Friday 10th October was finally upon us, the long and anticipated wait for my first French trip in seven years was here. My first trip in 2007 was all but everything I was hoping for in a French trip, managing to land carp to over 58lb along with a monster cat of 95lb+. With this in mind, there certainly wasn’t going to be many venues that would come close to being able to smash any personal records. However, with that said, it certainly isn’t all about records and more about enjoying the surroundings and the company along with having a well-deserved holiday!
As we were booked on the overnight ferry from Portsmouth – Le Havre, my close friend Chris popped over early afternoon, with fellow Pallatrax team member, co syndicate owner and good friend, James, turning up around six that evening. With the van loaded with all our kit, I was soon saying my goodbyes to the wife and kids and heading down the A36 and M27 to join our ferry.
11pm couldn’t come quick enough; having nailed the KFC whilst waiting at the port, we were soon being loaded and becoming acquainted with the bar. We bumped into a fellow Ashmead syndicate member of James’, Jack, who was heading off to the mighty Abbey Lakes to take part in the Forces Carp Classic along with other various forces personnel. A little before 1am and a couple of beers later, we were soon heading off to the pre-booked cabin to get some much needed kip before a mammoth drive the next morning.
Having woken after a fairly decent night’s kip, which is more than I can say for the fry up; we were soon disembarking at Le Havre and setting off on our six hour drive. I’ve not yet mentioned the lake, it wasn’t the first choice but circumstances had us booking a lake called Mayflower. The lake is part of the Mirror pool fishery complex, the one we were meant to be on but a mix up with James’ booking meant otherwise. The lake however offers a very good head of 30’s, 40’s and 3(possibly 4 or 5 at the right time of year)x50’s. The average weight is recorded around 35lb and to be honest would offer us exactly what we were looking for in a week’s fishing.
As we made our way through Le Havre, everything was going well till it came to the first major junction all of 10mins in when some French driver decided to overshoot the turning and smash straight into the middle of the crash barrier. Due to the local police taking up half the road and abandoning their cars where they deem fit, our exit was blocked and we embarked on the first adventure of the day. Following the sat nav we continued on the road which felt like we were doubling back on ourselves and heading straight back towards the blockage…..which fortunately wasn’t the case and we took the road above them. The road we ended up on appeared to be some form of dockyard/ industrial type road which had us a little worried we might end up back on the ferry before the week had begun!
Following a “turn right”, the 10 minute wait at a red light to an empty road, a left, another right and past the biggest refinement plant I think I’ve ever seen…we were finally moving and appeared to be on track of arriving at the lake around 14:30. I must point out at this stage; Mr Moore did a wonderful job behind the wheel and put in a four hour stint as some of us caught up on our much needed beauty sleep….hey Mr Wenglorz!!
It was my turn to take the wheel, rather like driving on the straight, underused roads which allows for some very easy driving. We were soon making good time as we went through Limoges and didn’t
seem long (despite the “are we there yet” cries from the over excited kids) till we were off the A-road driving towards Masseret, then heading through the very quiet village of Meilhards. We soon found ourselves driving down a very rough track which only meant one thing, we were almost there! As we came to a clearing in the trees, we saw our first glimpse of the lake and what a stunning place this looked!
Upon pulling in we were greeted by our host for the week and the Mayflower bailiff, Brian, who had the kettle boiling away in the little shack ready for a well-deserved brew. With the introductions done and a brief run through of the rules, the tea didn’t hit the sides and we were soon having the guided tour of the lake. Brian took us along to swim 1 and we were greeted by a lump smashing through the upper layers and dispersing the water in all directions, followed by another out in front of swim 7 and then a few more in front of swim 2 ~ very encouraging signs! As we continued our walk we found out that the lake hadn’t been fished the week before, with the other three lads who were booked in with us dropping out…what a touch! Or so we thought!
