22nd April 2026

Old Castle Lake

Review 

To the next vistor

Myself and Stuart arrived on 25th April 2026.

I was in Joe's swim and stuart was in the top corner along from me.

On the first night stuart was away first with a 32lb 8oz common shortly followed by myself having a 42lb mirror.

Then the unexpected happened, within the next few hours not only was I to get a new PB at 45lb 12oz, this was then broken again only 5 hours later with a new French PB 47lb 12oz mirror and not to be out done.

Stuart on his first ever trip to France and his UK PB being around 22lbs not only smashed that will the 32lb 8 oz common, that first night saw him bag a 22lb mirror, and a 49lb 4oz Mirror.

That's 8 × carp in the first night and day (sunday) four carp over the magic 40lb+ mark.

For the rest of the trip can only be summed up for Stuart as a complete Red Letter session. As previous mentioned this is Stuart's first time to france and he only started carp fishing a couple of years ago and this visit was to help him gain the experience and confidence of catching large carp and to help improve his angling ability which he has clearly done.

Anyway, back to telling you of action that continued for stuart, he managed to land 15 x carp and of course new PB's broken  along the way.

4 x 20lb+

1 x 25lb+

3 x 30lb+

3 x 35lb+

3 x 40lb+

1 x 45lb+ (Biggest fish of the week 49lb 4)

Me, I was just enjoying helping and watch my childhood mate, have the best possible trip he could have.  That didn't stop me from also having some cracking carp as I did manage to catch 6 x carp during the week.

1 x 20lb+

1 x 25lb+

1 x 35lb+

2 x 40lb+

2 x 45lb+ (Biggest for me 47lb 12oz)

The carp where mainly in stuart's swim in numbers, but as you can see they do move around the lake.

The lake and swims are spacious and comfortable, clean along with stunning surroundings.  The toilet and shower here very clean and tidy all the time.

My advise, listening to Mark's advice and keep things simple when it comes to rigs and bait, we have gone through loads of Mark's spod and pellet, and our boilies.

Local shops are not that far away and the people are friendly.

The lake also offers a lodge and we both had a look around it and agreed that our next visit we are probably bringing our other half's so we can fish and they can relax and enjoy the surroundings with a glass or two.

Would we come here again?

Well, to summarise our first vist here at Old Castle lake (france) a total of 21 x carp for a total weight of 776lbs 7oz.

We had a great time, relaxing and making memories that will last a lifetime, so yes we will be back.

Big thanks to our hosts Mark and Alex 

Tight lines from Steve & Stuart