Brrrr.... !!!

We have just come to the end of 8 days of very cold weather, it started last Saturday and has just started to thaw today, there was ice on the lake by Monday and by Wednesday it was solid. We had snow on Friday and Saturday which settled and produced around 5 inches.

From Wednesday to Friday it was sub zero with the coldest night being Wednesday at -7C

Pleased to report that it is melting now and that daytime temperatures of 6-10 degrees are forecast for the week ahead. We normally get one short sharp cold spell sometime in December or January and I will be very happy to have it over and done with !

Maybe just might be worth getting the rods back out after Xmas !!!

Autumn 2009 photo gallery is now online - click on the top level of the Les Croix Galleries to the right of this post.

Nice end to a session

I had planned to fish until Friday but l almost didn't fish the last day, as the wind had turned round tho the east overnight and it was very much colder than the rest of the week with very bright sunshine, less than ideal - but as this was really the last opportunity I decided to give it a few hours jst to see if the change in conditions had switched the lake off or not. My experience has always been that an easterly wind in winter is the kiss of death, and this has applied everywhere I have fished.

Not a single fish showed during the session, and I had most of my gear packed up when I had a slight drop back on the left hand rod which resulted in a cracker of 24-00, again one of the 49 Dec '07 stock fish, one that doesn't come out too often, but which is again looking like it will be a super fish in years to come. It weighed 13lbs when stocked, so 11lbs weight gain in 2 years.

With some very cold weather forecast for the weekend and the early part of next week, it looks like this will be the first shutdown period of the year - hopefully it won't last too long, because I know I will want to have the rods back out as soon as Xmas is over !

2 (pre) Christmas Crackers !!!

A bit more activity out on the lake today, most of it up to my right in the shallow water. With the air temperature having held at around 10C overnight and continuing mild today, it seemed that a few fish had moved up into the shallower water, propbably looking for a few crays to munch on.

With my rods still fishing in the centre of the lake and everything quiet it was looking like I might have to reposition the rods but at 3.00PM I was away on the middle rod  and after a tremendous battle which lasted a good 15 minutes I netted the fish in the top photo at 28-08, a lovely specimen, and sure to be a 30 next year.

I had just slipped the fish back into the water when the left hand rod screamed off, and after another hard fight of 10 minutes or more this one rolled over the net cord, one of my favourite fish in the lake, one that does not come out too often - maybe 3 times a year, a superbly shaped fish with the frame to make a real monster in years to come, she weighed in at 38-02, my first 30 of the week and well up in weight from the low 30's of the summer period. If she comes out in the spring she will definitely be 40+.

It has been noticeable this year that a lot of the fish have piled on weight and this has coincided with a big increase in the number of crayfish in the lake after they bred successfully in summer 2008 and we found huge numbers of young crays in the margins.

Closer and closer.....

We came another step closer  to the first 30lb'er from the 2007 stockies, when today I slipped the net under a gorgeous specimen of 28-04. This one weighed in at a "petite" 13-00 2 years ago when it was stocked into Les Croix so a weight gain of around 15lbs in 2 years....not bad !

The fishing has been a little on the slow side, with very little activity, just the odd fish showing and no pattern to this activity, but nearly all the carp I have caught have come from one spot in the central area of water, with the other rods remaining quiet.

Also landed another super looking fish of 25-12 this morning, which was one of the original April 2007 stock from the Auvergne, this one has only gained 7 lbs since then, but is a very nicely proportioned fish nonetheless, and should go on to be a good 30 within a year or so.

Still Catching.......

The carp are still feeding even though there is very little activity to be seen, (not including the pike which are still hammering into the roach) but just the odd carp showing, today I spent around 5 hours fishing and only saw one carp but managed to  put 2 on the bank. Out of 11 fish taken since Saturday (and one night without a bite again) I think 8 of the fish have been from the December 2007 (5 - 7kg fish) stocking. These fish came from a lake  where the carp always fed through the winter, and it seems that they are carrying on this tradition here !

These are the fish whose growth rates I keep talking about  and as I said in the previous post I expect to see some 30's amongst them next year, this has been backed up by my catching one of them at 27-12 yesterday - this fish was stocked at 16-00 2 years ago ! I settled for a quick photo on the mat as it was raining heavily when I caught it.

2 others from this batch of fish are shown, these 2 were both 21lbs + and like most of the others have a very rounded form with high backs and deep bellies (= big carp) and have obviously been feeding well. The lake from which they came has produced carp to well over 50lbs, and as ours are actually only around 5 years old, the future for them is very bright indeed !

Fish still feeding well in December

Now that the lake has filled up I have decided to go and have a few short sessions, probably days only maybe I will do a couple of nights although I have to say I find night fishing less and less appealing these days and I understand the fact that most of our customers prefer the comfort of the gite at night to the bivvy !

Have had a few fish on the bank already and all are looking well fed and in good condition for the winter.

The first fish is one that does not come out too often, in fact to my knowledge it has only been out 4 times since it was stocked in 2007, easily recognisable by the scar behind the dorsal fin which might be an old heron stab wound from when  it was a small fish. Looking very good and at a top weight here of 25-04.

Next one down a very nice looking fish not flattered by the flash photography and caught at dusk, this one has varied in weight considerably, has flirted with the 30lb mark in spring and drops a lot of weight after spawning, coming out at around 23lbs during the summer.
I had this one back in October at 25-06 and she has started to get some weight back on here at 27-06.

The bottom fish is another of the 50 fast growing young fish that we stocked from 11-15lbs or thereabouts in December 2007,  was last reported to me in May 2008 at 16lbs and is now 21-08, nearly all of these fish are now 20lbs + and I am already looking forward to seeing the first 30 from this stocking next year.

Les Levades Drain-down

The drain-down of Les Levades took place on Sunday 29th November, the lake was completely emptied and all the fish were removed. Aprroximately 240 carp were removed, of which around 100 were original French strain wild carp. Of the quality carp, most fish were in the 8-11kg bracket (17 - 24lbs), there was one fish of around 20kg (44lbs) which was not caught in 2009.

There was also a quantity of tench, roach, perch and black bass, some grass carp and one catfish none of which had been caught. On inspection of several of the carp's mouths, there were no hook marks suggesting that they had evaded recent capture.

In January the lake will be restocked with quality carp only and we will be publishing details and photos of the stock at the time.