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Fishery Update
Thursday, October 18th, 2012For those of you that have been visiting the website hoping for more regular updates over the last year or so I would like to apologise.
Due to various problems including no internet connection for several months the website has slowly become a little bit dated but I will be going through each page during the Autumn and bringing the info right up to date.
The first thing I will do is add a few pics of the better fish that have been caught in 2012 and at some point I will write a detailed post with all the facts and figures for the year.
Please keep checking back for updates during the next few weeks and if you are looking for more info before booking with us then feel free to email me at mark@freedomlakes.com or contact me by telephone on 0033 628 63 63 65 and I will happy to help!
Best regards,
Mark Beldom
Here are some of the fish that have been out recently…
Rosie with her 5th carp of the week and 4th PB - 50.08lb October 2012
56lb - 25kg + Common caught in October 2012
A previously unknown 33lb Linear caught in October 2012
One of the two big Linears that are now well above 40lb
Dave Mitton with one of several good fish, this is Spike at 50lb+, it was recently caught at 57lb but the photos are terrible.
Remi with one of several big fish he caught early in the spring, this one is almost 50lb and is likely to be nearer to 60lb in 2013
Lots of our fish are still growing fast, here's Ian Morgan with a mid 40lb mirror in May, it was a low 30 the year before and hasn't been out since this capture!
More to follow soon…
Carp News – April 2011
Monday, May 2nd, 2011During the late part of winter we had a small number of carp anglers fishing here at Freedom Lakes.
I couldn’t be sure but the carp these guys caught indicated that the carp had again enjoyed a very good Winter.
During April these early signs have been confirmed, particularly in the 6 acre lake (Sacha) and the 19 acre lake (Angele).
Lake Sacha was fished by 10 anglers in the 4 weeks of April and we have seen a lot of beautiful big carp get caught.
The total number of carp caught in lake Sacha for the month is 95 carp..
39 x 20lb-30lb
44 x 30lb-40lb
12 x 40lb-46.10lb (Congratulations to Mike Williams on the new lake record at 46.10lb)
One of 94 x 40lb+ Carp caught at Freedom Lakes in April 2011
Taking photo's of the carp in the water, something we want all our anglers to do in the future.
Freedom Lakes, one of the best Carp Fishing experiences in France
We had 23 carp anglers visit lake Angele during April everyone apart from one caught carp above 30lb. Many of them caught carp above 40lb aswell.
The total number of Carp above 20lb caught during the 4 weeks is 167.
59 x 20lb-30lb
81 x 30lb-40lb
27 x 40lb-48.08lb (Congratulations to David Coates on the new lake record at 48.08lb)
45lb+ carp at Freedom Lakes
The commons look incredible this year
47.08lb Carp, a growth of over 25lb in 2 years
Simply Stunning Carp
Playing another 40lb+ Carp as the sun sets over Freedom
The big lake has been slightly more challenging, as expected, with many of the known 45lb+ fish avoiding capture so far. Plenty of new 20kg fish have come through so we are quite excited about the weights of the bigger carp.
We’ve seen several huge fish during the month including a common that looks to be above 55lb and someone soon should get a big surprise!
19 anglers fished the lake during April and the total number of carp landed was 155.
19 x 20-30lb
81 x 30-40lb
55 x 40-49.08lb
Get in there Joner! One of many pb's that week
They don't give themselves up easily but are well worth the effort.
One of Bif's 5x40's. Two weeks booked in 2012 tells it's own story!
Carp to 49lb for Killian and his mate, the same week saw 4 anglers on the island catch 25 x 30's and 5 x 40's
www.satisfishing.com - part of an incredible hit of fish at Freedom, check it out on their website
The month of May has started and in the first 2 days we’ve seen 5 more 40′s and out of 25 fish only 3 under 30lb.. Watch this space.
