VALLEE LAKE 1 - 19th to 23rd April 2010

[montymj]

What a venue this is! - especially for those like us, not wishing to travel too far. Easily accessible from Calais ferry port, just 3 roads and 1hr 20 mins later and your there. I can fully recommend it to anyone wishing to seek out a personal best or specimen fish in excellent condition. The place itself is very tranquil and the scenery is absolutely stunning. The facilities are brilliant, extremely clean with roomy Showers and hot water always available.

Mark and Nathalie are extremely helpful and always available should you need them. However, on the other hand, if you want peace, quiet and solitude they wouldn’t impose.

Justin the bailiff is also very helpful and nothing was too much trouble for him. Again, didn’t impose on you unless asked.

The bins were empted daily and the premises were spotless with no sign of mess or litter anywhere. All in all very well organised.

 

There were 4 of us in total with 3 of us fishing pegs 6, 7 & 8. The forth was my son who is 9 and came along for the adventure. We actually bivvied up and although we had the Carpers Cabin never used it for sleeping. Again, it was clean, comfortable with good cooking facilities and a television which helped us keep up with current affairs over a piping hot cup of tea.

 

We didn’t opt for the food package but decided to try the breakfast on a couple of days. It was a French stick full of egg, sausage, bacon and beans. Very tasty and enough even for those with the bigger appetite. The cost was 8 euros which I thought was a little expensive; however you have to bear in mind that this is all in, delivered to your swim. We didn’t have any evening meals so I cannot pass comment on value for money on those.

 

Now for the fishing - In my opinion not the easiest of venues but plenty of big fish, you could hear them crashing out all night! If you work hard and get your tactics right an opportunity to bag a good head of quality specimen fish. All the fish I saw were in stunning condition and you could even question if they had actually even seen a hook before. We decided to take our own frozen Boilies and order particles as per lake rules. The quality of the maize, hemp and partiblend supplied had us all questioning why we even bothered to take our own Boilies. You live and learn and we would most certainly order all our bait direct from Mark in the future.

 

Catch report: 12 fish out over forty pounds including three fifties to 58lbs 4oz.

Swim 9 being the biggest @ 58lbs 4oz + four forties four thirties to 39lbs and four upper twenties to 29lbs.

The lodge having a 51lb mirror and 5 forties and four thirties.

Swim 4 a 50lb 8oz mirror and a 36lb Mirror

 

- Please see below photos…………the first being the 58lbs 4oz off peg 9.

- The other 5 photos are from peg 6 (my mate Tony’s peg) ranging from 19 to 36lb

- Pegs 7 & 8 didn’t catch, although I did loose a fish the first night (19/04) from peg 7 and it was a big one

 

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/2438/58lb4oz.jpg

 

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/3886/19lb.jpg

 

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/9346/28lb.jpg

 

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/7216/34lb.jpg

 

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/9381/35lb.jpg

 

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/8039/36lb.jpg

[spod_father]

Great result that mate. I went there 2 years ago for a 3 day session and had 13 fish including that 58lb one you got there, but at the time it was 51lb. got it from same peg too lol.

I agree with you that its a great place and i would love to go back there in the near future. I prefered it as its only an hour off ferry.

[jayboijay]

montymj .... hi, i am going back to vallee 4th of june for a week will be my 4th time in a year lol cracking lakes i was lucky enuff to be involed in the swim building of v2 and also fished that for two weeks cracking lakes,your post is a true message of what this lake is all about unlike some of the poo ya get on here.

i am also fishing v1 swim 6 which i have never fished before wood it be possiable if u can shed some light on hotspots and features in swim 6 and some baiting tips ie what bait and how much ya put in and how.

 

it wood be very if you can help

 

Jay

[leericho69]

hi jayboijay

 

i have just come back from vallee lake 1 last friday and i can tell yoy its fishing its nuts of i was in a double swim peg 9 we had 15 fish out that week from 27lb - 50lb

 

had a walk up to peg 6 to see what its like and it looks great all the fish sit under the trees at the back of that swim all day not just one or two but up to 20 fish at a time ..

 

after taking to the bloke in swim 6 he says you have to fish with your reels locked down and sleep on the end of your rod butts as soon as they take your bait there off into the tree's bait to use boilies over hemp or pellet ..

 

most bait works well we tipped all our boilies with pop-up yellow corn

 

hope this helps good luck

 

lee

[jayboijay]

leericho69 thanks for the info pal,

 

what bolies ya have your fish on.

