Fishery Guide: CarpFarm, Netherlands

A lot of English angler’s head to France, and I typically like to try somewhere different to the regular venues, and the Netherlands isn’t that much further of a drive, less if you are heading to the south of France.

CarpFarm is one of the original venues available via the Carp Specialist. The lake is a very old, a former sand quarry, used to construct the nearby N33 road. It is only 4 and half hours drive from Calais.

The Lake:
CarpFarm Lake is located in the north of Holland just outside Assen (near Groningen Airport). The lake has depths up to 49ft, they were permitted to excavate to a depth of 15 metres maximum, with a very varied gradient found in some of the swims. The lake margins are nearly 100% reed-lined and with all the trees around the lake, you find yourself in a peaceful and relaxing environment. The only external noise we could here was the odd bit of traffic from the nearby N33, and the motorbikes on the TT Race track close by.

In the lake, you find a variety of naturals like mussels, snails and bloodworms. A great environment for the growth of the fish, also nice and dark with the near crystal-clear water.

The lake bottom is relatively hard in the shallower zones and becomes softer and silty in the deeper parts. The very deep areas I found is covered in leaf matter. The bottom colour varies from dark yellow on the hard parts to dark grey/green on the softer parts. It is therefore essential to properly examine and gauge the fishing spots. Good results have already been achieved with the "standard" bottom fishing, but zig and chod fishing is also successfully here. On-site by the mancave, there is a depth map for you where you can find the hotspots and of course the owner, Bert is always ready to advise and assist you, or with me, take the mickey out of me, and have a good laugh! I would recommend the use of a boat, with the usual electric motor and depth finder. If you take the all-inclusive service via Carp Specialist this is included in the price.

Due to the depth of the water, we see that the water can be particularly productive in the warmer months of the year ... the summer months are generally the best time to catch the real big fish on this water. Every swim is located among the trees and reeds, there is nearly always shadow, with the exception of swim 6.

Bert has owned the lake for 18 years now (since 2005), but has fished the lake for many years, around 40 years in total. Bert would save money each year, while managing the catering services at the nearly TT Assen race circuit, and eventually brought his dream lake! Bert has also been a fish farmer in France for several years, and so has hand picked all the carp in the lake, except for a few originals that were already present in the lake.

Ton Hogenkamp will be the new face of Carpfarm lake from 2024, Ton has been involved in the fishing industry for many years.

A new shower/toilet unit will be installed, the man cave will be modernized, a dock for the boats will be installed and the outlets will be refurbished. In short, it's getting even more beautiful and better.

Facilities:
After passing the two entrance gates, Bert, the owner of Carpfarm Lake welcome you to the Mancave on the lakeside, right next to the entrance and parking. Here he will provide you coffee or tea and he takes you through the do’s and don’ts, and how the lake performed the week prior to you arriving. You will find a small selection of tackle and bait in the mancave. There is a large tackle shop in the centre of Assen, close by (10min drive)

Bert also rents out hard boats, including the electric motor, batteries, depth finder and unhooking mat. Replacement batteries can be found in the mancave, just swap them over. If you are in for the all-inclusive service this is including the price.

Just before the first 2-person swim 1 "Haarbocht" is the shower hut (a converted horse box): this is equipped with 2x 220V charging points (use in consultation) for phones. Inside you will find a clean shower and plenty of

space to dry and change. There is also a sink to freshen up, shave, clean your teeth etc. The water on Carpfarm Lake is not drinkable, so you must bring your own drinking water.

There is no fixed toilet on the site, but a mobile toilet is provided at every swim. This is supplied complete with waste bags. Next to the Mancave is a container for disposing of your waste.

In summary, the facilities on Carpfarm Lake are neat and clean, but also simple. Perfectly suited for the experienced carp angler who is used to saving himself ... perhaps less so for the discerning guest or possibly non-fishing group.

Bert and his wife Gea live on site, and fish quite regularly in front of their home. Swim 7 is for Bert, family and friends only.

Note there is no food packages, like on offer at some venues, but there is a restaurant that will deliver to the lake.

There is no bait freezer, and no fridge to store and food/drinks, so you need to bring your own solution.

Session Preparation:
We got most of our food in advance for the trip, For the first night we had brought with us diced chicken kept chilled in a electric coolbox, this was cooked in a spice with rice and crème fraiche. As there was no fridge or freezer onsite. We packed plenty of pasta and rice, tins and jars to make up dishes such as chilli con carni or Bolognese. We kept drinks chilled in the coolbox, until it drained both the leisure batteries by Wednesday, then had to make do as best we could. On the Monday it was my Birthday, so the wife and me went out, and had a pizza from a restaurant in the centre of Assen. There were shops close by, if we needed to stock up. Prior to the trip I like to clean all my tackle, rods, reels, tackle boxes ready for these trips abroad. Tie a load of rigs up and hand sharpen the hooks ready. I take literally everything I can think (just not the zig floats!), just in case I need to tie something up different during the session.