Having completed our lap with discussing swims and potential bait spots, I had already an idea of where I wanted to be for the week with my game plan being decided a number of weeks prior to our visit (granted , not necessarily the thing to do). We decided that swim 7 would be left alone and a day only swim where we could go and pick up a few fish during the day to break the week up a little. The draw was carried out with me pulling the short straw……bloody typical! Sleeping beauty (James) ended up with first choice and opted for swim 4, with Chris opting for swim 1 (my original plan) which saw me heading for swim 5. This swim would give me access to the area of swim 7 where we saw some shows, along with a good amount of water in front of me.
With the kit dragged around and everyone setting up, Chris seemed to have a change of heart and opt for swim 2 ~ which left me with that decision to make about moving back around the other side of the lake to my first choice swims……..I ended up staying put! Now with my original plans, I decided to take the Cotswold rod custom 13ft Trebuchet lights along with my old 12ft greys prodigy’s. Considering we were fishing a 10 acre lake the casting rods were probably a little OTT, however having them for five months or so and not using them I just had to have a play and see what they were like!
With the light fading I decided on a very simply approach for the night, one which would allow me to assess the situation in the morning without being forced into rash actions ~ I was here for a week after all! The rigs would be my faithful KD style with a little shrink kicker, utilising the Pallatrax ‘The Hook’ in size 6 and 8, the hooklink would be the awesome green 15lb Steamlink and finished off with the Crave and Jungle14mm bottom baits both tipped with a little fake corn. I would simply fish one rod on a crushed mesh bag of Jungle, a stringer of Crave with 15 baits spread around the area on the other; with the third being on a chopped down 18mm Multiworm and a solid bag of pellet flicked up the margin…..I was angling!
A few brews and listening out across the water, all we could hear was the endless amount of fish smashing out further up to my right and out in front of 1 and 7. I decided that night I would be up, listening and trying to understand their movements. Around 2am I decided to get some bait in swim
7 and simply spread it all around as they were all over the place! Out went somewhere in the region of half a kilo, leaving them for the night I would get a bait out there in the morning.
Around 03:30 I decided to get my head down and let the carp show me the way in the morning, however I didn’t have to wait long before I was being woken. Around 05:30 there was a knock on the bivvy with a bright light, James had decided to go and catch himself a fish! What a start! Having dragged myself from the pit and making my way along the bank to his swim, peering in the net I was greeted by a nice lump. Having unhooked and weighed the fish, first blood was a 36.ounces mirror and what a cracker this was! With the fish resting in the sling, I decided to get my head back down and instructed James to wake me in an hour or so when there was some light to get a few pics done.
With the pics done things couldn’t have got off to a better start, well, with the exception that my alarms remained silent along with Chris’ who had fish smashing all around him. Still, it was the first night and we had only been angling for a few half-hearted hours and James had managed to snare a cracker. With the brews on I sat watching, amazed with how many fish there were holding up in front of Chris and peg 7. I knew I had to get a rod in the area they were showing to try and get off the mark, settling the good old French fishing nerves! Besides, I had not seen as much as a bloodworm fart in front of me which didn’t fill me with much confidence!
A change of approach would see me knocking up a stiff hinge and fishing one of my homemade Crave corkers with a little added “special juice” I had been soaking them in for a number of weeks. This would be the first time I had fished these corkers, plus with trying another little possible edge would be interesting to see how they fair. This rod would be cast using the Trebuchet lights, showing the reason why I brought the rods with me! Fishing with 16lb, 0.35 heavy fluorocarbon line and wanting to hit 110yrds+ with baited rig, a piece of foam and four bait stringer was a dream. Before the trip I wanted to bed the line in on the spools, so went to the syndicate I run for a quick night and had a few casts. We were putting a naked lead around the 130 mark; this was straight through with no leaders and very little effort so I knew this could help bank a few bonus fish during the week.
So with the rod out to where I introduced some bait the night before, another twenty or so baits spread around the area, I felt fairly confident of a fish. Although fish were still showing all over Chris, yet he had failed to pick something up ~ he must have been doing his nut in watching it all happen over him! I soon knew what he must have felt like, seeing several good fish smashing out right over my bait throughout the day! Following a quick re-chuck around 6pm, pushing it a little further into the top bay this time towards where I thought I stood a better chance of receiving a take, I was sat watching the water and it didn’t take long before the repositioned rod rattled off.
