Earlier this year, while surfing internet sites for fishing content, I came across an interesting one called Le Domaine des Iles. It was the web site of a carp fishery in Northern France which, it was claimed, was ‘host to over 1,000 specimen carp between 25 and 60lbs, with hundreds in the 30 and 40lb bracket.’ The Web Master was Englishmen David Elford, representing French fishery owner Bernard Caron.
As you can imagine, I was intrigued to say the least. Now, was this another inland sea, a vast lake or reservoir that necessitated a satellite assisted GPS instrument to find your way from one bank to another, where you had to wade knee-deep in mud if the water level was down? No, nothing of the kind, Domaine des Iles is a privately owned 100 acre estate with the main lake no more than 25 acres. Okay, so what’s the catch? There must be one, I thought, I had never heard of the water before, and if the claims about it were only half true surely the grapevine would have been knocking at my door? The more I investigated the more I realised that this could be the water we had been dreaming about. Not only did it appear to give us a good chance of catching a 40-pounder, there was a realistic chance of a fifty! And without the pain of a day’s travelling through France (it is only two hours or less from the ferry ports) and having to contend with the daunting task of finding fish in an inland sea whilst possibly wallowing in ankle-snapping clag.
I did enough research to give eight of us enough confidence to book a week’s fishing, with two of the party dropping out at the last minute due to personal reasons. So, Eddie Bibby, John Charlesworth, Terry Knight, Bob Rosier, Bill Miller and I arrived at Domaine des Iles bristling with hope but with fingers crossed. There was also an underlying, deep-seated dread of having let ourselves in for a massive con. We have heard of carp waters before, not only in France but elsewhere in Europe, including Britain, where the stocking of a barrowload of doubles and one 40-pounder (that died or was removed the week after) has provoked a description along the lines of: ‘massively stocked with carp to 40lbs.’ Which is sufficient to keep them out of the clutches of the Trades Descriptions Act, but qualifies them for a starring part in ‘Billy Liar’.
I felt better the moment we arrived at the motorised gates that opened when we were spotted by the video surveilance camera that was monitored from within the house. The owner, Bernard Caron, his charming wife Odile, Barry Teague and Paul Wheeler who, along with David Elford, assist Bernard with the English end of the business, were there to greet us. We were escorted to the large conservatory that looks out on the lake, where we looked through photo albums whilst sipping a welcoming drink of either Glenfiddich, Pernod or lager. The albums were marked 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, and were full of pin-sharp photos of immaculate carp held by proud captors. There were superb A3 size enlargements of several 40 and 50-pounders. Bernard said he didn’t have time to bother with the thirties. We were informed that there would be an instant computer-printed A4 size picture for anyone who caught a forty-plus carp and an A3 enlargement to take home.
Obviously, we couldn’t wait to have a closer look at the lake, so, at Bernard’s invitation, I jumped into his big Toyota Land Cruiser with Bernard, Barry and Paul, with the rest of the party following in their own cars, and took a guided tour of the estate.
The 100 acre estate, of which 60 acres is water, is flanked on the south side by the canal de la Somme and the Riviere de la Somme runs along the northern flank, with high fences elsewhere, making the estate extremely secure. The canal was formed about 1850 in Napoleon’s time, when the strips of land that branch from the oddly shaped lake were used to grow vegetables and transported by canal to the towns and cities. Later, raspberries and strawberries were grown and peat was dug and exported to England. The Caron family bought the estate in 1964 from a French actress and Marcel Caron, Bernard’s father, stocked the lake with carp in the 3lb to 5lb bracket, which were there merely to entertain guests who fed them with bread and other scraps.
In 1968 Bernard, a trained cordon bleu chef, started work in a small 30 seat restaurant, then went to the States in 1969 to work as chef in a large hotel. In 1970 he built his first restaurant, seating 300, at Domaine des Iles. In 1972 this became a 1500 place restaurant. Unfortunately for gourmets the restaurant burned down in 1992, which was very fortunate for anglers for it was not long after when Bernard decided to open the estate to fishing. Bernard’s other interests include breeding gun dogs, which have won several world championships since 1990, and hunting ducks, partridge, woodcock, roe buck and wild boar. Besides the fishing at Domaine des Iles his other business includes organising gun parties all over the world.
