French trip first time/ Margot help?

Hi,
I am off to France for the first time, going to fish Margot in April, any help would be appreciated.
Regards,
Denis

Hi Denis

Margot is a lovely lake... and has produced some cracking carp, cats and sturgeon....

As you will know the venue had water level problems caused by the drought last summer and was drained... to save the fish they were transferred to another holding lake... the owner is a fish farmer,one of the largest in the region.

The lake has since been dug out at the rear, and the previous wooden jetties from the Tim Paisley days, replaced by earth points, graveled over...

I will personnally be at the lake in about three weeks when the original stock will be returned to the lake and extra, large carp added..... I will film this and it will be available on the video news on our website.. the lake wil have around 250 plus carp to mid fifties, large grassies, 10 strugeon to 60lb+ and large catfish to 100lb.

In fact I may well be there in April to shoot a new video feature on the lake...

When are you going?

Finally the shower and toilet block will be receiveing a face lift, next week... I spoke to the owner about an hour ago and all seems on to make this an even better venue than it has always been in the past...

As to methods... I'd suggest large hard hook baits, as despite the netting the lake will have a few poisson chats... although in April they shouldn't be a major problem.
Alternatively use tigers or even the plastic boilies that my colleague Shaun Harrison swears by.. he's had loads of fish on these last year, including from the ultra hard Mangrove in Shropshire and Remy during our filming... hemp is a good attractor, as the poisson chats don't like it.. avoid oily, fishy baits or trout pellets.. fruity non fish meal based pellets would be my advice.. and not too much bait...boats are allowed as are bait boats.. a good bet as the fish often hang out by the island area.. When I was there certain pegs required distance fishing...

Best Regards
tight Lines

Gareth

Will it still be run by hortonfishing, as i herd they were not involved with it anymore.


Ta Matt.

Hi Matt

You are correct Simon no longer has any dealings with the venue...

Regards
Gareth

bloody good update Gareth, top man.

Gareth,
Thank you very much for responding to my mail , you have got rid of any worries that my mates and i have had over the fishery. There has been lots of rumours flying around about Margot. It has been a major name in French fishing for years and many of the people i know , picked Margot as the place to go for their first french experience.
We start our week on the 15th april. Great to hear their is so much work going on at the venue. Thanks again Gareth.
Regards,
Denis

Gareth,
Just wondering as we are traveling from Ireland, we will be arriving a little after the peg draw.There are seven booked for that week, four in our party and three in the other party.
In years past boats were also allocated at this point.
Are there any boats at the fishery for use anymore, or will we have to bring our own.
Regards,
Denis
.

Hi all

Just to let everyone know.. Margot is now back to it's former glory..
Check out the following videos I shot last week at the venue...

<http://www.anglinglines.com/wmv/margotpt1_500.wmv>
<http://www.anglinglines.com/wmv/margotpt2_500.wmv>
<http://www.anglinglines.com/wmv/margotpt3_500.wmv>

Regards
Gareth

Hi,
I am off to Margot Friday, any last tips from the resident Carp Guru's.
Regards,
Denis.................

Denis
wish I was going with you ,big fish ,never seen a hook ,keep it simple and haul !

oh and good luck

Cakey,
Would u go boilies all the way or maize ,tigernuts, over pellet. What vwaqy would u rig the maize ytigernuts AS POP UPS OR HARD ON THE BOTTOM???. What size hooks would u use.
Thanks again
Regards,
Denis

Denis Im just back from france and I fished boilies on 2 rods with elips pellets and the other two rods I fished tigers with about a dozen tigers around each and they were all screaming off and so I found no difference between the two baits !

p.s. all mine were hard on the bottom (I hate pop ups unless really really ness)
I only use size 4 drennan boilie hooks.........I make the baits bigger to suit

They are big hooks, holy crap.. I thought 7's and 6's would be ok.
Never fished tigers but will get some today.
Thanks Oh MASTER OF THE CARP...LOL

Bloody good hook imo, very strong, sharp as you like, never had a problem with em.

Hi All,
I am back from my trip. Margot is a wonderful place full of enormous fish. We arrived at 6.30pm on the sat, rods out by 10ish. Dareen was first to score with a sturgeon of 43lb+.
The weather was bad for the first 2 days, then the weather turned and warmed up. So much so the fish were not interested at all, we were all wondering what was going on, with little action to anyone. i was on winter point with Darran.Noel and Aiden were on the bank to our left opposite the lodge.On the second day myself and Darran walked around to the new bay and there they were chasing each other, we manage to ambush a few a but they were not on the feed, by friday the fish satrted to go at it, not feeding, but spawning. They really destroyed the weed beds by sat morning and went at it again Sunday as the temps rose again.
It was pity we were not there a week earlier or later. But the four of us managed 23 fish. I had only 4 of them,Aiden 5, Darran 5 and good old Noel with 9, i had 13 runs in total, dropped five fish. Lost two fish stalking in the back bay. One was mirror well up on the 40lb mark that shed the hook at the net. But i had four p.bs, sturgeon 44lb 8ozs, catfish 20lb 6ozs and 21lb 8ozs, i also had a mirror of 37lb the biggest off the lake that week, It was hard on the head seeing the fish but knowing that they had one track minds. AJ ( one of the lads from another website)ended up on winter point and i am sure he had two nice commons before we left that were spawned out on the sunday, i hope he does well and i am looking forward to the hearing how his week went.
But hey thats fishing, i learnt a lot and will be more prepared next time. Anyone doubting what is in the lake, should take a trip over, as seeing these large fish at close quaters was just amazing. The fish are there and the facilities are great, as i said i will be back..
Bring your French phrase book though as u will need it.
Certain methods worked well others did not, it payed to play around with presintation and hooklenght as well as hook size in my opinion was was critical, i lost too many fish because of small hooks, also chats are a nightmare, 2 mornings i was left with nothingon three rods, meshing them sorted that out.
Regards,
Denis........................................................ 8) .

Glad you enjoyed your week Denis, pity the conditions were'nt ideal, Next time eh? ;o)

Hey, Thats fishing what can u do..