poisson-chats at moorlands???

I have just received an unconfirmed report that poisson chats have infested the Moorland's fishery in France.

I was thinking of going next year but if the rumours are true then I think I will pass as I have heard they are a nightmare.

Can anyone confirm this rumour please.

wouldnt worry if they have - you can use them to your advantage.

funny i havent heard the rumour on any site - you could just phone keith and find out for yourself without spreading the unconfirmed rumour.......

"..I have just received an unconfirmed report....."

Then I strongly suggest that you keep it to yourself until it <u>is</u> confirmed before this forum gets a writ for commercial libel matey....

Sorry if you think it is wrong to ask but I wonder where else I could get an independent response. I doubt very much if a writ would ensue from a question, and if it is true then maybe it would be helpful for others to know.

I hope I have not offended anyone's sensibilities but my unconfirmed source is supposed to have fished there before and spoke to the owner before he left for france and nothing was mentioned to him, he came back early after catching a large number of poisson chat and no carp and was extremely annoyed.

This could be just sour grapes for a bad week but I just wondered if anyone else had heard anything. I also believe Keith posts on this site so maybe he would answer the question himself in public.

I have no doubt that the moderators would have deleted this if it was in breach of any libel laws, but as I say I was asking for some response, not stating facts, as the title suggests is it a rumour or a fact?

"...I was asking for some response, not stating facts,... "

Trust me on this one, it's not even arguable as a starter on the Defence front.

eg. I wonder if anyone else has heard the unconfirmed rumour that Curious Carper is the proprietor of a lake next to Moorlands fishery in France who is jealous of the competition and is trying to steal his customers ?

Or if I could have some response to the outrageous and obviously unjustified assertion that Curious Carper was in some way trying to blag a refund for his (allegedly) incompetent mate from the proprietor.... ?

Or....

Any of the other hundreds of merely neutrally interested but wholly damaging and offensive things I might suggest by what libel lawyers call innuendo and inference. The fact that you gamble on it not being worth anyone's while sueing you is no doubt no comfort to the hapless proprietor of said lakes.

And when you say you were hoping for some response who did you expect to get it from ? Some neutral independent fish scientist who, bored on holiday, decided to spend an afternoon surveying these lakes for PC's ? Or other people who have been there and, whether bothered by PC's or not, jump in and try to blag a refund and compensation too....

All suppositions put forward by myself as mere enquiries seeking some response of course, not stating facts, and I am sure that you will not take them amiss or scream blue murder. But the fact remains that forums - unlike individuals - DO occasionally get sued by the upset and sensitive (don't lets say anything about Mohammed Al Fayed shall we ?) and taken off the air and or net.

Oh, and if it IS 'unconfirmed' that also means you <u>can't</u> rely on either of the defences of justification and / or comment on a matter of public interest. The greater the truth, the greater the libel, as they say. And the greater the damages.....

On a serious note my point is simple: I do not, as an appreciative member, wish to see this forum endangered by irresponsible posting of libellous material based on unsubstantiated "supposition".

A post direct from your mate saying "I fished X water and think that the members of this forum might benefit from knowing about Y problems as a matter of public interest" and sticking his name to it plus putting his balls in the metaphorical sling all ready for a kicking if it is untrue and said with malice; that I have no problem with and would even respect. Genuine Whistleblowers with something to lose deserve real respect, it takes real guts.

You ?

You're indulging in malicious gossip. Please stop.

Hello everybody this is keiths daugther, keith is away for a few days but will give you a responce as soon as he gets back, just to put your minds at rest last week there where 34 carp caught of which 8 were 30 lb plus with the biggest at 36lb 7oz, we suspect we know the angler that this rumour has come from and infact he did catch 4 carp (none of the 30`s) but refused to take any of our advise (sour grape i think)
sharon
p.s. if anyone would like our updates sent out to them please contact us via our web site and we will get them sent out to you on a weekly/fortnighty basis

Now i keep an eye on whats said on various forums,you could say i have a vested interest(its my job after all). I rarely post it has to be said but thought id add my ten pennorth on this one.
I visit france every year,often once a month or more and have done so for more than 20 years now. I know Kieths lake ,indeed ive fished it on a couple of occasions when passing through and weve decided to stop for a day or two to have a social with the moors family and have never had any problem with the dreaded poisson whatsoever. True ive seen a few tiny ones but actually finding a water with none is a rare occurence indeed on the continent. Obviously if you are very iexperienced and not using bait that is up to the job i can see how these little pests could be a nightmare but on roivre this is definately not a problem. Shame that someone should post something to the contrary. The truth is that Kieth is very passionate about his fishery, and ensuring his guests have the best time possible, so much so that he drains his lake every year or two to manage his stock and remove all poisson chat and he clearly does a good job as countless satisfied customers will no doubt testify

The plot thickens , i see that the " Curious Carper " has no profile ,maybe he could tell us what he has to hide ?

