The week my Dream’s came true
by Ross Woodward

Hello my name is Ross Woodward and I am just about to take you through what, for me, turned out to be a truly memorable and magic week spent in France, with a friend of mine James, my Dad and several newly made friends, who I met while we were all on the “Kids in France” week, which took place on DreamLake 1.

My story starts on Friday the 13th of August (what a date to be travelling on ?), good job I am not superstitious or anything like that. This particular day, was to be the day that myself, my Dad and my friend James Clarridge, would travel over The Channel to France, in order to fish what for me was a much anticipated, organised trip at DreamLake 1. I had been counting down the day’s to this particular date, ever since my dad had informed me, that he had booked and paid for me to go to the lake.

James's Dad, who incidentally works with my Dad at Jaguar cars, had also booked and paid for him to fish too but, unlike me, this was to be James first ever trip to France fishing. He too, like me, had been eagerly awaiting it and counting down the days to the date above, which would see us all off to foreign parts, on the “Kids in France” trip organised and sponsored by Gone Fishing and CarpTalk.

I considered myself very lucky as my Dad, who at the time of the trip was writing for CarpTalk, would be one of the four adult anglers whose job it would be to accompany all the young anglers booked on the trip that week. He, along with three other adult anglers, were to be there and be responsible for all of us young anglers on the “Kids in France” trip. It would be their responsibility to supervise and instruct us in the best methods and tactics to put fish on the bank. The other adults on the trip were Paddy Webb, John Claydon and Paul Richardson nicknamed (by the kids) “Wheely Bin”. These adults, all being very accomplished carp anglers, were willing to pass on some tips and techniques while we fished the complex. In our case it was to be the famous Dream Lake 1, one of the 5 lakes on the DreamLake Complex, situated in the tranquil and beautiful heart of the Champagne region of France. The complex itself consists of five well established ex-gravel pits, with the more well known DreamLakes 1 & 2 and also the newly opened lakes 3, 4 & 5.

I had previously been lucky enough to sample the fishing on DreamLake 4 when on a family holiday in France with my Dad, Mom and older brother Lee who, like me, is also mad about his Carp fishing.

Lee actually celebrated his 16th birthday while we were fishing on DreamLake 4 and over the five days we fished there, the results were excellent (what Dreams are made of), as you can see from the photo of me and Lee’s first fish from the lake and some of the other fish we caught.

We had an excellent arm aching week on the lake, with me having carp to 42lbs and Lee’s best was 34lbs, we had many large carp with my Dad doing all the biz for us, as he did not fish himself, he just looked after me and Lee (thanks Dad).

The trip to DreamLake 4, had taken place three weeks before my “Kids in France” trip, so I had a good idea of what to expect from DreamLake 1 and how it was fishing. While we were there on DreamLake 4, I did a couple of trips around 1, to find out what type of tactics I would need to adopt if I wanted to do well on it (you can’t beat a bit if forward planning).

Well that’s enough about DreamLake 4, lets get back to the subject of this article and my trip with the “Kids in France” week on DreamLake 1. James’s Dad took us all (me, James and my Dad ) to meet the coach at Boreham service area, where we loaded all our tackle on to it when it arrived, then said our good-byes to James Dad and we was off on our way to the ferry. The coach you travel on board, is a luxury coach which tow's a large trailer for all the tackle.

When travelling by coach to DreamLakes, you will need to be aware that, there are some luggage restrictions. I think my Dad had a few withdrawal symptoms when he was packing our tackle for that trip, because if you have ever read one of his articles in CarpTalk on fishing in France, you will realise, he normally takes everything including the kitchen sink! So for him to cut down to the essentials was very, very hard.

On the journey out, me and James sat and watched the videos on the coach, while my Dad talked to the other adult anglers about their usual subject, and what most anglers go on about; that monster that got away and the usual very tall stories, or is it only my Dad?

The actual journey to the complex seemed to pass fairly quickly, with most of the adults having a sleep on the coach (due to their age). Or was it because we were travelling through the night, or did it have something to do with the levels of alcohol they had managed to consume on the ferry crossing? Speaking of the ferry crossing, me and James paid a visit to the video arcade on the ferry. I blasted James on shooting games but he had his revenge over me on the driving games, at this point we started to mix with some of the other lads on the trip also.Little did any of us know at that point in time, what an excellent week was in store for us all, and by the end of that week we would all be very good friends.

