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The Gardon Hunter

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    France
  • Interests
    Drinking wine. Horse racing. Fishing.

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  1. Thank you Budgie. We have both Decathalon and Pacific Peche in the area (Niort) but they are more than 60 miles away from us. Any time we will be going in that direction, we'll certainly give them a look over. For some unknown reason, the French have a reputation for a bad postal service but we can only say we think they are one of the best we have come across. We regularly send letters and parcels to the UK and people have mentioned it takes longer to send something from the north to the south of England than it does from France to England. You're right in what you say about some sellers making more out of P&P than the item. Mind you, we recently had 100 DVDs (which as you can appreciate weigh quite a lot) delivered at a cost of under £5 and in 24 hours. We thought it was a mistake at the time but his delivery costs are free to the UK and incredibly low costs to elsewhere in the world. Then yesterday we ordered some gardening items from eBay in the UK and P&P was charged on the first item only. The other 3 were free. Yet earlier in the day, someone wanted £15 to send something that we know would have cost under £4. The things that grates really is that when we were in the UK we ran a small mail order business and sent to wherever in the world our customers came from, charging actual postage cost and no more. We know people really appreciated it and I'm sure it increased our business. Still, that was then, and this is now and I'm sure we'll get there in the end. Thanks again Budgie.
  2. Alan, Thanks for your kind offer but we're in the Deux Sevres area which is quite a way from Normandy. Enjoy your fishing when you come over. I'm sure you'll catch some big ones. My PB at the moment from our own lake is 21lb but I suppose that's a tiddler compared to what you've been catching. We do have bigger ones in the lake but I've yet to catch one. If you're ever down as far as this, you're more than welcome to come and fish at our lake which is a small private 5 acre piece of water. My biggest problem is that I fish in the style of Chris Yates - no buzzers, dingers, dongers, rattles or the like. I just wait for the fish to come along in its own time. Still, it's excellent fun and as we've stocked it with over two ton of carp and tench, we know they're in there somewhere. Best regards Stuart
  3. Hello We've been in France for a few years now and we have found that buying their fishing products is so expensive - and they're not always the best quality. We're looking for someone in the UK (company or private individual) that could send us items from time to time at a fair postage rate - not the inflated prices you see on some sites. At the moment all we want is some PVA products, a few hooks, some Klin-ik solution and other bits and bobs but have been quoted a postage cost that could get us half way to the moon. Any ideas folks please.
  4. How good it was to hear from all of you and especially Vagabond. We've used the name 'Gardon Hunter' for a number of years on different sites and he is the first person to recognise that we haven't made a spelling mistake in our name. Yes he is correct, the translation is roach. Good man!!! Anyway, both of the fish I caught are a solid silver colour with no hint of any other colour on the body. Although picture 2 looks a different colour, it was a reflection of the light that gave that colouring. The pectoral and anal fins did have a slight hint of colour though. I caught in the region of 50 of these fish - 40 of the type in the first photo and 10 of photo 2. We questioned the owner of the lake who knows absolutely nothing about course fish although he is an expert on fly fishing. However, the list of fish he was told were in there was pike, mirror carp, roach, tench and he thought there were some bream. So we're still puzzled to their true identity. Gut feeling is that the first photo is a French crucian and the second I couldn't even guess at.
  5. Hello We've been fishing on a small pond in France today and caught these two odd looking fish. They are both about 7" long and they did fight well for their size. Any ideas on what type they are please.
  6. Well Vagabond, I thought I was going mad with no one else ever having seen fish like these and the comments concerning their condition. To me, one or two of the members were well off track remarking on their poor condition - even blindness (where did that come from!!) so you can imagine how glad I was to read your post. Since my original posting I've probably caught 3 or 4 more around 6-7lb each of these type along with the normal 20lb+ mirrors -as we all know them. There is no question, these are a different breed from the rest, and as you mentioned, when caught they go like the clappers. It's probably the offspring of a very old breed which has been in the lake since the year dot and were left in the lake when it was partially drained a few years ago. Obviously in recent times commercial carp from fisheries have been introduced. Poldark, that was a good one and it really did make me laugh. If either you or Vagabond find yourself in France, come and join me to see what you make of these superb fish. There won't be a month long drought I can assure you!! As an aside, if you want to look at damaged or odd fish, watch the Danny Fairbrass Underwater Carp Fishing DVDs starring Lumpy, Popeye, Cut Tale, Parrot, Budgie and the likes. Whatever their abnormality is, they're all in good order. Once again, thanks to all of you for your input.
  7. It's 79 (Poitou Charentes region - western France) and beautiful with it..... Where abouts are you then?
  8. Hello again starlight, We're in the Deux Sevres, our nearest town is Parthenay so that river is the Thouet but I'm not sure of the source or its route. We've not been in France that long so are not familiar with any of the rivers. If you have any ideas, I'd be interested to know of barbel waters. I'll drag myself away from renovation chores and go barbelling for the day.
