Loch'ness Carpe

Loch’Ness Carpe is one of the new venues to come onto the scene, that I really believe will be a lake that a lot of people will venture too in the very near future. The pictures that I have seen, especially the largest resident, a rather large scaly mirror, inspired me to go on my third adventure with The Carp Specialist UK!

The Lake:
At Loch'ness Carpe you can expect a very warm welcome from the owner Fred, his English is pretty good to me as well, a lot better than my French! He will show you the ins and outs of the carp lake, and help you where best to look and search from your particular swim you have chosen. At 37 acres, Loch’ness Carpe is beautifully spacious and is surrounded by a track, providing easy access to all the very spacious swims by car, although I can imagine it could be a bit tricky in the wetter months. Both the sunrise and sunsets are beautiful to see. The lake consists of a smaller (7 acres) and a large area (30 acres) that are connected by a narrow channel that is out of bounds to fishing, but gives you a chance to view the fish up close during the day, when they are not out in the lake feeding of course. Not only is the lake with its great shape, but also the beautiful surroundings form the idealic backdrop for a wonderful fishing holiday. 

The bottom of the lake is varied, of course as well as in wide and sudden differences in depth and channels. The maximum depth varies - depending on the swim - between 5 and 16 feet. Due to several successful weed treatments in the 2021 and 2022 season there is little / no weed present but there are obstacles in the form of some marginal overhanging branches and large rocks and stones on the lake bottom in places. I would therefore recommend the use of a boat with an echo sounder, in order to properly map the bottom of your swim out, to determine the best spots to fish. A large wooden pontoon is placed on each swim (excluding swim 3 currently), it is therefore recommended to use a rod pod or stage stands, although I placed my rods with banksticks to the side on the wooden platform.

Behind the smaller lake is a railway line, which a train (TGV) runs roughly every 15 minutes from 5am and until 10 o'clock in the evening. Unfortunately, this does generate some noise, but you get used to it.  The swims are spacious and each offers a lot of privacy and shade because the swims are surrounded by beautiful old tall trees, the weeping willows in swim 4 & 5 provides particularly good shaded cover.

Facilities:
The facilities building is equipped with two toilets, two showers (one each in the old and new lodge), a refrigerator, a freezer and various charging points (EU only) to charge your materials. The refrigerator is currently in the old club house, but a new one is due to be installed in the new building soon. There is a brand new chest freezer for bait and food, in the new building as well, I know as I helped Fred carry it in!

2 x 4-person Eco-Lodges

New luxury Eco-Lodges (Safari-Tents) for 4 people have been built at swims 1 and 2. These spacious luxury Eco-Lodges consist of 2 sleeping areas (a double bed and a bunk bed), a kitchen equipped with a gas hob, fridge, freezer and electricity, pans, crockery and cutlery and running water. A veranda with a table and chairs offers a beautiful view over the lake. The peace, space and beauty of the landscape ensures that you will spend an unforgettable and relaxing stay.

Loch'ness Carpe is located in the Loire valley, close to the D323 at Baugé (72160) in the Sarthe department in north west France. The place is part of the district of Mamers. The beautiful city of Le Mans is only half an hour's drive from the venue.

Note there is no food packages, like on offer at some venues.

Session Preparation:
Wherever I go, I purchased all my food in advance for the trip, some nice fresh ready meals (Indian, Chinese etc) for the start of the trip and making sure to check of they have a fridge onsite beforehand. Then I have packs of pasta and rice, to make up dishes such as chilli con carni or a nando’s kit for the latter end of the trip, then I only need to purchase some fresh meats (chicken, beef etc), cold drinks from the local shops along with fresh bread and milk. There is an Aldi in this instance, only 10 minutes up the road in the town of Connerre. I’m a bit OCD, so I like to clean all my tackle, rods, reels, tackle boxes ready for each euro trip. Usually spool up with new line, charge up my leisure batteries for the onsite boat (rental), tied a load of rigs up and sharpened the hooks ready. but I take literally everything, just in case I need to tie something up different during the session. 

Arrival:
I arrived at the lake quite early, so I drove down a gravel road that runs alongside the length of the lake on the north eastern side of the lake. I parked up and watched the lake during the early hours, to see if I could see any signs or shows, but didn’t really notice a lot. I then took a nap in the car, before heading up to the gates around midday. Fred shortly arrived at the gate, we said our hello’s, then I followed him in his pickup to the facilities and parked up. Fred showed me the facilities and one of the new eco-lodge (Safari tents), then we proceeded to get in our cars and drive to my swim, I had booked swim 4, but Fred advised me that swim 5 would be a better choice, as swim 4 had been slow of late.

