After a successful trip to the French village, it was still some time to find the water “Trois Fontaines”, we asked it to an old villager who spontaneously grabbed his car keys and took us to the water. Arriving at the water had a pleasant conversation with the owner, John, we were the only one on the water, so choose free site!

Saturday: Unfortunately, the first night as expected, because of the heat during the day, a calm, a tench for Raymond, who well be the night could have been served, because of the increasing number bliebjes.

Sunday: Even 2 days and 2 night spent alone in tench ‘t like.

Monday: carp related activities elsewhere in the water decided to relocate.
Marcel to the site last September, Remco and Raymond to spot 1 and 2 of Small Lake.
The move appeared after half an hour not a bad decision, the rod of Raymond, which of course just as the car was so Remco caught on the rod, Raymond took over and pulled a 16 kg mirror inside, a good start!

Whistler at 4:01 p.m. on the rod of Remco, unfortunately, this fish swam themselves stuck in the branches, and Jim was the collaboration of John and his boat back his rig. Jim starts the same place 10 minutes later, “Two-Tone” at 20,5 kg, his week could not go wrong, a new PR!

21 hours back a whistler on the rod of Raymond, a 13 kg mirror. About 23 hours through a port of call Marcel Raymond to it, the fish had swum down, around the corner, so Marcel had the water, unfortunately these fish escaped just before the creation .. 
11:30 p.m. Remco losschieter a falcon to the side, the fish have just seen, was a knoepert.

Tuesday: 01:30, Remco almost Rows Carp at10 kg. (We fish the fish is at an end of the week we both caught as much). At about 6:00 in the morning a whistler on the rod of Raymond, with a pre-soaked fish / bait and Garlic bungee rig, a mirror carp estimated at 16 pounds. Then back again at 07:30 on the rod of Raymond, with bungee rig and fish / bait garlic, a scale of 13 kg, won by Remco.

In the afternoon 1:30 p.m. another run at the Salty Tuna with normal bait rig,16 kg mirror carp results. We have become spoiled, and some felt that the long next run was going to delay, but anyway, after dinner, Jim with a nice scale of 11 kg. Marcel has been a pike caught during the downloading, something that John had already warned us in advance. And a carp 10,5 kg?(not sure) 

In the evening about 10:15 p.m. ready for the night, during the night to pee raymond a warbler, again on the same rod (hot spot) again the salty tuna bait, a13 kg mirror for Raymond.

Around 11:15 p.m. Remco asked Raymond whether that sound is also heard saying that yes, we were in our tent, and a little further was a group of boars, pff, that get good sleep …. 

Wednesday: 02:30, a warbler, back on the salty tuna bait,Remco drills a good 31 pounds sugar within a very active fish on the side. Indeed, around 4:00 at night rumble and rustle, a little further, with the mag-lite ghost eyes alert, so n further 100 meters, pigs so .. Marcel has decided today to relocate for the second time, if the fish is not due to you …. Now that is among the lilies, site 2 (Big Lake) where a lot of activity. 
Around 19:00 in the evening during the re-insertion of the lines a tap on the rod with the fish / bait garlic, the summit continued to move, I thought of tench, but it was a pike of 70 cm.

Thursday: At night at 01:00 pm,Remco roughly from his sleep by a screaming removed warbler, a scale 16 kg was knocked to the mat. Today as the water that some rest and errands done, the rods went at noon for 17 hours again. The evening run at 23:01, again on the salty tuna bait and notorious hotspot, Raymond with a 18 pound mirror carp, a good start to the night. Equal to 23 hours after it Remco, a 16 kg mirror carp. It is also the night calm.

Friday: On the wish list of Raymond was still a schubkarper and a 20 kg+ fish. And there was the first wish-fulfillment at 1:30 at night, a scale of about 6 kg

Marcel also, finally, snapped at 02:00 am, begins his PR with a 16 kg mirror carp. 

