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Posted

Just got back from the Magnificent Moorlands fishery in France. I would first like to say a massive thank you for the great hospitality for the week, Thanks to the Girls for the fantastic food and to Keith for being an awesome host.

 

Me and Lewis turned up early to scout the place out on the friday. Leaving my house at 330 on the friday morning we were like 2 very excited kids waking up on christmas day. The drive in france was so easy, for 400 miles the roads were flat and clear and we made it to the fishery in very good time.

 

When we arrived we was not disapointed with what we found, the lake was stunning and so quiet. 2 fish were caught the second we drove through the gates and the sun was blazing. A couple of ice cold beers were offered and the relaxing began.

 

The week started off fairly slowly with heavy rain showers for the first night and a changable wind made the fishing difficult and me and lewis both lost fish on the fist night. Lewis lost another fish first thing in the morning before breakfast. It wasnt long though before we got the rewards and we had runs within seconds of each other. The result was 2 fine Moorlands fish on the mats.

 

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The sunday was to be productive for myself and i soon landed my first 30lb carp of the week.

 

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After a quick re cast and t shirt change i was into fish number 3 in within an hour, nice. Pretty mirror into the 20s

 

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I thought it was going to number 4 when the alarm burst into life again, well it was but not what we was expecting, 15 month old fry.... The future looks good.

 

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The nights were prooving busy for lewis who managed a lovely New PB common at 36lb.

 

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After seeing this i decided that fishing the nights would be worthwhile and re baited the rigs and turfed them out, good job too as i had a runs shortly after.... Banana fish

 

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Then it was away again after a couple more hours, another common.

 

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It was then in the morning that the rods went off again, i had pulled the rod back off the spot ion the hope of picking up a better fish and it seemed i had done so but that was one that got away, lewis got a picture of the fight though.

 

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Sticking with the tactic and baiting meant i was kept busy and was soon battling my second 30 of the week, cracking fish.

 

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even the pasties were getting in on the act by now, all wanting to have their picutres taken with the best looking angler on the lake......

 

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Next up was a middle of the night battler at 330am on the 22nd, a nice upper 20 mirror (28lb) followed at dawn with a common which escaped at the net after a good battle.

 

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Then the lake decided enough was enough and went rather difficult. I tried a few different tactics and baiting applications and lewis by now was pulling his hair out as he worked extremely hard but for no reward. Me and Lewis and the other 3 lads on decided we would be better off reeling in and having a few beers and a social. we decided to either not fish the night or fish one or 2 rods to take the pressure off. I opted for the no rods in option and had some much needed sleep having only had a few hours for the first 3 days fishing.

 

I was rewarded first thing in the morning on the 23rd, 30 mins after re casting to the spots and Lewis done the honours with the early morning water shot. It was my 3rd 30 of the week at 33lb.

 

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The day was going great, i had a right battle with the next fish lasting over 20 mins but no wonder.... My first ever 40lb carp the Pipe Smoker.

 

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Keith Moors showed us all how its done in the afternoon, after only 20 mins fishing he lands a right monster, Great angler showing why he is one of the best. 47lb well done.

 

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Inspired by the sight of that awesome fish i went back to my swim to take it all in when my alarm roared off and it was my 4th 30 of the week 2nd of the day.

 

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I opted not fish the full night but to get up at 4am bait up and re cast then after some rest, the rod was away instantly, the baiting strategy was definatly working.

 

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I waited untill dawn to re cast and glad i did, i found a patch of 8 or 9 sets of bubbles coming up so moved one rod round to them (right in the middle of my 2 spots) i put the other back where i had the last fish from. then the breakfast bell rang..... i couldnt get back fishing quick enough. I re cast to the spots and set my video up, the bubblers were still there and it was only a matter of time. I will post the video up shortly. i had a nice common straight away at 11.30.

 

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It was the afternoon of the 24th, the week was flying by. I had been feeding little and often and now was getting signs all the time, the rod was away again at 2pm this time to my 5th 30 of the week what a fish.

 

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I quickly re cast and then the other rod went.... What a battle this was, the fish fought for about 35mins maybe longer. I was sure it was a good fish untill it rolled close in.... i was amazed at the power from this fish and is one of the highlights of the week at only 22lb

 

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The 2 rods were re baited and re cast, about 100 baits went out of the stick between the 2 spots. at 430 i had a slow pick up, i knew this was a good one straight away, the fish held its ground and i got all jelly legged when i saw the back hit the water in the fight. The fish absolutly blew me away, trully stunning and i was the happiest man on earth, 2nd 40 of the week just shy of 42lb the half linear....

 

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There is more to life at Moorlands than just the great fishing, the food and gathering with Keiths Wit and stories make this a truely memorable holiday.