Big Carp, Carp TV and Carp Matches
Monday, May 2nd, 2011What a fantastic few weeks it’s been for the fishery…
There’s so much to talk about, it’s hard to know where to start.
The early season results have been staggering with over 100 captures carp above 40lb!!!
There are far too many photo’s to upload onto the blog so I will select a few but I have now updated the website gallery. The best way to keep right up to date with the catches and latest news is to add Freedom Lakes on Facebook. I am always on facebook chatting with anglers and uploading pics, it’s so much more instant and it gives everyone the chance to get involved.
We held a 72hr pairs match at the end of March which was sponsored by Solar tackle, BFP Products, Rig Marole, Satisfishing and Premier Baits. Carp Tv came down to make a film for us which should be available through new vision productions in June. Lots of stunning carp were caught whilst Carp tv were here and they wer able to get some great footage along with interviews with anglers so it is well worth looking out for.
The match was a classic with several teams catching well right up until the end of the match. BFP Products caught the 1st carp of the match 1 hour after the start at 45lb and then led the match with several more big fish right up until 15 minutes from the end. Two French brothers had 6 x 30′s in a row during the last 12hrs and then landed a 44lb mirror with only 20 minutes of the match left which gave them 1st place by 100g, we couldn’t have scripted it better!
The 20kg carp that won the match by 100g in the last 15 minutes
Carp Tv presenter Joe Morgan caught two big carp in 30 minutes during filming, this is the smaller one at 36lb, the other was 43lb
We stocked another 22 big carp into lake Sacha at the end of March, these fish averaged 33lb with 5 of them weighing over 40lb and the others were between 27lb and 37lb. The lake is bookable exclusive for 2 anglers for only €500 euros in 2011 so if you are looking for a great weeks fishing you should seriously consider this lake.
The 1st week in April saw our first group of 4 anglers fishing Sacha and they had a truly memorable week landing over 50 carp including around 20 above 30lb upto 42lb. The anglers were all reasonably experienced and all agreed it had been the most exciting carp fishing of their lives! Contact me for more info about this lake. There are many lakes of a similar size in France but very few can offer you such great value for money fishing for big carp.
Our small lake is great value for money and with big virgin carp like this it's easy to see why.
There's nothing more exciting than watching big carp pick up your bait, on Sacha there are loads of stalking opportunities
The stock is now around 90 mirrors, 10 commons and a 100lb+ Catfish
Full catch report for April to follow but here’s a little taster…
52 anglers – 117 x 20′s, 206 x 30′s, 94 x 40′s… new lake records of 46.10lb in the small lake and 48.08lb in the 19 acre lake….
Big Carp February
Saturday, March 12th, 2011Just two anglers came here in February but I bet they are pleased they did…
I spoke to a Dutch angler called Rudolf Walda when we were at the Zwolle carp show at the beginning of February and after a chat he said he wanted to come to Freedom lakes within 2 or 3 weeks.
We kept an eye on the weather and although it was still cold it was considerably better than most of northern Europe so he decided to come down on the 19th February and fish the big lake for a week.
I was sure the carp had been feeding virtually right through January and February and felt that as long as the weather stayed consistent we would see a few carp during the week.
It turned out to be a very good session and Rudolf finished the week with 9 bites and 8 fish landed.
The weights were.. 25lb mirror, 33lb mirror, 40.04lb mirror, 40.08lb mirror, 40.12lb mirror, 47lb mirror, 49.12lb mirror and another 49.12lb mirror. The carp he lost was seen and estimated at high 40′s also.
A sign of things to come...47lb
a very nice 40lb+ Freedom lakes carp
One of 9 February 40's
49.12lb, one of a group of carp that will weigh 50lb+ in 2011
Trevor Higgs fish at 49.12lb in February
Fire in the sky on a Winter morning
On the same week I had the pleasure to meet a French angler called Jerome Furlan, a top person and a very capable angler.
