First Impressions of Morgane After about four hours and a couple of stops we pulled off the quiet road onto the track to the lakes and I don’t mind saying that I had butterflies in my stomach! WOW….was the first thing I said as we turned the final corner and saw the picturesque lake and the large static caravan which overlooks the carp lake. William was fast asleep so it was straight out of the car for both of us – Liz headed straight for the accommodation and guess where I went………yes, round the lake – Polaroid’s on and all! Two laps of the lake and loads of fish spotted later I was back to the car with a big smile on my face – “This is what life’s all about” I said!
You can walk completely around the lake although there are only a few fishing areas to get a bivvy in. For me it was easy as I had the lake to myself so I fished from both the platform and the far bank. If there was four of you fishing you would need to decide who was fishing where and be quite strict on areas or you would be looking at tangles/cross-overs, etc. The cat lake is a little smaller than the carp lake but much deeper and more tree lined. It contains a massive stock of big cats and you can easily imagine them lurking amongst the overhanging trees waiting to strike at the masses of coarse fish in the lake. There are small carp, roach, bream and a few tench and crucians in the lake and these can be caught easily using corn or bread for live bait or just for fun. Like the carp lake the fishing pegs are few but enable you to cover all the lake easily.
The accommodation consists of a large static caravan which overlooks the carp lake. Inside you will find two bedrooms – one double, one twin, a bathroom with toilet, shower and sink, a galley style kitchen with oven, hob and fridge. (Yes lads, it does have a freezer compartment which you could fit approx 8kg’s of boilies in!). You then have a lounge area which has seating and a long table which looks out over the balcony and carp lake! There is several power points which allow UK plugs (I think it was transported over from England) but take a travel plug just in case. Initial plans My initial plan was to fish from the platform so I could help Liz with unpacking but could still cover the whole lake with four rods (one out for Liz of course – she always has a rod in France and has a PB of over 24lbs to her name!). After seeing lots of carp feeding in the shallows at each end of the lake I had no hesitation placing a couple of rods in these areas. I had taken over my Angling Technics Microcat to help out so this was loaded with a few handfuls of CC Moore Betaine Fusion pellets and boilies before dropping them with my boilie or tiger nut hookbaits. The other rods were placed in open water (4ft) just to cover all my options whilst I learned about the lake. I didn’t have to wait long for my first run as the far margin rod roared off and after an awesome scrap I landed my first Morgane fish – an 11lbs 8oz common carp which took a liking to my Dynamite tiger nuts over BRB hemp seed. No sooner had I got that bait back out when the right hand rod also flew off.
Tackle and Bait Rods – Century NG’s 2.75lb tc Reels – Shimano 6000GTE Baitrunners &r Daiwa Tournaments 5000T. Spooled with 12lb Daiwa Infinity Duo. Rigs – 3ft Tubing, either 25lb Braid, 25lb Super Mantis to size 6 or 8 Barbless Nash Fang or Nailers. 7kg Nutrabaits Trigga Ice boilies – 5kg of 14mm & 2 kg of 18mm plus pop ups. 5kg CC Moores Obsession Boilies in 14mm plus pop ups. 1kg Nutrabaits Pineapple & Banana Ready-mades. Various bright pop ups. 10kg BRB prepared Hempseed – delivered on site. 2 large tubs of Dynamite Tigers. 1 large tub of Dynamite Maize. 10kg CC Moores Betaine Fusion pellets. (AWESOME!) 5kg Trigga pellets. A small amount of groundbait and some sweetcorn (Tins bought locally). So as you can see I don’t travel light! To be honest if I was going again I wouldn’t take as much, preferring to take / order 15kgs of boilies from BRB and then have some hempseed and tigers as an alternative bait. The fish did love the pellets, especially at the far end of the lake (they are feed pellets through the winter months from a special feeder) however I found that the pellets did attract the smaller carp during my stay.