Then again at 07:00 at the hotspot of Raymond, a mirror carp of 14 kg. 
3:30 p.m. Raymond gives the rod over to Remco, a mirror carp of 8 kg caught on the fish / bait garlic, for a tea bag soaked with forrest fruit taste
4:30 p.m. pike again, this time on a grain of corn and penhengel!

Saturday: Last night and this night we hope to have some nice bangers. Raymond was rudely awakened at 01:00 by Marcel postage, need assistance because carp had swum through the other line, but a nice carp of 18 pounds hauled.
Marcel immediately upon return from a mirror carp of around £ 14 on the rod of Raymond, who also went to the tea bag
Again from the same angle it was at 03:00 Two-Tone (20,5 kg) again brought, unfortunately, Raymond had the rod over to Remco by appointment, so that20 kg + still stay standing on his request list.

We have three of us had a very nice week, with a lot of “tap him on old” moments. The owner John is very helpful, even if for once was caught or if the fish swam down, if it’s always wake up call, which is also very concerned about his fish, check the bottom lines and techniques. The facilities are very well maintained, hot showers, charging stations for battery, s (also Dutch outlets).

With the three of us that week had 21 carp on the side, here we certainly have to come back.!

Jay and the crew had a fantastic time carp fishing at Trois Fontaine and even had time for their celebrated fancy dress parade!

Fancy Dress Carp Fishing at Trois Fontaine

The players are:  Jay the Team  Leader as  Thunderbirds Virgil, Brian as Batman, Chris as Elvis, Paul as Spiderman, Robert as King Charles, Andrew as Rambo, Robert as a Pirate and Harry as Pamela Anderson.

We can’t wait to see what they get up to next year…..

Jo with her best carp from Trois Fontaine

The Wife (who has never night fished and never seen a fish over 8lbs) and I fished the small lake from 4pm Friday to 2pm Monday. 

I’ve fished in France a few times but I’m no expert., I had tied 6″ rigs ready for use but John told us that the silt can be 8″+ so extended rig length to 8″, 17lb main line with 15lb braid size 6 barbed hooks.

No bottom features or gravel bars, so fished opposite bank and margins on our bank.  Really wild and un-spoilt, lots of overhanging trees, little bays, and snags.  Its only a small lake but its full of carpy areas and surface features. 

Bait boats are allowed but we dont have one, I’m sure they would help on this lake as there so many areas that you just cant cast to and if you walk around the lake you can clearly see they’re packed with carp.  I’d love to spout on about how bait boats are taking the skill out of angling and that I dont own one for ethical reasons, but the truth is I’m too tight to buy one.

Mainline bait – I dont want to sound like a tackle tart but I only ever use mainline baits, I wasn’t too sure what the fish would go for so I took 3 flavours and had success on all 3.  Maple 8, Fusion, Cell all 18mm round airdried.  Each one was capped off with either plastic corn or a chopped up 10mm pineapple popup.  I’m not sure if the popups or corn made any difference but it makes me more confident and happy to know they’re on. 

I used a spod but baited very lightly with only 4 spods per spot.  Mixture of hemp, pellets and maize with a bit of chopped boilie for good measure. 

Had the first fish at 2.30am 18lb Mirror.  Saturday was really hot (30) and still with no wind.  Even though you couldn’t wish for worse fishing conditions we landed  2 fish, 25lb common, 28lb mirror. 

The night was warm and still but landed another one 21lb common.  Sunday was warm but alot more comfortable (26) with a slight breeze.  We put a few rods mid water and had a take around 2pm with a 26lb mirror. Back in the far margin we had 30lb mirror.  Sunday night we blanked after loosing one about 3am.

Monday morning was cloudy and threatened rain but brought us our biggest fish of the trip, 33lb 4oz mirror. 

Then a beautiful spot on the far bank, right in the middle of a little bay under a tree we had 2 x 28lb mirrors in the same spot within 40minutes of each other.

So, thats 1 x double, 6 x 20s and 2 x 30 in 3 nights.  Not bad for a complete novice and a fat bloke with no baitboat.

