Chapter 13

France Part Un
After my first trip to France my whole experience of angling and
attitudes towards it would be changed forever. From then on all
my fishing would be carried on in Europe and the USA, I was
never to fish in the UK again. By now I had bought a video
camera as a way of recording my fishing sessions, it seemed a
much easier way than writing notes as I had done in the past.
The plate below is the original title introducing the video I made
of my first French session.

I had not watched my videos for fifteen years but put them on to
refresh my memories while writing this book. As I sat and
watched the video of my first session in France, the title shocked
me in the same way it had, all those years before. After
spending years on travel, bait and equipment catching some

nice Carp but blanking many times the results my friends and I
had on that holiday were unbelievable.
It was as though I was being rewarded for all the effort I had put
into fishing in the past. For a long while, as I mentioned in earlier
chapters, I had been losing interest in fishing in the UK. I started
to read the odd article that was written about fishing in Europe
and got really interested in fishing there. At that time Holland
was written about quite a lot and I did consider a trip there. After
much more reading and pouring over maps I made my mind up
that I was going to have a week in Southern France. I settled on
France because where I was intent on fishing, happened to be
much further to the South and I thought I would get better
weather. If I was going to spend that sort of money, time and
effort I wanted results. I trolled through articles and references
and finally came up with an ad that boasted a large lake used as
a fish farm containing tons of Carp.
I telephoned the agent, who luckily spoke English, and we had a
long chat. He explained that they had just started to allow
fishing there although it was not fished very often, and he had
never seen any English anglers. The week I was looking at had
no bookings, so I would have this whole 250 acre lake to myself.
I mentioned this to Lurch and C&A who immediately wanted to
come with me. I was really glad as they still had not caught
many Carp in double figures and this sounded like a good
opportunity to do just that. Ann had her own business which
meant for the first time, we would not be fishing on holiday
together. She had to attend a huge craft fair to exhibit her
ceramics and this unfortunately clashed with the week I was
going to France. Lurch and C&A left all the arranging to me and
I decided to go with a cheap bait and take plenty of it.
Everything I had read suggested lots of uneducated Carp and
hungry waters. If we were fortunate to get a shoal of Carp in
front of us I wanted to keep them there. Right or wrong I
believed then as I do now that in those types of circumstances
you did not need quality bait, just one with a good attracter. Also
by then the rigs we were using meant Carp normally hooked

themselves. From the day I started using those rigs I did not
strike at long range, I waited for the line to tighten and leant into
the fish.
Just a note here as writing that last sentence reminded me of an
experiment I carried out many years previously. I took a long
range rod with pre stretched 6lb main line and a 15lb shock
leader to a local park with a friend. I cast a 3oz zip lead a far as I
could, about 120 yards. I know, I have heard everyone casts 150
yards plus now, but I saw few who got close to that distance.
Anyway, I walked up to the lead, picked it up and put it on the
flat palm of my hand. My friend struck as hard as he could, the
lead stayed put. I dropped the lead and swapped places trying
to strike the lead off my friends hand, same result. When I
struck it was just like hitting a wall, but in reality, I was not even
taking up the stretch in the line. To actually move the lead we
had to strike and then walk back several paces. Try it yourself,
so from then on I never struck when fishing at long range.
I put together a very basic 50/50 bait using liver extract and a
nice blended fish oil as attracters. I made the boilies about
20mm in size and really hard. In total, I produced about 50kg to
use between the three of us and as I had no gun or table, these
were all hand rolled. At that time I was the only one of the three
of us with a tow bar on my car. As we were going to need a
trailer I got to drive. I had a Maestro at the time with an engine
warning light that failed to go off. I had everyone look at it but
no one could fix it. Knowing how C&A had to take the kitchen
sink for a days fishing I stressed to him the importance of
travelling light. He promised he would only pack the essentials
and over the next few weeks everything got arranged without a
hitch. I really should have trusted my instincts and picked up
C&A first but I went to Lurchs house, I was already loaded and
by the time Lurch had put his gear aboard there was half the
trailer and room still left in the car. Arriving at C&As we found
him sat on his wall surrounded by a tackle shop and furniture
store. The first thing I noticed was the four large suitcases. Tony
saw our shocked expressions and assured us they were only

necessary items for ONE WEEK. They contained clothes for the
days fishing, clothes for evening at the restaurants, towels and
toiletries. Added to this were two holdalls, a chair and bed chair,
various seat boxes and god only knows what else. Oh and some
cases of wine and brandy. Yes thats right, he was going to take
wine and brandy on a fishing trip to France as we might not get
time to shop. I explained that there was no way we could get all
this aboard, there just was not enough room. He almost decided
not to go if he could not take it all but in the end his better half
told him to get on with it and adjust his luggage. Muttering and
moaning between the four of us we managed to get rid of....one
suitcase. I had folded down one seat in the car to get more in
and once Lurch was in the back seat we packed gear around him
leaving a small space so he could see out of the window.
After C&A got settled into the front seat I filled his lap and
packed around him also leaving a gap in the window. The rod
holdalls went on the roof and everything else went into the
trailer. The result of this was I could not see anything except in
front of me relying on my two companions to advise me when
necessary.

