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Chanty Update
by Ron Woodward
 | | Sunset over Du Der. |
This article is about a lake I used to love to fish in years gone by, but with the many recent events of fish movement on there, will it ever be the same again?
For the many English anglers like myself, who held it in such high esteem, this lake was once one of my favourite lakes to fish in France and it had been kind enough to reward me with several very big fish.
Why has there suddenly been a massive change to the rules and restrictions that govern the way you must now fish this lake at present, if
you can get on there at all now, once they see you are English?
Well, many of the new rules and restrictions that have been brought out over the last couple of years, now make it much harder to tackle all the aspects of fishing on this vast water. In my opinion the only reasons for the much harder restrictions for carp angling has been brought about by carp anglers themselves, not all carp anglers, but the more unscrupulous ones, know to me as The Goblins as I can mention no names. Unfortunately there is a small band of carp anglers who seem only interested in lining their own pockets with money from our sport, and they have now completely spoiled it for the rest of us.
When it comes to fishing on Lac Du Der I believe it is only a question of time, before other well-known lakes follow suit, if these unscrupulous carp anglers carry on their practice of moving large carp out of the French waters for financial gain.
 | | Map of Chantecoq. |
This type of angler (if you can call them that?) not only move large Chanty carp to other French waters, which are being run for English anglers to travel to and fish in France, but are also bringing them in to this country, risking disease and death to our own established carp over here.
I regularly pick up the fishing papers and magazines and open the pages and see French carp being caught in this country. When you have fished at lake Du Der as many times as I have, you can not mistake that particular strain of carp.
There was a water in the midlands area were I live, that was asked by one of the carp magazines for the photos of the two 50lb fish it had produced before they both died recently. They never got in to print, as they have already been featured in a carp fishing magazine, when they were caught on the banks of Lac Du Der before The Goblins moved them to this country.
Well I better get of my soap box now and carry on with this article on Lac Du Der...the only comment I would like to make on large foreign fish being brought into this country through the back door, is…….. if you want to catch large foreign carp, then go abroad like I do.
Lac Du Der Chantecoq is situated in central France in the Champagne-Ardenne region, a few miles south west of a town called St. Dizier and approximately 120 miles east of Paris. The lake itself is reputed to be the largest man-made lake in Europe , which, when full , contains around 12,000 acres of water. It was created by levelling three villages, then breaching the dam wall of the old reservoir Champaubert and then flooding the three levelled villages. The breach point is shown on most maps of the lake, and several years ago you could actually fish off the remains of the old dam, on the one side at least. My first ever time on the lake, was spent fishing off the old dam, were you could have rods in the old lake called reservoir Champaubert and from the same swim also fish into the newer flooded section of the lake. I was lucky enough to not only have a load of thirties on that my fist trip to the lake, but also my first-ever French forty pound plus carp.
If you drive around the lake, and look at the swims when you first arrive, you will notice several roads leading off towards the lake, that actually lead straight into the water. These are the old roads that were used by the inhabitants of the flooded villages to gain access to their properties. When the lake is down, some of the remains from the former buildings can be seen at various points along the lakes edge. One of the most famous remains and also one of the most well known swims on the lake is the Church Point. The church building itself was actually moved brick by brick and rebuilt on its present site just before the flooding of the villages took place
The lake first came to my attention as a carp fishery when Alan Taylor and Joe Taylor started fishing the lake, and they were having some truly remarkable results from it. In those days with no one wanted to publicly name it, so it was known as the big C.
My preferred route to the lake is, ferry from Dover to Calais, after leaving the port at Calais, join the A26 autoroute heading in the direction Paris/ Reims. Stop on the A26 ignoring any directions for Paris whilst on it, head directly for Reims. When you reach Reims you will find that the A26 joins the A4 and you must head for, Chalons-S-Marne or Chalons-en-Champagne, this is in fact the same town, but varies depending on the age of your map. A few kilometres before the town the autoroute splits and you must then head in the direction of Metz, just after the split, you must leave at the next exit and take the N44 toVitry-le Francois. After Vitry-le Francois, take the N4 which will take you to St Dizier
 | | The famous Church Point. |
If you are familiar with the area, you can use the back roads to the lake and there are plenty of signs for Lac Du Der almost everywhere. But if it is your first time at the lake and you wish to play it safe, then keep on the N4 to St Dizier and then take the D384 which will also take you to the water.
