fool proof way of loading line without twist that I have found is the method I use myself and works with every type […]