CarpPhoto  France

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France, (my) country for fishing and holidays

Preface

France is a beautiful country, that has lots of possibilities for us, carp fisherman. Do you want to fish somewhere else than your Benelux or British waters for a while, then it is a good thing to have a look over the French border. You can have a long or a short holiday in France, it is not necessary to travel all the the way down to the South of France, as the country has much more to offer!

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Books and maps

Buy yourself a Michelin guide, it is a large sized map which is in the A3 format and works with scale 1:200.000, meaning 1 cm = 2 kms. All kinds of small roads are on this map, including its numbers. Older versions of these Michelin guides can be bought at Book shops or special sales shops, in all larger cities.

Also good books are the Kosmos travel guides. These guides provide many information, about French holidays, currency's and most important: the general temperatures of a department. These books do not cost much, and often show much information.

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The Dutch ANWB also has many information about France, some of them are even free for members. Don't forget to book a travel insurance and any other additional insurances.

And what about the Leon Hoogendijk book. This Dutchman, who went to France to marry a French woman has written his first Dutch book describing many waters in France. Last but not least search the internet. Good Dutch websites are: www.karperwereld.nl and www.intercarp.nl.

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Research

A first research for possible waters in the North of France (say about 150 kms beneath the Belgian/frenh border) results in lots of nice waters. Add the information you gathered from the Internet, friends, books and magazines, and you'll have to make a choice where you want to go to. Do not forget to find some alternate lakes/rivers nearby (25-40 kms) where you can go to if the the waters were not what you expected.

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Preparation

If you also prepare yourself by just visiting the area where you intend to go to, then your preparation is optimal. Also use these days for information about:

• The possibility to fish at night: is it allowed and, if so: where is it allowed. Lots of waters are closed during certain periods because of its combination of fishing and hunting area. During Winter some waters with night fishing areas may not be fished at night, except for the summermonths.
• Where do you buy your license, what does it cost, and which license do you buy. An annual license is cheaper than a license for two weeks during the summermonths. The annual license, however is only needed if you will return to that area during another time of the year or if you'll stay longer than two weeks. You might return to that area that year, but you donot that yet.....
• Do you own and use your own boat, make sure you have a license for using it (where it is allowed). Also, if you rent a boat, you'll need a license. The tariffs may differ tremendously, and informing yourself before really helps

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• You do not own a boat, but you want to rent one, ask the reseller of the licenses. He knows best where to rent one, and where it is allowed to use a boat. Make sure you have a life vest, even if you'r a swimming champion. Too many men died by drowning.
• Do you have a fishfinder, take it with you, notice that it is not allowed to be used on all waters. The best swims are the swims which are not very very close to your car. Choose your swim by finding (one of) the feeding area of the water. Search for mussels, trees underwater, etcetera. Only then decide where you set up your bivvy (if that is allowed...).
• Observe a certain feeding area when possible.
• The local fishing shop ( it is called a Chasse Peche or Magasin de Peche) has all recent information, even about the latest catches. Lots of photos are often shown behind the desk.

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Licenses

The Fishing shop has Information and all the licences you'll need. Since Leon Hoogendijks book, lot of thing have changed, the regulations are more strict, lots of night fish areas are open now, but other areas are prohibited for night fishing now....Nightfishing rules have changed also. Many departments allowed fishing on their waters during certain periods which were assigned by the French AAPPMA.

These waters are under heavy regulations, ask the Fishing shop manager which these waters are. Those waters where you are NOT allowed to fish at night are always checked by the police or other ones. An alternative is to stay on a camping and drive up and down your swim, as you are NOT allowed to spend the night on the banks.

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The larger fishing clubs have a special booklet in which you can find alll information where to fish and where it is not allowed. All night fish areas are mentioned, what the regulations are, etcetera. Where possible, ask for the booklet. The following is available:

• licenses for a year (available all year), about 300-450 Ffrancs basically and an additional 150 Ffrancs for the night fishing stamp
• holiday licenses (only during the summer months available: June, July and August), are about 250 Ffrancs and the additional 150 Ffrancs above that for the night fishing stamp.

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The Practical part

Here some practical tips to make sure your fishing holiday wioll com eto a succesful end.

• always use a life vest in a boat, too many fisherman have drowned.
• Enter the boat with two men: one who is in touch with the fish, the other ones rows the boat. Trust your fishing partner, this is teamwork!
• buy yourself a second unhooking mat to be used in the boat, these days the mats are very cheap.
• Talk to fisherman, local and guest fisherman, they try to catch their fish as well as you do. They can tell you what went wrong is working alright at that lake. Also, you make friends and it will be easier to receive some information.

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• Find yourself an alternate water, in case the water is not what yioy thought, but the the alternate lake should not be on a large distance. keep you r gear on a high level, but always travel light. Do you really have to go to an alternate pitch, the move will not be that difficult. Supermarkets (Supermarchee in French) sell everything you need. It is fresh and it is better than everything out of cans.
• try to stay alert and keep smiling, even if you have the worst days of your fishing life. Support eachother and move to a swim where you can catch fish.

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• Do not stick to one rig or construction. Try things out, use several kinds of boilies and particles. Boilies often need to be very hard to survive the lobsters and other boilielovers which you do not want to catch. Be inventive an adjust to the situation. Try things out at home.
• Read the books and magazines about constructios to fish over large distances or fish the difficult areas. Can your hooks be used for that purpose? try new hooks, use special lines like dyneemam, watch this site for further info.
• I may assume your gear is ok for usage in the French waters
• Make sure your tent or bivvy has no leakage, and take precautions .

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