Well, what a session I just had in France.
Following on from my last session there, I thought it'd be quite chuffed if I only had half of what I caught!
Read on to find out what happened.
Thursday 28 April
After meeting up with Frenchy and Pete, we eventually left at around 8pm. Frenchy would be driving to Dover and I'd be driving the rest. We'd be using my car and Pete would follow us in his own. We arrived at Dover in plenty of time and we got the early ferry to Dunkirk (or Dunkerque in French!). The only downside was that most of the seats were taken with people lying flat out on them, fast asleep. Grrrrh!
Never mind, C'est la vie as the locals say!
A couple of our party had already spent a week at the lake and we would be meeting up with them later
Friday 29 April
Anyway, it was an uneventful trip and I wasnt sea sick once. We disembarked at around 3am local time and set off for the 4 hour trip to the lake. By this time it was quite foggy and as we travelled onward, so the fog got thicker. This wasn't what we had planned! After about 2 hrs driving we pulled into a car park to have a rest and get some zzzzzzeds!. My head was full of fishing and there was no way I was going to be able to sleep. I ended up exploring the area and drinking coffee and after a while I woke the others up. We set off at about 7am and arrived at the lake around 9am. The fog had cleared by now and we could see the splendid lake.
To decide who would choose the first swim, we would be pulling names out of the hat. Lowest number goes first. I let Pete and Frenchy go first and then drew my number. Guess what? I drew number 1! I now had first choice. Lol
We had already taken a walk around the lake and I really fancied the Lawn swim, so thats where I set up.
I'd been told of a couple of spots around my chosen swim that had produced in the past and I placed 1 rod near the area to my right and my other 2 rods to the island. Now we wait. I put out some bait with my bait boat and sat down and enjoyed my surroundings
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| The Lawn Swim |
I was in the process of making myself a cup of tea when I noticed that the flame on my stove was burning yellowy/orange and not the lovely blue flame that it normally burns. I decided to turn up the gas and try to unblock the jet that way.
B-I-G mistake.
The damn thing roared like a dragon and the next thing I knew there was flames shooting up the front of my bivvy!!
Holy s**t!
Thinking quickly, I managed to grab hold of the stove and chuck it outside.
Straight towards my rods.
Now I know why my mate John rarely cooks inside his bivvy!! Lol
I retrieved the flaming stove (no pun intended!) and went back to the bivvy to see if there was any damage. Damn, there was a hole the size of a small hand towel in the front of the bivvy. I had the original front and mozzy net with me so I wasn't too worried about getting wet. Just pi***d off it had happened at all.
Although the weather was pleasant, I had no runs that day or at night and managed to catch up on my sleep.
Saturday 30 April
I woke around 8am and had breakfast. My alarms had remained silent during the night so I decided to have a walk around my area of the lake. As I walked I noticed at least 3 fish right under a tree in the margin to my right. This spot was about 8-10 feet from the other spot I'd been told about. I'd need my bait boat for this as it would be very difficult to cast to this spot with the rods. I loaded up the boat with a rig and a handful of bait and sent it out.
Trap set. Now we wait again.
Saturday proved to be another quiet day on the fishing front and I retired to my bivvy and got my head down for the night.
Sunday 1 May
Woke up and had breakfast, again fishless. This had happened last time I was here so I wasn't too worried yet. It takes a bit of time to settle down.This lake has a couple of aerators and I was quite confident that I'd catch sometime soon, especially when the aerators were on. We'll see how it pans out.
I'd noticed that when I got my rigs in from the margin spots, parts of the rig were covered in black gunk. I wasn't happy with this and decided to change my bottom baits to pop-ups. A simple change but quite effective as it turned out. I sent out the boat with my changed rigs and some bait and sat in the chair enjoying the sun.
At 11.30 I had a blistering run on my RH rod. Game on!! I lifted into the fish and had myself an almighty scrap with mr carp. It fought like a demon but I managed to land it after about 15 mins. I looked into the net and it was huge! I could see it was a grass carp, long, sleek and powewful. With the help of some of the lads, we weighed it and the scales went round to 54.02 lbs
Awesome!
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| 54.02lb Grass Carp |
I was ecstatic. I would have been happy just to catch a carp, but to catch a fish this size first off blew me away. When we'd photographed, weighed and administered some carp care stuff, we released it and it swam away to its home. I sat down and made myself a well earned cup of tea. Presently, I made up another rig and sent it out with some bait to the new spot. I just knew the spot would produce and it did.
Rock on Tommy. Lets have another!
The rest of the afternoon passed quietly with no action.
The rest of the afternoon passed quietly with no action.
Until I sent out the bait boat to top up the swims.
