Where to start really ?, a quick recap on what drew me to France , and the way its changed the way i want to fish i suppose . After a few years of hearing how our son James was doing carp fishing over there i thought it was time to have a dabble . Id not really been that interested in fishing abroad , but we loved his tales of some serious chunks . Our fishing at home had really turned to barbel fishing with Sue , as i meant we could be mobile , roving around stalking them , something i was struggling to do on my carp waters . James stag trip toFrane with friends was to light my fire again , I loved every second like you cant believe , and knew instantly that i needed to get across that channel as much as i could . The next year we went solo , just me and Sue . I had decided that when its just me and Sue I felt more comfortable being able to book an actual swim , this is instead of going into the draw as most places have , and the possibility of the pair of us fishing next to a mad axeman , well you know what I mean . With a bit of research on the net Brigueuil came up , 12 swims all bookable , food package , nice fish , so I booked swim 10 roughly in the middle of the lake with the pads as features to fish to . It had a track record of being consistent , with better fish , and you could stop them if they moved up and down the lake . That trip was really nice , Sues first one ( already have a blog of it ) , but we did not end up in that swim . It had fished poorly the week before we arrived , and I took the opportunity to move to the other side in amongst the main pads , swim 8. Although I caught after a slow start ( i fished like a idiot for a while ) , I felt that i had missed out on the better fish , as there are a fair few gooduns in there , some big commons that i would have loved to have caught to well over 50lb . As we said our goodbyes to Andy and Tracy I did say we would have to return to put things right !!!.
Sues stalked fish ,and one of my 40lb + commons frrom the May trip.
Before we could return we had another trip booked with James , and some good friends in the May . We had a fantastic time , highlight of the week for me was Sue moving swims early in the week for a couple of hours stalking ( barbel style ) and latching onto a 45lb mirror , only to better that later in the week i also had a few chunks to 50lb ( again already blogged that trip ) . On the long drive north through France my mind was already wondering if we could do a sneaky trip in the autumn , back to Brigueuil , unfinished business , and back into swim 8 . With a bit of saving it was possible . Again a bit of research showed that the big fish , a great big common that i would dearly loved to catch , had come out over the period we were looking at in that area a fair few times over the years , so the die had been cast , and we were off on that bloody long drive south in October .
Looking up the lovely lake towards swim 8.
The first difference on this trip is that we had used the eurotunnel for all our previous trips , but with all the trouble with the migrants shutting it Sue suggested using the ferry that seemed to be less effected . What a great call it was from her , because as we disembarked the news came trough as we drove past the tunnel terminal entrance that it had been shut , which explained the blaze of blue lights , and in the end was shut for 12 hours meaning we would have lost a days holiday !! . We blasted south at the legal limit on empty French roads , a pleasure , and followed the deserted road down the hill towards the lake , pulling up at Andy and Tracys in good time .
Now thats a carp barrow , delivered and collected in style .
No draw means you set up at leisure, and before we knew it the already made up rods were out , and house up for the week . The second difference this week was we took a baitboat , well we hired one , after seeing them in use the year before dropping baits near the edge of the lilly pads , it was a no brainer . Having never used one before i decided to do the closer rod into a bay in the pads first , hopper filled with tiger nuts , sloppy nut spod mix , and a rig of a popup brazil nut .With the nutty spod mix stiffened to a method mix and squeezed around the lead , my thinking that it would lay down slowly on top of the choddy bottom around the pads slowly letting off the cloud of attractors , then it sailed out perfect tight to a spot in the pads , as it did all week , loving the boats now !. The rods were set up with clutches tightened down to give minimum line on a bite , this way I hoped the fish would struggle to get to far into the pads on a take , but did nothing for the nerves waiting for one bleep , as the previous year we had the rod nearly dragged in from a mad take , so its a fine line when setting it up . I also was using a hook from JK tackle called the Trex , very strong , offset point , looked the part , coupled with some gardner ultra ply hooklength I was not under gunned .
Our home for the week , fox super eurodome, and the view across to the pads.
The first few days the fish were up the other end , as was shown by a couple of 30,s and a forty pounder coming out to the Dutch and German anglers . To be honest I was gagging to move onto them , but it was fairly full that end . A couple of days in and the fish started to show more in front of us , and it was quiet frustrating to have some lumps crash near the spots , but instead of chasing them around I stuck roughly to the spots all week, just trying the odd area without spreading the bait around to much . We had a great routine of eating the delicious hot home cooked meal delivered to the swim , and settling down in the bivvy to watch Downton Abbey on the Ipad , a quality costume drama .
Downton Abbey , south of France , rods out .
On the third night we had retired to our beds , we had the full luxury of a JRC cacoon bag inside a Trakker big snooze each , believe me we was not going to be cold . The ipad wes propped up on the tiger nut bucket and the lake had a mist drifting over it in the background , heaven . Sometime just into the episode there was a single bleep to the left hand rod tight into a bay of the pads . I rushed out and the Stow indicator had pulled tight and dropped off the line , I put my finger on the line in the pitch black and it was bowstring tight , game on . I lifted the rod and walked back 10 yards , the century rod in full test curve , no line was given at all, but from the start it felt proper heavy . Sue was at my side helping by lifting a rod that it kited under as it used its bulk , and pulled line from the already tight clutch . Once clear of the main pads I eased off , although it made powerful runs strait away from me I just steered it left and right like a dog on alead . All the time in my mind I can honestly say I knew what it was , I had talked nothing but the big common for months , or even a year driving my mates mad . And so it proved as Sue lifted the net around the fish I could see strait away it was a common , only confirmed how big by Sue saying "The nets caught on the bottom", not being able to lift it far .
A proper chunk
Now when you think of all the variables that went into being in the swim at that time , that fish that id dreamt about for ages , picking up that brazil nut , and all the other things that could have gone wrong , i know it was written , the stars and planets lined up , and it was my turn , it really did blow us away . I could have retained it for daytime photos , but that worries me , so it was a quick pic by Sue with my phone , and back she went a good as gold . It was a tough week all round , a algae bloom ,hot days , frosty night , but we slipped the net under another goodun before we headed north again , job done . If someone had said your travelling over 600 miles to a lake and will only catch that fish , id have taken that all day long . Add that to the other trip it was an awesome 2015 for me, Sue , and the catching machine James . France , bloody love it .
Frost on the mat , wet from a 56lb + common , hapy days !.
Hatter
