Simon Irons

Field Tester

0

Any fishing trip has both an air of excitement and the unknown about it, but when its a trip to France you can double that feeling. Setting off for a second trip in less than 2 months from a flash flooded East Anglia didnt phase us. By us I mean my wife, Shaz & I. 50mm of rain fell in less than an hour, causing flash flooding, swelling rivers to bursting point and general chaos for our trip down to the Euro tunnel, it was an appalling drive with top speeds of 35mph on the M11.... it made the start of the trip fun to say the least. Eventually we reached the lake, after an equally poor drive through France too. The long delays, closed roads and diversions made no sense, but despite that we made it for check-in on time, and the rods were out by 6pm on Saturday the 9th of august 2014. With exclusive use of this gorgeous lake for the next few days, we settled in for some action. 

M1 Boilies were the bait of choice for the most part, with 4mm and 2mm halibut pellets mixed in with 6mm M1 pellets as the loose feed and PVA mesh feed. Rigs were simple 2oz in-line leads on safe zone leaders, 15lb N trap hook lengths, tied to size 10 wide gape hooks, with nothing fancy on the end but the hair rig. Shaz got off to a flying start in the shape of a PB common of 34lb 9oz.

A nice way to open her account, it gave her the run around for a good 10 mins before I finally netted it for her. It fell to a glugged M1 that had been in dip since 2007, so I reckon it should be soaked in by now. I managed 3 fish on my first day, only small though, between 8 and 13lb but all welcome and all liking M1. 

Sunday was poor for Shaz, only banking a 4lb tench. I had faired a little better, my biggest of the day was caught using 2x10mm halibut pellets hair rigged with a sliced M1 pop up between the pellets to balance the rig. The fish was a leather with no dorsal weighing in at 29lb 5oz, it was followed up by an 18lb common and my own 4lb tench.

The early hours of Monday, day 3, were very muggy and sweaty and made even hotter just after midnight with a stunning huge moon when my middle rod sprang to life bringing with it a weighty feeling on the hook end. A short scrap later the net was graced by a cracking 36lb mirror.

The fight was short lived and the fish behaved impeccably on the mat.

It was going to turn out to be a busy Monday for me. From 6am to 10.45pm I banked fish of 20lb, 23lb, another 36lb mirror, and a fish of 29lb known as the long mirror. The fish continued to come, with another 30 lb carp of 33lb also 3 other carp between 13 and 18lb. Busy day.

Shaz was obviously feeling left out by all my fish and decided to hook into a carp known as the duck at 31lb 7oz and yet another tench of 5lb.

Overnight both of our rods were noisy but only by producing beeps but no runs... why is it that carp wait just until you have nodded off to set the alarm?

Tuesday started ok for us both, and as soon as the sun poked its hot head above the treeline we both had commons of around 4lb, Shaz managed to wangle out a 13lb common too. At about 8am I banked an18lb common and about 3 minutes later I was in again, a short fight again but it felt very heavy on the line. The fish had fallen for M1 snowman 1mm and 10mm pop up, double dipped in the SBS fluro power.

As the fish turned to to face the net I could see its huge recognizable head, it was a fish I had caught in 2012 at 42lb. With a knowing smirk on my face I netted the old warrior and extracted it from the lake. Upon weighing it, I had the smirk wiped off my face, it only weighed 37lb 13oz, To say I was disappointed was an understatement, I had only once ever caught it under the 40lb mark. The old girl had her photos taken and she was duly released back to the murky depths.

Its kind of rude to visit a carp lake over night and not have a fried breakfast in the morning so with that in mind Shaz cooked us up a lovely breakfast of sausage, egg, bacon and beans - but the carp decided I should not get mine hot. First mouthful the middle rod screamed off but the end result was not worth a cold sausage, a 4lb common, I had just sat down to continue munching when Shaz`s buzzer leaped into life, this was no 4lb fish... It stripped 40 yards of line off her shimano baitrunner, with ease, making her poor little arms and back strain in agony, but in fighting spirit she bagged herself a cracking 27lb fighting-fit mirror.

The last few days of the trip were a wet ordeal, with the French rain falling like it was going out of fashion. Despite this we managed to land a few more doubles and singles, and had a visit from a pair of friendly kingfishers that sat on Shaz`s rods. I did manage to nick a 27lb common from the opposite side of the lake on a wandering session.

The Bait continues to perform, year in year out, and no matter the weather. The SBS range is really a special range of baits and it should be recognised as such.

The website is a great place to look around and make selections for both bait - and now tackle. The delivery is super fast to the UK, despite the company being based in Hungary. Usually it’s delivered in just 5 days, and traceable all the way.