I’ve wanted to get to France for a while now, but its always been a headache with kids, cars, and getting the time, but I was allowed to make the decision (thanks dear!) to go this year, so back in February I started trawling the forums to get an idea of what was around.
I wanted an ‘all inclusive’ type of trip as it would be my only real trip of the year, so I didn’t want the aggro of sorting food and travel, and after a bit of reading, and lots of emails to various people, I decided on Les Quis. It isn’t the cheapest trip (its probably the most expensive) but everyone promised me it would be worth it. I got hold of the two DVD’s of the site – The Gauntlet challenge and the 4X4 challenge, which give you a fairly good idea of the swims, how to fish it, and the size of the fish in there! Tob and Bernie who run Les Quis were amongst (if not THE) first English anglers to set up a fishery in France, they have been running trips for 15 odd years now, and the feedback I had from other people was excellent – also the fact that they are pretty much booked most of the year two years in advance must mean something. So mid April the deposit was paid for a trip at the end of October, and the waiting began. Sorting the Bait First thing was to sort the bait – I was going to take my normal bait, which I’m confident will catch anywhere, but I’d be silly not to take some of there going baits – but rather than buy from them, I wanted to ‘tweak’ it a little, so a 10kg bucket of Solar’s ‘Winter Secret’ was bought and was rolled as 20mm baits – by the time they were air dried (they hung in my garage till I went!) they were down to about 18mm and as hard as pebbles! Poacher baits ‘Fruit Frenzy’ also seemed to do well there so 10kg of 15mm baits were ordered, along with 25kg of Essential B5 that I rolled myself into pillow shapes. I also had 7.5kg of Mistrals ‘Rosehip Isotonics’ just because they are fairly poisson chat proof, and quite a bit of it goes in.
I’d made some 3ftx2ft drying trays out of some wood and chicken wire I had – they worked out at about £ 3 each, which was quite a bit cheaper than buying them! I didn’t want to dry the fruit frenzy and B5 too much as I reckoned the chats and crays wouldn’t be too bad that time of year, so just dried them for 72 hours. After counting down the months, weeks, days and finally minutes, it was time to go. We met the coach at Folkestone at 1am Saturday, catching the 3am ferry to Calais. Now, I hate ferries at the best of times and it had been blowing up to force 8 southwesterly, so I wasn’t really looking forward to it! Luckily it’s a quick crossing, and with all the chat, banter and half a pack of travel sick tablets, I hardly noticed it (unlike some!) Off the other end and so began the 41/2 -hour trip to the complex.
I must mention the coach – it’s a luxury air-conditioned job, and everyone got at least two seats to themselves – easily enough room to go to sleep in some comfort! Hot drinks were available for those that wanted them, and a toilet for anyone not brave enough to brave the French toilets! Loads of room for all the tackle, the rods go into a trailer on the back, and were stored upright in plenty of space – none of the rod crushing horror stories that you hear about. Most of the trip was in the dark, so it seemed to take forever – well it did whilst I was awake! It’s a four hour(ish) trip, allowing for a cigarette break (no smoking on the coach). Finally we arrived to the sight of 18 smelly, unwashed carp anglers – lovely! A quick chat with a couple of lads I knew from another forum and a walk around the complex and it was time to choose a swim. Swim Choice One good thing about Les Quis is you have a draw on the coach for the order to choose your swim, so everyone’s in with a chance of a going swim. I was lucky enough to choose number 2, and having wanted to go into the ‘coypu’ swim on the old lake since I had first seen it on the DVD’s, and having the choice of all the swims (bar one!) of the lake, went into ‘The Shallows’ on the Elf lake, which was about number 9 on my list! But it did look good with the mild south/south westerly blowing into it. Also I was able to bait my number one choice ‘Coypu Corner’ on the Old Lake, which was right behind my swim. I knew from the forum that there was a depression at around the 70yd mark, as well as a bar at 40yds or so. There was also a nice looking hole in the tree line at around 60yds, but the cast was quite a tricky one, as the wind would be taking the line into an overhanging tree. First thing I did was to put a kilo or so of bait into the hole by walking around the lake, then up with the bivvy and sort the rods out. Rigs were a 2 or 3oz running lead, 2ft of ESP quick sink tubing and a Solar flying back lead behind it and 15lb Krystonite reel line straight through. An 8″ Kryston Mantis or Krystonite hooklength knotless knotted to a size 8 Gardener Mugga or Korda Wide gape completed the rig. Bait was a B5 snowman. Simple stuff really! I was hoping to get a fish a day as the Elf isn’t normally the easiest of the lakes, and it being later on in the year.
