A Monster from Morgane..............  By Paul Fletcher

Preparation - a change needed...

Our 2003 French Fishing Holiday was booked. We'd booked a week at the new Angling Lines Holiday Venue, Les Gagnages, and I was counting down the months, excited at the prospect of some exclusive French carping but then disaster struck............problems at the venue............!

To cut a long story short there were some 'political' problems and we needed to find a new venue - in comes 'Super Bridget'  from Angling Lines Holidays HQ! Fortunately we had booked through a quality reputable holiday company which provides numerous venues for us carp anglers. Therefore Bridget was able to offer us and the other 'Gagnages bound' anglers a choice of alternative venues - therefore no-one would be disappointed. Something definitely worth bearing in mind when you book your next France trip!

After a couple of telephone conversations with Bridget we were soon booked on Morgane Lakes for the same week which meant we didn't have to mess around changing work holidays or ferries. We chose Morgane as our two main considerations were that we wanted exclusive fishing and accommodation. I'd always dreamed of having a lake (or two!) to myself plus we needed accommodation as I was going with my wife and 10 months old son - William!  Morgane also offered some great fishing with loads of carp to mid 40's and a separate lake containing catfish big enough to eat my 25lbs son - Watch out William!!

Another way to save space in your car is to pre-order your bait through BRB baits. We ordered our hempseed from BRB and this was to be delivered to the venue on arrival. This was ideal as Moganne has some strict rules concerning particles (only BRB prepared or Dynamite particles allowed ) plus it freed up a massive amount of space in the car. I must admit that I didn't order my boilies from there this trip however I will be doing so next time - fresh quality bait (the hemp was 1st class!) - check out the link to BRB Baits on the Angling Lines Holidays website for more details.  

Another thing I did was contact an angler who had recently been to Morgane. Terry Seymour wrote a great article on his trip during March and was a great help answering all my angling and non-angling questions. The bottom line is that the more preparation you can do the better and this certainly paid off on our trip.     

Time to go...

The car was finally loaded (it took 6 hours!) and we were heading down towards Portsmouth for our overnight ferry - the poor old Audi was full to the brim but didn't let us down - bless her! We were soon tucked up in our cabin and after a bit of a bumpy crossing we were back on our 'beloved' French soil and following Bridget's directions towards the Loire Valley.

First Impressions

After about 4 hours and a couple of stops we pulled off the quiet road onto the track to the lakes and I don't mind saying that I had butterflies in my stomach! WOW....was the first thing I said as we turned the final corner and saw the picturesque lake and the large static caravan which overlooks the carp lake. William was fast asleep so it was straight out of the car for both of us - Liz headed straight for the accommodation and guess where I went.........yes, round the lake - Polaroid's on and all!! 2 laps of the lake and loads of fish spotted later I was back to the car with a big smile on my face - "This is what life's all about" I said!

It was now Saturday afternoon so the plan was to get unloaded and cast the rods out for the evening feed. Liz & William headed off to the supermarket in Sable Sur Sarthe (About 20mins drive away) for some supplies and I got the rods out of the carrier and set things up. Before I tell you what happened  next I'll tell you a bit about the set up at Morgane;

The lakes are situated about 2 minutes away from a typical French village and in the middle of beautiful countryside. There are two lakes of around 2-2.5 acres, one with carp averaging 16-18lbs but with lots of 20's, a good few 30's and some 40's,  and the other lake with approx 30 cat fish ranging from 30lbs to well over 100lbs. The accommodation is situated in between the lakes and has a lovely wooden veranda/balcony overhanging the carp lake and a fishing platform so you can fish directly from the accommodation. The carp lake is fairly shallow, I spent some time plumbing about and found average depths of 3 1/2 to 4ft but with some great looking margins & shallow corners with just a couple of feet of water - areas where the carp loved to bask in the warm May weather we experienced. In addition to this you have reed beds, tree lines and some weed growth on the bottom. (I didn't find any problems with this as it broke up easily when a fish ran through.) The fish aren't shy mainly due to the fact that these lakes used to be used as part of the fish farm and they can be seen cruising, feeding and crashing regularly.

You can walk completely around the lake although there are only a few fishing areas to get a bivvy in. For me it was easy as I had the lake to myself so I fished from both the platform and the far bank. If there was 4 of you fishing you would need to decide who was fishing where and be quite strict on areas or you would be looking at tangles/cross-overs etc.

The cat lake is a little smaller than the carp lake but much deeper and more tree lined. It contains a massive stock of big cats and you can easily imagine them lurking amongst the overhanging trees waiting to strike at the masses of coarse fish in the lake. There are small carp, roach, bream and a few tench and crucians in the lake and these can be caught easily using corn or bread for live bait or just for fun. Like the carp lake the fishing pegs are few but enable you to cover all the lake easily.

	Around the lakes you will see small long pools which are either being used for the close-by fish farm or have dried up. These are obviously no-fishing areas but do add to the lovely surroundings and offer the masses of wildlife - frogs, coypu's, kingfishers, ducks, butterflies, buzzards, hawks....just to name a few things seen around the lakes on a daily basis.

