How to have a successful week in France

Many of us on limited time, who fish around our jobs, family and other commitments, and manage to book an annual trip to France. A respite from the madness of the real world and a chance to have some precious time to ourselves. The break itself can be enough, with pleasure coming from the lack of stress, no worries about money or non-stop phones ringing telling you there is work to be done. That said, naturally if you are going angling there is of course the desire to catch carp, and ideally blooming big ones too! And that is what this story is about: after a trip to France in June I thought I would share how I went about our holiday, as not only was it somewhat successful, it took a great deal of effort to achieve what we did with some superb laughs along the way. Spencer Humble

My good friend, Ben Lofting, and I had this trip booked years in advance. The chosen venue was Badgers Holt, an absolutely stunning but very tricky lake located about seven hours from Calais, so a fair old journey but easily manageable if you plan ahead. Our plans though generally end up going slightly wonky…
Ben and I had been to Badgers once before and had done quite well at that session. That put a bit of extra pressure on us to catch on this trip, although we went with the thoughts that a blank is always possible.

Badgers Holt is a small venue and with it being booked years in advance naturally the fish are heavily pressured and therefore tricky to fool. The logbook in the well-appointed lodge tells the stories of tough blanks and dream sessions. The carp don’t climb up the rods and you have to work at it to get results.

The toughest part about Badgers is that there are only really two swims and they cover the whole lake, but in effect you have half of the lake to fish each. The difficulty here is that the fish could be located at one end of the lake or the other, meaning one of you could end up as chief photographer for the other. Of course you could swap swims halfway through the week, stagger rods, etc., etc. and I would suggest that you make an agreement before you arrive, to ideally swap swims midweek. Of course there is the chance the fish will move halfway through the week too, but agreeing a plan at the start of your trip to avoid anybody feeling hard done by would be wise. Of course we didn’t do this ourselves!

My swim for the week

Friday June 15th

An excited me was sat on my driveway surrounded by fishing tackle and bait first thing on the Friday morning waiting for Ben. We had originally planned to stay that night in a local bed and breakfast but a rather exciting development had occurred! Ben was now buying two lakes in France himself and we had to meet the agent for him to sign paperwork on our journey. Ben’s lakes are situated in the Champagne region of France so the plan was to meet the agent, sign what needed signing and then visit the lakes for a look around and plot up for a few hours before we travelled the last five hours to Badgers Holt. This all went to plan and soon we were walking around Ben’s very own lakes!

The bigger of the two lakes is already stunning and pretty much ready to go. We knew there were carp present, an old stocking, but that was pretty much all we knew. We walked around like excited children realising their dreams. The clock was ticking though, it was getting late and darkness loomed. We quickly got some rods out of the van and set-up the bare essentials to fish the night and to get some sleep before the long journey ahead.

Simple stuff. Avid components not letting me down

Excitedly Ben had a belting take on one of his rods within about five minutes of casting out! Imagine the excitement: un-fished for carp; fish that had never seen a boilie before and a bite after just five minutes! Sadly for us both though, Ben’s fish fell off, but all of a sudden we were taking things seriously. To cut a long story short, we had pretty much no sleep at all, landing several catfish to over forty-pounds until at about 5am when my right-hand rod ripped off and the lake’s first carp was engulfed in the mesh of my net. We were ecstatic to see such a stunning carp and whilst we knew Ben had work to do to thin the cats out and stock the lakes with carp, during the night we heard some very big existing fish crashing out. Believe me, these lakes will be very special venues and I cannot wait to get back out there.

So on June, the traditional 16th, I had caught the very first fish from Ben’s lake, with the backdrop of an amazing looking dawn. Was this a good omen to the week ahead? To be honest I think we both would have liked to have stayed the week just where we were but Badgers Holt is an opportunity not to be missed. So the next leg of our long journey started as two very tired and a bit slimy but very excited anglers made their way onwards.

Saturday June 16th

The long journey was finally over. The van had coped superbly and the two of us pulled into Badgers Holt to be greeted by Simon the owner. Simon knew that we could be trusted, that we knew the rules and what we had to do, so sent us on to search out our quarry. Ben and I had already agreed that we would fish in the same swims, or ends of the lake, as our first successful trip to Badgers, but when we arrived it seemed the carp were all at the dam end of the lake, harvesting crayfish babies along the dam wall. Despite begging Ben to draw straws for swim choice or to reverse our plans, he is a man of his word and insisted that we stick with the plan. We could perhaps swap ends of the lake halfway through the week, dependent on what was happening of course. That left me angling at the dam end of the lake and on fish. Finding the fish wasn’t an issue for me.

