We’re looking back at this year’s most memorable captures and the stories behind them.
Ian Murray caught this cracking 52lb mirror at 4-acre Lillypool in April, whilst on a lake exclusive booking with 4 friends.
1. Why did you choose Lillypool for your trip this year?
The venue was was chosen by our lead Mick Johnson and for the reason we knew there was a good chance of a lot of runs, especially as he was taking his youngest son Ethan.
2. How many days had you been at the lake? How did you decide on your tactics for fishing on the lake?
We fished the lake for 7 days and Initially the tactics were to fish boilie, but upon arrival Richard told us the previous session, of I think 49 fish, had all come from fishing particles. I still chose to keep my options open and fished boilies whilst the rest of the party fished particle.
The island pegs produced much earlier than me, but then on the Sunday morning my sticky baits manilla boilie rod in open water ripped off during 1st light.
3. When you hit the rod did you know it was something special? How was the fight?
To be fair I didn’t realise it was as big as it was until it went in the net, that’s when I realised. The fight was only about 10-15 mins, I was just glad to get off the mark with a big gun at this point, the pressure was off.
The uncanny thing was I re-caught the fish on the Thursday using different tactics as the particles seemed to be produced more fish. At this point I had moved pegs but fished the same water and margins but with a much better line angle into the margin. Now this fight was better which included wiping Mick Johnson’s 3 rods out during the early hours. This time is was caught on maize and corn particles.
4. What’s the best tip you can give to someone heading out to the lake in the future?
As for advice, I would keep an open mind, mainly take boilie as particles are readily available at the venue, which we took advantage of.
We found the fish didn’t hold well in open water at all, only the odd fish caught even with both heavy and light baited spots. My margin rods, I knew when the fish were there as I could see them and then a bite would shortly follow a bite. If the fish weren’t there (which could be as long as a day) no bites came.
We found just a small amount of particle in the bait boat against margins produced more bites.
Lillypool has been beautifully designed to provide a relaxing carp fishing holiday, good facilities and most importantly an impressive head of carp.
Designed for groups of up to 5 anglers, it provides plenty of features and options for how and where you want to fish. The lake is just a short 1½ hours drive from the ferry port at St Malo.
Find out more about Lillypool here – French Carp Fishing at Lillypool
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