There were four of us on the Elf lake, Me, Johnny B, Adam and Paul the bailiff. Half an hour after casting out, Johnny B was away with an upper 40, followed an hour or two later by Les Quis’ first 60 at 60.08! Johnny had drawn number one on the coach (staff perk!) and had been dying to fish the boar, sorry, bear swim for years, so was straight in there. I was lucky enough to weigh the fish for him, and what an awesome sight! It didn’t even look full… Adam, who had gone into the ‘middle hanger’, (another swim I was told to go into!) was off the mark fairly quickly with a 40 and a couple of others. I was getting twitchy already! I kept the bait going in on the rods, 5 or 6 baits every half an hour or so, and I started baiting Coypu Corner after seeing a bit of movement in the tree line, so I had a ‘Plan B’. News was coming in from around the complex, one guy had a 51lb mirror first cast! One of the things I noticed fairly early on was that there’s not many edible sized animals around, something to do with the amount of shooting… as it seems if its vaguely tasty, and moving, the French shoot it! One good thing about that is that it keeps down the amount of Boar on the complex. I skipped dinner that night and went to bed with the sight of fish crashing and bubbling about 15yds past my baits, boar running around the woods, and screaming takes from the Long lake… Shorts and Tee-shirt Weather and the Lodge Sunday dawned without a cloud in the sky. Up to the lodge for a coffee with Paul and Martin the bailiffs, and the weather man was talking about mid 20’s all week – remember this was October! I didn’t get out of my shorts and t-shirts all week, where last year they had frosts most of the week.
The lodge is a fairly spacious one, with more than enough room for everyone, and a well stocked drinks cabinet! It also has a nice patio area outside, which is where I ate most of my meals with it being so warm. It’s in-between the Old Lake (the first one they owned) and the Elf lake (that they bought from the Elf petrol company) The Long lake (because it’s, well, long!) is a short trot up the path. Coffee finished and back to the swim after a few pointers from Paul just before it got light, ready to spot bubblers. As with most mornings, just after first light, 9 or 10 cormorants moved in, helping to keep down the poisson chat numbers – they aren’t all bad then! The baits that I had meshed up overnight weren’t even touched by the poissons, so I decided not to bother, even at night, unless things changed. More fish were coming to Johnny and Adam, and I was beginning to think I’d done the wrong thing and was thinking of moving, when at 3pm I was away on the tree line rod about 5 minutes after putting some bait into the swim. I had just decided to chop the tree line baits as I could put them in by hand – had that made a difference? Off the Mark, but I Lose a Big One A 16lb mirror was landed a couple of minutes later; real skill needed in catching one of the smallest fish in the lake! I had to get the shoes and socks off to land the fish, due to the swim being set back into the trees and it being shallow close in, so I was happy it was so warm! It took 5 or 6 casts to get the rig back in the same place (I found over the week if the rig wasn’t within a foot or so it wasn’t worth leaving), then I nipped back around and put a little more bait in, and back to the swim for a celebratory beer! I’d just finished that one when it was time for another! Same rod and after a plodding battle my first French 30 was on the mat at 30.02 – a real fat fish – and the jitters had gone.
