March is always a funny month as the daytime can feel like summer with mild temperatures and the sun’s rays beating down, then come nightfall it is as if someone has flicked the switch back to winter! However for those willing to brave the conditions some fantastic fish can be caught and lots of big named fish regularly make an appearance in the month of March.
I had been watching the weather forecast for the last few weeks waiting for mild stable conditions and low pressures before I made a start on my target water for the year. The lake last produced a fish in October and it had looked devoid of life for some time, with the aforementioned conditions predicted I made plans to get down straight from work on the Friday with the plan of doing two nights. I was extremely excited and all Friday the weather looked good and fish were certainly feeding as I was teaching a group of young lads how to feeder fish at For Life Experiences where I work and they were bagging up! Upon arriving at the lake it seemed I wasn’t the only one with that idea and it was pretty stitched up with only one bank remaining free but luckily for me it’s where I wanted to be.
I quickly set about having a lead about in front of my chosen swim and found a nice hard silt area around fifty yards out and decided this was worth putting a bit of bait on. I baited with around 1kg of 10mm Mainline Cell and half a kilo of 15 millers rolled by Kent Particles nice and accurately to the marker float. My rigs were kept fairly simple around seven inches of 25lb Gardner Sink Skin was coupled with a size 8 Covert Continental Mugga , I then used quite a large section of the Covert Super Shrink to trap the knotless-knotted hair to the shank of the hook (see sequence) and to this I attached a 12mm White Cell pop-up. I then threaded a small Micromesh pva stick down the rig and that was job done!
By the time I had finished getting the first rod out it had got pretty dark so I put the other two on hinged stiff rigs and cast them until I felt a drop I was happy with. The first night was very wet and fishless and I watched the water like a hawk the next day from the steep bank behind me. It gave a great view of my swim and from the slightly higher vantage point I could start to make out a few carp cruising just under the surface by around mid-day. I wasn’t sure at first but then a seagull swooped down extremely close to the surface of the lake and it just erupted as two big fish spooked. I was just tying up some zigs when my right hand rod over the bait went in to meltdown and I was on it in a flash. To say I was nervous was an understatement as this was potentially my first fish from the venue and after a hairy few minutes near some marginal snags a lovely 29lb 10oz mirror was being photographed. After returning the fish I topped up the spot with another kilo of mixed sized boilies and put an extra rod on the area.
It was soon dark and the fish seemed to have disappeared and another cold fishless night was on the cards. I awoke around 5am to a tufftie picking up my middle rod so I quickly got a fresh rig and bait on the spot before climbing in the bag again as it was now blowing a north easterly straight in my face and was freezing cold! At around 9am just as my mate turned up I had another take on my right hand rod but I lost it soon after hooking it. The rod was re-positioned within minutes and every other angler had packed up and gone home which I was extremely pleased about as it seemed they had woken up again. Over the next half hour I must have seen fifteen shows over my spot and they were clearly having it big time. The next bite produced one of the lake’s A-Team a fish known as “Fingers” that only makes one or two appearances each year and weighed a hefty 34lb 14oz. The fish looked immaculate in its winter colours and seconds after returning it my middle rod also on the spot roared off and after a spirited fight a beautiful 24lb 6oz common lay in the net.
My friend had also got his rods out to the left of my swim and mine were soon ‘back on the money’ and fish were still poking their heads out on a regular basis and just after consuming a well-earned brew my right hand rod was again in meltdown. On lifting the rod it felt like another good fish and upon lifting it on to the mat my suspicions were confirmed. The fish weighed 32lb 8oz and was my second 30lber in around an hour! The process was again repeated and I sat watching fish and I was expecting another one at any minute, but it was my friend who was next with the action. His right hand rod went in to meltdown and as he picked up the rod so did my right hand rod! We were both attached to angry carp and could not believe the mornings events it was incredible! We both had a pretty hairy scrap with the fish that had both decided to kite down the long snaggy margins to our left and right.
