Etang du Grand Foret session by Bjorn Verbeeck

Holland Baits on Etang du grand Forêt

I made two trips to the water in short notice. I look back on these two weeks with great pleasure. They were two top-notch weeks! It was just enjoying the beautiful nature you are in. It simply cannot be described. i dare even say you forget everything else for a moment. There is only one thing you hear and that is nature. The inhabitants of this beautiful location also like to show themselves at night and in the morning. With regularity you can see wild boars, deer, foxes, birds of prey and so on.

Now enough about the environment, because I could go on talking about it, but you will find that out for yourself after you have been here. Here you really come to rest. The water I estimate is about 7 acres and has six beautiful spacious cuttings. These are very well laid out with gravel, so you do not have to dab in the mud. In the water there are two small islands, which of course are also good fishing spots. Also in the middle of the water is a channel that runs all over the water. Along the side of the road, which runs between the two waters, you will also find a large plateau. This is also the shallowest side of the water and is about 1.2 meters deep. Good fishing spots can also be found along this side of the road. On the other side of the water there is a small bridge in the water. This spot is also an ideal spot for fishing. The deepest part of the water is in swim 3. There is also a stretch of 3.3m deep. This is also a top swim where the fish like to be. Hereby you already know some good spots where you can fish. There are plenty of other possibilities of slopes and so on. The bottom of the lake is mostly a soft one, but is perfectly fishable. If you look carefully you will find some harder pieces here and there, but we ourselves chose to fish mainly on the softer pieces. For this we had adjusted our leaders slightly and this worked perfectly. The length of our leaders were 25cm long and worked perfectly. Here and there you can find something on the bottom where your line gets stuck, but most of the time it just comes loose again. I suspect it could be old lily pads or maybe some weed. This is not the case everywhere. On the deep side there is an obstacle in the water. I think an old tree trunk or something, but by adjusting your fishing you won’t be bothered by it at all. In consultation with the owner and fellow anglers, it is allowed to use a rubber boat. This does sometimes have its advantages.

What about the stock of the water? You can have a bycatch of tench, but I’m talking about two in one week. So no problems at all. The nice thing you can experience when you want to reel in your lines is that you catch a pike. This happened to us 5 times, but we didn’t mind. Nice to catch it this way. Of bream we had no trouble at all! They also say it is not present on the water.

Now for the most important thing! What we come for, our good friends…you catch pangolins as well as mirrors, which is kind of unusual for paid waters. In our opinion they are beautiful. The scales are golden in color and some have a nice build. The same goes for the mirrors. Beautiful yellow colored fish some of which have nice scales on the body. Really beautiful fish! They are very strong fish. You get nice drills. The average weight is around 14 kg. With regularity you catch a fish of between 14 and 19 kg. You also have a chance to catch a fish between 20 and 24 kg.

It seems there must be some fish over 25kg and as a top fish even a 29.8kg! That one has also been caught. I can’t give the number of fish swimming there, but my estimate it could be 300. We managed on our two weeks at Grand Forêt, to catch 96 carp.

Don’t stare blindly at that, because according to the owner, this is extremely good fishing. It’s certainly not a runwater, but with the right approach you can really catch some good ones. I’m convinced of that. If you like peace and a challenge, this is the perfect water. Ideal for doing with your buddy or with your friends. I would only come with a maximum of 6 anglers, that way everyone can fish perfectly. What else should you expect? The facilities around the water: there is a big clubhouse where you can sit for a while or have a nice chat with fellow anglers. It is certainly spacious enough to eat together. There is also a separate building where the toilet is and showers. These are certainly in order. There is also hot water available. Electricity is not constantly available, but this can be discussed with Fabrice, the owner. He then provides power with the generator that is present. There are also two large trash cans on the property where you can leave your trash.

Good to know is that there is a supermarket located 5 minutes from the water. If there is really something,you can definitely turn to Fabrice. He is a top manager and will gladly help you. I myself will definitely return to this fantastic location. I hope you get the same feeling as me with the location. In any case, I wish you a great week!

Regards

Bjorn and Rony

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Reclin de Gries

Trots ben ik op mezelf maar met name op de mensen om mij heen. En trouwe vaste klanten! Want alleen was het nooit mogelijk geweest om te komen waar ik nu ben. En nog zoveel jaar later, doe ik nog steeds mijn werk met plezier! Ik wens iedereen de trip van zijn leven! En vooral ook te genieten aan de waterkant!