Post by tyke66 on May 7, 2012 13:26:28 GMT
Well, where do I start. I have just spent an amazing week in Normandy, France, fishing the Moulin de Passais carp fishery with my old mate Mally Rimmer (Heritage on here), who has been running his business taking carp anglers to French waters for over 12 years. This was my first French carping trip and I had tried not to go out there with any pre-conceived ideas of what French carp fishing would be like or have any expectations that may set me up for a fall. Any expectations that I may have unconsciously had were indeed exceeded and the following is a brief (brief as I can) encounter of my week in France.
We left Hull at 5pm on Friday evening and after stops in Grimsby and Mansfield to pick up the other anglers in our party, made our way down to Felixstowe to pick up the channel tunnel train over to France. Our transport – part of the package booked through Mally – was in a purpose built mini bus with all the mod cons, including a DVD player, to keep us entertained. The tackle was stored in a separate rear compartment, behind a bulkhead, and in a trailer, so no nasty smells. We arrived in France at 7am local time and after a stop for breakfast and Mally negotiating heavy traffic (it was a public holiday weekend in France) we arrived in Passais at 3pm. After a brief chat with the lake owner, Simon, we made our way to our swims. I was sharing a double swim with Mally at the far end of the lake and we proceeded to make camp in the now steadily falling rain. Priority was to get the bivvies up and get everything under cover. After setting up we retreated to the Gite – a two bedroomed property on site, available for the use of the angling party. Due to the incessant rain we elected to stay indoors for the night and didn’t wet a line after tea.
The following morning saw much of the same, heavy rain with no let up. It was forecast to improve later in the day but this didn’t happen and, although we were fishing, I didn’t feel that I was fishing to my full ability, not even having had the chance to get the marker rod out and have a lead around. It was more of a ‘chuck a bag out and hope for the best’ until the rain eased. There’s nothing worse than getting a soaking early into a long session in my opinion.
The following days were a mix of sunshine, heavy showers and winds ranging from a breeze to fairly hefty gusts. I had now been able to lead around my swim and found a few hard spots to out baits out to. Sadly this was to no avail and – bar one aborted run – my Delkims stayed eerily silent. Mally, to my left and fishing two rods tight to the overhanging trees on the left bank and one in open water, had been catching steadily – topped by a pristine 35lb common. Each time his ATTS’ sounded brought my confidence down another notch, only consoling myself with the thought that the rest of the party were not really doing much either.
After a bitterly cold Monday night Tuesday came and went with not a lot to report. During this period, and with the help of Mally’s knowledge of the venue, I found a couple of new spots to fish to. One was a clear patch on the otherwise silty bottom at about 70 yards and the other, again a fairly clear patch, about 30 feet to the left of the small island out to the right side of my swim. We spent a good deal of time spodding out a bed of particle to the spot in front of me and I elected to fish a small stick on the second rod, with no heavy baiting to this area. The night passed without so much as a bleep on either rod again.
It was 6am Wednesday morning and I awoke to the sound of the Delkim holding my right hand rod screaming out a one toner. I made a somewhat clumsy exit from my bivvy and lifted into a dead weight…my first French fish was hooked. There was no fight to start with, just like hauling in a dead weight, pumping the fish slowly towards me. All that changed when I got the fish under my rod tip and – with mist hanging over the lake surface - it made it’s first powerful surge for freedom. I knew at this point that it was almost certainly a new pb for me and this proved to be true when, after a lengthy fight and several ‘heart in the mouth’ moments a fin perfect mirror slid over the net and took the scales around to 34lb 12oz…deduct 4lb 4oz for the sling and a new pb of 30lb 12oz was in the bag and my first ever 30 to boot. One very happy angler to say the least.
All was quiet again until midday when my left Delk – the bait placed over the spodded area – burst into life. No bleep, the Solar bobbin literally slammed into my rod followed by a high speed one toner. I lifted into what felt like a brick wall and I knew that I would have to take it easy and nurse this one home. A lengthy fight ensued with the quarry attempting to get into every snag within a 60 yard radius, each time seeing me just able to turn the fish before it reached it’s target. My first glimpse of the fish hit me like a freight train, the sheer width of the fish’s back was a truly awesome sight and I knew instantly that the pb had been smashed again. After a good 25/30 minutes of give and take a pristine common carp was netted by Mally and weighed in at a massive 40lb 2oz. She glistened like a bar of pure gold in the midday sun and it was a moment in my angling life that I will truly never forget…..my first 40.
