Ghost Carp Lake
The stunning large lake looking from the dam towards the shallows. |
My family and I had two weeks holiday in France at two venues; the first venue was Oakview and is covered in a separate article the second venue was Ghost Carp Lake.
The venue is so secluded that the owner John decided to meet us in the local village and escort us to the lake. We followed John through some winding rural lanes and eventually arrived at the lake, we were not disappointed the location was absolutely stunning. There are actually 3 lakes one of around 3 acres, one between half and one acre and a small stock pond. All three lakes contain carp. The lakes are surrounded by trees, but have nice flat grassy banks for bivvying up. John showed us around and I just couldn’t wait to get started. I chose to set up by the mobile home as it gave assess to most of the lake and the BBQ, why make life difficult for yourself?
The mobile is very well situated. |
The middle lake was equally stunning. |
The first job was to find out what I had in front of me and oh joy the venue has a boat. Out came the Eagle fish finder and I was off. A fish finder is useless for finding fish as the fish swim away from the boat, but is brilliant at mapping out the depths. In no time at all I had an accurate map of the lake bed.
A fish finder makes finding contours and depths easy. |
Map produced using the fish finder.
CLICK HERE to enlarge map. |
I chose two spots, one by the sluice and one in open water, where I had found a nice hard spot.
The fishing
The lake record is 44lb+; hence I decided to use robust tackle:
- Rods- 3lb test curve Century Armalite SP.
- Main line-Shimano Catana 15lb breaking strain.
- Hook line- 25lb Rig Marole hydralink. This has a braid outer and a stiff inner core of floro carbon which can be trimmed to create a stiff rig with a flexible hinge.
- Hooks-ESP BIG-T raptor size 6.
- Bait-Quest 20mm Rahja spice, I have every confidence in this bait as it has always done the business for me in France.
I baited up both spots with pellets and boilies and sat back to await events, watching the water for signs of carp. However, I was soon distracted by the glorious wildlife; two kingfishers were decimating the fry on the far bank. Green woodpeckers were calling in the trees, buzzards were slowly circling overhead and I had a eer in my hand, life just doesn’t get any better than this. I was awoken from my malaise by a large carp throwing itself clear on the water; unfortunately it was nowhere near either of my baited areas.
This carp continued to flaunt itself all evening, I settled down for the night hoping that it would go on a tour of my baited areas, but alas it wasn’t to be. I woke up next morning without having a beep. From my map I knew that the depth where the carp had been showing was 2foot 11inches, plenty deep enough. I decided to move my open water spot to this area and baited heavily. To cut a long story short, after moving to this new position I caught every night and the fish were real stunners. I even managed a pike on Rahja, is there a fish that swims that doesn’t eat it?
A sample of fish I caught during the week:
first fish. |
largest fish of the week at 29lb 12oz |
One of the ghost carp that give the lake its name. |
Another stunner. |
Even pike like Rahja. |
Another stunner. |
My baiting situation was as follows:
Each day we went out to do some sight seeing, before going out I baited with 2kg of pellets. When I came back I baited with a further 3kg of pellet and 2kg of boilies. This tactic of baiting twice a day has always worked for me in France. I wouldn’t do it if the fish weren’t responding. However, I caught every night apart from the first night.
The middle lake
The middle lake is stuffed full of fish including roach, tench and carp. From the sound of the crashing out during the night some of the carp are on the large side. My wife and son really enjoyed float fishing this lake and caught one after another on sweet corn.
Mark with a typical float caught carp. |
Is it a garden gnome? My wife concentrating on that float. |
The Accommodation
Accommodation is a mobile home situated a yard or so from the lake. There are three bedrooms, toilet and shower, cooking area and living room. The mobile had everything that we needed including cutlery, pots and pans and bedding, John even went and got a DVD player to go with the TV from his home, what a star.
Out and About
We went out every day as a family, we particularly like the ancient towns of Vitré with its medieval streets and châteaux and Fougeres with its impressive châteaux.
The medieval streets of Vitré |
Vitré’s châteaux |
The châteaux at Fougeres. |
ougeres châteaux does guided tours in English 4.80 euros adults, 2.15 euros 10 to 16 year olds, under 10s are free.
Conclusion
Ghost Carp Lake is a very picturesque place and I would be happy sitting there all week just drinking in the atmosphere. When this is coupled with some excellent fishing you have found paradise. We didn’t catch any of the larger residence, but we did see some very large carp. The weather was not very kind as we had hot sunshine, torrential rain, thunder storms and cold days, the fish didn’t know what was going on. With settled weather I believe that the fishing would be prolific.
John the owner is very helpful and friendly, making you feel welcome-arrive as a guest and leave as a friend. There is a railway line close to the venue which sees trains pass by regularly, but it didn’t bother us as we soon got used to it. I would recommend this venue to anyone and I would definitely return to do battle with its gorgeous carp. If you are interested in fishing a beautiful, unspoilt water I would suggest that you get on here before the word gets out and it becomes fully booked.
