Carpquarry Catch reports for 2010 and 2011

Rob and Jacqui from South London came to stay with us at Carpquarry only Rob was fishing I think he had a bit of a frustrating week with losing 6 fish but he still managed to land 4 fish 25lb, 26lb8oz, 29lb and a new PB at 31lb4oz most of the action was close in in swims 1 and 6 and all the takes were on our Peach and blackpepper and Squid scopex and robin red boilies on a bed of Carpquarry pellet. Should have some new pics on the website soon

Catch report 9th Aug - 13th Aug 2010
We had guests Andy and his son Rory over from Hampshire for a short midweek session They managed to get 9 fish on the bank and lost 5 which was pretty good considering they only fished for a little more than 3 days the fish landed were Mirrors of 21 lb, 22.8 lb, 24 lb, 26 lb, 26.8 lb, 30 lb, 30 lb, 34 lb and a wildie of 8 lb. Well done guys.

Week starting 14th Aug 2010
We had James and girlfriend Kayliegh and James 2 for the week just the guys were fishing they had a hard week and only managed to land 2 fish in the upper 20s but lost/missed a staggering dozen fish. I am sure next time you will be sitting by your rods

This week starting 21st Aug 2010 we had Chris and his wife and grandson Kieran and his girlfriend Megan from Lincolnshire, It was only the two guys fishing what a week they had, it did not stop raining until the day they left which was a shame for the girls but I think they loved it sitting in a warm house watching many episodes of Gavin and Stacey,As for the guys they were soaked all week so it didnt make alot of difference to Chris when he fell in trying to get the baitboat out. As regards the fishing they had 8 fish from mid 20s to just over 30lb once again the bigger fish have kept a low profile someone very soon will have a few big hits

carpquarry wrote:Week starting 14th Aug 2010
We had James and girlfriend Kayliegh and James 2 for the week just the guys were fishing they had a hard week and only managed to land 2 fish in the upper 20s but lost/missed a staggering dozen fish. I am sure next time you will be sitting by your rods

And you aloud this type of angling..

I know what you mean, I even tried to get them to sit by there rods by letting them use my bivvy free of charge so they would then have 2 bivvies and there was no need to all sit together in one base camp and fish other swims away from the base camp in the middle. I found it a bit hard to get my head round when they have spent all there money to go away on a fishing trip and put the fishing side of things in second place to the social side. But knowing they have spent all there money on the trip did not want to just kick them out, sometimes its a hard call as to what to do. Once again I think its clients coming to me which is a big carp venue for the more experianced angler when they should be going to a runs water with smaller fish and more action.

4/9/10 - 10/9/10
This week we had the crew from Southern Inflatables Adrian, Phill, Luke and Emma.It was a testing week with some doing better than others. All in all they managed to land 10 fish from mid 20s to early 30s with quite a few that got away which is the norm with the sharp rocks. Well done to Emma with a new PB Mirror of 26lb8oz and top rod Luke with a new PB mirror of 32lb4oz and PB common of 24lb4oz.

11/9/10-14/9/10
We had Peter Fagan and his work mate Jeff with us for a short 3 day weekender. Both the guys landed new PBs pete at 31lb8oz and Jeff at 32lb8oz they also had a few more in the high 20s and quite a few that got away.It will be great to see you guys again when you return to land the big ones that got away this time

18/9/10-24/9/10
We had with us this week friends Alan & Lesley who came over doing a spot of fishing and a bit of diving clearing out some snags. Thank you for all the work you done in clearing out underwater branches. As regards the fishing no nights were done mainly just late mornings to evening. Well done to Lesley with a new PB of 27lb8oz and to Alan with a new PB of 31lb8oz they also had another 30 and a late 20. But dont worry Alan I will not tell anyone about the other 19 yes 19 runs that you missed/lost your secret is safe with me

3/10/10-5/10/10
Paul and his mate Craig came for a short 48 hour session while they were over in France renovating Pauls holiday home. What a session they had 5 fish 30lb plus and also lost a couple, but you know Paul you are not ment to slip fall flat on your back in the rain and hit into the fish and try and play it as you are laying on your back in a puddle LOL.
Paul had a 30lb and missed one.
Craig had 30lb, 30lb, 33lb and 34lb PB and missed a couple.
Thats a good result for just 48 hours fishing.