Arrival:
We arrived at the lake half hour before the gates open. I then drove into the car park, where Bert greeted everyone else already waiting alongside us. We all said our hello’s, then we followed him into the mancave for a coffee or tea. Bert took us through the rules, where and what tactics were used the previous week. Then we all got up and headed to our chosen swims. I had booked swim 6 a double, and the last swim on the drive round.

Once we got to the swim, we started unloading the gear, and getting the greenhouse (bivvy) setup, then I jumped into the boat and started looking for features out in front of the swim. I was surprised at how deep it was, and with no real features, apart from a slight raised area in the margins either side of the swim a short way out, around 20 yards either side of the swim. I chose to fish on the right, while Caroline fished from the left, we fanned the rods from close into the margin reeds, and down into the deeper drop off. With one final rod out in open water fished with a zig, mid-depth.

My Session:
So, once we got our rigs in place, it was time to cook ourselves some dinner, then sit back and take in the quiet tranquil atmosphere of the lake. Getting close to dusk and there were the odd fish showing all over the lake, but a definite concentration of fish in front of swim 1. Swim 3 landed the first fish of the week, on that Saturday evening, after only fishing for a few hours. The night was uneventful for ourselves, except for a few liners, I got up in the night a couple of time to listen out, and there was a lot of activity to our right, in front of swim 1 still, but some were close to us as well, not far from our right-hand margin spot. We had baited with around 2 kilos of bait over each spot on the Saturday, and repeated the same level on the left, and reduce the

amount on the right on Sunday afternoon. At 1.30am on the Monday morning (my birthday), I received a one toner from the bite alarm, the rod fished deeper off the marginal reeds, in 14ft of water. I struck into the fish, then quickly jumped into the boat, thankfully, the fish didn’t fight too hard, and I managed to scoop up a large common in the net, only 15 or so yards from the bank, I probably didn’t need the boat on that occasion. I recognised the fish as a koi named Bert, while I played it from the boat. On the scales she weighed 45.8lbs (20.8kgs), a lovely way to start my birthday, and beat my previous Dutch PB of 33lbs.

On the Monday afternoon, I headed to a local shop to pick up several zig floats, as it was a very hot sunny day, and we had witnessed multiple fish shows, that I was certain fish were in the upper layers, and not feeding shows. The next bite came to one of the zig rods, it was Caroline’s, cast around 60 yards out, fish 3ft under the surface, around 45ft in 48ft depth. It was a Thinking Angler Black/Red Foam attached to one of their kickers and a size 6 Korda Mixa hook. The fish was double figure common, but Caroline’s first fish from Holland, also played and landed from a boat. The next day it was my turn, the same tactics, but the bite coming to one of my rods, I just noticed the tip pull round slightly and struck, the result was a 27lb common. Based on those two bites, we decided to leave 3 rods out on zigs overnight, but nothing occurred, I left them out the following day, which was a mistake, as the line was coated in a thick layer of sediment and looked awful out in the boat! Lesson learned, on the final full day, Friday, we cast all three zigs out again, with newly tied 6ft lengths. Just after midday, I received a drop back on the same rod, that produced a bite previously, thankfully there were no issues, and we netted a lovely 31lb common. Half hour later and I had a double take on the zigs, with both Caroline and myself playing a fish each, sadly I had a small common on, that run riot and took out Caroline and another margin rod, before we managed to net the culprit. In all we had 6 bites, landing 5 to 45lbs. We probably missed out on three days of zig fishing, which could of given us another bite or two, but it’s all good lessons and information to take with us, for a future visit to the lake, which I am already planning for 2025!

Ratings

The Swims:
All the swims are accessible by car via a gravel track around the entire lake. The entrance is found just off Propellerpad (a Lancaster memorial to the RAF pilots, just outside the entrance to the lake) All the swims are spacious and gravelled. The margins are deep and so there is no requirement to use waders, there are anchor points in all the swims for boats to use. I used one of the hard boats you can hire onsite, saving on space and weight in the car. It is only a 10-minute walk to the facilities from the furthest swim 6, but you could use one of many bikes onsite if you wish too.