We arrived at DreamLakes early Saturday morning, about 7.30am and everyone was more than glad to stretch their legs after the long journey down. So we all walked around DreamLake 1, where Paddy and Paul (who had fished the lake several times) discussed each swim in detail and the best methods to fish them.

We then all gathered around the board with the layout of the lake on it in order to draw our swims to fish, my Dad had already told me which swims to go for if they were available; me and James were fourth and fifth in the draw and wanted to fish next to each other and by my Dad if possible.
Your position for the draw is allocated to you by the computer when you book your holiday with Gone Fishing. As Graham at Gone Fishing says, this is by far the fairest way, as the computer cannot be influenced by anyone and shows no favouritism.

The swim I wanted was Three Steps, but Chris Selby (who we nicknamed catfish Chris) was the first in the draw and chose that particular swim. Well to cut a long story short I ended up in the next peg to my Dad on his right hand side and James ended up next to him on his left hand side, my peg was called Cherry’s and my dads swim was called Chimneys, with James in a swim called the Slope.

The lake itself looked very picturesque with lush vegetation enclosing most of the swims, the margins were lined with mature trees and bushes, which in my opinion are perfect for the carp. The way the swims were set out, also gave you quiet uninterrupted fishing and the lake itself was not too large to put the fish out of casting range. I investigated the lake bed, with the feature finding rod, to see what was out in front of me. I know if you wish to do well on any lake, it is well worth investigating the features, as the carp certainly do.

I know from reading up in the mag’s and from information I had gained from the bailiffs during the trip to DreamLake 4, that the lake is a very prolific carp fishery. I knew it had been heavily stocked and was still being stocked with large fish to give every angler, not only plenty of action, but also the chance of that whacker we are all after. The largest carp reported from the lake at present weighed in at 62lbs 8oz and I know my Dad would have liked to hook in to that one, so he could up his personal best from 53lbs 8ozs. As for me, I thought it very unlikely I would beat the 42 pounder I had caught three weeks earlier on DreamLake 4.

So my goals for this week, was hopefully to beat my personal best common of 16lbs and, maybe, to catch my first ever catfish, because as well as the very large head of carp that the lake has to offer, there is also a wide variety of other species in all the lake's on the complex, including some quite large cats and also other species like pike, perch, roach, tench, bream, and rudd etc.

By the time I had totally settled into my swim on that first day, which had been delayed for a period of time due to the heavens opening up and a very large downpour of rain, it was mid afternoon.

Luckily for me when we got there the first job my Dad told me to do, was put up my bivvy as he said it would not be long before we had some rain, so I kept fairly dry. Unfortunately some of those who were keen as mustard, did not take much notice of my Dads comments, so did not fair as well. As they were that eager to get started and tackle up their rods first, they got completely soaked.

It soon came round for our evening meal time (breakfast and evening meals are served each day at the purpose built lodge, which is situated between DreamLakes 1 & 2). The facilities at the lodge are excellent and include satellite TV and video, toilets, showers and washrooms, onsite fridge where soft drinks are stored, there is also an onsite telephone for you to use to phone home and report on all the whackers you are catching (a phone card can be purchased from the lodge). And there is also a power source for those of you who, like my Dad, need to either charge up your video batteries, or mobile phone.

All the meals served at the lodge are good wholesome food, which is cooked fresh each day by the Bailiffs. I found them extremely enjoyable and filling.

As I stated earlier, by the time I had settled into my swim it was time for our evening meal, so I reeled in my rods and walked up to the next swim were my Dad reeled in his rods and said let’s go and tell James it is time for something to eat.

As we approached his swim I could hear his clutch giving line and we found him standing there playing a fish. He had already got one fish in his landing net, which he had played earlier and, as he was about to pick it up out of the water, one of his other two rods had screamed off. He had been playing the second fish for some 20 minutes with him gaining line, then the fish taking it back again. While he was playing the fish, my Dad whispered in my ear, this is a good fish but don’t tell James in case he panics and loses it.

James, after a good half hour battle, eventually steered it to the landing net and my Dad did the netting. We then quickly weighed the first fish as my Dad went and got his camera and video.

