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March/April 2011

March/ April started off well with the first angler of the year, Chris Harwood on our charity raffle prize week. He beat his pb of 22lb with our 'Scrumpy Jack at 55lb oz. Very pleasing for us to see this fish up in weight since this time last year and in tip top condition. The following week John Woods tempted 'The Bruiser' from peg 10, at just over 50lb, again, in excellent condition. A well deserved fish for all his work party efforts. Our third week and Paul Collins, and his mates Ash and Deano took some really nice mirrors, 'Dots' at 48lb 4oz being amounts these, followed by 'Speckles' at 55lb 4oz after a dramatic fight in the dark.

Nelly winkled out 'The Pacman' at 46lb from the reeds opposite peg 10. This area has produced most of the carp this year due to the big weedbed, where they are holding up in about 18 inches of water.

Lots of these fish have been caught on three or four grains of maize fished tight into the reeds or marginal shelves around the lake fringe. Bars and plateaus have produced some fish, but not many at this stage. Baiting has been kept very light, with two or three handfuls of mixed pellet, lake combi mix, and chopped boilies over each rig.

May

'Charlou gets its sixty back'

May started off well after a very hot April and lots of spawning taking place. Ben Perry and his mate Simon Pix banking a few from pegs three and four. The pair doubled up in peg three but spread out the baits to tempt carp to 42lb 8oz, taking it in turns to hit the runs. Nice teamwork there lads, well done.

Meanwhile in peg eleven Kelvin the 'Kelvinator' was bending into some cracking stockies, taking them on maize and corn from the left hand margin. At one point he was getting takes every ten minutes!! His pal in peg ten was consistent at night, winkling out carp from the reedbed on the opposite bank.

The owner of Les Rivets, Adrian, was here for four days fishing and took a couple of fish from peg six around the ends of the bar. Hats off to him for getting his rods out after a testing time for him prior to his trip.

The following week saw the German team along with 'Animal' from 'Animal baits' and 'Chub and Greys'. Things started off slowly for them but then picked up midweek. They managed to bank us a new lake record mirror of 62lb 8oz along with other fish from 20lb to 40lb, a lot of these coming within an hour!! Peg 5 being the best peg this week fishing zigs and bottom baits, both methods producing the goods, again from the end of the bar/plateau.

June/July at Charlou

The second half of June fished well with lots of action on the smaller fish and the odd lump here and there. With forty one fish out and twenty one lost I was pleased with the amount of runs the lake produced but disappointed in the amount of carp lost for a number of reasons. The runs came from a multitude of pegs, with a lot coming from marginal spots, where the carp have been retreating to during the daytimes. 

Considering July can be a very tricky month to catch carp here in France we have been pleased with the catch reports for the first half. The first week of July saw some really hot weather in the shape of a three day heatwave with temperatures over 37 degrees. This made the fishing very difficult for Jason Louth and his party of seven anglers, however, between them they still managed to bank some new pbs including a 41lb 14oz, 42lb 12oz,  42lb 8oz, and a 45lb 10oz. There were a few other fish caught in between these bigger ones.

The 2nd - 9th July only saw two anglers on due to a cancellation and with the hot weather still hanging on it was another tricky week although Jason Gennard in peg 6 still managed to beat his pb with a nice mirror of 48lb 12oz. This along with two other carp were caught from around the bar in front of him at 80 yards using two totally different tactics, fishing one in deeper water on the bottom and another fish from a four foot zig rig off the top of the bar.

A lot of the carp have now shoaled up and are cruising the surface in areas that aren't being fished, crafty buggers !!

At time of drafting this the weather has really turned for the better and we now have thunders storms and strong winds so hopefully we will have some good reports in here next month too. Just had a call to say a 58lb 8oz mirror has been banked so more on this next time.  For now, be lucky, wherever you roam, and remember to keep following our reports in here and at www.charloucarping.co.uk or at www.carpforum.co.uk for the daily reports and unbiased information from our Charlou followers.

Lac du Charlou

Carp ranging from 16lb to 61lb gracing the banks over the last four weeks here at Lac du Charlou. We have had some very mixed weather with really warm daytime temperatures followed by big downpours of rain. Its been very unsettled which has switched the fishing on and off a bit.

There has been quite a few multiple daytime catches of the smaller 20 - 30lb carp from a number of different pegs, mainly on small baits such as maize or plastic, or 10 - 12mm boilies.

Peg ten has been the hot peg so far this season, not every week, but it has been consistently producing runs. This is due to the big reedbed opposite which has been a popular feature on the lake for the carp to hold up in. Peg eleven is doing well from the left hand margin fishing just in front of the reflector, and from the point towards peg one.

Peg nine has been doing well from under the willow at range, and from the weedbed at the end of the double bars. Allot of fish now ripping this weed up in search of the naturals which are in abundance now.

Pegs five and six producing some cracking fish from the ends of the bar, but not much from the top of it as yet. This will be better towards the end of the season. Peg seven having its good weeks now and again. Pegs two, three and four not doing as well as the rest so far this year, but this bank has been unfished on some weeks.

The carp have had a second spawn at the end of May and are now all done and dusted so will be packing the weight back on over the next few weeks.

To sum up the last four weeks here, there has been a lot of mid twenties coming out during the daytimes and a lot of mid to upper thirties out during the evenings and early mornings. There has been a number of forties out here and there with popeyes mate now at 61lb putting in an appearance twice in the last few weeks.

We are very pleased with the gains our carp are making season on season and we are very excited for the second half of the season when the bigger fish get on the munch. There has been a lot of new forties out up to now, which are labelled on our website gallery, and will hopefully be some new fifties this year  with possibly a second sixty. Fingers crossed.  

A lot of different techniques being used and all catching fish, although not many fishing zigs this year which I believe would account for a lot more daytime fish. Also, the groups have been smaller of 6 anglers and the carp have had a lot of unpreserved water to go and hide in so we are looking forward to see how it goes with a party of eight or nine, which keeps the fish on the move and in need of food.

Paul & Allison Miles

lake owners