The last time I fished Les Fortinieres myself and three mates caught well, and had a great time. So another trip seemed like a good idea, plus it would be a chance to meet Debbie and Paul the new owners.

The members of the group had changed a bit. From the last trip George and myself, plus France first timers Mark and Sam Gregory. George loves combining great cooking with his fishing, which makes him extremely popular, Mark is a very experienced angler, and Sam, his son, a real keen carper was looking to up his pb from just under twenty pounds.

We had the planning meeting in a local pub, started getting all excited far too soon before the trip. Spent time sorting bait, tying rigs, phoning each other, but eventually the wait was over and we were on the ferry heading out of the Humber, bound for Zeebrugge.

The journey down wasn’t too bad until we got to the A20, where we spent a frustrating two hours watching the sun go down, and any chance of a Saturday start go the same way as lots of wisps of stationary exhaust fumes.

Well after dark we turned into the drive at Les Fortinieres, tired and just a little bit fed up. We needed a lift, and we got it.
Debbie and Paul had done a fabulous job of up-grading the accommodation, and before long we had unpacked, settled in, had a beer, some food, argued over who was best on Strictly Come Dancing, and were ready for an early night, with lots of talk about the fishing in the morning.

Breakfast over we collect in the first peg outside the house, and met up with Debbie and Paul for a walk round the lake. It’s brilliant to have owners so keen on helping you get the most from your holiday, and by the end of our walk round we had a clear picture of how the lake had been fishing. We agreed who would be fishing where, and set about getting organised.

Now if you are thinking we have been a bit laid back, with it being late Sunday morning and still no-one had put a line in the water, then you would be right, but there was a method in our madness.

I’m a great believer in giving the fish some "free time". Periods when there are no lines in the water, no angler activity …. just peace and quiet. It can be amazing how soon fish respond, relax and settle in to some serious feeding. When this happens they become much more catchable, and less fishing can equal more fish.

It had worked! As I approached my swim, there were fish feeding with real abandon, bubbles and coloured patches of water everywhere. I reckoned a fish was on the cards, so I forgot about bivvies and bedchairs, and instead set up one of my stalking rods. I gently underhand cast the double 14mm Trigga Ice boilie and crushed up a handful to scatter around it. It was the start of the holiday, and I just sat and enjoyed the thought of a week’s fishing in front of me. Every now and then the line would flick up, and a fish would send up a stream of bubbles. I invited Sam to join me, which he did for a while before going to get organised in his own swim. I could see everyone else getting organised, but I really felt a fish was on the cards, so I sat on my hands and waited.

Once again the line picked up, but this time it didn’t drop back, instead the spool started to slowly turn, as a fish realized it was hooked, and started to panic. Some time later I’ve got a fish in the net, and a stunning fish at that. A common that took the scales to 43lbs, and I’d not even got my gear organised … my idea of a great start to a fishing holiday.

Now I could go on to recount every fish we had over the week, but we caught a lot, so a summary might be a kinder way to go.

Sam had the sort of week that angling dreams are made of. A pb of less than twenty pounds was beaten time and again. 25/8 got the ball rolling, but for Sam that was only the beginning, as a 42/4 common found its way into Sam’s net. Mark called me over, to lend a hand with Sam’s prize, and together we took some pics of a very happy angler.

George got in the act with a brace of stunning thirties, and overnight I had two more ….. Les Fortinieres was fishing at its brilliant best, and we had five more days to go.

We settle into a fantastic holiday routine. Stopping late afternoon for one of George’s culinary masterpieces, before getting the rods out for the night. I had a superb Monday night with ten fish, the best another common a bit over 37lbs. Sam also had a good night with another big common of 43/8 and several other lovely fish.

There was one fly in the ointment. Mark wasn’t on fish. With the weather being hot and settled for the time of year, the fish were spending a lot of time on the shallows, which was as far away from Mark’s swim as it was possible to get. Now when you go on a fishing holiday with mates it’s a team game so Mark and I swopped swims. It was a good move, and Mark was soon into fish, opening his account with a 31/0 common.

As the days melted away we continued to catch, and I seemed to spend a lot of time taking pictures of Sam. With our week rapidly running out, it couldn’t get any better, or could it? We stopped for our usual mega meal, and returned to our swims. Les Fortinieres had one more very special moment in store for Sam. His rods had only been put out a short time, when his open water rod was away, and it was obviously a big fish. When it was in the net, I called across to Mark… "We’re going to need a hand to lift this one out.

Mark came round and we got organised. Sam had one of the lake’s biggest fish. A fish known as" cut tail". At the start of the week Sam had hoped for a twenty, now he was struggling to hold a fifty …. 53/0lbs of Les Fortiniers magic!

All too soon it was Friday and time to pack away the gear and get organised for the drive home. We loaded the cars, got a cold drink out of the fridge and sat in the house filling in the log book ….. it took some time. Over the week we had had 45 fish with 22 of them being over thirty pounds.

Friday evening, we joined Debbie and Paul for a meal out at one of their favourite restaurants, a perfect end to our holiday.

For several years now I’ve been a fan of what I call holiday carping, a combination of fishing, good food, and good company. This trip had been one of the best!

Good holiday fishing,

Brian Skoyles.

ps If you like technical info etc.

The weather … For the full week we were under the influence of a very dominant high pressure. Very light winds, clear skies, warm to hot days, chilly nights "do I really want to get out of this sleeping bag?" and misty mornings. It undoubtedly had a big effect on the fishing, and kept the fish in the shallow water for much of the week.

Tactics … Because of the time of year, we decided not to go too heavy with the bait. We baited open water areas with approx a kilo of boilies a night, and fished bags on the margin and stalking rods.

Rigs … Very straight forward Korda lead clip systems, ESP Anchor tubing, fluorocarbon hook-lengths.

Bait … We opted for basically a boilie only approach, taking two versions of Nutrabaits Trigga Ice ATS. One standard, one with G Force liquid. We mixed the sizes 14’s, 16’s, and 20’s, just to keep the fish "and us" confused. We also varied hook baits, using singles, and doubles, and mixing sizes on the hair.

Catching times … We had odd fish out of the blue, at any time, but overall the nights were much more consistent. If anything the mornings were disappointing, we often saw signs of fish feeding then, but it rarely converted into takes.

And finally … The best meal of the week had to be George’s "Stew and Dumplings",
Sam won the boilie Olympics "just", and I won the Table tennis!