Badgers carp are spooky, highly pressured and fished for by some good anglers for much of the year. Trying to be different from the guys who had packed up and left just a few hours previously is not an easy prospect. Now Simon makes it known that his best results come to wafter hookbaits, fished on long Hairs, short hooklinks and over plenty of decent quality fishmeal baits. So naturally I went with longer hooklinks fished with pop-ups on Ronnie Rigs to try and be different to the norm. I did though, stick with the quality bait route, with fresh frozen Pacific Tuna 15mm boilies being my bait of choice. I am not a fan of air-drying my baits at all so glugged five kilos at a time in Liquid Tuna Extract and kept my bait bucket sealed and out of sunlight. The extra attraction from the Liquid Tuna could only help. The rest of my bait was kept frozen in the freezers on-site which I could get at any time and glugged accordingly. Fresh is always best in my honest opinion and bait shouldn’t be scrimped on. The fish at Ben’s lake had responded to the food the very first time they had seen it, or any other boilie for that matter. Confidence box ticked.

Slightly different

So we both set out our stalls, not really hoping for much straight away, not from the tricky carp at Badgers. I fished one rod over around three kilos of bait, located by the dam wall and two under the far tree-line where fish were showing, over just twelve baits and a few broken bits. My hookbaits were Tuna pop-ups made up for me, as whatever the manufacturer puts in them, from past experience we had found crayfish were not keen on them. The carp were though and they complimented my freebies very well. I like to have a special hookbait over a quality food.

Imagine my surprise when after just a couple of hours at most, my left-hand rod ripped off and a very angry carp made off pretty much wherever it wanted to! The fish fought very hard but eventually first blood was drawn as a lovely mirror carp was in the net. It wasn’t small either. At 50lb 14oz I was somewhat over the moon. Trip made, box ticked, pressure off and smiles aplenty. Two hours later the nearest tree-line rod produced a 30lb mirror to make my smile even broader. Not a bad June the 16th all in all!

I now had two spots producing bites already. I changed nothing and redid the rods. At around 10:30 the dam wall rod went again but sadly the fish escaped the barbless hook, which came back with a load of leaf matter on it. I think the fish feeding on and around the spot had moved the rig, the super sharp barbless CRV hook easily picking up leaf matter, meaning it just didn’t go in properly, or as far as it should have done into the carp’s mouth. With this in mind I decided to move the dam wall rod to avoid this happening again. Losing fish here hurt, with the chance of a lost fish being a personal best every time.

The fish continued to show at my end of the lake although they were acting very differently to our last trip, showing in different spots seemingly every time. Last time we found bites could be achieved from consistent spots but already we were having to adjust our tactics and move rods around. I went with just a dozen freebies per rod as they would need to be roved around the area, rather than concentrating on a particular spot. You have to adjust quickly to what is happening in front of you. I was fishing heavy fluorocarbon lines to avoid spooking the pressured carp so line bites were not forthcoming; we relied on our eyes to give away where we should be fishing for the whole of the trip and then moving around of traps was the way forward it seemed.

Sunday June 17th

Sunday started quiet as the carp settled once again into being angled for. Ben’s end of the lake seemed devoid of carp as he walked and looked and walked and looked. I had fish present still but it took until around 7pm for one to slip up. At 30lbs again though I was more than happy to have had a to wait a day for it! At 11pm a different spot produced a 28lb 12oz common, a stunning fish and a surprise bite as darkness bites at Badgers Holt are rare.

The nights were long and sleep wasn’t easy to come by. A hedgehog seemingly wanted to disturb us both every night, sniffing and shuffling around our bivvies in the middle of the night. I even had a crayfish one night somehow get into my Tardis bivvy, scratching around on my groundsheet.

Monday June 18th

As Monday arrived I thought of those stuck at work, running around like headless chickens and sat smugly enjoying life at the lake. Of course it’s working hard that enables us to have these special times and whilst we all suffer those ‘why can’t life always be like this moments’, the truth is that they just cannot be. Make the most of it all and that was my plan for the day. I redid the rods early; we had no daybreak bites at Badgers last time so redid the traps first thing, rather different from what I would generally do when fishing at home. Again, we were adapting to what was happening in front of us.

Badgers monk

Ben though had very little to adapt to, with seemingly zero fish in front of him. That morning though the carp were constantly showing in open water, pretty much between us both. This again was very different behaviour to our last trip but it looked like the fish were feeding heavily on naturals in this open water area. Ben pounced on the opportunity and whacked out a single pop-up in amongst the showing carp. At 9am this proved a superb bit of angling as he set his hook into a large carp. The fish fought hard, really hard, but eventually we had a little man hug as a superb fish was banked by Ben. He had been exceptionally gracious to me being on the fish so far, so I was over the moon for him catching his second biggest carp ever, a very special fish at 57lb 8oz! It really was a beautiful carp.