Once in the swim Fred pointed out there was spots at 50 & 100 metres out, and a good spot on the left-hand margin in front of the first tree along that bank, and that if I wished, I could fish the third weeping willow tree on the opposite bank to my right, which would typically be fished from swim 4. Then Fred left me to get setup and find my way and spots. It was a hot and sunny day and after the all-night drive, I was starting to feel tired! But i got my bivvy up, and everything in the boat ready to go look for some spots. I had a short rest, then donned my lifejacket, to go look for some spots before I fell asleep!

With all three rigs in position and seven nights ahead of me, I didn’t sleep for long, more a nap to be honest, before I was watching the lakes surface for any signs of life during nightfall. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long until the left-hand rod was being pulled round just after 10.30pm, I managed to coax the fish all the way into the swim, the fish put up a good fight, but it was to great relief to net my first mirror from the lake weighing 26lbs (11kgs). I then placed the rig back out onto the spot and topped up the bait, and received another run off the same spot only an hour later, another mirror, a little smaller at 21lbs (9kgs).

Sunday turned out to be a glorious hot day, roughly 26c degrees. I assumed bite time was over by mid-morning, and as I was tying up rigs, preparing a bucket of bait and making a few pva sticks, all whilst sat under the cover of the weeping willow, when at midday the middle alarm signalled a fast run. Soon as I struck, and I was giving line, it was a long old fight, with the fish rising up in the upper layers and going on some long runs, as I slowly made progress on the fish, I could see it was a long grass carp in the crystal clear water, it took me at least another 5 or more minutes before I could finally net the fish, after several failed attempts. The needle on the scales stopped a fraction short of 50lbs, at 49lbs 14oz (22.6kgs) and new pb grass carp by nearly 10lbs! After nursing the carp in the margins, she slowly swam off. That night I caught 26lbs mirror carp from the same spot at the first two carp, then just before first light I managed to catch a 24lb mirror from the right-hand spot where I spooked the group of carp from the boat. I’d now caught from all 3 spots, so I was confident I could keep catching a few, despite the hot weather during the day. That night I caught another big grass carp of 47lbs 8oz (21.6kgs) from the middle spot. I continued to receive a couple of runs a night, with my final tally being 10 x carp to 36lbs, 2 Grass carp, 2 small catfish, and 2 bream, all three spots producing carp for me as well. Out of 7 nights, I only failed to catch a carp on one night, but then they were spawning that night! Hookbaits which I caught well on was either 2 pieces of fake corn, or a 12mm yellow sweet tiger popup, 6 carp to corn, 6 carp to boilies. I only had to go out in the boat for 2 carp and 1 catfish, all the other fish I managed to land from the swim, but it’s good to have the option of the boat there ready, just in case you do need it. 

Ratings

The Swims:
All the swims are accessible by car via a track around the entire lake, it is gravelled in places, natural grass in others. The entrance is found right next to railway line on a gravel road. All the swims are spacious and gravelled, there was just myself on this trip, but you could get several cars in all the swims if you really required.  The margins are nice and deep, so no requirement to use waders, there are anchor points in Swims 1 and 2 for boats to use, but not in swims 3 to 6 currently. I tied mine up to storm pole next to the wooden landing stage with no issues, the lake bottom was soft enough to drive it in deep. It is only a 10-minute walk to the facilities from the furthest swims 4 & 5, but you could use one of many of the bikes onsite if you wish too.

With only 6 swims, for a maximum of 11 anglers on 37 acre lake, where 1 double swim has 7 acres to itself, you couldn’t really ask for me with regards to water acreage per swim on a commercial venue. 

Conclusion (9 out of 10)
Well-spaced out and clean swims, with everything you could require. The track around the lake could do with some gravel in a couple of places. Swim 3 probably requires a landing stage like the others swims, which I’m sure Fred will get round to, not before too long. so for this reason I will give the swims a 9 out of 10.

Facilities:
This venue has nearly all the facilities you could wish for, really clean and spacious toilet and shower. A sink with hot and cold water to clean your utensils. They have a chest freezer where you can store your bait and food. The Eco-Lodges have their own fridge-freezer units each. The facilities are available 24hrs a day. I was there in May, so keeping my food/drink cold could have been a problem, but there is a fridge in the old lodge for food/drinks, and there will be a new one installed in the new lodge in Jun 22. Some lakes have power and wifi available in the swims, but to me those are more of a luxury item, a 5* type swim, both the lodges do have this, and then swims 3-6 are good old natural swims on a good-sized lake. The entrance is secured by an electric gate with a keypad, and the lake is fenced all the way round.

