river lot tips,

[gagnaccarp]

hello ,ive been fishing on and off for 30 years now,ive fished my local fishery and caught carp to 23 lb,and this year ive decided to have a few goes on the river lot I started with 12 lb line fishing one of the damned sections of the lot just above st cirque lapopie,ive had up to 20 barbell in a session which on lighter tackle would be fun,ive done 1 all night session but no carp,after talking with an English guy who came looking for a place to spend a week somewhere it opened my eyes to how you should approach river carp fishing ,he told me that in this section of the river there is not many carp but the ones that are can often be over 30 kg and i should beef my line up,bring more bait and prebait .he said he would bait up 2 days before with up to 50 kg of boilies,thats a lot of money! i last went down 2 weeks ago with my mate who came to visit i hooked something on my 30 lb line that i could do nothing with ,3 lb tc on my rod with 30 lb line,it felt like someone had tied me to a cow and smacked its arse,it left my hook in a snag 50 yards down river,still no carp,ive been back in England for 8 days now,i return on Monday, November is said to be the best time for carp,the river lot is 90 minutes drive,i recently found out that a damned section of my local river has carp to over 30 kg,at laval de cere ive done 3 short sessions there,nice bream,but no carp.if anyone has any experience fishing the lot from cahors to figeac and could pass on any info that would be great,mainly possible swims,i can spend ages looking for somewhere to fish,im having problems finding fishmeal and soya flour also,ive been to Leclerc and other places but have not found any,i end up taking a suitcase full,like i am this Monday to make my boilies,ive also bought a hummingbird fish finder,mainly for mapping the river bottom for snags n carp hidey holes from my dinghy,im determined to catch a whopper,any help would be much appreciated !

[maffy]

Firstly You need to just catch a carp. The guy you talked to will be fishing for BIG carp. You need to catch one the big ones can come later.

On the River Lot I use 18lb nylon or 50lb braid lines and 3.5 test rods, 3 test rods are fine. Instead of using expensive boilies use particles you can get maize and smaller bird seed particles that you can get from Gamvert in france. Cook them if you can but a 3day soak for the maize or 24hrs for the bird seed will be ok.

Bait up each day for three days if you can. Just turn up and fish if you can't between 5 and 10k each bait up will be enough. Try variouse depths if you can sometimes the fish will want to be shallow sometimes deep.

Boilies are great to bait up if you can afford them if not put in what you can afford. Use big baits on the hair I use anything from 24-30ml and often use two 30ml baits on the hair to try to avoid the chub/barbel and target the Big carp.

Most of all don't stress to much if you don't catch one just enjoy the scenery the carp will come if you keep at it. Different streches of the river have different numbers and sizes of fish. try and find a stretch with a higher population of carp.

Best of luck and I may bump in to you next september!!

There are some wels catfish in the river around st cirque lapopie they will beat you up !!!!

[gagnaccarp]

thanks for the quick reply i think im going to bait up my local lake after ive given it a good looking at with my new sonar,(if I can work out how to use it)but I will try the lot before I come back for winter,I will post up some vids and pics when I come back in December,i have a gamvert about 3 miles away in st cere,i will be there on Monday on my way back from the airport,

[maffy]

Good luck.

[apl16]

I have only just seen this post as recently joined forum. I have a holiday home in Clairac on the River Lot and have been catching carp up to 30lb using halibut marine pellet (with smaller pellets in PVA tube) and I only usually fish for a few hours each day when I am there. I use 3lb TC rod and 20lb nylon line. Seemed fine until a large carp snapped me last time I was there! My neighbour (who is French) says (confirmed as I have seen the photos) he caught a 50lb carp using halibut marine pellet. I have tried a variety of boillies but halibut marine pellet is my favourite and seems to do the trick!

[gagnaccarp]

thanks for that ,its confirmed one of next years plans,i didn't manage much fishing after my last post ,2 weeks of rain put a stop to that ,I tried my local damned river (plan B) but even that was to the brim and had a strong flow through it, so I spent a few days with my sonar learning how to map the bottom,cant wait till end of feb till im back on the lot, ive beefed up all my tackle,sonik 3.5 tc rods and bigger reels!

If anyone knows where to get good quality fishmeal in france that would be a great help (in the Dordogne or lot region)as at the moment im thinking about taking 50 kg down with me to make boilies!

were you using the 30 mm halibut or smaller.

[apl16]

Hi, I tend to use 22 mm pellets with size 6 or 8 hook as there are also some nice bream to be caught in the Lot. I have had bream to 8 / 9lb and keep catching once you have attracted a shoal. I am not a "serious" carp angler, tending only to fish a few hours a day at my house and hopefully you will catch the bigger carp using the large baits. There is a tackle shop on the road between Tonneins and Marmande (not sure whereabouts you will be on the Lot) that does sell fishmeal and I think I have also seen it in the supermarket, Le Clerc but must admit not entirely sure. Last time I bought "farce" basically sausage meat and mixed it in with pellets, sweetcorn, and halibut marine groundbait and that certainly got the carp feeding having lobbed it in the river the day before. I caught 8 carp, smallest about 8lb and the largest 26lb within a couple of hours and even had one on both rods at one stage and had to call the wife to help me out![/img]

[guyholman]

Fishmeals you will need to get online...Cotes et Lacs have a decent range..otherwise just google "farine de poisson".

 

I have lived in the Lot for 12 years and run the local carp section which covers the area between Figeac and St Cirq Lapopie..by all means PM me for a chat or a beer on the banks sometime.

 

All the best

 

Guy

[gagnaccarp]

I have just ordered 25kg lt 94 and a few other things to take down with me ,ive been itching all winter to get back down there,i will be setting off in about ten days,reckon im going to be making a frolic,fishmeal semolina stink in my village in 10 days time ,thanks for fishmeal source that will be handy!