It was by then time for dinner, and being Sunday a huge plate of roast was waiting for us at the lodge. The complex seemed to be fishing well – 24-carp, 3-20s, 7-30s, 4-40s, 1-52lb and 1-60, to 14 anglers, not at all bad for this late in the year. Back to the swim, bait up and cast out. Thirty minutes later the snag rod was away again, and it felt a much better fish. It took about 10 minutes to get it away from the tree line, and it then headed straight for the snaggy corner to my right. Heavy side strain turned it back in front of me where it plodded around for another five minutes or so. I then got it within netting range and it rolled on the surface right where the headlight was, and I promptly soiled my pants! It decided it didn’t like the look of me and just swam away from me for 30yds or so. A patient bit of coaxing and I got it close again, where it rolled again, dived and I felt that horrible grating and “ping”, the line fell slack, cutting off above the rig tube. There was obviously a snag close in. I was so gutted I just rigged back up and cast the rod back into open water. Plan B and Coypu Scuppered It was 6.30 Monday morning and dawn was an hour or so away and it was up for a shower and a shave at the lodge before everyone else got up. Kettle on for the customary coffee and watch the fish bubbling away from my swim! Part of the problem I was having with the open water rods was that the wind was blowing down my end of the lake so the ripple stopped me seeing any of the bubbling. Paul was trying to convince me to fish the open water more, as the tree line doesn’t tend to throw up the bigger fish, but I couldn’t see any fish movement in open water, and there were fish showing just off my snag tree. It was getting light enough to get the tree line rod back out so I went back to the swim and put some bait in, and got the rods back out again. There is a theory that the fish have a feed up at breakfast/dinner times due to the lack of lines in the water, and as I never really have a breakfast anyway I was half expecting some action. Two hours later and I hadn’t had a touch even though there were definitely fish around the snag, so that theory’s a load of cobblers! In fact, over the week I didn’t have a single fish at a mealtime! I had a little look in Coypu and put a bit more bait in. There were fish bubbling in open water, so I decided to give it till Wednesday and move there unless my swim really started fishing. Adam and Johnny were still picking up fish,; it just seemed that the fish weren’t down my end of the lake. It did seem that they started off at the top end in the morning, moved down the lake during the day, and then buggered off back up the lake in the evening just before they got to my swim! So it was back to the watching, baiting and sunbathing. Disaster Struck! Then disaster struck! Steve who had moved twice already appeared in coypu – “Plan B” was down the pan so I’d have to work a bit harder! We had a conference in Steve’s swim, pointing out a few spots and gave him a bit of advice (as he was fairly new to carping), and at 4pm I was away again on the tree line rod – another low double. Just in time too, as it was time for the barbeque! I put some more chopped baits in on the tree line, sticked some more bait into the open water spots, and sprinted to the lodge to get to the food! Chatting to Adam he said that he couldn’t get a take using PVA bags, something I’d been using on the open water rods, so I decided to drop them and just use a single bait stringer, if that can be called a stringer! A couple of platefuls of salad, a French stick, half a cow and a few beers later I wobbled back to the swim and got settled for the night ahead. I was chatting to Steve when one of the rods plodded off. I ran the 10yds back to the swim (bit confused as the tree line rod was locked up) to find it was one of the open water rods – at last! A 29-pounder for me and a good ending to Monday A plodding fight and after giving Paul his first bleeps of the week (sorry Paul!) a 29lb mirror slipped into the net. I was well chuffed as I hoped it meant the fish were finally starting to get a bit further down the lake. Also it meant that I could still get the rod out with it being dark!