I was soon being towed up the bank by a very angry fish; due to failing to pick up the net from the other side of the bush and starting to run out of room to walk, I let out a few cries for help. James soon came ambling along, net in hand to see what all the fuss was about to be greeted by a snagged line! Nightmare! On went the waders in a mad dash whilst trying to keep tension on the fish, with me soon up to my ‘you know what’s’ following the line out to the snag. Soon free, the fish went on an almighty surge and I could do nothing but let it go where it wanted to go…I was now stood in the water in front of swim 7, what a battle! It was certainly a water train, proper battle and the first on
the Treb lights which were everything I was hoping they would be. Not too heavy, not the broom handle they could have been for casting rods, but allowed me to feel everything of the fish and enough action to take the surge yet offer that power to stop and turn when needed. James passed me the net and having managed to finally tame the beast on the other end; I was soon slipping the net under my prize to a great sigh of relief and a cracker jack to open the account.
On the needle and for the records, the immense battle had earned me a cracking 36lb 3oz mirror. As the light was fading I was holding my cracker prize aloft for a couple of quick snaps before being slipped back to her watery home. Buzzing and account open! I would simply flick the rod back out along with inside margin for the night, introducing another kilo of bait in and around the area in front of swim 7 before getting my head down and having another go in the morning for them.
As morning broke, another quite night passed. As we all met at mid-day for some much needed brunch, James, Chris and I had ended up on head scratching times. Simply couldn’t understand how we were into Monday afternoon with only two fish to show for our troubles. Chris had fish all over him, yet somehow they managed to escape from being caught. As we sat under the cover of the shack looking out over the water, both mine and James’ swims were looking devoid of fish!
Heading back to the swims, we stuck at it and the main baited spot was topped up with a little more boilie. Sat watching over the water for signs, Chris was soon on the move and decided swim 1 would present him with a better chance having seen more fish moving to his left. As the afternoon rolled on, it was clear I would be sticking the rod back up to my right and out in front of swim 7, ready to see if the previous night’s bite came again. With the rod in position at 17:30, I was sorting a brew after getting a proper good soaking getting the rod out, along with a change of clothes and a nice bottle of wine for the evening when the long rod rattled off again. This time I remembered to take my net with me and proceeded to follow the fish up the bank, playing it from swim 6 as it surged off out in front of swim 7 again (nothing like covering all the available water hey!).
After another good battle, I managed to slip the net under a cracking 25lb+ mirror which had started to take on its winter colours very well. I looked at the watch and the take had come around 18:30 so started to have an idea when bite time would come (previous night’s bite was around 19:00). After a hearty battle I decided to rest the fish in the retainer whilst sorting out the rod and calling James on the radio for some pics. Mistake! Upon getting the fish back on the mat, couldn’t have been all of 15mins, it beat me up something chronic! Oh and it started to rain at this point as well! Nightmare! We managed to rattle off a couple of very quick shots, all of two, and I quickly returned the fish to reduce any untoward stress. Fish number 2 on my homemade Crave corkers with special ‘G’! Flying!
I introduced a little more bait on the main spot, probably getting on for 2k now in all, but this time decided to keep the long rod up for the night rather than dropping short in the margin. As the night ticked away I introduced another half kilo of ‘Crungle’ around the long rod, then sat back and enjoyed a couple of nice bottles of red with James whilst listening to the lumps smashing it up in front of Chris…which followed by a little banter on the radio asking why he hadn’t nailed at least 10
by now! It was soon time to get the head down and see what was to come in the morning, although I felt my chances would be between 18:00-19:30 the following evening.
Tuesday morning would see me being rudely woken from a very nice deep sleep around 04:30, this time not from James but from the sound of the Delk singing the merry old tune of a take! Happy days! Shoes on and finding my way out to the rods, the take had stopped and having made connection the fish had taken me on a slack up to my right. A few minutes into the battle and there was that dreaded ping and all went slack, certainly the case of the one that got away! Not sure why or how, maybe a light hookhold, found the bone maybe….who knows! However it was another take on the Crave with special ‘G’ and the stiff hinge, along with being the first take over the baited spot. I could certainly take positives out of a very disappointing moment! As I retrieved the rig I could see a light glimmering away in Chris’ peg, had he been in or fancied an early morning Jims….a quick radio message was sent and he confirmed a fish in the sling! Tidy stuff and he had nailed his first fish of the trip with the swim move certainly paying off.
