In reply to Post #29
Was on both with a similar name, re the Carpy forum, yes it was a fruity with its language, but i am friends with and still fish guys from that forum to this day. We may have come across as a bunch of rude mouthed louts but we were far from it. We had a few get together's on various lakes and rivers over the years.

Cemex was excellent in the early days with everyone on there sharing knowledge and tips, having a laugh and dare i say "baiting the mods!"

The "seldom Caught Lumps" thread was my all time favourite as it led to me creating some pop ups to prove the OP wrong that any bait can catch in the right place at the right time.

Thus was Born Baity Baits- Peach Sweet Pink Pussy Pop Ups! Rolled professionally by another member on there. Another member donated pots, my company paid all the shipping and ever penny i made went to the Micheal Sobbel Caner Centre that looked after my mum in her final days.

Great times, better times, fun times.

So my lad is starting to get into carp fishing, and he wants to go to France for a week next year.

What i am looking for is -

No more than 3 hours from Calais.
Good head of carp (almost a runs water).
Some where i can just pay for a swim for us to share, taking it in turns to hit runs on 3 rods.
Good facilities with toilet, good shower and Freezer.


What i dont want is -

More than 3 hours from Calais
Weed, poison chat, cat fish
Solar powered facilities, gas run fridge or compost toilets.


Any suggestions would be gratefully recieved.

In reply to Post #13
OLD THREAD ALERT!!

Just got one of these second hand to take my twins fishing for them to sleep in, and am having the same problem, did anyone find a fix that actually worked???

Was considering cutting the elastic on the last pole that seems to be the problem one!

In reply to Post #6
Went last September, still very warm 30+ every day, lots of water sports going on, local schools have the p.e lessons on the lake one day a week with canoes and boats everywhere!

Water was like a bath it was that warm, spent the days sitting in the trees 30 yards up the banks from the rods!

Can get storm poles in the margins as its very sandy to put bite alarms on and a rock on the butt, or its pure rock!

Took preserved baits that are good for a fortnight or more and can be kept in a fridge prior to and during the trip.

Avoid fishmeal unless you want to catch cats!

Plenty of parking on the slip way opposite Ellis point, and easy casting range fishing there in front of the sailing club (avoid school p.e day) or on the narrow section on the corner (very old name, but its was called blue boat years ago). And the narrow channel from Ellis point leading to America beach is good for casting range fishing.

Re tackle - I used 10ft 3lb dwarfs, 18lb main line, 15 yards of 50lb snag leader down to the the nash fused cling on leaders korda lead clips system and 35lb hook links with conti muggas in 4s.

In reply to Post #1
Just hire one and don't tell them you're going abroad, then do your own European insurance or you will pay a fortune through the hire company! Risky i know but works out cheaper than telling them you want to take it abroad.

In reply to Post #26
@silverslayer to be fair if a fishery had a fish kill and the stock was totally wiped out, they would have to take a couple of years (minimum) with no income to rebuild, so its not different as this is a risk all French fisheries run.

How a fishery has handled the last two years will be paid back ten fold in the coming years by repeat and and returning customers.

Some lake owners took the two years absence of anglers to do work on their lake and improve their fishery ready for returning guests, some just took to Facebook and moaned, some took the money and ran. Personally i wouldn't give the moaners and money takers the time of day or my future custom, those that looked to improve ready for the world going back to normal will benefit in the long run.

In my opinion most French fishery owners are just out for as much money as they can get, playing the short game to get their return as quick as possible, the ones that have realised its a long game will be more successful and probably offer a more enjoyable holiday experience.

In reply to Post #19
@ Scar,

Phil is going to cost her money, the complex customers, and once bad press starts to trickle out the popularity will go down.

when we went, there were loads of dead commons floating around, she explained they had "received" a bad batch of them and pretty much every one of them in every lake had popped up dead.

I wouldn't trust that Phil as far as i could thrown him, he is a proper melt.

In reply to Post #11
Re goncourt booking system- what a friggin pain, to the point the booking system and that Phil idiot would certainly make me consider going there again! When you chase and chase and chase to get any answer if your deposit has been received, you get a sarcastic email from that idiot! Oh sorry Phil just wanted to make sure my £1400 hasn't disappeared into the ether!

To be fair the lakes are great, facilities are ok, showers use lake water that they don't advertise and if the filters are dirty (pretty much all the time) you shower in brown smally water! I certainly wouldn't wet shave there as the water in the sinks is the same, or clean your teeth in the shower block!

In reply to Post #9
Never prepaid, never queued to get in more than 5 minutes, always taken advantage of the cheaper ticket if you go after 1pm i think it is and paid on the door, think they will notice a drop in attendees this time because of stopping that.

Like most, never really go for anything in particular, usual an afternoon out with the kids, catch up with a few mates, and pick up the occasional bargain or bundle.

Kids loved it cos they got given hundreds of stickers, got my pants pulled down on the worlds most expensive pic-n-mix (be warned) and saved a few quid by promising them a maccy-d's on the way home instead of buying an over priced festival burger whilst there!

Alas working so cant go even if i want to this year.

In reply to Post #24
"Do you honestly believe they would release something without a two year field test.I mean come on no company would ever do that can you imagine if they did "



Yep! thats what all tackle companies do, then in a year or so there will be a MKII, just like pretty much everything ever released by a carp tackle company!