I had a celebratory cup of coffee and a giant cookie, and sat back and watched the stars. When I say, “had a cup of coffee” I had a bit of trauma to get it. I had got hold of an MSR Whisperlight cooker for the trip as space was at a premium, and they give free petrol. Now I hadn’t bothered reading the instructions, so I assumed (yep, that word!) that it was just a case of pressurise and light – the outcome was flames 3ft in the air and petrol all over the place! Still, it kept Johnny amused (I got the knack towards the end of the week!). I was just thinking about getting under the fleece (far too warm for the bag!) when the tree line rod was off again. Straight away I knew it was a smaller fish, it tore around and slipped the hook a couple of minutes later. I was more annoyed as it meant I couldn’t get the rod back out for another 12 hours! Monday ended on 74 carp, 24 doubles, 25 twenties, 13 thirties, 9 forties, 2 fifties and 1 sixty. Tuesday, and I woke to a bit of a breeze! The wind had got up big style. Off to the lodge for the morning chat with Paul and Martin, we both (me and Paul that is) thought that the wind was big enough to move the fish, even though it was the same direction it had been all year! The tree line cast had become really tricky to keep the line out of the tree’s, so I had to cast a lot flatter – the result being the rig ending up in the outside branches of the snag. Now I hate leaving line in trees (and I’m tight!) so I took my spare landing net handle with the weighing hook on round to the snag. I had to climb about 4ft out along a branch that was four inches or so thick – I’m glad I stayed off the breakfasts! After a bit of manipulating and a lot of swearing I managed to get the rig back. Unclip the lead and hooklength and pull the line back through. Reel in and start again (after clipping back up a couple of feet further back!). I finally got the rods out, and sat back with leaves, branches, and my landing net flying around the swim! Back to the routine of trickling bait into the spots, and at 3pm the tree line was off again – a 19-pounder being the culprit. I was starting to think of changing things about, I don’t know why but I felt the snowman was a bit too obvious, so after being tricked into the Lamb Shank for dinner (which wasn’t actually that bad!) I started fishing single baits, but with a piece of fake maize on top. The result was fairly instant, a bream of 7 or 8lbs! As you would expect, it was with a crowd in the swim, and just as it was getting dark… I risked the re-cast without clipping up first, and as I cast, the wind dropped, the sun broke through the clouds and the cast landed inch perfect! (OK, I lied about the sun breaking through!). With a crowd in the swim, I had to act as if it always went like that! The crowd was around as Steve had started catching – five fish in fairly quick succession – his first three breaking his PB. From memory, 18 to 19.5, 23 then 26lb. Another double and a 25 and he was a happy chappy! The 26 came from a spot that it took us both a while to get the bait into, so we were well chuffed with that.
Dawn came with a wet sling hanging from the tree! At 2am the tree line rod had gone again, and after an anxious fight where the fish had managed to find every snag, weed bed and twig in my swim, a big common rolled over the net cord – this is what I had come for! Up on the weigh bar and it went 43.04 – I don’t mind if I don’t catch another now! I went to wake Steve for some pics “I’ve got a bit of a common” I said…”F*** me, it’s a tank!” said Steve as I took the fish out of the solar weigh sling (no sacks allowed). It behaved impeccably as we did the pictures and I walked out a bit to release it. I was buzzing and didn’t really get back to sleep, well, not for 20 minutes or so! When I woke up at 6am I went for a shower and the customary cup of coffee, and to tell Paul I could lose my ‘pest control’ tag! Paul had also had a couple of fish in the night, so maybe the fish had moved down. The conditions looked really good as well, the wind had died down, it was overcast and fish could be seen bubbling all over the place (apart from in front of me, where it was still choppy!) so it was back to the swim, full of enthusiasm. I decided to chop back a bit on the margin spot as I had now put about 15kg in, and I wondered whether it was putting the fish off. From memory Johnny and Adam had a couple, and Paul started catching consistently, fish to 48-plus. I was obviously wrong about the baiting, as I didn’t! Then the sun broke through and the activity stopped. After moping around the swim a bit, I headed off to the ‘bay lake’, a lake they use as a stock pond, but you can book to fish. It’s a fish a chuck, with the fish homing in on the plop of the bait; I had about 10 fish in 45 minutes, all high singles/low doubles – great for getting the confidence back, though I cant imagine a worse carping hell than doing that for a week! The day ended and we were on 106 carp, 33 twenties, 24 thirties, 10 forties and 1 fifty. Thursday and I was itching to move – but there was nowhere to go! Not anywhere I really felt confident in, so I broke the habit of the holiday and had the breakfast. I could feel my arteries clogging as I ate it; no one does fried bread like they do. I have no idea how they eat them every day. Great stuff! Chatting to Johnny and Adam, we felt the fish weren’t really feeding, although the fish were showing a fair amount. We thought it was worth getting the zig rigs out for a couple of hours, so a 6ft one went out over the open water spots, and a 3ft one just down from my margin spot. The activity slowly disappeared over the hour or so, so it was back to chopping baits and frequent running round to the margin spot to re-bait it. I had a little incident as I wound the treeline rod back in: the wind was getting back up so I was in a hurry to get the rod back out, and when swinging in the rig, I missed and got floored by a 3oz grippa lead in the eye! Doh! I had blood streaming down my face, but due to the wind I was more worried about getting the rod back out! Once I was happy, I got Steve to watch the rods and ran up to the lodge to clean it up (and have a cry!).