25/9/10-1/10/10
This week we had Alan and his wife from Dartford in Kent, The weather was all over the place started of hot then the rain came but this didnt stop Alan getting a new PB at 32lb8oz, Well done

11/10/10 - 16/10/10 Nigel,Graham & Kevin
We had Nigel,Graham and Kevin from the south east on a 5 day trip. First blood went to Graham with a original common of 17lb8oz for this Graham won a bottle of wine for catching the smallest king carp ever caught from the lake not that I was taking the mick !!! Nigel was then in again with another small original mirror at 20lb after that the fish got abit bigger with a mirror at 26lb8oz and then with a 30lb4oz. Kevin was not going to be out done by landing another mirror at 26lb8oz and then a mirror at 32lb8oz, Nigel replied with a 32lb8oz mirror and then Kevin with a 30lb mirror. Graham was enoying himself in swim 6 with plenty of runs but not being able to land them as they were taking him straight into snags. All in all the lads had a great time and enoyed themselfs catching some big fish and all loosing a few. We look forward to seeing you all again

Actor Lee Oakes night sessions
We had actor Lee Oakes at Carpquarry doing a couple of night only sessions Nov 2010 and what a result he had. Lee managed to put 6 fish on the bank with the smallest at 28lb up to 35lb with 4 of the fish being over 30lb. Well done Lee you are the first person who has managed to land all there runs. Lee was fishing swim 1 using carpquarry pellet and boilies.

Lee with a 35lb mirror

Winter carp fishing at Carpquarry
19/11/10 Saw the return for the 3rd time of the 3 amigos Tony Steve and Nick for a weeks winter Carp fishing in France at Carpquarry. The pegs the guys have are Tony swim 1 Steve swim 3 and Nick swim 5.

First 24hours - Tony is of the mark with a 27lb8oz and also lost another at the net. Its been quite for Steve but to be fair he has not tried to hard as still recovering from the travel and Nick has lost 4 fish maybe getting a bit excited and being to heavy on them. If you try to bully them you will loose!!!

Day 2 - No fish for Tony but did loose one that wiped out all his other rods LOL.Steves of the mark with a mirror at 28lb8oz and Nick is also off the mark with a nice fish of 30lb.

Day 3 - Tonys had a small one at 26lb8oz and Steve has now got his first 30 of the trip with a 31lb mirror this was a massive fish and looked much bigger, wait till you see the photos you will not beleave it is only 31. All quite for Nick.

Day 4 - Tonys had another small one at 27lb8oz and all quite for Steve Nick had a nice mirror of 34lb setting a new PB for him and also lost another.

Day 5 - Tony has got his mojo back and landed 2 fish at 33lb and 34lb now all the guys have landed 30lb plus fish. All quite again for Steve but Nick has had a couple more at 27lb8oz and 31lb.

Day 6 - All quite for Tony but Steve had another Mirror at 31lb and Nick smashed his PB again with a stunning mirror of 38lb and lost another.Nicks over the moon with his fishing and has now packed up to get a good sleep before the drive home tomorrow but the other two are fishing on after a 40plus fish.Lets hope they get one, they deserve it after fishing in the freezing conditions.
No more fish for the guys as they left early ust missing the snow. So heres the round up of how they done on there weeks winter carping.
Tony swim 1 -27lb8oz,26lb8oz,27lb8oz,33lb and 34lb.
Steve swim 3 - 28lb8oz,31lb and another 31lb.
Nick swim 5 - 27lb8oz,30lb,31lb,34lb and 38lb PB.
Not bad for winter fishing.