He fished 5 nights on the 19 acre etang Angele and caught 15 carp including some typical Angele stunners…
One of the big linears at 36lb
Magnificent 41.12lb Winter common
45.04lb and rapidly getting bigger
Catch report Feb 2011
Rudolf Walda – Louane 19th-26th
25lb mirror
33lb mirror
40.04lb mirror
40.08lb mirror
40.12lb mirror
47lb mirror
49.12lb mirror (Trevor Higgs fish)
49.12lb mirror (unknown fish)
TOTAL = 326lb – Average 40.12lb
Jerome Furlan – Angele 21st – 26th
26.08lb mirror
27lb mirror
27lb common
30lb mirror
30lb mirror
31.08lb mirror
32lb mirror
33.04lb mirror
35.04lb mirror
35.08lb mirror
36lb mirror (one of the big linear)
36.08lb mirror
41.08lb common (Bif)
42.08lb mirror (Cheeky)
45lb mirror (Video fish)
TOTAL 509.08lb = Average – 34lb
50lb+ Carp in a Winter Wonderland
Monday, January 17th, 2011Happy new year to everyone, let’s hope it’s a good year for carp fishing in France and i’m expecting to see a few massive carp get caught here this year at freedom lakes… I’ve already had one of them, a 53.08lb mirror carp from the big lake.
I will keep this page a bit more up to date this year and apologise for the lack of regular info last year. I will add the catch reports on the website each month and a few of the big fish pictures but the majority of the big carp pics will be uploaded on my facebook page so if you want to get to know the stock of carp better, add Freedom Lakes and then you can decide for yourself if you’ve seen a better stock of 30lb – 50lb carp in France.
My favourite carp picture of 2010
If you’re a fishery owner who’s considering buying carp but still haven’t found a good supplier of quality carp then Jean noel has some really good fish for sale as usual. If I could keep every carp that I’ve fell in love with this winter he’d be out of business and there are some really wonderful carp in his fish farm that are still looking for a new home in 2011.
Jean noel at his fish farm with another beautiful carp for sale
It’s been a harsh Winter for the carp again but we’ve been very lucky in this region, we seem to have some sort of micro climate here and after the big freeze up in December our temperature and weather have stayed reasonable compared to what most of Northern Europe has suffered. The lakes look fantastic and the carp have been quite active for a few weeks with temperatures up to 18c-19c and regularly above 10c since the new year.
I’ve been fishing… finally!
I was intending to fish the lakes as much as possible in December but the man that controls the weather didn’t like that plan! I was a frustrated carp angler like so many other but there was a reasonable hole in the ice just after Christmas and i was fishing in it.
It felt great just to stand by a carp water and even though i was freezing to death i was loving the ambience and i could sense myself tuning in…
The small lake, Sacha, is right outside my home so I’ve been fishing for 1-3hrs in the evenings. I started fishing by casting tiny leads and single hookbaits to different spots every 15- 20 minutes to see if i could get a line bite or locate the carp somewhere. I knew it was more important to find exactly where the carp were and then worry about bait…
The 2nd of January was my 4th evening spent trying to locate the carp and literally seconds after casting to a deep clean clay patch and then catapulting two 14mm baits to the spot, the slack line pulled tight and i was into my first carp of 2011.
My first 2011 carp glowing in her Winter colours
Now i felt like i was understanding a little bit about where the carp were holding up and what started out as pure pleasure and just a nice way to pass a few hours each evening soon turned into a mission to catch a big carp above 30lb..
Cold water carping.. love it!
over the next few evenings i managed 7 more bites, landing six mirrors and a small common.
This 28lb mirror looks in great condition
All of the carp were hooked perfectly on simple coated hooklinks stripped back to allow the size 6 Korda hooks to move freely. Despite trying various hook baits, all the chances came to single 14mm boilies. I’m fishing with 18lb X line fluorocarbon and 1.5oz running leads, simply slackening it right off so it sinks down close to the lake bed and then watching closely for any small signs of fish activity.
