Etang de Planchon - 2013

Hi all welcome to our catch reports for 2013

Season 3 Week No: 1
Total Anglers: 5
Total number of Carp caught: 68
Total Weight: 1716 lb 7 oz
The top 5 Carp for the week were: 37 lb 4 oz, 32lb 8 oz, 2 x 32 lb 6 oz & 31 lb 12 oz.

Etang de Planchon’s third season has kicked off after a very busy winter with the renovations, the arrival of our baby boy (Louis) on the 11th March and a re-vamp of our website.

The first week saw the arrival of regulars John Wynne, Kelvin Dungar, David Jackson, Andy Lane & Sam Lane.

Between all 5 of them they managed to land 68 carp totalling over 1700 lb.

John, Kelvin & Jacko (David Jackson) arrived on Thursday 28th March and settled into swim Buzzard, Owl and Hawk respectively.

John, the current lake record holder, was here on his 4th visit.
He started his week off by laying out beds of pellet, cooked hemp and cooked maize. He opted to keep all his rods in the deep water along the dam wall and not near the island.
Most of his carp landed to Trigga or Rosehip boilies topped with shellfish pop ups or buoyant fake corn.
John landed himself 22 carp, 3 of which were 30’s. He was pleased to land himself a PB common weighing in at 32 lb 6 oz.

Kelvin was here on his 3rd visit.
He started his week in Owl and also laid out beds of pellet, hemp & maize along with what he called ‘monkey sick’ (a mix of ground bait, hemp, maize and bird seed).
He was fishing opposite John for most of the week but did have a few hours in Hawk with Jacko and caught a couple there.
Most of his carp landed to Trigga or Cell boilies topped buoyant fake corn.
Kelvin landed himself 16 Carp. 2 of which were 30’s and his biggest was also a PB for him weighing in at 32 lb 6 oz.

Jacko, here on his 2nd visit, was in Hawk, he laid out beds of pellet, hemp and maize, but finished off his week on just pellets.
All his carp were caught on Trigga or Rosehip topped with pop up corn.
Jacko landed himself 15 carp, 1 of which was a 30 weighing in at 32 lb 8 oz.

Andy & Sam arrived on Monday 1st April, Andy had his family with him and they were staying in the Gite.
Andy and Sam were here for 5 nights, this was their 7th visit to the lake and they fished Harrier and Falcon, respectively.

Andy had a slower week than usual landing himself just 6 carp, all of them fell to Trigga & fake corn over beds of pellet, hemp & maize.
Despite his slow week he did manage to land the largest fish for the week weighing in at 37 lb 4 oz.

Sam did slightly better, he fished Trigga topped with fake corn or Rosehip topped with mega corn over beds of pellet, hemp & maize.
9 carp were landed on Sam’s rods, 2 of which were 30’s and the biggest weighed in at 31 lb 12 oz.
Unfortunately Sam cannot claim one of the 30’s as this landed to his younger brother Ethan while Sam had gone off to the toilet, so Ethan had himself and nice 30 lb 2 oz mirror.

Of the 68 carp caught, there was 9 x 30’s & 51 x 20’s (of which 27 were upper 20’s).

Here are a few fish from the week.













The revamped website went live late Friday and there are still a few tweaks being done, I hope you like it.
Check out the catch reports & photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/catch.htm

Check out the gallery photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/gallery_catch_13.htm

Season 3 Week No: 2
Total Anglers: 4
Total number of Carp caught: 69
Total Weight: 1745 lb 15 oz
The top 5 Carp for the week were: 38 lb, 37 lb 6 oz, 36 lb 14 oz, 31 lb 4 oz & 31 lb 2 oz.

Etang de Planchon’s second week saw the arrival of Rob Majury and Michael O’Rourke from Preston who were fishing for 5 days and David Johnson and his son Josh Bland (aged 10) from Hull.

Between all 4 of them they managed to land 69 carp totalling over 1745 lb.

Rob & Michael arrived on Friday, Rob opted for Buzzard and Michael chose Hawk.
Rob (here on his third visit) benefited from the swim having been baited heavily the previous week and was in to a fish almost as soon as his rods were in the water.
Rob had made his own boilies, resembling the Trigga lake specials sold on site, he fished over a beds of hemp, pellet, maize. He fished snowman setup on his hairs as well as single pink pop ups and sometimes just maize.
He landed himself 38 fish over the week, totalling 938 lb 7 oz, 4 of which were 30’s. Rob was pleased to land himself a new PB with his biggest fish weighing in at 36 lb 14 oz.