A lull in action helped us get the gear unpacked and then have a bit of dinner but at 7pm they got on the feed. As it was our first night and after the number of miles we had travelled I decided to pack up at dark which was about 10.30pm. However, before this I had seven runs and landed five fish – all commons which were taken from all around the lake – they were really ‘havin’ it’! One thing I did notice, some of the fish had a few areas of spawning damage. Sandrine (from Horton Management) had mentioned that they had spawned early due to the March heat wave. Luckily I had taken lots of liquid antiseptic with me to apply on these areas and also on hook-holds. Hectic….to say the least……! I was up early the next day and the rods were all out for 7:30am. Liz and William were having a lie in after a cold night, so I sat taking in the morning air and pinching myself to ensure that I savoured every second. I don’t know about you but my working life seems to operate at 100mph these days. I have a pressured job and it sometimes takes me time to wind down. Therefore, I always try to make myself stop and take everything in when we’re away – time is so precious and this has really hit home to me since the birth of our son, William, and as this was his first holiday we were going to enjoy every second! Sunday proved to be absolutely crazy for fish action. I had 14 runs and landed 12 fish, mainly commons. One thing I will add about the Morgane Common Carp is that they fight like demons! They were a little lighter than normal, averaging 16lbs after the early spawning, but they fought and fought and fought – my arms were killing me at the end of each day! The best fish of the day was a lovely ‘bug eyed’ mirror of 24lbs 4oz which took a liking to three pieces of maize fished over a bed of hemp in the far margins. I had planned to fish the night, however after all that action I decided to get some sleep and was soon tucked up in bed with my lovely wife and William………….he was a little unsettled! The next morning I didn’t have to wait too long for my first run and as usual it was a screamer. I was fishing clipped up and the rod would normally bounce a little before it screamed off – I had to change the batteries on a couple of my Microns during the week because of the runs….! One thing I did notice was that I was taking most of my fish down the far end. So it was time to pick up the gear and head down there. The wind was a SW and this was pushing the carp down to the bottom end so we grabbed the gear and headed down after them. This proved to be a good move as I was soon into fish after fish after fish! From my new spot I was able to forget the bait boat and fish with PVA bags and catapulted freebies easily. Rod set-up Rod 1 – Left hand corner – margins. Tigers over hemp and maize. Rod 2 – Close to the feeder posts. This was about a rod length from the left hand bank in 4ft of water. Double 14mm CC Moores Obsession over Betaine Pellets. Rod 3 – Far left hand corner close to reed beds. 3ft of water. Trigga Ice 18mm’s over Trigga Pellets. Rod 4 – Far Bank Tree Line. CC Moores Obession snowman over boilies. (Liz’s Rod) If I thought yesterday’s action was hot, then I was wrong………how would you fancy 30 runs and 29 fish landed….phew! It was rare for me to have all rods out at once – I was either playing fish, recasting, re-baiting, catching my breath……….. Most of the fish were 16-18lb commons and these were really tiring me out. However, I did manage two 20lb+ mirrors on the Moores’ bait again. The fish were coming from all over the lake and on at least three occasions I had three runs at once – Liz was to the rescue and William even got in on the act during the photo’s! Once again I bottled out of the night – after a day like that I needed sleep……… Time for the Cats I was up a little later on Tuesday morning after the mad day I had on Monday – I was cast out for 8am and taking in the morning air then BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP………here we go again………. By the time Liz had come back from her daily trip to the local Boulangerie with our croissants I had landed four average sized commons and also lost a big mirror at the net….it looked a good 20 / low 30! After breakfast it was time for a change as I was a bit tired (I’m getting old these days….can’t stand the pace!) so I was off to the cat lake for a rest!
To cut a long afternoon / evening / night short I moved back to the carp lake ‘cat-less’ but a little less tired and I even managed to read a few of the magazines I had taken with me! A morning out… After a welcome shower and shave it was out for the morning to do a bit of exploring – we headed for Sable Sur Sarthe. This is a town about 20 mins away and surrounds the lovely river Sarthe which is similar in size to our own River Severn. We had a nice morning walking around the streets and took in the French way of life – a nice change from hauling fish! After a nice lunch we headed back to Morgane for a snooze and more fishing……….. Time for a re-think…. I was back on the bank for 2pm and decided on a slightly different approach. So far this week I had caught lots of fish but most of them were 16 -18lbs in weight. Although its great to enjoy multiple runs and hard fighting commons I really wanted to get through to the bigger mirrors. I decided two main things. Bait – time to move away from the pellets and mass particles and more use of just boilies and stringers. This would hopefully give the bigger fish more chance to find the bait before the smaller commons. Areas – I decided to fish away from the shallower marginal areas and move into the deeper middle areas. As I mentioned earlier the fish are easily seen but these were mainly the smaller double figure fish and the odd 20lber. The bigger fish must be feeding in the deeper areas away from the bright sunlight.
