12 Things that can ruin your carp fishing trip to France

Here are my 12 points that can help with avoiding chaos when going to France for your Fishing trip!

[@DeaniiB123]

I’ve been France once or twice a year for the last 13 years and I still found this very informative & amusing! Great video 👍🏻

[@onthebucket7958]

Thank you , I am going again in a few weeks. In full prep mode at the moment following my own advice.

[@garethyoung8150]

take a match rod with a couple of floats, lighter line and smaller hooks to fish for smaller fish in between the carp runs. spare batteries. white hat when its hot, decent pillow, put bivvy in shade, dont fill it in on day 1- if all your group take it steady and build it up its better. fish all 3 rods same distance if you can

[@timfee2063]

Brilliant information, thanks very much. Very helpful. Lots I didn’t know.

[@onthebucket7958]

I'm glad you found it useful 👍

[@simonparker1748]

Breathalyser kits are not compulsory, but be aware that the alcohol limit is lower in France. If you intend travel a long way, or going more often, on toll routes ( Peage) it’s worth getting an Emovis tag for your vehicle. This means the barriers open as you approach them and the toll charge just gets applied to your account.

[@onthebucket7958]

Good point , just check your model of vehicle it may not work if there is a rain sensor on your windscreen.

[@bashab3098]

One thing I’d add is begin fishing for a bite at a time , heaping in kilos of bait on a busy lake may not be the way to go , a friend of mine who does more commercials than me often fishes only five boilie stringers and smashes it . Huge beds of bait can be off putting to the bigger fish . If there are Poison Chat you will need tigers to keep a bait in the water , in fact I wouldn’t choose a lake where they are known to be .

[@rickphillips5098]

Adding to help anyone going !! Get the best breakdown cover for your vehicle ! As far as picking a lake to go to .. pick a lake which puts up weekly catch reports! I personally whent to " lac lucie" which was a massive mistake 🤔. 2 months before going we questioned there Catches from there lake as there was no catch reports, he cane back with " not many fish out as people hire lake and sleeping accommodation as a place to stay as its cheaper ! Such a lie !! After 3 days off fishing the owner came down and told us we were not catching due to our rigs were wrong ! He also then told us the fish were only interested in maggots due to time off year ! When we showed him the 12 gallons off maggots we had !! He went quiet and just left .. he did come back down to the lake and said " there's lots off crayfish in the lake ,see if you can get a small one and use that for bait ! There probably eating them ..

[@bobj3251]

Some of the lake owners can also tell big fibbers about the stock , best bet is to ask someone who's been to a venue , have been going over 25 years and had some shocking disappointments have changed to fishing the rivers can be hard but no known fish and you know some Dutch guy hasn't poured 30kg of nut's and boiles into the next swim

[@shoddyoddie504]

Great info nice one 👌🏻

[@onthebucket7958]

Thank you , glad you found it helpful.

[@geffthebricky]

Great tips seen and made most of the mistakes you have mentioned. My advice would be to take quality bait, I would rather have 5 kilos of top quality bait than 30 kg of cheap boilies. Seen it so many times, lads with reels costing 400 quid a piece skimping on the most important item.

[@onthebucket7958]

Thanks for your comment, it's good advice 👍

[@sgtg4600]

Great video. 👍

[@onthebucket7958]

Thank you

[@markcooper4945]

Great information, first French trip later this year. In your opinion since Brexit, are we able to take our own bait from the UK, without the risk of confiscation? Tight lines !

[@onthebucket7958]

Tricky one this , I tried to research this a while ago on the Shuttle website ( usually a good source of info) trouble is we don't know exactly what is in a manufactures boilie so it's hard to apply the guidelines. I have been through twice since the above vid and at French customs I was waved over to the inspection bays on both occasions. My car was full of fishing gear it was obvious at a glance I was going carp fishing. However both times all they did was to swab my steering wheel and drivers and passenger door. When the swabs came back clear I was waved through. I think the French police are more concerned with drugs, firearms and explosives than boilies. I was prepared though to have any bait they didn't like confiscated. I can't help thinking if they seized every boilie off every carp angler we would all find somewhere else to fish. We generate huge tourist revenue. One last thing ; don't just rely on boilies, maize is a superb bait in France and has accounted for 50% of my French carp. Good luck for your coming trip, hope you catch some great fish 👍

[@jsa2257]

I’ve had a trip ruined by coypu diving on my bait they were relentless I hooked a couple as well the owner gave me a trap and asked if I would trap a a few. Worst trip I ever had coypu seem pretty docile but if they learn to dive for your bait ☹️☹️

[@onthebucket7958]

That's very useful to know , thank you. How big were the ones you hooked ......PB ? 😆

[@jsa2257]

@@onthebucket7958 that’s one PB I hope I never beat 😂😂

[@onthebucket7958]

😂 Well, in the interests of sharing useful info with other anglers I think you should tell us the secret coypu rig and bait !

