‘Carpin’ with Martin’ Party (7 Anglers) Long Lake 9th-17th May, 2008

We arrived at Long Lake just after 1pm - the coach taking closer to 4½ hours from Calais than 3½ in a car. We unloaded the mountain of gear (hence the coach) and took a walk around the lake, which we had booked exclusively for the seven of us for the week. It was clear a lot of work had been done to the designated swims with gravel being laid out, albeit a little untidily, in the swims - this will obviously look better as the venue matures and this work settles in.

Half an hour later Bruno the owner and two of his staff arrived in their pick-ups. After apologising for not being there for our arrival - at least that’s what I think he said, he speaks very little English - our gear was loaded into the back of the trucks and we were each driven round to our chosen swims. They really could not have been friendlier or more helpful.

Being eager to get fishing we each set about organising our swims - Louis in 1, Barry in 5, Neil in 6,
me (Martin) in 7, Rob in 8, Ian in 9 and Mike in 12.

Throughout the week we all fished similar tactics of hook bait boilies or maize over particles and pellets fishing both open water to marker found features (there are plenty of them) and the margins - don’t ignore the margins, they were particularly productive for me during the day and night.

Over the next few days of glorious 80-degree sunshine and chilly nights we landed 180 fish between us, all in top-notch condition. The catch breakdown was as follows:

• 173 Carp - 53 x 20’s, 5 x 30’s - largest mirror 28lb and largest Common 37lb
• 5 Sturgeon - 2 x 30’s, 2 x 40’s, 1 x 66
• 1 Grass Carp - 27lb
• 1 Koi Carp - 6lb

Notable achievements were:

• Mike’s 8 x 20lb carp on Wednesday afternoon - he found the right spot and really got them going
• Neil’s 40 carp including his 44lb Sturgeon
• Lou’s 30lb and 43lb Sturgeon
• Ian’s 66lb Sturgeon

On the last evening the weather broke and we were dealt one of the most spectacular thunder and lightening storms I have ever experienced under canvas - thankfully due to the new gravel swims the ground drained well. On the day of our departure Bruno was there again to get our gear on the pick-up and back round to the car park.

In conclusion the sport at Long Lake is exceptional with the opportunity of a heavy carp along the way - plus there’s the chance of one of the spectacular sturgeon - the way these things fight has to be seen to be believed.

The facilities - showers, toilets, a kitchen area with two fridges and a cooker - were of a good standard in clean condition and the lodge itself