The French Experience

Our interest in the carp fishing began whilst we were both still at school. This interest soon developed into a passion. This involved experimenting with various flavoured baits, trying different rigs and spending as much time as possible sat by the waterside hoping to lure a monster carp. Upon leaving school we were able to pursue our hobby with even more vigour, after all we now had wages and could buy better rods and equipment. Surely now we could land the ultimate fish. Our interest in carping never wavered and we went around the country on as many lakes as possible.

It was on one of these occasions that we first thought and talked about owning our own lake. We now looked at lakes through different eyes. What we could do to improve on the facilities, how could we give the angler what he was looking for. We was on such a high we could hardly wait to begin making enquiries, we bought a book, the Sparsholt Guide to managing of carp fisheries, that bought us back down to earth. The costs of lakes in England were way over our budget. We were almost back to square one but not quite. Surely we could achieve our goal, there had to be a way.

It was shortly after our disappointment that we were looking through the adverts in Carpworld we decided we needed a holiday. What could be better than combining a holiday with carping? A trip to France seemed to fit the bill perfectly. Research and arguments followed as we tried to accommodate six peoples needs and high expectations. Much time was spent sorting out bait, tackle and travel arrangements. Some dreaded overtime at the factory was going to be necessary. Then, at the end of July, we set off for a lake near Reemes, towards the centre of France, for a week.

We decided that as we couldn’t afford a lake in England we would combine our fishing trip with a getting to know France better. The holiday was great fun, but we didn’t get the magical 30lb+ we had hoped for. We took the opportunity to look around the local village; the people seemed very laid back and willing to help us with our attempts at speaking the language. We decided that once we got back to England we would surf the net to see what was available in France and to see how the prices compared.

When we finally got home the search for a French property began. We contacted a number of estate agents on the net and arranged to view as many properties as we could in a week. The intention was to look at property from the east of Calais and then work our way down to the south of France and then back through Brittany and back to Calais. It was going to be very hectic and involve a great deal of driving but then finding your dream doesn’t come easy.

We were shown various lakes ranging from 1 acre to over 3 acres. Most of them were just holes in the ground, a couple lakes looked possible as they were a decent size and had sloose gates for emptying but were so remote, down single track forest roads that it would have been impossible to give anglers road directions. Our initial enthusiasm was beginning to wane. Were we ever going to find the lake or was it just a pipe dream?

After a long drive we arrived in a little village called Montpon, about half an hour from Bordeaux. We arrived early for our meeting with the agent so we decided to walk around the village. We suddenly stopped in our tracks. There in the estate agents window was a perfect looking lake within our price range and also had a bungalow, perfect! It was exactly what we were looking for. We went into the agent’s office with phrase book in hand. After our initial greetings in French the agent obviously sussed we were English and to our surprise began speaking in fluent English. Things were starting to look up. We arranged a viewing for that afternoon, and then we had to dash to see the agent we had first intended to meet in Montpon.

She showed us two lakes but neither was satisfactory. The third even she couldn’t find. We said let’s return to Montpon. We met the agent and agreed to follow him in our car. After several miles we saw a large lake through the trees on our right and jokingly said, “that’s the kind of lake we want”. Pierre the agent immediately indicated to turn right, he proceeded to travel two hundred yards down a tarmaced road and pulled up outside a large driveway; voila, this was the lake we had just seen.

He opened the double gates and led us down to the property. We were dying to see the lake but decided to look around the bungalow first. It was not very large but it didn’t leak, had a living room with a log fire, kitchen, a small bathroom and a single bedroom, what more could we ask for?

Pierre didn’t have much information about the lake so we wasted no time before walking round it. It had a real carpy feel about it. It was about seven acres, had a sloose gate and even four overgrown holding tanks. Pierre explained that the previous owner had used the lake as a fish farm. He was not sure of the species but he said if we accompanied him back to the office, he would contact the previous owner to find out. There was a lot of work to be done on the lake as all the swims had to be cut out, a shower block had to be created and the house was in desperate need of decoration, but this was definitely the lake of our dreams.

When we returned to Pierre’s office, we discovered that the previous owner had stocked the lake with black bass, pike and carp. Our mouths were watering as he assured us that he had kept a great number of large carp as breeding stock.

We were returning home in two days and we had to decide if this really was the perfect lake. That night we discussed the lakes potential, our plans for the lake, the work that needed to be done and crucially how we could secure the property. Luckily we had the opportunity to speak with a local lake owner who spoke perfect English. He supplied us invaluable information with regards to the potential for carp fishing in the Dordogne.

Armed with this new information we decided to go ahead. We would have to put down a 10% non-refundable deposit, before we returned home to England, with the balance to be paid within two months, which is the law in France.

Once we had paid the deposit, we set off back to England to sell our house, pack the fishing kit and prepare for our new life in France. After the house was on the market for only three weeks, we received an offer, and were able to complete in time….just.

We loaded up the old Ford Escort, hooked on the trailer and set off to our very own carp lake. Fishing tackle, bait and buzzers were unloaded before the clothes and food. Within 2 hours of our arrival we were set up and casting around the marker rod. We both found gravel and silt patches in front of our swims. This was all we needed to get the rod cast to separate spots. We also found a shallow indent where the old stream had wound through the lake. We had brought several types of boilies. The trusted Active-8, Assasin-8, Hutchies Hit & Run and a bag of white pineapple pop-ups. The rigs were very simple, consisting of Korder safety clips, stiff rigs and snake-bite.

We didn’t wait long before Steve’s rod was screaming. After a long fight a 28.8-LB mirror carp was in the net, what a start. It had never been on the bank and was unmarked. We had several carp that day which left us hopeful of our new venture. The next day we had to force our self’s to start work ; there was a lot to do. We started work on a new shower block, which needed a new septic tank as well as constructing the interior of the cabin with all the necessary amenities. We cut out thirteen swims from around the lake clearing fallen trees and debris as we went.

We approached the local mayor in Beaupouyet for permission to drain the lake, which is standard procedure. He gave us permission to drain the lake in October but before the dead line was reached we had a visit from the D.D.A.F. (Départemental de l’ Agriculture et de la Foret) who is in charge of all the river system and lakes in France. They informed us that due to a change in the law if a lake is over three hectares it would require a public enquiry taking over a year and costing over one thousand pounds. We had to employ the services of geometry (civil engineer) to verify the surface area of the lake. He came up with the figure of 2.89 hectares allowing us to proceed with our now two month delayed plans.

We had to clean and repair all the holding tanks as well as prepare aeration equipment for the welfare of the fish. We also installed a hoisting rig enabling us to transfer the fish from the holding tanks back into the lake above. Finally the sloose gate was opened slightly allowing us to empty the water gradually in an effort to avoid damage to the fish as they leave the lake through the concrete tube.

After two weeks a steady stream of small fish began to emerge, mainly small American catfish (growing to only two pounds, but still being able to take double eighteen mill boilies!!!) and another American import, the small callicobat which has all the appearance of a miniature piranha that feeds on small fry and fish eggs. These two species of fish are becoming a menace throughout France, and we were instructed to dispose of all captured by the D.D.A.F. in an attempt to kerb their spiralling numbers. It wasn’t until the water had nearly drained that we began to get the carp coming through. To our delight we had loads of perfect specimens, 50 -20LB+ including a 21.15 leather and unmarked commons.