The trip had been planned the previous year and over the months much advice was offered to us ‘French Carp Fishing Virgins’! Well, I decided to take everything I ‘might’ need and the kitchen sink, but then, so did most of the others! A logistical nightmare As you can probably imagine, it was to become a logistical nightmare! The company chosen to chauffeur us and our tackle, in minibus and trailer, had never taken 12 carp anglers to France before! However, they got us there in the end and, surprisingly, just in time! The first pick-up time on this ‘epic’ journey was 13:30hrs on the Friday afternoon. The first pick-up being in Yorkshire. The second was in Manchester, then J14 of the M1, then Thurrock, South Mims and Finally Dover! We arrived at Dover Ferry Port at 01:20 Saturday morning. That was 12 hours gone and we hadn’t even got out of the country! As you can also imagine, one or two beers were downed during this time and I got a bit worried as we went through customs because most of us hadn’t eaten and were a little worse for the alcohol. But I needn’t have worried, for we set sail at 02:00hrs, had a full English breakfast and a few more beers on the ferry and arrived in the Port of Calais at 03:25hrs, all remembering to put their watches on by an hour (well, most!). At last, we embarked upon the final leg of our lengthy journey!
At 12:15hrs – yes you got it – almost 22 hrs after the first pick up (taking into account the 1 hour time difference) we reached our destination! Some tight swims for a fat carper On arriving at the lake we were met by Franck, the owner, who warmly welcomed us and invited us to walk around the lake and decide where to fish. There are 16 swims at Vaumigny, some a bit tight for a fat carper like me with a mountain of gear, but some big enough to accommodate two anglers comfortably. On our walk around we discovered many snags to fish to, including full sized downed trees – two of which are marked in the centre of the lake; an island; one side that could not be fished from; and a couple of bays. Back at the minibus we drew for swim choice – whoever drew number one chose first and so on. I drew number 4, and chose to fish swim 7, which was a particularly sexy looking bay. After sorting out all the gear (and the booze) it was time to ship it to our chosen swims, but with just one carp-porter and a borrowed wheel-barrow between 12 of us it wasn’t going to be easy! I decided to do my he-man impression and carry all mine!
Silty and rocky bottoms………… Mainly finding a silty bottom (ooer), I decided my first rod would be cast to an area in the centre of the bay where I found patches of stone – I won’t say gravel, because it felt more like rocks – and resembled, I believe, the stones at the edge of the water in my swim. The second rod I decided to cast to my right about 8ft from overhanging branches, some of which were in the water. To my left at the edge of the bay which I called ‘the point’ because the other side of it is the entrance to another bay, had an over-hanging branch. I felt that any fish cruising between the bays would have to come across my bait and therefore decided to fish to this area with my 3rd rod. To my right, and very tight into the corner, I’d seen activity, with carp topping and crashing, and so an obvious choice. Prior to my trip I had purchased an AT Baitboat – and I’m so glad I did! I was able to present my bait perfectly in the two areas that were to eventually bring me fish (and some wonderful memories) – ‘the point’ and far into the right corner. Although the most I would have needed to cast was only around 80 metres, it would have been impossible to cast to the areas where I fished as they were far too ‘snaggy’. In fact I would recommend a baitboat to anyone wanting to fish this venue as you have to work at finding the fish and are often found in the middle of the lake close to the snags, and whilst you may be able to cast 100+ metres accuracy is essential here. Those that did not catch on this trip were those who were left with open-water swims, and either didn’t have a boat and/or couldn’t find the fish. A lesson to be learnt there I feel! Feature finding and a few Kronenbourgs The first afternoon/evening I spent more time feature finding, water watching and baiting up my chosen areas, but as the evening drew on I did get takes but, strangely, couldn’t hook a fish. I was so tired after the journey, and with 20 little bottles of Kronenbourg 1664 at about £ 4 – and thus a few beers later – I decided to reel in and worry about it the following morning. Sunday morning came and, fully refreshed, I set about my fishing again. My left hand rod was baited with a 35mm home-made extra fishy boilie, put into the baitboat along with some method mix flavoured with trout and halibut pellet oil, a variety of pellets and about 40 broken freebie boilies and sent out to ‘the point’. On my middle rod I used 2x 16mm ‘The Source’ boilies, with around 20 freebies. I’d decided to use the method feeder on my right hand rod, with tiger nuts as the hookbait; presented with my baitboat I was able to include four other balls of method mix to a nice tight area. On my margin rod to my extreme right I fished Activ-8, with plenty of response pellets and freebies. This is how I fished for almost 48 hours with only one 14lb mirror being landed from my margin rod apart from two bream within 5 minutes of each other in the early hours of the morning! During this time I’d continued to have numerous missed bites – particularly from the point! I decided to change around my rigs and experiment; using a variety of semi-fixed and in-line leads to running rigs (all safe). I also decided to use hooklengths with shorter hairs and slightly smaller hooks – from 2 to 4. Sturgeon were the culprits I found out by talking to others and from my own observations that the missed bites were the sturgeon mouthing the hookbait without fully taking it into their mouths. A few single beeps, was usually followed by a beep, beep, beep, beep, etc instead of a screaming run, ie, beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! If that makes any sense!
