Carp fishing in france

Hello and welcome to the blog again, this time I am going to have a look at something that a lot of people are doing now which is fishing holidays to France. 

In this blog I will look at tips and tactics to use in France while also giving you my top three destinations to visit. Hundreds of UK and Dutch carp anglers visit French lakes every year, and this means that the carp are not easy to catch at all. This means that you need to step it up a gear to see the best results possible. So lets get onto the tips and tactics. 

Bait choice

Twenty years ago cheap carbohydrate-based semo boilies and maize etc, were perfectly good carp baits in France, and on occasion the likes of maize still can be when used in the correct way. However on lakes that see new anglers on every week of the year, the use of high quality boilies and pellets sees many more carp banked than other lower quality baits.

I would always advise people to use whatever boilie they have the most confidence with in the UK as long as it is known to catch fish, coupled with whatever pellet the fishery feeds the carp with throughout the year. Most sensible fishery owners have banned the use of nuts and particle baits such as hempseed as they do the fish and fishery no good whatsoever so make sure you check bait rules before going.

If I had to choose one bait to use in France it would be the Sticky baits The Krill ready made in 20mm and 16mm. When it comes to frozen or shelf-life it depends whether the lake has a freezer to store your baits in and  although I find the readymade just as good and more flexible as I don’t need to worry about freezers I would always use frozen when ever possible. I prefer the 20mm version, but the 16mm are often good where the fish are being a bit more finicky.

Tackle Choice
Unless you are fishing the inland French seas such as the Lac de Orient or Chanteqoc, for the vast majority of French fisheries conventional English tackle in terms of rods and reels etc in use on your local pond is perfectly adequate, providing the rod is at least 2.12oz t.c..and the reel of good quality such as the Daiwa big pit reels (such as the Emblem or Emcast) which you can pick up new for around £50 nowadays. 


Main things to think about are main line breaking strain, hooklink strength and hook strength. These three tackle items tend to be the problem area as the fish tend to be alot bigger than the fish in the UK and many visitors to French lakes are under-powered in these aspects and lose fish as a consequence and throw in any possible French Wels’ catfish you may catch on many lakes on boilies and you really need to focus on strength.

I’d recommend no less than 15lb b.s. main line, a hooklink of 15lb -20lb b.s. (where allowed) and a very strong hook with a minimum of size 4. I would use a Standard KD rig on a visit to France as I know I can rely on it if I get a pick up and manage to hook a very large and angry French carp

Other Essentials
Accidents do happen and you may become ill so make sure you obtain your free European Insurance medical cards which you can send for on-line from www.ehic.org.uk. If you need hospital, dental or other health treatment you may initially have to pay but then you can claim the costs back if you have your medical card once you return to the UK.

Always take more euros than you need in case of unforeseen circumstances, or take a credit card with you. Cash dispensers can be found in all French towns today and they all take MasterCard, Visa etc.
Always get car breakdown cover when travelling to France such as Green Flag see www.greenflag.com, without breakdown cover you could end up paying out lots of cash if you car breaks down as well as having to delay your return to the UK!

But always, always, remember, you are supposed to be on holiday!

Top 3 holiday destinations 

Golden Oak Carp lakes - They are located within a 40 minute drive from Limoges Airport, They have on site accommodation with English TV and DVD player as well as Parking, Barbecue, 7 bedrooms and showers as well as a pool. The fish go up to 63lb with the lake around 5 acres. 

Le Quis -The complex has four lakes with fish up to 40lbs and over coming out of the lakes very often the lake offers great fishing all times or year. 

Eden's Lakes - This complex has 3 lakes which all have excellent features both above the water and below, and with fish to almost 60 lbs how can you resist a trip here. 

Anyway that's it for now so tight lines and keep fishing. If you need to any questions answered then please contact me.

The Eastern Carper