We both managed to land the fish and my mates weighed in at 17lb 2oz and mine was a 25lb 4oz mirror. I was made up to say the least and really impressed with my new 12lb Gardner Pro Carp Light Blend mainline. It held strong even during those few hairy moments where the fish managed to reach marginal snags and coupled with four feet of Heavy Plummet Leadcore everything went to plan. The rods were re-positioned but the wind was getting even colder and it had started to sleet and all signs of life had disappeared once more, it was almost as if a switch had once again been flicked to turn off any want of the carp to feed. I gave it another hour just in case but I think I had my fair share and managed to capitalise on a short feeding window when all others had returned to the warmth of their homes! I can’t wait to get back down there and hope my run of recent success can continue this year, only time will tell…
How to tie Tom’s rig
Step 1 – You will need the following materials.
Step 2 – Using a Peel and Pull stripper tool remove around 3 inches of coating.
Step 6 – Tie a figure of eight loop knot in the end of the rig for easy attachment to a Kwik Lok Swivel.
Step 7 – Attach a blob of Critical Mass putty to balance the pop up.
Step 8 – Tom’s finished rig ready to go.
Tom Oliver
April 2013
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Winter and early spring can be a very difficult time to catch consistently, the fish are either lethargic or just beginning to wake up and a big bed of bait is the sure fire way to destroy your chances of catching. I prefer a single bright pop up positioned in the right place that will get any carps attention, I’ve caught many fish this way over the years.
The “multi-rig” as it is widely known is a rig that you can cast almost anywhere to showing fish or position on gravel, silt or even light weed just by adjusting the height of the popup, this really is a versatile rig. The other benefit is that if you accidently blunt a hook and cannot re-sharpen it effectively or you catch a fish on the rig, you can change the hook very quickly without having to retie a new rig every time, just slip off the retaining loop, slide on a new hook, position the loop again around the shank and you have a finished brand new rig all ready to cast out.
How I have found to best fish this rig is to attach to a ring swivel on a lead clip system, I trim the “Critical Mass” putty until the 15mm pop up just sinks. This enables you to use a small piece of Dissolving Foam if fishing over weed and as the foam dissolves the pop up drifts slowly down to rest on any debris on the lake bed, thus presenting perfect presentation every time.
The components you will need to tie this simple but effective rig.
Cut off the desired length of hook link depending on what you are fishing over, a good starting point is around 12 inches. I also like to blend in the colour of the hook link to the bottom I’m fishing over.
Leon Bartropp
April 2013
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In order to achieve consistent success I played around with my rigs and the lead arrangements, tailoring them to suit a particular area of the Back Lake where I laid two traps; one over a clean gravel slope that met smooth silt and the other over a very flat gravel/silt mix on a far margin in a very carpy looking bay. From my observations I was confident my target fish would be spending a lot of time there, especially in the warmer evenings as the sun went down. What I came up with initially was a snowman type arrangement with a 15mm Mistral bottom bait and a chopped down pop-up attached to a size 8 Mugga, 7 inches of coated braid with a little stripped back at the hook. This acted as a little hinged section and the rig was fished with a 1 ½ oz flat pear running on an Enterprise Tackle run-ring and two feet of 25lb Gardner Plummet leadcore.
This was working well enough, though sometimes I would reel in to find a whittled or missing pop up! I was trimming these hookbaits down so the bait sunk under the weight of the hook but the small fish attacking them would ruin the presentation occasionally! In my mind I wasn't fishing 100% effectively until I came up with the idea of using cylinders of Gardner Tackle Zig Rig Foam to tip my hookbaits and to counter balance the bottom bait. The addition of Zig Foam was small fish proof, without altering the flavour of my hook bait and it gave me the option of a range of colours to tip the hook bait. After using most of the range white and yellow always scored well on the club lakes, being very visual amongst PVA bags of free offerings.
