{"id":26036,"date":"2019-02-13T17:59:28","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T16:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/?p=26036"},"modified":"2019-02-27T12:11:41","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T11:11:41","slug":"messing-about-in-boats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/messing-about-in-boats\/","title":{"rendered":"Messing About In Boats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Targeting big French carp on larger venues? Taking to the water could take your catch rate to a new level\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes a \u2018big lake\u2019. But if you\u2019re limited to one or two French carp fishing trips each year, I\u2019d counsel that the inland seas \u2013 the likes of Cassien and LacD\u2019Orient \u2013 may be, quite literally, a bridge too far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your goal, for that all-too-precious French\ntrip, is to catch big carp. And not work too hard to do so. (Hey; it is, after\nall, supposed to be a holiday.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angling Lines<\/a><\/strong> has a number of venues of up to 40 acres or more to choose from. Which, for most of us, should be challenge enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thought of taking on any 20-acre plus water for the first time can be daunting for any carp angler. Doing so \u2018sight-unseen\u2019 \u2013 with just a few days at your disposal \u2013 is more daunting still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Brocard
39-acre Brocard Large<\/a>, located four hours drive from the port of Calais<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

That said, once you learn to break the challenge down into manageable \u2018chunks\u2019 \u2013 individual areas of water \u2013 you\u2019ll soon find that these kinds of venues can be easier to fish than more intimate ponds; where the carp, having fewer hiding places and loads of angler pressure, wise-up fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, carp on big pits are able to quickly evacuate areas where they feel pressured; making a beeline for the sanctuary of the snags, or the centre of the lake, which anglers are unable to reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless that is they are equipped with a boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On waters such as the 40-acre Salles<\/a> lake -where boats are both welcome, and available to hire \u2013 you\u2019ll find taking to the water can add a whole new dimension to your angling experience; and ramp your catch rate, too.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use of a boat enables you to quickly get to grips with the topography of the lake; to bait up accurately; and to position your baits \u2018just so\u2019 and at range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To safely play and land fish, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A magical view from one of the swims on 42-acre French carp fishing lake Salles<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And the best bit is: a robust and reliable boat and suitable life jacket (no comment necessary) need not cost you the price of your holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most folk travelling to France opt for an inflatable dinghy, which won\u2019t take up a great deal of space, and eliminates the need for a trailer (not to mention additional ferry costs). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost is, of course, important. But it\u2019s not the most important consideration. Rather, safety is paramount; so shy away from the many cheap kids\u2019 boats that you\u2019ll find on eBay, and which are in reality little more than lilos with sides. (At best, these will puncture at the first outing; at worst they can be downright dangerous.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best known amongst the UK carp fishing fraternity are those on offer from Fox. And they\u2019re great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great; but not overly cheap \u2013 running to \u00a3700\nplus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same applies to the various foldaway boats which, though rigid and easy to transport, run to four figures and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shop around, however, and you\u2019ll find some attractive deals. For my part, I\u2019ve used the same dinghy for many years without incident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s rugged, with a rigid floor; compact for easy transportation; quick and easy to inflate; and cost me somewhere south of \u00a3250.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importantly, it\u2019s also equipped with a mounting bracket for an outboard motor; which \u2013 believe me \u2013 you\u2019ll find well worth the modest additional investment. (Exercise is all well and good, but if you\u2019re lugging buckets of bait and other tackle across acres if water, it\u2019ll soon become a chore.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For obvious reasons, most lakes only allow electric outboards. They\u2019re quiet, lightweight and polar bear friendly. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The downside: you need – rather less lightweight – leisure batteries to run them; and batteries don\u2019t last forever. Meaning you\u2019ll get through a few during the course of a week long trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than take spares, however \u2013 which will take up valuable bait-space in the car – my advice would be to take just one (spare) and invest in a solar panel. Then choose oars over outboard for as long as your aching muscles, wind and weather permit –  rowing whenever possible when you\u2019re out on the water, baiting or feature finding. (Though maybe not when placing baits, which\u2013 if you\u2019re as cack-handed as me – can result in knit-one-purl-two style tangles, frustration and some rather fruity language.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accurately \u2018markering\u2019 acres of water takes time. So, with only a few days\u2019 angling at your disposal, an echo sounder is worth its weight in gold. And the good news nowadays is that they are very reasonably priced \u2013 whether you elect for a traditional Hummingbird or Eagle unit; or one of the new style castable Deeper or Lowrance models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Deeper<\/a> Castable Sonar<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Both will enable you to quickly build a detailed picture of the lake bed – the depths, substrate, plateaus etc. – and determine where best to position your markers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In turn, those markers come in a range of shapes and sizes and should be selected based on the water depth and prevailing conditions \u2013 from the traditional H-Blocks from the likes of Gardner Tackle, to marker poles available from Atropa and others, both of which are designed to be visible at range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Vaumigny<\/a> is a 35-acre French carp lake with 60lb+ carp, 100lb+ sturgeon & 170lb+ catfish<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Something you might also consider is the use of a walkie-talkie, which makes communication with friends on the bank far easier \u2013 eliminating the need for yelling and\/or animated hand singles \u2013 and allowing you to coordinate your efforts to quickly locate areas that may be more apparent from the bank than up close in the boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best advice, once you\u2019ve identified a few likely spots, is to try fishing at a range of depths and distances – next to features, in old stream beds, roadways, and so on – till you\u2019ve gauged the mood and preferences of the carp.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your boat and sounder will enable you to cover all the bases – with subsequent action (or otherwise) from the fish informing your approach for the remainder of your session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, why not give it a try?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though you may find it a little alien at first, using a boat gets easier with time and experience, soon becoming second nature; to the extent that – for many anglers; especially those targeting larger waters \u2013 casting actually becomes a last resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Targeting big French carp on larger venues? Taking to the water could take your catch rate to a new level\u2026 Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes a \u2018big lake\u2019. But if you\u2019re limited to one or two French carp fishing trips each year, I\u2019d counsel that the inland seas \u2013 the likes of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1113,889],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carp-fishing-news","category-steve-calder","category-carp-tactics-and-watercraft"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglinglines.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}