Conclusion (10 out of 10)
For me 10 out of 10, some may like to have power, water, wifi etc, and you can get this in swim 1 and 2.

Services: (9 out of 10)
You can hire a hard boat, equipped with an outboard and battery for €100. If the battery runs low, just give Fred a call, and he will come and swap the battery with a new fully charged one.

You can only use commercial particles such as Dynamite, or use the particles they prepare, you cannot prepare and bring your own.

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

There will be a two rubbish bins in the swim on your arrival, one for general, the other for glass, and they will take the rubbish away from the swim for you, or you can drop it off at the metal storage barn as you leave at the end of your trip.

There are no food packages on offer, but I’m sure if you ask Fred to purchase any food for you, he will do so for a small fee, so you don’t have to leave the venue and wind in your rods.

The Stock:
The carp stock probably still has some surprises, because there has been no fishing for a long time (around 20 years) and the water could not be netted. They lake was dug in the 90’s for the nearby railway line, then turned into the lake, stocked with fish and then left to nature. There is estimated up to 500 carp are in the lake, the carp that have been caught since are very beautiful. large scaled mirror carp (the biggest a near fully scaled carp of 61lb) and nice dark big old common carp. In November 2020 there was a stocking of 100 carp between 20 - 35lb. In February 2022 another 60 carp went in between 24 - 30lb. The lake also contains a few big catfish with some, well over 6 feet (150lb+). In addition, there are also a number of tench, bream, pike and eels.

Loch'ness Carpe contains loads of natural food for carp such as: bloodworm, snails and crustaceans. We advise you to take this into account and to adjust your hook bait choice accordingly. Especially during the summer months, the crayfish can be very active. They advise you to wrap your boilies properly (e.g. with Korda Wrap) and / or fish with tigernuts or hardened and / or artificial bait and a hook link made of stiff material so that your presentation remains well even after it has been touched by crayfish. I never experienced any problems with the crays at all, there was boilies in the margin from a previous angler and the crayfish were not interested in them!

Accessibility (10 out of 10)
Getting to the lake was very simple for me, it takes 4 and a half hours to 5hrs from Calais – 275 miles via the A28 for the majority of the journey, and it is motorway nearly all the way there, except the last 15 minutes. It is around the same drive to the champagne region, and well worth a change if that’s what you are looking for. Toll fees (as of 2022) each way is: €41 (€33 & €8).

There is a gravel track around half the lake, so swims 1, 2 & 6 are accessible all year round, 3, 4 & 5 are ok in the summer dry months, but you will need to take care in the wetter months. I understand Fred does plan to lay gravel down all the way round the lake in the future.

Conclusion (9.25 out of 10)
I think as a holiday destination, for anglers travelling from the UK, I believe the lake offers a difference to the typical venues in France we would tend to frequent, a blank is possible of course as is anywhere. The size of 37 acres and the swim layout is perfect to me, it used to have double the no of swims, but Fred has closed 6 swims down. lake depths, averaging 5-8ft, going down to 16ft in the deepest area, and you can see the shallower spots from a boat, so that’s a good-sized lake with circa 500 carp. I had 10 fish, 9 of them in the 20lb bracket, maybe I was a bit unlucky with the size, but if you choose the correct swim and time of year, you could have in excess of 25 fish in a week, the wrong swim and wrong time of year and a blank is possible, the same as anywhere else of course. Reviewing the catch reports, catches in the region of 5-15 is the norm, so my result was a typical catch rate. The number of fish in excess of 20kgs (44lbs) is unknown, the largest common is 27kgs (59lbs) and largest mirror (called Nessie) is 28kgs (61lbs). The majority of fish in excess of 15kgs, will be the original fish stocked 20 years ago, dark and scaly, just what we all like. There are also some grass carp to 27kgs (59lbs), I had one just shy of 50lbs. I feel to attract people to the venue, an additional increase of stock is maybe required, a stock of 600 perhaps, or maybe a smaller batch, but of 15-20kgs fish stocked in, but obviously I understand everything costs money of course. 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 9.25 out of 10 review. I will be looking forward to returning in a few years’ time, hopefully the young stock fish would have put on a few more pounds by then, I’m sure they will have.

I would like to take the opportunity to give a huge thank you to Fred at Loch’ness Carpe and his team (Fred’s wife and son) on their fantastic managing of the venue, and to The Carp Specialist UK for inviting me to perform the review. I’m looking forward to my next European adventure this autumn, when I’m heading to Carp Specialist’s Italian exclusive only booked venue in September, until then…