Angling Lines blog

Friday 12th March 2010 and Sapphire receives another 25 large carp to add to it’s existing stock.  These were mostly commons, the smallest of them weighing 35lb 5oz.

These bigger specimens come from large stock lakes which take all day to net, so it was nearly midnight before the fish transport lorry arrives at Sapphire.

11 of the carp are between 35lb and 40lb, 12 are over 40lb and 2 more over 50lb.

All of the 40lb + carp are long torpedo shaped commons which come from the exact same place as the 60lb and 70lb+ commons we see at Margot, another famous Bigot venue.

The final phase of this mega stocking is set to become the icing on this grand cake when the largest of the stock lakes will be netted. This very secret location holds the high 50s and 60lb+ carp which are ear-marked for Sapphire. continue reading…

March 1st, 2010

The aim of this years re stocking at Mas Bas was to increase the numbers of 30’s. Gilles went up to the fish farmer at La Brenne in the west of France and picked 21 beautiful mirror carp, all between 30 and 35lb.

As you can see from the photos they are in absolutely prime condition and after the five hour journey, were eager to investigate their new home.

17 were put into the Main Lake and 4 into Lotus Lake.

These additional fish should provide some great sport for our visitors this year.

You can see more photos here

This 2 day stocking operation (26/27 January) at Sapphire saw 230 carp added to the existing stock. As always with our Bigot venues the numbers were impressive with 125 x 20lb+ and 80 x 30lb+ carp making up the bulk of the delivery. The 8 x 40lb+ provided the cream, with 2 of these already topping the scales at 50lb. Around 17 good doubles, including several koi, were stocked because of their attractiveness or growth potential.

This brings the known carp stock in Sapphire so far to 350. Additional stock is planned… we’ll keep you posted.

Here’s the short video clip of the recent additional stocking at Oakview .

To recap; Oakview recently stocked another 15 mid-twenties as a replacement for the small fish netted out last year.   The overall result of the netting and stocking is that average catch weights should now be well into the mid twenties with hardly any fish less than 20lbs.

The new fish should keep things fresh as none of them will have been caught before. They came from the same place as usual, Michel Bigot, so they are all young fast growers.

Here’s the short video clip of the recent additional stocking at Lillypool.

To recap; on 18th December 2009 a further 55 carp were stocked.  Six of the fish were just under 20lbs with the rest ranging from 20 to 30lb, the average weight being 24lb 10oz, and the biggest being 29lb 5oz with two lovely commons of 28lb 12oz and 28lb.