What type of water?

Carp fisherman have varied opinions when it comes to lakes, some like vast open featureless waters while others like small private lakes covered in lily pads.

The good news is France has all of them as well as some terrific rivers with monster carp like the river Mayenne.

So you have decided on a trip to France, now you need to decide on your prefered water. A big deciding factor could be, are you looking for 1 or 2 monster carp or are you looking for more catches with a good average size?

The idea of catching 60lb + carp is massively tempting and every fishermans dream, however if after a weeks fishing without even a bleep, it could have you leaving France with huge disapointment.

A smaller lake with better catch chances is also tempting, many fisherman have never caught fish over 20lb so the idea of catching 10, 20, 30 or even 40 fish over 20lb in one week may seem un-realistic but its not. The down size is 25lb may be your biggest fish and although you may have caught plenty you could be leaving France wishing you had broke the 30lb barrier.

My personal opinion would be to go for a smaller lake with guaranteed catches for you first visit. If you have never caught any large numbers of big fish it will certainly help improve your skills in both catching, handling and returning big fish. It is also a good oppurtunity to get some quality pictures.

After you have some experience behind you then going specimen hunting will hopefully be a little easier,i say a little because its difficult even for the most skilled anglers.

I have fished many lakes and rivers across France with my favourite large lake being Cassein, The lake is goverment owned but there are plenty of companies that run fishing trips there most notibly www.cassien.co.uk/ The lake is beautiful and situated in the South of France so the climate is a lot better than ours.

There are also plenty of small lakes dotted all the way from Calais to the South. A good lake to fish with plenty of catches is Etang de Campas in Normandy. Beautiful picture postcard lake with accomodation.

Whichever water you choose, do some research, find out the stocking programme, average catches, biggest fish and any other details you may want to know, local attractions (the Family) Wifi, these may not be important to you but the kids may not be quite as keen as you.

I hope this blog has helped in making you decision on which type of water to fish.

I will be blogging again soon so please check back