Will with a Small Lake mirror

You can see more of Jo and Will’s captures in the Gallery on www.trois-fontaine.com/gallery.html

The longer nights and falling temperatures act as a trigger to Carp to make that frenetic final push to eat as much as they can and they approach their top weights as Autumn leads into Winter.

Tactics remain the same as for the Summer, but be prepared for more action after dark as they won’t confine their feeding spells to the shortening days and the nights will become much more active, especially if it is overcast and mild.

The water temperature will fall slowly and the Carp will be very active, both in the shallows and the deeper water, so be generous with your baiting to hold shoals of fish as they move through your swim.

Keep a keen eye out for jumping and rolling fish as these are the best indicators of where the fish are and are obvious targets. After all, you have more chance of catching a fish if you have a bait near it…

Lee with a 32lb Lump

Lee and Pete had a great session at the back end of the year.

Pete with a Pretty Twenty

Deryk and Andrew share a brace of twenties.

Deryk & Andrew with a Pair of Twenties

Want to see more? Take a look at the Trois Fontaine Gallery http://www.trois-fontaine.com/gallery.html

Nowadays there are a wide variety of pellets avaialable that are designed for Carp and are safe for them to eat.

Which Pellets to Use

Jon can provide you with pellets that have the added advantage of being known to the Carp as a food source as he has been feeding them to the fish for the past couple of years.

But most other pellet that you can buy will do the trick. Those that contain Betaine would be first my choice and those with CSL (Corn Steep Liquor) have proven themselves this season.

Aditives

One of the way you can improve the effectiveness of your pellets is to add a does of your favourite flavour.

Most manufacurers provide there own glugs and addetives and most are effective, if only to boost your confidence.

Adding a tin of Tuna and mixing it well into you mixture of pellets can provide an edge on those harder days.

Size Doesn’t Matter?

Using pellets as an attractor to your swim, rather than a hook bait, makes the issue of size less important and the carp will eat all pellets from the smallest to the largest.

Where size does matter is in the breakdown period, small pellets usually break down much more quickly tha large pellets.

I usualy fish with mixed sizes of pellets to ensure that the break down is over a longer period, yet there is enough breakdown going on to ensure a strong flavouring of the water column…

In addition to improving your range, the abiility to place a bait with accuracy and surrounded by a tight patch of free offerings can be a decided advantage.

Which Bait Boat

The choice is amazing nowadays and there are bait boats to fit most pockets and fishing situations.

Usually, the need for a bait boat is distance and accuracy so the capacity of the hoppers is a little academic and something  the fact that a boat is easy to carry and will place a bait and a handful of free offerings will be likely to get more use than the euro monster that will dump 10Kgs at a time, but needs a strong man to carry it!

If I was to state a choice I guess it would be the Anging Technics range of bait boats, the ProCat is small and easy to carry around and the MicroCat will give you capacity to dump out a bucketfull, if you are strong enough

How to Use a Bait Boat 

Mention bait boats and you have to mention the need for commonsense as it is easy to be stupid in your bait placement and distance fished.

NEVER fish were you don’t have a reasonable chance of extracting a fish or where you will annoy other anglers.

If you are fishing at extreme range, think about what will happen if the fish kites. Are their overhanging trees that will snag you before you will have a chance to land the fish? Trois Fontaine is quite shallow and the fish will kite!

Are you fishing to far in to the snag?, at distance your line will stretch and even if you are onto the fish quickly it can mean that  the fish will have enough stretch to get into the snag.

Size Matters?

Just because your bait boat can deliver 2kgs of free offerings, doesn’t mean that you should be dumping this amount out every time you recast.

The ability to place a hook bait perfectly where you want it with 4 or 5 free offerings can be vastly more effective than a huge dump of boilies.

Think about it, 2 kilos of bait will need a shoal to get through while half a dozen baits is a tasty morsel for just one fish….

The same applies for those who like to fish the far margin, as the swims are only on one side of both lakes there are great targets to hit on the far side.

