News

 

Date: May 2011

 

Details: The Netting Of The Lake

What a fantastic, amazing experience we all had one day last week.
Jean-Noel Retailleau, Pisciculture De Val De Gartempe, arrived to net our Lake. It was a beautiful sunny day and after a cup of coffee, he and his 3 men got to work.
They were very professional and knew what they were doing.
We had 4 young French lads who wanted to help, and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves, especially when the net closed in and they could see the size of some of the fish. After sifting through the fish and Alex deciding which ones he wanted to keep, the job was done. It took them 5 hours, with a coffee break, but what a good job they did.
Lots of carp up to 14 kilo were taken out, safely and without harming them, into 4 large tanks. Along with these, they took out probably 2,000 kilo of bream and baby catfish, which we are sure any angler, and of course the big carp and cats would very much appreciate.
It was fantastic to see all the different shapes and sizes of the fish caught in the netting, however, lots of the big ones avoided the net as the netting was done in two stages. The first netting was from Swim 3 down to Swim 1, then by the time the second stage started from Swim 3 to Swim 5, many fish had moved up the Lake to where the netting had first started. They are very intellegent fish, our fish !!
Now that the smaller fish have been removed, the big ones have a chance to feast on the food and grow larger and larger.
Everyone had a great day, and lots of laughs, many thanks to Jean-Noel and his team of professionals.

 

for a look at the photos of the day please click here

 

 

Date: April 2011

 

Details: A Kitten Within A Cat

 

A KITTEN WITHIN A CAT !!!
Tommy was into a fish, what could it be? A carp, sturgeon, no, it was a kitten (baby catfish). As he brought it in, he got the shock of his life, a large Catfish decided he wanted lunch and went for the baby catfish on the end of Tommy’s hook. He managed to bring them both in and the large Catfish weighed in at 58lb. Not only was this his PERSONAL BEST, but Tommy couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the baby Catfish inside the mouth of the larger one.
It also wiped the smile off Dan and Tom’s faces as they realized he had got a big one, they were laughing their heads off earlier when they saw the baby cat on Tommy’s line, that was before the big one decided to launch itself onto the baby.
Well done Tommy, or TomCat, his new nickname!!

 

For those of you who may be concerned about what happened to little kitty, he was safely removed from the large Catfish and taken to a brand new home where he is now enjoying life in a not so busy,
much smaller and safer (for him anyway) lake of one of our friends.
THE (HAPPY) END

 

 

Date: March 2011

 

Details: What About This For A Conversion !!!

 

Clive, a friend of ours, was an adamant float fisherman for small fish. He thought all bait boats, rowing boats, etc. were a form of cheating, and should be banned. He has been float fishing here a couple of times lately.

However, all that changed on the 16th March when he asked Alex if he could show him how to use Carp rods. Alex expained everything in detail to him and so Clive started his very first ledgering. Within 1 hour, much to his surprise, the rod screamed off and Clive brought in this beauty, a 35lb 8oz Mirror Carp. What a way to start your own Personal Best.

Out came the float rod and quickly discarded. Clive was over the moon, and couldn’t believe the fish in front of him was what he had caught, hence the startled, shocked look on his face. (photo to follow) He is now in the process of buying his own Carp rods and we have a feeling this won’t be the last time we see Clive fishing for big fish. He has made a rod for his own back now, (excuse the pun) because he has started with such a big fish, beating his own Personal Best will certainly be a challenge for him.

 

 

 

Date: March 2011

 

Details: WOW, Two Personal Bests smashed by 14 and a 15 year olds.

 

After the exciting competition last weekend, two French lads, Alan and Victor came here on Monday to fish.  They are here until Wednesday. 

Now, considering Alan is 15 years old and Victor is 14, they are brilliant fishermen.  Alan was the first to catch his 40lb PERSONAL BEST Mirror Carp yesterday on tinned potato. They asked if we had any,  we didn't, so Carolyn went out to the local supermarket to get some.  Within 10 minutes of putting them out, bang, he had his PB,  and this morning Victor caught his PERSONAL BEST 35lb 3oz Mirror on Nash B2. 

 

They were thrilled with their catches, running up to us, shouting for one of us to go and take a photo. One good thing about being young is that they don't sleep while they are here, staying awake 24/7.

 

As I say, they are here until tomorrow, so watch this space.......

