Fishing on foreign soil is something that a lot of the lads who cover the English banks week by week dream about. As anglers we hear stories, read carp mags and watch footage of these huge carp gracing banks abroad and one can’t help but sit there wishing it was you that was pulling out these monsters rather than watching or hearing about someone else. The only way to live that dream is to get it booked and go over and have a go yourself. I hear lots of my pals talking about trips they wish they could embark on and I can’t help but think ‘Just go’. We are only here once and if France, Germany, Belgium or any country with huge carp is calling you then get it booked. Most lakes out there are pretty affordable and whatever your angling ability there will almost certainly be a lake for you. Do some reading or ask other anglers for recommendations. You will find lots of lads online are more than happy to help out. The amount of waters I have discovered now just by having a profile on social media (Instagram) is unbelievable and I think if you are not a part of the carp fishing scene online then you are definitely missing a trick.
My most recent trip onto foreign soil seen me again heading through the channel tunnel. France was the destination and this trip came on the back of a recommendation from my good mate Paul. Me and Paul have been fishing together for a couple of years now and after a terrible trip to France last year (Due to many variables) Paul was now in charge of selecting which lake we were to travel to. He wanted to take us somewhere that he felt confidence in and on this occasion it was to be a return visit (For himself) to a lake named ‘Bounty’, which is just South-West of Paris in a town named Le Mans.
With the location sorted and the lake booked it was time to start the preparation. I must admit after a few rig changes over the winter months and a change over in bait, I was ultra confident that I was going to do the business. The lead up to the session had seen me catch throughout the colder months and therefore my current rigs and bait etc. were not going to change simply because I was fishing on another lake. A lot of people seem to get themselves really agitated about what they need to do to make the leap across the channel. If I could offer any advice, it would be to not change too much. If you can catch carp here in England, then you can catch them over in France. They certainly don’t change the way they act/feed just because they have a French passport. Don’t get me wrong the carp act differently from lake to lake, we know that. However, a carp is a carp. Try to remember that before you make the whole situation far too complex. Fish in a way that you have most confidence in and simply adjust your set up to deal with the larger fish; Bigger hooks, stronger line and a decent set of rods and reals will give you a fine chance of landing these beauties. After that though it’s all down to you and your tactics.
After months of excitement and constant discussions in our group chat, it was finally time to make the trip down to Folkestone. The party consisted of me, Paul, my old man and another mate of ours named Sion (A pal we have picked up through fishing. A great fella but my god he does at times think far far far too much about his fishing. He literally can’t sit still on the bank without analysing his every move. He’s a boss laugh to be honest and when he isn’t sat taking the piss, he’s busy coming up with one of his crazy plans that will surely change his fortune. In the past he has woken me up on the bank telling me how he’s just going to add a tiny bit more putty to his rig or how he’s going to change a size 8 swivel for a size 11 and this would definitely land him a fish. I can’t help but laugh at his over approach otherwise I think I’d end up lashing him in). PMA.
After a very long trip, we finally arrived upon the lake in Le Mans ready for action. The draw of pegs wasn’t necessary as a quick lap of the lake lead us all into having our favoured swims which somehow didn’t clash meaning we all got our first choice. I had an idea before visiting the lake where I fancied fishing but I was quickly turned by the crashing of a few lumps on my walk around. The other lads had also spotted these fish but already had their heart set on their position. As for me, if the fish are showing you were they are then that is where you fish. It’s half the battle. You no longer need to locate them and can simply get yourself out there and wait for the magic to happen.
We had about two hours to get set up and in position before we would lose day light. I was to be fishing a few different methods to start me off and was going to adjust throughout the week depending on which method was having the success. Three rods were loaded up; one on a zig, one on a multi rig with a 13mm CC Moores Northan special pop up and the final on a KD rig fished snowman style (a tip from a few local lads that were also lapping the lake upon arrival.) The snow man consisted of an essential cell bottom bait topped with a CC Moore Live system pop up. This combination is tried and tested and these two flavours together certainly seem to do the business on most waters that I fish. They are definitely my go to on the beginning of every session. Give them a try and see how you get on.