“I love it when a plan comes together” – Hannibal from the A-Team. (I know…I’m showing my age!!!) I was woken at 5.50am by a screamer and was soon into a good fish – you know the score, one minute you are fast asleep, the next you are stood by the water playing a fish – you can’t remember the bit in-between! The fish felt a bit better and after a few minutes I was weighing a 25lb mirror and then I took a quick photo on the self timer. No sooner had I slipped the fish back when the midwater rod was away – again it felt a good fish which gave a good account of itself and pulled the Rubens around to 26lbs 10oz – at last some proper fish – both to the Moores bait again. Another photo and I slipped the fish back safely before returning to my waiting bedchair – I was knackered but maybe this was going to be a good day………….. At 10am I had a run and quickly landed my third 20 in a row, taking a 20lbs 8oz mirror from the far reed bank on Trigga Ice. Then at 10.25am I had a slow run on the midwater CC Moore baited rod over a four bait stringer. I was soon up and pulled firmly into a good fish which kept deep and headed right. I quickly hurdled the pod and headed after the fish so it was away from the other rods. The sun was blazing now and I was soon sweating as I kept the pressure on the NG remembering that I was using barbless hooks…………………
This time was no different and after a few minutes she slipped the net under what looked like a big mirror. “The truth was in the lifting if you know what I mean!” and when I lifted the net I knew it was a biggie – but how big? As I puffed and panted over to the unhooking mat, I was talking up the size and Liz was keeping me realistic by remaining cool and saying how it wasn’t as big as my previous PB which had a massive frame. However this fish had the tummy and was very broad across the shoulders. To make sure things were spot on I carefully zeroed the Rubens whilst Liz looked after the fish and kept it wet. Up onto the scales and I was struggling to get a clear reading, not because of the fish flapping but down to me shaking!! Eventually I composed myself and watched as the needle settled on 39lbs 7oz……………YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, A NEW PB!
The fish was carefully looked after and after a few photo’s I got into the water and cradled her until she was swimming strongly back into the deeper water – I was one happy angler! My only disappointment was that William had slept right through it……..never mind I’m sure he’ll be with me for my 1st Forty. After this I wound in all the rods and headed for a shower and I treated Liz and William to a trip to the Supermarket and then a slap up meal at McDonalds – I know how to treat my family! I was back fishing for 5:45pm and enjoyed a nice evening catching 4 fish from 5 runs including another low 20 mirror. I packed up at 9:30pm and headed back to the Mobile Home for a good nights sleep after a ‘Top Day’. Fish on Friday…….. I was up and fishing for 7am on Friday knowing that this was my last full day of fishing. My plan was to fish the morning from the bivvy and then move the rods back to the accommodation platform to fish the evening and to enjoy a last night barby – sorted! It didn’t take too long for the fish to get on the bait and before I moved swims at 11.30pm I had caught five fish to 21lb 12oz from all rods. The fish were still enjoying my selection of baits however they still seemed to favour the CC Moore’s Obsession boilies.
In addition to this I also landed some nice fish on the other rods but Liz was going to steal the action when she landed a new PB of 24lbs 8oz fish whilst I was playing a double figure common. This came during a mad 10 minutes when three rods all roared off at a similar time, something that happened more than once during the week. This place was full of fish! The result The alarm went off at 6am on Saturday and once again the fish were feeding. I managed to land six doubles before I finally decided to call it a week and reel in. My results for the week were: 94 fish caught
Summary Whilst I would have liked a higher average size of fish I know that they are in there and if I was going to fish it again I think I would target them more specifically – like I did for the last few days. I think that a factor which added to my massive catch of doubles was that the lake wasn’t fished the week before we arrived. As the week progressed I got into the bigger fish and this showed the quality fish available. Morgane is ideal for families as it allows you to enjoy your fishing around a family holiday. You know its not a problem winding in whilst you go into town and the fish will be ready and waiting for you when you get back. You don’t need 3.5lbs TC rods, big pit reels, boats and fish finders, just fish as you would over here in the UK and use a quality bait and you should catch well – if you don’t then take up golf! Then if you add a bit of luck to your fishing you could catch a fish of a lifetime. Many thanks to all at Angling Lines Holidays, Ian at CC Moores & Simon & Sandrine at Horton Management. If you fancy a bit of that or wish to check out the other excellent venues at Angling Lines Holidays then click www.anglinglinesholidays.com. For more information on CC Moore baits: www.ccmoore.com. |
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