We arrived at the port and were obviously waved to one side by

the customs officer. I would down my window and he asked

where I was going etc... He thought I had a lot of equipment for

one angler and I explained there were three of us. With that the
other two wound down a gap in their windows and put their
fingers out. The customs officer said that only idiots would be
smuggling in a vehicle disguised like this, wished us luck, and
waved us on. We were going for just a week and I had judged
the journey to be about seven hours. We had already decided to
drive without stopping hoping to get there with enough light to
set up. As part of the deal we had the use of a B and B that was
close by. Through great route planning and plain good luck we
arrived at the B and B without getting killed or hitting anything.
It was arranged the owner of the B and B would give us gate
keys to the complex and instructions. I do not know what I
expected but we finally arrived late afternoon at this beautiful
large country house.
We were met at the door by a lovely French lady who explained
she was the manageress.
She spoke no English but with the little bit of French I possessed
and hand signals we sorted things out. She had prepared a hand
drawn map showing us the way to the lake which was only 1km
or so away. We had not understood but there were meals
provided for us morning and night if we wanted them as part of
the price. We decided to quickly empty all clothes out of the car
and put them into the rooms to make driving easier. She seemed
really surprised when I explained we did not need the meal, or
beds, as we were going to sleep at the lake. This meant we
finally got to the lake about an hour before it got dark. I took a
few minutes to look up the lake with binoculars and decided the
first swims looked as good as any so we jumped in them. If after
a while we had no luck we could always move as we had the
lake to ourselves. My first impressions were this was a very
large, relatively featureless lake. It did have huge areas covered
in surface weed and the lake itself was enclosed on all sides by
very high bank side reeds.
We had already made up our rods back home so I suggested we
just got our rods out and set up properly in the morning. I took

the middle swim, Lurch to my right, C&A to my left. That way I

was in the middle if needed, this turned out to be a good
decision. I baited up one rod and cast out about 50 yards just
short of what looked like a sand bar and found a fairly clear
bottom. As I did not know anything about the lake, or its bottom
features, I decided to fish at a range I could bait accurately
without my arm dropping off. I was baiting the second rod and
line started peeling off the rod I had just cast out. I had not even
had time to turn the alarms on. I picked up the rod and the fish
was still running fast. I was so glad I had just mortgaged my
house to buy a set of Browning bait runners as they worked
great. Turning the handle, the clutch set and I was into the fish,
which raced off to my left on the surface leaving a wake. I
shouted to the others that believe it or not I was playing a fish.
They both laughed and it took a while to convince them but
eventually they came running. This fish was going nuts and
giving me grief, as soon as I stopped a run it raced off in another
direction. I had no idea of the size but was pretty sure it was not
huge just by the speed of the runs. We all watched as this fish
stayed close to the surface, something I had never had happen
before. Suddenly I picked up the sound of another alarm in the
distance and the others rushed off to their swims. C&A shouted
out he had a fish on and Lurch went to help him.
My fish was still not tired and was now in front of me, making
fast runs to the left and right. The runs slowed and the Carp
finally tired out, lay on the surface gulping air. I gently eased it
into the net and walked shattered, to the unhooking mat. I
opened the net and stared down at a beautiful, unmarked, mid
double with a real pink belly. I could not believe a double had
fought like that and sacked it so I could help the others. I raced
round to C&As swim to see him having the same trouble I had
with my fish. Again, this fish was giving him all the fight he could
handle. The rod was pulled fully around to its limit and the line
was singing in the breeze. Mirroring the fight I had just had, his
fish eventually surfaced and took a few gulps of air. Gently and
calmly C&A netted his first largish Carp as if he had been doing

it for years. It was another cracking looking fish and the look on
his face said it all. I knew that one fish would make his holiday
all worthwhile, and boost his confidence no end. Unbelievable,
two Carp in less than 30 minutes, if I had only known what lay
ahead, perhaps I would not have been so surprised.