The carp are out there somewhere...
A view from swim 29, the carp like this area with it's deep margins
The double swim was looking life less
The weather started to get better and better but the fishing actually become more difficult for 3 days I had no bites but i could now see that the carp were visiting extremely shallow water and feeding on the natural bloodworm. The temptation to fish on the other lakes was almost impossible to resist but i really wanted to catch a 30lb+ carp before i moved on.
My only carp from the double swim. I estimated it at just under 30lb
Apart from one carp, they all came from the same clay patch and after some very enjoyable fishing i managed to hook and land a nice mirror that i estimated at 31lb-32lb.
Winter 30lb+ carp
It had been a great start to the year and I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed my fishing in January more than the last 2 weeks.
With some nice carp already under my belt I was ready to fish the big lake for a change of scenery and just to see if there were any signs of carp life on the big pond…
The first day I went down there was a beautiful day with a southerly wind blowing onto the shallows. It felt more like April than January and i sat in peg 9 and fished 2 rods close in. The rod near the snag bush pulled a bit and sprung back not long after i cast out which was a big sign that there were carp in the snags and then after two hours a huge carp rolled right above my rig!
After a while everything went quiet so i reeled in only to find the rig tangled and I realised the big fish had almost made a mistake earlier. I quickly cast it back to the spot and decided to stay until just after dark in the hope of learning a bit more.
Within seconds i had a take and quickly lost a very powerful fight as the fish went on a strong surge and made the branches, i instantly slackened the line and was thinking i’ll get the boat but decided to tighten up and have a feel and she was still on and coming back towards me so i kept teasing and the fish and almost miraculously, she came back out into open water.
A winter 50 on a day session
I knew it was a big carp and when it went in the net i was sure it would weigh over 50lb…
53.08lb and a new 50+ for the lake
The big fish was impressive and I did the self take pics as good as I could then returned her to her home before floating the 500 metres back home myself. I really couldn’t have wished for a better spell of winter fishing. I’ve had to leave the fishing this weekend as the hunt have been on our land and my two dogs don’t take kindly to the hunt dogs so i have to be extra careful and stay at home. They’ve gone now and I can’t wait to get back down there for anothe go.
I hope this is a sign of things to come in 2011 and there’s a good chance that the big mirror known as big mama is over 60lb now which would be fantastic to see.
If i catch it this week i’ll let you know!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy Fishing in 2011
Friday, December 24th, 2010Merry xmas to everyone and we wish you all a very successful 2011 filled with love, laughter and happiness.
Winter Wonderland
Let’s hope that 2011 is a year full of big carp too… once the snow and ice has gone!
Look out for the 2010 round up which will be posted in the next few days.
Best wishes from all at Freedom Lakes.
Stocking Big Carp
Friday, December 17th, 2010
We have stocked some more carp in to the fishery this week.
Four more big carp were stocked this time and we’re sure you’ll agree, they are very nice fish indeed. With so many big target fish now on the complex, we’ve reached the point where new 40lb+ carp are not really going to change anything, but… We simply can’t resist adding a few more fish to the lakes when they look like this.
The weight of the 4 carp was between 17.5kg and 19.5kg
Another 40lb carp now in Freedom Lakes in France
Ben showing the other side before being released under the ice.
More evidence of why Freedom lakes is the real deal for carp fishing holidays in France.
Stunning half linear on the other side.
42lb of muscle being released into etang Louane.
I know it's cold Ben but stop shaking so i can take a photo!
Another 40lb+ beauty now living in etang Sacha
Most promise... We deliver!!
We also released 20 Grass carp between 10kg and 16kg into etang Louane…
One of 20 new missiles stocked into Louane.
More stockings will follow and we will also provide the photo’s to back it up…. As always!
