well here goes guys after a 10 week wait 3am finally came on the 5th of sept a short drive to the airport later we were tucking into a breakfast roll and talking about what we were going to catch .lol we were soon on the shortest flight id ever been on (apart from my skydive back in may ) 1hr 5 mins and we were in limoges our bag of tackle and clothes came through nearly 1st out good start ! we were then soon picked up by alan simpson who has given away a trip to his lake on here a few years back top man 1st stop the hyper market to grab some esensials (a box of 1664's) now i was really exited we were at the lake in no time and were introduced to dave lynn and their son mat who would be looking after us during our stay dave dropped us down to our swims pointed us in the direction of some likely spots and left us to set up 1st cast went out near an overhanging dead tree to the let hand side of the bay the other 2 went out to my marker in about 7 foot of water 60 yards out this was going to be our main baited area the other rods we were going to boat out to other spots with 1 fish at a time tactics. i had all three rods out for about an hour when mat and his mate luke came to deliver our lunch how you getting on says mat nothing yet i reply as soon as i finish my sentence blllllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppp the dead tree rod is away after 10 mins of plodding around under the rod tip im soon weighing my 1st french carp 26.lb 7 and a new pb as mat and luke say there bye's my mate alans rod is off with a small common he followed this a couple of hours later with his new pb 32lb.15 mirror 3 fish in 4 hours we stoped fishing at around 5 oclock i went out in the boat to bait up the marker then it was time for a homecooked meal up at the house which was superb. all week we left empty plates and full stomaches once back at the swim e few beers later into darkness one of my marker rods was away much better fight this time 20 mins later and i was soon holding another pb 30.ll mirror it just gets better now !
this was followed at 1st light by a smaller fish of 13lb10 more baiting up and time for brekkie when we got back we decicded to leave the baited area for the day and fish peg 10 in the left hand bay this was a nice shady swim and the weather was scorchio ! it had lots of open water to fish to and and lots of over hanging margin features perfect we fished together in this swim with a couple of boated jumbo pva bags of chopped boilies and pellets and the other rods were casted with golf ball sized bags of the same i had an idea of not heavily baiting this swim to see how it paid off i figured most people do the opposite on this lake as you can use the boats and place h block markers all over the show ! it worked i was soon away again on the middle open water rod with this beauty another pb all 36.4lb of it too the fight from this one was amazing but she was good as gold on the bank! http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp29/anthonyhobbs/francesep09059.jpg this is only bloody day 2 3 pbs for me and one for alan i got the rod back in the same spot. now then when me and alan were talking on the plane about the lake and the fish he mentioned that he would love to catch a grass carp as he had only ever watched me catch them at home and always failed misserably when he tryed for them his wish was soon granted with about the second largest one in the lake out of the 17 that reside in there and what a fight 1st time i netted it it decided to torpedo back out of the net over the cord clearing the water about 2 feet ! the second time some 20 mins later i sat on the platform and prayed that the net woulnt blow up in my hands it was close to resembling a hand grenade being dropped into the net
i was soon in again with a lovely mirror of 26. 14 and that was it for the day early hours back in the main swim and a small double woke me up which was returned unweighed and not photographed then a 5lb fully scalled decided to grace the bank for the 1st time ever lol bless him after a rather large brekkie again which was well needed we decided to rest our main swim and head for the shade back in peg 10 1 was soon away with a 14lb er in the open water again then mats mate luke came round with beers and crusty ham salad french stick for lunch we were chatting and i was telling him that both me and alan had been sat there talking to the rods we were saying stuff like here fishy fishy come to ant and alan was following suit as i was saying this my open water rods baitrunner started to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz you had to be there to believe it lol 25 mins of epic battle later and my pb common is in my arms 30.11 what a fish too just wish id given the picture taking a bit more thought as the sun was behind me again!!! arghh alan then followed with another one of the grassies at 23lb and that was it for the day next day was back in 10 and we had a double hook up on alans rods almost simultaneously! i landed a 16lb+ common and his was a 23lb + mirror<a wicked fun and games now it was my turn for a 2 day blank !i missed 3 runs on a rod that i was boating out about 200yrds on the last night i told al that sleep was for girls he said he was a girl and went to sleep i stayed up all night and fished my balls off 1st run in the night and i hooked a steam train that was more than likely a cat then an hour later i had a 34lb mirror and alan was woken by a 32lb common top stuff big wet pussys!
