The Catch Report

Tony and Lorraine would like to thank all the guests who have taken the time to write to them with a review of their time spent at Chateau de Tigny. We really aim to make your stay as special as possible and love hearing about your successes! We look forward to seeing you again in the near future.

July 2010

Our second trip to Tigny was just as good, if not better, than our first. A total of 22 fish, with lovely accommodation, great hospitality and lots to see nearby.

Greeted by sunshine and a cold beer, we were off to a great start - as were the fish, first one out a 25lb+ mirror typically as we were having lunch on the first day!

The fishing isn't easy but application reaps rewards - especially the hard-fighting, wild looking commons. These fish definitely have a sweet tooth, the majority of our catches coming out on sweet, fruity baits and the most prolific times being after dark and first light.

We mixed up the fishing with days out to the Beaujolais vineyards and surrounding picturesque villages. We'd also recommend the nearby restaurant Pont d'Alliant - just a 10 min walk and serving the best frites in France, as well as excellent traditional cuisine.

Chateau Tigny is a good venue for couples and families, being a rare mix of rewarding fishing and fantastic accommodation (which scores serious brownie points with the girlfriend).

Thank you Tony and Lorraine for being brilliant hosts.

Andrew and Danielle

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The lake is set in stunning scenery with an awe inspiring 16th Century Cheteau as a back drop to the fishing (visible in some of the shots). Accommodation is first class as are the hosts Tony and Lorraine . All of the fish caught were in mint condition and the water is largely unpressured making more traditional methods very effective. Multiple runs are frequent on this water if fished in the correct way adding some real excitement into the mix . Fishing off the top seems alien and produced no results while as you would expect night fishing is very productive especially given the heat experienced that week .

43 Fish caught in total, including the following:

2x 30 Ib Commons
1x 28 Ib Common
1x 28 Ib Mirror
1x 27 Ib Common
2x 26 Ib ( 1 mirror , 1 common )
31 x 20Ib to 24 Ib mixture of Common and Mirror
3 x 17 Ibs
2 x 16 Ibs

Nick and Lee will be back ………

Nicky Simpson and Lee Hagerty

May 2010

After a 1100kilometer trip we arrived at the beautiful chateau.
It was even more impressive than the photographs on the website. We were offered a cup of coffee and settled down. Tony showed us around the castle and lead us to the beautiful lake.

I have never met anyone talking with so much passion about “his” fish. When you go to a “regular” venue you will normally meet a bailiff who just shows you to your swim, collects the money and says goodbye. Tony will visit you every day.

It is hard to say what a good time we had at Chateau Tigny, on the one hand we don’t want be too enthusiastic ( too many people will want to come) but on the other we don’t want to interfere with Tony’s business.

After installing our tents and fishing gear the first sweet baits went in, within a couple of hours the first fish came in. During our 6 day stay we caught 13 fish. We had one 19,8 lbs fish, 10x 20lbs+ fish and 2x 30+ lbs fish.

My son Glenn caught his pb, a beautiful 31,9lbs common, my pb at Tigny was a 37,4lbs mirror (yes Tony, our scales was in Dutch pounds, we found out when we were back in Holland). We hooked 3 more bigger fish but lost them due to our own stupidity. In addition to this I can say that we only fished during the day, in very bad weather conditions. Temperatures we dropping fast with lots and lots of rain, that’s the reason why we did not fish during the night.

We can only confirm the hospitality that other quests mention. The  facilities are excellent, if you need anything else just ask Lorraine and she will take care of it (but if you need anything more than that is already available you are spoilt!).  In my opinion, Tony and Lorraine are too good for this world. One warning, don’t eat at the chateau, you will grow out of your pants. We only had breakfast a couple of times but even this is too much. For the drive and survive guests, the supermarkets are only 2 minutes away by car, the long driveway of the chateau takes most of your time to get there.

To the male fisherman, take your wife or girlfriend with you, install her in one of the beautiful suites and she will join you on your fishing trip every year.

My son, who can’t keep his mouth shut for more than 2 minutes, was quiet for the first 2 hours after leaving Tigny, we were both sorry that we had to go home.

