Screaming alarms, hectic spells, arm wrenching fights and of course, hardly any sleep. Yes, my first experience over the water sounds very much like productive carping fishing here at home in England, but let me tell you, until you have been there you will not know what makes thousands of anglers keep going back year after year to these foreign heavens.

My location for the week was a medium sized lake, probably on the small side for French standards, It was exactly what I was looking for, 11 acres, well stocked and a very good chance of latching into a ‘fish of a lifetime’, Castaway Lake 2. The lake had only opened in March this year so the fish were not as wised up to anglers as they will eventually become, I felt this notched up my chances even higher.


I arrived at the Lake Saturday 8^th of July and reluctantly left the venue on Saturday the 15^th of July, mind you to be fair, surprising events in the week made leaving a little easier as I was feeling rather happy.  Not to mention the top class hospitality shown by the all the people at Castaway, it was a truly awesome place to spend a weeks fishing. On top of the unbeatable service, something told me that it had to be my week, this lake I was fishing is booked out to carp anglers almost all year for up to 7 anglers, yet the week I booked my dad and myself had the privilege of sharing the lakes with no body else but the countless amount of wildlife, this mainly due to the cup final. Surely we were in luck?                                               

The fishing, it had to be good to match up to the idyllic setting, well prepare not to be disappointed. The week finished stronger than it started, with over 60 runs and nearly 1000lb of fish banked, it was some fishing, a true credit for those at Castaway. Now, that sounds like a lot of fish to catch between two anglers. But if I told you only five or six of those fish visited the bank in the day light hours you can begin to paint a picture of how much sleep per night we were actually getting! The winning tactics were heavy baiting with SBS multi-mix pellet, ace lobworm ground bait and mixed particles. For hook baits M1 16mm boilies tipped with maize did the business, also another awesome hook bait in our armoury, 22mm KM nuggets soaked in cod liver oil, when the runs slowed down the KM’s always produced the goods. We used the bait boat to our advantage, using it to bait the areas heavily with minimal disturbance; this enabled us to then top up the areas with the spod after every few fish.

The carp in this lake were stocked up to near 50’s with over 15 40+ carp and lots of 20’s and 30’s.  In addition to the carp Castaway also decided to stock some catfish, around 80 in total, 30 of these topping 80lb and one magnificent beast going over 100lb +! This is all in addition to the un-known original stock.

During our week I managed carp up to 28lb 12oz, I suppose you could say I was a little unlucky not to put one of the real monsters on the bank, but as I always say, you can’t control the size of the fish you catch to that extent, especially in well stocked waters like Castaway. But I think the icing on the cake was the decision to try for some of the catfish that inhabited the depths of Castaway.  With only two nights of the trip left, I set about mounting a mackerel flapper onto a size 2 Raptor in conjunction with a running rig, this was just on one rod so I could be in with a chance of banking my first ever cat. Did it work? It certainly did, the first night a 25-minute battle ended in my first cat pulling the needle round to 34lb! My dad followed this up by a 33lb 4oz beauty the same night; I didn’t think it could get any better. But it did! The final night threw up that ‘fish of a lifetime’ the lake promised to give away, it was in the shape on a 50lb 4oz catfish, I was full of joy and needless to say, speechless!

I know I’ve only ventured into France once with the rods but I’ve learnt a lot from this experience, I also realise I’m still a novice when it comes to large hard European waters. However just from a smaller scaled trip like mine I feel there are still a few simple tips I have learnt that I can hand over so your trip is equal to and more successful than mine.

Firstly if you are using a bait boat like I was, make sure you have plenty of spare batteries to keep up with these fish, I took 2 batteries and I think next time I go around 4 will be a more sensible number. Secondly, these fish really do ‘av it’, if the water is stocked like Castaway give them some bait to munch on, you are there for a week, Once they have found the bait keep it going in and they wont go anywhere bar your unhooking mat!  Third and finally, enjoy it!  My session consisted of 30 degrees + temperatures everyday, there was no point getting stressed out and needlessly wasting all your energy in the sweltering conditions trying to make the near impossible happen. I found it better to wait, relax and if it isn’t too hot try and catch up on sleep! If your trip is anything like my experience you will be begging for a brake in the action by the 5^th consecutive night of no sleep and countless amounts of carp, its unreal!

‘Tight lines’

Jack Cuthbertson           

28lb 12oz mirror	A lovely grey coloured mirror	34lb catfish
Dawn on Castaway	French carp can be stunners too!	23lb of pure fighting machine