I also changed my hookbait on the rod to the point and switched to a single 18mm NRG boilie, and on the rod tight into the corner I changed to my home-made 20mm tutti frutti. Then it all comes together At last I’d got it right and I began to catch. By Tuesday night I’d had four carp to 22lb 10oz. Then on Wednesday afternoon – with the BBQ looming at around 3pm, my left hand rod burst into life – with the accustomed few single beeps – followed by a screaming one toner. But it didn’t have chance to develop into much of a screamer as I was on the rods and I struck into it hard. It soon became clear this was no ordinary fish! Exactly opposite me in the bay were a couple of downed trees – with a particularly large one giving me cause for concern as I had previously lost fish in it! However, I managed to put in enough strain to guide it away, then all of a sudden the line went slack! I thought I had lost it, but no, it decided to swim towards me at the precise moment I’d lowered the rod and had reeled in a couple of turns prior to heaving it towards me a bit more. It was still game on and I managed to steadily retrieve line, yet when it wanted to go, and with the clutch on my reel pretty tight, it just went – with me hoping the clutch would cope with it – it did; my trusty Big Baitrunner ‘M’ the ‘big Blue’ held fine. But the extra worry was the line? Would the 15lb mono be up to it?
As it was the BBQ day all the other lads were on their way round and arrived just in time to see me land it, and all helped in taking photographs, video and weighing the beauty. Though I had scales to 70lb, an optimistic friend went for his 100lb ones! The verdict was 68lbs bang on!
All this was captured on video and which the lads thoroughly enjoyed looking at and taking the micky out of my fat gut! Fair play! Even Franck the owner was impressed! (with your gut, or the fish Malc? – Graham) The social was superb and brought an end to a fantastic day for me – and you’ll be pleased to know that I did the responsible thing and did not attempt fishing again that evening and instead, drank a few more 1664’s and hit the sack. Thursday was a different day altogether! I had one carp at 17lb 4oz in the evening, but apart from that it was a very quiet day with no other interest at all!
A lump in the snags The afternoon brought a hive of activity! First of all my left hand rod sprung into life and I struck into what must have been a very big carp – it had all the characteristics of a carp and was certainly a ‘lump’! Unfortunately I didn’t manage to steer it away from the downed tree opposite and was snagged up. I tried everything but with no success. So I called for assistance from my friend Steve in the next swim who then took up the strain whilst I ran round the other side of the bay and climbed out along the branches to try to free it. It got deeper and deeper and I was in over my waist (what waist I hear you cry) whilst still among the branches, so decided it was too dangerous to continue and made my way back. In the meantime, the line broke and my other rod (corner rod again) screamed off. I heard it and ran back (not a pretty sight), my friend had struck into it and played it part of the way in for me, and although I said “you have it mate, it’s yours”, he insisted I take over. Well, by now the carp had kited across to the left and round the corner and snagged itself in some submerged branches, so I waded out about 6 to 8 ft and managed to free it and saw it was quite some ‘lump’! Off it went again before I was able to net it. A beauty that weighed in at 33lb 2oz.
The others had mixed fortunes. Three or four enjoyed multiple catches of carp, catfish and sturgeon, but unfortunately two others blanked. But I guess that’s carp fishing. Personally, though I continued to fish through to the Saturday morning, it all too soon became time for us pack up and be away. To finish the week off we all enjoyed a gathering outside Franck’s house on-site where coffee and tea were served along with croissants by Frank’s wife. A great end to a fantastic week. Until we meet again…… |
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