Hide Your Line

Fishing the near margin always presents a problem with the angle the line enters and risks the carp spooking of the line or becoming very wary once they realise that line is in the area.

Using heavy sinking  lines like X-Line and fishing with slack bite indicators help to hide your line and aid your presentation, alternatively, you can use a back lead.

Whichever method is your preferred choice, take care how your line lays in the water as the margins always have drifted wood and weed and these will defeat most attempts to hide your line if you are draped over a foot high obstacle!

Try to fish as far down your margin as is safe to do so, as this will improve your line entry in the water and allow better presentation, but take care that you do not go to far and risk a fish snagging you.

Check Your Exit Strategy.

Margin fishing can be the same as snag fishing and care must always be taken to ensure that you do not put a fish at risk.

Fish normally bolt out from the margin as soon as they know they are hooked. If your margin is clear then this is not to much of a problem as you can let the fish head out in to open water under pressure to let it tire itself.

It is a different matter if you have snags like overhanging trees or branches in your margin as the Carp could race straight trough the snag and along your margin, reducing the chance of you landing it and putting the fish at risk of damage.

Think carefully what you will do when you have a run and plan out how you will stop the fish from getting into this snag or how you wil turn it from that snag.

If a snag is close, do not leave your rods as this is when they will scream away and you will find find an angry Carp on the other side of immovable snag…..

One bait that several anglers have had good results on is Mainline Fusion, this meaty/fishy bait has accounted for some good bags and many of the bigger fish.

Confidence is Key

Go with what you are confident with and use the bait that you have been successfull with in the past, as the most important thing with bait is your confidence in it’s effectiveness.

Any meaty or fishy bait should do the trick.

Trois Fontaine Bait

Jon has a well stocked freezer of bait and can provide most baits to order, which saves having to cart the stuff to the lake

Make sure you contact Jon prior to your visit to make arrangements for your bait.

Size Matters!

The main lake has a good population of Tench and it is advisable to fish with large baits to keep these at bay. My preferred method is a couple of 18mls, although I have caught Tench on three 18mls in the past…

Larger single hook baits of 22 or 24ml may be worth a try, perhaps using 16 or 18mls as free offerings.

Naturals

Naturals in the margin are always a favoured method for those who like a more active style of fishing.

…..

We will start our walk from the car park and move South across the dam for a good view up the lake.

Trois Fontaine View Up the Main Lake

The first thing that takes your breath away is the host of lilies that stretch out in front of you for 80 or more yards, then your eye is drawn to the line of reeds that are some 25 yards out from the Southern bank, but with clear water behind them.

As your eye is drawn to the reed lined far end of the lake, you can see the duck lodge sitting as a very castable feature in the middle of the widest section.

The top end of the lake is out of site and is a very shallow and narrow ribbon of water that is unfishable although great fun to explore by boat if you can get Jon’s permission

From the middle of the dam we can see several swims on the left hand bank, but none on the right hand bank. This makes the fishing ideal as it is an easy cast to the far margin, with plenty of features to cast to and good depths right up to the edge.

The lilies themselves make a classic target, but care must be taken with tackle and tactics to make sure that the fish are not placed at risk.

The Southern Bank

The Southern Bank of the main lake is heavily overgrown and very boggy, but worth a visit!

The first thing you will notice is that the water comes right back in under the trees and the margins have a good depth that allows fishing very close to the bank, in fact when casting from the far bank you would not be able to put a bait where a fish couldn’t be

The back of the strip of reeds that stand out in the lake is fascinating as there is a wide area of water behind the reeds that is not obvious when viewed from the swims.

The Northern Bank

Moving from the dam up the left hand bank takes you past the swims and gives you a good view of all the fishing positions.

View from a swim on the Main Lake

The first couple of swims cover the lily pads and the features are obvious!

The next couple have the reed line on the far margin as an obvious target, but don’t forget your own margin

After that every swim has a feature to cast to, either a fallen tree on the far margin or the duck hut!