The foam tipped hook baits were just a minor detail but really gave me an edge as I felt it was beneficial to be able to consistently control buoyancy and the colour safe just as I want it too. Another benefit the bait arrangement gave was that the neutral buoyancy meant that hook bait flies into the fish's mouth with the slightest of sucks. If you incorporate a mini rig ring the hookbait slides towards the eye making the aggressively curved Mugga ‘hook point heavy', giving you an efficient hook hold and a difficult rig for the fish to deal with.
As for the final lead arrangement, I knew sometimes to hit the right spot I might need to cast a couple of times so a lighter lead (just enough to get me out to the area) would help to keep disturbance to a minimum. In the end I opted for a Gardner Flat Pear lead purely because I didn't want the bait being pushed about and rolling down the shelf by fish feeding around the rig.
Eventually I eventually adopted a running lead set up. Why? One day I saw my rod tip bouncing and wondered what was causing it? Curiosity got the better of me so I crept towards one of my traps and saw a carp sat on the spot thrashing its head side to side using my semi fixed inline lead to throw the rig from its mouth. Naturally I rushed back to the rod and hit it! The fish turned out to be a dark scaley high double. Naturally I became a tad paranoid recognising that this probably wasn't an isolated incident and that I had potentially missed out on a few carp so that's when I adapted the idea of a running lead.
Once I had fine-tuned the rig and got everything pinned down with putty and flying back leads I soon ended a 4 year quest catching a mysterious, and the much talked about Ghost carp that had only ever graced the bank a few times.
I remember the session when I caught the ‘Ghostie' particularly well, it was a balmy warm late summer evening and knowing my spots well setting the traps was easy. I saw the ‘Ghostie' drift into the bay, possibly looking to see if he was being fished for I reckon, then it exited the area only to come back with a couple of his pals to dine with. A plume of bubbles appeared just off my left spot half hour later, just as the light was fading fast and shortly after I was to receive a bizarre take, exactly like you would expect from a small bream.
As I tightened up and lifted into a dull low resistance then wound again this time to be met with a few head shakes making me believe a small tench was the culprit. I wound down again, but then found myself winding erratically trying to keep up with the speed of the fish in question. This crafty carp was heading straight towards the river inlet that was laced with tree roots and other obstacles round to the left of the swim; so pulling hard with the tip fully submerged I then turned the fish steering it clear of danger and when it then hit the surface in front of me I managed to hold him there, he gave a few more head shakes, trying to throw the rig, before I steered him over the waiting net. Funny thing is at this point I knew I had a ‘Ghostie' but I was convinced it was the smaller resident at around 15 lb.
After all the excitement I had a quick breather and prepared the unhooking facilities; readied some lake water, forceps, carp care products, sling and scales. With everything ready I unshipped the arms from the spreader block, rolled up the mesh on the net, bit the line (ensuring all its fins where flat and safe from snagging on the mesh), and it was only then I realised what I had captured! It had to be the seemingly impossible Ghostie just because of the sheer weight I was supporting in the folds of the net.
The fish was well nailed with the Mugga set an inch back in the centre of the bottom lip, and the carps mouth was immaculate, completely devoid of bruising or tears. Evidence to suggest not only did it rarely get caught but it had been cared for appropriately in the past, after all the fish is someone else's dream so respect is paramount. A phone call was made to a neighbouring angler whilst I secured it in the net and we took a few snaps and gazed at this aloof mysterious carp. Not the fight I expected from the notoriously hard fighting character but as amazing as I had ever wished for!!!
Since those days I've caught much larger fish from other waters, but this was nearly a decade ago and 20's still seemed to be held in a high regard as a sizeable carp - and a thirty, well they were really special. In the time I spent on the complex I managed to rack up around 25 twenties, loads of doubles and 1 thirty pound common plus large Tench and Bream. Doing what I did gave me a very low blank percentage, which was a really good return considering I only did on average 1-2 quick overnighters per week.
Great place and great memories!...
