A Bumper Catch At Mas Bas Main Lake

The first week of April saw a bumper catch of 61 fish between 2 anglers on Mas Bas Main Lake, and that was only fishing days! This really is a family venue that can produce the goods. Here is the angler’s report of the week…

On Saturday the 31st of March, we arrived at Mas Bas around 4.30pm where we were greeted by Gilles the owner. Gilles had organised our bait for the week, 22mm Ocean baits (Spicy Fish). I had never used this bait before, but over the course of the week, I became really impressed with it. There were only 2 of us fishing the main lake, so we had agreed prior to arriving, one would fish the left side and the other the right hand side and switch over half way through the week.

We rested on Saturday, as it had been a long journey to reach Mas Bas after leaving home around midday on the Friday, something we always tend to do.

My friend Mark had fished the previous year with his family, so had a really good understanding of where the fish were likely to be, he had advised to me bring two landing nets with me, if I’m honest I thought he was mad, but he absolutely wasn’t, as the fishing at times was completely bonkers. We started fishing with three rods, but at times found this impossible, especially around 9.00am in the morning, fishing on the right hand side of the lake.

Mas Bas

With some advice from Giles on where to fish, he advised that in some instances, one rod may need to be considered, if I’m honest, I mostly stuck with the three, however Mark preferred to fish with 2, at times though I did switch to two rods, if only for a slight break from the madness. I have never fished a lake that fishes so well in the day time, my experience of French lakes is that they tend to fish well throughout the night, so this was a real surprise, one I was very pleased at, as we never fished beyond 9.30pm and was exhausted by then.

It was great to pull the rods out, have a nice meal, a few drinks and get a really good night’s sleep, fully rested and ready for the next morning.

The facilities are second to none, there isn’t anything negative I can say about this place, I would go as far as saying this is an angler’s heaven, idyllic and perfect.

46lb 4oz

Giles and Sharon were always on hand should you ever need them for anything, just a text message or a phone call away.

Here is a heads up on where to fish, if you are fishing the left hand side of the lake, put your first rod to the middle of the island, your second rod further around the bank to the right hand side of the island, you will see two trees with a few Green bushes in between them, fish to the middle of the bushes, if you decide to fish three rods, move the final one, to where you can see a wooden post sticking out of the water, aim to get about two metres to the left of the post, aim to get as close to the bank as possible with all 3 rods, a bait boat may be required, however not essential, I tended to use a single boilie and use my throwing stick to get around 8-10 free offerings out there.

If you decide to use a bait boat, DO NOT be tempted to put tons of bait out there, it isn’t needed, we both broke up 4-6 boilie’s and gave 4-5 whole boilies as free offerings, no particles or pellets required, however I am sure you will do your own thing.

If you are fishing the right hand side of the lake, I put my first rod out straight in front of me, in line with the pontoon, probably 10 meters to the left of it, again with a single boilie and 8-10 free offerings with my throwing stick, my second rod would go to the right hand side of the pontoon as close to the bank, around where the final tree is, you don’t have to be to accurate, as the fish will move around picking up your free offerings, I would put my third rod to the left of the big willow tree on the bank, 3rd small tree down on the right hand bank.

19lb 5oz koi

Around 9.00am is usually the time it goes mental, so no need to rush to get out of your bed, I tended to get up around 7.30am get myself showered and dressed, have a couple of cups of coffee and some breakfast, then pinch myself at the beautiful scenery around me.

Usually by the time I had put my third rod out, I had already had a fish, that theme continued throughout the day. If you do decide to night fish, you may have some unwanted visitors, in the form of poisson chat, my suggestion would be to switch over to Tiger Nut, as I said we chose not to night fish, but it’s always better to come to this venue prepared.

Giles does have a keep net in the small lake to put the poisson chat in should you catch any, he will advise on its location to the proximity of the main lake.

Mas Bas Main Lake

We fished from Sunday 31st March through to Thursday 5th April (day time only) Our catch report is as follows:

Below 20lb
• 4 Commons
• 1 Mirror
• 4 Grass
• 1 Koi

Above 20lb
• 9 Commons
• 15 Mirrors
• 2 Grass

Above 30lb
• 2 Commons
• 22 Mirrors

Above 40lb
• 4 Mirrors

Total Carp caught 64
15 fish lost at the net
A handful of Poisson Chat and a handful of Tench
I also broke my PB with an impressive 46lb Mirror

I’m sure if we had chosen to night fish, we would have comfortably broke 50 fish each for the 5 days of fishing.

Good luck and tight lines, I hope this log of our fishing trip helps in some way.

Best Regards,
Lance

For more information on Mas Bas Main Lake follow the link – Carp Fishing in France with Accommodation