5 things to avoid when driving in France

Here are 5 simple things to bear in mind to keep your journey to your french fishing holiday as straight forward as possible. 1. Paris at rush hours – rush hour is normally 8:00-10:00 am & 5:00-8:00 pm. Your Sat Nav will often try to take you around the Paris Peripherique when travelling South. Depending on your time of […]

Ladies Record Landed at Laroussi

Katie and Kevin had another good session on Laroussi last week, topped by Katie landing a new ladies record on her birthday! Kevin took a nice 57lb 8oz mirror but Katie topped off the trip by landing the 56lb 8oz mirror. What a great present. Between the two of them they also had a 20lber, 30lber, 40lber (including […]

Arnold Makes A Return At 59lb 8oz!

Villefond‘s ‘Arnold’ has come out again at a massive 59lb 8oz, but what is so impressive about this capture, apart from the great pictures, is the time of year. He has come out right after spawning when some of our big girls are over 10lb down in weight.  Being a male he doesnt drop as much weight but […]

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 […]

The Long Common Hits 65lb

Here is the new Old Oaks lake record caught this morning by Terry Morewood. Terry’s previous PB was 32lb. He had this week 20lber, 30lber, 3 x 40lber up to 49lb 14oz, 2 x 50lb up to 53lb, 1 x 60lber at 65lb 2oz (the Long Common). Terry said earlier this week, my target of the […]

An Incredible Run of Big Carp at Laroussi

Well, april is now done, and all I can say is WOW! The number of fish caught is excellent, the weights and the growth are even better! From 11th april to 9th may, the biggest fish of each week were 64lb, 64lb, 69lb6oz and 70lb8oz! Along with numerous forties and fifties. The combination of the new young […]

8 Simple On The Bank Cooking Tips

8 very simple but effective tips for cooking for yourself whilst on a carp fishing trip, including some invaluable items you’d be silly to leave without! 1. For safety use a cooker that is low to the ground so you can’t knock it over and never cook in you bivvy. 2. The best fuel to cook […]

Small or big carp hooks… which are more effective?

Since running a fishery and being involved with Angling Lines Carp Fishing Holidays, I see a large number of UK carpers during any given year. One aspect of current UK fishing seems to be the use of small hooks. Now by small I mean N° 8’s and below. Now I’ve always been a fan of […]

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 […]

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 […]

The Dartford Crossing

For many anglers crossing the QE2 Bridge at Dartford is an unavoidable part of their journey to France. From 30thNovember 2014 the way you pay the crossing charge will change when a new scheme called Dart Charge is introduced.  Dart Charge replaces cash payments at toll booths and the DART-Tag. Instead of stopping at a barrier to pay the […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Birds diving on carp bait – what can I do?

Question: I am fishing a 3 acre lake which I have caught plenty of fish from with a good stock of doubles and 20’s.  It is shallow with most areas being 3-4ft or less. The bottom is mainly silty with some harder areas in places. There is a large island in the middle of 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 […]

The Role of a Field Tester

One of the main challenges that I come across on a field testing trip is getting that first run. Swim selection on a new lake can mean the difference to a successful week or failure. I have been lucky in the past with some excellent catches on some difficult venues, but not all of the […]

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 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 […]