With only 6 swims, for a maximum of 9 anglers on a 25 acre lake, 3 Doubles and 3 single swims, the position and location of the swims is pretty much perfect, giving each swim several acres each of water, the boundary between each was a reed marked with red tape to avoid any disputes!

Conclusion (9 out of 10)

Well-spaced out and clean swims, with everything you could require. Only lacking in the modern requirements of WiFi and electric point for larger devices, batteries and so forth, if you have no use for these whilst fishing, then the swims are just perfect to me.

Facilities:
The facilities are limited. There is a clean shower. The mancave to retreat from the elements and you can pick up any key items of tackle or bait (boilies & pellets) from here. There is no permanent toilet or even a portaloo onsite.

There is two mains sockets at the back of the shower hut, for use for telephones only, nothing too large like a leisure battery. The site power is provided by solar.

There is no food service available.

You are provided with a landing net, unhooking mat, weigh tripod and weigh sling, you are not to bring your own, just your scales.

Conclusion (7 out of 10)

For me 7 out of 10, The lack of toilets (excluding the camping toilet provided in each swim), or a fridge/freezer for bait and food, but you know all of this before you book and arrive of course. Bert the owner is limited on what he is permitted to build and install onsite, so you have to take this into consideration.

Services: (8 out of 10)

You can hire a hard boat, equipped with an outboard and battery for €100.

You can purchase boilies and pellets onsite.

If the battery (2 for outboard, 1 for echo sounder) runs low or out, just swap it with a fully charged battery at the mancave.

There are various shops and garages within 10 minutes at Assen.

The Stock:
The carp stock at CarpFarm Lake is varied to say the least. The total stock covers around 440 fish with several Two Tones, linears, fully and heavily scaled mirrors and 2 beautiful koi carp of 40 and 51lb! The average weight is 33lb with 29 different 45lb+ (20kgs) fish and 5 known 55lb+ (25kgs) carp up to 70lb.

Bert is a (retired) fish farmer and stocked Carpfarm Lake with his best fish. In April 2021 a stocking of 50 common and mirror carp of a Hungarian strain was introduced. In November 2021 an additional 40 carp (up to 44lb) were stocked, then in May 2023 another 16 carp up to 33lb were stocked. All carp were weighed during the stockings, and are monitored after every catch. Due to the great water quality, natural food and the bait applied, the fish are growing quickly. During the closed season Bert baits up with a high protein pellet (coppens) that can also be bought on-site.

In addition to carp, the only other types of fish are predatory and small silvers, although the silvers are large in number and it doesn’t take them long to clean you out of any particles or pellets that you introduce. There is no bream, tench, grass carp or catfish in the lake. There are no nuisance crayfish either.

Accessibility (10 out of 10)

Getting to the lake was very straight forward, it takes 4 and a half hours to 5hrs from Calais – 308 miles and it is motorway nearly all the way there, except the last 5 minutes. It is around the same drive to the champagne region, and well worth a change if that’s what you are looking for. The added bonus, is there are no tolls to pay for this journey.

There is a gravel track around the entire lake, and so access is not an issue to any swim.

Conclusion (8.5 out of 10)

I think as a holiday destination, for anglers travelling from the UK, I believe the lake offers a difference to the average venue in France you would tend to frequent, but it is far from easy and more suited to an experienced angler, but then a blank is still possible of course, as is anywhere. The size of 25 acres and the swim layout was ideal to me. lake depths averaging 20-45ft, going down to 50ft in the deepest area. so that’s a good-sized lake with circa 400+ carp. I had 4 fish to 45lbs, a lovely koi named Bert was the largest, and being mid-summer, the fish was down on its best weight of 51lbs. Reviewing the catch reports, catches in the region of 0-5 is the average to expect during a week session, and so my result was a typical catch rate. The number of fish in excess of 20kgs (44lbs) is 29 currently. The largest fish weight’s in at 32kgs (71lbs). There are two fish regularly over the 60lb mark. The majority of fish are in excess of 30lbs, with the original fish stocked over 40 years ago, dark and scaly, just what we all like. I feel the stock levels are just right, and need no further introductions except as older fish naturally pass away. I liked the lake a lot, it is a bit of a challenge but not really hard, and that’s why I’m going to give it a 8.5 out of 10 review. I plan to return in a couple of years’ time (my calendar for next year is already full!), then I can take what I have learnt on this trip, and hopefully be even more successful!

I would like to take the opportunity to give a huge thank you to Bert at Carpfarm with his passion and fantastic management of the lake, and also to The Carp Specialist UK for inviting me to perform the review. I’m looking forward to my next European adventure next spring, when I’m heading to Carp Specialist’s Hungarian venue Merenye!