After a lead around it was quite evident that the lake had no prolific spots at all. The lake appeared to be four foot deep and lacked any features what so ever. Silt, silt and more silt. Rods were tipped with PVA nuggets and rigs placed in solid bags to combat getting drowned by the silt. There was nothing left to do but get the rods out there and pray to the carp gods. With the rods on the spots (well as well as I could possibly place them after a lack of sleep, a plate full of scran and a good couple of Koronenburg sunk down at the bar facility on site) I finally settled down and got ready to get my head down. It must have been just short of midnight before I started nodding off and was woke up to my first couple of bleeps of the session. A slow back drop on the centre rod. Before I could even sit upright and sort myself out, the left rod, which was placed out centre at about 17 wraps, was away. Despite every effort to locate my head torch and pounce into my sandles before leaving the bivvy, the excitement got the better of me and I was now hooked into something that was stripping line from me as I stood in the pitch black in my now soaking wet socks. (A recurring theme for me, we’ve all done it.) What a start. The battle with this beast continued for at least half an hour and yet I was still no closer to seeing what it was or having it any closer to the bank. After another twenty odd minutes and the fish walking me a good 60 yards down the bank, a huge cat finally surfaced and was ready to be landed. Luckily Paul was on hand as it was evident this fish was not going to fit into my 50inch landing net. Paul was able to pull the cat onto the bank. An absolute whale of a fish. This huge beast tipped the scaled to 100lbs 9oz which was just a few pound short of the lake record! What a capture and only a couple of hours into the trip. I was absolutely buzzing to get the rod back out, retire to bed and await another.
Despite the excitement and the confidence that another bite was coming, the night passed without and I sat up on the bed at around 6:55 to make a brew and watch the water. Minutes later (kettle in hand) the left rod decided to shoot off again. (Every time I do something on the bank is normally when my rods go off. I could sit on them all day but the second nature calls or its time for a brew or a bite to eat, they are away.) This time it was definitely a carp. For those who have fished for cats before, you will know how soon into the battle you can distinguish whether you have a cat or a carp on. For me it’s a whole different power. I was delighted it was a carp and played the fish as the morning mist rose off the lake. After ten or so minutes the carp surfaced in front of the net…It was at that moment I knew I was in for a very special trip. The carp was clearly very high 30, if not a 40 and I couldn’t wait to see her tip the scales. 41.6lbs were the magic digits and a new PB mirror for myself. Result. More alarms began to scream on the lake and luckily for my old man they were his. A wild fight took place between my dad and this beast before it graced the net and tipped the scales to 41.12lbs. We couldn’t ask for much better than that when we’d only been at the complex just over 12 hours. We reeled in and skipped to the hut for a celebratory breakfast, a blimp at the photos and a quick wash before getting back to business.
For the rest of that day the lake was silent. The whether was making it very difficult to see any fish and left all of the party to resign to their sleeping bags all day. Cold and wet, not exactly what you go to France for but hey ho, I couldn’t complain.
After 36 hours from the last bite I started to get myself a little agitated and it must have been just after 2pm when I decided to make a few tweaks to my rigs. I normally fish very short rigs but had made slightly longer ones (again to help combat the silt) but in my head it was these slightly longer rigs giving the fish too much to play with before impact with the lead that was resulting in less takes. A change on all 3 rods (including an adjustment to the zig) left me sat on my hands now feeling much more confident. I had seen a few fish show over to my right earlier on in the morning and placed one directly on the spot. An hour went by before the sweet sound of my alarms echoed around my swim. The right rod was away and whatever was attached was stripping line angrily from me and heading towards the reeds on the right side of the lake. I managed to tighten up and luckily changed the fishes direction meaning it was now in open water and ready to enjoy the battle. 15 or so minutes went by of a genuine tug of war before the huge carp finally gave in and decided to slip over the net chord. Another gigantic Bounty carp and this time in the shape of a common, a fish known to the locals as ‘Broke back’. This fish looked huge and weighed in at a stunning 41.3lbs. Despite a very quiet 30 plus hours wait for this fish, I know knew they were on the spot and got the rod back out there before doing any photos. Just as I headed back over to the cradle to begin the shots, the right slim-line began to tighten up. I remember thinking ‘Surely not’… There was no time to think, it was away again. Not even a minute after entering the water. When they are on your spot, you don’t have any time to waste. This time the battle was a lot shorter but the fish on the other hand was by far the most stunning common I have caught in my life. 31.12lbs and still possessing that beautiful curtain in the top of its mouth. Must be a rare visitor to the bank and I couldn’t have been more grateful. I took a good few snaps of the two fish and even invited my old man to get in on the shot. Memories made!
The rest of the day again remained quiet and the whether continued to upset us all. 4 days in now and not a pocket of sun. Me and my old man had planned to reel in this night to watch our beloved reds together. We are normally at the game so we had to bring the game to France.
