It was the beginning of July when Jim Kelly and myself were asked by David Keep of Angling Lines, to try out a French lake known as Longues Fauchees, otherwise known as Long Lake. As far as I know British anglers had not previously fished the lake, so this was a pioneering trip to an unknown venue. We settled on the last few days of July into the 1st week of August 2007 for the trip.

‘Longues Fauches is a maturing gravel pit’.

Set in the rolling hills of the Ardennes region of France, Longues Fauchees sits in its own grounds of around 18 acres. The lake is owned and managed by Monsieur Bruno who is the local fish farmer for that area. Longues Fauches is a maturing gravel pit with the clear waters ranging from 2 metres to over 6 metres in depth, with the majority of the lake having depths of around 4 metres.

The banks consist of some large flat-grassed areas, ideal for bivvying up with ample room for vehicle parking. There is a part tarmac and part hardcore track giving access to most of the venue, which runs the circumference of the lake.

Large grassed banks

The track around the lake

The lake has been ideally split into 12 separate swims, giving each swim just over an acre of water to fish..
It is stocked to accommodate anglers who prefer action packed fishing with the chance of picking up the larger specimens. With the water being deep and clear, every fish that is hooked is in pristine condition and gives up an amazing account of itself. Longues Fauchees is stocked with around 600 carp, both mirror and commons to mid 40’s along with Sturgeon to 61lb, there are countless high doubles, numerous 20’s, some 30’s and a scattering of 40lb carp to wet the appetite of the carp angler. With the lake being a deep gravel pit there is little weed in the lake to cause any problems to the angler. The lake bottom is firm gravel and sandy with little silt to contend with, allowing the angler to present any bait perfectly.

Facilities
On the eastern end of the lake is a fishing lodge, which contains all the facilities that any angler could require. Bruno regularly maintains these to a high standard.

In the lodge is a fully tiled shower block with a walk in shower with WC and wash hand basin, a second walk in shower with a wash hand basin only, and a separate WC.

There is a kitchen dining area with a double sink, gas cooker with oven, and 2 refrigerators. The large dining area is equipped with tables and benches. There are no cooking utensils or cutlery these have to be provided by each individual angler.

BAIT
‘Shelf Life or Frozen boilies’?
Now I have always been reluctant to fish with shelf life boilies. In the early days of bait making, I along with every other carp angler either bought the cheap ready made shelf life boilies or made their own baits. The obvious choice was to make your own, freeze them or air-dry them until you were ready to use them. The introduction of ready rolled fresh frozen baits revolutionised my fishing, giving me extra time on the bank instead of spending hours on a rolling table.

The obvious problems that I have encountered with the non shelf life baits have been maintaining its high quality as it leaves the boiling pan until it is used. The obvious method for preserving the bait is to freeze them as soon as the bait is cool. Air-drying the bait is another option, but if this is not done correctly and in the right drying environment, mould can grow on the boilies and they are as good as lost.
It was during the latter part of 2006 when my fishing colleague and good friend, Sean Harrison of Quest baits approached me to try some of his boilie range in shelf life. He wanted to know if I would give them a good testing for him alongside the fresh frozen baits.

The first bait that I was to try was the Rahja Spice in 15-mil shelf life. In January I tried the Shelf Life’s on one of my local estate lakes, managing a few short day sessions with some excellent results. Now this lake is a shallow lake with only a small stocking of carp. Over a period of 4 separate days I had 5 fish averaging 24lb, all on the shelf life Rahja Spice.

Earlier this year I took trips to Cedar Lake and Etang Molyneux, along with short sessions on my local lakes, which includes the Mangrove. Despite my reluctance to try shelf life boilies in the past I took the plunge and had some amazing results.

Now Sean has been experimenting in a new bait to put on the market early next year, which will be known as Liver B8. It was the last week of July and having had one of our regular discussions about bait or fishing venues, Shaun asked me to try out the Liver B8 in 20 mil shelf life boilies on Longues Fauchees.

The new Liver B8

Quest boilies +frozen prepared hemp

As I am one of his guinea pigs, excuse the pun, I had him send me out 10 kilo to sacrifice on the carp of Longues Fauchees.

