Carp Fishing in France and the UK

Sorry it's been a while since my last blog. I've had a series of blanking sessions that just aren't worth writing about and also an embarrassing trip to Tirley Court near Tewkesbury where my mate out-fished me 11 carp to my measely 2. Hey ho! Just thought I'd write about an up-and-coming 2 night trip to Linear's Oxlease at the end of September. I haven't fished the lake since the floods in 2007 but am hopeful of one or two decent fish. I'm already in the midst of preparing some bait to take: mixed particle, chilli hemp and some magic tiger nuts soaked in a molasses/csl syrup. I have some good faith in these tigers, perhaps popped-up slightly with a piece of fake corn - let's see how they do!

Did an 8 til 4 session at Tirley Court near Tewkesbury yesterday and caught 6 carp to 17lbs. Quite a good venue if you want action but the rules are rather overkill (no boilies, no meat, no nuts, size 8 barbless hooks max, dip nets and mats, no groundbait) but cheap at £6 a day and you have a good chance of catching a few doubles. The fish generally aren't in the greatest condition but I've seen worse, also there's the odd monkey there too - I mean person who isn't very good at fishing, makes lots of noise, can't read the rules and swears a lot. If you can tolerate them, you should be ok - you can hide over the other side of the lake. :)

After several blank trips down to Gardners I finally hooked into something half decent on Tuesday evening. Caught a pristine 15lb common on method and my special homemade boilies. The weather has been a bit peculiar the last few weeks and I seemed to have been timing my visits a bit badly. I think I have this thing sust now - more fish to follow I'm sure!

Typical! I planned to join my neighbour Steve down at our local lake after work yesterday and ended up having to stay in work late and missed my chance. Steve did well though - 4 carp near or around the 10lb mark. 3 fish from open water which was strange seeing as though lake is covered by lilly pads. Well done Steve, my turn next! :o)

It's easy just to turn up a your local lake and drift over to your favourite swim, set up and start fishing but you could be making a big mistake. Just because it's your favourite swim and you usually catch there doesn't mean it's the best swim on the lake on that day! I know this from experience. Setting up at Gardner's the other week I did just that! I didn't get a single bleep all session and on packing up I wondered round the corner to my mate's swim to find carp galore in the lilly beds right by his feet. If only I'd checked that swim before I set up!

Went down for my first session at Gardiners on Friday evening - May 1st in fact. Weather was overcast and a bit damp which fortunately meant there weren't many anglers on the lake. I already had an idea which swim to try - a sheltered bay to the right of the car park. The only swim on that bank as it happen due to the overhead power lines. On good advice from my neighbour Steve, I chucked one rod down the left margin in between some lillies and an overhangin tree. The other - I cast out to the lillies straight ahead but wasn't particularly confident of the location. On hand with a camera my marvelous girlfriend (who'd popped down on the way home from work) took the following shot of my first carp on my new venue for 2009. The swan scarpers as my left hand rod bends round. Giving it a bit of welly keeping the fiesty carp out of the snaggy tree. Pretty little Mirror landed after a good scrap. At 8lbs and in immaculate condition - a nice fish, from a pretty swim!

The recipe produced around a kilo of bait. I've made "mis-shapes" rather than rounds. The pic shows about half of what was produced. a. cos it was easier b. the irregular shape will catch me more fish Really please with the outcome, however crushing the hemp by hand took some time - I might process it through a coffee or pepper grinder next time. Right - on to trying it out on a new lake I've joined for the year. Gardners Pool in Frampton. Wish me luck!

Having purchased 10kg of Dynamic Source base mix and some glug recipe No.1 will be (approx) 4 eggs 250g base mix 100g maize flour 50g desiccated coconut 50g 1mm response pellet 50g crushed hemp 25ml of dynamite source glug Will let you know how I get on!

No excuses this time. Plenty of freezer space. And a bigger kitchen. I'm making boilies myself this year - woohoo! As I loved them when I first started carp fishing I've gone for the Dynamite Source base mix plus some of my own surprises. I'll let you know how I get on....

News from the underground suggests that this week (11th - 18th Apr 2009) produce 3 different 40s. 2 from the Natural (43lbs + 41lbs) and one from the Big Double.

Went during the first week of the Easter break this time and met up with not only the fantastic hosts Ian and Sue but also Mike and Mike Chisholm from the world this is Grimsby up-norf. Had a brilliant time once again catching 16 carp to 42lbs and also drinking a rather large amount of "tea". Tactics this time was Mr Snowman featuring a Pineapple nugget bottom bait popped up with a pineapple popup. This fished over a bed of mixed pellet and particle. Anyway, here's my catch report: 1. Common 29lbs 04/04/09 at 10pm 2. Mirror 14lbs 04/04/09 11.45pm 3. Common 18lbs 05/04/09 06:00am 4. Common 26lbs 4oz 05/04/09 1pm 5. Common 25lbs 8oz 05/04/09 11pm 6. Mirror 28lbs 06/04/09 1:30am 7. Mirror 42lbs 06/04/09 1pm "Gobby" 8. Mirror 14lbs 06/04/09 3pm 9. Mirror 25lbs 8oz 06/04/09 10:30pm 10. Common 31lbs 06/04/09 11:00pm 11. Mirror 18lbs 07/04/09 05:00am 12. Mirror 31lbs 08/04/09 06:00am 13. Mirror 29lbs 08/04/09 11:00pm 14. Mirror 23lbs 09/04/09 01:00am (I couldn't ge