The main lake was stocked again in 1994 with 125 carp from Hungary averaging 30lb to 35lb, with the best fish weighing 60lb. In 1997 a further 200 carp from 15lb to 25lb were planted in the back lake, and 250 carp averaging 5lb were stocked in the stock pond. The policy from this year has been to transfer all fish over 25lb caught from the back lake to the main lake, and to remove to the back lake all the carp caught from the main lake that weighed less than 15lb. This year some 35 carp topping 40lb were planted in the main lake.
To date the main lake is home to approximately 100 carp over 40lb, of which 15 of these top 50lb. One mirror is around the 60lb mark, and there is a common that is close to weighing 70lb. Bernard doesn’t know the count for thirties, never mind twenties, but he says there are about 300 to 350 grass carp to 30lb, lots of pike to about 30lb and the water is well stocked with bream, tench, rudd, eels and perch. The water is open to pleasure fishing and the average catch is 25lb in about four or five hours.
The bad news, for wants of a better way of putting it, is that the carp fishing can be temperamental. It can be very hard at times, specially if you are in a peg that is not favoured by the wind during your visit and there are no vacant swims to move to. But that’s the luck of the draw in any fishery, and is there anybody who really expects fishing for 40lb-plus carp to be easy? So, although we were fired up with enthusiasm, it was tempered with an experience that knows that in the cold light of day someone, if not everyone this week if the carp didn’t feed, was going to be disappointed. A baitboat was a distinct advantage too, to gain the distance required in some swims, and for accurate bait-dropping in others. For me, I rate baitboats for their bait- and freebie-placing accuracy as much as their long range fishing capabilities. The swims, numbered 1 to 15 are mainly double swims, but a maximum of 15 anglers are allowed on the estate at any one time.
Anyhow, we sorted out the swims we were going to fish, with a pair in each of three swims, being as each pair had an Angling Technics Baitboat between them. Eddie and I were the lucky ones as far as comfort was concerned, having swim 1 by the lodge, Ed fishing along the pads on the left and open water to the right, and me by the willow, fishing open water to the left and under the branches of another willow along the dam on the right. Not that anyone else was unlucky, for every swim on the lake is very comfortable. Terry and John were in swim 10, which is almost exactly opposite to swim 1. Bob and Bill were in swim 5, in the middle section of the main lake and where there is more character. All three swims were highly rated by the regulars, with 1 and 10 supposedly being best for the biggest fish, and swim 5 best for numbers, but still with a good chance of producing the big stuff. The good news too, was that you can drive right up to every swim on the lake and park your car within a yard or two of where you pitch your bivvy. Which is extremely good news if you’re getting on a bit!
It didn’t help matters that the week leading to our visit hardly anything had been caught. I think there was one 40-pounder and a couple of twenties. Three weeks earlier, however, Jean Masters had landed a 54-pounder, the second biggest carp caught from there by a lady angler – the biggest being 56lb! The weather was too good to be true for late September. Warm, but not too hot, and with hardly any wind to speak of. That is, if you like sunbathing. But for fishing it was crap. We got the bivvies and the rods set up and, although I was tired after the long haul from northern England, soon had a bait and a handful of boilies in the baitboat and launched on its first voyage to the willow about 120yds away. This was where Dave, Paul and Barry said was a hot-spot. The other hot-spot was close to the pads, which was where Ed placed one of his baits. I dropped another bait 20yds from the willow and the third straight up the middle in open water at about 100yds range. Ed fished his second bait 20yds or so from the pads and his third almost under his feet.
