Heavenly Hideaway

The Lodge from the far bank

I have fished a number of Angling Lines venues and when the opportunity to fish Hideaway arose I jumped at the chance. The only problem was that it was Wednesday and my family and I would be travelling out very early Saturday morning. Could things be arranged in time? Of cause they could. Bridget of Angling Lines quickly booked us on Euro tunnel as French ports were being blockaded by French fishermen. Down to the post office to get some Euros and travel insurance, onto the internet to arrange breakdown cover, sorted. Now did I have enough bait? A quick rummage through the freezer unearthed a variety of Quests boilies. I settled for 8kg of special crab, 6kg of raja spice and 1kg of pineapple crunch that Shaun had given me at the Mangrove, but I hadn’t got round to using. I also took 15kg of trout pellets, a couple of pots of pop-ups in case the bottom of the lake was mucky, but no hemp as there is a particle band on the water.

We set off at 8:30pm Friday night to catch the train at 2:20 Saturday morning, the 220mile journey went without a hitch and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. The journey in France was equally easy, with just a short stop at a supermarché to stock up on essentials-beer, wine, bread, peanuts, bacon, eggs and stuff for the BBQ.

The Venue
Words are inadequate to describe this venue, but I will give it my best shot.
The venue is absolutely stunning; the lake is totally surrounded by trees, making it very secluded-a true hideaway. It’s like having your own bit of paradise. The lodge was built in 1947 by the local hunt as a place to share out their kills and to make merry, the lake was dug at the same time. The lake is roughly 2 acres set in an additional 4.5 acres of woodland. The lodge overlooks the lake and to sit on the veranda having a beer, watching the wildlife is an absolute joy, I could sit there and not even bother to fish, its that kind of place,

view from the veranda

the dam end, there was always fish under the trees

Accommodation
Inside the lodge is very well appointed. Down stairs there is a very large room that includes:
• A lounge/ dining area.
• TV with over 40 English channels.
• DVD player with a range of DVDs including classics like open all hours, only fools and horses etc.
• An eight place dining table.
• Arm chairs and sofa/ single bed.
• Double bed with partitioning curtain.
• Wood burning stove.

double bed in the main downstairs room

part of the large downstairs room with TV, DVD and wood burning stove.

The separate kitchen has a fridge freezer, separate bait freezer, washing machine, micro wave, full cooker and all the utensils you could possibly need.
There is also a downstairs bathroom with bath/shower and washbasin.

kitchen

bathroom.

Upstairs there are two bedrooms, one double and the other twin. There is also an upstairs toilet.

double bedroom.

part of the twin bedroom.

Some food etc. had been left by previous parties and the wife was soon sorting out the stuff that was out of date. Which got me thinking, Buxton mineral water has been in the ground for 2 million years, but it has a sell by date on the bottle. Does it suddenly become undrinkable after 2 million and 2 years and how do they know? How do they arrive at sell by dates and who tests them?

The Fishing
The lake is well stock with carp to over 30 pounds, plus some cats and a sturgeon. When we arrived I just couldn’t wait to have a go, but the rain was absolutely torrential. I bunged a couple of rods and a bag of bait into the car and drove down to the dam end as there is a shelter at this end. I lobbed a couple of baits in the margins with a handful of pellets around each rod and sat down to wait. Ten minutes later I was into my first fish, a stunning mirror of 25lb 5oz, what a start. I was over the moon; Quest special crab boilies had done it again. A quick recast and I finally got chance to sit down, 45 minutes later I was in again a common of 21lb 12oz. Two twenties in less than an hour, I could get used to this. The bailiff Pete arrived and a quick chat confirmed that I had chosen the correct place, I didn’t need telling! After the long drive I was cream cracker, I decided to real in and go back to the lodge for a beer and a bit of TV, before I did I baited with a couple of Kg of special crab and trout pellets.

Next morning I woke at the crack of 8:30, I was on holiday, and snuck out to have an hours fishing before breakfast. I fished from the dam end, but from the opposite side to the previous night. I was soon into a heavy fish which turned out to be a 31lb sturgeon. Time for breakfast.

set up outside the lodge

the miracle boy.

I had intended to fish the dam end as there were a lot of fish present, but I had also seen a couple of fish crash opposite the lodge. I decided to set up my bivvie outside the lodge, even though it was obvious that the majority of the fish were under the snags at the dam end. I didn’t think it was fair to leave my family in the lodge and me fish the other end of the lake. I marked the line on each of my three rods, so that I could accurately cast to within 6 feet of the far bank and clipped up. I walk around and baited heavily with boilies and pellets and we went out for the day. We arrived back at the lake at 7:30 pm and I introduced some more free offerings and cast all three rods in the same area 6 feet from the far bank. I was soon into a 19lb 7oz mirror, a quick cast out and some more free offerings and I was ready for the night. If I caught a carp I had decided that I would not cast that rod out again as I thought I could end up getting no sleep. By midnight I had no rods fishing as I had caught fish of 24lb 8oz, 23lb 9oz and 24lb 8oz and I was ready for a nights sleep. You may be wondering why there are no fish photos, next morning my son Mark was scrolling through the pictures and he managed to erase them all including pictures from the Mangrove and Grosley. It is a miracle that he is still alive.

apart from the Saturday evening/Sunday morning all the fish were caught from a small area in front of the bushes on the far bank.

To cut a long story short I used similar tactics throughout the week. I fished all three rods in a tight area 6 feet from the far bank. Baited up before going out for the day, when coming back and again before it went dark. Not casting out if a fish was caught in the dark. We finished with 29 carp to over 30lb, a 30lb plus cat and the 31lb sturgeon. Mark decided he wanted to land some of the fish when it wasn’t raining. I offered to set him a couple of rods up, but he was happy catching on mine! Twenty three of the carp were over 20lbs, six being over 28lbs. In total we probably fished around 50 hours, which converts to an impressive catch rate.

the largest common of the trip at 29lb 2oz	a typical hideaway mirror
30lb plus cat	Mark with a PB mirror at 28lb 6oz

the largest carp of the trip

All fish were caught on the ever consistent Quest boilies, the majority were caught on special crab, but fish per rod hour pineapple crunch was definitely the best.

The Local Area
We did the touristy bit every day and found some very interesting places. These included:
• Mortain with its 100 ft cascade (Le Grande Cascade).
• Le Mont-St-Michel, with its fabulous old winding streets, but spoilt a bit by shops selling tat.
• Villedieu-les-Poeles with its copper making, you can watch the craftsmen making the items.
• Granville with a beach and a harbour.
• The medieval town of Domfront
• The holiday town of Bagnoles-de-l’orne.

Le Mont-St-Michel

Bagnoles-de-l’orne

Summary
Angling lines has some stunning family type venues and Hideaway is amongst the very best. The fishing and location is superb. The venue has everything you could possibly need, even down to an iron and ironing board!

Diane doing the ironing on the veranda. As my dad always told me never spare your woman or your horse, you don’t know who else will wear them out!

I would recommend this venue to anyone and would very much like to fish it again, hopefully when the weather is better as it rained every day. Pete the bailiff is very helpful and will put you in the right direction if you are not very experienced. A top family venue, with some gorgeous looking fish. Fish, relax and enjoy.