 

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After the fun, we went back to the fishing, i set the alarm for 1am to re bait bu was no need this fish, my 6th 30 of the week had me up at just after 12am,

 

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I decided that was it for the night and opted for a late start, at 6 the alarm went off, i re steamed all my rigs and took off the twisted line ready for a last push for the friday. At 7 am i baited the spot with about 200 boilies and re cast the rods. At 8am my coffee was interupted and after a good early morning tussell the 3rd 40 of my week was in the net, The magnificent Clover at 43lb and loads of ounces.... (just shy of 44lb)

 

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After breakfast me and lewis decided to double up in the corner fishing one take each. I went stalking as lewis was up first but was running back to the swim after about 15 mins as lewis had hooked a lump. The fight went on for 55mins before the hook popped out just inches from the waiting net, it was quite obvioulsy one of the biggies and lewis was gutted, this week his luck really was out. The rod was away soon after and i said to lewis to have it, he did and landed his first catfish

 

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The rods were back out in minutes and next up was this propper linear

 

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Lewis then lost another heavy fish after 20 minutes fight and the strain was starting to tell. He decided to fish a swim that one of the lads vacated for the last night. and within an hour of fishing was into a fish, a nice fully scaled was soon on the mat. I went sleep to get ready for the drive in the morning but lewis kept pluggling away and had 2 more mirrors though the night biggest at 26lb.

 

At 5am i woke up to bait up the spots for one last fish in the morning to take me to 20 fish for the week, i that done when i heard lewis' alarm and he was again into a fish just as the light was comming up, this was again a 26lb mirror. Lewis re cast his rod to the spot and about 20 mins later at 7.30 i had a flyer, and what a fight this fish put up. i was over the moon when this one went into the net and capped a great week for myself and at 37lb 8oz was a fine finish to a great weeks fishing.

 

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Lewis was not done there and with less than an hour to go his right hand rod roared off, i ran round to see him and got some great pictures, Best of all was the one as the big girl slipped over the net cord.

 

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The carp was lewis' 2nd 30 of the week and a great looking fish.

 

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We said our goodbyes but not before Keith played some guitar for lewis, i was singing away in the shower at the time and so there started out 12 hour drive home.....

 

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Once again, a big thank you to the Moorlands Crew and see you in a few months time for round 2. The memories will stay with me for a lifetime and i know the same can be said for lewis. The best weeks fishing i have ever had!!!!!!

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Guest Anonymous
Posted

WOW :shock:

 

Excellent write up & what a weeks fishing you had... The comment that made me chuckle was "it was only 22lb" oh dear, darn pasties :lol:

Posted

Cheers guys, "Only 22lb" was meant in a good way as that fish had the lot, best fight of the week and what a scale pattern.

 

the results were good Lewis had 3 doubles, 2 20s 2 30s and a cat

i had 3 doubles, 7 20s, 7 30s, 3 40s.

the other three had i think (hope they forgive me if its wrong)

Colin 6 fish, 2 doubles, 3 20s, 1 40,

Trevor had 4 fish 1 double, 1 20, 1 30, 1 40

miles had 5 all 20s to 29lb.

Posted

sounds like you had the time of your lives :twisted: i aint green with envy but you understand why i dont want to see any more pictures dont you :lol: well done on a cracking time

Posted

I'll sling a couple of photos up tomorrow! I'm off to bed, and back to reality getting up for work at 5am tomorrow :lol::cry:

 

Its an awesome photo that one, cheers for coming round for it!

Posted

I dont know how to edit the vid into 2 halves. its on a quick time player on the pc but i dont have the first idea about editing it other tan trimming it on the camara but that will only do a 10 mins secion in the middle with the space i have. Any ideas??

Posted
I dont know how to edit the vid into 2 halves. its on a quick time player on the pc but i dont have the first idea about editing it other tan trimming it on the camara but that will only do a 10 mins secion in the middle with the space i have. Any ideas??

 

I know you can split videos in Windows Movie Maker but its not compatible with quicktime files. If the file is converted into WMV format its easy to do in movie maker. I had software to convert files but it stopped working when I switched laptops.

 

Is the format your camera records MOV? Try googling 'splitting MOV files'

Posted

The first fish of the week :lol:

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Jamie having a prod about a shallow gravel bar in the rain

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A couple of cool pasties and two twenties, one of which had a pectoral fin smaller than my little finger

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And my favourite picture of the week, my second biggest at just over 31lb

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As Jamie said, an absolutely legendary week, and I recommend anyone with a slight curiosity towards fishing france, check out the moorland fisheries website. You won't be dissapointed!

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