How to tie Ian's balanced bait rig
Step 1 - Using a Gardner Stripper tool peel back several inches of braid
Step 2 - Cut off the tag end
Step 3 - Tie on a Covert Rig Ring using an overhand knot
Step 4 - Attached a size 8 Mugga hook using knotless knot with the rig ring in this position
Step 5 - Tie a figure of eight loop knot
Step 6 - Add a mouse dropping size of Critical Mass Putty where the hinge starts
Step 7 - Cut off a cylinder of Gardner Zig Rig foam into two pieces as shown
Step 8 - Mount the disk of foam as shown
Step 9 - The finished rig
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What you'll need...
The rig I use is based on 10lb HydroFlo mainline - as it is soft but very strong, abrasion resistant and reliable in the 0.28mm diameter. This is coupled with Gardner 10lb Zig Link which is clear and has a good level of stretch as the hook length. This stretch is important to protect hook holds on small hooks and buffers the movements of powerful fish. This stretch also makes for excellent knot strength. The hooks I prefer (due to their straight point and impressive strength to size ratio) are the size 10 Incizors. These are perfect for use with baits such as Enterprise's pop up Tigernut's or chum mixers or Mistral's floaters.
When necessary I incorporate a Flatliner controller for additional casting weight as these come in three sizes they cover a variety of ranges. They are threaded onto the mainline and kept in position between two beads set using stop knots tied with our power gum. The stop knots are tied with three turns, and whilst this will not normally slip whilst casting at close to medium range, if fishing at long range I like to tie another, just above the first, for security. The hooklink, that should ideally be around 5 feet, is attached with the 'loop to loop' method giving excellent knot strength. I prefer this to using anything that adds extra knots or weight such as swivels, rings etc (potential weak spots). Make up plenty of small mesh bags of mixers in advance so as not to waste valuable 'active feeding' time on the bank. Simply thread your hook point in to the bait and thread it round to the back of the shank. The mixer bag can then be nicked on. There is no need to use hairs, bait bands or glue with the three hook baits I mentioned earlier.
1. Start off by threading a flatliner onto your mainline with a safety bead either side
2. Tie a loop knot in the end of your mainline. Chris favours a single overhand loop for this
3. Cut off enought12Ib Power Gum to tie a stop knot..
4. ... a 3 turn stop knot is ideal for fixing the Flatliner controller in place
5. When it is finished (leaving a small tag) carefully move the stop down to the loop knot
6. Repeat with another stop knot behind the upper bead to keep the controller in position and create a bolt effect
7. Tie on your favoured hook; Chris has gone for a size 10 Barbless Incizor and uses a reliable 4 turn grinner
8. Pull off a generous 5 foot of your chosen hook link material
9. Tie a loop knot in the end of your hooklink and attach the two sections loop to loop
10. The finished rig with a soft hookable floater and a small Fishnet PVA bag of identical free offering. Now you're ready to go!
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Another easy tweak is the addition of a section of 0.5mm silicone or shrink tube over the hook eye. By extending the shank and holding the hook link so it is straighter to the shank with this tube, you are ensuring that the hook point is in the right position to catch hold as soon as the bait is sucked in as it will be less likely to droop over.
The last critical adjustments relate to the balancing and height of the pop-up. The balancing is how slowly the hook bait sinks when the counter weight has been added onto the hook bait. How do you decide how fast your hookbait should sink and how high the pop up should be above the lake bed?
As a rough guide we recommend fishing pop ups that sink slowly over low weed and silt, using a slightly longer hooklink and with the pop up high enough to remain clearly visible and accessible to browsing carp. If you're fishing on clean gravel, perhaps over lots of bait then a low pop up with counter weight only a few mm from the hook and over weighted so that it sinks at the same rate as a freebie is a good starting point. This is because the fish will tend to feed more aggressively, and with their mouths tight to the lake bed, and the heavier pop up will be less likely to swirl around as the fish moves near the rig.
Tip - Hook Bait Buoyancy: It's critical that your hook baits are good enough to maintain their buoyancy for the duration of the time they will be out in the water. If you're fishing long periods it's important that you check that the pop up hook bait is still Ok when you reel it in. A great way of making really good pop ups, that maintain buoyancy, is to make them using your normal base mix with a cork ball inside the boilie before it is rolled. There's loads of information online on how to do this and they really are the best!
