On The Hunt For Big Carp At Laroussi

As Mehdi opened the gate to Laroussi, we got our first view of this magnificent lake. Having never been there before, myself, Pete Smith and Les Brink stood in awe at the beauty of the place.

After a quick walk round and seeing a few fish I would have been happy to fish any of the swims as there are plenty of options in each one of them. 1pm arrived and the draw was made with Pete choosing La Chene, Les in L’Anse and myself on La Pointe.  With literally acres of water to go at, the hardest decision to make was which area of water to focus on. A couple of hours watching the lake made my mind up the majority of the carp were held up in the main body of the lake.

I had read numerous catch reports on the lake and the general theme seemed to be use very small amounts of bait, usually only around 2-3kg for the week, generally particles with small baits over the top. Having thought this over prior to my visit, I decided that this huge carp MUST eat boilies when introduced and that I should go against all advice and pile it in!!!

I introduced 6kg of bait on the first day, as well as trickling a couple of kilos along the far margin as a back up plan. My thoughts were that I needed to get the toast of my bait in the lake and to allow the fish plenty of time to switch on to eating free food.  As Sunday arrived I had got off the mark with a couple of decent grass carp to 29lb, therefore with these in the swim I decided to add another 5kg to make sure the REAL carp had something to go at.

Carp Fishing in France at Laroussi
54lb 8oz – Paddy Ramsden

Monday morning arrived and after a few liners in the night I was up at 5.30am watching the lake for signs of fish. After seeing a few flat spots over the baited area I wasn’t surprised when at 6.30am my left hand rod tightened and I hit into my proper first of the trip. These carp fight so hard in the deep water and after 20 mins I still had 40yds of line out. There is a barbless rule on the lake therefore extra care had to be taken and after another 10mins she was ready for the net. In she went and at 54.8lb was a fantastic start to the week.  I quickly followed this with another 4 grass carp so decided to introduce 8 kilo of fresh bait over my three rods.

As expected after heavy baiting the swim went quiet so I decided to fish the far margin at nights for the rest of the week, resting the swim, my plan being to recast around 5am at first light each morning back over the bait.

Carp Fishing in France at Laroussi
13lb 3oz Tench

Thursday arrived and I was up making tea just after lunchtime.  Just before 2pm my left hand rod slowly tightened and I hit into a really heavy fish which took line at over 100yds, each time I gained line the fish took it back and this continued for over 15 mins. In my mind I had decided this must be either a huge catfish or a sturgeon as on two occasions the fish just stopped moving as though in a snag. Mehdi assures me there are no snags in the lake which makes the fight even stranger!  I managed to get the fish within 20yds of me and again it stopped, I applied as much pressure as I dare and the fish began to move towards me. I was still thinking the fish was a catfish when it came up in the water about 6-7yds away – it was a huge carp and as I managed to turn it towards the waiting net the hook slipped, catching its flank on the way past leaving a HUGE scale on the hook as the carp swam away……its absolutely devastating to see a PB swim away after such a long battle.

Carp Fishing in France at Laroussi
37lb

As the week progressed I continued to to catch from both areas picking up a 28lb, two more 40s and a stunning 35+ Linear from the baited area in the day along with another 38lb , 42lb, a 13.3lb Tench and a 61lb Sturgeon from the margin spot in the dark.  I ended the week catching 24 fish with a total of 42 fish between 7 of us for the lake.

One night, Les had a magnificent brace of a 49+ common and 49+ mirror both PB’s but the week couldn’t have ended any better with Pete landing a another PB 67lb mirror on the Saturday morning.

All the lads, including Mehdi all gathered in Pete’s swim for the weighing, photos and celebrations!!!!

Laroussi, I’ll be back.
Paddy Ramsden

For more information on Laroussi follow the linkCarp Fishing in France

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