Michael, despite starting in the next swim to Rob (Hawk), did not fair so well. He fished the same as Rob but seemed to be less fortunate than his mate, His first fish came to him after a day and a half, but it was his biggest weighing in at 37 lb 6 oz, he decided after this that he would move to Owl on Monday and finished of the week with 4 carp totalling 121 lb, 2 of which were 30’s.
Despite a slow week Michael was pleased to walk away with a new PB, him and Rob have already booked for next year.

David and Josh arrived Saturday and were here on their second visit, David was fishing 3 rods and Josh had 1 rod, they started their week off in Harrier and made a move to Buzzard when Rob & Michael left on Wednesday.
David was also looking to beat his PB from last year which was 37 lb 4 oz. He fished Trigga (lake specials) or source boilies topped with pink pepper pop ups or yellow fake corn, he also tried 2 or 3 pieces of maize and maize and chickpeas. All the baits were over beds of hemp, pellet and maize.
David landed himself 20 carp over the week totalling 514 lb 12 oz, 3 of which were 30’s and his biggest was 38 lb, beating his PB.

Josh fished the same as David and managed to land himself 7 carp totalling 171 lb 12 oz, his biggest was 29 lb 12 oz.
They are both booked to come back in October this year and April next year, Josh will be fishing with 3 rods and in his own swim next time.


Of the 69 carp caught, there was 9 x 30’s & 54 x 20’s (of which 26 were upper 20’s).

Here are a few fish from the week.









Check out the catch reports & photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/catch.htm

Check out the gallery photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/gallery_catch_13.htm

Season 3 Week No: 3
Total Anglers: 4
Total number of Carp caught: 100
Total Weight: 2459 lb 9 oz
The top Carp for the week were: 33 lb 8 oz, 32 lb 14 oz & 4 x 32 lb 8 oz.

This week Etang de Planchon saw a couple of records broken with the arrival of Daren Buck, Paul Moseley, Dan Hopgood & Mick Rosewell.
Between the 4 they caught 100 carp weighing a total of 2459 lb 9 oz, this is the most weight to any one group that has come on the lake. The previous single group record was 2457 lb 14 oz.
Daren landed six 30’s over the week which is the most 30’s to any one angler in a week.

The guys arrived Saturday after a drive down from Calais, they had already decided on fishing the four corner swims so they could cover the whole lake.

Paul had first choice and decided on fishing Buzzard, he had brought Catcher baits BS1 boilies, Baitworks Atlantic Heat boilies, a sack of bird seed, about 15 kilos of Hemp and quite a bit of pellet.
Paul baited regularly and fished beside the monk and between the dam wall and the end of the island.
His week started off busy and by mid week he had set himself a target of over 1000 lb of fish and he managed it having landed 44 carp totalling 1058 lb 8 oz.
All but 1 of his carp were caught on BS1 & Atlantic heat boilies, the 1 exception being a caught on a double 15mm Rosehip boilie.
Paul landed himself five 30’s over the week with his biggest weighing in at 32 lb 8 oz.

Daren opted for Owl, fishing opposite Paul, He also had BS1 boilies and fished it mainly over boilie freebies, with the odd few over beds of particle or pellet, and a couple on single hook baits casted to showing fish or visible feeding signs.
He landed himself 24 carp totalling 615 lb 8 oz.
He walks away with a record for the most 30’s in one week having landed 6 with his biggest weighing in at 32 lb 14 oz.

Dan fished Kestrel for the week, he fished BS1 and Cell over beds of pellet & particle. Some of his catches were also caught by topping the boilies with fake corn.
Dan landed himself 22 carp over the week weighing 549 lb 2 oz, 2 of which were 30’s and he walks away with the biggest carp of the week having landed a 33 lb 8 oz common.

Mick fished Harrier and unfortunately had the slowest week of the four. He fished BS1 over beds of particle and pellet, and caught all but 1 of his fish on the BS1 with the 1 exception landing to a Trigga boilie.
Mick landed himself 10 fish over the week weighing 236 lb 7 oz, 1 of which was a 30 weighing 30 lb 14 oz.

The other noticeable point over the week was a greedy 32 lb 8 oz carp, he graced the bank 3 times in the week, twice to Daren and once to Dan.

Well done guys, it was a great week, we had a great laugh with you and it was fun listening to you abuse each other over the dinner table.

Of the 100 carp caught, there were 14 x 30’s & 74 x 20’s (of which 32 were upper 20’s).

Here are a few fish from the week.









