{"id":24421,"date":"2016-12-13T14:17:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T13:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/?p=24421"},"modified":"2016-12-16T13:24:35","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T12:24:35","slug":"planning-a-trip-part-1-doing-your-homework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/planning-a-trip-part-1-doing-your-homework\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning A Trip – Part 1: Doing your homework!"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nAngling Lines Field Tester Mike Linstead give his insight into preparing yourself for a carp fishing trip to France.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I often see questions on forums and social media relating to planning trips over in France and try to provide my experience where I can so I thought I\u2019d share a few things that I have picked up over the years of fishing on the continent, to ensure you are fully prepared for your trip.<\/p>\n

For this part of the article I want to break it down into the three most important aspects of what you need to do at home: Planning, Research and Preparation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1 -Plan<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

There is a bewildering choice when it comes to carp fishing in France<\/a> and it\u2019s understandable that many people are faced with a daunting decision when it comes to where to fish.<\/p>\n

Many anglers may only get one week in a year or perhaps only once every few years to head across the channel and they quite understandably want to ensure their time and money is well spent and they have a very memorable trip.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is your goal?<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Angling<\/p>\n

The first and most important thing to determine is what is your goal?<\/p>\n

Are you looking to catch numbers of fish, are you wanting to sit it out and try to smash a PB or is it a holiday with the family or perhaps a social with some friends that you\u2018re after?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What suits your style of fishing?<\/b>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve decided what the most important reason is for going, you need to think about the kind of places that best suit your style of fishing.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s your first time over in France then the best bit of advice I can give is try to look for a similar type of water to what you fish in the UK.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably not the best idea to book a week on a wind-swept big water if you\u2019re only every used to fishing smaller, more intimate venues at home.<\/p>\n

Unless you\u2019re looking to push your boundaries you could end up making life hard for yourself and coming away disappointed.<\/p>\n

\"castle-lake-viewed-from-the-dam-wall\"On the other hand, if you\u2019re a big water specialist used to casting 100 yards or more, are you going to be comfortable on a smaller water with big fish that is dominated by bait boats?<\/p>\n

Do not be fooled into thinking that just because a water is small it is easy. I\u2019ve often found the opposite to be true! The fish are much more concentrated and so is the angling pressure making them quite a challenge to catch!<\/p>\n

Another thing to consider is travelling distance. Whilst the road network in France is an absolute breeze in comparison to the pot-holed, cone infested hell that we face in the UK, you should bear in mind how long you\u2019re prepared to drive. If you’re looking for carp lakes close to Calais then you should take a look at Deux Iles<\/a>, Molyneux or Beaurepaire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Catch Reports<\/b>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hopefully once you\u2019ve considered the points I\u2019ve raised above you should be in a position to whittle your selections down to a shortlist of around half a dozen lakes.<\/p>\n

The next most vital thing to do is read through the catch reports on the Angling Lines venue pages, as they are a fantastic resource.<\/p>\n

Please ensure though that you pay particular attention to the feedback on the weeks that you are considering booking a trip. If you\u2019re planning a trip in May, I\u2019d suggest paying more attention to the feedback from May the year before than other times of the year.<\/p>\n

Different times of year can yield different catch rates so don\u2019t have your expectations set by what happened in the autumn if you\u2019re going in the spring, as the carps\u2019 behaviour will more than likely be quite different!<\/p>\n

Another note of caution is to bear in mind one\u00a0crucial point that skill level and standards vary from angler to angler, so the feedback in general is as much a reflection of the angler\u2019s ability as the potential of the lake.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to make it clear that the above statement is absolutely not intended to be a criticism of any anglers, merely a realistic observation.<\/p>\n

I myself have suffered blank and bad sessions over in France in the past and some of the responsibility for that falls on my head so I\u2019d hate for someone to be put off from fishing a lake because my feedback showed that I wasn\u2019t able to produce the goods!<\/p>\n

Conversely though, just because someone has had a hat full of fish in a week, do not assume the same will apply to you. Instead use this as an indicator of the lake\u2019s
\npotential.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2 – Research\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Hopefully by now you have made your choice and booked your week. Now comes the science part!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re anything like me, once you\u2019ve had a trip confirmed, there won\u2019t be a minute of the day when you\u2019re not thinking about it.<\/p>\n

You need to harness that motivation and do your homework in order to find out everything you can on your target.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maps<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"MikeMy first port of call is always Google Earth and Bing Maps. Getting an aerial view of a target water is a great starting point in my opinion and some of the imagery available nowadays -provided the lake isn\u2019t silty and heavily coloured- can provide some great insights into depths, weed beds, bars, islands etc. To make it easy you can find the google earth view of each lake on the Angling Lines website, for example take a look at the\u00a0aerial map of Laroussi\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I will usually screen grab a shot of the lake and then print and laminate a copy so that I can make notes and observations on the map, both at home and when I\u2018m on the bank.<\/p>\n

Google Earth has a fantastic measuring tool which can provide you with distances in yards, metres or feet so you can get a very accurate idea of how far a point of interest is from the bank. This can be a brilliant shortcut to finding features when you\u2019re on the ground so don\u2019t ignore it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lake Images and Info<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The next obvious thing to do is have a look at the lake pictures on the Angling Lines venue page. Some of the waters have even got pictures of them drained down so print these off and keep them with your maps.<\/p>\n

These can then be used to triangulate reference points against your aerial shots.<\/p>\n

\"brocard-drained\"There is a good level of information about each of the Angling Lines venues on their pages so make a note of what substrate you are fishing over, so that you can prepare accordingly.<\/p>\n

Knowing in advance whether the lake bed is silt, gravel, clay or sand will enable you to adjust your tactics to suit whichever situation you’re faced with.<\/p>\n

