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…

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.

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….

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 19^th-26^th

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 21^st – 26^th

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

Happy 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

Cold water carping.. love it!

This 28lb mirror looks in great condition

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

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

A winter 50 on a day session

53.08lb and a new 50+ for the lake

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.

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!

Top Quality Fish For Sale

 Carp upto 25kg and Course fish ready for delivery.  

We have large quantities of fish for sale again this Winter including…… Carp, Perch, Pike, Zander, Roach, Wels Catfish & Black Bass.  

CARP AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY FROM NOVEMBER 2010:   

Carp – 5kg-9.9kg = 500+ available  

Carp – 10kg-13.9kg = 500+ available  

Carp – 14kg-17.9kg = 500+ available  

Carp – 18kg-25kg = 50+ available  

We have all of the necessary equipment and a range of vehicles to transport the fish safely. The bigger carp are handled individually and moved with our own carp cradles.   

We deliver fish to all regions in France so please Contact us to discuss your requirements. 

Carp upto 25kg and Course fish ready for delivery. Contact: +33 (0) 628 63 63 65 for a quick quote

 Take a look at these pictures of carp that have been stocked into Freedom lakes over the last 3 seasons.

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.   

 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!

 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…

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...

No one had it easy and at times the fishing was very tough but generally the fishing was exciting and well worth putting some effort into.

The carp have been getting away with it on both of the bigger fishing lakes in 2010 which is forcing most people to think about their fishing and this is the kind of carp fishing we expect to see more often in the future.

Our intention is to produce big carp fishing and we know this isn’t in the league of rainbow lake but it never will be if we don’t keep the stock at sensible levels for big carp which was always likely to make the 2 main lakes a bit of a challenge quite quickly. France already has enough runs waters that can offer easier fishing than us for less money, our strength is the stock of big young fish coming through that have the potential and importantly also the space and that’s what we must protect.

Obviously i don’t want to put anyone off booking their fishing holidays here in 2011 but this season was clearly more difficult so it’s important to understand that anglers landing 50 carp in a week isn’t likely to happen too often. A better target would be 1 or 2 carp every 24hrs but to the right type of anglers those fish will mean a lot because they have stopped giving themselves up so easily and they are in magificent condition which makes the whole capture even more enjoyable.

A feeling that anything could come out next is constantly in the air and it’s worth a trip in 2011 as long as you don’t set your sights too high and are also willing to put something into your angling to achieve a result.

The total number of fish for October is..

233 carp

52 carp less than 25lb

65 carp between 25lb – 30lb

57 carp between 30lb-35lb

38 carp between 35lb-40lb

15 carp between 40lb-45lb

6 carp between 45lb-50lb

Biggest this month - 49lb mirror 45lb common

1 catfish 125lb

The fish look in fantastic condition and there’s a very good chance that we’ll see some real stunners as we move into some cold water carping over the next few weeks.

20kg+ mirror from swim 3 in October

This common carp will be 20kg+ in 2011

Another peach falls to Premier Baits

Vodka Tel with a 43lb mirror and pylon with a 30+

Happy days!

The fish are in perfect condition

Satisfishing...

Lovely long common from the top lake

20kg mirror carp

20.5kg Etang Angele ( This fish was 4kg in 2006 )

Bookings for 2011 are coming in thick and fast, dont delay, if you are ‘considering’ contact us now to make sure you get the week you want.
April/May/June almost fully booked on Louane now plus lots of other dates sold already!