Now that the season has begun on the Exclusive Angling Holidays lakes, and the temptation to indulge in the fishing there has been permanently removed, I am finally able to really focus on my target water. The lake in question is a stunning ‘Carte De Peche’ (municipal) water of around 12 acres that i have named ‘Shakespeare’s Lake’. The stock is largely unknown to me, though locals all promised me there were Carp swimming beneath the mirrored surface.

Taking a midweek day off because of the need to work all weekend welcoming and waving goodbye to guests, I arrived at the lakes before 9am to find a light mist over the water, and several French anglers already in place. Luckily though, the swim i had earmarked for this session was available and i excitedly settled in to cast into the unknown!

The swim in question lies on the right angle of the L-shaped lake, and is basically a small spit extending out into the lake alongside a small in-flowing stream. Each margin is heavily wooded, making it necessary to set up my pod in the lake itself, on a gravelly plateau created by the stream. The view was quite breathtaking, and served to enhance the romantic association with this poetic location. Before even opening my tackle bag i set up the camera and tried to capture the serenity. As you can see, i wasn’t the only one to have fished this swim, but i was probably the first to use these kind of tactics…

After a few casts with the marker rod I confirmed that i was fishing on a soft bottomed slope down to about 4.5 feet, and the margins were sandy and about 2ft deep (and crystal clear). Having found what felt to be a harder patch i proceeded to spod about 1kg of mixed particles and pellets along with a few bigger halibut pellets to resist the hoardes of silver fish. Both rods were fished to this patch as a preliminary measure, until i saw something that allowed me to fine tune my approach.

As soon as the rods hit the bottom i was getting bleeps on the alarms as silver fish moved over the spod mix and inevitably bumped the line. I’ve had some experience of fishing on waters where i don’t know anything about the stock, and on every occasion the heart-racing adrenaline that accompanies each beep is the same - brilliant! It must have been this pent up excitement that caused my technique to dissolve when finally one bobbin lifted to the rod butt and stayed there. Not clamping the spool properly, the line spun as i lifted the rod and all the tension in the line was lost - as was the fish.

Kicking myself i relaxed in the afternoon sun that had replaced the early morning mist and wondered how best to better my approach in the feint hope of putting a fish on the bank. Inevitably, the sun had a soporific effect and i found myself drifting off to sleep despite my best intentions. Fate then dealt me an ace as i started awake with the resolution to watch the water and take [i]something[/i] away from this session, even if it was just a sighting of a Carp.

As if on cue i turned my head to the right to check the margins for activity, just in time to see a small Common leap clear of the water some 20 yards away! Within minutes a bait landed right on the spot and i set about butchering my neat pod set-up to allow the rod to point directly at the bait.

This effort was rewarded quickly by a fast run, resulting in a frantic splashy paddle to the rods and a more proficient lift into the fish. This was clearly no bream and though it didn’t feel big my heart was racing - it was truly a moment to treasure when it rolled in the clear water of the margins and i saw it’s golden flanks, a Carp!

Slipping the net under the fish i breathed a sigh of relief - i had done it! The long, lean fish probably weighed no more than 3lbs but it represented an achievement; not only had i caught my first ‘wild’ French Carp, but i had done it on my very first session!

After slipping the fish back i could concentrate on catching the next one! As it turned out, it wasn’t long before the same rod ripped off again and produced a lovely little Mirror of roughly the same weight, by this stage i was flying so high i didn’t care a jot that these fish were a fraction of the size i had been catching lately - it was brilliant just to be out there on a gorgeous day.

After a few more aborted takes it was time to go and it occured to me how much my opinion of the lake had changed so much from when i first cast in that same morning. I now knew i could catch fish from here, and had exceeded all my expectations of this session - but now i had to work out how to get into the bigger fish. I’ll be back, of that you can be sure!

Stumble it!