cobleyn

Think we crossed posts gaz. I'm alright honestly. The missus has taken all sharp implements away from me though.

Lads I made a decision... ....I have to stick by it.... Turns out it was the wrong one.

Are you making contact with the fish when you strike?

As a few pointers: I'd ask Luke about permanent markers and get his opion on whether they spook his fish. Conduit pole makes the best permanent marker as your line just pings off it. If its too deep for conduit- make sure your marker is 20 yards back from your baited area . Everything looks different out in a boat. the markers you thought you had in your head and where you think you are in relation to the bank gets thrown completely when you're in a boat. If you work slow and steady you'll save time and trouble. If you try and take 2 rigs out and start to spin you'll get in a mess. Always step into the MIDDLE of a boat and work in the centre. ALWAYS wear a life jacket NEVER wear waders If you take your rig out with you you can feel around the area from the boat with a bare lead to get a sense of the bottom. Once you have found the sand/ silt pocket you are looking for- put a rig on and lower it down. Pre-dark is a good time to do your boat work as the wind nearly always drops. A boat is a massive edge. Don't be afraid of spending a couple of hours drifting around and feeling the bottom. You may spook the fish- but if you have a week in the same peg its worth the effort to get it out of the way on day 1. Have a read of Bill Cothams book- he talks a lot about Les Graviers in there. If you want a bait tip. Trigga, high levels of GLM, N buric and Pineapple...its accounted for most of the big fish in the lake and they have seen quite a bit of it

Fishing using a boat is a learned skill. Rather than spend a couple of days spinning around on les graviers and cursing your boat skills...I'd get on a lake before you go and have a practice. If thes two of you fishing and feeding as a team...practice a pair. It can be really frustrating working with someone on the bank, or in a boat that has no experience of it. It'll save you a couple of days of cursing and not fishing effectively.

A few ornamentals here mate- you might have a long drive for a couple of them though:

Anglers paradise then Del! Zyg has got some very weird ornamentals down there...good line in home brew too!

I'd suggest that the famous Trent koi Del. freindly fish (if you can locate it)....it's pretty much always over 40lbs.

Hi Paul. I fished Vallee a couple of years back. If you are new to France and new(ish) to carpfishing....there's loads of other places to go and get a load of runs and gain a lot of experience and fun while your doing it. Vallee is ok, but it's not easy fishing.

I fished there around 12 years ago when Ian starmer had bought it (or just bought the rights) from the chap that owned it. Maybe called rafael (?)- he was a multi millionaire who kept the rights to fish it from the top end near his house. In those days you planted a length of conduit at range as your marker, baited hemp around it from a boat and then cast your rigs to your baited patch. Common thinking went that all of the fish came from range. First night I had 2 30's from the margin on the damn wall and had a 45lb catfish from the margins on the last day. Whilst I was there, there was a "photo shoot". Basically the ex owner used to get models in...have them parade round in skimpy gear and take photos of them with carp. At night he used to party with them till the early hours.

Yup the Trent and the soar give you the best shots at fish. Both contain fish into the 40's. But you have got to find them. They are in fixed places and there are none for miles in between. As they are river fish- they need to feed all year around. Look for them in oxygenated water in teh summer and slow bays in the winter. You may want to start near a Marina in B________ on the soar and behind some large gravel pits near notts on the trent and maybe near some bridges a bit lower down too.

That lease is ridiculous. You would need 100 season ticket members and sell over 4 day tickets EVERY day, just to break even. The price is ridiculous too. Sapphire in Newark is for sale currently. It has two lakes and a 4 bed property on it and it's only £650k

Good luck with it. I hung my nose over a project like this a few years back. Quite time consuming and full of time wasters, or those eager to take your money with little guarantees.

I saw a fantastic variation of one on tight lines on Friday night. Adam penning has invented a chod rig with a bottom bait. ....oh wait ....no it was just a helicopter rig.

Feather the cast (ie put your finger on the spool) just before it hits the water and put a small PVA bag on your hook link. That should sort it

Only jokin'. Fair play to them. It's always a lottery when you go holiday fishing. Sometimes you drink the wine...other days you tread the grapes.

The funny thing is we commented on the very same thing- Unfortunately the comment we made was "look at all that flipping scenery...and we've been staring at those rod tips for 8 hours". It is a stunning country. Very expensive in BC though. Everything is 20-30% more expensive than the UK. Except Petrol....thats about half price.

The worlds a big place, with a lot of fish in it. Loads still to catch. Bang for buck- the Ebro takes some beating.

I tried not to be disappointed whilst I was there and keep my head up...it's only when I've got back and have thought it through how tough it was. Although a 100lb+ was the goal...my real objective was to find a fish that was going to physically test me with a gruelling fight. It has to be said- these fish- in some of the fast water we were fishing (20 oz to hold bottom) went like absolute stink. One of the sub 100lbers spooled my dad in seconds. We had to up anchor and chase it as it took 150 yards with ease.

I went with a chap called Steve Kaye (Sturgeon Hunter). I can't recommend him enough. Excellent boat, good tackle and most importantly a good guide who know his stuff, the river- and you can sit and chat to for the 8 hours a day you're on the water with him. His web site is pretty good and he's on facebook too. Most of the guides operate out of a place called chilliwack- which is about 2 hours out of vancouver.

Thought you may be interested in my latest trip. I flew out to Vancouver a couple of weeks back with the intention of catching some huge Sturgeon. It has to be said the fishing was much tougher than I imagined and based on conversations with all of the guides out there its the toughest they've ever seen it. We fished the Fraser for 7 days and blanked on three of them. Some days we only bagged a fish per day. Its a long way to go and a lot of cash for such hard fishing- But what can you ----its fishing!!! I was quite prescriptive with the guide that we were there to catch bigger fish, so we avoided the downstream areas where the juveniles hang out. Fantastic country, such pleasant people- great service culture- really friendly...some of the best steak I've ever eaten. We saw seals attacking salmon in the shallows. Vultures and eagles circling above us. One day we had a seal surface 2 feet from the back of the sturgeon we had at the side of the boat- eye us up and then slowly drift off. On day 2 we had a 600lb fish crash at the side of the boat. Tackle was standard overseas kit- 50lb class (ish) rods with quite soft tips (They can give quite soft bites), 100lb braid with 200lb hooklinks. Hook were Gamakatsu 8/0's. They are proper fighting machines too- proper pulled my arms off and they take to the air frequently too. Sorry my write up is a bit shoddy- to be honest I'm still a bit gutted. If anyone has got any questions on it- or if you fancy some more info - just shout. Happy to share any thoughts on the experience. I'll post some photos up in the next hour when they've uploaded

Never done the Chunnel....must have done 15 trips on the ferry. Never any fuss. Depends where you are going I guess.

Any photos or details of where you fish and how? Fish capture photos would be good.