From 11am I managed two more fish, a 36lb mirror and another fifty at 50lb 4oz. These fish were stunning in every way, each one fought like mad, running me up and down the banks and usually netted a long way from where you expected them to be!

These last two bites had come from a different spot again: tight to the dam wall. There is a large monk halfway around the dam wall, giving the carp a safe haven area where you can’t fish safely. Deciding how far along the dam you can fish without risking a fish around the monk is difficult and the temptation to fish in the safe haven is high! I didn’t though, but got as close as I could. I had no problems and both of these fish fought in open water.

I set another twelve bait trap by the dam again, happy and content at what I had caught and hoping that the fish would spread out so that Ben had a better chance. I pushed him to swap swims but like the good friend and man that he is, he was having none of it. In fact, it was him that had suggested I try the spot I had caught the last two fish from.

Looking across to the dam wall

My next bite soon came but something was amiss - I couldn’t get the fish off of the dam wall, despite having a direct line to it. Ben walked onto the monk and held the line whilst I walked around the margins with the rod, onto the dam and onto the monk myself. We could see the fish against the dam but it wouldn’t move. Sadly it seemed I was snagged on some old line. The fish soon slipped the barbless hook and I managed to get everything back including the old line. It was hard to be too disappointed given the result I had already had but it still hurt. Rod back out.

At 6:15pm I had a very slow bite, and it took me a while to decide whether to hit it, but when I did the fish quickly got the better of me. Whilst the fish fought in open water, the battle itself was hairy to say the least; up and down, slow and ponderous. Ben was by my side as ever, as I think we both feared the barbless hook letting go. I guess as an angler I don’t like barbless hooks, I still recollect watching my hook ping out of a fifty’s mouth over the net cord at Nashy’s Church Lake, a moment of disbelief and I constantly feared the same would happen again. That said, if it were my lake with anglers of all abilities fishing for my babies I would probably also have a barbless rule in place!

Anyway, the CRV hook didn’t let me down and with one last glare at each other and an odd swear word as we saw the carp roll into the net - it was safely banked! This fish was a weapon, its shoulders were huge. A big scale on the shoulder confirmed that the carp was one that we both dearly wanted to catch and the needle on the Reubens spun all the way around past the sixty-pound mark. Sixty plus? Surely not! At 61lb 6oz the glorious carp was a new personal best for me and holding it for the camera was a moment to treasure. I was so pleased Ben was there to share my moment and I think he was as pleased for me as if he had caught it himself. The fish escaped a nice calm returner shot by deciding it wanted to return to its watery home. It mattered not. SIXTY ONE BLOOMING POUNDS! Beer o’clock it was!

Now I was feeling guilty that whilst Ben had caught his stunning 57lber, he was just not on fish, the carp were stuck at my end of the lake which whilst great for me, did somewhat take the shine off of things. That’s not to say I was unhappy, far from it in fact, but I so wish we had agreed on day one to swap swims halfway through our week. I now didn’t want to be hogging all of the action and in the same vein Ben wouldn’t feel comfortable moving me off of potentially the catch of a lifetime (if it wasn’t already!). Ben was having none of it, I just hoped they would show up in front of him and still be in the mood for feeding. That’s carp fishing I guess but lesson learned for next time.

The action now started to slow and the rest of the day slipped by on a high. To be honest I would have been happy to have caught nothing else, but we still grafted. The fish had now stopped showing midwater, the odd one had started to show along the tree-line and even one of two in front of Ben. Their guard was up though or they had now harvested whatever it was they been gorging themselves on for the last few days. I tried different spots again with the right-hand and middle rods going straight out in front of me. One on the tree-line and one well underneath. Darkness fell and we retired to our Benchmarks to hopefully a hedgehog-less nights sleep!

Tuesday June 19th

I was shocked when at 3am the right-hand rod in front of the tree-line was ripping off. My door was zipped down to avoid unwanted guests in the night, a pretty safe bet at Badgers as night bites are pretty much non-existent. This trip had proved the fishes’ behaviour was all over the place though and this fish drove the point home. The plus side of a night bite was that the fish didn’t seem to fight and I was more than happy to easily bank another carp. Unbelievably it was another chunk at 56lb 4oz, in the dark too! Ben was just as surprised to have been woken from his epic snoring but came and took the photos without too much moaning. He was though, I think, considering whopping me when I woke him again an hour and a half later when the middle rod produced a 25 common! Oh how we laughed…

By now the fish had taken a bit of a beating, they were clearly now in a different mood and we would both have to work our socks off to get a bite. Ben now had the odd fish in front of him and he reset his traps regularly. This was graft for us both, redoing the rods was a two man job, to fish effectively under the trees. With the crayfish not being kind to Ben he was having to redo the rods pretty much every three hours to ensure he was fishing.