At 12.40 I was away on the margin spot again, a 27.08 mirror being the culprit. I loved getting in the water with them whilst I played them as the margin drops off fairly quickly, so you end up playing the fish around your legs! After getting the rod back out I had high hope for the (seemingly) 3 o’clock feeding time, but it wasn’t to be. By now I was going through the motions on the open water rods, all my efforts were being concentrated on the margin. Strange, because it’s normally an open water swim. Paul showed Martin and me a little stalking spot he’d cut out on the Old. Straight down into 8ft of water and you could see fish browsing under your feet (they have had mid 40’s out of it!). Martin wanted to christen his new stalking rod, so after sneaking into position he lowered a bait in and we sat there watching the fish bubble and the rod tip quiver and pluck down as the poisson’s nibbled at the bait, then a couple of big “doinks” and the rod arched down. Martin clamped down hard on the fish; rod bent double and ‘ping’, the hook hold slipped. Gutted! (But one day I’ll be back!). Back in my swim and I trickled the bait in all day (apart from the trip to the barbeque…the kebabs were top stuff!), but the effort was wasted though as nothing else was forthcoming, and I went to sleep wondering if I had screwed things up. One thing that you would hear every night as it got dark was the motorbikes – the lakes are just off a long straight road, and they used it to test when their rev limiters cut in! Followed by the classic French police siren, though they never seemed to catch up! We were now up to 140 carp, 34 doubles, 53 twenties, 23 thirties, 19 forties, 5 fifties and one sixty. Friday, and I made a conscious act to stick a load of bait in About 3kg just as it got light, of chops and whole baits. I seemed to make the right decision as at 10 I was away with a mid double mirror.
Another kilo of bait, and half an hour later a 27.04 common graced the net. “This is alright,” I thought! Another kilo followed and at 1.30 another double took the bait. Rod back out, run around and drop some bait on the spot and away again with another double. This was more like it! I was starting to run out of bait, so only 30 or 40 freebies went back in. Chicken and chips were on the menu, and shortly after casting out after tea the rod was violently wrenched round. As soon as I picked the rod up I knew this was something special. It dragged me to the front of the swim and I felt it go through the snag. Constant pressure brought it back through, and it plodded off down the margin to my left. Constant pressure and I turned it just short of a fallen tree and back out into open water…. excellent! It drew roughly level with my swim, then did an about turn and went back to the snaggy corner. I had the rod right over with the tip under the water, but it kept going…. the drag was quickly screwed down but it still kept taking line…. grate…grate…grate…ping! The line fell slack. I actually felt a bit sick; the fish I came for had got away. I just packed the rod away, I couldn’t get the rod back on the spot, but I had lost enthusiasm anyway. I slept like a baby that night (apart from having to net a 47 for Steve…. top stuff!!) and actually packed up in the dark at 6am the next morning, ready for the coach. We ended up on 175 fish, 50 doubles, 70 twenties, 28 thirties, 21 forties, 5 fifties and a sixty, not bad for 14 anglers!
Everyone was amazed that I had packed up so early, but I had caught enough and losing the fish last night knocked me right back. I had a shower and a shave (so the missus might talk to me!), everyone else slowly packed up, and just after 9am, the coach turned up with another coach load of eager anglers, a bit like us 168 hours earlier! After a chat with a couple of the guys fishing the next week, it was time to get the gear loaded and the trip back to Calais. The trip back seemed to go so much quicker, and you got to see all the ‘lovely’ sights of rural France; I’ve never thought of concrete blocks dropped in the middle of nowhere and filled with people as ‘Stylish’! I had a great time, and was really impressed with the complex, but more with the way the trip is run. The attitude is that you are on holiday, so they want to do everything for you to make your trip enjoyable, both in terms of catching and having a good time – thanks to Paul and Martin for that! They call it “the best chance in France”, and it certainly seems to be… negotiations have begun with the missus for next year! |
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