Quest Baits Blog

Dear Jim 

I have just read your article on Grosley with much interest as I am taking my son and nephew in April, and I was a bit surprised to see the weather was so cold. We have booked pegs 17a 17b and 18, have you got any other advice for me and should I take my own bait or save some space and buy on site. One more thing is the tackle shop ok or should I stock up on rigs weights before I go. Sorry to ask such boring questions but these bit of info are not on the web site 

Hi Chris, no problem with your questions. Last year was very unusual weather wise, but it is always good to be prepared. I have been to this area in April, it has been 25 degrees in the day and minus 5 at night it can be that variable. 

When we were there the tackle shop was not up and running. I would always take my own terminal tackle anyway as I am extremely choosy about hooks etc.

Bait wise I would check with the venue that they have the bait you want. If not Quest will send bait to the venue if you wish.

The obvious area to fish, if you are in pegs 17 a and b, is the island you may need a bait boat as it is at least 110 yd chuck. Peg 18, I would suggest fishing the margins of the peninsula. Cast to it (it is a fairly long chuck) and walk round and bait up.

When we were there we  used hemp very sparingly (10 spods full per baited area) and avoided pellets as they only attracted bream. There are no chats. 

If you want to know anything else just ask and good look.

Jim

By Jamie Simpson

Ok so I thought this piece may be helpful to anyone who has little or no experience of fishing in France.

Travelling to France for a fishing holiday can be a daunting prospect, yet the draw of large Carp and a slightly warmer climate is almost impossible to resist.  I thought I would just put a little list of things that may help and hopefully a few other bloggers can add to any that I miss or have overlooked.

• Always carry a High Vis jacket, emergency breakdown triangle, spare bulbs etc as this is a legal requirement in France now.

• You will definately need your drivers license, insurance document and ownership document.

• A silly one but you wont get far without your passport. continue reading…

My mirror fell to the new bait on test, Surf ‘n’ Turf which was attached to an unusual take on the chod which I have been playing around with.

Rather than using beads to hold the hook link in place, I have been experiencing a lot of success by using two air-dried 10mm hookbaits threaded on to a TF leader and a 3 oz distance lead.

Alongside this I presented a small PVA bags containing a dozen whole and broken freebies. I was the only one to catch during the trip and to do so during the snow make the experience even more special.

Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe

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Shaun Harrison gets out on the bank for a November session in France. He manages to bank several cracking carp including a 40lb plus mirror and a 29lb’er for the camera.

Shaun goes through some tips on how you can best plan your trip to a new venue, whether it is in France or the UK. He reveals some of the home work you can do and ways of getting the best from your swim in a short time, how to use tools like Metcheck and Google Earth to find the fish etc.

Oakview by Linda Latham;

We were lucky enough to be able to stop at Oakview for a few days whilst making one of our usual trips to some of our venues in France. On this trip most of our visits to the lakes were grouped in an area where we could stop in one place and circle out each day to view the venues.

When we arrived at Oakview in the evening Shirley and Martin made us most welcome at their home with a nice hot cuppa. From their house we could just see the lake through the trees in the distance as the sun was going down.

We discussed their plans and then the talk got around to the actual fishing something I love to do! (I always travel with my rods in the roof of the van) Martin could see I was chomping at the bit and offered to show me around the lake – if I wanted to fish… If !! – we were down the stairs and half way across the field before his feet touched the ground.

As we walked around the lake Martin told me all about the work they had done – including de-silting the lake and putting in a deeper channel along the left side of the lake (looking from the cabin) He also showed me the hotspots where successful anglers had fished before. continue reading…