The afternoon daylight hours of Thursday passed without any further action for me and after tea I decided to top up the spodded area. My baits were placed out to the same spots, and this time I introduced about a dozen freebies of the squid & scopex boilies over the spot to the left of the island. A manic period of runs all around the lake saw me with three further fish at 17 lb 8oz, 16lb 8oz and 12lb, all before 12.30am. Apart from one aborted run at 1.30am the hours of darkness passed without further incident for myself.
The sun was beginning to rise on Thursday morning after another bitterly cold night. The mist hung over the water and the birds were in the full throes of their morning chorus when the left Delk signalled a single bleep, a dropback. I was at this point already out of my bivvy, taking in the fresh morning air. As I stepped over to my pod the Delk burst into life and line started to strip from the baitrunner at a rate of knots. After a fairly brief but dogged fight a beautiful 27 3/4lb mirror lay on the unhooking mat. She was weighed, photographed and released none the worse for her experience and I had recorded another French 20 plus fish. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful which, to be honest, suited me fine as the sun came up, the wind dropped to nothing and it was shorts and t shirt time, a complete contrast to the previous days when several layers had been the norm.
I have never caught a Sturgeon, due to the fact that I have never fished a venue that holds this species. With this in mind and knowing that Passais holds a handful of these I decided to set out my stall to capture one of this species. Mally advised me that a big halibut pellet hookbait and a big bag of pellets should do the trick, so I followed his advice and placed such in the far margin, as he had also told me that the sturgeon hug the margins. The hours between 7.30pm and 9.30pm, as the air temperature cooled, were pretty hectic to say the least. I managed to bank a 24lb common and an 11lb mirror on the boilie rod and an 18lb mirror on the rod intended for a sturgeon.
At around 9.30pm Mally had a screaming run which saw a huge common landed some time later. Looking at the fish on the unhooking mat I estimated it to be 45/46lb and another of the party agreed with me. The size of big carp can sometimes – as we all know – be no reference to weight and the fish weighed in at 38lb, but a beautiful big lump of a carp, which even spurred Mally into having a rare photo taken.
At 11.35 pm my right hand alarm – the sturgeon rod - sounded three short blips, followed by a slow constant run. Could this be the anticipated Sturgeon? It was certainly a very different take to the screaming ‘one toner’ runs that we had been experiencing from the carp. After a few seconds it was apparent that this was probably the target quarry as it swam deep and strong with occasional lunges to the surface followed by a deep dive. After a healthy period of this we got a glimpse of the culprit, which confirmed my suspicions. A few minutes later and a sturgeon of 12lbs was in the net. Mission accomplished. Now, to say that the sturgeon is an ugly fish is probably cruel but I cannot really describe it any other way. I can only describe this creature as having a shark like body with the facial features of some sort of bizarre aquatic mole, and bearing the same rough skin that the shark wears. I wouldn’t personally set out my stall to catch these again but it was an experience that I am pleased I had the opportunity to have.
The manic action of the last few hours then petered out and it wasn’t until 3.15 am that my left hand alarm burst into life again with three blips followed by the now familiar one tone, all out screaming run. I knew instantly that it was another good fish and the script followed as previously with retrieval of a dead weight initially until the fish woke up and started to fight. Another lengthy fight ensued and when the beast finally came into sight I had a suspicion that this could be my second 40, a mirror this time. A known fish, with a red scar on the lateral line, tipped the scales at 39lb 12oz, just a few ounces shy of the magic number but still a massive fish.
This was to be my last fish of the trip as the weather was due to close in on Friday – which it duly did – and we elected to pack up whilst the gear was dry and spend the last night in the Gite prior to our early start on Saturday.