Taken from Wychwoods facebook page

As many of you know I have just got back from Carp Quarry Lake in Brittany, France. Far more than just a fishing holiday Sharon (my better ½) and I managed to get the rods out, explore the local towns and cities, watch DVD’s, drink wine (and Pastis) and I did my best to eat the local (and not so local) eatery’s out of food!

In this very short piece I will let you know how I got on, what I caught (if anything,) how I did it, honestly what I thought and what I saw.

After a 5 hour drive from Calais to Saint Servais in Brittany Sharon and I pulled up to the doors of the Carp Quarry cottage, up a quiet lane overlooking a small wood and little river, the Sun was shining and life seemed good! We had already stopped in St Bruic for supplies so as well as the essential fishing gea, reels and buzzers and our clothing we had a boot full of Trigga, Beer, Pastis, red wine, bread and cheese. You could say I was contented! I was just about to pick up the phone when a loud, but very welcoming voice bellowed from down the lane, “nice weather for it, and they are awake!” we turned round to see the owner of Carp Quarry, Gordon. He had just walked out of the lakes gate, which were literally 100yrds from the cottage’s front door, he had seen some fish, and although Sharon could have done with my help I was desperate to go have a look. As Gordon swung open the gate my mouth dropped, in front of me lay a truly stunning lake, big intimidating cliffs, crystal clear waters and some cracking Mirrors drifting over the shallow road way, I was in heaven “Sharon, can I get the rods out!” LOL

It had been a long journey, and I probably smelt like a poll cat, so Sharon and I headed back to the cottage to unload the car and freshen up – long storey short, I couldn’t hack it, I threw the bags through the door, grabbed my reels from the boot and my bait and shot straight back to the lake to get HQ set up ready for a full day the following day.

Wychwood now sponsor carp Quarry, so Gordon dropped off some 12ft 3lb TC solace Rods, an Advanced Peak Bivvy, Solace unhooking mats and some of the new chairs, l was quickly set up and rigged up and had put some bait out on the road and along the wall (the marginal shelf) I was buzzing to get back the following morning to get the rods out for real!

Sunday was actually my birthday, so even after such a long day travelling and setting gear up Gordon and Sharon had colluded to book us a table at a local restaurant, and even after a bloody long day we both enjoyed a cracking dinner and some carafes of wine and rolled into bed around 11PM totally shattered!

The following morning didn’t quite go to plan, I had slept through my alarm and didn’t even open my eyes until 10am, we also needed a few things from the local Tabac, so by the time we had got back to the Lake it was about mid day, either way, we had a cracking spread of grub out on the picnic table, and I had cast the rods out under the trees on the far bank, things were looking good and all was rosey!

It is at this point when things became a little testing, I wont go into loads of details but I struggled, granted I didn’t do any nights, and we spent half of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday out exploring. The weather had changed to rain and I didn’t feel comfortable with her having to sit in the car in the lashing rain, so we visited the local towns of Carhaix – Plougher, Callac and Guingamp, all equally interesting for different reasons, there were also a few coastal towns and beaches within easy reach but I couldn’t bring myself to visit in the rain! On the occasions I did get the rods out i was finding it difficult, because of the depths you have to change your mind set, if you are keen to feel the lead down like I always am, then you actually end up bringing the hookbait away from the intended spot my nearly 20ft, so any bait you put out etc is fishing alone. The answer was to cast hard and from a high to low angle and take your hand off the spool as it hits the water, letting it fall 'naturally' you could then be hopeful of fishing the spot you wanted to. I put a little foam nugget in the small PVA bags just to ensure I knew where the hook bait had finished up. I also ended up washing everything out, boilie and Pellet. Gordon does sell quality bait on site, and it is bait they are used to, and comfortable with, but I have so much confidence in the Trigga that I decided to stick with it.