Now my confidence level was running high on the Rahja Spice shelf life and I did not want to undermine that confidence by trying out bait that may prove partially unsuccessful, so I finally decided to take 15 kilo’s of 20 mil Rahja Spice and 5 kilo of the Liver B8. This along with Hemp and trout pellets would hopefully put some decent fish on the bank.

My research of the venue showed that there were no freezer facilities, so the shelf life boilies were ideal.

Friday 27th July 2007
Jim collected me around 10.00pm on the Friday evening in his Citreon Zantia, fully loaded, which had been packed earlier that day.

The drive from Cannock to Dover was unobstructed and we arrived in good time and were placed on an earlier ferry than planned. As we arrived in Calais it was just coming light, however the sky was full of black clouds and we realised that the forthcoming journey was going to be a wet one.

We were set for a 3-½ hour drive, with the Tom-Tom Go taking us to the Reims area of the Ardennes region. On the approach to Reims, the clouds broke and out came the sun.

We left the motorway and much to my amazement we were heading north again back into the rain and cloud. Apparently this was the quickest route. About 8 miles from the lake we left the comfort driving of the motorways and joined what can only be described as a one-way track. What was Tom-Tom doing now? It eventually brought us back to civilization and within minutes we arrived at the lake in the middle of a heavy rainstorm. Now Dave Keep had asked us to find the best route for his web site, a few alterations would have to be made to the route we took.

View from road

Map of Long Lake

On the approach to the venue the first thing that you see is a wooden fishing lodge with a large motive on the side and front of the building ‘Domaine Des Longues Fauchees’.

The lake was impressive to say the least but first things first, we needed to speak to Bruno and introduce ourselves.

We went into the lodge to find a Belgium couple sheltering from the rain. “Monsieur Bruno” I said
“Non” was the reply
“Parlez vous Anglais”
“Non”.
That was the end of that conversation!

Out to the car to get our waterproofs, we decided to take a tour of the lake. Now this week was the start of both the French and Belgium holidays, so what do we find, French and Belgian carp anglers, none that can speak a word of English. I couldn’t rely on Jim because he can’t speak a word of French. Between us we can order a baguette or Beer and say please, thank you and good day, all in perfect French of cause, but this was not enough to hold a conversation with any French or Belgian angler.

Fortunately the lake is well set out and we were able to find 2 comfortable swims in swims 2 and 3. Due to the heavy rains over the past few weeks the water level was high and had spilled onto the front of some of the swims. The front of swim 3 was slightly under water, Jim had no Wellington boots, I had, so he chose swim 2.

In between showers we set up our bivvy’s threw in some of our tackle from the car and made sufficient room for our groceries and drink. With the assistance of my Tom-Tom Go we were directed to the L’Eclerc at Sedan some 8 miles away. Fully supplied with our provisions it was back to the lake.

The rain had eased and looked as if it was clearing. My first objective was to plumb and find out the type of lakebed that I had in front of me.

My marker rod is a 12-foot 2½lb test. The main line on the big pit reel is 30lb braid, with the latter 14 foot being 30lb mono. A 3½-ounce lead is attached with a 6 inch tail to a size 8 swivel. The main line is then passed through the swivel and a large rubber bead is added. 30lb mono is then tied direct to the large marker float. The 2½lb-test rod along with the braided main line allows for the extra sensitivity required feeling the lakebed for gravel, silt or weed. The 15 feet of 30lb mono assists in the float releasing itself to the surface easily. I have found that if braided line is used directly to the float, line twist occurs, where the float occasionally fails to rise to the surface.

With this set up I was able to find that there was a gravel/sand-covered bottom with varying water depths of 3 to 3 ½ metres. I set up one of my fishing rods and cast around in conjunction with the marker rod and at around 60 metres into the lake; I found a small area in 3 metres of water that was suitable. The lake bottom was firm sand/gravel and it had a fine covering of silt where I was picking up bloodworm on the hook. Ideal!

Tackle set up
My plan was to present 2 rods on a tightly baited area and 1 rod wide of either side of the area.
Compared with the young up and coming anglers rods, my 12-foot Genesis 3lb tests are ancient. They are around 15 years old but still maintain their power and all through action to catch and land the biggect of carp. All 4 rods were set up identically.

My Shimano Technium 10000 reels were all spooled with 15lb Gold Labels Pro-Gold. Now as for presentation at the business end, I like to finish off with a 2 or 3 foot Gardner lead core leader with a Korda safety clip and rubber. My choice of lead, is 3 ounce Korda Tournament leads, these are sufficient not to move on a big wind, and also sufficient to create the initial hook hold on a take off the unwary carp.