ive saved this bit till last now ive never caught a cat before and was given a cat rod set up to use as a 4th rod but couldnt get bait till the tuesday any way 1st day with the cat rod after a few hours had a screamer and struck into thin air ! never mind i thought plenty of time left about seven runs on this rod later all resulted in the same thing must of been kittens i assumed the last night i had had the same piece of mackerell on the rig all day even baked in the sun while at dinner ,there were a few stinking chunks in the bucket covered with a couple of inches of warm sunbaked water i added some pellets to this stired it all up and nearly puked then boated it out down into the right hand bay to the deepest water emptyed it all in along with my rig and nearly puked again half 4 am i get a bleep strait out on the rod nothing back in the bivvie 10 mins later bleep bleep back out nothing happens at this point we got 15 mins before my alarmclock on my phone is due to tell us to pack up and head up to the house to get showered and have a bite to eat before getting dropped to the airport bleeeeeeppppp the cat rod is off and i actually feel some resistance i shout to alan get up mate ive got a cat on and im 3 swims up the lake to where i put the bait i get alan to reel in all the carp rods and then i feel what i thought was a small cat sudenlly peel a good hundred yards from the reel i followed the fish down to the bay at this time my alarmclock was going off and i hadnt even gained any line on the beast i shouted back to alan saying bring the cat mat and the bigger scales mine were only 50lb! another half hour and i finally gloved the fish and dragged what was easily the biggest fish id ever seen on the bank let alone caught we weighed her at just under 65lb photo done and it was now 45 mins after i had hooked it what a week and talk about last minute . com http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp29/anthonyhobbs/francesep09037.jpg we ended the week with a total of 23. lost 8 fish had 7 30pluses and a 65lb cat there were 2 others on the lake we done them with the biggest and the most fish the hosts treated us like family the tackle was all in top conditition and the food amazing as was the lake recomend to any one who wants a hastle free holiday from leaving the lake to getting in my front door took just under 3 hours brilliant not bad for just under £600 quid everything included flights tackle bait and food roll on next year !
lord grant me that i catch a fish so large that when speaking of it at a later date even i have no reason to lie :-)
viva le france (etang du soleil)
Posted - 14/09/2009 : 14:35:41
) 1hr 5 mins and we were in limoges our bag of tackle and clothes came through nearly 1st out good start ! we were then soon picked up by alan simpson who has given away a trip to his lake on here a few years back top man 1st stop the hyper market to grab some esensials (a box of 1664's) now i was really exited 
on the last night i told al that sleep was for girls he said he was a girl and went to sleep 
i stayed up all night and fished my balls off 1st run in the night and i hooked a steam train that was more than likely a cat then an hour later i had a 34lb mirror and alan was woken by a 32lb common top stuff 
then boated it out down into the right hand bay to the deepest water emptyed it all in along with my rig and nearly puked again half 4 am i get a bleep strait out on the rod nothing back in the bivvie 10 mins later bleep bleep back out nothing happens at this point we got 15 mins before my alarmclock on my phone is due to tell us to pack up and head up to the house to get showered and have a bite to eat before getting dropped to the airport bleeeeeeppppp the cat rod is off and i actually feel some resistance i shout to alan get up mate ive got a cat on and im 3 swims up the lake to where i put the bait i get alan to reel in all the carp rods and then i feel what i thought was a small cat sudenlly peel a good hundred yards from the reel i followed the fish down to the bay at this time my alarmclock was going off and i hadnt even gained any line on the beast i shouted back to alan saying bring the cat mat and the bigger scales mine were only 50lb! another half hour and i finally gloved the fish and dragged what was easily the biggest fish id ever seen on the bank let alone caught we weighed her at just under 65lb photo done and it was now 45 mins after i had hooked it what a week and talk about last minute . com 
not bad for just under £600 quid everything included flights tackle bait and food roll on next year !
