hi all,
I live in france full time and do a lot of carp fishing and I tend to stay away from english owned lakes as they tend to be overpriced and overfished in my opinion.
I can definitely say that you guys are missing out by not hitting the french rivers the fight you get from a river fish is a lot more enjoyable then any lake fish.
I live and fish in the Vienne department and the river vienne has some cracking fish in it last year me and my mate had mainly common carp with the biggest being a cracking 37lb er and we know for a fact that we lost bigger fish!Its not just the rivers you are missing out on the public lakes have some cracking fish as well and are never over fished or you never have to get there early to get a swim.
Short of it is you lot should start trying the public lakes and rivers at the end of the day a full licence is 86€ which means you can fish Anywhere in France so it will work out a lot cheaper than paying for a lake and you have a lot more choice.
If anyone wants to come down my way I will be happy to take you to some of the best places always an excuse to fish lol