They just kept getting BIGGER!

[Steve Arnold]

This is France, so no close season on the river. Apologies if any carp fishermen may be underwhelmed by my gear - but I went out for barbel!

First carp after about 5 minutes of an afternoon session today.....it went 25lb. Taken on my heavy telescopic rod as the initial river flow was quite something.

Second carp took on my Greys prodigy barbel 1.5lb tc rod about 10 minutes after landing the first.....it went 29lb

Third carp took on my heavier long range (telescopic!) rod about an hour later......it was a massive 42lb

That had one big belly - close to spawning maybe? Though the water has barely started to warm yet.

I did not take this fish to the mat up the bank. It had too much weight, so I took the scales to the water and slid the fish back as soon as it had a breather.

Temperatures in the shade reached 27c today, probably over 30c in the direct sun - we felt it! I had joked with my fishing buddy that a carp may be lured out by the sun, but I had not expected this!

Sorry I have cropped all the photos, I want to keep this swim to myself for a while!

Lucky I took a decent size barbel net, must take the carp net from now on.

Oh! I did get a barbel eventually, just a 4lb fish.

 

[Philip]

Well done. first fish in particular is a peach

 

[Roger Johnson 2]

Superb catch, well done!
I’ve been wondering, in light of the numerous camping cars on our local site, how a night in a bivvy would relate to the curfew. Clearly I’m not thinking on the right lines, I just need to pootle down to the Lot.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[108831]

Bet you couldn't believe your luck eh??? Fantastic session well done mate.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Bet you couldn't believe your luck eh??? Fantastic session well done mate.

That's why I am awake so early this morning - my head is still full of carp!

When I moved to this part of France I was well aware of its big carp history. But I had not planned doing any overnight sessions and really do enjoy an afternoon after barbel - that's enough for me!

But the tactics for both species are very similar in the river, I prefer 20mm boilies even for barbel. Sometimes I even double them to slow down the little barbel, so it is just a matter of fishing hours before a shoal of carp spoil the barbel fishing!

Anyway, I am getting to enjoy the "buzz" that the take and first run of a river carp gives me. Maybe I will take carp fishing more seriously in the future - there are much bigger carp here to be caught!

.........but if I never catch another this days fishing is seared on my memory! I keep thinking "cracked the 40 lb mark, 100lb catch in two hours - BLEEDING HELL!"

This really is "Living the Dream" ?

 

[theartist]

Those commons look absolute stunners

 

[ian g]

Fantastic fish , I'm so glad you managed to catch your target species ?? . That really was a red letter day.

 

[Molehill]

Hell of a catch and the fish look great. Not much point in trying to go carp fishing now!
Be thankful the Brits are not allowed to France just now, or they would be loading their Transit vans with half a ton of boilies and descending on your water in their hundreds ?.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

What a cracking session . . . the commons look stunning in the sunlight.

 

[john step]

Cracking fish. I have found wild carp in French rivers are very widespread. The Rhone and Petite Rhone on the edge of the Camargue Delta very good. The Rhone downstream of Avignon is well stocked and HUGE.

 

[mikench]

J'en ai marre Monsieur! ?.

Well done sir those are exceptional fish caught in a lovely place in an extraordinary country. One day, one day.

 

[bullet]

Lovely fish, especially those commons, top fishing, mate!

 

[Steve Arnold]

Hell of a catch and the fish look great. Not much point in trying to go carp fishing now!
Be thankful the Brits are not allowed to France just now, or they would be loading their Transit vans with half a ton of boilies and descending on your water in their hundreds ?.

Many have done that in years past, with great results!

More recently I think the stocked lakes get most attention from Brits. At least with the lakes you can be convinced carp will be in front of you at some point. On the rivers the fish move around a lot, you can hunt for them or bait up swims and wait - but it's very hit 'n miss!

A lot of northern European anglers rent boats to fish this river. Virtually a floating bivvy with rod holders, if you have the inclination that's the way to go! I have no connection with this business, but looks good to me https://lotexperience.com/en/

Another useful video

As I live just 10 minutes from some great carp fishing, I can just pop down when I feel I have a good chance.

 

[Philip]

More recently I think the stocked lakes get most attention from Brits. At least with the lakes you can be convinced carp will be in front of you at some point. On the rivers the fish move around a lot, you can hunt for them or bait up swims and wait - but it's very hit 'n miss!

