Fish Location

The lakes margins are the main feeding areas for the carp, although open water spots do produce so its always worth having at least one rod in mid water. As with all small venues the fish are line shy so I would recommend fishing slack and with a flying backlead. The fish do show and will normally give away there location before too long, but make sure you are watching !

Marking your spots

A marker rod set up is important to find and mark your features. Ensure you have something to mark your line in order to put the bait back to your chosen spot.

Bait Application

For a standard week at the lake, as a starters I would recommend the following bait per person:

• 5kg boilies, ones you are confident in, of good quality. The new bait for 2008, MARNE VALLEY MATRIX is set to be a winner and could be a valuable key to your success.
• 5kg pellets, we sell a mixture of high quality protein and fishmeal, with a low oil content, available as a mixture of 15, 9, 4mm. The fish are fed these all year round for the last 4 years, I have had people put 25kg in for a week session when the fish are having it. Its an established food source and one they cannot resist.
• 5kg particle, we sell a premixed bucket of hemp, maize, sunflower seeds, wheat, peanuts and tigernuts, all elements of this mix have caught fish. Also available is hemp or the Nuts; a mixture of different types of nut, peanuts, tigers, black tigers, giant tigers.

To start with I would tend to vary the quantity of bait  applied per rod. If you are going to introduce a large bed of bait then be prepared to sit on it for at least 2 days before action occurs.

Tackle

Choice of tackle is a personal thing and experience will tell you what is needed to fish efficiently as possible. The following list highlights some of the main elements required:

• BAIT BOATS – there are 2 for hire and the water is well suited to their use, intimate with snaggy and marginal fishing
• MARKER ROD – braid can be used when feature finding and marking spots but ensure it is min. 20lb BS.
• MAIN LINE – min 15lb test, make sure its tried and tested and you have respooled with new line, nothing worse than loosing a potential monster due to defective line.
• ALARMS – bring spare batteries and buy a sounder box if you are a heavy sleeper, sleeping through runs will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
• SCALES – 120LB Specimen Hunter Ruben Heatons, they will not let you down like some of the well known brands of digital scales.
• MATT – make sure it’s BIG! And well padded!
• WEIGH SLING – once again big with rigid supports and no plastic fixtures, they break! It needs to be strong!
  
  

FOR A CHOICE OF TACKLE TO PURCHASE OR HIRE : CLICK HERE

Terminal Tackle

Keep it as you normally do, do not be tempted to change things because you are in France. The only things that you may need to look at are hooklink strength, min 15lbs, I would go for at least 20lbs. Hook sizes should not vary from your English fishing and should be in proportion to the bait size.