Carptrek Trip - Lake Meillant, France - 22nd October 2011

  After an initial shambles (I left the three way fridge on too long and drained the battery in my van – good start!) I collected Danny from Bicester then drove to Sevenoaks and collected Foggy and Michael. With four anglers and their kit, bait, fridge, gas cylinder, food and enough bait to feed the world’s carp for a decade we headed off to Dover and caught the midnight ferry to Dunkirk. Everyone enjoyed a full breakfast on board just in case my bank side catering proved to be dreadful.

The van was quite full!

The drive to Lake Meillant was fine and involved a good look at Central Paris due to the sat nav getting confused. Once out of Paris it was plain sailing, although the outside temperature falling to minus two was a slight concern. We took a wrong turn in the oak forest that surrounds the lake and had a nature walk for half an hour trying to find it. It was worth the effort though as the lake was stunning in its autumn colours. We then walked around the lake sussing out where to fish and to set up home for the week.

Click the banner.

Fantastic autumn colours among the oak woods.

Click the banner.

The setting and the fishing proved to be superb, total tranquility and plenty of big carp in all areas of the lake. Wildlife was abundant; we shared the area with herons, egrets, kingfishers, tawny owls, woodpeckers, nuthatches, treecreepers and black redstarts. There were enough creatures mooching around in the pitch black forest at night, rustling the leaves and snapping twigs, to soil even the most capable Craghoppers!

The view along the dam.

It was Bicester angler Danny Post’s first French trip and he was soon waking me up to take pictures of his first 40lb + carp. Danny caught steadily throughout the week, ending up with an impressive haul of pristine carp up to 48.5lb.

Danny with his magnificent 48.5lb Mirror Carp.One of his many forties!

 Foggy and Michael fished hard, both taking plenty of fish to 47lb in weight. With plenty of space available they moved swims twice to maximize their chances and to learn more about this fantastic venue.

Foggy with one of his carp.

Michael fished well and landed a lot of carp. With a couple of 40lb in weight.

Although we did not really target them there are a few 120lb + catfish too. After brief and violent tussles Foggy got his rig bitten off a couple of times and I was briefly attached to one that nearly ripped my long range rod into the lake. Whilst grabbing the disappearing rod and trying to gain an element of control over this leviathan my hands were cut by the braid, that was whistling off the spool against the clutch at a most alarming rate, before happily the hook pulled!

Click the banner.

Even I caught a few whoppers using my trusty Baitcraft T1. This one was 44.5lb

So it was a great trip to a beautiful wild lake in good company.

I would thoroughly recommend Lake Meillant to anyone.

If you want to go there independently contact Max at Carp Fishers Abroad.

If you want to join a Carptrek trip contact me and we will get your trip arranged.

Contact: e-mail: simmo315@btinternet.com    Tel.  01869 343315 or 07775 782315