Hi everyone. It's Keith Moors here.
Well I for one have nothing to hide and am also prepared to answer the comments in the open. I think I know the angler concerned (in fact until now I regarded him as a friend) but he is not as competent as he thinks he is and refused to take advice. He chose his swim before leaving England and decided to use and continue to use a bait that stopped working on here 2 years ago. In order to complete the profile he has also posted pictures of "how to tie D rigs" on another forum, with the impression that they were his idea and these detail rigs that I personally developed and told him about some years ago.
With regard to the comments, yes we do have poisson chat but they are not in plague proportions and the anglers fishing at the same time as the rumour munger listened to our advice and caught at least 7 personal bests (more if we count the catfish). As a further point I am pleased to confirm that we are emptying the lake again this November and the holding pools will also be pumped empty. We will then remove any PC's that we find along with the roach and rudd and by spring 2008 Moorlands will only hold carp, catfish, perch, black bass and possibly some zander. As you can see we are planning a massive predator base to prevent the survival of ANY fry from ANY species.
I would just add that the angler in question knew all of these facts but is simply trying to stir up trouble because he wouldn't listen to our advice and paid by catching only four carp. Incidently this is not the first time that he has failed in France and has gone into a major child-like sulk. I can now understand why his forum colleagues have asked him not to accompany them on their 2008 trip.
I'll end by thanking Dave and Nick and everyone else for their quick response in my absense and by suggesting that anyone thinking of booking Moorlands for 2008 will be well looked after with superb food and superb fishing and if you want to keep up with the weekly happenings click on the "contact us" button on the website and we will ensure that you receive weekly newsletters which detail how the fishing is progressing and what work we are carrying out. Ask any questions you like and I will answer them honestly.

well iv got to be honest im still at work so i havnt yet had chance to read through this whole thread .But although i should be working on seeing the title to this thread i had to reply .Last year i visited moorlands for the first time ,before selecting the venue i did alot of research and one of the thinks that i liked from the first time i spoke with keith was his honesty .After phoning alot of venues i heard things from "we have poison chats but they hav nt bothered us for years " to "i think there all gone now we hardly see them " .Keiths response when i asked was yes but if you think about what your doing you ll be fine . Well by re casting every six hours i solved this problem and was so happy with my stay that i returned again this year .
This time i took quite a bit of fishmeal with me but after 24 hours of the carp not playing ball and the poisons having a nible i switched to the milk protiens and started to catch . I enjoyed the angling and the service at moorlands that much ( even wane made us feel welcome lol ) ... That im back again in may this time ill be with a friend i actualy met on this years trip .
In closing id like to finish by saying a bad workman always blames his tools ....
( think that says it all ...

I was going to suggest calling Keith and asking him, having read all the posts now I can see that is not necessary. I get the impression the original post is just a way of trying to put people off, sour grapes.
If there is any one out there who is put off, don't be, a few chats would not be the end of the world.
I find when fishing in France that it is rare to find a water with no chats in it, especially if it is near any rivers. To go to France without knowing how to deal with them is silly and shows a lack of correct preparation.
Etang De Vaumigny and Les Quis are absolutely crawling with them, they are also crawling with carp - Les Quis with 30s and 40s galore.
For anyone who doesn't kmow how to mesh baits to stop the chats look up my article on this site about Etang De Vaumigny.

Just a quick addendum to the above. Sorry that I accidently posted under my Daughter's name above but I simply forgot to log out and re-log under my own name. However if anyone has any further questions that they want answering either by phone or publicly in print please don't hesitate to ask. I can also provide telephone numbers of anglers that have already fished here this year so that you can ask them totally independantly for their thoughts on Moorlands. As I said above I have nothing to hide and the lake is crawling with thirties and over 30 forties.

A History of a French Carp Water

Moorlands Fishery

I would just like to add to this forum as i have fished Keith's lake three times, twice last year and once this year.
When i fished his lake last September i had never seen poisson chat before and after catching my first said to Keith "what the f*&k are these things??". Then Keith showed me how to mesh my bait and left me with some mesh and i had very little problems with them the whole week and had 10 fish to 38lbs, dispite leaving on Friday as i had promissed my wife a day in Reims. Incidentally that was the week when a good angler next to me called Lee had 45 fish out on his first trip.
My advice to anyone going to Moorlands this year is this:

> Be prepeared to take that bit more bait than you planned.

> Take some mesh and bait floss with you, i got some from the Tackle Box.

> Give Keith a ring to find out what is working and what isn't.

> Print off a weather forecast for the week.

And most of all, whilst you are there, if Keith offers you some advice, like you should consider a move of swim for example, seriously consider it. You take the time off work and go to the expense of fishing in France with the long drive. So if you have to pack your gear and move a couple of hundred yards to catch some big fish, DO IT.
Keith has lived at Moorlands for a number of years now, and was regarded as a very good angler when he fished in the UK. So if you need advice just ask him, he is more than willing to help.

Keith you can give my number out if you need to, just let me know if you do.

All valid points ..
The funny thing is is the angler or person who started this rumour not the same bloke that caught 53 fish on his last trip by listening to the advice and tactics he was shown ,and then went on several forums claiming the pampas swim at moorlands was his favourate swim out of any swim on any lake he s ever fished ...

Fishing is fishing you pay your money and take your chance you either succeed or fail if you chose not to listen to good advice and fail then thats your fault .
keith and co can do everything to make you feel welcome and well catered for they can even give you good advice but they can t catch the fish for you ..

imo if an angler had a compaint about the service at a venue then thats fair comment but about the fishing then thats down to him. especialy when theres pages and pages of big fish on the fisherie website caught by other happy anglers ...

infact in my opinion this thread is no different to someone claiming they can t catch them in an english lake because its to weedy or because theres to many bream or roach ....

Must admit my post was on the basis of my objection in general to unaccountable libellous stuff being stuck on a forum by a first time posting anonymous newbie trying to cause trouble or provoke a reaction (Malford Roa anyone ?) rather than any personal knowledge of the water, proprietor or fishing there.

But having read the follow ups I might now favourably consider a holiday at this Moorlands place some time in the future, when I had never heard of it before.

So well done Curious Carper, your post may well have had the complete opposite effect to that intended

Evan you would be made very welcome and we will give you as much help and information as we possibly can. Thank you all for your posts they have certainly rebuilt our faith in mankind.