The reason I washed it all out was simple, on m y first afternoon I had put 2.5kg of bait spread out over the road and it hadn’t been touched, when I turned up Thursday afternoon it looked like a heard of Boar had visited, the bottom was torn to shreds and every last 18mm boilie had gone. So I hung my air dried baits out in the rain, and put a few handfuls of pellet in a bucket and left that in the rain as well, this would give the washed out effect.

After a few days out I had got a bit of “Carp withdrawal” I had seen some stonking great fish when out n the boat and I desperately wanted to put a hook in one, so after some sad faces she had soon packed me back off down to the Lake and shortly afterwards I had positioned the three baits in slightly deeper water off the front of the trees, the fish hadn’t quite got up into the margins yet. I also scaled my hook links down to a new fluorocarbon hooklength from PB, changed to size 8 Jungle Hooks and fished 2, 10mill Trigga bottom baits and little bags of washed out Pellet. It clearly worked, as about 4 hours after the baits went out the middle rod absolutely tore off, and almost instantly there was a massive eruption under the trees on the far bank, instantly I knew it was not one of the hippos I had been lucky enough to see earlier in the week, but god did I want it! After bullying it away from the far bank it wasn’t long before a cracking upper 20 rolled over the chord, thank god, the blank was saved! (-: shortly after this one was followed by a low 30, both cracking lookers and far from your usual pasty, pale French carp.

To sum up, I didn’t fish much, but I loved every second of it, for me it is my favourite French water, and I have visited a few, I saw some right hippos, the area is gorgeous, the lake is stunning, the cottage is picture perfect AND I WANT TO GO BACK! (Breath (-



Frustrating start to 2011 by Gordon Carpquarry
We have seen a couple of anglers down the lake this year but to be fair it has been hard going with only a handfull of fish out. Its been very frustrating when the fish are crashing all around but not playing ball, one of the guys how could see carp close in on swim 1 put out 50/60 boilies where he could see them with 2 rod out in the mix at dusk only to find in the morning that every single boilie had gone except for the ones on his lines, The fat ladies are being very fussy at the moment so rigs have to be spot on even scaled down to a size 8 hook for now untill the water warms up a bit more and the fish start fighting over the food.

Nick from Dartford 8/4/11 - 11/4/11
We had Nick and his crew from Dartford Kent stay at Carpquarry for a short fishing trip of 3 days, They didnt do to bad and running rigs and chod rigs seemed to do the trick. Four anglers came and 3 had new PBs at the end. Nick was the top rod with carp of 25 lb, 29 lb, 32 lb and 33 lb8oz PB. Paul had a new PB of 28 lb and so did Bill with a new PB of 31 lb 8oz. Pleased to hear you all had a great time and look forward to seeing you all again later on this year.

We had Simon and his crew from Huddersfield with us for a short 4 day break. They managed some cracking fish in such a short time with only one fish less than 32lb they went home with 3 new PBs.
Ben swim 1 Mirrors at 32lb8oz and 34lb PB
Simon swim 2 Mirrors at 28lb, 32lb, 32lb8oz and another at 32lb8oz.
Richard swim 5 had the largest of the trip a mirror of 35lb.
Thats good fishing with an ave weight of around 32 and half pound per fish.

Gary John Paul & Ken from Edenbridge Kent 23/4/11
This week we had the guys from Edenbridge visit us at Carp quarry. The guys had a good week and set a couple of new records.

John swim 1 set a new record of the most fish landed in a week well in fact 6 days, the fish he had were-
mirrors at 22, 25, 25, 25, 28, 28, 28, 28, 30.5,32, 32, 35 and topped with a 39lb.
Ken in swim 2 had a mirror at 25lb.
Gary in swim 5 had mirrors at 20 and 29lb.
Paul also in swim 5 had mirrors at 25, 28, 29 and 31lb and topped of with a new record common at 32lb.

