The Unknown
George West
I've been across the channel a fair bit recently but this
time there was an added buzz, as three of us were given the opportunity to fish
a lake that is yet to be open to the general public. A friend of ours has
recently bought a 52 acre lake in the champagne region of France called Etang
52 and apart from the odd reccy trip where he’d caught fish to 39+, he had no
idea what was in there! Sounded Ideal!
This is the sort of fishing I like, as your next bite could
literally be anything and I was sure a mixture of Mc Nut and GS crab would
enable us to find out what was in there…. As we approached the lake via a bumpy
gravel track we kept seeing glimpses of blue ahead of us and it wasn’t long
before we got our first look at our home for the next 6 days… The lake had a
blue tinge to it and as we looked down at the margins we could see it was
crystal clear, which would be perfect for locating the fish!
We arrived at the lake Friday afternoon and the weather forecast
looked promising for the next couple of days, with a big south westerly due the
following day. After a good look around
and not being able to spot anything Carpy, the three of us decided to set up on
the bank that would be on the end of this new wind that was due in, in the hope
that the fish would follow it. After a long day travelling it wasn’t long
before we got our heads down for the night but before that, my mate James
managed a 28lb common which was a promising start!
The weather looked
spot on…
As the night drew out, the wind increased and by morning
white caps were seen racing across the surface in our direction and it wasn't long before I spotted a few subtle shows in close. They had clearly moved onto
this wind and I knew it wouldn't be long until they found the bait. Ricky
landed an immaculate 34lb common in the early hours and as we still hadn't a
clue what was in there, our imaginations wandered as to what else could be
swimming in the depths in front. It was
just me now who was waiting to get off the mark and the shows continued
throughout the morning so I knew it was only a matter of time.
To my left there was a bay and as the wind increased the
better it looked. I flicked a GS Crab special hookbait 40 yards down the margin over around 50 GS
crab and Mc Nut boilies and it wasn't long before my tip buckled round and I
was in to my first Etang 52 carp! As I lifted into it, the rod hooped over and
deep powerful lunges occurred as the unknown beast powered out of the bay. I
could tell by the fight that I was into something decent and Ricky kept
reminding me that was this case, cheers for that mate! After around 10 minutes,
it was still holding deep and there was still no sign of the fish giving up but
after constant pressure she finally rose from the depths and a big set of
shoulders broke the surface. She was
clearly a big fish and Ricky waded out to meet her with the net as she took her
first gulps of air. What a feeling it was when she went in the net, a proper
beast of a carp and highly likely uncaught as well.
Once I’d admired her and settled down a bit, we went about
getting the photos and weighing done and when the needle settled on 46lb I was
more than made up. Big up to Ricky for the shots he took as she looked mega!
The fish definitely got us wandering what else could be in store for us as we
still had 5 nights to do.
What a Fish!
The weather had definitely pushed them in front of us but
the forecast for Sunday was the complete opposite, with very little wind and
bright sunshine. Good for us but not the fishing! Because of this it was no
surprise that I received no further action and on the Monday, with the use of a
boat we set about in search of our quarry again. Because of the flat calm
conditions and the clarity of the water, it wasn’t long before we stumbled upon
a group of fish sunning themselves. As expected they were at the opposite end
of the lake in shallower water. Finding
the fish was the easy part but finding somewhere to fish wasn’t due to the
overgrown nature of the lake with no purpose built swims. In the end we settled
on a tiny gap in amongst the trees and after borrowing some tools off a local
we set about building a swim bigger enough for the two of us, proper carping!
While out on the boat we drifted across an ideal area to
introduce our baits, which was a large plateaux with depth as shallow as 4ft
surrounded by 10 foot of water….. The one! Due to the numbers of fish we had
spotted on the boat we decided to introduce a big hit of bait and put out 15
kilos of hemp, maize and boilie onto the spot in hope of ‘having it off’ for
the rest of the trip. We figured if we baited heavily we could potentially hold
the fish in the area. Two rods were placed on the plateaux each and 2 down to
our right hand margin, where we’d also spotted fish. We couldn’t believe the
response to the bait that night and by the morning we had landed 5 fish to 36lb
on MC nut with Linch specials over the top. Well worth the effort anyway!
The move definitely
paid off!
The action continued throughout the week, despite the
unfavourable hot and calm conditions and by the end of it, myself, Ricky and
James had landed 22 fish. The 46 was the
biggest of the trip, although I’m sure there are bigger present and I can’t
wait to get back out there to see if there is!
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| A chunky 36 common for Ricky on a pop up over MC Nut |
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| A Clean looking mid 30 on a MC Nut special hook bait |
George West - Noble's Fishing
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