First Trip to France

Discover first time French carp fishing guides with top venue picks, tackle advice, travel tips and insider planning advice for every angler.

La Fonte Venue Video

The venue video is here for our latest lake, La Fonte. Mike and Matt Linstead had an incredible run of carp at the 7 acre lake in Normandy, France. Just three and a half hours drive from Calais, this lake is best described as a runs water and ideal for 4 anglers to share exclusively […]

“A fantastic first trip to France”

Last week Lillybelle welcomed team Ashima’s Emily Blake and Martin Earlam. A very productive week was had by both anglers, but Emily took all honours with most fish banked and biggest fish of the week too. To cap it all Emily also broke our current ladies record not once but twice, with a new pb […]

6 Ways To Have An Awful Carp Fishing Trip

The secret to a good fishing trip to France is preparation and being well equipped. This necessarily means a certain expense, but if you want to enjoy your trip and not have it turn into an unpleasant fiasco: like the boy scouts say “Be Prepared”. Keeping warm, dry and well fed will go a long way […]

Tackling Big French Carp Lakes – Finding Features

How confident are you about fishing a 3 acre lake, or maybe a 4 acre lake or even a 10 acre lake? Most anglers would say that they’d know the features to bait up to:- snags, overhanging trees, island margins, the edge of weed beds to name but a few. Now lets increase the size of […]

Top 5 Tips To Get The Cheapest Ferry Crossing

Here’s our top 5  tips on getting the best value out of your ferry crossing… It’s cheaper to take a car and trailer than 2 cars A minibus doesn’t cost much more than a car Booking additional height (above 1.7m) costs very little more.  But it must be booked in advance so if your bedchairs etc. will […]

5 Simple Things To Avoid When Driving In France

Five simple things to avoid; 1. Paris at rush hours – Rush hour is normally 8:00-10:00am &  5:00-8:00pm 2. Tolls –  Can be expensive. Check out which route is best using Viamichelin 3. Drinking – France’s drink driving laws are fiercer than our own; 0.5 mg per ml as opposed to 0.8 mg per ml in […]

My thoughts on ten years carp fishing in France

I’m sure it’s a familiar story, two friends start fishing together as teenagers. The quick evening sessions floating bread for ten pounders and then scarpering before having to pay the bailiff three quid. The joys of fitting two peoples worth of gear into a mark two Fiesta with room to spare.  The sleepless nights when i […]

The Importance of Having a European Health Insurance Card

Anthony Brown fishing the week of 6th July here at Genets discovered just how important it is to have a current European Health Insurance Card (EHIC ) with you when fishing in France. On Wednesday morning while threading a dumbbell boilie with a long barbed baiting needle the needle went into the end of his finger, […]

French Carping from the Start – Part 3

Part 1, Part 2 Angling Lines have asked me to put together an itinerary of the tackle that I use for my carp fishing in France, and to talk about tackle in general for the angler just setting off for his or her first French carp fishing adventure. In part 1 I covered the most essential parts […]

Buying Particle Baits in France

Translation to help with particle baits… Most Angling Lines venues will be happy to prepare particles for you and then have them waiting for you when you arrive, as I do here at Bletiere.  but  if your booked venue doesn’t offer this service then this will help you buy particle baits in the shops over […]

French Carping from the Start – Part 2

Part 1, Part 3 Angling Lines have asked me to put together an itinerary of the tackle that I use for my carp fishing in France, and to talk about tackle in general for the angler just setting off for his or her first French carp fishing adventure. In part 1 I covered the most essential parts […]

French Carping from the Start – Part 1

Part 2, Part 3 I have been asked by the management at Angling Lines to put together a few blogs which contain sufficient information to assist new and existing customers, in their quest for carp in France. In these blogs I will suggest what I would list as the most appropriate tackle for the job in […]

Choosing a French Carp Venue

There are so many options available but if you want to get a quick start then consider these simple questions… Size of carp? Ask yourself realistically what size of carp would you be happy to catch?  Of course we all want to catch 60’s eventually, but if your UK pb is 23lb surely a lake […]

Research, research… it pays off!

I often get ask by anglers when they arrive what are the best tactics to use, what bait catches the most, what fish are in the lake and all the other information we anglers like to know.   But of course once you are here it’s too late to pack that extra rod or bring that […]

Recycling in France – How You Can Help Carp Lake Owners

One of the big differences you find when you move to Europe is the high level of recycling that you have to do without choice.  It’s very strictly controlled here in France, which of course in the long term is a good thing for us all. Over the last year they have been rolling out […]