All in all I had a fantastic time on my first French carp fishing trip. The venue, organisation and help I received from both Mally and Simon (the lake owner) was outstanding, as were the facilities and food package, and I would highly recommend this to anyone. Needless to say I will certainly be back next year to hopefully claim a new pb. Will English carp fishing ever be the same for me again….only time will tell.
We left Hull at 5pm on Friday evening and after stops in Grimsby and Mansfield to pick up the other anglers in our party, made our way down to Felixstowe to pick up the channel tunnel train over to France. Our transport – part of the package booked through Mally – was in a purpose built mini bus with all the mod cons, including a DVD player, to keep us entertained. The tackle was stored in a separate rear compartment, behind a bulkhead, and in a trailer, so no nasty smells. We arrived in France at 7am local time and after a stop for breakfast and Mally negotiating heavy traffic (it was a public holiday weekend in France) we arrived in Passais at 3pm. After a brief chat with the lake owner, Simon, we made our way to our swims. I was sharing a double swim with Mally at the far end of the lake and we proceeded to make camp in the now steadily falling rain. Priority was to get the bivvies up and get everything under cover. After setting up we retreated to the Gite – a two bedroomed property on site, available for the use of the angling party. Due to the incessant rain we elected to stay indoors for the night and didn’t wet a line after tea.
The following morning saw much of the same, heavy rain with no let up. It was forecast to improve later in the day but this didn’t happen and, although we were fishing, I didn’t feel that I was fishing to my full ability, not even having had the chance to get the marker rod out and have a lead around. It was more of a ‘chuck a bag out and hope for the best’ until the rain eased. There’s nothing worse than getting a soaking early into a long session in my opinion.
The following days were a mix of sunshine, heavy showers and winds ranging from a breeze to fairly hefty gusts. I had now been able to lead around my swim and found a few hard spots to out baits out to. Sadly this was to no avail and – bar one aborted run – my Delkims stayed eerily silent. Mally, to my left and fishing two rods tight to the overhanging trees on the left bank and one in open water, had been catching steadily – topped by a pristine 35lb common. Each time his ATTS’ sounded brought my confidence down another notch, only consoling myself with the thought that the rest of the party were not really doing much either.
After a bitterly cold Monday night Tuesday came and went with not a lot to report. During this period, and with the help of Mally’s knowledge of the venue, I found a couple of new spots to fish to. One was a clear patch on the otherwise silty bottom at about 70 yards and the other, again a fairly clear patch, about 30 feet to the left of the small island out to the right side of my swim. We spent a good deal of time spodding out a bed of particle to the spot in front of me and I elected to fish a small stick on the second rod, with no heavy baiting to this area. The night passed without so much as a bleep on either rod again.
It was 6am Wednesday morning and I awoke to the sound of the Delkim holding my right hand rod screaming out a one toner. I made a somewhat clumsy exit from my bivvy and lifted into a dead weight…my first French fish was hooked. There was no fight to start with, just like hauling in a dead weight, pumping the fish slowly towards me. All that changed when I got the fish under my rod tip and – with mist hanging over the lake surface - it made it’s first powerful surge for freedom. I knew at this point that it was almost certainly a new pb for me and this proved to be true when, after a lengthy fight and several ‘heart in the mouth’ moments a fin perfect mirror slid over the net and took the scales around to 34lb 12oz…deduct 4lb 4oz for the sling and a new pb of 30lb 12oz was in the bag and my first ever 30 to boot. One very happy angler to say the least.
All was quiet again until midday when my left Delk – the bait placed over the spodded area – burst into life. No bleep, the Solar bobbin literally slammed into my rod followed by a high speed one toner. I lifted into what felt like a brick wall and I knew that I would have to take it easy and nurse this one home. A lengthy fight ensued with the quarry attempting to get into every snag within a 60 yard radius, each time seeing me just able to turn the fish before it reached it’s target. My first glimpse of the fish hit me like a freight train, the sheer width of the fish’s back was a truly awesome sight and I knew instantly that the pb had been smashed again. After a good 25/30 minutes of give and take a pristine common carp was netted by Mally and weighed in at a massive 40lb 2oz. She glistened like a bar of pure gold in the midday sun and it was a moment in my angling life that I will truly never forget…..my first 40.
