In his debut blog for the Total Carp website, HARVEY CHAMBERLAIN details a hugely successful trip to France, where he catches a heap of whacking great carp.

The time eventually came for my first-ever France trip, and I was absolutely buzzing. We were up at 4am for our flight to depart Bristol Airport at 8am. We arrived at this undisclosed French venue for about 11am. There were eight of us in total and the lads were full of expectation as they had been to lake previously and had caught some absolute beauties!

To me, French fishing was all new, and didn’t know what to expect. The lads on the trip had given me a brief overview on the lake before my arrival so I was raring to go. We regrouped for the draw. I was keen to see what swim I would be in for the session. Luckily I had third choice, which I was really pleased about and noticed this little bay in the corner of the lake. As soon as my mate picked out number 4, I was over the moon because he was a swim down from me and would be an invaluable photographer over the next week. 

After we all chose our swims, we were eager to get set up. I began to note any signs of fish in the area. A few hours went by and nothing appeared, so I had a little lead around the area with no marker float, because when you’re leading around, you can get a good idea on how deep the water is anyway. I wasn’t too bothered on the depth really, as it was the second week in spring and I knew the carp would be around moving and feeding.

Eventually I found a few spots that would look good for a bite. I was fishing a hard silty gully. This my first rod sorted, my other two rods were being placed in the bay on top of some shallow silt, and it wasn’t deep so I knew my presentation would be perfect. My favourite hook bait I like to use when fishing silt is a white 12mm Chewy Special pop-up from Carp Company, this is one of those pops that carp cannot resist. I fish the bait an inch off the bottom so it sits on top of the silt.

I managed a fish on the first night, and was rewarded with a stunning 21lb 11oz mirror, this started my session off and I was so happy I got a carp early on in the week. This just gave me confidence in getting a few more. Not long after slipping that little beauty back, the same rod was off with another 20, I was incredibly happy as this was still the first night.

I woke up at first light to a screaming run, and landed a lovely 31lb 15oz mirror. I was so made up, but the action slowed up in the day for some reason. Later that evening as the sun went in and the southwesterly wind started blowing in my direction, I had another 20 on the bank. Shortly after slipping that one back, i had an absolute belting take. This fish just felt different, I knew straightaway that it was a better fish, just by way it was charging around. As it showed itself on the surface I knew it was a monster. My good friend Oz, who was the swim next to me, said: "That’s a whacker!" About 10 minutes into the battle, the fish finally came closer to the net, and it was mine. I got it on the scales, and it went 51lb 9oz. I was shocked, my first French fifty, and it was only the second evening. I couldn’t believe it.

I said to myself this trip couldn’t get any better, with the fish, the warm weather, it was just a dream. At night the bay began to start producing fish once again. I was eating my tea when the alarm ripped off. My friend Oz was down with the video camera. I asked him: "Why you filming this?" His response: "I know this is a whacker, just have a feeling mate!" He was right; this fish was so powerful and only just fitted into the net. We both had to lift the fish out of the water, so we got either end of the sling and hoisted it out. With everything sorted and the fish unhooked, it was time to sit it on the scales, and it went 59lb 1oz! I was just blown away. We made sure we got some awesome shots on the camera, and as we were taking a few shots, my other rod went off. The second fish was a 41lb 4oz common, one of the twin commons in the lake. This was just a session of my dreams. Incredible!

As the week was progressing the weather was getting very hot and I'd been noticing the bites coming late evening and early morning. I was thinking to myself where are these fish congregating in the daytime. I reeled the rods in, took some bait in my boilie caddy, and couldn’t forget my polarising sunglasses, of course. I had a walk round the bay, and found a nice point on the tree, where I could almost get a bird’s eye view from. Straightaway I noticed the amount of fish in and around the snags, and tight to the margin, now this is where they have been holding up in the warm weather. So I was thinking they had been avoiding my baited area in the daylight, choosing to feed in the hours of darkness.

Anyway, I spotted this fish just enjoying the sun by the snags. I said to myself: "This is a fifty!" I went back round to my swim pretty fast, and got a single hook bait ready, the same thing I had caught the previous fish on. The rod went out perfect first time, near the fish I saw bathing in the sun. Nearly five minutes after casting out, I had it at 49lb 4oz, what a cracker. Not quite fifty, but I didn’t care. After slipping this one back, I got the rod straight back out to the same spot. I was fishing locked up so I the fish couldn’t take any line as I was fishing towards a snag. I made sure I was on the rods instantly. Not long after the success of that carp, I had another fish in the net. I could now see the fish were rolling and jumping all over my area. I was so glad I found the fish in the day time, and just thought I'd catch them on single hook baits, to avoid any disturbance in the swim. This night was slowly drawing in and it was time to get the rods back on their night spots.

I woke up the following morning, and the weather had changed, there was a lot more cloud cover and was very overcast, totally the opposite to what we have had the past few days. The sun did eventually rise, but there wasn’t the same number of fish as there had been yesterday. I still had a few bites, but kept the bait going in on my night spot throughout the day, just so if the fish did turn up, there would be something there for them to feed on.

The week was closing in and had to start packing up the night before, to catch our flight at 9:00am. I packed up most things, and just left the bare essentials out. Luckily I did, because early that morning before we headed home, a upper double slipped into the net, and then was time to bring the rods in. All 8 of us regrouped and wrote all our captures in the lake book, and I was just blown away on what a session I had. Ended up with 38 carp to 59lb 1oz including x2 doubles, x10 20s, x15 30s, x9 40s and x2 50s. This was just a session on my life, and would definitely visit this wonderful venue again in the spring.