Eli Godsi session at Village on ALines Specials

I was in desperate need of a complete 'get away' and at very short notice. I didn't have the time or the inclination to organise a holiday for myself in the way I would normally do - all I knew was that a week's carp fishing in France would be just the tonic. Cue Angling Lines. A quick scan of their website and I quickly found a few lakes that would fit the bill perfectly - places that were not too far a drive to get to with plenty of 20' and 30's but most importantly the chance of a 'biggie' in the shape of a forty or maybe even a fifty. A quick call to their offices and I spoke to the really helpful Linda who told me which of the three lakes I had chosen was available and once we had narrowed it down to Village in Northern France I even managed to find a week when I could pick one of the swims I liked the look of and wanted. A few numbers from a piece of plastic later and the week was booked, simple as that! The next four weeks would now be that much better knowing I would soon be on my way.

Village is a lovely forty acre lake in a rural setting just 2 - 3 hours away from Calais and dead easy to drive to and to find. I was immediately impressed by how professional the whole set up looked and how welcoming the owners Giselle and Jean-Marie were. I am just about fluent in French so that definitely helps but listening to them chat to the other anglers who were also arriving on the Saturday morning and it was obvious they were quite used to speaking English. Before I tell you how I got on with the fishing and while I'm on the subject of the facilities at Village let me just say they are as good as it gets in my opinion. I had a clean 'portaloo' just behind my swim in Peg 1 that was cleaned and emptied every other day: when you're used to going to the loo 'in the bush' this was a real luxury to me. As were the showers at the main lodge which were clean, steaming hot and very welcome. There are also fridge and freezer facilities at the lodge but I can't comment on further as I didn't use them. I bought milk and fresh baguettes from Giselle at the restaurant and had beers with a sumptuous meal on the Thursday night which was not cheap but certainly reasonably priced. The supermarkets are typically full of delicious French food and only a few miles drive away - Giselle has photocopies of a sketch map showing you how to find them.

Peg 1 was as far away from the lodge as you can drive to, secluded with plenty of open water to fish to and a very sexy looking margin all along the right hand bank. I couldn't wait to get started! I catapulted out some free offerings to two separate baited patches and spodded a bit of hemp over the top of both. I like the fact that you can fish 4 rods at Village and that on the whole the rules are sensible and you are just left to get on with your fishing. I always carry two baits with me in terms of boilies when fishing in France as well as a selection of pop ups and particles. I have been using the Angling Lines Crab Specials for a quite a while now both home and abroad and have a lot of confidence in this bait - another bonus, if I ran out this was available to buy at the lake in 5 kilo bags.

I had hoped to sleep out under the stars as much as possible and despite a gorgeous sunny first day the heavens opened in the early hours of Saturday morning and absolutely tipped down. I had my first run at 5 am while it was pouring which turned out to be a 25lb sturgeon that fought like a demon, typically wiped out two of my other lines and left me soaked. Not a good time to find out my Barbour jacket needed reproofing. The rain on Sunday morning was a sign of things to come as the weather during the week was all over the place and made for hard fishing. For the first couple of days I was on the back of the wind and struggled. The middle of the week saw the wind swing right round 180 degree into my bank and this was when I had all my better fish. By the end of the week I had experienced scorching hot days, cool nights and a serious thunderstorm on the Thursday night just before the wind swung round again. This was obviously not ideal conditions and everyone on the lake found the fishing hard that week. If you think you are just going to turn up in France and have the carp leap into your landing nets think again - these fish have been fished for quite a number of years and are not stupid. Put the effort in, think about what you are doing and you will catch.

There were fish showing every evening and all night throughout the week in 'no man's land' in front of the reeds some 250 yards in front of peg 3. When the strong wind swung round on Tuesday into my end of the lake I had fish show in front of me for the first time and my confidence soared. I had moved one of my baited areas to further out by then and was fishing with The Crab Specials on 3 of the 4 of my rods - I struggled to get a take on anything else all week and despite having a bait in different spots along the tree lined margins I never had a pick up there all week. By then I had managed another sturgeon of 20lbs, a couple of commons (one of just over 20 and the other about 15). It's worth mentioning that there are a big head of commons in Village and they are incredibly long torpedoes that fight really hard. A welcome change from all the French mirrors most places seem to be stocked with.

By Wednesday everything started to come together at last. I had a screaming run at 2 in the morning and immediately knew I was into a bigger fish that plodded and went on deep boring runs. It turned out to be a very welcome first 30 in the shape of a 30-3 mirror. With the fish returned and not much sleep I had another unmissable take less than 5 hours later and once again this fish fought the same way. Ten minutes later and I was looking at another stunning 32-4 mirror carp. A brace of 30's in less than five hours is good fishing anywhere in the world.

With all my takes coming after dark or in the early hours of the morning and after my brace the night before I was bursting with anticipation as it got dark on Thursday evening. I knew I had got everything right by then. I had baited up with the Specials and had all the rods fishing with the successful bait combinations: two 14mm Crab Special bottom baits and the same in a pop up on the top. Fish were showing over my baited patch and I had that sense that I was in for a 'biggie'. I could hardly settle at all. By 11 in the evening I was just wondering whether to reel in one of my rods and check if it had tangled as the cast to 95 yards hadn't been 'spot on'. Then the buzzer under that rod came to life. I struck into this fish at range and for the first time all week I had a fish on that immediately took line off me as it went on a 10 yard initial run. It turned and came slowly towards me. I couldn't believe how heavy this thing was and how hard it was to pump the line in, but in it came, slowly. I kept thinking, "I've got my first 50, this has got to be the mother of all carp". Then the fish decided to kite to my left. It went on a slow and powerful run and despite the really tight clutch setting I could do nothing but let it go. When it stopped and turned I thought I was getting the better of the situation and could now start bringing my PB carp towards me. I pumped hard and had gained about 10 yards of line when this fish really woke up! It started stripping line of my reel at a frightening rate and I literally couldn't do anything but hold on. At the point when I thought it would finally stop and turn it just accelerated even more and kept going. It must have taken 50 yards of 15lb line off me when I started to think about the eight lines high in the water from the rods of the French anglers in peg 3, straight where the fish was heading all along the margin. Any minute now and I would hear all their alarms going off one by one in a horrible symphony of buzzers. I clamped down harder but the fish kept going until the line eventually went slack leaving me with that horrible sick, empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. No way was that a carp, I had obviously hooked into one of the monster cats that Village contains, some of which are in excess of 100lbs. "Damn. I had my chance and blew it" was all I kept saying to myself for the rest of the night. The wind swung round again about two hours later, we had a serious thunderstorm and I sat in my bivvy unable to sleep, listening to the rain and wondering what might have been.

With the wind blowing away from my bank again for the last couple of days I struggled. By the end of the week I managed another 20 lb common and a couple of smaller ones. The French guys in peg 3 had caught well but not many bigger fish though they did manage a gorgeous 35lb common, which I think was the biggest caught that week. Talking to the other anglers on the way out on Saturday morning and I realised everyone had struggled and I had done pretty well under the conditions. I had the memory and photos of a brace of 30's and had lost an unforgettable battle with a huge and powerful catfish.

I will definitely be going back to Village in the near future. The facilities are excellent, the fishing is by no means easy but the potential for plenty of bigger fish and the chance of a real monster is really good if you have good conditions and fish it well. Yes, I will definitely be going back and would recommend the lake to anyone whether they are experienced continental anglers or first timers. Anyway, I have to go back and will be better prepared this time - I have a score to settle with that catfish.

Elie Godsi

elie@godsi.freeserve.co.uk