The perfect French carp fishing holiday

*** CANCELLATIONS ***

13 September 2011

Anglers:

PLEASE NOTE WEEKS COMMENCING 17 & 24 SEPTEMBER ARE NOW AVAILABLE. PLEASE CONTACT GRAHAM 07711 898696 IF YOU ARE INTERESTED.

New Testimonial from Catmaster Tours Colin Bunn

13 July 2011

Anglers: n/a

Check out the Testimonials page for a new report from Colin Bunn on a brilliant session he enjoyed at Meunier late last year. A regular visitor to the lake, Colin banked a string of big fish including a number over the fifty pound barrier.

May Update

6th June 2011

Anglers: n/a

The fabulous fishing goes on.

We said the first month was good, and it was. Well the good news is that the fabulous fishing has carried on and May has been equally spectacular with a total of 67 fish landed.
8 fifties (best 56lbs) top the ratings, but the rest are pretty impressive as well, with 35 yes 35 forties also included in the overall totals.

Once again well over half the monthly total is made up of fish over the magical 40 pound barrier, just one of the reasons Meunier continues to be one of the most popular holiday fishing venues in France.

A fabulous first month

26-4-2011

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As first months go, it doesn't get a lot better than this.
The Meunier carp have obviously enjoyed their winter break and were ready for some serious feeding.
The lake opened for the new season on the 26th March and the catches have been superb.
The stats make impressive reading, so far a total of 90, yes ninety, fish have been landed.
29 have been over 30lbs, 32 over 40lbs, and 5 over 50lbs. Best fish out so far 55lbs .... What a brilliant start!
We hope to have more detils and some pics soon, so watch this space.

2010 The year at a glance …

28-3-2011

Anglers: n/a

The Overview … When we look back at the log entries for 2010 a couple of things stand out, firstly there were more fish over 40lb caught than fish under that weight. If you look at the stats below it shows a staggering 136 captures over the magic 40lbs, compared with 113 below that weight. Obviously a lot of these are repeat captures, but it shows the Etang Meunier fish still love their food, and continue to thrive. As in most years the really productive times seem to have been early season as the water is warming up, and September, as the long hot days are coming to an end, and the fish exchange sun bathing for feeding. The October stats are somewhat misleading as two weeks were blank due to cancellations. Imagine, Etang Meunier sat empty in October!
Secondly with regards to tactics. The Etang Meunier fish have seen it all, and these days know how to avoid getting hooked. It’s obviously becoming more and more important that you think about your presentation, and be prepared to tweak things a bit. It’s noticeable that for several anglers the end of their stay was the most productive, with often the best fish of their holiday coming on the Thursday or Friday. All methods seem to have produced fish, from single pop-up’s tight to the trees, PVA bags, to fishing over beds of bait in open water. Although the house swim has as always been very popular, several diary entries mention how productive the stalking can be, so it can be well worth winding the rods in, getting the Polaroid’s on, and going for a wander. On some weeks stalking produced more fish than the main house swim.
Away from the fishing, can we thank all of you who commented on the lovely atmosphere around the lake, and appreciated the improvements we have made to the pegs and the accommodation.
We hope to see you in 2011, and wherever you are fishing, best wishes and tight lines.

As promised …The Full Stats …

March/April
8 Doubles
8 20 lbs plus
19 30 lbs plus
21 40 lbs plus
5 50 lbs plus

May
4 Doubles
1 20 lbs plus
7 30 lbs plus
9 40 lbs plus
4 50 lbs plus
1 60 lbs plus

June
1 Doubles
5 20 lbs plus
7 30 lbs plus
14 40 lbs plus
5 50 lbs plus

July
2 Doubles
4 20 lbs plus
8 30 lbs plus
11 40 lbs plus
2 50 lbs plus

August
0 Doubles
2 20 lbs plus
7 30 lbs plus
15 40 lbs plus
1 50 lbs plus

September
2 Doubles
8 20 lbs plus
16 30 lbs plus
21 40 lbs plus
5 50 lbs plus
1 60 lbs plus

October/Nov
1 Doubles
2 20 lbs plus
1 30 lbs plus
13 40 lbs plus
8 50 lbs plus

Totals
18 Doubles
30 20 lbs plus
65 30 lbs plus
104 40 lbs plus
30 50 lbs plus
2 60 lbs plus


Thanks for all your reports and lovely comments, here’s to 2011 and many more pbs and happy memories.

