Thomas S. came back home a couple of days ago from a somewhat “different” session at Domaine de Brocard. The constant temperature changes in Northern France had caused quite some weed formation. Let’s see how they dealt this new challenge to them. Read the small interview where they reveil some tricks & tips.
We fishing in swim 10 and in total we had 22 runs of which we landed only 8 fish. The weed caused us quite some problems; it covered a large area of the lake. The fishing was very very slow at the other swims (we didn’t hear much action actually). Despite these difficulties we’re proud at our results because we managed to land some very nice fish. Franck (bailiff) struggled all week to keep the weed under control; he said it had never been this bad. We had a great session at Domaine de Brocard: absolute silence and awesome fish. We landed a new record grass carp 31,9Kg (70.33lb). Once again, thanks for organizing the whole trip!
You had to deal with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius, what was your baiting strategy?
We covered the lakebed in a relatively concentrated area with a mix of particles. We used the Spodrod and Spomb to do this. A bait boat would have been nice, but I’d be afraid the boat might have got stuck in the weed. We added a few boilies around our spot.
We assume the carp was hiding in the weed. Which rigs did you use?
We knew the lakebed was seriously soft, so we decided to use longer rigs with barbless n° 4-6 hooks. We used snowman rig, chid-rig and simple pop-up rigs. We didn’t want the rigs to sink into the silt and with the pop-ups we wanted to keep the hook well clear of the weed. Using a PVA bag filled with bag mix, the rig and the lead, we casted the whole tight to the weed.
Positioning the rigs close to the weed, you locked the drag a little?
Yes, we locked the drag more than we use to in other venues to avoid the fish from swimming right into the weed. At night we stayed a little longer sitting close to the rods - we wanted to avoid loosing fish in the weed!
Do you have any other special tips for anglers who’re heading to Domaine de Brocard soon?
During summer the weed formation is normal and we recommend to loosen a little the Safety-Clips. It’s important the lead falls off so you can reel in the fish without the lead getting stuck into the weed. It’s amazing how much weed your lead can collect!
Also, a PVA foam nugget folded around the hook keeps the rig out of the weed and silt. And last of all, the silver fish like the smaller particles, we used a simple tiger nut popped up to avoid silver fish and crayfish. Harder boilies and ‘super Wrap’ from Korda also help…