The accommodation consists of a large static caravan which overlooks the carp lake. Inside you will find 2 bedrooms - one double, one twin, a bathroom with toilet, shower and sink, a galley style kitchen with oven, hob and fridge. (Yes lads, it does have a freezer compartment which you could fit approx 8kg's of boilies in!). You then have a lounge area which has seating and a long table which looks out over the balcony and carp lake! There is several power points which allow UK plugs (I think it was transported over from England) but take a travel plug incase.

Back to the fishing......... My initial plan was to fish from the platform so I could help Liz with unpacking but could still cover the whole lake with 4 rods (one out for Liz of course - she always has a rod in France and has a PB of over 24lbs to her name!!). After seeing lots of carp feeding in the shallows at each end of the lake I had no hesitation placing a couple of rods in these areas. I had taken over my Angling Technics Microcat to help out so this was loaded with a few handfuls of CC Moore Betaine Fusion pellets and boilies before dropping them with my boilie or tigers hookbaits. The other rods were placed in open water (4ft) just to cover all my options whilst I learned about the lake.          I didn't have to wait long for my 1st run as the far margin rod roared off and after an awesome scrap I landed my first Morgane fish - an 11lbs 8oz common carp which took a liking to my Dynamite tiger nuts over BRB hemp seed. No sooner had I got that bait back out when the right hand also flew off.  This felt a bit better and after another great fight I slipped the net under a 23lb 8oz common which was taken on a CC Moore Obsession boilie over Betaine Pellets - WOW - what a start!!!

On the first day - a 23lbs 8oz common

The next couple of hours were quiet so I'll tell you a bit about the tackle & bait I took -

So as you can see I don't travel light! To be honest if I was going again I wouldn't take as much preferring to take / order 15kgs of boilies from BRB and then have some hempseed and tigers as an alternative bait. The fish did love the pellets especially at the far end of the lake (they are feed pellets through the winter months from a special feeder) however I found that the pellets did attract the smaller carp during my stay.

Hectic....to say the least......!

I was up early the next day and the rods were all out for 7:30am. Liz and William were having a lie in after a cold night, so I sat taking in the morning air and pinching myself to ensure that I savoured every second. I don't know about you but my working life seems to operate at 100mph these days. I have a pressured job and it sometimes takes me time to wind down. Therefore, I always try to make myself stop and take everything in when we're away - time is so precious and this has really hit home to me since the birth of our son, William, and as this was his first holiday we were going to enjoy every second!     

Sunday proved to be absolutely crazy for fish action. I had 14 runs and landed 12 fish, mainly commons. One thing I will add about the Morgane Common Carp is that they fight like demons! They were a little lighter than normal, averaging 16lbs after the early spawning, but they fought and fought and fought - my arms were killing at the end of each day!  The best fish of the day was a lovely 'bug eyed' mirror of 24lbs 4oz which took a liking to 3 pieces of maize fished over a bed of hemp in the far margins. I had planned to fish the night, however after all that action I decided to get some sleep and was soon tucked in bed with my lovely wife and William.............he was a little unsettled!! The alarm woke me at 6am on Monday morning and this is when it hit me that we were on holiday. Everyone at home would be on their way to work with a full week of stress, targets and pressure ahead. Me..........well I was sat overlooking dawn on a lovely French lake full of fish - nice!!! I didn't have to wait too long for my first run and as usual it was a screamer. I was fishing clipped up and the rod would normally bounce a little before it screamed off - I had to change the batteries on a couple of my Microns during the week because of the runs....!

A lovely 'bug-eyed' mirror of 24lb 4oz

One thing I did notice was that I was taking most of my fish down the far end. So it was time to pick up the gear and head down there. The wind was a SW and this was pushing the carp down to the bottom end so we grabbed the gear and headed down after them. This proved to be a good move as I was soon into fish after fish after fish! From my new spot I was able to forget the bait boat and fish with PVA bags and catapulted freebies easily. My rods were as follows -

If I thought yesterdays action was hot, then I was wrong.........how would you fancy 30 runs and 29 fish landed....phew! It was rare for me to have all rods out at once - I was either playing fish, recasting, re-baiting, catching my breath........... Most of the fish were 16-18lb commons and these were really tiring me out. However I did manage 2 20lb+ mirrors on the Moores bait again. The fish were coming from all over the lake and on at least 3 occasions I had 3 runs at once - Liz was to the rescue and William even got in on the act during the photo's!! Once again I bottled out of the night -  after a day like that I needed sleep.........

Time for the Cats...(I need a rest please)

I was up a little later on Tuesday morning after the mad day I had on Monday - I was cast out for 8am and taking in the morning air then BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP.........here we go again.......... By the time Liz had come back from her daily trip to the local Boulangerie with our croissants I had landed 4 average sized commons and also lost a big mirror at the net....it looked a good 20 / low 30!!!   After breakfast it was time for a change as I was a bit tired (I'm getting old these days....can't stand the pace!) so I was off to the cat lake for a rest!