Updates

28-3-2011

Anglers: n/a

June 2010 … June was a steady month, with some great fishing. Sean and Teresa Hennessy had three of the fifties at 53-08, 55-02 and 56-02, they finished their write up with “can’t wait to get back”, which we can fully understand, but our favourite comment comes from Marc Port who wrote “Loved the place, stalking a forty pounder on a worm, was the highlight”. I bet! Best fish of the month was a 57, during the last week.

July 2010 … The start and end of the month was very productive, with the first and last weeks producing 25 fish between them. The middle part was a tough week for the Spiteri family, for numbers but they did manage a 49 lb plus and a low 50 to compensate. Trevor also got in on the 50’s list with a 54-08 fish during the last week.

August 2010 … August can be very weather dependant, and this August was no exception. Dominant high pressure 80 degree plus days and crystal clear nights, not the best fishing conditions, One comment summed it up … “please give me some rain and overcast skies”. Most of the fish caught early mornings watching for bubblers and showing fish. “Gary and Kevin on tour”, had a fortnight of these conditions but still managed the best fish of the month at 58lbs.

September 2010 … A strange month in many ways, possibly summed up best by “The Clacton Crew” as weather changeable, fishing sporadic. Several anglers had pb’s, with the last week standing out when Mark had both a pb common 40-08 and a pb mirror 54-08, Fellow angler John same week, broke his pb twice first with a 58-12 mirror and then a 60-04 mirror. Not surprised that their diary entry said very impressed with the size of the fish?

October 2010 … Of the five weeks available two were not fished because of cancellations, but for the other three weeks, October was the big fish month with 8 fifty pound plus captures reported. Congratulations to Anne Warren on a new pb of 53-02. Colin, Rosie and Iker ( Catmaster tours), had a great final week with six 50’s and six 40’s in their 15 fish catch … what an average size!

Early season update

12th June 2010

Anglers: N/A

I think it’s fair to say that the weather has played a big part in the start to Etang Meunier’s 2010 season. Lots of the log entries mention, cold easterlies, and even snow and hail at times. As the weather has started to settle, the fish have obviously appreciated the warmth and results have become more consistent.

March 2010…
Fish were showing well pre opening, but sods law the cold weather really kicked in for opening week and the first week started with the lake temporarily freezing over. Fortunately it did not stay frozen for long and fishing was able to get underway.
There were two weeks fishing in March and they produced six forties to just over 48lbs and three thirties.

April 2010…
At last some nicer weather which the fish obviously appreciated. As the month progressed the results just went through the roof.
Week one produced eight carp to 49/12.
Weeks two and three were superb, producing 29 fish including three fifties, best 57/12 and five forties.
The last week of the month and fifteen fish came to the net. Two fifties, seven forties, and a bonus cat of 68lbs amongst them.
Some great results and some very happy anglers according to the comments in the log!

May 2010…
Is normally the month when spawning becomes a feature, but this year with depressed water temperatures and predominantly cold easterly winds there has been no signs of pre spawning behaviour, and in fact the month of May has been harder than usual, although week one did produce one of the biggest fish ever for the lake at 61/8. A stunning fish, hopefully pictures to follow.
Week one was the week of the sixty, but overall the fishing had slowed from the previous weeks.
Week two saw heavy rain and very cold nights, but the lake still produced seven fish to 56lbs plus.
Week three with warmer weather fish activity increased and 15 fish were banked, best 56/2, stalked from the tree line down the lake. (See a more detailed write-up of this week in the Testimonials section)
The month finished slowly with only three fish coming out although one of them was 53/2.