Check out the catch reports & photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/catch.htm

Check out the gallery photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/gallery_catch_13.htm

Season 3 Week No: 4
Total Anglers: 5
Total number of Carp caught: 25
Total Weight: 628 lb 5 oz
The top Carp for the week were: 33 lb 4 oz, 31 lb 4 oz, 29 lb 12 oz, 29 lb 6 oz & 29 lb 1 oz.

This week Etang de Planchon saw the return of Wayne Hartley, Graham Green, Gary Clayton & Peter Farrow, also with them was Danny Weyer on his first visit.
The fishing this week was a lot harder than the previous week, whether that was due to the high pressure, the full moon or the 30 degree heat during the day with a severe drop in temperature overnight most of the week, who knows.

The guys arrived on Sunday and were leaving on Friday. After a draw they all made their way down to their swims.

Gary was in Owl and had the best week of the group breaking his P.B twice. He started his week with Trigga (lake specials) on their own or topped with fake corn, over beds of hemp, pellet and particle. Half of his fish landed to this method while the other half were landed to 2 pieces of maize and 1 piece of fake corn on the hair.
Gary landed himself 14 carp over the week, 1 of which was a 30 weighing 33 lb 4 oz.

Peter was opposite in Buzzard, he fished Rosehip or Trigga (lake specials) topped with fake corn over beds of pellet.
His week was much quieter landing himself 5 carp, his biggest being a 31 lb 4 oz mirror.

Graham was in Harrier and his week was slow, not having a fish until late in the week despite various methods being tried including starting his week on his own boilies.
He landed himself 3 carp with his biggest weighing 29 lb 6 oz using Trigga and fake corn.

Danny was in Kestrel, his week was also slow and he started his week using his own boilies.
He landed 2 carp but missed 3, his biggest was 23 lb 1 oz.

Wayne, next to Danny in Hawk, also had a slow week landing just 1 carp and loosing 4.
His carp weighed in at 29 lb 1 oz and was landed using Trigga (lake specials).

Throughout the week we tried to help the guys as much as possible with different options and methods but the fish were not playing ball for everyone. The week was quite a surprising one considering how the lake fished the previous week.

Of the 25 carp caught, there were 2 x 30’s & 23 x 20’s (of which 9 were upper 20’s).

There is no one on the lake now until Saturday 27th April so maybe the break will help.

Here are a few fish from the week.











Check out the catch reports & photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/catch.htm

Check out the gallery photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/gallery_catch_13.htm

Season 3 Week No: 6
Total Anglers: 5
Total number of Carp caught: 82
Total Weight: 2123 lb 15 oz
The top Carp for the week were: 42 lb 2 oz, 41 lb 4 oz, 35 lb, 34 oz & 33 lb 2 oz.
Of the 82 carp caught: 2 x 40’s, 13 x 30’s & 60 x 20’s (of which 31 were upper 20’s).

After a week with no one on the lake at Etang de Planchon, this week saw the lake record get broken twice.
The first time was by returning angler Tony Smith and the second time was to first time angler to France Martin Henderson (now the current lake record holder).
There were five anglers on the lake in total, the weather started quite hot at the beginning of the week with showers towards the end.

Tony Smith, Chris Jacobs, Martin Henderson & Tom Henderson arrived mid afternoon, Steve Thompson arrived late afternoon.

Tony came last year and walked away having had 17 carp with his biggest being 38 lb 10 oz, he had come back this year hoping to beat that.
Tony fished Buzzard for the week and started his week of catches with cell topped with a white chocolate pop up or fake maize, he also caught on Trigga (lake special) topped with an orange pop up and Rosehip on it’s own or with topped with fake corn. These were fished over beds of hemp, maize, pellet or boilies.
His best catch of the week fell to a pineapple pop up and broke the lake record for the first time this week weighing in at 41 lb 4 oz.
Over the week he landed 20 fish totalling 511 lb 6 oz, 1 of which was a 40 and 2 of which were 30’s.

Chris came with Tony on his first visit to the lake and his first time fishing in France.
Chris fished Harrier for the week and started his week catching on Nash Monster squid, Prologic Crab crunch or Banoffee boilies. His boilies were fished on their own or topped with various colour pop ups cut down. These were over beds of hemp, maize or pellet.
Later in the week he started fishing with maize and fake corn which also did very well.
His biggest catch for the week weighed in at 34 lb.
Over the week he landed 30 fish totalling 734 lb 15 oz, 4 of which were 30’s.

Tom & Martin Henderson (Father & Son) were here on their first fishing trip in France.
They fished adjacent swims through the day but fished from the same swim overnight until mid week when they ended up fishing separate swims.

