Oldfellah

This spring we had a Dutch angler fish our lake armed with what I consider is the best feature I have yet seen on a baitboat. The large (very large) bait compartment at the rear of the boat contained a large screw type device that spread the bait over a wide area. A very expensive boat I must add. I have found that on waters where bait boats are used widely the carp will start to shy away from little piles of bait and a larger, carpet of bait is usually more succesful. Although we allow baitboats on our lake I always emphasise that all the best catches have come from large beds of pellets with boilies over rather than the smaller baited patches created by baitboats. Best method can be carpet baiting by hand from our boat morning and evening and then topping up with the bait boat throughout the day.

I have never been a fan of spodding but this year we had some incredible catches made by anglers do just that. The succesful mix was based on Vitaline with a mixture of pellets and tinned tuna plus a little hemp. Since then I have had some of the lads bring Vitalin over for me and I now regard it as an essential part of my armoury. Not spodded but made into large balls and placed in the swim by boat it has worked a charm. Best of all its cheap !!! lol

Berkeley Big Game in either 12 or 15lb bs will do you for most of your carp fishing needs. Tough, reliable and cheap.......thats why I have used it for around 30 yrs !!

Got to agree with the other answers given. Seems to me that most of the fancy rigs one see's in the magazines are more designed to catch anglers than carp !! Keep it simple....I now use a bog standard running rig with x line hooklink, 12 turn knotless knot and sixe 6 (4 at times as they come up a size smaller than most hooks) Aya Iseama hook. I like at least a cm between end of hook and boilie and that does me for 90% of my fishing.

Quite right Roy, sorry if my post may have seemed misleading....quite unintentional. We certainly would fit the requirements but so would lots of other good venue's out there but a 'runs water' is quite difficult to quantify. Last year was our first year and we had one angler catch 82 carp fishing mainly days. About 8 were 30's and of the remainder half were 20's with the remainder being doubles. This year catches are down but sizes are higher and I feel that is the way with fisheries, as the fish grow and get caught they get wiser so each year the expected catch per angler will include bigger fish but quantities will be down. One water I fished over here about years ago would see 30 or 40 carp per week for me with average weights of around 18/19lb but including the odd 30. Each year would see bigger fish but a drop off in numbers and this year the water has thrown up a 60 and a host of 40's and 50's but average catch rates are very low indeed. Thus, generally speaking a runs water today is unlikely to be the same in a couple of years. We try to reduce fishing pressure by only having a max of 6 anglers on our 15 acres so catch rates are still very good but there is no guarantee that future years will be the same despite having around 500 carp stocked.

Depends really on what you mean by a 'runs water' ?? If you are interested in catching carp of any size with stacks of singles and the odd bigger fish then there are several candidates, however if you are after a venue where you can catch between 15 to 40 carp in the mid teens to low 40's then perhaps the following may suit you...www.carpdreams.com Blog...carpdreams.wordpress.com Chose carefully and be sure to have a good time.

I also have reverted to Big Game after trying most of the 'new' lines and would suggest it bis an good starting point. If you fish slack lines and want a good sinking line then I suggest you take a look at X line. Sinks like a stone and also makes cracking hook links.

I know what you mean Chris, I have had some pretty dreadful experiences especially in my early days of French fishing so can sympathise with your comments. As you say there are a good few 'cowboy' type operations over here but it is fair to say that there are also plenty of good honest venue's where offering a quality carping holiday is the norm. I think that one of the biggest problems is that so many anglers travel to France for the first time with unrealistic expectations of what fishing is like over here and are misled by websites and advertisements that paint a picture that is difficult to fulfill. We took a policy decision early on to make sure that we were totally honest regarding fish stocks and facilities so the first time visitor arrived in the full knowledge of what awaited him. Our weblog (carpdreams.wordpress.com) is also updated almost daily so any existing or future client can assess exactly what is being caught every week rather than just look at a website gallery of smiling anglers and huge fish and believing thats the norm. The truth is that many of the more popular venue's will see far more fishing pressure through the year than most uk venue's and the fishing can be difficult accordingly. One thing that the prospective French carper should look out for is how many anglers are allowed to fish per acre of water. One of my pet hates was to arrive at a venue and find it crisscrossed by lines and having nowhere to fish to find a bit of peace and quiet to do my 'own thing'. We have a maximum of 6 anglers in 15 acres because thats the way I like to do my fishing !!! Anyway, good luck Chris and well done on highlighting a few 'home truths' regarding the French carping scene. Our address ?? www.carpdreams.com (in Indre, bottom of the Loire Valley)

I agree with a lot of what you say Chris, especially the cost (cotisations) of being registered. I would just point out that our siret number is clearly seen on our website and we also have food and drink licenses (how many do ???) as well as full closed water status. I, and my family, also live full time next to the lake in the old millhouse and most importantly.......we certainly do not make loads of money but run the fishery as a way of life !! Tight lines, Jim.

I fished over here for around 3 weeks a year for the past 10 years and have had some great fishing and experiences but also some real nightmares with hole in the ground fisheries, drunken anglers, fighting on the banks, food I would not give my dog and terrible or non existant facilities. I have also loved many trips to quieter waters, caught some stunning fish and made many long standing friends whilst fishing over here. I love the French countryside and fishing so much that I now live here and have my own fishery.

One point to consider is that monofile actually absorbs water and becomes weaker with immersion. Fluorocarbon does not absorb water so the breaking strain remains unaffected. I have never used x line as a main line (stick with my Big Game) but I have used it extensively for hooklinks for several years now and can honestly say that it has never let me down.

I would suggest that your first port of call is to speak with the owner and establish what pellet and boilies he stocks. With most well managed carp fisheries feeding pellet throughout the year it becomes and accepted food source so it is always worth buying on site if possible. With boilies ir really is an open question as we have weeks on our lake when 5 kilo is more than enough and others when anglers will use 20 kilo of boilies and several sacks of pellet. So much depends on fish stocks and weather when you are there but having fished France for over 10 years before moving out here I always used a good quality fishmeal boilie and quite honestly you will find that most quality baits will work. The so called 'euro boilie' is not the norm these days and many of us have top quality boilies hand rolled for sale.......quality because thats what helps our carp stay in great condition and grow !!!But, as said earlier check out what is available on site. Hope you have a great holiday.

I quite agree with the previous two answers. The rod will be more than adequate for most carp fishing, we used to consider the 1.75lb tc as the norm and 2lb as heavy. I use my old Chapman 500 for float fishing and stalking at my fishery and have taken fish to mid 30's without any worries at all and thats only 1.5lb tc. In fact the biggest single factor in losing fish to hook pulls is rods that are far to stiff.(thats just my opinion of course). Enjoy it.

I have tried most of the new 'wonder lines' over the years but always go back to good old Big Game. Tough, reliable and cheap.

Not heard of the venue but be warned that surface fishing is rarely succesful over here. I have tried it many times in various venue's and even fed floating pellet to the carp in my own lake (the ducks ate most of them ) but unless the venue is overstocked with pasties bottom fishing is vastly more succesful.