Angling Lines Blog

Spring seems to have finally sprung at Mas Bas.

The weather has been absolutely atrocious over the past couple of months. We have had rain virtually every day and Gilles has impatiently been waiting for the opportunity to drain down the main lake and remove all the surplus grass carp which have become more and more annoying to our anglers over the past 2 years.

Last year we had drought conditions and so couldn’t empty the lake as we weren’t certain it would fill back up ready for the season. It’s a very tricky situation which calls for patience from us and understanding for our anglers.

More importantly some additional larger carp had been ordered before winter and a delivery slot was eagerly awaited. We finally got news of their impending arrival and happily it coincided with a break in the weather which enabled us to take some nice photos.

These three beautiful mirrors from the fish farmer Frederic Delmares weighed in at 55lb5oz, 50lb9oz and 43lb3oz respectively. The biggest one unfortunately had some injuries to its tail during transport and so will prove to be highly identifiable when caught. Hopefully it will recover well and grace the nets of many of the anglers later this season.

Tight lines to all our anglers coming over this year… we look forward to seeing you.

Gilles

50lb 9oz

50lb 9oz 

55lb 5oz

43lb 3oz

 Fishing Holidays at Mas Bas.

It’s November 2012 and Watersmeet receives a boost to its stocks with 25 mid-20lb carp from the Bigot fish farm.  This is sure to make this ever popular venue even more desirable.

Fishing Holiday at Watersmeet

Here’s the video to accompany the post from a couple of days ago.  To recap Margot took delivery of 12 more mid 20′s and 12 more 30′s to complete its top-up for the 2012 season.

The largest of this batch weighs 36lb and brings the total stocked this winter to 50, including 30 x 30′s, 3 x 40′s and a 60 pounder.

Carp Fishing in France at Margot

John London

If you run a commercial carp lake in France stocking it with carp is likely to be one of the biggest money outlays you make.  Here’s the things I have learnt;

1. Before you even start to think about buying a lake and running your own carp fishery sit down and work out your finances, as the bigger the lake the more fish you will need.  They don’t come cheap, prices are rising and big fish are getting harder to buy.

2. Does the lake fill up easily and does it stay full of water throughout the year?  This may sound obvious, but it’s vital.  With the drier and hotter weather we are having lake levels can soon drop. If a lake relies on rain only to fill it up the levels can drop significantly during the summer and this can cause problems with the fish and water quality, in that the oxygen levels can drop to dangerous levels.  A lake that is spring or stream fed are good as you are less likely to suffer with levels dropping too much.  Our lake, Bletiere, is spring fed underground and even over a long summer the level only drops by inches, consequently oxygen levels have never been a problem.  Think about what will you do if we get another long hot summer and your carp start to suffer due to dropping oxygen levels.  It’s  too late when it’s happening so do you need to have ready a means to aeriate the water.  You can find on the internet. We are lucky and have never needed to do this but I still have pumps ready in the barn just in case.  It can be something very simple – just as long as it forces oxygen into the water.  Obviously in a big lake it will take more effort.

3. Have the lake netted – this is very important.  You get to see what is in the lake, both species and size, and more importantly if the fish are disease free and in good health.  What’s the point in paying out thousands of euro’s and putting healthy fish into a lake that may have disease problems with its existing residents? No point at all!  You can also take the chance to look at the bottom of the lake to see if it needs dredging.  This would be the time to have this work done – before you stock.  It’s not cheap but deffinitely worth it in the long run.

Water report - well worth the money!

4. For a very small cost (considering how much the carp are going to cost you) I would strongly advise you have the water tested.  Most big towns have a municipal laboratory and it’s a great way to ensure there are no water quality problems before your fish start to die.

5. Before you go out and buy the fish try to assess what natural food is in the lake – will it be sufficient to feed all your fish.  In most cases the answer is probably no and once you add even more carp there will probably not be enough food to sustain growth rates.  So now is the time you need to source a fish feed supplier.  There are several large ones in France and it’s down to your budget and what you wish to feed, but cheap is not always good.  Don’t forget you will not have anglers there all the time putting bait in. I have covered feeding carp in another article and added ways to save money but still ensure good growth rates.

6. Spend time looking in your area for the fish farm that you intend to buy your carp from.  We originally purchased our fish from a farm over 2 hours drive away and this entailed a lot of stress to the fish on the way to us. We now use a farm that is only 30 minutes away from us.  So we select the fish and within 1 to 2 hours they are safely in the lake.  It’s a sad fact that on average 10% of the carp you buy will die from the stress of moving and settling into their new environment – so try and keep the transportation time as low as possible. continue reading…

Morgane gets its final stocking of the year – another 12 carp, 4 commons and 8 mirrors, weights between 23lb and 31lb 12oz (the common)