We sacked his fish to let it recover and all went back to photo
my fish and release it. Just looking at this fish you could tell it
was young as it was like a torpedo, no fat or bulges, just solid
muscle. I still remember to this day looking at it and wondering
how big this fish could get. Of course we both pulled Lurchs
chain as he was the only one not to have caught a fish. He took
it all in good spirit and we all returned to the other swim to
photo and release the other fish.
Now getting a good look at the Carp it was like I had read
somewhere how Italian strain Carp were supposed to look. It was
again clean and unmarked upper double and completely

different in shape to mine. This one had a really pronounced

hump just behind its head and was a greenish yellow in colour
with an orange tipped tail. After a few photos we slipped him
back in the water.

Needing a break I made tea and it was just starting to get dark
so everyone went to their swims to make camp and get settled.
I announced supper would be at 8pm in my swim as per normal,
I was chef. I had fished at night many times so after erecting my
Bivvy and getting the food started I cast out a rod and fired out
about 200 boilies. At 8pm my friends arrived and we had a great
meal. C&A mentioned he had a great bottle of Brandy and Lurch
and I agreed to help him drink it. The peace was shattered with
my alarm screaming, as always, giving me a heart attack. The
other guys had not realised I had cast out again and accused me
of bending the rules in our competition. Whenever we fished we

always had a completion and bet on the outcome. There were

definitely rumblings amongst the ranks but all in good humour.
Another set of savage runs eventually ending by me landing
another upper double.

Although these fish were doubles it was easy to see they could
easily be twenties in a very short time. Not wanting to leave it in
the sack all night I slipped it back in straight away getting a tail
swipe across the face for my trouble. We all agreed that we
would not fish again that night, preferring to see what tomorrow
would bring in the light. The temperature really started to drop
and Lurch joined me as I had a gas fire in my Bivvy.

We suddenly remembered the kind offer of a Brandy from C&A

and rushed round to his swim. He was out cold and there on the
floor was an empty Brandy bottle, he had drunk it all in two
hours. Not wanting him to go thirsty if he woke up in the night
and wanting to thank him for drinking it all, we refilled the bottle
naturally for him before leaving. During the night I kept hearing
noises in the reeds and trees behind me but could not see
anything. I did not get much sleep and the next day we were all
sitting eating breakfast at first light. I mentioned what I had
heard but C&A had slept soundly. Not surprising as he was
unconscious I guess. Lurch however had also heard these noises,
but again, had seen nothing. We checked the grounds around
our swims and there obvious signs that something large had
been crashing through there at some time. C&A apologised
about the Brandy explaining he had got so cold he just kept
drinking it until it was gone, but we could help him drink the
other five bottles he had smuggled into France. We discussed
tactics and decided as we had a lot of bait, we would really bait
up heavily to try and attract a decent amount of fish in front of
us and try to keep them there. Looking around the swims I
noticed piles of pallets, I had no idea what they were for but the
answer became obvious as the week went by.
We were in the first three swims and the first swim was camped
by C&A. This was close to the road which ran over a dam that
had gates running along its length, obviously to control water
levels. Opposite on the far bank was an abandoned set of
buildings we later discovered were originally a fish farm. It was a
very open swim and I could not see any difficulties for him. He
was nicely set up and now I could see why he had so much
baggage. He had not got a sleeping bag but had brought pillows,
sheets and a feather duvet. He also had enough clothes to
change three times a day and still have spares. I just smiled as
this was C&A and I was not going to alter his way of thinking and
why should I try. I helped him set up and made sure everything
was at hand as this was the first time he had been in a swim on
his own. I left asking him what time his butler and other staff

members were going to arrive. Over the years it had been

established that he was not in any way domesticated and relied
totally on his wife in those areas. In fact I remember falling off
the chair when he passed his shoes to his wife for cleaning. He
always took my prodding in good spirit, and referred to me as
his unpaid Gillie.

C&A
I was in the next swim a wide double swim. I had two Bivvys
here, one setup as a kitchen and storage in case we had
constant rain. I had as I mentioned earlier decided to fish
towards what looked like a long bar as there were reeds growing
up from it. Because of the huge bank of surface weed, fishing
further out would have caused lots of problems. I plumbed the
area in front of me and discovered a fairly average four foot
depth of water with a clean bottom.

The only snag I found was at the edge of the swim to my left so I
made a mental note of its position. As I had guessed, the reeds
in the centre of the lake were growing out of a sand or gravel
bar, that was not more than a foot below the surface. We each
fished three rods so I would fish the left and right close to the
bar and the middle rod in the centre of my swim. If I could get
fish closer in it would give me an easier option in baiting
accurately and playing the fish. My biggest concern was that
once hooked the fish would get into the thick weed and reeds on
the bar.