We were to fish these spots for most of the week. Ed experimented with different boilies while I stuck with Heron Baits Fish and Liver, fished on the bottom, which were air dried and resisted the attempts of the eels through the week to bite lumps out of them, which was happening to some extent with boiled boilies. Almost everyone who had experience of fishing the water said that heavy baiting techniques were no good. The secret was to feed just 20 to 30 boilies around your hookbait each time you dropped your bait in, and if you had to use particles, use them very sparingly. In any case, there is a rule forbidding the use of more than 1kg of bait per day. Reel line in every case was 15lb, with 15lb braid or mono. I used one 18mm boilie hair-rigged to a size 4 Rod Hutchinson Rig Hook. The rig was a no-nonsense helicopter rig, with a 12in hooklength of 15lb fluorocarbon Invisiline from Sufix, which is a very expensive mono that is virtually invisible in water and incredibly smooth. It’s been used for some time as fly fishing leaders but we coarse anglers have been slow to catch on. It’s superb for floater fishing. I slipped a back-lead on each of my rods.
Although we didn’t have a run between us that first night, Friday, and the following day, Ed and I enjoyed the comfort of the lodge and its grassed area. We spent some time right by the rods and other times a few yards away in a communal spot, practising our wine-tasting skills while sat around a patio table.
Although there are excellent toilet and shower facilities (and sockets for baitboat battery charging!) at Domaine des Iles for those who live in their bivvies for the duration of their stay, we had hired the lodge between us for the extra comforts it offered. The lodge is superb for families. Especially when you consider that there is a railway station only 15 minutes from the lake, and that the train takes only 30 minutes to get to Disneyland. Some great possibilities there for angling dads who want a combined family/fishing holiday. There are also several well kitted-out smaller chalets, which are excellent for anglers, specially couples, who want a little extra in the way of comfort. For a week’s stay the lodge is £ 360 and the chalets £ 180. During the night Bob had a 12lb grass carp while Bill had a grassy of 16lb and a 21.12 mirror. Both lost fish on a snag. Come Saturday and Bill had a 16.6 mirror and Terry drew blood with a 23.8.
Saturday night was dead, but on Sunday the weather began to pick up, with a warm breeze breaking the surface. Not in mine and Ed’s direction unfortunately, but getting closer. Bob had a 16lb and a 10.2 mirror, with Bill losing another big fish on a snag. The wind was now pushing into Terry and John’s swim and Tel made the most of it by landing a beautiful 30.8 mirror at 7pm.
Monday, specially late Monday, saw a change for the better for all of us, even in Bill and Bob’s swim where the wind had almost died. Now it was tending to push more into mine and Ed’s area. Even so, it was Bob with a 32.8 leather who led the field. But not for long, for I was called round to photograph a 40lb 2oz mirror that Bill held in trembling hands – a personal best by a long shot. His previous best being 27lb. I decided to go even lighter with feed, and from that point on used only 10 boilies around each hookbait. All I wanted to do that week was to catch a 40-pounder. If I did that I would go home a happy man. I’d got it into my head that I would have more chance of the bigger fish in the lake if my hookbait was one of only a very few in any patch of bait I deposited. Less spook factor and more chance of the fish taking my hookbait if there were few for it to choose from.
That evening, on the point of darkness, we drew our rods in and went round to John and Tel and helped drink some of Tel’s cognac. Tel was busy telling John more stories about his days in the SAS – the sad git! But Ed and I had our own mission to accomplish, so while Ed distracted him I pushed a remote bite alarm receiver into the grass below his rod pod. The receiver was switched on and in two pouches so that the LED’s wouldn’t show when it was activated. The receiver was the same make as the alarms that Tel was using. We left them to settle down for the night and then crept round to the dam about half an hour later, hiding behind a tree about 120yds away from their bivvies. Ed held the alarm that was tuned in to the receiver in the grass under Tel’s pod while I whizzed a length of line over it. We heard the receiver shriek and saw both Tel and John fly out of the bivvies that were only a couple of yards apart. We could pick up bits of the conversation. ‘It’s not my ******.’ (John was using a different make of alarm). ‘Well, it isn’t my ******, there’s nothing lit up and my indicators haven’t moved.’ Torches were flashing round. ‘It must be your ******, they’re crap they are Knighty.’
‘********!’