Liverpool v Man City. We all know how this went. What a result! ‘Alez Alez Alez.’ After a few wets and a good old dance around the cabin we headed back to our sports and got the rods out. The night remained silent until the very early hours of the next day. Alarms were singing but they were not mine. Finally Paul was into his first fish of the trip which he was desperate for, being the bitter blue (Everton Fan) that he is, he had come close to suicide the night before and I was half frightened he was gonna do me in during the night after the constant singing from my tent to annoy him. At least this fish could take his mind off it all. This beast teared the lake up and it was a good job we had hired the lake to ourselves as the fish really did give him the run around and would have caused great upset to other anglers if present. After an hour attached to the fish and a proper work out by Paul, we were able to lump a ginormous cat on the bank. It looked so much bigger than the one I had landed on the first night. An absolute beast with a belly full of boillees. We weighed it in at 111lbs and it was quickly confirmed as the new lake record. Get in Paul! What a goal. Not half as good as Mo Sallah’s but they all count!
On the other hand, Sion on the far side of the lake was having a nightmare! Not only did he too possess blue blood but up to now he had hooked into 3 fish only to have been snapped off by all of them after hour long fights with each. I really did feel sorry for the lad but what can you do… that’s fishing. He was the only guy who caught on the previous trip the year before and he’d only just stopped rubbing our noses in that so he half deserved it. But please now, give the lad a fish. He was growing impatient and I couldn’t deal with another phone call informing me of some more of his of his special plans.
Day 5 began for me with another huge mirror in the sack at 41.8lbs and shortly followed by another stunning common at 28.10lbs. My dad was also on the money and had banked another 5 carp since his last catch. We really were having a great session.
Sion on the other hand had decided his luck was up and he was going to hedge his bets and make a move onto another vacant lake on the complex in the hope of grabbing a few fish. I thought this rather impatient although I cannot honestly say what I’d have done in his position but the fish had to turn onto him at some point and in my eyes they already had 3 times. What can you do? Paul decided to make the move with him in the hope of landing a few and also for a change of scenery. The move paid off for Paul but unfortunately for Sion ended in more chaos and more snapped lines. Sorry mate. These cats will snap you off if you haven’t got the right end tackle on, I would suggest braid or some form of coated braid and you will be fine. You may be very lucky landing one on IQD or straight mono but I wouldn’t recommend it and one person who I know wont be making that mistake again would be Sion.
Day 5. Me and my old man had a couple more, and lost a cat during the day. As Paul and Sion had changed lakes the fish were now beginning to move a lot more on our lake and finally vacated mine and my dad’s spots after five days of fun. It had to happen at one time. Just a shame the other lads had moved and couldn’t reap the benefits and it was left to us again.
As day 6 begun I decided to begin the slow pack down and was going to bivvy down and go and visit my old man and set up on the other side of the lake for the night and fish were Sion had been fishing. During the pack down my dad leapt into action again. It was finally his turn for a cat. After 40 minutes fighting it he didn’t seem to be getting anywhere and we decided to try and get on top of the fish with the aim to get more control as it was snagged up. We dived in the boat and begun the escapade. Once the fish was unsnagged me and my old man held on for dear life as our small peddelo turned into a speedboat. As we gained more and more line on the fish, I began to see twigs wrapped around our line. Next I see our rig sunk into one of the branches. I couldn’t actually believe what I was seeing nor workout what was going on and how an earth we were attached to the fish. After another 20 minutes or so I was finally able to slip the net under another huge cat and try to work out just how we were attached. Somehow we had managed to hook a branch that a cat had been traipsing around from another rig that was still in its mouth. Now you wouldn’t believe this, but it was the exact fish that my dad had lost during day 5. 2 rigs recouped and a safe and treated 70 odd lbs catfish returned to the water! Unbelievable. My dad went on to land another cat later that day that again broke the 100lbs mark before he finally retired his rods for the trip and decided he was going to get a proper night’s kip before the journey home. Paul had a few more success’s that day and my favourite of his catches had to be a really dark mirror he landed, a low twenty but a great looking fish.
Unfortunately Sion continued to pull his hair out, especially as I had now asked him for a wrap count for where he had been fishing and convinced him I was going to nail a fatty out of his swim. I offered him the chance to return before my final cast of the session took place, bang on his spot, 15 wraps out and tight under a tree. Time for bed.
3 in the morning came and you couldn’t write it but the rod discussed above was alive with action and after a cold battle in my boxies, the fish was netted. Another pearler of a common weighing in at 36lbs. I kept it sacked for a few hours until Sion arrived ready to pack the van. He was gutted but also happy for me at the same time and was happy to help out with the shots while he shone the headlights on me and the fish before the long journey home.
What a great week we had! The fishing, the booze, the laughs, the blanks and even the annihilation of Manchester City by our mighty Reds to top it all off.
Until next time
Jay
Lendsafiver 