One angler and a thousand big carp
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010Not quite but one angler did find himself with the whole fishery and it’s carp stocks to choose from last week and he stuck with his original reservation by going in swim 7 on Louane. By Wednesday he’d had one carp of 30lb and was starting to feel the strain, not many fish were showing but the weather was changing and with no anglers on the 19acre lake since the previous Saturday it was worth the gamble of moving.
Within an hour of getting his fishing rods cast out the 1st bite came. A fish had jumped a few times on the platueax area and quite possibly it was the one now being played. Ten minutes later one of the prettiest carp in the lake was in the net.
- 34.14lb – The biggest of the 13 linear carp in Angele
The weather started to turn to a beautiful strong southerly and the air temperature went up to 17c and it wasn’t a huge surprise when i came back around the lake an hour later and my Dutch friend had two more carp in two seperate landing nets waiting for attention.
We carefully took the first carp out and got him unhooked and back in the lake, it weighed around 34lb. The second fish turned out to be the big common that had come out on the previous Saturday to Lewis. Amazingly the common had weighed 41lb and a few ounces on Saturday and now weighed bang on 45lb four days later. On the munch big time!
- Bif – 45lb Angele lake record common
The weather stayed perfect carping conditions for just over 24hrs and during that spell the lake showed what is possible with another 39lb mirror and then two 43lb mirrors amongst 11 good fish caught using our carp pellets with boilies on a simple rig.
Fish of 29.12lb - 34.14lb - 26.08lb – 33.08lb – 45lb - 43.04lb - 32.12lb - 39.12lb - 21lb - 30.12lb - 43.12lb made it a memorable 36hr spell of fishing.
Unfortunately there are no other decent pics as he was fishing alone and didn’t contact me which is a shame as we really are trying to ID all the carp above 40lb. In 2011 i want to be present before any of the big carp are removed from the water. I can then document all the biggest carp and also show properly how we want the big fish to be handled during capture at Freedom lakes.
Here’s a few pics sent to me by our mates Pat and Ernie from Holland, they were here in October…
- Big fatty
- Little fatty
- Looking good
Almost a 40lb carp15 carp above 30lb in four days was a decent result during tough fishing condition. Dutch technology!
Commons to 36lb and mirrors to 43.08lb ensured they keep their record of catching 40′s on every visit to Freedom lakes
Keep them coming
Another chunk
Peg 7
Roll on 2011...
There’s still time…
Sunday, October 24th, 2010Anyone looking for a bit of Winter fishing could do a lot worse than have a trip down here before it gets too cold.
The 29 acre and 6 acre lakes will be closed from November but the 19 acre lake Angele will be open. The fish have been piling on the weight again over the last few weeks and something special is well on the cards. There are several new lake records in there at the moment and anyone willing to come down will not be dissapointed as we wont be letting more than 4 on per week unless it’s 1 group.
49lb and rising fast
Another fish goes over 40lb
September Catch report
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010All 3 lakes fished well in September with plenty of 30′s and 40′s coming out. We’ve also seen some of the most sought after fish on the complex landed. Some good anglers have fished here this month and many thanks to all of you for making it another great month at Freedom lakes.
A stunning 30lb+ scaley mirror
The lakes have certainly been more difficult in 2010. This is partly due to the mixed spring weather leading to a prolonged spawning period and also due to the fish learning to cope with certain angling scenarios but each time we get a group of anglers here that fish with simple rigs, patience and quality bait, they make it look easy… food for thought maybe!
Another good grower, now above 35lb and looking great
Full details for September are…. 359 carp upto 47lb between 35 anglers
65 carp less than 25lb
125 carp between 25lb-30lb
105 carp between 30lb-35lb
54 carp between 35lb-40lb
14 carp between 40lb-45lb
2 x 46lb and 47lb….. Several of the biggest fish have remained on the missing list since April/May and judging by the 2 higher 40′s which are both well up in weight, there are several carp comfortably over 50lb and the big girl is likely to be over 60lb for the next lucky angler!
One of many that could be 50lb+ in 2011