The resident fish farmer had kindly brought some small tench and crucians for bait so I was set up and ready to go. I scaled up my tackle - 20lbs line, 45lb Quicksilver hooklengths and size 1/0 hooks with poly balls attached. I was fishing 3 rods - 2 with livebaits and the other with a piece of mackerel fished over a large bed of betaine pellets. I used the bait boat to transport the livebaits out rather than to risk killing the fish when casting out. These were placed close to overhanging trees in likely looking 'lurking areas'! I must admit that I was a bit nervous about this mainly due to there being cats to over 140lbs in there.......oh my god...!  To pass the time I set up a light float rod and fished for the small coarse fish the lake contains. This was great fun as every cast I was landing 8oz roach, bream to 3lbs and some small carp which gave me the runaround on 4lbs Double Strength line and a size 16 hook! What was really special was when William sat with me and he even held onto the rod and watched the float with me. The float soon dipped and 'we' soon landed a slimy 2lbs bream - a great moment!!!

To cut a long afternoon / evening / night short I moved back to the carp lake 'cat-less' but a little less tired and I even managed to read a few of the magazines I had taken with me!!

 A morning out...

After a welcome shower and shave it was out for the morning to do a bit of exploring - we headed for Sable Sur Sarthe. This is a town about 20 mins away and surrounds the lovely river Sarthe which is similar in size to our own River Severn. We had a nice morning walking around the streets and took in the French way of life - a nice change from hauling fish! After a nice lunch we headed back to Morgane for a snooze and more fishing...........

Time for a re-think....

I was back on the bank for 2pm and decided on a slightly different approach. So far this week I had caught lots of fish but most of them were 16-18lbs in weight. Although its great to enjoy multiple runs and hard fighting commons I really wanted to get through to the bigger mirrors. I decided 2 main things -  Bait - time to move away from the pellets and mass particles and more use of just boilies and stringers. This would hopefully give the bigger fish more chance to find the bait before the smaller commons.  Areas - I decided to fish away from the shallower marginal areas and move into the deeper middle areas. As I mentioned earlier the fish are easily seen but these were mainly the smaller double figure fish and the odd 20lber. The bigger fish must be feeding in the deeper areas away from the bright sunlight. I was fishing for 2:30pm and all rods in place - 3 rods with boilies and a 4 bait stringer, the other with 4 tiger nuts over a tight bed of hemp and tigers. This seemed to pay off as out of the  10 fish I landed before dark, 4 were 20lbs + with the best fish going just over 24lbs, again to the Moores bait. Because of this I decided to fish my first night and set up the bivvy. There was a near full moon which lit up the night sky it was awesome - you didn't need a head torch to land the fish! During the night I caught steadily but strangely they went back to the smaller commons, that was until dawn............

At last the bigger fish were found!

As I puffed and panted over to the unhooking mat, I was talking up the size and Liz was keeping me realistic by remaining cool and saying how it wasn't as big as my previous PB which had a massive frame. However this fish had the tummy and was very broad across the shoulders. To make sure things were spot on I carefully zeroed the Rubens whilst Liz looked after the fish and kept it wet. Up onto the scales and I was struggling to get a clear reading, not because of the fish flapping but down to me shaking!!  

Eventually I composed myself and watched as the needle settled on 39lbs 7oz...............YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, A NEW PB!!!!!! 

 It was strange really as Liz looked quite disappointed as she knew I really wanted a 40lbs fish. However I must admit that I wasn't disappointed at all, how could I be with a fish like this - a magnificent Moganne Monster - awesome!

It didn't take too long for the fish to get on the bait and before I moved swims at 11:30pm I had caught 5 fish to 21lb 12oz from all rods. The fish were still enjoying my selection of baits however they still seemed to favour the CC Moore's Obsession boilies - a real winner!

Liz helped me 'lug' all the gear back to the platform and after a nice lunch I was fishing again for 3pm. My rods were spread all over the lake and I even walked the far left rod around to the far bank near the feeder posts baiting it with Tigers and hempseed. This proved a real winner as I landed 5 fish to 23lbs 10oz from this area, plus it kept me fit walking round!!

Once again I reeled in the rods at 11pm and after a quick tidy up were 'all' tucked up in bed after another hot, sunny and fishy day!!

Time to go home..

The alarm went off at 6am on Saturday and I quickly dressed before heading to the rods for some last fishing whilst I packed up. The weather had changed and it was dull with the odd shower as I cast out the rods. Once again the fish were feeding and I managed to land 6 doubles before I finally decided to call it a week and reel in. It was just impossible to pack away whilst still fishing - it would have taken me all day and we wanted to leave at lunchtime. The fish were still crashing over the bait as I packed the rods away into the car - I was sad to pack up but to be honest I was tired and ready for a rest!!!!