Once you have arrived at the lake, spend time looking around it and talk to the anglers to fond out what has been coming from which areas. Forget any pre-conceived notions or ideas about fishing the lake English-style, as the lake is a massive sheet of water of approximately 12,000 acres in size when it is at its fullest.
The fishing conditions on the lake change constantly according to the water level and weather. When the lake is at its fullest in the spring, swims are very few and you may have to fish in areas that you will have to boat to, as there is no access to the swim. When the lake is down in September, October and November, the fishing situation is totally different and you will find yourself wallowing in the Chantecoq mud. If you wish to see the muddy conditions, then hire out the video, ‘French Carping 2 Ton-up at Lac Der’ featuring Kevin Maddocks and Alan Taylor. This will give you a good insight of what to expect, if you plan to fish the water when it is down. It is a most enjoyable video and shows more than sixty thirties landed during the session. You will also see the amount of different snags you will have to encounter when fishing the lake, from tree stumps protruding from the lakebed up to five feet in height to masonry and rubble from the old buildings of the levelled villages.
You must also take into account the weather conditions that exist around this area. It can be a real Jekyll and Hyde situation in this respect. I can remember only as if it was yesterday, my very first trip to lake. For the first three days myself and the lad I was fishing with called Carlton experienced temperatures that reached 110 degrees F, then overnight we experienced violent storms with mistral winds reaching over 100 m.p.h. Many of the anglers fishing the lake had their set-ups and bivvies flattened and boats destroyed on the rocks of the old dam!
When fishing the lake you will find it is a very prolific carp fishery, containing carp to over 60lbs. The official lake record is 27.3kg (60lb 2oz) held by French angler Nicolas Ladriere, but I am aware of larger fish coming out and not reported by anglers. Carp over 30lbs are present in extremely large numbers and I would say that in my opinion Chanty used to have, the largest population of forties in any French lake - but who knows these days?
It used to be widely accepted that it has the biggest population of large carp of any known French water. Without doubt, if you are looking for your first 40lb carp, then Chantecoq is one lake you should consider.
Let me give you an example of how it can fish. On my last trip to the lake, this was four consecutive runs to the rod's during a weeks fishing - 41lbs 8ozs, 53lbs 8ozs, 42lbs and 48lbs. There are not many waters in France were you could achieve four consecutive big fish like that.
As well as the large head of carp, the lake offers a wide variety of other species including bream, roach, tench, perch, pike, rudd and the French anglers favourite - zander. The zander in Chanty grow to quite a large size, I have personally witnessed then up to eleven kilos just to give you some idea. Most early mornings you will see the French lads out on the water in their boats fishing for them. Please, please remember that Chantecoq is their lake and we are a guest, fishing in their country. If they do happen to boat over the area you are fishing to get to the zander grounds, don’t be a moron and start shouting a load of swears words at them. This happened in the past and involved one of the aforementioned fish movers. The incident happened on the Church Point and resulted in the fishing in front of the Church being stopped. The zander anglers can only fish during the day and most of the action on the lake is at night, so doesn't really matter if they are anywere near in the day.
Last time I fished there, there were parking areas within easy reach of most of the legal night area's on Chanty very close to the lake, this will give you only a short walk with your tackle to any of the swims. There is also several campsites on its perimeter, with most of them have on-site toilets, showers and facilities for the purchases of a hot drinks, hot food should you require any. Please remember that the camp sites are only open in the summer months though.
Here are the rules and restrictions that I am aware of :
Day only season tickets will cost you 400 FF( around £40.00 ) and must be purchased by any angler wanting to fish on the lake, even if they have already obtained the separate night fishing ticket. As far as I am aware, this particular ticket can still be purchased from local tackle shops around the lake such as the one I always have used in the past, it is a small tackle shop in Eclaron called Peche 2000, which is run by a Madam Badot.