1. Start off by stripping off 12-15cm of your favourite skinned hooklink
2. Tie a small loop in the end to retain the hair stop when the rig is finished
3. Tie a small loop in the end
4. Heres the trickiest bit - thread the rig ring on the hook and secure with a knotless knot
5. Thread an 8mm section of 0.5mm tube down the hooklink
6. Push the tubing up over the eye of the hook so 2 or 3 mm are below the hooks eye...
7. Tie a loop knot at the other end
8. Create a hinge at the height you ant to fish the pop up by stripping a small section of hooklink
9. Mould some Critical Mass for the pop up counterweight on the hooklink just above the stripped section as shown
Just rewards; Lewis with The Long Common at 36lb 10oz
Lewis Read
October 2012
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There are two trains of thought on how much counterbalance weight should be used with pop ups, but as a rule I normally over-weight pop ups fished on gravel lakebeds and finely balance hook baits fished over silt. The beauty of this set up is that even a small 10mm bait can effectively hide the big strong hook whilst retaining excellent bottom lip hooking properties.....drop one in the edge and you will see what I mean!
I often sleeve the hook knot with a small piece of silicone tubing protruding about 5mm past the eye as this causes what is already an amazingly quick turning hook to be even more aggressive. You can test this by trying to move one across the palm of your hand. It will turn before moving showing that mechanically the rig is spot on!
Long sweeping curved shank hooks are not allowed on some waters, but a similar set up can be achieved using a Longshank Incizor and a small piece of Covert Supa-Shrink tubing creating the aggressive angle below the eye, or a short shank hook with a longer shrink tube ‘kicker'.
For a 25lb breaking strain braid, Vigilante has a fine diameter and nice brown colour, and when viewed in the lake it simply blends in exceptionally well on the bottom. I rub some Critical Mass putty up and down the hooklink and put a couple of tiny blobs of it on the link to ensure it settles down flush to the lake bed. Being woven with pure Dyneema, Vigilante is incredibly strong for its diameter, but can retain a little buoyancy unless treated this way.
Finally, I incorporate an Anti-Tangle sleeve at the swivel and rig foam on the hook to help avoid any tangling on the cast, but for PVA bag fishing I simply shorten the hook link to around 4" and dispense with the sleeve and dissolving rig foam. The rig has proven excellent for single hook bait fishing over all sorts of lakebeds and will perform equally well fished over beds of bait and in PVA bags too.
1. Start off by attaching the Long Shank Mugga to the Vigilante with a simple knotless knot
2. Trim off excess as the hookbait will be mounted on a rig ring, not a hair
3. Push 1cm of 0.5mm silicon tubing up over the eye of the hook as shown
4. Thread the first Covert Hook Stop onto the hook, so that the widest end is facing up the shank
5. Thread on a rig ring and a second hook stop as shown here
6. Create a loop knot. We recommend adding an extra twist to make the knot 'figure of 16' as this is stronger with braids
7. With the extra twist it is a little trickier to bed the knot down. Take your time as a stronger knot is worth the effort
8. Smear Critical Mass rig putty down hooklink to make it sink like a stone
9. The finished rig - just waiting for a pop up to be tied onto the rig ring
10. Finished rig
Martin LewisOctober 2012
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M3 + Supawrap - Image
For the most part I tend to use my M3 in its various guises, I prefer the M3 because of its versatility, if the weather is good I will just use the shell, and keep the front and groundsheet in the car if the weather deteriorates I can simply pop back to the car for the front and ground sheet, only in winter do I use a second skin, the benefits of the bivvy over say a brolly is if the wind changes in the night i can just roll down the doors where as a brolly would leave me exposed to the elements, and once mastered I find they are equally as quick certainly with the 2 break pole system featured on the M3
Endura carryalls
I like to be organised and I have no issues with arriving in darkness or moving swims in darkness, to that end I pack my gear in a logical manner the same way each time meaning I know which pocket my camera, scales or tackle box are located, I also ensure they always go back in the same place as soon as I have finished with them. I like to be able to locate things at night without using my head torch if possible. I prefer carryalls over a rucksack A) because I only ever use a barrow these days and B) A rucksack you have to remove items from the top to access the items in the bottom. During roving trips I can fish out of my bag while it remains on my barrow meaning I can stay ultra mobile and it gives me a good platform to work from.