They went back to their respective bivvies. We gave them five minutes and then let them have another ripper. More scuffling. More swearing. And then back to the bivvies. Ed and I decided to creep a bit closer. In fact we got right behind Tel’s car which was only a yard from his bivvy and gave him another tearing ‘run’. Out they came, torch beams on the rods. ‘It’s one of my ******* all right, but I can’t understand why the LED isn’t flashing.’ Tel said. ‘Try a new battery in it.’ John said. ‘But I don’t know which one it is.’ Tel said. ‘Then change ’em all you daft ****!’ John said. ‘You **** ***! When I was in the SAS…’ Here we go again.
Ed whispered. ‘Give him a small one.’ Meaning a short alarm. Well, that cracked me up and try as I might I couldn’t hold back a muffled giggle. Tel looked up, shone his torch through the windows of his car and literally shrieked ‘John, John, there’s somebody behind the car. Ohhhh. Ohhhhhh!!’
This from a bloke who claims he was in the SAS. A high-pitched shriek just like a big girl. So we couldn’t stand any more and stood up, then doubled up again with laughter. ‘You ********! I knew it was you!’ Tel was shrieking.
‘You big girl.’ I said. ‘You shrieked like a big girl, you were scared to death.’
‘No I wasn’t.’ Tel said. ‘But you’d shriek if you saw somebody as ugly as you staring at you through car windows in the dark.’
We got back to the rods and put fresh baits out. Next morning, a little before daylight, I had a half-hearted run on the left hand rod that was fishing straight up the middle. It stopped just as I stood next to the rods with my hand hovering. In that moment of indecision it took off again. I hit it and knew immediately that I was into a good fish. Not a fast run, ripping line off, but a heavy, sandbagging of the rod in short bursts. I got it to the net that Ed was holding ready without too much trouble. Then I had a problem. Every time I tried to lift it high enough in the water to slip it over the net it just allowed its own bulk to sink it down again. But I won in the end and I knew it was special when I had to give Ed a hand to lift it out and onto the unhooking mat. With trembling hands I zeroed the scales with the weigh sling attached. Then both of us got one hand under each end of the Tee-bar and lifted. The needle flickered, then settled while we strained – 46lb exactly. I did a little jig along the bank, shouting something like, ‘Yes! Yes!’ Like a big kid. But who cared? Who the hell needs drugs when you can get highs like this from fishing?
Later that day, Tuesday, Bill had a 19.2 common, Bob had a 15.12 mirror and a 12lb grassy. Later in the afternoon Tel had swung two of his rods round to fish the bushes along the dam after seeing a fish crash out in that area. Not long after he landed a mirror of 35.8. He sacked the fish and without any delay cast the same bait to the exact same spot and within half an hour was playing another big fish. This turned out to be a superb mirror in absolutely immaculate condition. It weighed an incredible 48lb.
The two fish were doused with water while the photographs were being taken, with John being a little careless and allowing at least half a gallon of it to go over Tel’s head. We were all very sorry for him and didn’t laugh at all. Not that Tel cared in the slightest.
There was a flurry of activity on Wednesday, with Bob starting the ball rolling with two great fish, mirrors of 28lb and 30lb 10oz. Bill landed a grassy of 12.2, then at 8am I chipped in with a mirror 33.8, again to the left hand rod up the middle. Only 20 minutes later Ed lost a big fish when the hook pulled while Bernard and I watched. We spotted the fish when it surfaced once and Bernard had the binoculars on it. Ed felt a lot better when Bernard claimed it was ‘a yellow one’ which meant it was at least a 40-pounder, if not bigger. Ten minutes later I had a terrific run that made my stomach flip, it was so much more positive than the run off the ’46’. It was a 3lb bream. John had a 20lb mirror soon after. Eddie followed that with a 17-pounder, closely followed by me having a dropped run (I told myself it was a bream). At 3pm John had a 19lb common, then Ed a 3lb eel, which closed play for the day.
Ed and I debated the luck, or lack of it, that day, and I coined a new phrase, saying. ‘When you do everything right Ed, a big one is all down to the luck of the suck.’
