In Pursuit Of The Giant Mirror | Stéphane Gentile

OMC's Stéphane Gentile details his campaign for a monster French mirror carp - a fish that would go on to smash his personal best...

Two years ago, I got to know this Carp Fishing Syndicate in the east of France and learnt of the existence of two giant carp weighing over 70lb swimming in this water.

Very quickly, I tried to get a photo of these fish and I literally fell in love with one of them. In this case, a giant mirror with its very particular and unique scaling. As soon as I was able to obtain the fishing licence, I immediately planned a number of sessions for 2024 and made this fish my main objective for the year.

The first challenge on my mission for the giant mirror was I had to understand the behaviour of the fish and above all understand the feeding habits of the big fish. My strategy was therefore to fish for just one carp at a time. There was no question of creating a large feeding activity to interest the smaller fish in this gravel pit. I was therefore going to offer very high quality baits but in small quantities, my choice being fresh frozen Boilies with Liver and I would accompany them with a small handful of Pellets.

I know that by definition big fish avoid big baiting jobs. From my first session in early spring, this strategy paid off straight away and I was already able to net a few nice fish. I recorded five bites during that first session, including two fish over 40lb.

Ten days later, I had another three nights of fishing and once again, the same strategy paid off. This time I landed around ten fish, including four over 40lb.

There was no doubt that this was the approach I was going to continue to use.
My Rigs had to be solid, discreet and as effective as possible. So I used the Blend Coated Hooklink in 35lb for its great discretion and extreme strength,  and I was also going to rely on the revolutionary Lock Hook in size 4. 

The sharpness of the Lock Hook is simply incredible and its particular shape significantly reduces the risk of a hookpull - essential when chasing only the one big fish. On my Reels, I used the 37mm Dancefloor Monofilament because I absolutely had to be sure I'd win every fight. I can tell you that the fish were in top form and all gave me titanic battles.

For even more discretion, I used a metre of Blend Tungsten Tubing to keep my Line flat against the bottom. I used the same set-ups on all my Rods.

During the summer, I fished different spots on this gravel pit and almost all of them were productive. I remember one session with my German friend David Rosemeier during a shoot for an OMC film, where we each caught a large carp of over 40lb - a superb memory, the video of which will soon be broadcast on our OMC YouTube channel.

During the summer, I was in contact with my friend, angler and videographer Romain Kowalka, and we had to find water to shoot a film in October. As you can imagine, I was going to suggest this same gravel pit to him, as there was no way I was going to spread myself out over another location until I'd achieved my objective. The session was scheduled and on the day, the weather seemed to be on our side, with a light southerly breeze accompanying us during the three days of filming. Some 20 minutes after setting up my first Rod, I recorded my first bite, a heavy and powerful fight with a magnificent 50lb mirror.

The tone was set and I had every confidence that this session would get off to the best possible start. Over the next 24 hours, I caught four carp with a good average weight.

At the end of the afternoon on the second day, I got a fairly timid bite. I picked up the Rod and immediately realised that it wasn't the same as usual. It felt like I had a bag of cement on my hook. The fight dragged on for over an hour. The fish didn't want to go into the Net and gave me some incredible rushes.

My Dancefloor Monofilament was taking a beating but it was able to withstand all the fish's powerful headbutts. After an hour, the carp seemed to be getting tired and to make sure of that, Romain, with his camera in his left hand, came to give me a hand with the Landing Net.

I'm behind him and I can't see the fish exactly but he says: "Steph, for sure it's a fish weighing over 70lb." I immediately looked in the Net and there, with indescribable joy, I saw the big mirror that I had been coveting. 

I screamed with joy and I think that all the fishermen present on the gravel pit realised that something remarkable was happening on my station. With the utmost delicacy, I slip the fish into the Weighing Sling and my Scale reads a new PB for me, 70.1lb. I'm now over the moon!

I didn't think I'd reach my goal so early in the year, but the fishing gods decided otherwise. The photo session soon took place with the traditional ‘bucket' of water on my head.

You don't change a tradition, I thought whilst soaking wet. We took the utmost care of the fish and put it back in its element with the greatest of precautions so that it wasn't too stressed.

As you can imagine, it was a festive evening with Romain and we enjoyed a glass of champagne. I wish all my friends at OMC the same moment of joy as I did, and once again, I have every confidence in OMC products, which are of the highest quality - they certainly helped me tame this monster.

A few minutes after the release, I sent a video clip to Ali Hamidi and the whole OMC Family to share my joy with them. Ali was really happy to share this exceptional moment with me via WhatsApp.

The last day was a lot quieter, but my goal was achieved. I'd like to say a special thank you to Romain who was able to capture all these incredible moments on camera and I'll be sharing them with you on film soon.

Always remember that no dream is unattainable. OMC and Ali have given me the opportunity to make mine come true...

Tight lines for your own giant chasing. 

  Author and big carp hunter Stéphane Gentile is One More Cast's main man for all things France! He regularly shares his experiences and techniques on French waters in his blogs and on social media, with a string of special fish captures to his name.