Recently returned from Domaine de la Baronne, what a stunning looking lake but it needs work. 6 of us fished 26/10/24 to 02/11/24, by all account allot of lakes in the area and France have been fishing difficult of late, also it was very high pressure whilst we were there, as a group we managed 12 carp and 1 small catfish, with 5 fish being lost due to snags. This lake is very weedy but there are plenty of clear spots to fish you just need to find them, this is easy from a zodiac that you can rent off Rafal, one huge down side to the lake is it’s full of snags. Most the margins are lines with over hanging trees which are easily assessable and fishable when using a bait boat or zodiac to place your rigs, but the snags in this lake are next level, all fish lost were due to the snags that this lake holds. I would even say it’s dangerous for the fish, if you crack off or get cut off whilst playing a fish it could lead to them getting tethered. For fish welfare these need removing. My dad and I fished from the island, which is brilliant to really immerse yourself into the fishing away from the crowd, the “VIP cabin” is not VIP it’s a nice shed with a 2 gas ring cooker in it, and 2 shoddy beds that’s all, we both opted to set up our bivvy and sleep on our bed chairs in front of the rods instead of sleeping in the shed, but we did use the shed to cook in and store all our bait, rod bags clothes etc. You cannot cast from either of the swims on the island, allot of work needs doing to remove over hang trees and a few need felling to open the pegs up to be able to fish and cast from the swims on the island, this was easily fixed by using the the zodiac and bait boat though. One reason we opted not to sleep in the shed was due to the snags, you have to fish locked up, an I mean solid so no line can be taken from the reel, so you need to be on your rods as soon as you get a single bleep, this did lead to very exciting fishing and a few boat battle to land the fish.
To summaries – the facilities at the lake are basic. The showers are poor, toilets are adequate eco toilets, no running water (Rafal will fill up your containers) pegs are good but some under water and the platform on the island is damaged, but with the rugged nature of the lake it is not easy fishing at all which may deter some anglers. Personally I loved the challenging nature of the lake but the over hanging trees need removing on the island and ALL the snags need removing from the lake for fish safety and aid in moving the fish around more as I saw allot of fish held up in snags whilst I was there. It SHOULD be advertised as very weedy and snaggy as this is the true nature of the lake, but there are spots to fish if you put work and effort in to find them, and finally the fish, what stunning looking fish, it’s hard to tell from the images but these are hands down some of the most stunning fish I’ve ever caught, the colours, the shape, the depth, and width the bellies, the fish were just outrageous. The lake is a real chocolate box of fish. The 6 images attached range from 23.8 to 30.10. But every single one fought like a 45lb’er.
I would fish here again as the carp are stunning, and drive and survive is my thing.