 

i normally fish swin one on v1 and the carp do the same on the back bush there too but atleast in swim 6 in the back bushes ant 125yard lol.

 

im yet to have a vallee 50 so hoping this time round i will

 

sounds like u smashed it when you went

[leericho69]

hi mate yes we had agreat time at v1

 

we got our fish on mainline new grange but the best bait was a black boilie called ninja which my mate got but all baits where tipped with pop-up sweetcorn

 

i to am hoping to fish swim 6 next year so you will have to let me know how it fishies

 

hold on to your rod in swin 6

 

tight lines

lee

[jayboijay]

funny that i normally do well on the old grange but am liking the new one too yeah swim 6 does look good,

 

hows the new bailiff?

 

and yeah ill be sleeping on them rods dont you worry

[jayboijay]

was u puttin big beds of bait out or small baiting approch?

[leericho69]

hi mate new bailiff is called justin and he is great will leave you alone all day you will only see him for his catch report each day .

 

as for bait we did small at fist as you still fishing on the bait put in by the person the week before then we built the feed up as the week went on

 

thanks lee

[koicarpus]

Hello Chaps

I'm off to V1 on the 10th of July can't wait.

Fishing Peg 10, my 2 mates are in Peg 9. They were the only 2 swims left on that week so hadn't a choice. Oh well I'm sure we'll catch a fish or 2.

Glad to here you had a good experience out there, my turn soon.

Dave

[leericho69]

Hi dave

 

I think you have the 2 hardest swims on the lake as I have just come back from v1 swim 10 never caught left hand side of 9 which I had is no where near as good as ghe right hand side as they can aim for the island but on v1 you have to find the gravel which are in small patch's if you can in swim 10 put a rod down the infront of the trees on your left because loads of fish hold up down that side all the way round to the corner by the boat take a walk up to swim 6 and look at all the fish under the trees

 

Good look tight lines fined the gravel find the fish and hold on there are some monster carp in there

 

lee

[koicarpus]

Hello Lee thanks for the reply.

So are you basically saying that you had nothing out in mid water over the bars at 40 yards?

Also were the guys in pegs 1 and 2 casting down to your left margain or were they leaving you plenty of room!

Thanks for your help, it's just nice to know what to expect before you get there

Many Thanks Mate

dave

[mattypee]

am also after a bit of info about vl1, am going for the weekend 11th june, ive noticed every1 seems to talk about pegs 6 - 10 ?? are these the most productive pegs on the lake ?? as am fishing the old double peg . peg 3 ( only peg left when i booked )

 

can any shed any light on this peg plz ?? not after tactics or what bait to use. just really on location, as mark told me i dont need a bait boat on this peg. and its my first time fishing in france so id like to have the heads up and hopefully bag a fish or 2

 

is the any features to fish to or just open water?

 

am also after the cats in there, any info would be great ??

 

thanks inadvance

[leericho69]

hi matty

 

peg 3 is fishing in open water and like i have said before if you find the gravel you should find the fish but dont forget to put a line down the inside

 

good look lee

[carpingnic]

Hello Lee thanks for the reply.

So are you basically saying that you had nothing out in mid water over the bars at 40 yards?

Also were the guys in pegs 1 and 2 casting down to your left margain or were they leaving you plenty of room!

Thanks for your help, it's just nice to know what to expect before you get there

Many Thanks Mate

dave

 

Dave

 

I fished the right hand side of the swim with lee on the left, all our fish came from open water but it's not a gravel bar as such, its a clear bar running from the island down to peg10, there are spots of gravel on it and if you can find them fish them i had 8 of my 12 fish over the gravel and they were all the bigger ones upto 50lb 9oz.

 

also look for depth changes on this area.

 

As for the bloke in peg 10 not catching i think he was there more for a tan than fishing as the owner said there was some very good areas infront of the swim if you took time to find them which he did not, he laoded up his bait boat and off he went dropping here there and everywhere SO DON'T BE PUT OFF!!!!!

 

As for the left hand side you get about 25yards then its peg 1's water and they will have 3 or 4 rods over there it a double swim.

 

What else can i tell you.........

 

the bait from them is so so, the hemp is good maise not bad pellet what a load of rubbish we got 5kg off him and gave it away.

 

Any Q's just ask.

 

Nick.

[carpingnic]

Just rebooked today for next year.