To fish for carp at night an angler must posses an APPMA (Association de Peche pour la Protection du Milleu Aaquatique ) at 400 FF( around £40.00) and also a night fishing authorisation which will cost you a further 1200 FF(around £120.00). To obtain a night fishing authorisation ( which must be obtained in advance ) you need to contact the UFAPPMA by either phoning them on 0033 326 72 63 43 or writing to them at UFAPPMA at Maison des Pechers (Station nautique 51290 Giffaumont-Champaubert ) France. Whichever way you contact them, they will require a deposit of 600 FF
When you obtain your night fishing authorisation from UFAPPMA, you will also receive a full set of rules to follow, these will dictate all the rules and regulations you must comply with to legally night fish on the lake. There are lots of changes to previous rules that govern the lake, so I will not go into them in detail, I will just briefly mention a couple. There can only be 60 anglers each night on the whole lake. These anglers must night fish from 30 designated swims, and also each night fishing site cannot be occupied for more than eight days in total. It is prohibited to cast or boat your lines over 100 metres, it is prohibited to navigate on the water at night and the use of an echo sounder is banned. It is compulsory to wear a life jacket when you are in a boat on the lake.
As you can see from this brief summary, fishing on Chanty is now a much harder proposition and let me advise you, do not attempt to fish out side the rules and restrictions, as the fines are heavy and the Guarde du Peche and Gendamerie are armed!
You will be given a map of the lake when you purchase your licences, this will show you all the swims you can fish day or night. Last year there were eight legal night fishing areas in May, but these were reduced later on in the year due to bird migration. I believe that with the new rules and regulations, there is also some new night fishing swims, attached is the new map with the layout of the new areas.
Well finally once you have got over there with all the correct permits and licences, the next step is how to tackle the venue and as I always say to anyone who asks for my advice on fishing abroad, when I fish in France I always step up the specification of my tackle. So my advice to you would be to do the same. Use strong line and hooks, and big capacity reels that will hold enough good quality 15lb line to achieve the distances you may require. On Du Der the contours and depths of the lake tend to drop away quite steadily from the waters edge, so you may need to go out at distance to find feeding fish. You can also fish closer in should you find the correct sort of features to hold feeding fish, this has worked for me in the past when the lake was kind enough to give me a 53lb 8oz which came from only 50 yards out.
 | | Ron with a magnificent Chanty 48lb carp. |
You will also need a good quality (hard or netted) hookbait to compensate for the very large crayfish that inhabit the lake. I would also take some heavily weighted indicators, in case you have to fish at distance, as you will find that with a large amount of line out at extreme range, it pays to increase the weight of your indicators. A good quality boat and life-jacket are a must, because of the safety aspect; these are probably two of the most important items of equipment to get correct, your boat must be strong and very buoyant. Cheap plastic blow-ups are most definitely to be avoided. My life jacket is one that will inflate itself when it comes into contact with water, I know these are a bit more expensive, but what price do you put on your life? It is now compulsory to wear a life jacket, when in a boat on the water at Chanty, and the Guard de Pêche will stop you using your boat if you are not wearing one.
I also always take an electric outboard with me as I consider this to be an extremely vital piece of equipment and I never fish without one on the big lakes. It allows me complete control over the boat against drift when I am baiting up or dropping my end rigs in.
Another item I have always taken with me, is a good quality echo sounder as I find them invaluable, but not for the reason that many anglers think. Yes, it does show fish but the main purpose of this aid is to locate features, drop-offs, gullies, etc. Having said this, please be aware that the use of an echo sounder is not allowed on Chanty under the new rules. Whether you use one is a decision that is totally down to you and if you are caught using one, you will have to suffer the consequences, which could be a fine or confiscation of your tackle. I have also found in the past that a combination of illuminated markers, base camp illumination and walkie talkies have greatly helped me tackle this lake.
You will find that this particular lake has always been a very popular venue for carp anglers from all over Europe since its discovery. This venue would give you every chance of achieving multiple catches if your approach is correct. The lake is suitable for the more experienced angler and not for the less experienced . The lake when I have fished it in the past, was always very busy at certain times of the year. For that reason it was always safer to have a couple of back up waters to hand in case the lake was full. However, with this new booking in advance system, you should be guaranteed your peg to fish from if you are night fishing.
Only time will tell how the fishing on the lake will turn out now all these new rules and regulations have been brought into force. But hopefully with a bit of the information contained in this article, there is no reason why you should not be successful. Lac du Der has always been kind to me and is a water that I have always enjoyed fishing. I'm hoping to return there shortly, to assess for myself what the new rules have done to the fishing on this magnificent water.
Good Luck and I hope you catch that fish of your dreams!
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