Rod back out on the spot with a little more bait flicked over the top, I was soon getting my head back down before getting up early to walk around and take some pics for Chris. As it turned out he had managed to land the biggest of the trip so far in the shape of a cracking 38lb 8oz mirror, with the fish coming over a steadily baited spot which with my take and this gave me some confidence they were finally starting to get on the grub we were giving them.
Tuesday went very quiet, fish were still moving in peg 7 and smashing it out in front of Chris’ new swim; however in spite of losing one that morning, my swim was looking dead still! James and I were having a brew and discussing our plan of attack, with his swim looking as dead as mine we knew something had to change and with it both were thinking about a move! A quick bite to eat midday and a trip to the local supermarket to stock up on cheese and wine, the rods were back out and in place for the evening bite…which failed to come!
Wednesday morning was on us and again I was woken around 5am with the sound of Chris coming on the airwaves to announce he had not long managed to winkle out a 37.12 mirror, tidy stuff and he had certainly started to get them going on the baited spot. With this news I felt that my steadily baited area had to start to kick off soon, so introduced a little more bait around the area along with a few Spombs of Pellet. With the photos done and a few brews, I couldn’t help thinking that I had to move and maybe try to adjust my line angles slightly to try and change things. With just the three of us, there were a couple of options available and I knew that with the aid of the Treb lights I could hit all the spots I wanted from the available swims. James was also thinking about a move, one fish in four nights from his current swim he knew he had to try and change things and get on some fish!
James would move into peg 7 and get onto the showing fish, I would move one swim up and fish peg 6 which gave me the chance to ditch the bivvy and get back to my normal fishing under the brolly.
The idea for me was to fish the same baited spot in front of peg 5, but try to change the line angle slightly knowing this spot was most probably never fished from this swim before…..it would have been naive of me to think the spot I was fishing had never been fished before, but maybe this change would give me that little edge I needed. As the day went on, James picked up another long awaited fish from peg 7 in the shape of a gorgeous 35lb+ common. It was the first common of the trip and very much deserved! The winning tactic had been a trimmed down 18mm Pallatrax Crave bottom bait with a 14mm Jungle popup, small bag of pellet and a handful of freebies.
With this fish, it confirmed what we had thought for the last few days that they weren’t really on any great deal of bait. Although his fish had come from the area I had been baiting most of the week and picked up my fish from, however a fresh approach had certainly paid off for him and was great to see him holding another one of Mayflowers stunning residents. As the evening came around, it was very apparent that the fish had started to move out of peg 7 and now showing in the areas of the lake that didn’t have any line going through…….out in front of peg 4, where James had not long vacated, and peg 3 which had remained empty so far. These fish were certainly not stupid, we had watched them most of the week smashing it up in 7 with no lines in the water; then as soon as lines went in and a fish was caught, they were searching for water with no pressure! It was a mind blower and got us thinking that less pressure with just the three of us wasn’t enough to keep them moving around the pond, needing maybe another one or two anglers on the lake….never thought I would be saying that!!!!
Due to the amount of shows that had started to occur on the other side of the lake in front of peg 3, I knew I had to get a rod out there to try and pick up another fish. With this in mind, my middle became my right, with the right now becoming my left. I changed the rig from my trusted KD style to a blowback on a size 6 Pallatrax ‘The Hook’, with a fairly longish hair which held a 10mm pineapple squab, 14mm Jungle boilie and another 10mm Pineapple squab. This was attached to a mesh bag of mashed up 14mm Jungle along with a few whole 10mm Pineapple squabs, fired out from swim 5 around 110yrds on the Treb lights to where the fish had started to show. As the light faded James and I were sat sharing a nice bottle of red, watching the baby Ragondin (Coypu) becoming increasingly filled with confidence and seemingly wanting to join us on the red. With the red done we both decided it was time to get our head down, however I had a change of heart and decided to stay up a little longer with the kettle going to try and understand the new movements of these fish.