  9. Well Den, this really has been a bit of a monkey!! I, like yourself, have been fishing since I was a squeaker. I used to go with my dad whose comment after spending 6 hours in the freezng cold was 'I can't wait till I've had enough!!!' And I fished in all types of waters, in all seasons. I'm not a fairweather fisherman by a long way. Just as a matter of interest, when I was in the UK, the Severn was my favourite river and barbel my favourite fish. It's only the last few years that I've specialised in carp fishing. What these fish put me in mind of was many years ago I had a friend who had an old brickworks pond. I think everybody used to put their unwanted fish in it - there was such a mixture. It contained different sorts of carp (up to about 15lbs), goldfish and a melange of all other fish. One assumes there had been a lot of interbreeding over the years. Anyway to cut a long story short, I caught a 3lb carp one day and it's tail was completely white, thin and about 9" long. Obviously it had bred with a goldfish or one of the other fish but it was healthy and in some odd way, very attractive looking. I suppose you could call it an ornamental type fish. So here were are in 2007 and it's almost deja vu. I'm catching different type carp every now and again. There are the traditional dumpy, deep-bodied carp in the lake and the normal common and crucian carp, along with some beautiful tench. It's funny you should mention wildies - another angler caught one of these 'photo' fish on the same day as me and he said 'what a beautiful looking fish. It reminds me so much of a wildie'. His fish had only had one scale showing - the rest of the body was smooth. Is that a clue? I can only repeat that these fish are fully rounded, with no sharp edges. In fact if they had any more weight on them (at this size) they would burst. In no way are they underweight. And although these are what I would describe as a barbel shape, I know they're not a barbel cross as I'm not sure if there are any barbel in France - certainly they're not in this area. I know I've said it before but in real life these fish do look good. They fight extremely well - sick unhealthy fish don't look and fight the way these do and to be honest I can't wait to catch the next one. I've enclosed a photo of my favourite spot on the lake - it's the actual place where I caught the fish.
  10. Hello Oldfellah, Thanks for replying and for your comments. I can't go along with the underfed part as all the fish I've caught have been in perfect condition. They haven't been hollow or tucked up in any way. In real life they look brand spanking new. In fairness, the photos weren't the best in the world and the flash has obviously interfered with the true colouring of the eye. As I understand it, the lake was drained 4 years ago and any big carp were taken out leaving all young fish. The lake was an old established fish farm which is now used for private pleasure fishing only. Before this gets too far out of hand and we go down the wrong track, I want to assure you and everyone else that these are not poorly conditioned carp. In my mind, this is clearly an odd breed. But thanks again for your contribution.
  11. Hello starlight, That was a quick response. The lake is in the Deux Sevres area and it's about 5 acres. There are also the deep bodied carp in the lake as well as commons and crucian. I should imagine the fish in the lake are only about 3 or 4 years old. In the flesh they don't look stunted at all - they're just long and lean, and clean and healthy looking fish. There's a lot of millefoil weed and natural food in the lake. Maybe it's just an unusual cross-breed. The biggest one I've caught at the moment is just over 10lbs. I'm sure there are bigger ones in there - not landed them yet though as whatever was on the end of the line, it managed to snap it and swim away. Still, that's another story......
  12. Hello all I've been catching these long lean carp this year in a French lake. They are certainly mirror carp but I've never seen any so long or with such big tails before. They really do fight and as you can see are magnificent looking fish. Can anyone put a label on these as to what type they are - would they be Italian, wild, French??? And has anyone else caught any like these before.
  13. Hello everyone. This really is a long shot. We moved to France fairly recently and own a 5-acre lake and it is well stocked with carp. We ordered some tench and the pisciculturist (fish dealer) now tells us that unfortunately, at this late stage, he cannot supply the fish. We are looking for tench - it doesn't matter what size, small or large, totalling between 50 and 150 kgs, as the lake doesn't have any, so some tench would be better than no tench. Is there anyone out there who can give us a lead towards our next move. We suppose it would be impossible to get any from the UK but we'd love to be proved wrong!! We live in the Deux Sevres region of France (area 79) and our nearest town is Parthenay. Of course, if someone could actually deliver them, then we'd be only too pleased for them to fish the lake as often as they liked for this season. One small problem is that (at the moment) we do not speak French - but our English is pretty good.............. Best wishes to all of you. We're attaching a photo of the carp we had delivered in November.
  14. Well thank you all very much. I think there are some very smart anglers out there and you've answered that very well. If any of you find yourself near Parthenay (in Area 79, France) then come and help me drink a bottle or two of wine and find the gardons and of course, the big carp!!! Again, many thanks.
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