Thursday, our last full day and night, was on us. The week was going too quickly. Bob and Bill had mid-double grass carp in the early hours. At 9.30am, Bernard took me, Ed and John to see the first world war museum, the Historial de la Grande Guerre 14 – 18, in the nearby town of Royes, and then a trip round the area, the Somme, where the great and horrific battles were fought. We saw rusted shells at the edge of fields where the farmers dump them as they still, to this day, plough them from the ground. The whole area is scattered with graves and memorials to those hundreds of thousands who gave their lives to keep us free. It was a sobering experience and one that makes fishing seem so much less important.
We arrived back at the lake at 4pm and found that nothing had been caught while we were away. At 5pm John had a 27lb mirror, Terry lost a big one on a snag at 10.30pm, and Ed landed a 15lb grassy at 11.30pm. It was 6.30am on Friday morning, well before daylight, when my left hand rod went again, the one that fished the open water in the middle of the lake. Not a fast, screaming run, but slow and steady. I lifted the rod and tightened into the fish and knew without any shadow of doubt that this was another big one. It just swam off in the same vein as the run – slow and steady, but with such power that there was no arguing with it. This fish was going to run in the 7ft depth of water till it decided it had had enough, not when I decided. About 30yds of line later it settled to sandbagging the rod, arm-jolting lunges that filled me with dread. Not because I thought it would break me, but due to the usual fear, that the hook would pull
Ed was at my side by now, pushing the landing net into the water to get the mesh soaked and sunk. ‘Is it a big ‘un?’ He asked. ‘Oh yes,’ I replied, ‘there’s no doubt about that.’
Ten minutes later the fish was in and out of netting range time after time. I’d get it to within a yard or so of the net and then it would flip it’s massive tail and lunge to the bottom 5ft down. Then it would trundle away for a few yards, jolting the rod with short bursts of heaviness. We still hadn’t had a good look at the fish, for I fought it in darkness, not wanting to flash any lights and panic it any more than it already was. But we had seen the huge vortexes it left when it drove away from the surface. And I knew what it felt like. This went on for another ten minutes while I grew ever fearful of a tragic hook pull. I couldn’t stand the thought of how I would feel if I lost this fish now, at this stage of the proceedings. So close, yet so far. Again I had it up to the surface, within two yards of the net, waves rocking the surface as it wallowed. I said to Ed. ‘I’m going for it. I can’t take any more.’ So with a big heave I pulled the fish and it went straight into the net.
I dropped the rod, switched on my headlamp, and grabbed the net handle with Ed and drew it to the bank. We lifted the net high enough to see into it and looked down at the biggest and nicest and bestest carp I’ve ever seen in my life. It lay in the bottom of the net like, as John puts it, ‘a pig with no legs.’ A few moments later, as we gripped each side of the Tee-bar and attempted to lift the weigh sling, the cord snapped off one side, luckily with the fish barely clear of the unhooking mat. Ed ran for his weigh sling and eventually the scales settled at 52lb 8oz. Later, when Bernard arrived to photograph the fish he said it was one of the carp that was stocked in 1964 between 3lb and 5lb and that he hadn’t seen the fish for two years or more. Other than a 15lb common that John caught that was the last fish of the trip.
I’d had a bad run that lasted several months earlier this year when I couldn’t do anything right. When that pendulum swings ain’t life incredibly sweet!
Before we left Terry booked a week early next year with the intention of cancelling a trip elsewhere. We booked another week for a party of eight later in the year. That, really, is testament to how much we had enjoyed ourselves. The rules of the fishery are reasonable and sensible, and Bernard runs the place firmly but fairly. Domaine des Iles is a lake of exceptional character, there are plenty of huge fish waiting to be caught, and all you need is the ‘luck of the suck’ while you’re there. In 1998 it produced 72 carp over 40lb, 15 over 50lb, and a lake record of 66lb to Paul Wheeler. Prices for fishing are: Carp (bivvy stay): weekend £ 100, Mon – Fri £ 120, weekly £ 200. Pleasure fishing: £ 20 per day. Pike fishing: £ 50 per day. To book phone Bernard direct on 00 33 323 81 10 55, or fax 00 33 323 81 13 12. Or write to him at Le Domaine des Iles, 80400 Offoy, France. Alternatively, phone Paul Wheeler on 0181 393 5357. For those with internet access more details and pictures can be seen at www.elbow.demon.co.uk.