Martin fished Kestrel day and night, he fished Trigga (lake specials) on their own or topped with fake corn over beds of hemp, maize & pellet.
His UK PB of 18 lb was beaten with all his fish and was smashed when he broke the lake record after Tony with his carp weighing in at 42 lb 2 oz.
Over the week he landed 7 fish totalling 197 lb 3 oz, 1 of which was a 40 and 1 was a 30.

Tom fished Hawk and fished Trigga (lake specials) on their own or topped with fake corn over beds of hemp, maize & pellet.
He was an occasional angler and fishing for carp was relatively new to him, so he was pleased when his biggest catch of the week was 35 lb, he was even more happy that his son had the lake record.
Over the week he landed 6 fish totalling 163 lb 1 oz, 1 of which was a 30.

Steve fished Owl, he fished Trigga (lake specials) topped with white or pink pop ups, he started over beds of pellet and then found PVA bags of pellet with freebie boilies did better for him.
Towards the end of the week he fished beds of Nutrabaits Blue Oyster boilies with a Trigga (lake special). This tactic worked for him and it landed him 4 thirties with his biggest fish being a new PB of 38 lb 12 oz.
Over the week he landed 19 fish totalling 517 lb 6 oz, 5 of which were 30’s.

Here are a few fish from the week.











Check out the catch reports & photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/catch.htm

Check out the gallery photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/gallery_catch_13.htm

Season 3 Week No: 7
Total Anglers: 6
Total number of Carp caught: 41
Total Weight: 1054 lb 10 oz
The top Carp for the week were: 38 lb, 35 lb 4 oz, 33 lb 4 oz, 2 x 33 lb & 32 lb 12 oz.
Of the 82 carp caught: 7 x 30’s & 32 x 20’s (of which 12 were upper 20’s).

This week saw the return of 5 guys and 1 new angler, they were here Sunday to Sunday.
Karl Darbyshire, Carl Turner, Ian Winterbottom, Steve Arkwright & Billy Bantham came last year as a group of 6, 1 of the group couldn’t make it this year so they brought along Paul Cunliffe for his first visit.

They fished a different style this year, they drew swims for their starting swim and moved clockwise on a daily basis to the next swim. Five out of the six anglers didn’t fish the nights and Steve was only here until Friday morning.

Despite it’s success the previous week, the shallow end of the lake didn’t fish well at all, the whole lake was pretty quiet for a few days with quite a few of the carp holding up in and near the stream but not interested in eating.

The weather started fair but gradually dropped in temperature over the week with heavy rain towards the end.

Here is how the guys faired:

Ian landed himself 11 carp totalling 294 lb, two of his were 30’s and his biggest was the biggest for the week weighing in at 38 lb.
Ian fished Trigga (lake specials) topped with white / yellow fake corn or peach & mango pop up, he also landed two on Cell dumbbell topped with fake yellow corn.

Karl landed himself 11 carp totalling 286 lb 12 oz, four of his were 30’s with his biggest being 33 lb 4 oz.
Karl fished Strawberry, tutti fruitti or white chocolate boilies toped with yellow or white fake corn, he also landed one on Rosehip topped with white fake corn.

Carl landed himself 6 carp totalling 153 lb 8 oz, one of his was a 30 weighing in at 35 lb 4 oz.
He fished Trigga (lake specials) topped with white or yellow fake corn, he also landed one on Orange bomber topped with white fake corn.

Steve landed himself 6 carp totalling 143 lb 12 oz, his biggest was 29 lb 14 oz.
He fished Crunch, Force or Trigga topped with red, yellow or white fake corn, he also landed one on Rosehip.

Paul landed himself 5 carp totalling 129 lb, his biggest 29 lb 2 oz.
He fished white chocolate or Tutti Fruitti topped with white or yellow fake corn.

Billy had the slowest week landing himself just 2 carp totalling 47 lb 10 oz, his biggest being 24 lb.
He tried a bit of everything but caught on Halibut & Rosehip boilies.

Despite the slow catch rate, most nights were spent at the house around a pit fire having a good laugh, drinking wine and eating jacket potatoes.

See you next year guys.

Here are a few fish from the week.













Check out the catch reports & photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/catch.htm

Check out the gallery photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/gallery_catch_13.htm

Season 3 Week No: 9
Total Anglers: 5
Total number of Carp caught: 15
Total Weight: 392 lb 10 oz
The top Carp for the week were: 43 lb 4 oz, 36 lb, 31 lb 4 oz, 30 lb 4 oz & 30 lb 2 oz.
Of the 15 carp caught: 1 x 40, 4 x 30’s & 8 x 20’s (of which 2 were upper 20’s).