When it comes to the rig I like to fish short hook lengths, between 6 and 8 inches. My hook lengths are made up of a combi rig, 4 to 6 inches of 19lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon to a 1 to 1 ½ inch length of 25lb Kryston Mantis. The hooks that I selected for this session are ESP Raptor in size 4, tied on with the knotless knot with a medium length hair.

I marked up the marker rod with a small section of electrical tape. With the flat-grassed banks I was able to walk out the distance with the marker rod and then match up the distance on each individual rod, again marking up with the electrical tape. Spod rod was set up the same and I was ready to start fishing.

Boilie rocket, spod & Catapult

Selection of spods + finger stall

Preparing the swim
My spod mix was simple; I initially poured a small amount of hot water onto some high oil trout pellets. The pellets then soften to firm mulch. The spod is filled to nearly ¾ full with hemp and then plugged with a small amount of the trout pellet mulch. This stops any spillage on the cast no matter what range.

Hemp	Moist pellet
Spod plugged	Spod ready to cast

The baited area that I selected had a group of trees on the sky line to cast too, with all the rods being marked and clipped I could cast to within a ½ a metre to where I wanted my bait to lie on every cast.( As I am using braided line I always use a finger stall for my casting finger to avoid cuts)

I initially introduced around 30 spods of hemp, topped up with around 200 boilies with the use of a boilie rocket, the aim being to keeping the bait tight to my selected baited area. The boilies were made up of equal amounts of 20 mil Rahja Spice shelf life and 20 mil Liver B8 shelf life boilies. I then used my throwing stick and catapult to put out a further 50 or so boilies, which I spread out around the swim. The 2 inner rods were cast onto or very close to the baited area and the outer 2 rods wide of the bait. I have used this tactic frequently on many French lakes and on the Mangrove, producing some excellent results.

Jim’s set up was a little different to mine, he used 2 marker rods and baited and placed his rods between the marks. The baited area that he chose was more to the centre of the lake possibly in slightly deeper water.

‘Within an hour I had another screaming run, which was the start of many a long battle’

I had all 4 rods in place and was still in the process of spodding out the boilie rocket, when one of the rods gave a small run then a massive drop back. I immediately picked up the rod and wound down until I felt the fish. Right over my baited area leapt an enormous Sturgeon. The real screamed and I realised that the Sturgeon was attached to the end of my line. It peeled off around 50 yards of line as it bow waved the surface of the lake heading for the opposite bank. The fish suddenly dived and I felt a grating on the line as it dropped over a ledge into 6 metres of water. The line went slack and the fish was lost. Within an hour I had another screaming run, which was the start of many a long battle with some of the strongest and fittest carp I have ever hooked. The carp took advantage of the depths of the lake and fought all the way to the net, my first fish, a 23lb Common. This was to be the first of many carp that I would land over the forthcoming week.

By midday on Monday I had landed 13 carp to 23lb, when I hooked into a larger fish. As I was playing in the fish Gareth had just arrived in time shoot some video footage for the Angling Lines DVD. As he got out of his mobile home he ran to the back the vehicle to get his video camera and shouted ‘Keep it on for a minute while I set up’

There was no need for me to even think of slackening off with this fight, this fish was still in control powering itself around my swim with me hanging on to the rod.

Gareth arrived with his video camera and it was another 10 minutes or so before I eventually brought the fish to the net. It was a pristine conditioned common carp of 30lb 4oz.

The 30lb 4oz common captured on film

The condition of all the captured carp so far was perfect, no damaged mouths, hook marks, or missing scales, perfect as if they had just been made. A few photos and it gracefully glided back to the depths of the lake.
Now this is not the first time that Gareth has turned up at a French venue that I have been fishing. Each occasion on his arrival at a venue I have been in the process of landing a fish or within minutes got of him doing so I have had a run, which he captured on film.

A short time following the return of the 30lb Common Jim had a drop back on one of his rods. An enormous sturgeon leapt out of the water. Off screamed the fish, taking well over 60 metres of line on the first run. The fish careered around the lake at its own pace and around ½ an hour later a mighty sturgeon hit the surface and rolled over defeated. A large unhooking mat was placed into the water and Jim and myself tailed the sturgeon onto the bank.