I loaded up the boat as I had done on several occasions and sent it out towards my chosen spots. As it got about 20 yds out there was an almighty BANG! I must have jumped a good 6 feet in the air. I looked around in amazement and shock wondering what the hell was going on. I then realised that my bait boat had vanished!
Damn! What on earth had happened?
There were a few ripples where my boat should have been but no other sign of it all. Not even a bit of wreckage. It had been totally destroyed. The explosion was heard several kilometers away, as some of the party were fishing a nearby lake and say they clearly heard it!! I let Leigh, the bailiff know and he kindly volunteered to salvage any bits of the boat that he could find. Sadly, all he found was the fishfinder - and that was found on the far bank margin!! No other trace of my boat remained. And the fishfider still worked! Lol.
To this day I dont know why it exploded. I do know that if it had happened 10 mins earlier, myself and Frenchy had been talking, with the boat between us and one, or both of us, could have been seriously injured. Spooky!
Since then, the other guys called me Uncle Albert after that episode! Even people I didnt know were coming up to me on the ferry home and asking me about it, word had got around I guess!!
Anyway, as luck would have it, my rig was already out on my new found spot and I could bait up by hand if I walked around to the margin. Unless I had a run the rig was staying where it was, as there was no way I could get it back out there using the rod. I'd have to speak to Leigh the next day and see if I could hire a bait boat for the rest of the week, as I'd be needing it.
It was quiet for the remaider of the evening, no doubt the carp were suffering from severe headaches from the concussion!! Lol
Damn! What on earth had happened?
There were a few ripples where my boat should have been but no other sign of it all. Not even a bit of wreckage. It had been totally destroyed. The explosion was heard several kilometers away, as some of the party were fishing a nearby lake and say they clearly heard it!! I let Leigh, the bailiff know and he kindly volunteered to salvage any bits of the boat that he could find. Sadly, all he found was the fishfinder - and that was found on the far bank margin!! No other trace of my boat remained. And the fishfider still worked! Lol.
To this day I dont know why it exploded. I do know that if it had happened 10 mins earlier, myself and Frenchy had been talking, with the boat between us and one, or both of us, could have been seriously injured. Spooky!
Since then, the other guys called me Uncle Albert after that episode! Even people I didnt know were coming up to me on the ferry home and asking me about it, word had got around I guess!!
Anyway, as luck would have it, my rig was already out on my new found spot and I could bait up by hand if I walked around to the margin. Unless I had a run the rig was staying where it was, as there was no way I could get it back out there using the rod. I'd have to speak to Leigh the next day and see if I could hire a bait boat for the rest of the week, as I'd be needing it.
It was quiet for the remaider of the evening, no doubt the carp were suffering from severe headaches from the concussion!! Lol
Monday 2 May
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| 27.02lb Common |
I was enjoying my first cup of tea at about 6.30am when my RH rod (the one on my spot) burst into life. I was onto my rod quickly and I could feel it wasnt a monster, but a decent fish none the less. After another healthy scrap, the lovely looking common was in my net and being photographed and weighed. It was 27.02lb. It wasnt the biggest carp in the lake but it was in pristine condition.
The only downside to this capture was that I couldnt get my rig back out to the spot until I spoke to Leigh later that day. I decided to rest the whole swim until I had arranged something with Leigh about hiring a baitboat. I was still baiting up the spot throught he day with a light spattering of bait using my trusty catapult - or just walking around the other side and dropping them in. By 5.30pm I had arranged a deal with Leigh and my rigs were firmly on the spot again. All was quiet for the rest of the evening, a good nights kip ensued.
Tuesday 3 May
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| 56.02lb Common |
At 6am my middle rod screamed off, this time from the known spot near the margin to my right. This time the carp stayed deep and plodded along rather than go into a frenzy. It tried its damnest to shed the hook on the debris underneath the tree but I wasn't having any of it. I could feel the line juddering over snags or something and I prayed it wouldn't come off. I must have done something right, because I managed to steer it away from the obstacles and play it in the relatively open water. I've noticed that these carp really put up a strong fight, especially near the net and this was no exception. It thrashed the water to a foam! I eventually managed to net the fish after 15 mins. I was exhausted. My arms, legs and back were on fire. But when I looked at the fish in the net, I knew it was worth the effort. I was so knackered I had to get one of the lads to help me lift it onto the unhooking mat. I looked at the fish and knew it must be near 60lbs or so. It actually weighed 56.02lbs but I wasnt disappointed as it was in really good condition.
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| 47.02lb Common |
This was turning into one hell of a session. The rod was put back into the spot and again only a smattering of baits around the area. At 8am my RH rod once again put on its battle curve and I was into another angry carp. This was proving a popular spot for mr carp. After another exhausting scrap (I hadnt quite recovered from the last one) I managed to get the net under the fish. Someone offered to help me weigh it, which I was grateful for! At 47.02lbs I was incredibly happy with the result so far - and we still had a few more days left!