As the kettle came to the boil and the tea made, the rod I had not long put long to showing fish signalled some form of activity, with the stow lifting up slightly. As I stood over the rod the thought of our Coypu friends came to mind, these were blamed throughout the week and were seemingly always to blame for this kind of phantom knock. I slackened off slightly watching for any more movement, when after half a minute or so the stow knocked up slightly to another couple of beeps on the Delk. Rod in hand I knew there was something going on, winding down and lifting the line off the bottom I was into contact with something on the other end. A quick shout out on the radio to indicate fish on, James was soon in the swim with net in hand to see what was happening. What happened next was immense and something I will never forget. Having cast the rod from my old swim 5, hooked not fair from swim 3 I was playing the fish from my new swim in 6. The fish had taken me out in front of swim 2, brought under control and started powering off up through to swim 7 (there’s a pattern going on here). Chris was chatting away on the radio saying how he could hear
my clutch going into meltdown from his swim, mentioning that I was surely into a lump……no pressure hey!
With the fish taking me from right to left, back to right and then straight out to the middle, I was soon starting to wonder what the hell I had hooked into. Every inch of line I had gained was stripped from me in seconds; as the net was ready and the moment I thought the battle was over, came another powerful run and 10, 20, 30yrds of line were taken. The Treb lights were again a dream, beautiful rods to play fish on and really gave me chance to further that bond between angler and carbon. Having finally tamed the beast, it was guided over the cord and found the bottom of the mesh…with it more sighs of relief!
Putting the rod to one side and sorting out the necessaries, we discovered it wasn’t as big as we were expecting; however it was a common and regardless of size it would be a new French PB for me. With everything sorted we both put the fish around the early 30’s mark, it was a fairly short yet very dumpy looking fish. With James carrying out the honours he sounded a bit disappointed when reading the scales, with the needle settling on 28lb 5oz. To be honest, I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest; it was another fish along with a French PB common! The fish had given me one hell of a beating and was another bonus fish taken on the Trebs with the ability to hit those spots with heavy line paying off.
With the pictures done and the rod back out towards the showing fish, the kettle hadn’t had chance to boil when there was a merry old tune singing out from across the pond in Chris’ swim. A good battle commenced and he was soon cradling a 31lb mirror for the camera which had us thinking they were waking up for the second half of the week. Thursday morning came without any more action; fish were still smashing the unpressured water to bits with only one outcome……I was soon on my third move of the week!
My new home would be swim 3, ‘the shack’, which would give me access to the water I picked the fish from the previous evening, along with access to other areas they were now moving in big numbers. Fresh rigs were tied with the approach changed slightly; no bait would be introduced unless it was in the form of chopped baits in mesh bags or stringers, with the rods going out and staying out for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. Thursday would see our first significant rainfall of the week, which appeared to have killed the fishing but I had timed my move with perfection and fortunate timing. If this was back in the UK I would be doing everything I could to get out on the bank and cash in on these conditions; instead, I was enjoying the novelty of having the rods out whilst enjoying some porcelain and a hot shower.
Thursday would come and go with very little to report. Chris hadn’t had a fish since the one he picked up early evening on Wednesday, with James now scratching his head as fish were starting to take the proverbial big time! They were giving us the right royal run around! Still, I felt confident of picking something up but couldn’t help think if I should have stuck to my guns and remained on my baited spot ~ although five nights for one dropped fish didn’t really fill me with that nice warm fuzzy feeling you get when you know something is going to happen.