Hopefully June will bring settled summer, the fish will spawn successfully and there will be lots of happy anglers in the coming weeks, we look forward to reading the logs, and will up date later.

See you then ….

STOP PRESS: Weeks now available in 2010

06 April 2010

Anglers: n/a

Please note due to cancellations the weeks beginning 24th April 2010 and 22nd May 2010 are now available.

If you are interested please contact us through the bookings and prices page for more details.

Stop Press ... Off to a Flier

29-03-2010

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March 2010 …
We’ve just had the first reports from the opening weeks of 2010, and what a start, hopefully we’ll get more details soon, but we know the catches have been awesome.
Despite very cold conditions, and the bad weather over the winter already the lake has produced 1 sixty, 2 fifties, 8 forties, and at least 10 over thirty. Brilliant!

Watch this space for more catch reports as the season progresses!

A Look Back at 2009

27-3-2010

Anglers: n/a

With the severest winter for a long time coming to an end, at last a new season is getting underway and we can start dreaming of those warm evenings and hard fighting fish coming to the net.

We hope to keep the latest news section updated on a regular basis, so as your holiday approaches you can get a sense of how the lake is fishing.

First of all let us have a look back at the 2009 season.

Spectacular would seem a good place to start, with the log book recording the capture of 120 forties, 30 fifties, and 2 sixties, plus lots of twenties and thirties as backup.
Like any fishery results can vary, from just the odd fish for one party, to over thirty in the week, with the weather seeming to play a big part in how Etang Meunier fishes.

Looking at the season in a bit more detail ...

April …
Early season can be very weather dependent, and 2009 was no exception. With everything from heavy overnight frosts to hot and sunny days weekly totals varied from 1 fish in the week to 18, but the overall size was excellent with 15 over 40lbs and 5 over 50lbs.

May …
Early May was wet, but the fish obviously liked it, and in the first two weeks 50 fish were banked, 34 over 40lbs and 11 over 50lbs. Loved the comment in the book, great fishing but a shame we never caught any of the big ones!!!!
With the weather getting hotter and drier, spawning became an issue and results for the rest of May took a tumble, as the fish had other things on their minds.

June …
The first week of June was much like the end of May with the fish still spawning on and off, but “The Northern Monkeys on week two had a great week with 26 fish, and week four was probably the best week of the year size wise, with a 17 fish total which included 5 over 40lbs, 2 over 50lbs and 1 over 60.

July …
July was slow by Meunier standards, although each week managed to put some good fish on the bank, with a 54lb mirror being the best reported.

August …
August continued in the same vein, and several comments in the log, mentioned how tricky the fishing was, lots of signs of fish, lots of bubbling, but getting a pick up a different matter. Week three for the Ardleigh Crew on Tour was the exception as they banked 24 fish, 11 over 40lbs, and a 55/8 mirror.

September …
The middle two weeks of September produced some excellent fishing, with the monthly total indicating 45 fish, including two good fifties. A 56/12 in week two, and a 59/08 in week three.

October …
October can be a great month at Meunier, and although it started with a fairly slow first week, a seven fish catch which did include a 55/10 mirror, the rest of the month was great with 38 fish landed, 16 over 40lbs and 2 over 50, best 56/5.
It was time for the Etang Meunier fish to have a well earned rest.
……………………………………………………………..

So that was a brief summary of the season just gone, we hope it has wetted your appetite for the weeks to come.

We’ve been busy over the shutdown, preparing for new season, and we look forward to seeing you.
In 2010.

If you have a great week, please get in touch, send us a pic or two for the website, or even a bit of a write-up of your week. We would love to hear from you.

Have a fantastic holiday…

Best Wishes …. Graham & Elaine Harman

Please send any material and/or pictures to

info@etangmeunier.com

or ring us and let us know if you’ve had a pb etc.
Phone: 07711 898696