YOURS TRULY
Lurch was in the next swim which I really liked. It was completely
enclosed in the high reeds which protected it from any winds.
Like my swim, It had a long reed bed and surface weed running
left to right about 60 yards in front of him. This basically split the
lake in half and gave him his own channel. To the right of his
swim was a natural bay where that part of the lake ended. By
now he was very proficient and set up nicely.
He had never invested in a Bivvy, preferring instead to use an
umbrella and storm sides. The reeds were about six foot tall
meaning we could not see each other even though we were
fairly close.
We agreed to give this area two days and if it did not produce,
move further around the lake.
For the next half hour all that could be heard was the sound of
catapults, and splashes as baits hit the water.

LURCH
In the first hour we had all landed fish and agreed that we
would sack any fish we caught and take turns to reel in and take
pictures. As we always reeled in at mealtimes we guessed that
this would be as good a time as any to do this. The majority of
the fish we were catching were upper doubles, and in really
good condition. Very quickly I decided to reel the centre rod in
fishing with two rods and using the centre rod as a spare. With
the amount of runs I was getting I did not need to take a chance
on getting tangled up on my own lines.
Lunchtime arrived and my friends joined me in my swim, as
shocked as I was at the action we were getting.
We had landed seven Carp that first morning and over our meal I
stated that if this was the norm, I would only fish two rods and I
was not fishing at night. That way I could go back to the B and B
and shower coming back refreshed each day. My friends, not
wanting to lose out on the possibility of more fish decided to
stay at the lake. We photographed the fish and released them.

There seemed to be two distinct strains of Carp. They were

either lean and muscular or deep fish with this characteristic
hump.

This fish was just under the 20lb mark and looked in fantastic
condition. Although there was still plenty of light I decided to
reel in and have a wander around the lake. Beyond the reeds
behind us was a field of sweet corn and I noticed lots of corn
lying on the ground. Wandering down to the bottom I noticed
lots of nice looking swims. As I was walking back to the swims I
heard shouting and laughing coming from C&As swim. When I
got there Lurch was already unhooking a fish and C&A was
playing another. The third rod had a fish on that had tangled him
in a patch of thick weed.

His face was bright red as he suffered from high blood pressure
and not unexpectedly, he was panicking. Between us we landed
and sacked the first two Carp and then he tried to free the other
without success. Eventually the end tackle just came free,
suggesting the fish had freed itself using the weed. C&A looked
exhausted and decided there and then he would not to fish at
night. Three fish on at the same time during the day with friends
helping was one thing, three at night on your own...that was a
different matter. I had never seen that before and have never
seen it since. During that session many times all of us would
have two runs at the same time. If I had been on my own I would
have only used one rod.

A noticeable fact was that we had not landed one Common

between us which I thought was really strange. Lurch decided he
still wanted to fish over night as he had not had as many runs. I

suggested we all bait up heavily and then as I had the cooker

and food in my swim he could spend the night fishing there.
The night was now creeping in and we were all treated to the
most fantastic night skies I have ever seen. Purple, orange and
yellow clouds, it looked fantastic. Throughout our whole trip
every night was the same beautiful coloured skies.

Having baited up, C&A and l drove to the B & B leaving Lurch on
his own. We both had a welcome shower and wandered down to
the huge dining room. The manageress, Millie, explained we
were in fact the only guests that week and invited us to sit
where we liked. She was so apologetic that she had not cooked a
meal but I explained some bread and cheese was fine. Her
husband brought us out all manner of cold meats, local cheese
and fresh bread. The wine was in jugs and there was lots of it. I
invited them to join us and the four of us enjoyed a great meal.
We discovered her husband, Michel, spoke good English. He
explained the lake was owned by a Marquis who owned a large
Chateau right next to the lake. Occasionally, we might see him
as he loved buzzing the lake in his helicopter. The lake itself was
in reality a fish farm and the buildings although looking unused