An unfortunate reality being that many of the private lakes are stocked with fish stolen from the rivers not to mention some UK waters too. It decimated the stocks of a number of rivers I know of their larger Carp down the years. Perahaps I should not say it but I have been offered some quite sizable sums of money for fish in my nets in the past, something I am quite proud to say I have never accepted and never will.

Even though they are creating the demand for the fish to be taken I dont knock people for fishing these private "holiday" waters, each to their own & who wants to go on a fishing holiday and blank...but I cant bring myself to do it. I just dont see anything like the same merit (for me) in catching a fish from a river and catching a fish from a private stocked lake.

Things have slowly begun to pick up again as so many private fisheries went down the same route they could not all stay in business. With demand dropping the river Carp were left to quietly go about their own devices and some new big ones are coming through again.

Obviously there is only so much you can tell from a photo but your fish strike me as being quite young fish, especially the two commons. I am seeing allot of young clean fish coming through on the rivers I fish too, wide shoulders and big frames that could become tommorrow giants.
It bodes well for the future unless a new wave of demand comes round again to mess it up. I hope not.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Hi Philip,
Yes, I had heard of these "stolen" fish. Certainly the local carp anglers now play their cards very close to their chests! Certainly, they do not give anything away to outsiders (English accents def. included!) I remember hearing about one of the biggest names in UK angling being mentioned in this regard to stocking his lakes. I had no idea if it was truth or myth, but your comments add credence to the stories.

The local club is involved in stocking carp at times. I presume that is where the mirror carp have appeared, they are not the "clean" shape of the native river carp. Those fish I consider to be wild bred are absolute stunners, this one I caught last autumn...

I feel privileged to be here with these wonderful, wild fish on my doorstep!

 

[mikench]

Make the most of your current freedom of movement Pelamid as a lockdown looms. Beautiful fish by the way.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Make the most of your current freedom of movement Pelamid as a lockdown looms. Beautiful fish by the way.

Hi Mike, I am waiting to see what restrictions are added to the 10k travelling distance. Some good barbel swims just 8k from my door!

Guess we were expecting another lockdown as they have been so slow rolling out the vaccine. We had our first jab last week, but only as we "trapped" our doctor into an appointment, even then we were supposed to get the AZ vaccine but politics cancelled it. After ambushing our GP again we got put on the Pfizer list.

 

[mikench]

From what I've read the 10k rule will remain but now only for essential journeys which fishing may no longer be regarded as . Good luck.

 

[Badgerale]

An unfortunate reality being that many of the private lakes are stocked with fish stolen from the rivers not to mention some UK waters too. It decimated the stocks of a number of rivers I know of their larger Carp down the years. Perahaps I should not say it but I have been offered some quite sizable sums of money for fish in my nets in the past, something I am quite proud to say I have never accepted and never will.

Even though they are creating the demand for the fish to be taken I dont knock people for fishing these private "holiday" waters, each to their own & who wants to go on a fishing holiday and blank...but I cant bring myself to do it. I just dont see anything like the same merit (for me) in catching a fish from a river and catching a fish from a private stocked lake.

Things have slowly begun to pick up again as so many private fisheries went down the same route they could not all stay in business. With demand dropping the river Carp were left to quietly go about their own devices and some new big ones are coming through again.

Obviously there is only so much you can tell from a photo but your fish strike me as being quite young fish, especially the two commons. I am seeing allot of young clean fish coming through on the rivers I fish too, wide shoulders and big frames that could become tommorrow giants.
It bodes well for the future unless a new wave of demand comes round again to mess it up. I hope not.

You could argue that carp are an invasive species, and it's actually more moral to remove them from rivers - especially if you don't have to kill them.

Actually, I would argue that.

 

[Steve Arnold]

You could argue that carp are an invasive species, and it's actually more moral to remove them from rivers - especially if you don't have to kill them.

Actually, I would argue that.

Common carp​

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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Binomial name
Scientific classification
Conservation status
Common carp
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cypriniformes
Family:	Cyprinidae
Subfamily:	Cyprininae
Genus:	Cyprinus
Species:	C. carpio
Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758

The common carp or European carp (Cyprinus carpio) is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.[2][3] The native wild populations are considered vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),[1] but the species has also been domesticated and introduced (see aquaculture) into environments worldwide, and is often considered a destructive invasive species,[2] being included in the list of the world's 100 worst invasive species. It gives its name to the carp family, Cyprinidae.


Your argument would be wrong! Wild carp are native to Europe, they have every "moral???" right to exist here as us!

I guess you don't get any arguments, you simply cannot argue with.....what's the saying?