In the end 21 fish landed and quite a few lost/ missed but great angling from the guys well done.

Dont forget we still have weeks open for 2011 if you want to visit Carpquarry.

2/5/1 - 6/5/11
This week we had in Aaron,Kriston, Paul and Adrian for a short week.
Kriston was the top rod also with the biggest fish of 37lb10oz and others of 27, 30 and 32. Paul had a couple out at 26 and 34lb, Aaron had fish just under 30lb at 29 and 25 and Adrian also had a couple at 25 and 28.

Gav & Kev 16/5/11 Carpquarry saved us!
There was nobody at the lake this week but ended up with a call from Gavin looking for a place to fish. There were fishing a public water in Brittany France and all they have had was a couple bream in 5 days. They came to Carpquarry to try and save there holiday and save it they did, with only fishing 2 day/3 nights Kevin had 4 fish at 25lb,28lb4oz, 29lb and 34lb4oz PB but not to be out done Gavin also had 4 fish a common at 17lb3oz and Mirrors at 25lb2oz, 26lb4oz and 39lb PB

Steve Patchley Rob & Pete Our fish Fly and Hire group 23/5/11
This week we had Rob, Steve and Pete from Essex,they were our first fly and hire group.They had a cracking week and put the new Wychwood tackle to the test. Carpquarry put them under its spell and they have already booked to come back in 2012.
Rob swim 1 Had 14 fish a new Carpquarry record for the most fish caught by one angler in a week.
All mirrors at 26,10 32,2 24,2 27,5 32,3 28,11 20,2 23,0 28,6 25,15 27,13 and a new PB of 32,6. and also lost/issed 3 fish
Pete swim 3
Also got a new PB at 33lb and had other fish of 24,4 27,6 and 29,12
Steve swim 5
He had the biggest fish of the week at 39lb13oz and had others at 29,10 30,6 26,4 29,4 24,6 25,7 24,3 and a common of 14lb

Essex boys on Tour 4th June 2011
This week we had the Essex boys on Tour ie Dave Richard (Whizz) Lee and Gary (Nugget)from Witham Essex. Lee Ward was the winner of the Total Carp Mag comp that we run this year.The guys had a great time and some great fishing with the person who came last out of the 4 of them Whizz still have a fish at 34lb6oz in 3rd place was Dave with a 38lb and in 2nd place with a fish at 39lb10oz was Nugget and the winner was Lee with a best fish of 41lb8oz Have listed below details of all there catches in the week.

Dave swim 1. 24lb4oz,27lb4oz and 38lb mirrors.

Richard (Whizz) swim 2 . 27lb,31lb8oz and 34lb6oz mirrors.

Gary (Nugget) swim5. 26lb8oz,31lb8oz,27lb,23lb and 39lb10oz Mirrors also 2 Commons at 27lb and a new lake record Common at 34lb4oz.

Lee also in swim 5. 25lb8oz,26lb4oz,34lb8oz,24lb10oz,29lb4oz,27lb,31lb8oz,32lb Mirrors and a new PB at 41lb8oz.Lee also had 2 wildies at 3lb and 11lb4oz.

This week we had Tony Higgins and Mark from Hemel Hempstead. Tony had alot of his family staying in the house while Tony and Mark done abit of fishing. Mark was fishing swim 4 and Tony was fishing swim 5.
Mark in swim 4 had 5 fish out and lost 3. The fish were mirrors of 34lb,35lb,34lb,31lb and then a baby original at 22lb.
Tony in swim 5 only fished half the week as to keep his family happy but still had 15 runs and got fish from 23lb to 33lb. Tony did say that he had lost a couple of very big carp with one being massive and this is coming from an angler who has caught many 50s and also was one of the first anglers to catch Benson from Bluebell, But in 40 years of carp fishing has never felt anything like the one he lost.
Dont worry Tony I am sure you will be back for another go at landing one of the big girls from Carpquarry.