Fishing in france at Villidon

Wednesday, 9 January 2008

Carp fishing in France

Carp France - VillidonThe A1 towards Paris is an easy drive until you hit the Paris periphique, this being the France equivalent of the M25 car park! The many exits are known as ports, of which there are literally hundreds that zig zag across across the capital. Once in that central zone it is noticeable how the Highway Code suddenly becomes a set of rules to be broken as the cars bob and weave across lanes, they are masochistic drivers! There are a number of other roads that orbit Paris avoiding the periphique, use them when possible. Once the periphique has been circumnavigated the motorways towards the south of France are a fairly straight forward journey.The venue I was heading for is named Lac de Villedon, it nestles amongst rolling country side between Poitiers and Limoge in central France, it is over 100 acres in size and a boat is needed to reach the majority of the swims. Ready for carp fishing in France We arrived late evening consequently it was a bit of a rush to get the gear transferred into the boat and complete the 1 mile journey to an area in which we suspected the majority of carp to be found. During the journey towards the shallower end of the lake a beady eye was kept on the sonar, the average depths were between 3 – 5 feet, it is unlikely to see fish at this depth as they spook to the boat, its more useful to get a feel for the lakes topography which was fairly uniform. As I neared the top end of the lake, as if on cue a carp popped its head above the surface, that’s location sorted! I switched off the electric outboard for a few minutes to sit and observe, watching closely for any further signs. I did see another fish shortly after within the talons of a rather large bird of prey, I believe it was an Osprey that swooped down without a sound and grasped a small carp, literally 150 yards from the boat. I mentioned this to the onsite owner, he said it was a common occurrence to lose carp of up to 7 lb, good job the lake has a healthy stock!Even in France quiet spots are normally goodI found a small area hidden in the woods that was big enough for 2 bivvy’s and within a hundred yards of where I had seen the fish, 20 minutes later the gear was unloaded and set up. The depth to our front was only 3 to 4 feet. Taking a boat across fish in shallow water often spooks them, therefore was a little apprehensive and kept the motor on low speed to minimise disturbance. There were no major features nearby consequently adopted a long line baiting approach, as the name suggests it is the method of placing a long line of bait between a couple of markers in an area where the fish are likely to cross. This stretched for over 100 yards across the main central area and the bait consisted of Mainline essential opal, maple 8 and pellets (see marker floats in photo). 3 out of the 4 rods were staggered along the line and the fourth rod was fished about 40 yards of the baited area, this is often the one that produces the bigger fish, possibly due to them being a little older, wiser and more territorial than the bulk of the stock.The lines were taken out using a 2 person drill i.e. 2 rods at a time, one towed and one rod in the boat. This saves valuable battery power and reduces the amount of journeys back and forth to the baited area especially useful when fishing at distance. My preferred method is to place one rod in the boat with the baited rig hooked to an eye. The person on the bank drops another baited rig into a bait bucket and the boat driver wraps the line around the hand to stop it being pulled out of the bucket. The person on the bank flicks the bail arm open and controls the line coming of the reel as the boat travels towards the left marker, I say left, however it doesn’t really make a difference so long as the rigs are dropped left to right or right to left. I don’t recommend taking the middle rods out first as it is more difficult to avoid the lines when returning to pick up the outer rods/rig. On reaching the desired spot the angler on the bank tightens the line to ensure a direct line to where the first rig will be dropped. Lower the rig at arms length ensuring it does not catch anywhere on the boat and is away from the prop. Once lowered throw a couple of handfuls of bait over. In shallow water such as this it is important to move away from the one that has just been dropped to avoid the prop catching the line. I often do a 180 degree manoeuvre away from it and pull around to the right ready to drop the next rod that is in the boat. The boat is positioned so that it is facing towards the swim so that the rig can be lowered, the rod butt is placed on the seat with the tip over the back of the boat and bail arm open. When going back towards the bank keep an eye on the spool to ensure the line doesn’t wrap and be careful not to entangle the first line you dropped, catching the other line causes a bit of a headache, in the worst case it may result in snapping the propeller shear pins. Carry out the same drill with the other 2 rods but do be aware of the location of the other lines. When the last rod is lowered I often