were in fact the centre of attention every two years. By law

apparently they had to drain the lake every two years, hence the
dam and gates. At this time they harvested what fish they
wanted before refilling the lake, coincidently...it was this week.
He explained that it should not affect us as it normally took a
minimum of two weeks for the water to drain out. I mentioned
the noises at night and he seemed surprised that we would
camp there, knowing that large herds of wild pigs were running
around looking for food. One angler had recently had his camp
destroyed as a number of pigs stampeded through his swim.
Apparently these had been drawn in by the glut of sweet corn I
had witnessed in the next field. Of course the pigs would not
hurt anyone normally and it had been years since they had
attacked anyone. We thanked them for all their help and
explained that we would need no hot food just the cold fare she
we had that evening. For breakfast anything she left out would
be fine. We all moved to a huge drawing room and sat around a
large log fire drinking wine and brandy. As it got late we wished
the good night and went to bed. C&A had an alarm clock which
we set for 5 am, this seemed to go off as soon as my head hit
the pillow as I slept so well. We dressed quietly and went to the
dining room where there was a coffee percolator, toaster,
cereals and lots of bread and jams. We stuffed ourselves and
hurried back to the lake. Lurch was already awake and we gave
him all the information we had gathered. He told us he had
caught two fish that morning and lost 3 during the night. He
smiled as he took out the two fish he had caught as they were
both Commons. So weird, we do not catch any and he gets two
one after the other.

Over lunch we all decided that a night at the B & B was a great
relaxer and so worked out a rota leaving one to guard the tackle
overnight while the other two showered, ate and spent a night in

a comfortable bed. Michel would turn at the lake occasionally

during the week. He would always bring food or drink normally
fresh bread or croissants with fresh goats cheese. One morning
he bought a bottle of Pastis which we finished between us
resulting in the worst hangover I have ever had. Over the next
few days we all caught fish but for some reason my alarms
never seemed to be quiet. The guys made fun saying I had a
diver putting them on the hook for me. C&A got to the stage
where he was scared to roll a cigarette so he broke down a Carp
rod and float fished a single grain of sweet corn. He caught
some cracking Roach and Bream. One he was playing got
chomped in half so it was obvious there were large Pike in the
lake. This became a normal thing as C&A enjoyed a variety of
fish and fishing. Wherever we fished he would normally fish one
Carp rod and use a float or quiver tip on another rod. He had
some really impressive bags and was always experimenting with
methods and tackle.
Sometimes you take a photo you never forget, and I got C&A on
this one. I suggested at the time that if he was this desperate,
he should go to the nearest brothel. I was still not sure if this
was a case of bestiality, or cruelty to animals.

When we returned I made lots of copies of this with the caption

Ladies wanted for nights of fun, must be broad minded written
underneath. These I posted on the walls and toilets of the club
we worked in. That night everywhere he walked he got stared at
and he told me about all these girls staring at him and smiling.
Once he started to find the photos I think he realised
why...happy days. He did return the compliment days later by
stuffing my burger with laxative tablets. I only went to the toilet
once that night, from 2 am to 7 am, I also found a new use for
bags of ice. The good news is I managed to finish the book I was
reading.

Eventually I was lucky and caught a 20lb+ fish, the only one of
the session, bringing the normal comments about the colour of
my testicles.
The fish kept biting and those runs we missed were normally
where the fish dropped the bait before being properly hooked. A
couple of local anglers came out with Michel and were amazed
at how easily it seemed we caught fish. I gave them some hair
rigs and boilies, none of which they had seen before. Later I was
to witness the normal French method. This involved sticking a
pipe in the ground for the rod to sit in pointing skywards. The
bite alarm, if they had one, would be a clip on bell used in sea
fishing. As they were going to eat it the fish was dragged
unceremoniously up the bank or over gravel still making me
wince to this day. That day we noticed the gates of the dam
were open. Standing above them we could see the water was
flowing out very quickly. The pallets in the swims now had a
purpose, as the water level dropped, it left thick, deep mud. It

was necessary to use the pallets for footing. The water got
further from the swim and a daily ritual of putting down another
pallet began.
When we packed up we were fishing well away from where we
started from as shown in these photos.

Above is the view to my left which was under three feet of water
when I arrived.
Below is the 30ft we had to walk down the pallets to fish.

Having the lake drain away from beneath our feet was not
pleasant but was so minor compared to the session as a whole.
If you took into account, the fantastic weather we had for
October, the accommodation and service we got added to the
fish we caught, it was for me, a once in a lifetime trip. We all
chipped in and bought a packet of nice cigars for Michel as he
loved to smoke them. We also gave him a bag containing old
socks explaining if he rolled these they would smell like his
normal brand which had him crying with laughter. For his lovely
wife we bought a silk scarf in her favourite colour, which she
loved. I guess leaving there I always imagined I would be back to
see them, but never did. On the way back home the guys just
wanted to know when and where we were going next. It is funny
how a session like that can have such an effect on people. From
having rarely caught a Carp these two had now caught as many
Carp, if not more, than many Carp anglers I knew. OK, they were
not huge and the venue was easy, but they had caught and
landed them.