A September Week on Laroussi

Sam Fyffe’s group of 6 anglers fished Laroussi this September, we thought it was worth highlighting his detailed report – which contains lots of information from anglers experienced in fishing the lake.


Details of your catches:

Pete Allen – Les Saules – 48lb 08oz Mirror.

Cliff Marston – La Pointe – 8lb Mirror, 21lb 04oz Common (PB at time of catch), 33lb 14oz Grass Carp, 38lb Mirror, 40lb 02oz Mirror (PB at time of catch), 46lb 08oz Mirror (New PB).

John Allen – La Haut Fond – Upper double Common (between 15lb -20lb), 34lb Grass Carp, 34lb Grass Carp, 41lb 06oz Grass Carp, 44lb 08oz Grass Carp, 45lb 08oz Grass Carp.

Alex Noble – Le Bouleau – “Noble’s Luck” : – (

Sam Fyffe – Le Chene – 17lb Common, 23lb 04oz Common, 25lb Grass Carp, 33lb Grass Carp, 35lb 04oz Grass Carp, 41lb.02oz Grass Carp, 54lb 12oz Common “The Ghost Common”(new PB)

La Plage – Not Fished

Wes Rowley – L’anse – 13lb Common, 16lb Common, 18lb 2oz Common, 28lb Grass Carp, 50lb 0oz Grass Carp, 47lb 15oz Mirror.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Various tactics used by different anglers…

Two of the lads used long range spombing in open water swim, putting in 10kg+ a day of boilie/partiblend which appeared to keep the bites consistent and certainly didnt scare the fish off. Other’s used bait boat’s to tightly bait specific areas i.e under overhangs or certain spots which also produced good results.

In regards to rigs there was nothing ground breaking, simple rigs and sharp hooks that people use back in England. Blowback rigs, spinner rigs, D rigs, small pop ups or plastic corn, snowmen etc.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Facilities were brilliant as normal, massive chest freezer which cover’s all the anglers needs throughout the week, big fridge as well. Shower and toilet facilities were all clean. Enough sockets etc to cater for all anglers. All the pegs had been made slightly bigger from when i was last at the lake, plenty of room in all of them.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes. I would recommend the venue. Great owner, easy to contact if needed, passionate about the fishing and is always happy to help/assist if you ask, he is also just as excited as the angler when a fish is caught.
Would you recommend our services to a friend?Yes.

General comments:

We arrived at lake and as normal as was met by a very happy smiley Mehdi, after a quick catch up he walked us around the lake giving us updates on each swim, previous captures in that swim and certain spots that had produced. I think after the walk around a lot of anglers had changed their mind or were open minded about possible swims to fish.

It appeared that La Pointe had been the most consistent swim this year with the far margin holding a lot of fish. With heavy south westerlies due all week La Pointe and Les Saules looked good. Time for the dreaded draw, results were – 1. Cliff 2. Wes 3. Alex 4. Sam 5. Pete 6. John ‘The Baron’.

Lake map

After a quick think Cliff chose La Pointe opting to capitalize on its big fish form, Wes chose L’anse, beautiful swim and always a favourite that can produce big fish. Alex debated between Chene and Le Bouleau and wanting an open water swim he could utilise his distance spombing and casting chose Le Bouleau. Sam being the 2nd angler that was spombing and casting that week chose the BIG open water swim which was Chene. Pete dropped in Les Saules being aware that the wind could draw them in during the week and John made the surprise decision of fishing Le Haut Fond which is normally not fished/avoided for other swims but he wanted to change its fate and produce as result in there, he is “the Baron” after all.

L’anse swim

The lads set about their business and got started ā€“

ā€œThe Baronā€ in the unfancied Le Haut Fond was the first off the mark and showing people it could be done in that swim with a small upper double common which he quickly released to reset the rod. He fished hard all week covering some miles up and down that margin. From the first fish onwards The Baron in Le Haut Fond caught consistently and at a good average weight but all were grass carp which he didnā€™t seem to mind too much but couldnā€™t seem to get a take off any of the big resident mirrors/commons; Some will say he should have pushed out further and fished La Pointeā€™s water, otherā€™s will say he was just about there anyway lol.

Wes was off the mark in Lā€™ance on I think the Monday with a 13lb Mirror, He certainly wanted bigger but was happy to ensure he didnā€™t blank and was off the mark, his fish throughout the week got bigger though he had to fish hard and get through some pest control with some smaller commons and a few grass carp. Wes fished accurately to his chosen spots and changed his areas slightly after a few days and went on what he was seeing ā€“ a good move and good watercraft this led to him eventually being rewarded with a beautiful 47.15 Mirror in autumnal colours which actually looked a huge framed fish was and maybe/possible was a 50lb fish down on weight? He also caught a HUGE submarine like 50lb grassy on the last night. Wes was a team player throughout the weekā€¦giving his comfy chair to people, lending his baitboat out, but also consistently getting his meat out for the lads which was sometime innapropriateā€¦.(but which was lovely and marinated and very appreciated).