 

I'm on Peg 6 and my mate Lee is in peg 8

[koicarpus]

Hello Nick

 

Thanks for the info, nice to have a bit of inside knowledge before casting out.

I'm fairly nifty with the marker rod, and shall take my time and find some good spots before sending the baitboat out.

I'm pleased you had a good weekds fishing

Looking forward to going, 4 weeks now.

Thanks for your time, I shall let you know how I get on.

Dave

[mattypee]

just come back from a 3 day session on VL1 yesterday. what a awesome time i had there, re-booking soon.

 

had 6 runs landed 3

 

5lb kitten , 51lb15oz mirror & 57lb1oz mirror

 

had peg 3 booked but , got offered 3 - 5. so opted for 4. which ended up bein the right choice.

 

dave you will have a top time. i noticed all the carp crashing at night straight out infront of peg 9 and 10. there was only 4 of us on there that weekend. peg 1,6,7,4. so there was less pressure on the lake.

 

my advice would be not to fish to the middle , i tried it for 2 days and had no luck,( swim 4 is opposite 9 & 10 ) fish close in 40ft or find the drop in water depth and fish slick lines on it. also the margin down your left had side ( plenty of carp crashin there aswell )

 

hope you have a top time, bag a 50 !!

 

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[koicarpus]

Crikey mate what a brace.

You'll do well to top that weekend!!

Thanks for the info mate, just over three weeks now

can't ruddy wait.

Cheers

Dave

[Guest fenboy]

Seems a bit odd that there are a lot of threads on here more or less slating vallee lakes ,but all of a sudden there are a load of new threads from members with a very low post count saying how great it is ,now I have never fished it so cant comment onee way or the other but something seems a bit excuse the pun fishy here !

[carpingnic]

Seems a bit odd that there are a lot of threads on here more or less slating vallee lakes ,but all of a sudden there are a load of new threads from members with a very low post count saying how great it is ,now I have never fished it so cant comment onee way or the other but something seems a bit excuse the pun fishy here !

 

i know what you mean fella, but i can only speak from myself.

 

we booked for may 2010 and after booking was very very worried about what i had read on forums etc but hay ho i was booked and i had to go.

my view is this (i'm no expert angler but class my self as let say compertant with 15 years experiance) it's by no means an easy water unless your in peg 1, just bait boat your baits some 130 yards agains the trees and you'll have it off, sorry but thats not for me.

you have to work your swim my 3 rods were fished at about 50 yards the first sopt i found was pukka, but it took me until 4pm the second day to be totally happy with my other 2 spots, but all the effert was worth it as i was top rod for the week with 12 fish even out fishing peg1. but it was hard.

i had fish to 52lb.

there was a bloke on the next peg to us who had returned to the lake after blanking the previous year and said his peg was much better this time, but yep you guessed it he blanked again after watching him fish it was not until 5 days into the week he got his marker out prefuring to drop baits in by bait boat where ever he fancied, not once in the week after i started catching did he come up to ask what i was doing, (where all there for the same thing which was to catch BIG carp) i would have gladly offered advise.

 

so to sum it up i personally think the lake it fantastic yes the owner does come accross a bit money mad but its his living, each to there own.

i've booked again next year and even after the result of this trip if i have 4or5 fish for the week i will be buzzing, as i said it's NOT EASY but hard work will pay off if you've done your homework and found the spots etc...

 

i hope this helps any questions regarding anything please ask i can only tell you what i did not anybody else.

 

oh buy the way if you can get the July copy of Carpology there is an artical in there on the lake, and the three fish you see on the bottom of the right hand page were all caught our week in july (i'm on the left) the middle fish come from peg 1 and bottomed the guys scales out the owner knows the fish and estimates it at 63-64lb and the right a fish to a guy named Matt from peg 4.

 

also i was up most nights and slept during the day, so i could see where the fish were showing.

[leericho69]

yes mate your right it is fishy ...

its now stuffed with fish i went in may to with my mate and fished peg 9 my mate had 12 fish that week and to was in carpoligy with his 50lb carp the big carp that bottomed the scales was massive i only got 3 fish that week

 

 

 

 

i have booked vallee lake for the same time next year we have the cabin on pegs 6,7,8

[leericho69]

this is the pic of nick and his 50lb

[jono16carp]

I am doing a week on lake 1 in the October half term. I havent fished there before just wondering if any one has any hints and tips ?

[Dannyrutts]

Any updates on the venue. Going March 2015 to lake 1