Not long after, it started to rain and it stayed all day. Kind of put a dampner on things for a bit as I didn't get a bite until the evening. At times the heavens opened and we would all skuttle back into our bivvies.
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| The heavens opening as viewed from my bivvy |
At around 8pm my middle rod was off. Again, a massive scrap ensued but I was able to land it fairly easily, as I'd had a lot of practice!! Lol. The carp was another lovely looker, weighing in at 53.00lb.
Wicked.
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| 53.00lb Common |
If this keeps up, I'll be a quivering wreck by the time I go home! I'm well chuffed with my fishing though, especially with the way I have thought about things and then went and put the thinking into action and caught some decent carp.
That was it for the rest of the evening, so I went to bed.
Wednesday 4 May
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| 26.09lb Common |
Wednesday arrived and I'd been up since 7am. I had breakfast and a cup of tea and was considering if anything needed to be changed. Then at 8.30am my question was answered with the roaring of my RH alarm as it signalled Mr Angry Carp on the end. No changes required! Finding that spot was a real good piece of fortune for me. 4 fish off the spot so far. This fish wasn't as big as some of the others and I was able to land it quite quickly. Good job really, as I'd only just recovered from yesterdays haul! The scales went round to 26.09lb and we returned the fish soon after. Another common.
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| Tim, Pete, Frenchy and Russell with me behind the camera. Leigh is the one slaving away on the bbq grill |
We were having a barbeque this afternoon so the whole gang would be bringing in our rods for a couple of hours and have a bit of a social. We'd have a few beers, some BBQ grub and a good chat. Leigh (the bailiff) was cooking the grub. Top Chef! Our group as whole were doing great, with several people getting carp to over 50lbs and many beating their PB's by quite a margin.
The social went well and we all enjoyed the break.
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| 42.09 Leather |
By 5pm I was back at my bivvy and getting the rigs and bait out to the spots ready for the evening. 30 minutes later my middle rod alarm nearly went into melt down as it screamed a take. My rod was doing what it is designed to do and I was having a battle with another Etang Du Bois carp. Yet again another fight and I managed to land the carp after a brief but powerful fight. It was a 42.09lb leather carp. Another PB by the wayside.
No more fish that night so I went to bed.
Thursday 5 May
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| 45.08 |
At 12.30pm I had a take on on my middle rod again. I managed to avoid all the snags and thankfully landed it safely after a brief struggle. This one went 45.08 and another lovely common to add to the scrapbook
By 6.30pm it was all quiet and going by previous nights it was going to stay that way. And so it proved.
Friday 6 May
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| 30.08lb Common |
At about 10.30am I was talking to Leigh and some others. We were enjoying the morning sunshine, trying not to think about the next day when we would have to pack up and make our way home.
Suddenly, I had a rip roaring take on my middle rod and the fight was on. It didnt scrap as much as some of the others but it was a hectic and intense battle. Looking into the landing net I could see that it was a common. I weighed the carp and it went 30.08lb.
Saturday 7 May
The night passed quietly, and we awoke and proceeded to pack our gear away in preparation for the journey home. We were very happy as we'd all had decent fish, good company and mainly dry weather.
This has been an exceptional fishing trip at a wonderful fishery in the middle of France. Etang Du Bois has proved itself as a first class venue.
Our party had 22 fish between 5 anglers. All of us had at least one 50lb+ carp. The lake record was broken for the most 50's caught in a week - 8 x 50lb+ carp. A trulyy awesome result topped by a 60lb common caught by Russell.
This has been an exceptional fishing trip at a wonderful fishery in the middle of France. Etang Du Bois has proved itself as a first class venue.
Our party had 22 fish between 5 anglers. All of us had at least one 50lb+ carp. The lake record was broken for the most 50's caught in a week - 8 x 50lb+ carp. A trulyy awesome result topped by a 60lb common caught by Russell.
Summary
Well, what more can I say? My personal tally was:
3 x 50's - (53.00, 54.02 56.02)
3 x 40's - (42.09, 45.08, 47.02)
1 x 30 - (30.08)
2 x 20's - (26.09, 27.02)
That says it all really!!
Au Revoir
Steve
PS
Well, what more can I say? My personal tally was:
3 x 50's - (53.00, 54.02 56.02)
3 x 40's - (42.09, 45.08, 47.02)
1 x 30 - (30.08)
2 x 20's - (26.09, 27.02)
That says it all really!!
Au Revoir
Steve
PS
Look what happened when I went to use the facilities. My camera got hijacked.
Can you spot who is in the picture?
Lol