Sports holdall
On longer sessions I tend to carry a spare set of clothes, pva, leads, long life milk, gas, batteries & tea bags in my sports holdall, this is kept clean and dry and away from prying eyes (thieves or rats) in the boot of the car for when needed. I find it's also a bonus for French trips having a spare set of clothes and a towel and a small wash kit should a shower become an option.
Modular cool bag
Fresh food is always welcome on the bank, so I tend to eat as well as I can for at least the first few days, I have a little system whereby when my wife prepares fresh meals such as chilli con carne, stews or curries, I freeze individual portions in tubs and then take these in my cool bag frozen, I allow them to defrost over the first day or two days this works well as they act initially as cool blocks keeping my milk and bread cold then they remain chilled enough to last two days by which time they have thawed ready to be re heated and eaten, this also means I use less gas and eat relatively healthy meals while bank side.
The Lake
Alder is an absolutely stunning lake located on the edge of the Central Massif in the heart of rural France. It is miles away from the nearest town or major road, an idyllic location. Alder is an old lake formed by damming a valley. The lake itself has two shallow arms which are about three feet deep at their deepest. The main body of the lake has deep hard margins, with six feet being easily found just off the tree line. The deepest area is in excess of fourteen feet and is fairly soft.
Looking from the hut side of the dam wall towards the shallow arms
Looking towards the West arm from the East arm. Can you spot Paul Cooper bivvied up?
Looking along the dam, an excellent place to bivvy up.
The banks are flat and grassy, ideal for bivvies. When it is dry it is possible to drive around the majority of the lake to drop tackle off.
The banks are flat and grassy, ideal for bivvies. When it is dry it is possible to drive around the majority of the lake to drop tackle off.
The Fish
First the technical bit, the lake has been stocked with triploid carp. These carp are sterile; they are produced by giving the fertilised eggs a heat shock which produces an extra chromosome. These carp have three chromosomes (triploid) instead of the normal two (diploid). Hence there is never a problem with spawning or weight loss after it. You can go and fish the lake with confidence when other carp have sex on their agenda.
The Bait
Up until recently I have been a fan of boilies fished over hemp and pellets. However, I have now changed my opinion; I no longer use particles or pellets. By observation I have come to the conclusion that they attract a lot of nuisance fish and often the carp get preoccupied on the hemp and particles and only take the boilies when everything else has been mopped up. I have now started to use boilies only and my results have improved exponentially. Hence I had 30 kg of Quality Bait’s HG42, Paul had 35kg of boilies a mixture of Quality Bait’s HG42, HG47 and squid and orange.
The Fishing
Paul with a pretty mirror from the point |
25lb from the dam |
Paul and I arrived at the lake on Saturday afternoon and spent a couple of hours looking around. We spent at least an hour sitting on the dam looking for showing fish. There was some bubbling in the deeper soft region of the lake. It was Paul’s turn to have first choice of swim and being the good angler that he is chose to fish the point between the two shallow arms; it would have been my first choice as well. I chose to set up on the west side of the dam and fish two rods in the deep area where the bubbling had been seen, the third rod was to be fished just off the tree line to my right in six feet of water. Paul was immediately into fish and had something like six before it went dark. I had three; a 25lb mirror, a tench and a grassie. We both reeled in for the night as we were knackered after the long drive from the Midlands. Sunday was hot and sunny, Paul had something ridiculous like twenty three fish during the day, I managed twelve, unfortunately nine of them were grassies.