take a bit of an arc back to the swim to avoid catching them.The life jacket is left in the boat so it is at hand through the night, the last thing you want to do is hunt for it in the darkness when a big carp is taking line on a lake with a lot of snags, be prepared!Carp fishing in France can be hecticThe first take came within a couple of hours of arrival, a mere pup of approximately 10 lb, shortly after another and then another, several pups later and I hooked something that felt a little better. The scales went round to over 20 lb not a huge fish but better than the last few. After a tiring night of catching singles and doubles my son hooked something a little better, as he guided the fish towards the net the hook pulled, I saw the fish and it was considerably better than the others we had landed. I have fished a number of lakes where the small carp vastly out number the better stamp of fish, I don’t mind catching them but was convinced the bigger fish were holding back whilst the smaller fish devoured the bed of bait. The theory was backed up by the fact that the low 20 came to the rod fished off the baited area. In order to reduce the chances of picking up the smaller carp I topped up with 20 mm mainline essential opal and fished a double 20 mm hook bait over the top. The essential opal is harder than the maple 8 and a bit more of a mouthful, the double 20 mm hook baits would make it a little more difficult for the smaller fish to contend with. Sure you will still pick up the odd pup but not nearly as many. At about 1200 hrs the rod fished of the baited area was away, as I played the fish it tail waved in the shallow water, it was clearly a better fish, on the scales it weighed more than I estimated at just over 39 lbs. Not a bad result and only 20 hours into a 60 hour session, again it fell to the rod fished away from the baited area, is there something in it? During the next 24 hours the action was quite consistent with fewer small fish and a bigger average with approximately 6 of the 20 or so carp being over 20 lb.Looking for carpAs I sat watching the water I noticed a few carp head and shoulder 700 yards down the lake towards the middles and 200 yards to the right of my 2 friends, Terry and Aron. They had landed a number of small carp but their average size was somewhat bigger than mine, with a number over 20 lbs. Terry had a couple of 30s plus a catfish and a sturgeon. Within 30 minutes the gear was pilled into the boat and a full load was being transported to a small grassed area 150 yards to the right of Terry. It made sense to get closer to them as we were leaving in the same mini bus early the following morning. When moving swims whilst using a boat I prefer to collapse the gear and place it in the boat rather than pack everything back into rod holdalls and bags, my Ultimate 4 rod pod is left set up i.e. with delkims and bobbins affixed. The rods are laid on top and secured by the weight of the sleeping bag. This way it takes literally minutes to pick the rods out of the boat and place them on the pod when the next destination is reached; moving by boat is quick and easy if some prior thought is put into the loading.The move took less than 40 minutes and the rods were out, rather than risk spooking the fish I cast small bags to the general area. An hour passed before the warble of the delkim had my son pounce towards my rods like a galloping gazelle, he hit the fish and played it half way in before handing it over, he often lands fish on my rods! He seems to think that if he can get there before dad it’s a fair cop and can play and land them! Good logic, however bare in mind he had already landed a 40 from the last lake and I let him have my last take, this one was mine! Although I felt a little selfish, beneath I was glad as the fish weighed 37 lb 8 oz and worth a photo. My conscience got the better of me and told him he could take all of the runs on my rods during that afternoon, that was until he retired for the night, he even stayed by the rods whilst I went down to the showers and managed to land a nice mirror of 22 lb 13 oz. Pity he didn’t stay awake a little longer as within an hour of him climbing into his sleeping bag I had a nice mirror which we estimated it at 30 + however it settled the scales at 28 lb 13 oz, it turned out to be the last fish of the session and a good nights sleep was had by all, it was needed before the 8 hour trip to Calais and additional 3 hour drive back to Westbury. It was a reasonably successful trip, I hadn’t landed any really big fish but was content with the upper 30s and my sons 40 lb mirror carp.During the 60 hours we managed to bank over 50 carp with the majority being singles and doubles, at least 15 were over 20 lbs with 5 over 30 to 39 lbs. Boats and outboard motors are available onsite, hot meals can be ordered on a daily baisis and the owner intends to open an onsite tackle shop in the coming months, more France fishing coming soon.Next lake in France I may visit is a small well fishing france http://www.foxpoolfrance.com/ carp fishing all inclusive trips. carp fishing in France
Fishing holidays
Posted by anglinggraph at 12:15
Labels: Carp France