Articles: Trip to Maison Du Lac Bleu - By Steve Milner
On Friday the 11th of May we set off from Lichfield Staffs to Dover at 1.30pm. With all our gear in the transit van we reached
Dover at 5.30pm. We had to pass some time away as the coach was not leaving till 9.00pm so we popped to my relations who live
down that way.
9.00pm soon came around and we were on our way to Maison Du Lac Bleu. We had never fished in france so did not know what to
expect. On the way down to the fishery the guys on the coach were saying about the size of the fish that were in the lakes
and what lake they were hoping to fish. Sixteen hours had passed and we were there at 10.00am on Saturday Morning.
We unloaded the coach and got our gear together. We had a look around the lakes and meet Doug who provided information on the
4 lakes.
The owners Nick and Cindy introduced themselves as we all had a coffee. Nick provided the Fishery Rules to the Group and it
was then time to draw a numbers out of the hat. I drew number 16 and steve drew 11 so it was now up to steve to choose the
lake and our swims. He chose two swims along the track from the house with lots of features in front of use. The lake we
were fishing was ETANG NEUF.
Nick and his son take all your fishing gear to your peg on a tractor, which is a nice bonus, after a long journey.
I sat on my peg for about 20 minuetes just looking at the water to see if there were fish showing. As I got the gear out
and set it up there was a crash right next to the island that was it all three rods were going along the island.
The first rod was baited up with bollie and I spodded about 5kg of hemp and bollies. The second rod was baited with maze
and I spodded about 3kg of bollies and maze. The third rod was a pocket bait just the hook bait and a pva bag with about
6 to 8 freebies.
The traps were set now so it was up to the fish .....Saturday, Sunday nothing Monday morning me and Marie had to nip down
town so Steve sat on my peg till we got back ..
We got back from town about 10.30am and steve told me he had a screaming run on my first rod. The fish had taken him round
the back of the island and slipped the hook, what a blow!
Marie and I sat in our peg and at about 4.30 the swinger moved up about two inches with two beeps on the alarm, then
nothing. Nick the owner was popping round to see if all the guys where all ok and he told me that if you get just a bit
of movement on the swinger hit it as the carp can reject the hook that quick.
At 8.10pm the alarm beeped two times and the swinger dropped back and then it shot up two inches, so I hit it. With a bend
in the rod it was a fish on.
Taking line i new it was a good fish .
After about 20 minutes with the fish in the margin it came to the top. Slipping the net under it I was very happy with my
first french carp, Yes at 47lb I was made up big time ......
The rest of the week saw me loose 3 fish, just one of those things. Steve had sat on his peg all week without a fish.
Saturday at 6.20am just 45 minutes to go he had a screaming take and a fish on! After 20 minutes of hard fighting I netted
a lovely specimen. We where both over the moon, how close can you get at 41lb it was his new personal best.
Photographs can be seen of our trip at www.ukcarpcrew.co.uk and my 47lb is on the Field Testers Page of this site. Go to the
links pages on this site, to find the Link for Maison.
Thanks to Ashford Tackle for all there help booking and organising this trip. We have now re-booked for October 20th 2007 and
are really looking forward to our next trip.