The afternoon daylight hours of Thursday passed without any further action for me and after tea I decided to top up the spodded area. My baits were placed out to the same spots, and this time I introduced about a dozen freebies of the squid & scopex boilies over the spot to the left of the island. A manic period of runs all around the lake saw me with three further fish at 17 lb 8oz, 16lb 8oz and 12lb, all before 12.30am. Apart from one aborted run at 1.30am the hours of darkness passed without further incident for myself.
The sun was beginning to rise on Thursday morning after another bitterly cold night. The mist hung over the water and the birds were in the full throes of their morning chorus when the left Delk signalled a single bleep, a dropback. I was at this point already out of my bivvy, taking in the fresh morning air. As I stepped over to my pod the Delk burst into life and line started to strip from the baitrunner at a rate of knots. After a fairly brief but dogged fight a beautiful 27 3/4lb mirror lay on the unhooking mat. She was weighed, photographed and released none the worse for her experience and I had recorded another French 20 plus fish. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful which, to be honest, suited me fine as the sun came up, the wind dropped to nothing and it was shorts and t shirt time, a complete contrast to the previous days when several layers had been the norm.
I have never caught a Sturgeon, due to the fact that I have never fished a venue that holds this species. With this in mind and knowing that Passais holds a handful of these I decided to set out my stall to capture one of this species. Mally advised me that a big halibut pellet hookbait and a big bag of pellets should do the trick, so I followed his advice and placed such in the far margin, as he had also told me that the sturgeon hug the margins. The hours between 7.30pm and 9.30pm, as the air temperature cooled, were pretty hectic to say the least. I managed to bank a 24lb common and an 11lb mirror on the boilie rod and an 18lb mirror on the rod intended for a sturgeon.
At around 9.30pm Mally had a screaming run which saw a huge common landed some time later. Looking at the fish on the unhooking mat I estimated it to be 45/46lb and another of the party agreed with me. The size of big carp can sometimes – as we all know – be no reference to weight and the fish weighed in at 38lb, but a beautiful big lump of a carp, which even spurred Mally into having a rare photo taken.
At 11.35 pm my right hand alarm – the sturgeon rod - sounded three short blips, followed by a slow constant run. Could this be the anticipated Sturgeon? It was certainly a very different take to the screaming ‘one toner’ runs that we had been experiencing from the carp. After a few seconds it was apparent that this was probably the target quarry as it swam deep and strong with occasional lunges to the surface followed by a deep dive. After a healthy period of this we got a glimpse of the culprit, which confirmed my suspicions. A few minutes later and a sturgeon of 12lbs was in the net. Mission accomplished. Now, to say that the sturgeon is an ugly fish is probably cruel but I cannot really describe it any other way. I can only describe this creature as having a shark like body with the facial features of some sort of bizarre aquatic mole, and bearing the same rough skin that the shark wears. I wouldn’t personally set out my stall to catch these again but it was an experience that I am pleased I had the opportunity to have.
The manic action of the last few hours then petered out and it wasn’t until 3.15 am that my left hand alarm burst into life again with three blips followed by the now familiar one tone, all out screaming run. I knew instantly that it was another good fish and the script followed as previously with retrieval of a dead weight initially until the fish woke up and started to fight. Another lengthy fight ensued and when the beast finally came into sight I had a suspicion that this could be my second 40, a mirror this time. A known fish, with a red scar on the lateral line, tipped the scales at 39lb 12oz, just a few ounces shy of the magic number but still a massive fish.
This was to be my last fish of the trip as the weather was due to close in on Friday – which it duly did – and we elected to pack up whilst the gear was dry and spend the last night in the Gite prior to our early start on Saturday.
All in all I had a fantastic time on my first French carp fishing trip. The venue, organisation and help I received from both Mally and Simon (the lake owner) was outstanding, as were the facilities and food package, and I would highly recommend this to anyone. Needless to say I will certainly be back next year to hopefully claim a new pb. Will English carp fishing ever be the same for me again….only time will tell.