French Carping.. Robin Carver

This entry was posted on 17th October, 2013

French Carping.. Robin Carver

Some will remember that I visited this venue earlier in the year (May) and the weather was pants, it rained constantly and was cold. We returned this September hoping for better conditions but unfortunately on arrival it was raining and had been the week prior the only difference this time that the weather was warmer.

We set up on the island swim with my friend Miles opting for the larger swim as he was going to bivvy up, I fished the side of the island which is quite a small swim but I was going to fish days only and try to catch up on some sleep during the evenings.

Angling Direct has had a busy year and I was determined to look on this trip as a chance to recharge the batteries so to speak.

It turned out that luck was to be with me as from the side swim where I was the option was to fish the dam end of the lake but Miles who was bivvied up had the opposite bank and the whole of the right side of the island which is the shallow end but very carpy looking.



During the week as the rain came down seemingly without end I moved to the side of the lake which is a grassed area, the reason being was that the swim was getting so muddy and quite boggy with the ground feeling like I was walking in porridge.

The fishing was by no means fast and furious with my best day catching 3 fish. Fishing just during the day I ended up with 12 fish but four of those going over 40lb the rest excepting two were in their 30’s.

Pierremont is a small water which is spring fed and the size of the fish belie their surroundings with most being quite large mid to upper 30’s at least that is from my own experience.



We had maybe half a day when it was sunny and the Friday as we were packing up was quite nice but the rest of the week was constant rain. Oh and Miles ended up with just three fish all coming out at night, it was a good job that he bivvied up otherwise it could have been a disastrous week.

During the year I had been hearing some good things regarding the ATTs alarms so I purchased a set (yes I do buy my own fishing equipment) I opted for the newer underlit ones in blue. These have to be the smallest alarms on sale at the moment (if not I am sure someone will let me know) and they have no built in speaker so you do need to have the receiver.

Being so small they will fit neatly in anyone’s luggage but of course if the receiver malfunctions you are left without a working alarm, I need not have been concerned as they worked flawlessly and I am told there are virtually no returns on these items which are UK manufactured. A few of the lads in our shops use these and I hear nothing but good things about them, they are superbly made look indestructible and to my mind are a good looking piece of equipment.

The underlit wheel shows up well and the alarms and receiver are waterproof. These are distributed by Gardner so if you are looking for a new set of bite alarms I can wholly recommend these.

The alarms come with batteries already fitted and the hard case when on the unit switches off the power which a good idea. The RRP for the underlit ones is £79.99 and £75.99 for the standard alarms. There are two receivers that can be used the V2 ATTx Deluxe receiver with RRP of £134.99 and the V2 ATTx receiver which retails at £85.



My French trips these last couple of years have not been kind and I wonder if I have been unlucky or the weather trends are changing, last year I went twice once in April and again in October and both times the weather was unbearably hot, now this year two trips both torrential rain.

I am not having a moan as we have been blessed with a wonderful summer. When the sun did come out the lake came alive and I did video some Swallows which was quite amazing to see.

P.S I will try and get the video sorted in the next few days!



Tackle Box: Gardner ATTs Alarms Gardner ATTs Reciever Ace Razor Point Hooks Shimano Aero Technium MGs Solar Worldwide Stainless Steel Pod