Tony and Lorraine we hope to see you again next year in good health.

Glenn and Peter Zwinderman

June 2009

We decided some time ago to go away for Kevin’s 40th. As a keen carp fisherman having looked at Chateau de Tigny’s very good website we emailed Tony & Lorraine to check whether they could accommodate a motor home and to our delight they were more than happy. It took us approx 7 hours from Calais and on our arrival we were greeted with a beautiful looking Chateau and spectacular carpy looking lake.

We then met Tony & Lorraine who were very welcoming and helpful and Tony gave me some top tips for the lake. At 6.30pm my 3 rods were baited up and sent out in the lake with the bait boat. Kev’s first carp came about an hour later weighing 22lbs 1oz, it was a common and, as with all the other fish which were later to come out, was in beautiful condition. As mentioned previously Tony was helpful and gave a word of warning about how lively the fish would be regardless of the distance they have come in from and how tired you would expect them to be. Anyway we were soon to find out how true his words were.

What we haven’t mentioned was that our stay was only going to be for 48 hours fishing as we were moving on in our motor home to meet up with some friends in Spain. However, our 48 hours turned out to be prolific fishing and wow what a 40th birthday present Tony and Lorraine handed Kev as in the 48 hour session he caught an amazing 439lb 7.5oz of stunning, fit, healthy carp. This was a total of 21 fish, the smallest being just over 15lb and some 30lbs and plenty of mid-range 20lbs, but at the risk of repeating, these fish were without doubt the healthiest looking fish Kev has ever seen and he has fished a number of good lakes in France, over the last 3 years, since returning to fishing.

The tactics used were strawberry fruity boillies, plenty of glug and long-shanked D rigs all sent out by bait boat. Oh, that reminds me, another thing Tony did for Kev, as his session was so lively he couldn’t keep the bait boat charged, and Tony rowed out and rescued Kev’s boat on more than one occasion, each time with a smile of his face and lots of humour.

That’s enough about the fishing. We really feel that Chateau de Tigny has a niche in the market when it comes to carp fishing, as the grounds were so beautiful that I often took myself wandering around the lake taking lots of photos of the myriad of wildlife which is in abundance around the lake. Shops are very local if you want to cater for yourselves, as we did in our motor home, on the ‘drive and survive package’, however since arriving it became clear what an ideal venue this is for a carp angler to take his wife and stay in the beautiful chateau where Lorraine can offer cooked meals if required. From what we saw inside the Chateau it really is beautifully kept with some lovely features.

Needless to say Kev will always fish at this lake when he visits France as we don’t think it can be beaten. In the many conversations he had with Tony whilst staying here it is quite clear to us that he has used every ounce of his 25 years experience carp fishing in choosing this lake and making it what it is today and all credit to Tony and Lorraine, once again, for providing us with such a lovely stay and an abundance of good fishing.

Kevin & Sara Mullarkey of Chesham, Bucks
(Written by the wife of an angler).

March 2009

The season at Tigny started off with four lads from Carp-Forum opening the lake with a Champagne start, we had a great week with the lads and they had a total of 65 Carp to a 32.03lb Mirror Carp and the smallest being a 14lb Common. Most of the Carp were caught on Catcherbait's Fruit & Crab boilies (thanks Frank) great donation for the lads.

September 2008

We had two French Carpers here who fished for 48hrs. They caught 17 Carp between them all on French home made boilies which they inform me were crab. They certainly smelt that way and so did the boilies. The best of this section was the common of 32lb. There were no Carp under 25lb caught.

August 2008

Harvey was a beginner to Carp fishing so I gave him 24 hr tuition to see what he could catch. I thought I had put him on the right spot as he had a Carp on the bank within 20 minutes of casting out. He caught a total of 16 carp and every one broke his PB that was 12lb back in England. His best being a 38lb Common and the smallest a 18lb Mirror. In total he had another 3 x 30's and 8 x 25lb plus Carp.

All his Carp were on Strawberry boilies with a pellet PVA bag attached. He left with a smile as big as France on his face. How many young Carpers have bagged 4 x 30's in a 24 hr stint?!