I have just come back from an interesting weeks fishing with Paul Cooper on the Angling Lines Venue, IslandLake.
IslandLake is a mature looking Gravel Pit of approximately 25 acres in the Champagne Region of France; roughly 3 ¾ hours drive from Calais. As the name suggests it has a large island and 4 or 5 bays along with a lot of weed and underwater features.
The lake is totally different to most commercial French fisheries as it is relatively lightly stocked for the size of the venue. Most commercial French Lakes are overstocked and so the fish become virtually dependant on anglers’ baits, which more or less guarantees you catching plenty of fish. The fish in IslandLake are of an excellent average size and it would appear that they have reached and are maintaining these weights by feeding on the abundance of natural food in the lake. This can lead to very challenging fishing, but to me this makes it all the more interesting and rewarding. (more…)
I would be interested to read some of the other consultants and customers stories of their favourite sessions. It is always nice to reminisce about past results and moments on the bank that make you smile when you think back to them.
Setting the picture
I remember a session back in 1990 I think it was and I had been struggling in my early quests to catch Carp and hadn’t managed to catch a single double figure fish from my local pond.
Armed with a bag of ready made Richworth boilies and my 2 daiwa sensor rods I was off for a weekend sleeping on the floor in the back of my mates bivvy.
At this time I was only an apprentice toolmaker on about £40 a week so every penny counted and a bed chair and bivvy were way out of my price range.
It was either the last week in September or the First week in October if my memory is correct and it rained all weekend.
On the 30th June Phil Parker put the following question to the bloggers:
OK here goes. Now I’m sure this subject has been touched before. Why do we not have venues in the UK similar to those advertised in (PLUG) Angling Lines. In fact perhaps I should ask them this and other companies this. There seems to be a couple venues that do this but not many. I am not knocking France or any of the lakes over there as I have fished many of them over the years and love the places I have been to. Its just that there seems to be missing opportunities which I’m sure could be grabbed. I know there are places like WhiteAcres and Anglers Paradise, again top notch venues but the chance to share a lake with friends on an exclusivity basis or a 20 acre lake shared between a maximum of 10 anglers has surely got to appeal. There must be plenty of anglers who would relish this as syndicate waters are sometimes far and few between and not within budget for many. So come on everbody lets have your thoughts, suggestions and opinions on this.
How often should you change your line and what causes the deterioration in it’s stated breaking strain?
I changed my main line prior to my recent trip to France and have already stripped it back off to be replaced.
Replaced after just one week may seem excessive to some people but if you think about it thats 7 days solid angling, fishing near overhanging trees with some underwater debris. Not to mention a few Carp played on it and in hot sunny conditions.
I use Berkeley Big Game for most of my general fishing and at around £10 for 1700 odd meters, it’s not exactly expensive. A useful tip is to have backing line on your spool and only replace around 250 meters. The reason for 250 meters is that it is well past my maximum casting distance and if I have to strip back a few yards near the hooklink then I have a bit to play with. This also applies to if I have a crack off for some reason. (more…)
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