Etang du Moulin
Vergaville, La Moselle
Lake Description
Etang du Moulin
Etang du Moulin is a very natural looking lake in a vast landscape where tranquility rules. Just before arriving, when you take the last turn on the path leading to the venue you'll get the fist glimpse of the lake amid the hills from a height and you'll just know: this is going to be a good one!
This 44acre lake was created by building a dam for agricultural purposes, but now it's only being used for carp angling. The current owner started this activity 12 years ago en has not allowed any other activity since. The whole lake has been made obstacle-free. Depths vary between 4 and 13ft, with an average of 8ft. The deeper zones are to be found around swim 22. In summer you can expect some weed-growth around swim 26 and 8 but this has never been problematic.
This venue is situated a bit more to the north than most of our lakes, and it's higher. This implicates colder temperatures, and therefore the lake is closed during winter months. This being said, don't underestimate the temperatures in summer.
Swims and stock
There are quite a lot of swims here, but most of them are one angler only. Also, a maximum of 16 anglers is set to fish at the same time. Swims 1,3,5,18, 24 are double swims. Swims 1,3,5,7,8,24 and 26 are accessible by car and your car can be parked there as well. All of the other swims can be reached on foot or by bike, your gear will be dropped of by the bailiff by boat.
The exact amount of carp on the lake remains a big mystery, even the bailiff has no clue of the actual number. But please consider this quick calculation:
The last time that the lake was emptied to count fish was 12 years ago. At that time, 8 tons of carp between 15 and 18kg were counted. So that should have been a number between 445 and 534 carp. These have grown quite a bit since then, resulting in a few 30+kg fish and a lot of carp between 25 and 30kg. Those are caught regularly. Next, the owner has been restocking every second year, 6 times by now, about 70 fish per year each time. In total that gives us a total number between 865 and 954 carp, not counting any offspring!
The lake record is a 32kg mirror carp, and a 31,5kg common. There are also a multitude of big koi on this water, making this one of our top venues for all of those specimen-hunters out there. Be sure to check out the pictures for more details.
Facilities: Drive & Survive
Etang du Moulin is a "Drive & Survive" destination. There is no running water or electricity on the venue. There's a WC and shower (only cold water) but mostly these are closed. Simply don't count on it. Customers improvise and do their needs in the nature using a bucket and a shovel.
In the neighbouring town of Dieuze there is absolutely everything you could possibly need: pharmacy, supermarket, bakery, butcher, tobacco, ...
There's is no tackle-shop in the area, so keep your check-lists close before leaving. There is no option of leaving garbage on the site. You need 2 transparent bags (can be bought on site for 10€), one for recyclable materials and the other for the rest. In the little village or on the motorway home you can leave most of your garbage.
Key points
- The Lake: Etang du Moulin
- Department: Alsace
- Open: mid februari - mid november
- Distance: Calais - Etang du Moulin: 529km
- Surface: 18ha (44acres)
- Bottom: clay, hardly any obstacles
- Depths: in between 1,2 and 4m
- Max # anglers allowed: 16
- Stocking: Around 900 carp
- Access: swims 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 24 and 26 are accessible by car
- Price per angler: 220€ per week, 126€ per midweek and 95€ per weekend
- Price per non-angler: free
- WIFI: no
- Exclusive reservation: 500€ per day (16 anglers)