 

 

 

Date: February 2011

 

Details: Weekend Fishing Competition

 

 

Date: July 2010

Details: YES!!! Alex has only been and gone and done it.

YES!!! He’s only been and gone and done it!

Alex, after 2 years of not being able to fish because there was no swim spare, finally got his rods in today. He decided to use tinned potatoes as bait as an experiment, because the French use tinned potatoes, or as they call them pomme de terre, and do very well.

At 2.30 this afternoon the left rod screamed off, Alex struck and brought in his PERSONAL BEST 35lb 4oz carp. His previous PB was a 34lb 8oz carp, TWO YEARS AGO. Was he pleased!?!?!? He was beaming from ear to ear!

Before this happened, at around 2.00 this afternoon, Alex also caught a 30lb carp and was well pleased with that but getting his PERSONAL BEST 35lb 4oz carp overrode this catch.

There is a competition between us now, my PB is a 42lb Virgin Mirror. Alex said that he likes to slowly build up his PB’s (yeah right!)

Well done Alex, job done till next time says Carolyn. Watch this space!!

 

Alex with his PB 35lb 4oz carp. Well done you!

 

 

Date: July 2010

Details: Beaute gets a pool!

THE SUMMER OF 2010

What a beautiful summer we are having! Tropical you could say, one day terrific thunder and lightning, the next, fantastic hot, sunny days.
How could we improve on such wonderful surroundings, we thought? Thats it!! We had a swimming pool but it was getting old, so we decided to purchase a new one.

Compared to the old one, it was huge. It measured 21ft x 18ft and took, believe it or not, 4 days and nights to fill which, being on a water meter meant that we just had to forget about the wheel whizzing around and think about lying in our new pool and cooling down. There has been many a time when we, and the guys here have made use of the pool. It is a particular hit with the guys who bring their families with them, the children absolutely loved splashing around and even learning to swim. We also bought 2 large plastic armchairs for the pool and its wonderful to relax in an armchair whilst also topping up the tan.

Next, we thought “why not get something else that would entertain the little ones”, even some of the ‘grown up’s’. So we bought a set of swings with a see-saw. In order to make it as safe as possible, first we had to lay a thick layer of sand, then cement in the footings. Looking good, we thought. That too is a great hit.

We had a lovely surprise ourselves a couple of weeks ago, I think we have mentioned in previous articles that we have 12 hens. As well as the hens, we acquired a cockerel about 7 months ago. Yes, you guessed it, we opened the hen house and there it was, a tiny, tiny black chick.
What a wonderful summer.
 

 

 

Date: December 2009

Details: 42lb Winter Mirror!

WOW, YIPPEE, MY VERY FIRST PERSONAL BEST 42LB VIRGIN MIRROR CARP.

I had a bit of work to do around the Lake. I finished around 12.30pm, came in for a cuppa and Carolyn said “Can we do a bit of fishing today”. It was quite mild and looked like it was going to rain, it did about 2 o’clock.

I got my fishing gear out and set up in swim 4, baited up all three rods and went and got in the rowing boat with some freebies. Carolyn held the rods in turn and I placed them out in some of my favourite hotspots, rowed back in and Carolyn set the rods on the alarms and rod pod, so I was able to sit under the umbrella with her as it was lightly raining.

At 2.45pm, the middle rod screamed off and as Carolyn had only caught a sturgeon two days before (her very first ever caught fish by the way, at 28lb) and had not caught a carp, I let her strike the rod. She hooked the fish perfectly and gently began to steer in around the other two rods.

Well, when I saw what she had caught as I got it just in the net, I thought “Ba***rd!!” All praise to Carolyn, she held the net while I removed the hook which was perfectly caught in a virgin Mirror Carp, took a photo, looked over the carp, then weighed her.

Wow, a first Personal Best 42lb Virgin Mirror Carp. “Ba***rd!!! “ I thought, “she has beaten my Personal Best.

After the great amount of carp in the 40lb plus this year, this was the most beautiful, virgin 42lb Mirror Carp.

Carolyn is now banned from fishing, just joking....hmmm, maybe!!

