Since Mark and I knew nothing about the fishery the first time we went and I know how difficult it is tackling a water for the first time, I thought I would add some notes for the benefit of other first-time visitors. I have to say I'm no expert and there are others, far better qualified than me to give advice on how best to tackle the place - but I thought it might be of some help to discuss the thoughts Mark and I have on the two years experience we've had.
We now feel that broadly, the fishing must be approached according to the season in which the trip takes place, either:
- Spring, or
- Summer/Autumn
and the approach adopted must be quite different in each case. It's useful to reflect on how Nick runs the place.
The carp-fishing closes at the end of October and the winter season begins; I understand Nick caters for shooting parties during this period and the french and germans come and hunt the boar and pheasants which live in the forest surrounding the estate. All angling pressure ceases and the waters are 'rested' during this period. You will notice the 'feeders' on the lakes - these are the green hoppers which are moored (generally in the corner areas) and are mounted on floats; they are fixed to the bank witha pulley and rope system to enable re-charging. Nick has these feeders going during this period in order to feed the fish "to keep their weights up".
I think the feed he has used during the winter period has varied over the years - it used to be pellets, but now I think he has used Maize for the past couple of years. This feeding will go on (according to the weather and the effect it has on the feeding habits of the fish) right through until the fishing starts in April. At this period, the fish will be building themselves up for spawning so they will be very hungry - and the fish do spawn successfully at MDLB as numbers of small carp in the lakes testify.
Because the fish have been fed on Maize for so many months, it seems obvious to base an approach around the use of Maize in these early weeks. I am told (by others who have fished this period) that beds of Maize with a boily fished over the top is very successful - although less so than you might think because it takes the fish a week or two to get the idea that boilies are good to eat. It seems they need 're-educating' on to them before they become confident having been pre-occupied with Maize for so many months. The end of April/early May then would seem to be the very best time to be on the water since not enough fish will have been caught for them to have become wary of angler's bait. The down side to this is that (according to the weather) this is also the spawning season when the fish can be notoriously ambivalent about picking up bait. I have heard of some very poor trips during this period. For this reason, I would by choice endeavour to secure abooking for the last week in April or thereabouts and hope the Spring is not too warm andthe fish spawn early. Mind you, if they have already spawned, then you cpould be on for a right cracker - although the fish may well be lighter in weight - you can't win either way!
Fishing continues on through into June and the hot months. The advice I have heard is to avoid these months because the fish become lethargic in the heat (and it does get hot there!); I haven't been during this period so don't know, I'm just repeating what I've been told; it could be right, it could be wrong.
In the Spring, the fish are probably far more likely to succumb to a bed of bait than at any time of the year. After the long winter rest they will be up for it and have been known to 'munch' like it's going out of fashion. Things inevitably change though and this 'duffers' period may well be getting shorter with every year that passes at MDLB; I would always start conservatively, on the basis that once you've piled it in, you cannot then take it out!
You will have to contend with the little so-and-so's for they inhabit all the lakes. As like as not their activities will be influenced very much by the water temperature in the Spring and if it is cold may be less of a problem than if it is warm. I understand they hibernate in the winter in their holes in the bottom and under rocks. I think you have to go prepared to cope with them and people have all sorts of ploys to resist their attentions - 'bird-cages', plastic jackets, netting, that sort of thing; personally I wouldn't bother. What Mark and I have done (and it seems to have been successful) is to use 24 mm. boilies which have been air-dried for at least three months. These baits are so hard it is quite difficult to get a baiting needle through them - the crays still munch away at the surface, but even after a night's fishing you've still got a 20 mm size bait left, well good enough to serve.
Anything less and you could be left with a pea-size bait by morning - or nothing at all if it has not been air-dried. This happened a lot to people on our trip who used 'ready-mades' straight out of the packet and these were hopelessly inadequate.
From 2007 bait-boats will be banned and there will be no exceptions. Nick is quite adament about this and while it won't make any difference on some of the lakes, on others it will. In the past, those with the boats have consistently done better than those without, although good anglers will not gain a significant advantage as they are really not neccessary except arguably under certain circumstances. The problem in the Spring will be how to get a bed of Maize out at distance with a boily bang in the middle of it. With the bait-boat this was easy, but without it - far more difficult to do well.