At 12 noon I had a bite from a freshly re-baited trap, again on a different spot but sadly what was clearly a very big fish slipped the hook. This was on the longest spot on the lake and I think leaf matter on the hook was causing me issues, despite being a pop-up presentation. I cursed barbless hooks again but understood the rationale.

Wednesday June 20th

Wednesday came and went. The pressure of the captures had taken its toll on the fish. Along the dam wall I saw three of the carp that I had caught and one I had sadly foul-hooked, all working the bank. Were the sulking carp sitting with the others and putting them out of the mood for feeding? Was I reading too much into it and they were just not ‘having it’? Either way, sitting on our laurels was not an option. I came to the conclusion that by far the most effective way to get a bite would be to make myself much more carpy!

My pod was broken down, my Neville alarms came out of the bag, were placed on a stainless buzz bar and non-matching black bankstick. the backrest had to be carpy too and three small sticks were arranged into a lovely butt rest. This new-found carpiness couldn’t fail of course… Yes, I jest, but I was happy sitting behind my Yatelyesque set-up!

Thursday June 21st

Big Fish Thursday. If ever there was pressure to catch a lump then it is on a Thursday in France! I had already had Big Fish Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so didn’t really expect too much. Again, new spots were tried with the little twelve bait traps. I also tried a spot with five kilos of Pacific Tuna, in the vain hope that the lake’s biggest carp would know it was Big Fish Thursday and make a stupid mistake. Come on JoJo, an eighty-pounder would do nicely! Greed is good you know!

At 10:30am I had a bite that, well, I just don’t know, could only be described as unstoppable. Line ripped from the clutch at range on the long rod. Again, sadly the hook pulled though and another big fish escaped having its photo taken. Not Big Fish Thursday then! Still the carpy back rest had obviously induced a bite!

Carpy back rests!

As the day wore on the fish were visiting new places. Ben had a good few fish in his swim down in the very shallows and I had three fish now along the dam but on the nearside of the monk, very close to base camp, the first time I had seen fish this close at Badgers. Whilst Ben held the rod I walked around to the dam wall, gently standing in front of the fish. This moved them off the spot and whilst they were further along the bank I dropped a pop-up and a few broken baits just six-inches from the dam under a bush. Trap set and back to the swim. Minutes later the fish were back and feeding! Just ten minutes later the trap was sprung as the slack line was tightened into a carp. It was so nice to be playing a fish at close quarters and all went to plan as a lovely clean upper-twenty mirror ended its battle in my net. Now this fish, whilst lovely, really didn’t want its photo taken and despite my best efforts (poor angling) it escaped my clutches and swum off without a single photo!

Ben decided to do the same: a small trap down in his near shallows. I redid my nearby spot too. I did have a heart-stopping line tightening moment as a fish bolted from the spot, with its friends and a blooming big common buggering off too. Ben sat frustratingly behind his rod but just couldn’t buy a bite from the few fish in the shallows. He was due a result as he was working so hard with such little to actually work with.

After a few hours it was time to redo the rods, for the afternoon feeding spell, back in our main areas. The clock was ticking and the fishing getting harder by the minute. Ben had to redo his twice due to the crayfish being so active in his swim, once seeing the lake’s biggest common (an upper-sixty) eating his freebies on one his spots whilst he was having an enforced repositioning due to the crayfish. At 9pm though Ben’s huge work-rate was rewarded with an absolutely stunning 31lb common. Again, we were both overjoyed, proof that we were doing nothing wrong and that adapting as your week goes on can produce a result against the odds. Happy times.

Badgers beauty

Friday June 22nd

Friday soon arrived and despite trying very hard again, our last day and night produced nothing. No consistency as to where the carp wanted to be meant we actually finished the session feeling frustrated, despite the amazing result we already had. To finish though, between us with one 60, four 50s, four 30s and three 20s (not to mention the hook pulls) was an epic result. A result of working very hard, ringing the changes, fishing differently to the accepted norm with good quality baits had made the difference, and resulted in a session to remember. Just because you are in France, don’t think the fish will be climbing up your rods. Work at it, treat each day as different - sometimes every repositioning of the rods needs to be different. Sometimes loads of bait works and sometimes a tiny trap works but working hard always works!

Here’s to next year’s trip. If you are off yourselves soon, I hope you too have a great trip. Oh, and don’t forget the carpy back rests!

One of the fifties for the week. It was epic!