There was no catch report published last week because the group we had on was a Wednesday to Wednesday booking.
This week saw the Whipdays arrive at the lake, 4 brothers and 1 son. None of the guys fished nights, and there were a few mornings where fishing didn’t start until after breakfast.
The weather was wet for most of the week with just a couple of days break from the rain.

Father and son (Martin and Josh) fished Kestrel for the week and started baiting up as soon as they got to their swim, they continually fed their swim throughout the week.
This paid off for them as they caught pretty much all week and even managed to break the lake record.
The guys fished Vortex all week topped with fake corn.
Josh landed himself 10 fish over the week, three of which were 30’s. His biggest was 36 lb.
Martin landed 4 fish over the week, one was a 30 and one was the lake record weighing in at 43 lb 4 oz.

Paul fished Owl and was the only other angler to catch over the week.
He was fishing his own baits for the week but caught his fish on Trigga (lake specials) topped with fake corn.
His weighed in at 20 lb 4 oz.

Michael and Ian did not land any fish, they both had productive spots but the fish were just not taking their bait, they tried shortening their rigs as we said they may be a bit long, they tried baiting different spots before fishing them but the fish would just not come.

Despite the low catch rate the guys said they had a great time and are looking to come back.

Here are a few fish from the week.







Check out the catch reports & photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/catch.htm

Check out the gallery photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/gallery_catch_13.htm

Season 3 Week No: 10
Total Anglers: 3
Total number of Carp caught: 16
Total Weight: 478 lb
The top Carp for the week were: 43 lb 12 oz, 39 lb 14 oz, 33 lb, 31 lb 8 oz & 31 lb 4 oz.
Of the 16 carp caught: 1 x 40, 6 x 30’s & 9 x 20’s (of which 7 were upper 20’s).

This week was a slow week for fish catches, something I can only attribute to the fact that the carp were ready to spawn and with the weather picking up they finally did. Also the lake record was broken again and not stands at 43 lb 12 oz.
Check out our Facebook album for photos of the fish getting on with spawning Facebook Album Link

The week started off wet and saw the arrival of 3 anglers all bringing a guest with them, Barrie Topley was here with his son, Gary Ashby was here with his girlfriend and Tim Bean was here with his other half (Marion) and was staying in the Gite.

Gary flew in with his Girlfriend Carmela, they arrived in the afternoon and were set up in Kestrel.
Gary started baiting his spots up with large beds of bait and his first fish came to him around 1 am in the shape of a 30 lb common. His landed himself 3 fish per day for the first two days including the new lake record of 43 lb 12 oz. Gary’s carp were landed to Trigga (lake specials) topped with fake corn (yellow, white, orange or luminous) and one was topped with a rosehip pop up, all on beds of pellet or pellet hemp & maize.
By the third day the weather had picked up and the signs were there that the fish were getting ready to spawn.
Gary was close to getting his second 40 for the week, once we verified the sling, it weighed in at
39 lb 14oz.
He finished his week with 10 carp totalling 316 b 6 oz, amongst which were one 40 and five 30’s.

Barrie and his son Gerry drove down and arrived late morning, Barrie was a return angler and came last year with Albert Kitson (our oldest ever angler), unfortunately Albert was not well enough for this trip and we wish him all the best.
Barrie set himself up in Buzzard and had a slow start, Gary and myself advised him on different things to try and his week kicked off on Tuesday, last year he didn’t manage a 30 but he was hoping for one this year and he got it weighing in at 31 lb 4 oz, his new PB.
Barrie caught all his fish on Trigga (lake specials) topped with yellow fake corn over beds of pellet, pellet & boilies or pellet hemp & maize.
He landed himself 6 carp over the week totalling 161 lb 10 oz, one of which was a 30.

Tim did not fish all day every day, nor did he fish the nights, He and Marion did some sightseeing and eating out. Marion got some great photos of the spawning in action which can be seen on the Facebook link above.
For Tim the lake produced no fish unfortunately, sheer bad timing for him due to the spawning, however he says he would like to come back at some stage and rectify the fact that he didn’t catch anything.

I’d like to thank all the guys here this week as they decided to take a day off from fishing and do some sightseeing when the carp were in full spawning mode.

Here are a few fish from the week.







Check out the catch reports & photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/catch.htm

Check out the gallery photos here: www.carp-fishinginfrance.com/gallery_catch_13.htm