Finally check out all the videos on the lake, and watch them over a few times, paying attention to the details in the background as much as anything – this might just give you that key insight to help you prepare adequately!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3 – Preparation\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

With your homework done and all your information gathered, you can begin to prepare your gear. I can speak from bitter experience when I say that the more preparation you can do at home the better.<\/p>\n

Having everything organised and ready to go as soon as you hit the bank will ensure you\u2019re focused on one thing alone, catching the fish! Fellow angler Pat Gillet\u00a0published a very thorough French fishing trip\u00a0equipment checklist<\/a> which may be\u00a0a useful starting point if you don’t already have one.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been on trips where I\u2019ve had the gear ready two weeks before I set off and I\u2019ve had trips where I still had all of my gear spread over the kitchen floor at 1am on the day of departure. It\u2019s not hard to guess which was the more successful trip\u2026.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Controlling the Controllable<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"clqwtptwsaaee-e\"I read a lot of articles by the brilliant Paul Garner and in one recent piece he mentioned about \u201ccontrolling the controllable\u201d.<\/p>\n

What he meant by this was that by adequately preparing everything that is in your power to control (such as clean and functioning kit, fresh rigs, pin sharp hooks and fresh batteries in your alarms) you have more time to focus on the things that you can\u2019t control, namely fish behaviour and external conditions.<\/p>\n

His point may sound obvious but how many of us have had the \u201cthat\u2019ll do\u201d thought when sticking an old rig on with a not so sharp hook, or not changing that slightly worn mainline?<\/p>\n

In my experience that mindset is fatal and needs to be replaced with \u201cis that good enough?\u201d – If the answer is no then you know what you have to do!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stick to your guns!\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"AnglingIf there\u2019s one question I see being asked time and again it\u2019s about what the best rig is to use on a lake.<\/p>\n

So many people make the mistake of believing that their approach in the UK needs to drastically change to catch carp over in France.<\/p>\n

Speak to any top angler and I bet 99% of them would say the same thing; stick to your guns!<\/p>\n

A carp is a carp in France, England, Germany, Spain or anywhere else for that matter and, if your rig catches carp for you at home, why change an already proven part of your approach?!<\/p>\n

All you are doing is altering something in which you already have confidence and, if you find that things aren\u2019t working for you on the bank during your trip, you have just created an uncertain element to your equation.<\/p>\n

The only thing I would say is worth considering is to possibly change the hook size to something slightly larger as the fish are usually of a bigger stamp, but it\u2019s not always essential.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bait<\/b>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"dna-5\"The second question that gets asked a lot is that of bait.<\/p>\n

For all intents and purposes, I would argue that the same point applies to bait as it does with rigs- stick to what you\u2019re confident in. I\u2019ve used baits at waters at home that I\u2019ve used in France with similar success and having confidence in a good quality bait is as essential as having the confidence in the rig that you\u2019re sticking it on.<\/p>\n

Bait is a massive subject in its own right and I have to admit to being no expert in this department. What I do know is that if you\u2019re confident in what you\u2019re putting in the lake, it makes a massive difference. It goes back to my point about controlling the elements in your own equation.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to muddy the waters on this topic too much but I would say that on some occasions it\u2019s worth bearing in mind looking at an alternative bait, in addition to your regular one, especially if your usual bait is something like a heavy fishmeal and you\u2019re going in the colder months, as this can be detrimental to the carps\u2019 well-being.<\/p>\n

To summarise this section, I would say my number one bit of advice would be not to think that you have to radically change your approach, so don\u2019t use your trip as a time for unnecessary experimentation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Preparing yourself<\/b>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to dwell on this too much but I do feel it\u2019s worth noting that you should focus on preparing yourself just as much as your tackle.<\/p>\n

By that I mean getting things like all of your documents in order and in a plastic documents folder.<\/p>\n

I keep all vital info, passports, tickets etc in a folder that is easy to access when I\u2019m on the road. Knowing everything is together and organised makes the journey so much simpler and eliminates any unnecessary stress. After all it\u2019s meant to be a holiday so make life a bit easier for yourself.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obvious but make sure your vehicle is prepared for the journey. I\u2019ll not labour this point too much but it\u2019s common sense to have it checked and in working order so that you don\u2019t end up spending half your holiday on the hard shoulder in the middle of nowhere instead of hauling carp on the lake!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Learn a bit of the lingo!<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The final point in this article is to try and learn a bit of the language.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been years since I had to recite French verbs tables whilst sitting bored out of my mind at school, but I\u2019ve managed to hang on to enough of the language to have a basic conversation and I can tell you it makes a massive difference.<\/p>\n

Being willing to at least attempt to speak their language ensures that most French people will warm to you a lot more than just shouting at them in English and expecting them to understand. You\u2019re in their country remember, so a bit of cross-channel diplomacy never goes amiss!<\/p>\n

Just be careful though as sometimes you can get more than you\u2019re bargained for, as I experienced on a trip with my brother Matt.<\/p>\n

We decided to go for a pizza in a nearby town and when we\u2019d finished our meal Matt asked me to translate to the waitress (who was comfortably in her late 70s) that he thought the pizza was beautiful.<\/p>\n

I did as he asked and she left with a huge smile on her face, a twinkle in her eye and a spring in her step like she\u2018d suddenly got 40 years younger.<\/p>\n

It was at that point that my brain replayed what I\u2019d said and I realised I had got it wrong and called her<\/i><\/b> beautiful!<\/p>\n

Needless to say I paid the bill and legged it back to the lake in double quick time!<\/p>\n

Read part 2<\/strong><\/span> here<\/a><\/p>\n

You can find more of Mike’s articles<\/em><\/strong> here <\/a><\/em>and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0follow him on twitter<\/strong>\u00a0here<\/strong>\u00a0@UTSurfaceMike<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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