Trips 2023

France

So this we hit France for the first time with a lake exclusive - Val Dor Lakes - 1 Week.
Our Lake had the benefit of buying a cabin with power and a fridge. The cabin itself was huge and could sleep the pair of us on a double swim with all our gear stored inside. the problem was the heat outside plus the fridge inside and the fact our snoring keeps one of us awake so its a competition on who sleeps first. The double swims were easily big enough but the ground was solid, it was like hardcore with a scattering of soil ontop which was no good for my pegs and my toy mallet.
I took the 2-man westlake particle bivvy to ensure i had plenty of room for the week. I also purchased the overwrap so i could keep the heat in the bivvy stable and secure it better to the ground if the weather turned, which was needed with the ground being so hard to peg.
I took everything possible with me for this trip. All the water pumps, extra bedding and loads of clothes. Too many clothes really as i didnt wear half of it, so it came back with me. Next time less is more for clothing.

Being the first main barbless lake i have been on, I had purchased some Nash and Korda hooks to see how they perform. The first two nights all we had were runs that would just not stay hooked. We moved to long rigs, short rigs and heavier weights (3.5oz) to try and get more purchase on the hook.
On the third night the carp were coming in, we had a double take with a 29lb & 30lb and the next was my 32.6lb French PB. What we found was we needed to strike much harder to get the purchase needed to keep the carp on.
After the PB I was more focused on celebrating rather than fishing so the rest of the days were easy going as soon as i had not blanked on a my first France trip.

Helicopter rigs - so I went with six helicopter rigs as I had not used them before and i could get a good cast on the lake. after all the runs and lost rigs I reverted to the stiff hinge rigs which is what I caught on. Also catch on both the Korda and Nash hooks so there was no winners on best catch, so I will carry on but there seems to be now best fit.

We also hired a bait boat which was fun and good for dumping the final load before the darkness kicked in. I love getting the perfect cast so I could not enjoy having a boat with me for all sessions but for this was a good first experience. We did get the boat stuck but mainly due to an issue with the boat, everything was fully charged but the signal for forward/reverse lasted a few seconds at a time so we had to limp the boat back to the swim, it was like there was interference but there was nothing around to start the problems and once it started it never stopped.

France all in all was great and Val Dore was cost effective for a first time trip to France and i cant wait to go again!