Winter Plans at Molyneux

Bailiff Wally fills us in on the improvements planned for this winter at Molyneux, one of the prettiest carp lakes in France, which spans 13 acres and sits just 2hrs 45 from the port of Calais. Just a quick update for you all, as to what has been occurring at the lake during the off […]

Developing A Carp Lake – Decked Swims Under Way

Lee & Tracy have been developing great additions to the Glehias lakes. In 2014 they completed the wonderful floating cabin and now they’re paying particular attention to the swims on the lake… Last winter, over a cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows, we discussed what lake projects and general maintenance projects would take priority this year. Due to water […]

Development Of A Carp Lake On A Budget

In the February of 2010, I was thrown into the deep end by taking on a local estate lake and running a carp syndicate on the lake. I had been a member of the syndicate for a number of years and had fished there since 1985. When I first fished the lake there were 12 […]

Winter Work Update from Bletiere

Lesley gives us an update from Bletiere in this short video diary. It’s mid-January and John is in the lake, raking debris from the bottom. You’ll also find where the carp have made dishes in the lake bed. For more information on Bletiere follow the link – Fishing Holidays

Liming a Lake – Carp Lake Management

Paul Cooper answers a reader’s question regarding liming carp lakes. ‘Hi Paul, Sorry to disturb you. I read your great article on the Angling Lines website about Winter Carp Lake Maintenance and want to pick your brain about the liming. The venue I run is very similar in size and all the reasons you list […]

Life as a Bailiff – Pt 1, A Dream Come True?

Like many British carp anglers, the thought of one day living and working in France as an Owner or Bailiff on a carp fishery has never been far from the forefront of my future thoughts and aspirations. Four years ago, whilst on a fishing trip to France, I met Martin, one of the owners of […]

Annual Netting at Jonchery

Around this time in France fish farmers are in full swing managing the nettings on their many lakes. It is because of this that Heather and I made a trip over to France this November.  We called in to visit the Bacheliers, who were going to be netting both Jonchery and Brocard Large over two […]

Water Monitor Installed at Notaires

I have seen from the forums that there is a great deal of interest in the environmental conditions at the various carp lakes. I am pleased to announce that Notaires Lakes now has live online monitoring which can be seen here. The system is based around the famous Raspberry Pi “computer on a credit card”. We […]

Draining Down a Carp Lake – Things You Must Know

Before you can either net a carp lake in France lake, or dig out the silt, you have to have a total or part drain down of water… so you need to know how to pull the plug!  It’s a fairly easy process here at Bletiere – with a bit of snooping around you should […]

Lily pads removal

Now that’s a lot of lilies! Moving into the autumn months we began work to the final area of the lake that had been left un-touched until now. It had become a vast network of lily roots and weed beds during the last 100 years, so we had our work cut out! The weed beds […]

Winter Carp Lake Maintenance

  I run a small 14 man syndicate on a 5 acre estate lake in Staffordshire and it’s approaching that time of year that I like to start to prepare for the forthcoming season. Over the past weekend I’ve had work parties on the lake clearing snags, repairing stages and walkways and trimming back reeds. […]

Weed clearing on an industrial scale!

Weed can be a problem on some lakes in certain years.  Here’s an industrial sized solution!  This service is offered by one of our lake owners, Sebastian Vasseur, for any lake over one acre in size.  If you’re interested in the service his number is on the second sheet… or we can put you in […]

Do Grass Carp really clear weed in a carp lake?

Grassies doing their thing……………an update! In June 2010 we introduced 20 small Grass Carp to Joy Lake, to help combat a growing weed problem. One year on and we’re pleased to say the measures have been a great success. To show the difference they have made take a look at the photos below, showing the Brace […]

Carp Stock Micro-chipping

At Oakview Lake we monitor our fish stock.  One element of this is the micro-chipping individual fish.  In addition to obvious benefits like security this also allows for quick identification and monitoring of growth rates. Here the Oakview stock pond is used to demonstrate how this is achieved.

Feeding carp through the winter is good fishery management

  Wally, the Molyneux bailiff, explains the thinking behind his winter feeding programme; During my time at Grenville Carp Syndicate I realised just how important a carefully managed feeding programme can be. It’s vital for the carp to maintain their weights and condition to get them through the harsher weather the winter months bring. This […]

Advanced carp lake management – microchipping carp

Not worth stealing fish from here! Chips4Fish – what would you want to microchip a carp for? That is the usual question I get asked when I say what we do at Chips4Fish.  The answer is simple… Identification.  No ambiguity, when you put a microchip in a fish you know when you run a microchip […]

20 young grass carp introduced to control weed

One of the young Grassies – held by big Emerique!   Weed can be an amazing thing – when we first bought Joy Lake two and a half years ago we had almost no surface pondweed. Last summer it appeared and began to spread the more we tried to control it.       Whilst […]

A controlled feeding program for carp stock pools

Many fish farmers are aware of the benefits of having a controlled fish feeding program across their stock pools. Feeding a quality pellet little and often has been proven to return a better feed conversion ratio. This is the relationship between the weight gained by the fish and the amount of food fed. This ratio […]

Emptying & re-filling a carp lake

Here’s the experience of the Joy Lake owners, Neil & Caroline Surely a simple question of pulling out the plug and then letting nature fill it up again? But what do you do when you have no ‘spring-fed’ water source into your lake? Waiting for the rain to fill it up would take months, so […]