Spods of course come to mind and those adept at this technique will fare better than those who do not habitually use the technique. Spodding is going to have to be accurate, and 'clipping-up' on both the spod-rod, and the bait-rod is going to vital. In all probability, casting to a marker may help with the accuracy. Range however is an issue; on Neuf it is not likely to be so because we are basically talking about short to medium range, depending on which peg you are fishing; on Joly however it's a different story because you may need to reach 120 yards+ on occasions to get near the islands. I have never seen anyone spodding this far (successfully) and probably some other technique will be worth trying.
If you can cast a bag or 'Stick' this sort of distance then you are a better man than I; this calls for very specialised tackle and I wouldn't go equipped with anything less than a 3.5 lbs. TC rod - and probably something even heavier if you are spodding. Mark used his Chub Outkast 3.5's to get the distance on Joly - but this with only a single boily on the rig. I just cannot see how you can fish over bait (properly) at this distance and if you can you have an advantage. Far better I think to use the single bait - but establish a grouping of boilies at distance with a throwing stick. Since I've started using my Korda 'Easy Stik' I can get bait out further and more accurately than ever could with any other.
A note about throwing-sticks and baits and getting distance. You cannot 'throw' a smaller boily the same distance you can a bigger one. The simple expedient of upping the bait size from 18 mm. to 20 mm. will give a significant increase in distance and if planning to use this tactic, some work in trying different sizes with perhaps some different 'sticks' would be time well spent. You are of course limited in the size of bait you can use, by the diameter of the throwing-stick pipe. I think this would be my preferred tactic, although a short-range rod in a suitable area with spodded Maize would probably 'hedge my bets' somewhat.
By September, the fish will have been well and truly 'hammered', week after week, by numbers of very anglers. On the latest trip we had, the previous week's part had 137 fish so did very well; we were obviously up against it before we started. You think, some of the popular swims are more or less continually occupied for weeks on end! No wonder the fish can be difficult. This is a 'pressured' situation and tactics for dealing with it have to be appropriate.
It was very noticeable that the only fish we saw moving on Neuf this time were those down in the corners at night. In the corner where I was fishing, right down in the corner is an inaccessible area you cannot get a bait to, and the adjacent island where I was fishing under the snags, far more productive than the open water. It was if the fish had sought whatever safe sanctuary they could, as far away from anglers as they could get. This is a common enough situation on our own UK waters, but not what you may have been led to believe happens on the so-called lightly-fished french waters. I can assure you, MDLB gets hammered every bit as much as - if not more - than the club waters I fish!
When Mark moved onto Joly, he took over a peg that had been fished since the start of the week by two anglers sharing the water in front of them. You would have thought that between them they'd have had all bases covered. On the face of it, Mark was taking a real chance because up to then, nothing had come from the peg; his only chance seemed to be to do something the previous occupants hadn't. That chance was to fish at extreme range - beyond what the previous two had been doing and getting into water where the fish felt safe. This is in fact what Mark did, using his 3.5 TC 'Outkast's to fish at well over 100 yards+. With a following wind he reckoned he was getting about 115-120 yds. on occasions, putting his bait up level with, and past the island at the bottom end of Joly which is the major feature.
Being able to fish at this distance I would consider to be more or less essential in this 'pressured' situation, and next year when the bait-boats are banned, long-range techniques are going to really come into their own on Joly. I cannot see how you can get bait out this distance - even with a throwing stick, but Mark did not bother about this; he baited at about eighty yards and fished over this bait, but picked up his fish much further out in the 'safe' area. If the fish are there, all you need is a bait on them. At this stage of the season they know what boilies are and are far less fearful of the single boily on its own than if it is fished on a bed - and this brings me to our thoughts on what is likely to be the best effective strategy.
Beyond any shadow of doubt, at this stage of the year, the fish are very wary of a bed of bait. This doesn't mean that they won't come over a bed of bait and pick up the odd boily or two - in fact that's what I think they do - cruise over a bed of bait, realise there is danger and either leave it alone altogether, or just pick up one or two items. The single bait on its own however is far more likely to be picked up because it is not adjacent to other feed which the fish associate with danger. The tactic then is to bait one area - and fish with a single bait in another. You must keep the two distinctly different and seperate, this is what Mark did and why he was successful. The free offerings were put out at maximum throwing-stick range, and the hookbaits were cast beyond this (by as much as forty yards or so).
I think the same principle could be adopted on the other lakes like Neuf, with bait concentrations established in the clear water, and hookbaits presented in safe areas, like near snags and under trees.
That's about it really. I'm no expert as I said and others will have completely different thoughts about how to approach the place. I know from my own experience however that the first trip is very much a 'learning curve' and I wish I'd had at least some sort of advice before I had gone.
The very best of luck to you.