Fishing [fish-ing]

Fishing: n.
  1. The act of catching fish.
  2. The technique or occupation of catching fish.
  3. A place or facility for catching fish.

Exclusive Lakes, Carp Fishing, Fishing in France the website FOR anglers BY anglers.

Fishing in France - Etang Bertie

Set amongst farm land, close to the village of Brielles and just 20 minutes south of the historic town of Vitre, lies Etang Bertie.

Bertie is one of the now famous Miller's lakes run by Jean, Tony and Lee Miller. Every lake providing quality fishing at exclusive lakes, set in beautiful surroundings in the French countryside.

Etang Bertie is a pleasant 2-3 hour drive from the Port of St Malo. Although easily accessibly from Calais, Caen and many of the other French ports, we prefer the Portsmouth - St. Malo crossing as it reduces the drive the other side, nothing to do with the extra time available to drink and gamble on the ferry - honest!!!

Waking up to the sound of Rod Stewart doesn't normally do it for me, but as this meant we we were shortly docking at St Malo on a bright sunny morning, I was actually rather pleased to hear his gravelly voice blasting through the ferries radio alarm clock. Once up and about we had enough time to whiz through the morning rituals and grab a croissant or a full english in the restaurant before we docked.

On arrival at Bertie the first sight is the Millers very impressive home (or should I say palace!!) then we were quickly greeted by the Millers resident dogs equally keen on inspecting us, as we were to inspecting the lake.

We were greeted by Jean who went through all the basics with us, and after a short lap around the lake we unloaded the car, unhooked the trailer and with Jeans help we then set about finding the local Super U or Inter Marche - not too difficult as a huge super market is never a million miles away.

Once we got back and unloaded what seemed like a months supply of food, it was time to start fishing.

One crucial bit of advice that we should have listened to sooner, was to "put a lot a pellet in" - we'd already pre-ordered a few sacks of pellet from Tony but perhaps unwisely none of us tend to put big beds of bait down wherever we go, we should have listen to the advice especially as Tony had already told us these fish are big eaters. Perhaps for this reason the fishing started off slow and other than the odd small carp and tench nothing really happened on the first day.

After a chat with Tony we decided we were going to need to actually fish the lake properly and put a bit of bait down to get them on the feed and stay there.

The next day proved more successful with over a dozen fish coming out, with Sarah and Tony B both catching Mirrors over 20lb, weighing 25lb and 25lb 1oz respectively. Tony also managed to catch his first ever Catfish, an immaculate fish caught during the middle of the day weighing 24lb 4oz a PB already!

After struggling in my first swim for the first couple of days I decided it was time to move and try a different swim, this is another advantage of fishing a lake exclusively, if your not happy in your swim then moving isn't a problem.

Later that evening within just a few hours the move proved fruitful with a 21lb 11oz Mirror coming to a 20mm Trigga soaked in Trigga Bait Soak Complex fished just off the baited area near the island.

Although we hadn't planned to do much night fishing (as this was as much of a holiday as it was an all out fishing holiday) the next evening we decided to fish through the night as the daytime temperature was just too hot, and we hoped the fishing would improve during the evening.

Once the sun had set the evening session proved to be extremely successful with more decent fish coming from my "new" swim including a 15lb 15oz Mirror, 19lb Mirror, 20lb 5oz Mirror, 25lb 2oz Mirror, and a beautiful 30lb 4oz Common a new PB for me, that was my holiday made.

On one of the last few nights we decided to fish through the night, but the extremely volatile thunderstorm that was moving ever closer made us change out minds pretty quickly and head indoors for a beer instead.

 

Tony had packed his stuff away and I was just getting the bivvy in order before I pulled the rods in, when the right hand alarm screamed off at great velocity! As soon as I struck into it I realized it was one of the Bertie Catfish, which soon send my pulse racing. Whilst playing the cat, the storm was moving ever closer and seemed like it was almost right above us!! So there's me, standing in the edge of a lake, with a 12ft carbon rod high in the air whilst lightening was raining down... Ok I admit it, I was a little bit concerned but using some cautious side strain and trying to hurry the cat along, after a 20 minute battle the storm had passed and the cat was ready for the net.

I am a huge Catfish fan and in some cases actually prefer catching a big ole moggy than a lumpy ole Carp - and this was no different.

It was well worth nearly getting killed!!!

Tony even managed to catch his first ever Cat - actually caught during the day on a very sunny afternoon.

Bertie really is a lovely little lake packed with lots of immaculate looking Mirrors, Commons, and even a number of very impressive large Koi. The house is well kept and is perfect for families too.

For more information or booking visit: www.millersfrenchcarpandcats.com