What’s the best time to go carp fishing in France?

French-Carp-Lake-in-WinterHiya mate,

I’m a reasonably experienced Carp angler based in essex and was just wondering what time of year you thought was best to book a trip to france?

We are considering booking Gigantica after watchin ur carp cup shows on TT, but havent made our minds up as it did seem a bit ‘swimmy’? If u know what i mean.

The syndicate water i fish isnt the easiest and the thought of goin on holiday and struggling just as much is playin with my mind a bit, would be nice to get a couple of fish over the week. We went abroad to willow lake (the old jrc place) and had a fish each, but it wouldve been nice to have a couple each, even if they were a bit smaller, we really were scratchin for a bite most of the time.

We booked it for the last week in september, which has been kind to me over here, but the guy who owned it said that they had been fished for all year and are harder to catch later in the year as a result, what do you think?

Also the weather wasnt very kind, high pressure, clear cold nights and hot sunny days. I was hoping for low pressure, cloud and big south westerlies, I take it these are prime hauling conditions in France too? And if so, was i unlucky with the weather? Or are there seasonal changes in France that would mean i should have booked another time of year to give me a better chance with the weather?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, a reply really would be appreciated and i will come say hello at the next show im at.

regards, Eric

Mas Bas Luxury CarpingDanny Turtle, Gigantica bailiff, answers;

Eric,

Thanks for the interest.

Quite a few questions which I will to try and answer for you.Firstly, the weather…..almost impossible for me to predict,obviously, but generally Id try my hardest to be on a lake in September which on any lake is one of the prime months. Booking in September can be difficult as the demand far out strips the spaces available. Id go as far to say that ‘successful’ lakes sell September almost instantly the diary is opened for bookings.

The weather is less important at that time as the light is starting to dwindle a little and the carp know its time to pack on there winter weights, big fish in big hits are acheivable.

Im surprised you didnt catch more at Willow, I know of it and it does hold a considerable amount of fish. They obviously do become harder to catch as the year goes on but Id still say, September is by far the best month, October is also a very popular month along with April-May. Gigantica fishes well in the hotter weather right through summer due to the depth,bottom baits and zigs catch right through the hottest part of the year so dont write of the summer. Good fishing and great weather for socilising.

Gigantica certainly isnt ‘swimmy’. I take whatever swims are left at the end of the draw so get what everyone else doesnt want and I have yet to blank this year, and I only fish nights. Im happy to go in any swim and expect to catch. Part of the issue that may make it look swimmy, is the anglers who fish the swim, a few little mistakes, like on any lake will stop you catching, nothing to do with the lake or the swim, could be simply the wrong choice of bait that stops you catching fish. I speak to all the english owned lakes in the area and they all say the same, a tough week is generally down to how the lake is fished, not how the lake is fishing.

I will not lie to you, Gigantica is a ‘difficult’ lake. Everyone will tell you that. We ( the owner and management ) made a conscious decision on taking on Gigantica to not stock the lake. In our own fishing, we do not choose to go to ‘run’ type lakes and that is how we have managed Gigantica. You have to angle, and angle well ! The fish are here, we have hundreds of up to date picture of 30z & 40z. We have a considerable stock of 50z, quite a high number of 60z with 3 confirmed 70lb+ fish to upper 70z !

I update our wed site, generally, weekly, and if no fish have been out, we simply tell it as it is, we state, no fish. We dont lie or make up captures to please the public. We are a difficult lake and each and every capture means something. Thats why we fish here ourself. Because the fish count, not huge numbers of small, plain looking fish, big scaly linears you’d be very happy to have in your photo album. www.gigantica-carp.com

I hope this has answered your intitial questions but feel free to contact me at anytime for further information.

Danny

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