Kevin Diederen - Road Lake Spring Success

Kevin Deidren is certainly no stranger to fishing big waters in Europe, capturing some absolute leviathans, his latest venture see’s him travel to France’s notorious Road Lake.

Road Lake Spring Success!

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If you were to ask me what my favourite time of year is to spend a week’s fishing in France I would surely say early spring. Whilst the venues at home are slowly waking-up a week’s fishing in a different country feels like a kickstart. In early April 2017 this was to be the case and I had a fantastic kickstart to the year. Arjan Braad and I travelled to the Road lake full of optimism and excitement as we were scheduled to film a chapter for the first Korda Benelux Carpfishing Masterclass video, a momentous occasion for us both. In this chapter we wanted to share our knowledge about fishing commercial lakes in France, with a stock of stunning fish in the lake we gave ourselves a good chance of catching a few and turn the filming week into a success. But… first we needed to start fishing.

After walking around with the bailiff he informed us about the catches during the previous week, I’m not 100% sure if I remember it correctly but there where only around ten fish that had been out, with most of the fish coming out during the night from the shallow spots. Knowing this certainly helped when drawing swims and making the right swim choice, with a lucky draw I managed to get in Tea party 2, What a result! The reason I chose Tea party 2 as a swim was the fact that this area works as a channel inbetween the two parts of the lake, meaning there is a good chance of having “fresh traffic” coming through the area during my stay. Next to this there are some shallow options near the opposite bank which would be a great starting point.

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The baillifs information certainly helps with the draw of swims

knowing this certainly helped when drawing swims and making the right swim choice, with a lucky draw i managed to get in Tea party 2, what a result!

The reason I chose Tea party 2 as a swim was the fact that this area works as a channel between the two parts of the lake, meaning there is a good chance of having "fresh traffic" coming through the area during my stay. Next to this, there are some shallow options near the opposite bank which would be a great starting point.

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Teaparty 2 gives you some nice options

With some nice sunny days these shallow layers of water would definitely warm up quickly. After a chat with Andy (the bailiff) who measures the water temperatures on both the Main and Road lake on a regular basis. During the first night I decided to place the rods close to the island on various depths. The shallowest rod was fished in around 5 foot of water with the other rods placed down the shelve in deeper water. All the rods received only a couple of Spombs of particle mix plus whole and broken Cell boilies. The mixture consisted of bait that the fish find around the lake most days and possibly consider as a “natural” food source for them. The Cell is easy to digest in lower water temperatures and a has a proven track record. With night temperatures dropping to around zero this is certainly something u had to keep in mind. Sitting in a t-shirt during the afternoon certainly doesn’t mean the fish are feeding like mad.

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The easy digestible mix consisted of maize, hemp and Cell

I wanted to give the bait bit of an added boost, so i introduced a small amount of the Corn Twist Goo. This is one of the Goo’s I’ve used in my particle mixes when doing stalking at home and has produced countless bites when times have been tough. It will come as no surprise just how quick fish respond to the extra taste and attractors that spread through the water column. I was sure this would help me attract fish to the small baited spots. Luckily, I got off the mark during the first night and for the next few days I kept picking up fish from the shallow spots, surprisingly I got all the takes during the night or early morning and on just the shallow areas.

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The Corn Twist Goo surely helps to give the baitmix an extra boost

Roving the rods so all of them where fished in a maximum of 6ft meant all three got bites and I was making the most of the water in front of me.

The night-time bites on the Road lake, that normally fishes very well during the day did raise a question mark, was it maybe that the fish waited till the cover of darkness before they where having a snack in the shallower areas of the lake?

The idea did make sense as we saw them topping in the middle of the lake during the day. Arjan did try to get bites on Zigs, which have been very successful on the Road lake in the past, but to no avail, this time the fish weren’t playing ball and he had to wait until he placed a rod in the margins before he had his first take.

Halfway the week the weather started to change as the daytime temperature got higher and a big wind started to mix the water layers. All of a sudden it was a whole different game, with a more even water temperature in the lake there where a lot more options to catch fish from. I decided to place one of the rods in the middle at 18ft depth to try and catch a daytime fish. Guess what… it didn’t take long! During the last night the rods got moved around and even though I started in the shallows, I ended up in the deep by listening to the information supplied by the bailiff, this certainly helped me to start the week successfully. By using common sense and adapting to what was going on I was sure to make the most of it.

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