Friday was here and we were starting to rapidly run out of time, something had to happen and I had to make it happen. It was a tough week, one that we all worked extremely hard for the fish we managed. I decided to do something a little different for the last night to see if there would be one last fish in it for me. A pan of lake water was soon on the boil, with a little addition of special ‘G’ and a helping of good hemp oil. Once my potion had come to the boil, I would take some of the Pallatrax natural Hidra black snails and water mussels, soaking them in the boiling water and my potion. This would speed up the rehydration process, along with adding a little twist to this cracking and underused bait. Once left to stew for a few hours, I would introduce a handful of chopped 14mm Crave boilies and a helping of the naturals around an area I had seen a few fish moving during the morning. This spot was also around an area where James had introduced some bait at the start of the week without as much as a beep in five nights. I would fish this spot with one of my hand rolled Crave corkers rolled on the bank earlier in the week, which again had been soaking in my hemp, Crave and special ‘G’ potion. This was fished on the ever faithful multirig and would be out till the time came to pack up early Saturday morning.
As the morning rolled on, James had decided on another swim move for the last night and thought he would try his hand in swim 5. At this point, the fish I had moving in front of me had now vacated this water and started to move in front of the unpressured water of swim 5 & 6 ~ bloody typical! These certainly weren’t stupid fish and were giving us a right run around. As the afternoon came, our host for the week, Brian, popped in to see how we were getting on. As we sat chatting he was telling us some proper old skool tales of his angling back in the 70’s, along with his love for barbel. He was lost for words to why we had such a hard week, but having witnessed their movements as we followed them around the lake it was clear another angler or two could have made the difference…..along with being fished the previous week! Who knows! As we were sat joking about Brian getting the strimmer out which apparently always induces a take, my rod fished on the corker and special ‘G’ potion Hidra started singing with the line being picked up through the water. I was soon on the rod and battle commenced with another very hard fighting fish, which turned out to be a cracking 31lb 7oz mirror.
This would turn out to be my lot for the week; however I had managed four fish and one dropped, with a new French PB and plenty of special ‘G’ positives to take from my week. I worked my nuts off for those fish, enjoyed some wonderful surroundings and cracking company. I’ve never witnessed fish behaving like these, nor have I experienced the sheer power of these fish with exception maybe of my catfish some years ago!
I was up early on Saturday and greeted by Chris pushing his barrow back to the van, as the kettle went on James had come on the radio and said he had a fish in the sling. With all our kit packed up and in the van, we wondered around to see our last Mayflower fish…..and what a fish this was to see us on our way! Now before I go into this final tale, one thing I’ve failed to mention here was an event which happened on Tuesday whilst James and I were spending a few hours in swim 7; one that I know James did his upmost to forget and put to the back of his mind! You see, there was another fish landed during the week which was a little special. However, having put James through an immense battle it rolled over the net cord ass first. What had happened was James managed to foul
hook a fish in the pec whilst fishing the shallows; however the gutting thing was that this fish was not only a stunning fish and probably the best looking fish of the week, it was also over 40lb! Heart breaking! I felt gutted for the lad, what a kick in the nuts…..proper ball breaker or what! No photos, no claiming it nothing….just memories of a magnificent fish. But it does go to show the fine line between mouth hooking or foul, it was clear the fish had been grubbing about and waving its pecs around as it hunted out the bait; however they got in the way at the wrong time!
So when James pulled the retainer in and laid his last gasp prize on the mat, I was made up for him….he had redeemed himself in the shape of a smashing 45lb 8oz Mirror. It transpired the fish had come from around the area of my baited spot from swim 5, but this really hadn’t bothered me in the slightest. We all worked hard for our fish, the three of us working as a team and wanting to see each other go on to catch some beasts. We all caught, all had French pb’s in one shape or another and had a very thoroughly enjoyable week putting our wits against some truly crafty and stunning fish! We’ll be back!
It was now time to say our goodbyes to Brian, wish the lads on after us all the very best and make the six hour drive back to Le Havre and back to reality…….with James narrowly avoiding smashing some French dudes back doors in on the way that is!
I can’t recommend Mayflower highly enough, beautiful with all the facilities you could hope for on a drive and survive trip. Brian is a top guy and shares all the knowledge you will need to help you catch. I think he has only had one angler blank there in the last 100+ trips, says it all really! We’re already talking of a 2016 trip as we all felt we had unfinished business on the venue!
Tight lines
Chris