Having caught Carp up to 15lbs in the local canal, my fishing friend and I always had a desire to catch one over 20 lbs and had both tried for years, so we looked to France in 2003, as they had Carp to over 50 lbs in some of their waters.

Not wanting to rough it living in a Bivvie, we chose a place called Villadon which had gites to sleep in, near the side of a very large lake. The lake was originally a French fish farm and had since been bought by Dutch owners for a fishery.

It had never been fished for over twenty years and the average fish was said to be twenty pounds, that means for every fish we caught of 15 lbs there would be another of 25 lbs. There were stories of big catfish to 200lbs in the lake, seen from boats.

So we booked through a reputable angling holiday company but decided we did not need to hire one of their guides.

A second friend joined us and the car was packed to the gunnels with fishing tackle.

Villadon was in the South of France and after going 3 times around Paris we eventually reached the outskirts of the place 11 hours later.

There was great laughter in the car as my friends came up with their own interpretation of this road sign just 10 miles away.



On arrival IMO found the gites were in poor condition and as guys just about acceptable but unsuitable for a family as advertised.

There were sixteen anglers fishing the water and it soon became apparent that the fish were averaging around 8lbs smaller than down the local canal.



The first morning we were all excited and we got up at dawn.



The views were lovely



Over the week we caught over a hundred fish between the three of us and just one reached 15lbs.



We heard from others that the French fish farmer had netted and sold all the fish before selling up and what we were catching was the small fish which had been missed, these had since put on some lbs.



The new owner advertised the holiday thinking that he had bought the fish as well as the lake.



A photo from the gite window showing the EX fish farm production line





Although we had some sympathy for the new owner what really annoyed us was all this was known before we made the trip, as others had been out there and it had been hushed up. The owners did come around to us and we told them we were unhappy about the situation and the hours we had spent travelling for fish smaller than home.

Also one of the other anglers we spoke to was from a Dutch Angling magazine and he certainly wasn’t impressed.

We were told we would have to put our complaint in writing with the other anglers and they would be considered some compensation.

Well we made the best of it as three guys would do.



On returning home, the next week I caught a carp of 26lbs and the following week one of 23lbs in the local reservoir. (I think it’s called Murphy’s Law).

We put our complaint in writing to both the Company and the Owners and it was ignored. A second letter was sent which resulted in an offer to us.

The lake would be drained, the small fish sold and larger fish would replace them. We could come back the following year where the gites would be completely refurbished and we were offered one for half price and the fishing would be free.

Although none of us were too keen to do it again, our friend who came with us decided not to go. We thought it was this or nothing so my friend and I decided to give it a go.

What happened on our next trip is in part 2

Ps all photo’s were taken of a video film and are not of good quality

looking forward to next installment - sounds ominous !

The return to Villadon 2004

The day before we were due to leave, there was a gale and all ferries were cancelled. My friend had booked us on a sea-cat, as the crossing only took 30mins and I’m prone to sea sickness.

We arrived in Dover and the ferries had not started but to my horror our sea-cat was ready to sail. This is the captain, we will not be travelling at the usual speed as the waves will make it unsafe. The journey will take approximately 2 hours (gulp).

Anyway, the journey on the other side went well and we avoided the turn to Paris and its labyrinth. On arrival at Villladon we were met by the owner and shown the newly refurbished gite which was much better all round.








We decided to fish the same bank and use the same methods as before




but we were not getting any bites



On one occasion, we even stayed up till 1 o’clock in the morning to see if the fish would feed but still nothing.



Having had no joy for a few days, my friend who had holidayed in France before said he saw a river in Chinon with Carp swimming in it and suggested a day’s fishing there. Well we loaded the gear and drove 3 hours north to Chinon. The river looked fantastic but we needed to go to the fishing tackle shop to buy a permit, apparently the police are hot on enforcing this.



A little perplexed we found the shop was closed, so we headed to the local supermarket to see if they sold them. We were given directions to a pub/restaurant that sold the permits. On arrival we found day tickets were not sold until the 1st of June and this was the 27th May. We could however, join the fishing club and buy an annual season ticket for £45. Having driven 3hours, what does one do, the most expensive days fishing I have ever had. We decided to have lunch there, the menu was a set one, and I think we may have eaten horse meat but the sorbet ice cream was good.

Finally we got to the river and started fishing, I tried cheese as bait and suddenly I had a take, my rod bent double and the fish kept going and smashed my line on the rocks below. There were large catfish in these waters and the excitement kept us going till very very late but we never actually caught.





Fishing the next morning back in Villadon, we took a boat out and tested the bottom and found it full of slit, when the sluice gates at our end of the lake had been opened to drain the lake, all the slit had move down to our end. We also heard a story, apparently that a top UK angler had agreed to buy any large catfish found and waited with lorries but no catfish were ever located.

On the last night my friend caught the only fish, guess what, about 8lbs.



Discussions with the owner on what fish had been bought, an album of all the recorded fish was shown , totalling around 100 in number of 30/40 lbs but with such a large lake IMO was nowhere near enough.



At that time in 2004, it was our opinion it perhaps would be good in 10 years time.

but for us, it was no pot of gold



Yesterday I had a look on the website and it appears that the Carp are now averaging 15lbs with the odd 30lbs coming to the net.

A nice story Del

Interesting Story....brilliant pictures.

Really enjoyed that DB ,as I said before I loved fishing when I was a boy but never done river fishing this will be something Ill try one day