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On Monday morning I decided to move and fish opposite Paul into the eastern arm as I wanted to avoid the grassies. This appeared to affect Paul’s fishing as he only had thirteen fish on Monday! I had eight only one grassy, which was a result. Paul was convinced that I was cutting his fish off, hence on Tuesday we both moved onto the dam. I went back into my original swim. Paul and I fished the same tactics; we concentrated the bait in one area and fed after every fish. Paul fished two nights and I only fished one night as the fish were coming out during the day. In fact the hotter it got the more the fish fed. It was not unusual to have three fish all at the same time. My fishing started to tail off on Thursday as I was to running out of bait. However, I did manage sixty fish and Paul a nice round hundred. I am sure we could have caught even more as we reeled in for meals, to go to the shops and during most nights. Biggest fish of the week was a 39lb 9oz mirror which luckily fell to my rods. All the fish were in good condition and boy do they fight, we both finished most days with aching arms.
The Facilities
The lake is basically a drive and survive, as there is no running water or electricity at the lake. However, there is a proper sit down loo that is flushed via water being poured into it. There is also a hut with a cooker, sink, table, chairs and the most important of all a camping fridge idea for cooling down the beers. Water is provided by the owner in plastic containers. There is a fridge freezer and a shower in the barn, a couple of hundred yards from the lake.
Conclusion
If you want an action packed venue, with the chance of a biggy, in a stunning location look no further. This is one of the prettiest lakes I have ever fished, I would be willing to pay just to camp there never mind fish. When this is coupled with hard fighting fish that don’t spawn and feed throughout the day you are on a winner. Paul and I had over 160 fish; if we had fished hard it would have been over 200.
Jim Kelly, August 2012. jim.kelly@jpkelly.plus.com
Carp Fishing in France at Alder
Carp Fishing in France at 35 lakes
Angling Lines
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The first hooter went to start baiting up and marking lines.. By this time I was all over the place still happy about the draw I hadn't even realised what the time was. I knew that I wasn't going to go straight in with marker floats and leads spooking off fish in the swim so this didn't bother me being behind schedule. After it feeling like the past hour had taken about 3 hours the rods were all ready to be put out to where i had seen fish show and hopefully pick up an early fish.
The match started off very slow with no fish caught until the first sign of darkness. The first fish to make an appearance in the match was luckily on my unhooking mat. A hard fighting common weighing just over 14lb had put me ahead of the field and straight into first place. After a night with no bites and dropping places, i woke up sitting in 4th place. I was up early saturday morning watching the water to see if i could see any signs of fish. I noticed a few fish cruising around about 15 yards out. I tied up a 3ft zig with a 10mm pink peril pop up and plopped it just past the area i had seen them cruising. Before mid day the bobbin came to top of the rod and let out a few bleeps before i struck in to what felt a better fish. After a short fight the fish had given up being buried in a ball of weed. This went 20lb 7oz, another common to shoot me back into the lead.
After my second fish the swim went quiet for a while, having lost a fish it was clear that the fish had started to follow the wind and head down to the other end of the lake. It wasn't until Sunday when i had my next take. This was the most important fish of the competition for me. In the dying hour of the match i had a phone call to say that swim 7 had caught another fish and had put me back into third position. This meant for me.. GAME ON! All three rods came in and a different approach went out to catch this final fish for a qualifying position. Three zig rigs went out with 10mm, milky malt, pink peril and pb popups on each rod. With 15 minutes since the phone call my right hand rod ripped into action and i was on the end of another hard fighting fish. With a heart racing 10 minutes the fish came close to getting snagged up in the margins.. Taking no chances the boots came off and i was into the lake fully clothed. A 21lb zig caught common had put me back into second place. The last 30 minutes of the match was one big blurr as i was hoping it was enough to qualify. What a relief it was to hear that final hooter! Three fish for 56lb 1oz meant i had finished second i would be heading to the UK Carp Cup Semi finals!
Callum
July 2012
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