Mas Bas Main Lake

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News from Mas Bas Main Lake

Jan 2014

Draining of the main lake 2014, 30th Jan

On January 1st 2014, Gilles decided that it would be a good idea to drain down the main lake, to take stock and to remove the irritating Bream, Catfish and the surplus Grass Carp that have been annoying the anglers over the past serveral years.

So whilst the majority of the rest of the world were nursing a self induced headache, Gilles set off for Mas Bas to drain the water out. Over the next few days he was like an expectant father, constantly checking the water level, closing the valves when the level got too low and opening them when it rained... and boy did it rain! Gilles and I stayed at Mas Bas so that he could continue to monitor the level during the night too.

At the crack of dawn Saturday 4th, an army of volunteers descended on the lake (some of them actually looked good in their waders! lol) ready and willing to help with the enormous task of removing the fish as quickly and as carefully as possible.

More of the water was let out to expose the fish, which were netted then sorted into groups of either, Carp, Grass Carp, Bream or miscallenous and gently but efficiently, moved by a conveyor belt of eager hands to the appropriate lake water filled stock pools. The smaller Common and Mirror Carp were put into a neighbouring lake to allow them to grow.

I, ofcourse, opted not to get covered in fish slime or mud, and stayed in the kitchen, ever ready with food and drink for our frozen, sodden friends and family.

By the time night fell, everyone was shattered and ready for a shower, hot meal and a little drink. Good excuse for a party!

8am Sunday morning, we were all set to begin weighing and returning the fish to the lake. Forty of the 120 or so Grass Carp, weighing between 13 -25lbs were returned to the lake, the remainig were put into a stock lake.

Also returned to the lake were :-

55 Mirror Carp, the biggest of which was 53lbs, the rest weighing between 16 and 49lbs
45 Common Carp, one of which weighed 37lbs, the balance were between 18 and 33lbs
15 Koi Carp between 7lbs 7oz and 11lbs
6 Silver Carp of weights between 20lbs and 32lbs
198lbs of Roche
25 Pike, 40 Zander, 30 Tench and a copious amount of Eels

Gilles had intended to take advantage of the lake being empty to change the topography of the lake bed and create some new spots, but unfortunately due to the constant heavy rain this was not possible and within a very short space of time the lake had filled to it's original level. He was , however, able to rid the lake of snags and branches.

During the weekend we had professional video footage shot, which is at present being edited and should be ready by the end of February.

We are looking forward to the coming season and hope that many of the large fish make an appearance.

Tight Lines
Sharon and Gilles.

Jan 2014

The main lake photos when drained, 30th Jan

With the draining down of the main lake this January we took advantage of the lowered water levels to show some photo's showing the topography of the lake. We had to be quick mind you as the rainfall was consistently heavy and the lake was constantly trying to refill during the drain down.

Jan 2014

The History of Mas Bas, 23rd Jan

In 1967 French farmer and JCB driver Simon Betoulieres, had an idea and purchased, for very little money, an area of sodden land that sat in a hidden valley. This was much to the amusement of everyone in the area and he suffered much ridicule as the land was deemed by them to be worthless, both for farming and anything else.

However he had a plan...

You can read the rest here