Wes, 47lb 15oz

Cliff who was off the mark quickly himself with a whopping 8lb mirror began catching regularly in La Pointe fishing it well. A lot of pressure coming out in the draw first as you are sometimes expected to do well; he did just that. Cliff caught a PB common at 21.4 but quickly weighed it, photographed it and put back avoiding the PB bucket of water. The lads werenā€™t going to allow that again and he soon caught his next fish, a lovely 38lb mirror. After some strange facials during the photographing we were able to get some good shots and he got his bucket of water. Lovely! Cliff went on to catch consistently also throughout the week and after some additional leading and markering found a new spot which soon produced (very good angling and the efforts equalling the reward there) a big 46.08 mirror and a new PB with another bucket of water lol. Cliff caught a few more lovely carp including a few grassies, he did La Pointe justice unlike his reputation as a chefā€¦few of them dishes looked dodgy mate!

Cliff, 46lb 8oz

ā€œPop it inā€ Pete had a tough week in Les Saulesā€¦. Despite being in the teeth of a south westerly the fish just never seemed to turn up or go past La Pointe swim. When the south westerly was at its worstā€¦the opposite end of the lake (Lā€™anse and Chene) actually produced its biggest fish which was strange and is worth a thought going forward. Pete stuck with it, remained motivated and put the effort in, ringing the changes. On Friday night the fish turned up, and in numbers. Pete took advantage as was quickly into a nice 48.08 mirror carpā€¦ he then quickly had another two bites within the hour but both carp which felt good came off unfortunately. A special mention needs to be made about the grass carp that Cliff caught, Pete landed it and the carp duly obliged by smashing him in the balls bringing a tear to Peteā€™s eyes and almost bringing him to his knees. Bent Knob Pete survived and his angling quality came through in the end.

Pete, 48lb 8oz

Alex ā€˜Nobleā€™s Luckā€™ Noble had a very tough week in Le Bouleau, never one to moan, be unmotivated, a mood hoover or down hearted he pressed on. He actually fished really week hitting his mark out at range and baiting accurately every day but the fish just never appeared to be on him. Fishing were getting caught either side at the same distance but just never appeared to be there in any real numbers. Although it was a difficult week it never changed his mood, great team player and his ā€œtarpā€ was a life saver in the rain! Not one to believe in superstitions I feel this is the only thing that he needs to change in his angling rather than just shouting ā€œNobleā€™s Luckā€ at random. His luck will change!

Side note – On the walk around on Saturday I stated to Mehdi I would love one of the big commons in the lake, especially the ā€œghost commonā€ which is huge. Mehdi said he hadnā€™t seen it in a long while and wouldnt actually know how big it was now; FATE.

I started off by baiting heavily out at distance in Chene, my plan was to spomb leaving a different pattern of bait on the lake bottom to what is normally left by bait boats (nice neat circles or areas of bait). I was off the mark early with two commons (17lb and 23lb), I then had a grassy the following night. Early Tuesday morning I had a strange bite, bobbing pulled to the alarm but no line being pulled from the loose spool, after debating few a few seconds I struck into it. After a slow heavy fight I started to make ground and eventually heard a swirl about 40yards out but couldnā€™t see it, by this time ā€œNobleā€™s Luckā€ had turned up to helpfully give me a hand, 15 minutes passed and eventually he was able to expertly net it after some initial difficulty (the fish was longer than the 42ā€ net), I had walked back some way but heard him softly say ā€œF*ck me, I think itā€™s the ghost commonā€, the rest is a blur!

Sam, 54lb 12oz

We netted and retained it and I was in pretty much denial that it was as big as we thought or that it was the actual Ghost Common. All the lads came round to the swim and we weighed her at 54lb 12oz, I couldnā€™t quite believe it. Immaculate all over, it was hugeā€¦. A few water shots and a kiss and back she went. After ringing Mehdi and telling him about the Ghost Common he couldnā€™t believe it, on the missing list for over 2 years, and at its biggest ever weight. Mehdi was just as excited as me and reiterated how bizarre that we spoke about it on the first day as well. Another bizarre twist was that Noble who netted it for me had the same fish 5 years ago at 48lbā€¦ which I think was a nice for him. Big thank you to Monsieur Noble for his help throughout the week! Legend. I caught consistently 1 fish a night after that but couldnā€™t seem to get past the grass carp. I think one bite on the spot normally spooked the rest and you were done for that night.

A lot has been said about the lake in recent times with the catfish and the grass carp becoming a problem and upsetting the balance of things on the lake. As a group we didnā€™t see one catfish or sturgeon all week and the grass carp were a bit of nuisance and unfortunately we caught all ours at night so Mehdi could not remove them (they do not cope well with periods in retention slings). Mehdi is actively removing the grass carp and catfish and I have faith he will restore the balanceā€¦.

All that said we still caught some huge carp and with what Iā€™m sure is many more in there that are on the missing list but swimming about. A beautiful lake with beautiful carp, topped off by Mehdi who is a great guy and is always willing to help you out.

Find out more about Laroussi here ā€“ Carp Fishing in France

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