[@jamesrussel1133]

Why aren’t you famous, you look in that light like a younger Tim Paisley? Useful tips though. Except Coypu do dive down on your bait once they are used to finding it, they ate vegetarians, they love maize. I have hooked them up believe me. Driving don’t use radar detectors, they are illegal and fines are heavy if you get caught. Oh and I haven’t fished a single lake either here or abroad where they aren’t Peggy to some extent, and that can vary a lot spring to autumn. As a rule shallow areas fish much better in spring but can be largely fishless in October. Absolutely right about friends, even good trips when tired, you and others get irritable and I have fallen out with people I thought were good friends. There are without doubt the ultimate friendship test! You are 100% correct about rigs and how they work differently under water.

[@onthebucket7958]

🤣 Tim Paisley indeed... great angler. Well I did cut my carp fishing teeth on Roman Lakes as a teenager in the late 70s when the only info came from magazines or word of mouth. That was where I first saw the hair rig being used and was baffled !..However the chap using it caught fish after fish on a yellow boilie. I also tried to cast to the far bank with a 10ft fibre glass rod and a Mitchell 300 🤣. I did this video after chatting to two anglers on a well known French water, it was their first time and they had struggled and had some mishaps and outright disasters. I tried to help as best I could and passed on what I knew, one of them caught a 40 before he went home. He said " Thanks for your help, you should do a video for you tube " 🤣. That it why I did the above normally avoid social media. I thought about 50 people would watch it and I would have been happy with that .

[@carpfishingbaitcfb7677]

Spot on mate

[@onthebucket7958]

Glad it helped , saw your recent French carp vid 👍

[@samuelgarrod8327]

Top tip, go on holiday and do some fishing. Don't go on a fishing holiday.

[@onthebucket7958]

I wish I could , as soon as I arrive my brain goes into overdrive ; scanning the lake looking for fish signs , which areas, which bait , which rigs etc , doesn't stop until I pull in the last rod on the last day. The last lake I fished in Sept really tested me , ended up tweaking a rig I hadn't used for 15 years ! 🙄

[@andywestwood748]

Cracking information 👌

[@onthebucket7958]

I’m glad you found it helpful 👍🏻

[@Smudgie]

It's good to have someone in the passenger seat at the tolls. With money or a debit card ready. Firstly it saves reaching over and secondly sometimes one or the other (cash or card) isn't accepted. And stick rigidly to speed limits!

[@onthebucket7958]

Very true , I did once kick out my centre consul arm rest scrambling across the seats 🙄

[@JohannesVermeer-gi1vr]

I wish this sort of information had been available many years ago on my first foreign fishing trip to O'Briens Bridge on the Shannon in Ireland. I think the point about choosing who you go with is very important. Sadly I've lost touch with the bloke I went with which is dreadfully sad. Perhaps I'll stumble across him one day completely by chance JP

[@onthebucket7958]

Perhaps you will Johannes ; [e-mail]

[@horrorfreaklondon3037]

Savlon!!!!!!

[@TiberiusWorld]

First aid kit,fire extinguisher,breathalyser not mandatory in France...are optional...

[@onthebucket7958]

Thank you for the clarification , that is very helpful.

[@Smudgie]

Team of tackle company anglers turn up for a week of fishing and filming. Are given the permission to use boats and drones on a lake which doesn't permit them. Not saying my trip was ruined but I chose the water partly for the reason of no boats.

[@onthebucket7958]

I have heard of this from lake owners, some of the demands were quite surprising. 🙄

[@joeking57]

The most important part of ruining ur trip to France is actually going to France 😂😂😂

[@stephenridd6834]

Just being in France....

[@aarondavies8486]

Jo Biden look alike goes to this man

[@edgarr5601]

Can't hear you!

[@tuigpGraham]

Nothing worse going fishing with someone that don’t stop moaning

[@onthebucket7958]

😂

[@bashab3098]

Best not to feed the wildlife.

[@user-sq5wi3ux5b]

All good advice

[@onthebucket7958]

Thank you