The first fish weighed in at 24lbs (a new personal best for James), then the second fish which had taken James at least thirty minutes to land, and was a much bigger than the first, was placed in the weigh sling. As my Dad lifted it up, the scales and the fish cleared the ground, it pulled the needle around to 38lbs 8ozs. What a pair of whackers and a result for James. A truly magic start for his first ever trip to France. We eventually turned up for tea about one hour late. My Dad explained to the bailiff Matt, what had happened and he provided us with a meal. After we had eaten our meal and had a couple of cups of tea, we returned to our swims.

James was on cloud nine and I was full of apprehension at this point after seeing James large carp. I could not wait to recast my rods back out to their chosen spots, then fresh bait was put over the top of them and they were all ready for action. Well I did not have to wait too long before one of my far margin rods was off and running. My Dad had heard the run and come around to see if I needed any help. I played the fish for about 15 minuets and when I finally landed it, it weighed in at 30lbs 8ozs; what an excellent start to, what turned out to be, a truly memorable week on the lake were your dreams do come true. Well, what was to follow after that first fish was, for me, all my dreams come true.

The very next fish was a 33lb common, it not only beat my previous personal best, but more than doubled it.

As the week progressed I also had my first catfish ever, and if that wasn’t enough to celebrate, later in the week I was also lucky enough to land a monster mirror of 43lbs 8ozs, yet another personal best.

Over the course of the week I landed 20 fish in all. The break down was as follows: 5 at double figures, 10 twenty plus fish, 4 over 30lbs and finally the 43lb 8oz monster mirror - not a bad weeks fishing.

All the fish I landed were tackled on my Dads old rods, which he built himself over 10 years ago, for his first visit to lake Chira in Grand Canaria.

The rods were fished in conjunction with my Dads old 4500 bait runners (old style). Just goes to show, you don’t have to have the very latest rods and reels to catch carp. I found, because of the size of fish, a large unhooking mat is an essential.
Also I would advise you to use a minimum size 42 inch landing net. To help you cope with the very large fish you will encounter in these lakes your rods, old or new, must be capable of casting 3-4oz weights to at least 100 yards, in case you chose a swim that requires you to fish the centre of the lake on the bar.

As for the baited end that caught the fish, I used a barbless safety rig fished method style, with the aid of the B.A.C method feeder. Hook baits were either a Quality Baits salmon pellet or a DreamLake Special fished in conjunction with salmon crumb (method style).
These were cast into areas I had located where the fish were feeding (they show themselves very well at the lake) and this combination definitely put my fish on the bank.

While I was there, on the “Kids in France” week, Paddy, John, Paul and my Dad instructed all the kids on how to use this style of method fishing and we all found that this combination of the DreamLake Specials or salmon pellet, fished with the salmon crumb (method style) was a killer on DreamLake 1 that week for all of us. All the lads, like me, beat their personal bests at least once or twice during the trip.

By the end of the week I had not only had the pleasure of catching many nice fish but also made several new friends, with everyone on the lake that week having an excellent holiday.

Between us, we landed over 250 carp. Not bad for one weeks fishing. I can’t wait to get back there again, both me and James have already started saving our money and are planning our strategy for next year.

I hope you liked my first try at an article and I would finally like to thank Paddy, John, Paul, my Dad, CarpTalk & Gone Fishing from all the young anglers who took part in the Kids in France week. We all had an excellent holiday and at the end of our week, we did not want to go home.

Well as a final foot note to the above and just to show you it was not a one off, a couple of years later my older brother Lee went over to DreamLake 1 on a trip my Dad had arranged. He booked the complete lake for a group of his friends and Lee, who had only fished DreamLake 4 during that brief visit we made on the family holiday, and had had fish to 34lb on that occasion. He now wanted to go on the coming trip to the DreamLakes, mainly because I had now had two 40+ carp from the complex and he desperately wanted to have one himself. So as soon as he heard my Dad was organising a trip there, he started saving his money.
But as the trip came round, all the places on the lake had been filled, so my Dad got him on as a non-angler and let him fish his peg.

Well what can I say, first night first run seen him land a 48lb mirror. He was to follow that up a couple of days later, after several other thirties, with a 41lb common. Then after several more 30's to 38lb, he finished of with another 40+ mirror….I think he owes the old man a big thank you for letting him fish his swim.

Well I will leave you now and hope that this has given you a feel for the place that not only made my Dreams come true, but also my brother Lee's as well.

Good luck on all your ventures,
Ross Woodward

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