Marks Lycett`s recent trip to a big French water proved to be a bit of a tough nut. the carp were certainly not playing ball, but as Mark writes he says its a tricky venue at the best of times. nevertheless Marks managed to extract one out on his most recent trip and what a weight it spun the scales around to....i`ll let Mark give the details in his own words.....
``I have just made my third trip to this large gravel pit in the Champagne region of France. This time my friend Gary Walker from Kendal came with me fully equipped with a few rings of Cumberland sausage so a good trip was on the cards already!! This lake is famous for its large scaley carp, hopefully one will grace our nets this week?
This gravel pit is extremley weedy.
Fishing is done by spending a few hours out in a boat looking around for clear spots. And not just any clear patches either. You need to look for clean clay patches. Most spots have dead leaves and twigs on them, thats a sure sign that they are not visited by carp.
Out of the 4 spots that I fished I would say 2 of them were good clear ones and the other two were maybe good spots.
A give away is bait being eaten when you go for a look the next day. I would imagine the weed was up to the top in 8 feet of water a few weeks previous when the water was warmer, but it had collapsed into a thick intertwined mass maybe 3 feet deep which could prove tricky if fish were hooked.
My starting set up was 5 oz leads on MCF dumper clips, hooklink was 12 inches long set up with a pop up withy pool style.
The bait was my Fenspice Peach and Pepper mix which has been incredibly successful on this lake. This time I increased the GLM level even more and included elevated levels of a meaty type yeast powder that I have been trying. I also had some special cork ball pop ups made from this mix by Mark Blake of Submission Advanced Hookbaits. Mark has his own magic ingredients that he adds as well.
As time progressed I soon found out that the carp were in 'clever' mode so I started to vary my tactics. I knew they were throwing the lead off the dumper clip so I put Armaled lockjaw clips on instead coupling them with 6oz gripper leads.
I also changed to double bottom baits and increased the hooklink length.
I am certainly not afraid to try long hooklinks so I ended up with a 36 inch hooklink on one rod with a Carp R Us longshank nailer hook fished blowback style with a double bottom bait.
This was fished locked up 180 metres from my swim on a big clay patch that I found in a very quiet area on the back of the wind. The carp in this lake soon move off pressure so I knew it was the perfect place to fish a bait.
My thinking proved correct because at 6am on the friday morning a slow take produced a big fat Italian carp of 50lb 12oz.
I could fish other easier waters in France and catch more fish but thats not for me. I prefer hard waters that get the old grey matter ticking. That way your fishing improves over time.
Another point. I have just purchased some of the new ECU alarms from Scott. I find them superb, certainly my type of tackle, well made and they do what it says on the tin!!``.............
This gravel pit is extremley weedy.
Fishing is done by spending a few hours out in a boat looking around for clear spots. And not just any clear patches either. You need to look for clean clay patches. Most spots have dead leaves and twigs on them, thats a sure sign that they are not visited by carp.
Out of the 4 spots that I fished I would say 2 of them were good clear ones and the other two were maybe good spots.
A give away is bait being eaten when you go for a look the next day. I would imagine the weed was up to the top in 8 feet of water a few weeks previous when the water was warmer, but it had collapsed into a thick intertwined mass maybe 3 feet deep which could prove tricky if fish were hooked.
My starting set up was 5 oz leads on MCF dumper clips, hooklink was 12 inches long set up with a pop up withy pool style.
The bait was my Fenspice Peach and Pepper mix which has been incredibly successful on this lake. This time I increased the GLM level even more and included elevated levels of a meaty type yeast powder that I have been trying. I also had some special cork ball pop ups made from this mix by Mark Blake of Submission Advanced Hookbaits. Mark has his own magic ingredients that he adds as well.
As time progressed I soon found out that the carp were in 'clever' mode so I started to vary my tactics. I knew they were throwing the lead off the dumper clip so I put Armaled lockjaw clips on instead coupling them with 6oz gripper leads.
I also changed to double bottom baits and increased the hooklink length.
I am certainly not afraid to try long hooklinks so I ended up with a 36 inch hooklink on one rod with a Carp R Us longshank nailer hook fished blowback style with a double bottom bait.
This was fished locked up 180 metres from my swim on a big clay patch that I found in a very quiet area on the back of the wind. The carp in this lake soon move off pressure so I knew it was the perfect place to fish a bait.
My thinking proved correct because at 6am on the friday morning a slow take produced a big fat Italian carp of 50lb 12oz.
I could fish other easier waters in France and catch more fish but thats not for me. I prefer hard waters that get the old grey matter ticking. That way your fishing improves over time.
Another point. I have just purchased some of the new ECU alarms from Scott. I find them superb, certainly my type of tackle, well made and they do what it says on the tin!!``.............