Jim’s 61lb Diamond backed Sturgeon

29lb Common

We weighed this impressive specimen on the unhooking mat, zeroing the scales before doing so. Jim’s digital scales bottomed out at 66lb with the deduction of the weighing mat of 5lb, that made the Diamond backed sturgeon 61lb. Or was it?

We later tested Jim’s scales and they only weighed to 66lb, who knows what weight the sturgeon was, well it was at least 61lb, what a fish.

Video and photo’s taken it was time to return the fish to the lake. Jim sat with the sturgeon for another 20 minutes in the margins until it regained its strength.

Not content with getting his sturgeon on film, off went one of his rods on a screaming run and again after another impressive scrap, he landed a 29lb Common.

Jim’s rod’s slowed down a bit after this but mine just kept going and going. I kept up a policy of topping up after each run, by tightly baiting my baited area with around 10 to 15 spods of hemp plugged with mulched trout pellet and around 50 Quest boilies.

40lb 8oz Diamond backed Sturgeon

26lb Brown Sturgeon

Now I do like to rest my swim, to allow some of the more wary carp to enter the swim and have a free feast without being disturbed by lines running through the water. It soon became apparent that there were specific feeding times for the majority of the carp, which was usually late morning, mid afternoon and late in the evening. By Tuesday I was drawing my rods in shortly after midnight. This gave the swim a good rest, me a good nights sleep and allowed me to go and shower, shave etc, well before anybody else was awake.
I recast all my rods by 7am, which was when I introduced the main body of bait to the area ready for the daily feast. It became evident that with in ½ an hour after baiting up, the swim came alive with carp fizzing over the bait which soon resulted in the first fish of the day. I then caught steadily throughout the day, again topping up the swim after every fish. I initially fished with 2 rods baited with Rahja Spice and 2 with Liver B8, but it was becoming apparent that I was quickly running out of bait.

I had seen fish moving over another mark to my right, so on the Thursday morning I decided to change the location of my right hand rod to this new location. On this mark I chose to loose fed only Liver B8 boilies. The other 3 rods were all baited with Rahja Spice over my old baited area.

A French angler, who had been in swim 4 since our arrival had packed up after 7 days fishing and he had tallied up 27 carp topped with a 40lb 8oz common carp.

The capture of a 40lb carp from swim 4 motivated Jim to move into that swim for the Thursday evening. Having not having as much as a single bleep overnight he moved back to swim 2 on the Friday for the final nights fishing. Jim rods remained silent and mine wouldn’t stay quiet with my best fishing day of the week. I appeared to have gathered everybody’s fish in the lake in my swim. Friday’s tally to my rods was 17 carp, which included a 31lb common, and numerous 20’s.

My 31lb Common

All in all both the Raja Spice and the Liver B8 matched each other evenly and at midnight on the Friday I had landed 51 carp to 31lb, along with an impressive 40lb 8oz sturgeon.

Jim had 11 carp altogether to 29lb along with sturgeon of 61lb and 26lb. we later established that the lake contains 3 sturgeon, we had caught the lot.

Conclusion
Longuees Fauches is a maturing lake with an excellent variety of various sized carp to the mid forties. Due to amount of fish in the lake and the ease of which they are caught, this has to be classed as a runs water.
Due to the lake bottom being sand/gravel, hooks soon became blunt or disfigured. I regularly changed my hooks to ensure that every run resulted in any fish being comfortably hooked. I used around 30 different hooks and rigs during the week and I am sure that I benefited in doing so.

Most of the fish that Jim and myself caught during the week were Commons but there are some large shoals of large Mirrors also present in the lake. The fish in the lake had only recently spawned and were nowhere near at their best weights. Another month earlier and we would have been picking up some very big fish. Just looking at the photo’s of some of the captures that we had, shows them to be long and lean and fully spawned out.

At present the local French and visiting Belgian carp anglers are the only visitors to Longuees fauchees.
The future for this lake will be in the hands of Angling Lines as they are due to take on the main bookings for the 2008 season. With the lake only being 3 ½ hours from Calais, and the quality of the fishing, this will surely be a very much sort after venue in the future. As time goes on the carp will progressively grow and will match up with some of the big carp waters on the French angling scene.

Paul Cooper