Now, here comes the technical bit.....Carolyn was fishing with a Nash Hooigan 2.75lb Rod, Shimmano XTEA reel with 25lb Bullit Braid, a 3ft of Nash Limpet Leadcore with a running Korda Gripper 2.8oz Lead, tied to a 6” 45lb quick silver Hook Link, and Korda Buffer Lead and a size 6 Nash Uni Barbed Hook. A single Nash B2 14mm boilie bottom bait just tipped up with a single piece of plastic corn, made by Enterprise was used. I put it out with the rowing boat with around 10 freebies.

JOB DONE, WELL DONE CAROLYN!

We have not had a chance to fish all year, with a very busy season, thanks to the great team at Angling Lines, who do all our bookings now, this is the first chance we have had to get a line in the water, and what a way to go!

AND HERE SHE IS !!!!!
P.S. The multicoloured fingernails were just because it’s Christmas !!

Best regards, Alex.

Carolyn's first ever caught fish, Surge the Sturgeon at 28lb.	Wow, that's what I call a fish, Carolyn's Virgin Mirror Carp at 42lb.	Phew, she is a heavy girl, bless, my virgin Mirror Carp
We just had to take another photo.

 

Date: November 2009

Details: FAMILIES AT THE LAKE

Now that summer is over, well, I say over... officially it is but looking out of the window, the sun is shining and it’s still lovely and warm. And we are nearly at the end of November!!

This brings me to ponder on the summer season we had here at the Lake. We have had so many different people here, all very enjoyable and it was our pleasure to welcome them here.

We have had a few families this year, Rob, who came early in the season with some of his mates, came back with his young family. They had a wonderful time here, playing in the swimming pool, going out on the rowing boat and of course, helping dad bring the fish in.

Then there was Gary who also came over with friends the first time, then brought his young family over to enjoy the whole experience of fishing, and France.

The environment at the Lake is so child friendly, secure and safe. Alex’s family came over in August, Linda, Tommy, Tina, Andy, their 6 year old daughter Amy, and 6 week old twin boys, Alfie and Alex. They had a whale of a time, going to Le Mans and Le Fleche Zoo, which was amazing.

Next came Carolyn’s son, Anthony with his wife, Michelle and their two boys, Callum 9, and Connor, 2. We were looking after 2 dogs for friends at the time, a Labrador and Jack Russell. Connor, and Bella, the Labrador became best of friends. They also had a wonderful time.

Last but not least, Helen, Carolyn’s daughter, came over with her children, Amy, 4 and Daniel, 2. The acorns and conkers were falling while they were here and they delighted in filling bags and bags of them. We were thankful because there were so many of the things, all over the place.

The anglers who were here when all the families came over, were so kind and helpful. Having children around didn’t bother them in the slightest, in fact, they thoroughly enjoyed having the little ones around.

Talking of little ones, we bought some hens back in June. They were only a couple of months old but settled in very well. We now have 12 hens. We get beautiful fresh, free range eggs which are wonderful for breakfast, dinner and tea. No, only kidding, we just have them for breakfast. The hens are getting really tame, walking around the Lake, making friends with the anglers and generally have a really good life.

All in all, we have had a wonderful summer, the temperature peaked at 44, and although most of the Lakes have lost around two and a half feet of water, it didn’t stop one of our anglers catching his Personal Best and New Lake Record, a 48lb 8oz Mirror Carp in the shallow water. We have had a busy but rewarding summer. Thanks to all who made it so.
 

Rob with his son	Amy enjoying a ride on tractor	Daniel didn't want to miss a ride too
Tony with his Personal Best and New lake Record

 

Date: October 2009

Details: DEDICATED ANGLER, COME RAIN OR SHINE!!

DEDICATED ANGLER, COME RAIN OR SHINE !!

On the day Carl, one of our anglers, arrived, the sun was shining and it was very warm. However, the weather changed on his fourth day when the heavens opened and it poured down.

Undeterred, Carl got himself out in the rowing boat to drop his baits. His fellow anglers thought he was mad, but Carl was determined not to let the rain come between him and his fishing, especially as he had just landed his Personal Best, a 29lb 4oz Mirror Carp, caught using jumbo prawns.

His determination rewarded him when, a short time later, Carl caught and landed a 25lb Sturgeon, also caught on jumbo prawns.

So it just goes to show, dedication, determination and hard work pays off, come rain or shine!
 

This catch prompted Carl to take to the rowing boat.	Carl getting a soaking.	Carl getting even wetter
Carl's reward, his 25lb Sturgeon